Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn collects lighters and she put it on her album cover

August 14, 2024

Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, likes to collect lighters. He doesn’t just have one, he has quite a few and they cost hundreds of dollars.

Taylor Swift and Joe dated for six years, breaking up in the spring of 2023. They had met at the Met Gala back in 2016, according to reports, and hit it off right away. It seems he did have an impact on the music star though, because she even wrote an entire song called London Boy, which was most likely inspired by the British actor. However, fans have worked out, considering Joe Alwyn loves buying a lighter to add to his extensive collection, she may have been linking to their relationship on her Midnights album cover.

Joe Alwyn’s odd obsession with lighters – even though he’s not a smoker

Speaking to British GQ in a segment of ’10 things he can’t live without, Joe Alwyn listed books, his camera and lighters as some of the items that feature in his personal Top 10.

Joe Alwyn explains to the camera: “I like collecting old lighters.

“And the ones that I have brought here today, are made by Dunhill. They are just like old, beautiful, well-made objects.

“I have got a few in silver, one in gold. You’d think I would be a smoker, but I actually am not really a smoker.

“However, if you’re at a party and you need a cigarette lighter. I’m your guy.

“They have my initials on, there you are, just in case I forget.”

And on the Dunhill website, the silver and gold lighters stretch between $1000 to $1200, so he has a pricey collector’s item right there.

Midnights album cover

However, eagle-eyed fans spotted something on her album cover for Midnights that they reckon is linked to Joe Alwyn and his lighters.

Fans discussed it on Reddit: “The lighter on Midnights album cover might just be part of Joe’s collection. Kinda cool to think that she slipped in this tiny detail that maybe means a lot to the both of them.”

At the time, the pair were still dating, and news of their breakup hadn’t been leaked.

While another fan thought the shape of the flame represented the letter ‘yud’ in Hebrew, the 10th letter of the alphabet (10). Considering the celebrity enjoys leaving Easter eggs, it’s likely. Or it could be how fans love pinning together endless invisible strings!

Midnights was the musician’s 10th studio album, so the theory isn’t completely void.

Another fan theory is that Midnights could be a breakup album, before listeners realized it was.

One commenter suggested: “Midnights initially wasn’t a breakup album, but the addition of You’re Losing Me does turn the narrative arc of the album into one of slowly losing the love of her life.”

But others weren’t convinced with some of the other songs that appeared to be positive about relationships, perhaps about the celebrity couple themselves. These would have included Karma, Lavender Haze or Bejeweled.