Proof Matty Healy and Taylor Swift reconnected before Joe Alwyn split

Taylor Swift and Matty Healy have very much moved on from their brief love affair. Taylor is head over heels in love with NFL player Travis Kelce, while Matty is happily engaged to model Gabbriette Bechtel. That said, Taylor and Matty's legions of fans (me, I'm the fans), are still tied up in the timeline of their tryst .

Much to the glee of Matty and Taylor fans everywhere, an unearthed clip of a 2020 interview with Matty has resurfaced online. It reveals the exact timeline of when the two reconnected – and also that Matty may well have been the inspiration behind Taylor's indie-tinged album, Folklore.

During an interview with Zane Lowe, which took place shortly after Matty and Taylor were seen talking at the NME Awards (when Taylor won Best Solo Act in the World) in February 2020, Matty revealed the extent of their interaction at the show, as well as his input into Folklore .

© Robert Kamau

"Did you speak to Taylor at the NME Awards, did you get us one step closer to working on her acoustic project?" asked Zane, who has interviewed both Matty and Taylor several times.

"I went over to her and said, 'Taylor, we need to make a record,'" Matty joked, adding: "No, I literally said 'hello' to her. Every single person there was saying hello to her. She was just stood behind me, I haven't seen Taylor in years. It was actually a really nice room," he continued. Listen to their full chat below...

"It unfortunately wasn't the time for me to pitch my post-rock Joni Mitchell project," Matty added. Zane chipped in, "I'm just willing it to happen," to which Matty seemed to have the inside scoop on what Taylor was up to, replying: "She'll do it. She's smarter than both of us. She knows what she's up to."

While Matty said he and Taylor didn't speak about working on an acoustic album together, Taylor's next release following the chat was Folklore , the most folk, acoustic album she's ever written, suggesting she took Matty and Zane's advice on board.

Many fans believe that Matty is the influence behind Folklore , with her tracks Cardigan and The 1 potentially about the 1975 frontman thanks to lyrics about a "tattoo kiss" and "I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs," alluding to their tryst.

© Erika Goldring

Taylor added further fuel to the fire during the Eras tour, when during a performance of Cardigan she mouthed to Matty: "This is about you, you know who you are. I love you." He returned the gesture on his own tour.

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While Matty's influence on Folklore is unknown, much of Taylor's latest album, The Tortured Poets Department is about the musician, plus he was rumoured to have worked on Midnights tracks, and written a verse of Taylor's 1989 vault track, Slut !, both of which were scrapped.