There's a theory making rounds on Twitter that "the 1" is about Matty instead of Jake, supporting that Taylor named the song "the 1" instead of "the one" on purpose, because when you type it on Spotify "the 1975" appears, which is Matty's band. So the naming was a deliberate hint at Matty, if not for the fans to find, then for Matty to see and know she was thinking of him.
Taylor Swift is not known for being subtle. Her songs have lyrics like "DREW walks by me", "Hey, STEPHEN, I know looks can be deceiving", "Dear JOHN, I see it all now, it was wrong"
She makes it reaaaally easy to figure stuff out, both on the basis of "sparks more interest in the song if audiences know the celebrity gossip" and "She wants to make damn sure the people she's talking about know THIS IS ABOUT YOU, MOTHERFUCKER especially when she's pissed off" (which is part of why she got the reputation of "Crazy ex that will ruin your life").
The 1 is no different, she's made very clear that song is half about past experiences and half about her (then) present.
The "Roaring 20s" line is clearly about the whole mess that was the 1989 era and all the guys she dated during the time (mainly Harry Styles, but not JUST him). Feels like a very clear call back to Blank Space's "Cause we're young and we're reckless, we'll take this way too far" and New Romantics's "We're so young, but we're on the road to ruin"
The rosé mention is Jake, as a call back to RED and the line about the wine stained dress in Clean (and will also connect to the song Maroon two years later, since she'll mention the wine splashing into her and all the shades of red, though obviously Taylor couldn't know that at the time since she hadn't written the song yet. Just saying it was a theme she revisited many times).
The "the greatest films of all time were never made" line strikes me as a reference to the fact that she dated plenty of actors.
The chorus line of "In my defense, I have none for never leaving 'well enough' alone" is a direct call back to ME!, from the album Lover, which is all about Joe. And would you look at that? She wrote The 1 on the same day she wrote Hoax, which is all about Joe too. And what song did she suddenly add as a permanent part of the Eras Tour setlist immediately after their break up, to the point that it was what sparked the rumors that her PR team then confirmed? The 1.
It's almost like... the song was about HIM, with the parallels to exes being just that. Parallels. Just like Taylor said they were AND made very easy to figure out even without explicit explanation. And makes
Once again: Taylor Swift is not known for being subtle. Swifties that claim she lies about who songs are about are just obsessive shippers that get mad she's not their self-insert to ship themselves with whatever ex of hers they're fixated on.
Why do you think they claim she's totally reliable and trustworthy when she says what they WANT to hear, aka "This song is about the ex you like", but a pathological liar when she says something that inconveniences their parasocial shipper fantasies?
Why do you think soooo many of these "Maylor truthers" were once convinced all these songs they now claim are about Matty were actually about Harry Styles or proof that Taylor is a secret lesbian?
Why do you think these people genuinely believe that anyone supposedly hiding a grand secret would constantly "drop hints for just ONE person" in a goddamn album that literally anyone can hear and connect the dots?
Parasocial shippers are conspiracy addicts. You're dealing with people that have Flat Earther levels of "logical" thinking. Stop listening to their rambles about how up is down and left is right, look at the simple facts that are staring you right in the face and no one feels the need to explain because they're THAT obvious.
