Taylor Swift (2012)
Harry Styles and Taylor Swift sparked dating rumors in November 2013 when the “Love Story” singer started wearing a paper airplane necklace similar to the one the One Direction member wore. A month before, Styles called Swift a “real lovely girl” in an interview with Seventeen. “Honestly, she couldn’t be a sweeter person. She’s a great girl and she’s extremely talented,” he said. “[She’s] one of those people you meet [who’s] genuinely a nice person. Some people you meet and they are not as nice as you make them out to be, but she’s one of those people who’s really just amazing.”
The two went viral in December 2012 after they were photographed on a date in Central Park. A day after, One Direction performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which Swift attended the after-party for. That same month, news broke that the two were involved in a snowmobile accident on a ski vacation, which Styles needed stitches for. Us Weekly confirmed in January 2013 that Styles and Swift had broken up while on vacation in the Virgin Islands, where they were seen in a “heated argument.” The magazine also reported that Swift cut the trip short and flew back home to Nashville, Tennessee, while Styles continued his travels. In February 2013, fans thought Swift shaded Styles when she seemed to do an impression of an English accent while performing the bridge of her song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” “Ugh, so he calls me up and he’s like, ‘I still love you,’” she said. “This is just exhausting, you know? We are never, ever getting back together. Ever.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone in September 2014, Swift confirmed her song “Out of the Woods” from her album 1989 was about a snowmobile accent, though she didn’t specify Styles was also there. She also suggested the song “Style” was also about the One Direction. “We should have just called [the song], ‘I’m Not Even Sorry,’” she said. (She also wore a paper air plane necklace in the music video in February 2015.) In a Google Hangout interview in November 2014, Styles called himself “lucky” to be the rumored subject of Swift’s songs. “We always say that we write from personal experience, and I think everyone does. So, it would be hypocritical to say ‘Oh, you can’t write songs.’ And she’s really good, so, they’re good songs,” he said.
Styles spoke in depth for the first time about his relationship with Swift in 2017. “When I see photos from that day, I think, ‘Relationships are hard, at any age,’” Styles said, referring to his and Swift’s Central Park date in 2012. “And adding in that you don’t really understand exactly how it works when you’re 18, trying to navigate all that stuff didn’t make it easier. I mean, you’re a little bit awkward to begin with. You’re on a date with someone you really like. It should be that simple, right? It was a learning experience for sure. But at the heart of it — I just wanted it to be a normal date.” He continued of Swift’s songs about him, “I’m lucky if everything [we went through] helped create those songs. That’s what hits your heart. That’s the stuff that’s hardest to say, and it’s the stuff I talk least about. That’s the part that’s about the two people.” In 2017, Styles released his song “Two Ghosts” from his debut album, which fans believed to be about his relationship with Swift. “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory,” Styles said when asked about the meaning behind the song at the time. “It’s about sometimes things change and you can do all the same things and sometimes it’s just different.”
