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Taylor Swift · S6 E6
Calvin Harris
The relationship that plays out entirely on Instagram. The breakup that becomes two separate songs within six weeks.
July 13, 2016. A TMZ report reveals that Taylor Swift secretly co-wrote Calvin Harris's global hit "This Is What You Came For" under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg, and the most public couple in pop music has just become the most public breakup.
I Don't Wanna Live Forever ft. Zayn, Taylor Swift (2017). Recorded for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack just months after the Calvin Harris split, the video drips with the same romantic tension and unease that defined the final stretch of that relationship.
The Power Couple
Taylor and Calvin Harris start dating in early 2015, and for over a year they are pop music's power couple: the world's highest-paid DJ and the world's biggest pop star. During the relationship, Taylor secretly writes a song for him under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. Calvin records it with Rihanna as "This Is What You Came For," and it goes to number one in multiple countries.
Sources
"Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift Split," People, June 2016
TMZ, July 2016
“A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience. I don't think there are that many people who can actually understand what it's like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”
— Taylor Swift
TAP TO REVEAL: Why did Taylor use a fake Swedish name to write for Calvin Harris?
The Summer of 2016
The breakup becomes the biggest celebrity story of the summer. Within weeks of the split, Taylor is photographed with actor Tom Hiddleston on a Rhode Island beach, and the tabloids go into overdrive. Calvin's tweets, the Hiddleston photos, and the still-simmering Kanye feud collide into a storm that turns public opinion against Taylor for the first time in her career.
Sources
Various tabloid coverage, People, Us Weekly, June–July 2016
The Calvin Harris File
Getaway Car, Taylor Swift
Taylor wrote this on reputation about fleeing one relationship and jumping straight into another. Fans and critics widely read it as the Calvin-to-Hiddleston story told from behind the wheel. The production by Max Martin and Shellback makes it sound like a Bonnie and Clyde movie score, because that's exactly what it is.
Getaway Car, Taylor Swift (2017)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Taylor admits she knew the rebound wouldn't last ("I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason"), turning what the tabloids reported as scandal into something more honest: a confession that she used someone to escape someone else.
Under what pseudonym did Taylor Swift co-write "This Is What You Came For" for Calvin Harris?
The Calvin drama and the Kanye feud are rewriting Taylor's public image in real time, but there's a place online where she's been quietly building something far more personal for years. Next: The Tumblr Years.
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