Taylor Swift’s newly released single “Patient Zero” isn’t a bright love story—instead, the singer’s The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore track details the aftermath of a toxic relationship she left.Swift does not explicitly name the subject of her song, though there appear to be some nods to past songs she has written about one particular ex, Joe Alwyn, the British actor she dated for six years.“You’re Losing Me,” a Midnights breakup song believed to be about the end of her relationship with Alwyn, notably has a medical theme like “Patient Zero,” with a pulse literally in the background of the track.Verses in “You’re Losing Me” like “You say, ‘I don’t understand’ and I say, ‘I know you don’t’ / We thought a cure would come through in time, now, I fear it won’t” and its final two lines, “Stop (Stop, stop), you’re losing me / I can’t find a pulse, my heart won’t start anymore” echo the lines in “Patient Zero,” “When the toxins take their hold / You’d rather die than let it go.”She also compares the subject of “Patient Zero” to an angelic-looking devil with the line about her knowing about “the devil on his shoulder under his halo.”In Lover track “Cruel Summer,” which fans believe references the beginning of Swift and Alwyn’s love story, Swift invokes imagery of a devilish guy she fell for in the song’s pre-chorus, “Killing me slow, out the window / I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below / Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes / What doesn’t kill me makes me want you more,” and at the end of its bridge, “And I scream, ‘For whatever it’s worth / I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?’ / He looks up, grinnin’ like a devil.”Of course, both Swift and Alwyn kept their relationship mostly private during their time together, and the singer could have easily drawn inspiration from multiple relationships or other people’s experiences.Swift’s bridge in particular accused the song’s subject of using her to social climb—something sources never suggested happened when discussing Alwyn and Swift’s relationship.Though Alwyn was a lesser-known actor when they started dating in 2017, he had trouble with the limelight. On April 10, 2023, shortly after news of their breakup broke, a source told People that Alwyn “has struggled with Taylor’s level of fame and the attention from the public. The differences in their personalities have also become harder to ignore after years together. They’ve grown apart.”Entertainment Tonight did learn that Swift was the person to call it off, though. (Swift sang about ending the relationship in the line, “Take it from someone who said all of this to his face / Someone who knows she’s more than the chase / Someone else who had him and walked away.”)A source told the outlet on April 11, 2023, “Taylor and Joe are in totally different places in their lives right now. It was more of Taylor’s decision to break up, but both of them realized that they weren’t completely right for one another. They had been together for such a long time and were spending so much time together, but their personalities were just too different. Joe is more introverted, shy, and quiet.”A source told People the day before that Swift “didn’t see them working out in the long run,” and “doesn’t have anything bad to say about Joe. They just grew apart....There is a lot of respect still between them.”To this day, Alwyn still follows Swift on Instagram, as a nod to that. In June 2024, Alwyn spoke briefly about the breakup in an interview with The Sunday Times Style magazine. “As everyone knows, we together—both of us, mutually—decided to keep the more private details of our relationship private,” he said. “It was never something to commodify, and I see no reason to change that now.”When he was asked directly about Swift writing songs about their relationship, he replied, “Well, as I said, there’s always going to be a gap between what’s known and what’s said.”Whether or not Swift took inspiration from her time with Alwyn or any other ex for “Patient Zero,” the lyrics paint a vivid picture of a love that in hindsight wasn’t good for her. Listen to the song and read through the lyrics below:View full post on YouTubeIf you wanna party with somebodyWho might know about the devil on his shoulder under his haloWhen the toxins take their holdYou’d rather die than let it goBut if you’re sick of him, I got youI was patient zeroI’ve gotta be honestI’ve been expecting your callNo, it’s not a bad time at allI heard somebody saying there’s trouble in paradiseAnd my lips are sealed tight nowIt’s not for me to tell someone else what to doBut if you wanna party with someoneWho might know about the devil on his shoulder under his haloWhen the toxins take their holdYou’d rather die than let it goBut if you’re sick of him, I’ve got youI was patient zeroI bet he burst into your life like fireworksI bet he even said ‘I love you’ firstAnd when you saw another woman coming out of his placeI bet he kissed the rain off your faceNow he seems bored by you, and you don’t know what to doBut if you wanna party with someoneWho might know about the devil on his shoulder under his haloWhen the toxins take their holdYou’d rather die than let it goBut if you’re sick of him, I’ve got youI was patient zero (I was patient)I was patient zeroSo let’s get into itI know, he charmed your family and friendsAnd you thought it’s ’cause he loves youBut it’s ’cause he loves how everybody else loves him (Uh-huh)I know it seems like he shines so brightBut he’s bathing in your reflected lightOn a free social climb (Uh-huh)Take it from somebody who lost his games but won the raceTake it from someone who said all of this to his faceSomeone who knows she’s more than the chaseSomeone who had him and walked awayAnd so…If you wanna party with somebodyWho might know about the devil on his shoulder under his haloWhen the toxins take their holdYou’d rather die than let it goBut if you’re sick of him, I’ve got youI was patient zeroSo if you wanna kick it, then I’m with it, I’ve been thereFelt the reeling, done the healing, said the curses and prayersWhen the fever turns a dreamer into a pathetic ghostIf he’s killing you, I see youI was patient zero