Who Is William Bowery, Taylor Swift’s Elusive Co-Writer? The Internet Has Many Thoughts

All we can say right now is that we’re absolutely quaking over the amount of content Taylor Swift and her team produced during lockdown.

After the album dropped, Taylor released a prologue explaining her writing process. But really, Taylor spent iso writing a new album that has already received stellar reviews from the likes of Billboard and The Guardian.

“I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t,” she wrote.

“An exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn’t his own, wondering how it all went so terribly, terribly wrong. An embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession. A seventeen-year-old on a porch, learning to apologise. Lovestruck kids wandering up and down the evergreen High Line. My grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942. A misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out.”

While we wait for the Swifties to dissect everything about the album, let’s chat about who William Bowery is.

When Taylor announced the album on Thursday night, she thanked a number of people for their valued work and contribution.

Let’s zero in on the particular section of her announcement, shall we?

“I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine; @aarondessner (who has co-written or produced 11 of the 16 songs), @boniver (who co-wrote was kind enough to sing on one with me), William Bowery (who co-wrote two with me), and @jackantonoff (who is basically musical family at this point.”

Bowery’s name stuck out like a sore thumb for a number of reasons. Firstly, he doesn’t have an Instagram account (let’s be real, who doesn’t have an IG account in 2020?). And secondly, as fans immediately noticed, Bowery appears to be an identity-evading ghost.

As expected, the Nancy Drews of the web have already initiated an immaculate deep-dive into who this elusive William Bowery could be. Is it a ghost? A pseudonym? Let’s chat theories…

Theory #1: Joe Alwyn

The leading theory is that Taylor’s partner, Joe Alwyn, is William Bowery.

Joe’s great-grandfather, William Alwyn, was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.

Taylor and Joe were also spotted at the Bowery Hotel in New York City, once, so that’s a thing.

https://twitter.com/taylowkey13/status/1286308829076979714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Theory #2: Joni Mitchell

Stans also made some meticulous connections with the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter, such as the fact that Mitchell has a known painting titled Bowery Bum, and that her dad’s name is William.

https://twitter.com/taylowkey13/status/1286320427829207045

Theory #3: Austin Swift

Some other punters are also hypothesising that William Bowery is the pseudonym of Taylor’s brother, Austin Swift, after he allegedly recorded a cover of Reputation‘s lead track “Look What You Made Me Do” for Killing Eve‘s soundtrack earlier this year under another pseudonym, alongside Jack Antonoff.

https://twitter.com/gottenbread/status/1286286809576755200

For now, the mystery will remain just that – a mystery – until Taylor reveals all (which we hope will happen very, very soon).

Above all else, you have to admire the Twittersphere’s remarkable efforts to solve this mystery. God bless the internet.

Now, time to stream folklore for clear skin and a plethora of emotions in lockdown.

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