the complete harry timeline
the long awaited harry timeline! this took me about a year to put together and finalize. I used a variety of things (x, x, x, x) to compile this, but specific thank yous to @likeadevils and @taylor-on-your-dash for the songwriting timeline and additional quotes, and @taylor-on-your-dash for her interview masterpost.
DISCLAIMER: I do not ship harry and taylor. I was debating even posting this timeline for a while because after the jake one, I got an insane amount of anons in my inbox saying that I shipped her with jake. that is obviously not true. my reasoning for making this is that I think as time goes on and taylor gains new fans, people either a) forget the events that actually happened or b) were too young for them. this had lead to swiftie content creators and other fans to make up connections and details that support whatever agenda they're pushing (see: maylors theorizing that 1989 was about him). the facts matter! they especially matter in the context of taylor's songwriting. if this sort of thing is not for you, feel free to scroll past it. but if you're interested, the timeline is below the cut :)
TL;DR: just like with the jake saga, there were many on/off periods. by my estimation, these are the "on" periods (I think the first two periods were closer to dating, with the rest pretty much just being situationship periods).
March 31, 2012 (they meet) - April 23, 2012
September 2012 - January 3, 2013 (their public dating era)
August 25, 2013 (VMAs) - November 2013 (harry starts dating kendall)
January 22, 2014 (taylor writes i know places) - March 2014 (?)
November 10, 2014 (spotted hanging out in LA) - December 2014
TIMELINE:
March 31, 2012: Meeting at the Kids Choice Awards (source)
April 1, 2012: Harry tweets this:
April 1, 2012: The Business Inquirer publishes this interview done in March, which contains a line from Message In A Bottle.
When you meet someone that you’re attracted to, do you go, “Here’s a song”? That can happen. I get inspired by the smallest or the biggest things. You meet someone and you wonder if you’ll ever see them again. I could write so many songs about that. I have written so many songs about that. Wait till you hear my next record, it’s all about that.
April 5, 2012: Justin Bieber says this to The Mirror: "I already know one of the biggest artists in the world thinks Harry is so hot, but I have been sworn to secrecy.” (source)
April 6, 2012: Harry tweets a lyric from Sweet Disposition, by the Temper Trap (relevant later!)
April 11, 2012: Taylor writes Treacherous (source)
The secret message of Treacherous is “Won't stop till it's over". This is a lyric from 'Sweet Disposition' by The Temper Trap. Note: This song was relevant to both Jake AND Harry, but I’m in the camp of Treacherous being about Harry solely because of the timing of it all. [Taste Of Country] “I wrote ‘Treacherous’ with Dan Wilson, and we came up with a way to say, you know, ‘This is dangerous and I realize that I might get hurt if I go through with this, if I move forward with you. But… but I want to.’ You know? It’s like that kind of conflicted feeling of it being a risk every time you fall in love — especially with certain types of people. [Laughs] That was a song that I’m really proud of, because it’s got this bridge that sounds like a second chorus. It’s got all these big vocals, and it’s kind of the intensity of that moment when you’re deciding to let yourself fall in love with someone.”
April 12, 2012: Taylor writes Come Back…Be Here (source)
“It’s a song I wrote about this guy that I met. You know, you meet someone and then they just kinda happen to go away and it’s, like, long distance all of a sudden. And you’re, like, ‘b-b-but, but, come back, be here!’ So it’s a song that I wrote about having distance separate you, which is something I face constantly.”
April 16, 2012: Harry is asked if he’s texting Taylor, he confirms they met recently and says the following:
“We met in America. She is very talented. She’s very nice…We’re friends.” (source)
April 22, 2012: Taylor writes Message In A Bottle (source)
April 23, 2012: Harry tweets another lyric from Sweet Disposition, by the Temper Trap.
April 23, 2012: Harry is pictured kissing Emily Ostilly. She later authorizes a friend to talk to Vanity Fair about this (as an aside, it is bonkers to me that Paula let this happen):
“Although one of Swift’s rules is that she doesn’t go into the personal details of any of her relationships, she authorized someone to discuss them with Sales. “He wore her down,” the source says of Styles, who allegedly “chased” Swift for a year. “He was all, like, ‘You’re amazing—I want to be with you. I want to do this.’” The relationship fell apart after he texted Swift to alert her of a picture on the Internet of him kissing a friend good-bye. They were “making out like with their hands all up in each other’s hair,” says the source. After Swift ended the relationship, he pursued her for the better part of a year until she finally took him back. “But the whole time she says she feels like he’s looking at every girl,” the source continues. And then when they were in London together he “disappears one night and after that it was like he just didn’t want to keep going.” Styles’s rep, Benny Tarantini at Columbia Records, said that all of Swift’s source’s claims are “undeniably false.”” (source)
April 24, 2012: Taylor posts a screenshot of her listening to the song “Screaming Infidelities” on Instagram.
May 2012: Taylor and Harry had a few studio sessions together, with Jacknife Lee and Gary Lightbody (who worked with Taylor on Red).
On May 29, 2012, Swift and Ed Sheeran were photographed leaving Ruby Red Productions in Santa Monica, California, where they recorded "Everything Has Changed." Around this time, Sheeran invited Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol to join them in the studio. "She was making her 'Red' album. Her and Ed were recording the song they did on the record together in Santa Monica," Lightbody recalled to Under the Radar. "Ed invited me, with Taylor's permission, to come into the studio and say, 'Hi.'" That day, Swift and Lightbody cowrote their "Red" duet "The Last Time." Jacknife Lee, who had worked with Snow Patrol in the past, is also credited as a cowriter and lead producer on the song. It was recorded at his home studio, The Garage, in Topanga Canyon, California. In 2018, Hot Press magazine ran a cover story titled "The Making of Taylor Swift," for which they interviewed Lee. "We met through Gary's friendship with Ed Sheeran," Lee said. "Taylor came to Topanga. Body guards, big black car. We wrote a song in a couple of hours and sang it sitting on the sofa. She had a handheld microphone. Then we had pasta for dinner and hung around with my kids." According to Lee, Swift invited Styles to join them for a session because they were "seeing" each other. "Taylor was nice and very professional. She knew what she wanted and there was no fucking about," he said. "She was seeing Harry Styles at the time, so he came to Topanga on her recommendation. She wrote a few songs with him, and it was the same thing — quick. But this time it was more directed by the management and label. They were after something specific."
June 16, 2012: Harry gets a tattoo of the lyric “Won't stop to surrender” from Sweet Disposition by the Temper Trap
July 4, 2012: Taylor meets Conor Kennedy at the Kennedy family’s 4th of July party. Their romance was confirmed to Us Weekly on August 1.
September 5, 2012: Both Harry and Taylor are at VMA rehearsals
April to September is about 6 months – in “How You Get the Girl,” she sings, “it’s been a long six months, and you were too afraid to tell her what you want.”
September 6, 2012: Harry and Taylor are spotted at a sushi restaurant together in LA.
September 26, 2012: Harry's sister Gemma says she's voting for Taylor for the MTV EMAs. (source)
October 4, 2012: Harry tweets this.
October 5, 2012: Both Harry and Taylor are in London. Harry plays WANEGBT at his radio interview for Capital FM (source).
October 6, 2012: Taylor is interviewed by Jonathan Ross and affirms that she's seeing a "good looking boy" (source - around 4:20).
October 7, 2012: Both Harry and Taylor attend the BBC Radio One Awards.
October 10, 2012: She and Harry supposedly had dinner plans at the Luton Hoo Hotel that were abruptly cancelled.
“All her staff were told she was having a private dinner with one of the guys from One Direction. It was all cancelled abruptly, and nothing more was said.” (the band is asked about this dinner on the Late Late Show in Ireland and Harry dodges the question – source)
October 2012: Harry says Taylor is one of his celebrity crushes, and gives this quote about her:
“She honestly couldn’t be a sweeter person. She’s genuinely nice and extremely talented, and she deserves everything she has.”
October 12, 2012: Harry gets a “Things I can” and “Things I can’t” tattoo.
A few months back, Taylor gave an interview to New Orleans magazine and said this: “These days, I’ve been trying to classify my thoughts into two categories: “Things I can change” and “Things I can’t.” It seems to help me sort through what to really stress about. But there I go again, over-planning and over-organizing my over-thinking!”
October 17, 2012: Taylor writes This Love (source).
October 22, 2012: RED is released. People speculate that IKYWT and Come Back...Be Here are about Harry.
October 25, 2012: Us Weekly reports that she and Conor have called it quits after a few intense months of dating.
"They quietly parted ways a while ago," a source tells the mag. "It was just a distance thing. No hard feelings. They're fine." "It's been over a month since they've even seen each other," the friend explains. "With her promotion for Red, she has no time off until the end of the year."
October 25, 2012: Taylor gives an interview to Extra (source). She says her favorite love song is “Sweet Disposition” and talks about About Last Night, a movie, saying the following:
“There’s this movie called About Last Night, that Demi Moore and Rob Lowe were in, like back in the eighties? And I don’t know, they get back together, they break up, they spend all this time apart, and then in the end they get back together, because they were really good together…and I don’t know, I really like that idea.”
November 4, 2012: Harry alludes to dating someone to Cosmopolitan.
“There’s someone I like. If you’re shown in the papers with other girls when you really like someone else, that’s difficult. But still, I think it’s important if you’re thinking about starting a relationship to do it away from the spotlight. I thought I [had a type] but this girl I like isn’t my ‘type’. It’s more about the person. How they act, their body language, if they can laugh at themselves. I find ambition really attractive too - if someone’s good at something they love doing. I want someone who is driven.”
November 7, 2012: Taylor is pictured wearing Harry’s paper airplane necklace in London.
November 8, 2012: Taylor wears the necklace again in Paris.
November 15, 2012: Harry flew from New York to LA to spend two days with Taylor. He is spotted at Taylor’s rehearsal for X Factor USA.
"I had to literally do a double-take," an anonymous onlooker told People. "He was smiling at her while she rehearsed. When she was done he jumped up on stage, picked her up, put her over his shoulder and carried her off stage. The whole crew was really surprised." These reports were seemingly confirmed by "X-Factor" host Mario Lopez, who said that he asked Styles what brought him to the show, and in response, Styles pointed at Swift.
“He was sitting with her mum Andrea and she seemed won over too”, a source told The Sun. “After Taylor finished, he picked her up over his shoulder and carried her to her trailer. They were holding hands and flirting all day.” The source continued, “Taylor was really embarrassed by what happened [in April] and was nervous about giving him another go. But this time they have spent more time getting to know each other. Harry is being careful because he doesn’t want to hurt her again. But he’s made it clear he likes her a lot. They’ve been quietly seeing each other again for a little while now.”
November 27, 2012: the band is interviewed by Barbara Walters and she asks him about dating an older woman (source).
November 29, 2012: Taylor asks The Temper Trap to write the lyrics to Sweet Disposition for Harry at the 2012 ARIAs:
According to the band's guitarist, Joseph Greer, Swift approached them backstage at the award show, to say that both she and her boyfriend were big fans of their music. "We were doing an awards ceremony in Australia and Taylor Swift was playing at it and she was dating Harry Styles at the time," Greer told Daily Hive in 2016, adding that Swift asked the band to write the lyrics to "Sweet Disposition" as a present for Styles. "And so we were thinking, 'Shit, do we write the right one?'"
Note: she never ends up giving these handwritten lyrics to Harry - they broke up before his birthday (February 1). We later find out that they're framed in her NYC kitchen.
December 2, 2012: Taylor and Harry are spotted in Central Park. They have dinner that night at Bond St. with Ed Sheeran, Harry’s mom, and Harry’s stepfather.
December 3, 2012: Harry posts this picture on IG around 1 PM EST.
December 3, 2012: One Direction plays Madison Square Garden. Taylor and Harry attend the afterparty where they sing karaoke.
December 4, 2012: Harry tweets this.
December 4, 2012: Harry is spotted leaving her hotel in the morning and returning that night.
December 5, 2012: Taylor and Harry spend the weekend at her hotel. (The press acts unhinged about this with both TMZ and Page Six reporting on it and commenting on the size of Harry’s overnight bag – insanity).
December 6, 2012: Taylor and Harry go to Emma Stone’s birthday dinner together, where a source said they "definitely looked like a couple."
December 7, 2012: Taylor and Harry are spotted kissing at the Jingle Ball (source and source)
December 7, 2012: Harry is asked about dating Taylor at the Jingle Ball and jokes that he just "ran into her at the zoo" (source).
December 10, 2012: Taylor accompanies Harry to The X Factor finale in Manchester.
December 11, 2012: Harry and Taylor have dinner at The Rising Inn in Derbyshire with Gemma, Harry’s sister.
December 12, 2012: Harry and Taylor visit Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District.
Local eyewitness Claire Dibbs told the MailOnline.com: "I was hyperventilating, I just never expected to see them. She introduced herself, she was really lovely. She said they were just here for the day and I think they were there with his parents. Taylor said they were leaving soon. Taylor had a lot of bags from Beatrix Potter world - I saw some cuddly toys poking out of the top of the bag. They'd done a lot of shopping. Taylor said she loved the area and said it was really pretty."
A spokesman for the Beatrix Potter nursery shop also confirmed: "Harry Styles and Taylor Swift popped in and bought some beautiful gifts for members of their family from our boutique shop."
The One Direction singer, 18, was spotted introducing his new American girlfriend to his sister Gemma on Monday and couldn't keep their hands off each other. A fellow diner told Heatworld.com: "Harry and Taylor were putting spoons on their noses and fooling around with each other and taking photos of each other. After that they were stood talking and Harry kept putting his hand on Taylor's bum. "Taylor had her arms around him a lot and they were really close all night." (source)
December 18, 2012: Harry gets a ship tattoo in LA, Taylor is there with him and takes this photo of him.
December 19, 2012: Taylor and Harry are spotted with Andrea.
December 21, 2012: Taylor and Harry are spotted skiing in Utah with Austin. This is presumably where the snowmobile accident from Out of the Woods occurs. (source)
December 24, 2012: Harry is spotted with a bandaged chin, presumably from the snowmobile accident.
December 31, 2012: Taylor and Harry are spotted kissing on New Year’s Eve. They then go to the Virgin Islands to ring in the New Year.
January 3, 2013: Taylor and Harry are spotted in the Virgin Islands. They reportedly have an explosive fight.
January 4, 2013: Taylor is spotted leaving the Virgin Islands by herself. Harry is spotted at Richard Branson’s private island.
After Taylor Swift, 23, and One Direction boy bander Harry Styles, 18, shared a kiss on New Year's Eve in New York City following Swift's Times Square performance, the couple jetted off for a romantic holiday in Virgin Gorda — but not everything went according to plan. The couple arrived at Virgin Gorda — the third largest of the British Virgin Islands known for its "yacht clubs, quiet coves, safe anchorages and luxury resorts and villas" — on Tuesday, Jan. 1, and even posed for photos with fans at the local CocoMaya restaurant. But on Friday, Jan. 4, Swift caught the first flight out of Virgin Gorda and headed back to the states after getting into a heated argument with Styles that ended the two-month relationship, according to a source close to One Direction. (source)
“They were on holiday and had an almighty row,” a source told the Daily Mail, confirming they’d split up. “They are two young stars at the top of their game so who knows what will happen in the future.” Styles, 18, decided to hang around the BVI neighborhood, however, hopping over to Richard Branson’s private Necker Island for a short visit, during which he was photographed hanging out in the hot tub. In the wee morning hours he returned to Virgin Gorda, where he and Swift had headed after ringing in the new year with a public kiss at midnight in New York’s Times Square. He flew home to London three days after Swift jetted off alone to the U.S.
January 5, 2013: Taylor tweets this.
January 7, 2013: A source confirms to People that they have broken up:
Although the pair appeared to fall for each other fast, a source who knows Swift told PEOPLE of the romance, “No one is taking it seriously.” (source)
January 7, 2013: Harry returns to London alone.
January 10, 2013: Taylor writes All You Had To Do Was Stay (source). She originally tweeted this and confirmed it was AYHTDWS on Tumblr.
She later says this: This song was inspired by a weird dream that I had [...] I was trying to talk to someone, a very important person to me at the time, and all that would come out of my mouth instead of normal words was this very high-pitched saying “Stay.” No matter what I was trying to say, that was the only sound that would come out of my mouth. I woke up incredibly weirded out and decided that I was going to write it into a song. And I’d already been working on this one sound, so it ended up being the perfect kind of weird vocal part that really completed this song that I am so stoked about. (source)
January 15, 2013: Taylor writes How You Get the Girl (source)
“The song ‘How You Get The Girl’ is a song that I wrote about how you get the girl back if you ruined the relationship somehow and she won’t talk to you anymore. Like, if you broke up with her and left her on her own for six months and then you realize you miss her. All the steps you have to do to edge your way back into her life, because she’s probably pretty mad at you. So it’s kind of a tutorial. If you follow the directions in the song, chances are things will work out. Or you may get a restraining order.” (source)
January 26, 2013: Taylor and Harry are both staying at the same hotel in Cannes, separately, for the NRJ Awards (source).
“It was very carefully timed so they didn’t do the carpet at the same time,” the insider said “Taylor didn’t do any backstage interviews and didn’t use a dressing room. She changed at the hotel because she didn’t want to see Harry at any point. “Things were timed to keep them apart and for it to not become a big media circus.”
February 10, 2013: Taylor mocks Harry’s accent at the Grammys (source).
When asked for a comment, Harry said: “She knows what she’s doing on stage. It was just another good Taylor Swift performance.”
February 21, 2013: Taylor performs WANEGBT at the BRIT Awards; Harry is spotted clapping for her. Asked about the possibility of running into her, Harry responded:
“I’m not worried about seeing her at all. She’s a sweet girl, you know. I don’t have a bad word to say about her.” Ed Sheeran joked about his awkward position at the ceremony: “I’m like Switzerland. If you talk to one about the other, the drama starts!”
Taylor hangs out at the afterparty with musician Tom Odell, and goes on a date with him the next day. Their date is at the Groucho Club in Soho, at which Harry is a regular patron. Odell later writes a song about her called “country star”.
February 22, 2013: Taylor talks to the Sunday Times:
Marsh asked Swift about her passionate rendition of "I Knew You Were Trouble," in which she ripped off a wedding dress mid-song. Styles, who accepted the BRITs global success award with One Direction, was seated in the audience. "I tell her I think I would die if I had to perform in front of my ex-boyfriend," Marsh wrote. "Well," Swift replied, without naming names, "it's not hard to access that emotion when the person the song is directed at is standing by the side of the stage watching."
in response to "How many chances should a man have?":
“One. I don’t like to scream and yell and I don’t like it to get messy. And I don’t like to have the phase of, ‘Oh, we’re still talking all the time, but we don’t know where we are.’ ” She rolls her eyes at the patheticness of boys. She likes a quote from a book she’s read recently: “There’s really no sound quite as loud as a phone not ringing, a letter unanswered.” She has no time for commitment-phobes. “I don’t quite understand it, because I either want to be with you or I don’t… And we’re not going to mess things up by, like, accidentally making out. I really don’t feel like pursuing something that isn’t real or isn’t going somewhere, so if it’s established that someone’s commitment-phobic, I’m sorry – go be commitment-phobic with someone else. Because I’m not trying to scare you, I’m not pointing a gun at you; I’m offering to be with you.”
May 28 - June 2, 2013: Taylor writes I Wish You Would (source). In secret sessions, she mentions that she wrote this after an ex bought a house in LA close to hers. this is a summary of a 1989 secret sessioner's recollection of what Taylor said about the track:
taylor said that after a couple of months after her and harry broke up, and they decided to become friends again, and she said this was the first time she had become friends with an ex to the point where they were comfortable enough to talk about why the relationship didnt work out. and he said how, after they broke up, he bought a house literally one road adjacent to hers. and every day he would drive home, and accidentally turn into her street, and told her how he just wanted to stop at her house and see her, but he never did. and she said this song is about while he was in the car making the decision to get out the car and see her, she was sitting in her bedroom, wishing he would make the move and go back to her and just pitch up at her house. she compared it to a classic movie where both parties want the same thing but neither has the guts to say anything. and that’s why the song has the lyrics of “driving straight ahead,” opposed to taking the left turn to see her.
August 25, 2013: Taylor and Harry both attend the VMAs together. Harry is spotted checking her out. He seemingly texts her during the show, as Taylor receives a message that she shows Selena. They’re pictured together later at the afterparty. Liam later says he, Ed, Harry, and Taylor sang Purple Rain together that night (source).
August 27, 2013: Harry is asked about Taylor by Access Hollywood, he says she's a "great songwriter" (source).
September - October 2013: Taylor writes Out of the Woods (source)
September 28 - October 5, 2013: Taylor writes Wildest Dreams (source)
November 16, 2013: Harry says he and Taylor are friends on Jonathon Ross (source)
November 17, 2013: Taylor is house hunting in northwest London close to where Harry lives (source).
November 18, 2013: Courtney Cox hangs out with Taylor and Harry at a big group hangout in LA, she follows both of them on Twitter shortly afterwards.
November 19, 2013: Taylor writes Blank Space (source)
November 19, 2013: Taylor posts these emo F. Scott Fitzgerald quotes. I think that they're probably off again at this point, especially since Harry steps out with Kendall shortly after.
November 20, 2013: Harry has dinner with Kendall Jenner.
November 21, 2013: Taylor tweets this:
I'm feeling further, feeling further from you every day You're in the stars, in the stars, yeah You're worlds away I'm moving on, moving on, then I hear you say Hold on, hold on We're losing light, losing light, yeah We're fading fast We had a fire, need a spark, or we'll never last Just look at me, look at me, I've been burning for you So long, so long I should walk away I'm losing love, losing you, losing everythin Losing faith in the world where I wanna be So I don't care if the one thing that's killing me Is so wrong, so wrong
November 24, 2013: They both attend the AMAs. Taylor wears a gold dress that was also worn by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for One Direction's Glamour shoot. (source)
November 25, 2013: Midnight Memories is released. Something Great is speculated to be about Taylor, it was cowritten by Jacknife Lee, Harry, and Gary Lightbody.
One day you'll come into my world and say it all You say we'll be together even when you're lost One day you'll say these words I've thought but never said You say we're better off together in our bed I want you here with me Like how I pictured it So I don't have to keep imagining Come on, jump out at me Come on, bring everything Is it too much to ask for something great? The script was written and I could not change a thing I want to rip it all to shreds and start again One day I'll come into your world and get it right I'll say we're better off together here tonight
December 13, 2013: On Taylor's birthday, Harry tweets:
Better still, be my winding wheel.
January 1, 2014: Taylor writes Say Don’t Go (source).
January 1, 2014: Harry and Kendall go skiing together (source).
January 6, 2014: Taylor starts looking for apartments in NYC.
“Dating is awful. Love is fiction/a myth. I’m over it all.” Note: this could be about the Harry/Kendall of it all, but she was also rumored to have gone on a date or two with Evan Spiegel (Snapchat CEO who later marries Miranda Kerr) during this time…so who knows?
January 22, 2014: Taylor writes I Know Places (source).
“I had this idea of like, when you’re in love, along the lines of 'Out of the Woods’, it’s very precious, it’s fragile. As soon as the world gets ahold of it, whether it’s your friends or people around town hear about it… it’s kind of like the first thing people want to do when they hear that people are in love is just kind of try to ruin it. I kind of was in a place where I was like, ‘No one is gonna sign up for this. There are just too many cameras pointed at me. There are too many ridiculous elaborations on my life. It’s just not ever gonna work.‘ But I decided to write a love song, just kind of like, ‘What would I say if I met someone really awesome and they were like, hey, I’m worried about all this attention you get?’ So I wrote this song called ‘I Know Places’ about, ‘Hey, I know places we can hide. We could outrun them.’ I’m so happy that it sounds like the urgency that it sings.” (source)
January 23, 2014: Taylor writes Welcome to New York (source). Harry drops by the studio.
Tedder says that sometimes he doesn’t even have to do much for an artist. For this track off Swift’s album “1989,” the pop star came prepared with a concept and lyrics to work on, and Tedder brought in a Juno-106 keyboard for the song’s quintessential ‘80s sound. He remembers the day well because Swift’s ex-boyfriend Harry Styles happened to show up at the studio.“I’m friends with Harry and Taylor, and Harry was texting me, saying, ‘Hey, I hear you’re at [the studio], what are you doing here?’ ” says Tedder. “And I was like, ‘I’m with Taylor.’ And then he’s like, ‘Oh.’ And Taylor was like, ‘Was that Harry? Did he just walk by the studio?’ I was like, ‘Oh, s–t.’ It was a little awkward,” says Tedder. “I won’t go any deeper than that because I don’t want any retribution.” (source)
February 11, 2014: Taylor posts a video of her chopping her hair into the infamous bob - you can vaguely see someone who looks like Harry when she pans over the crowd assembled.
February 13, 2014: Taylor posts this Shirley Temple quote on Instagram:
There's nothing like real love. Nothing.
February 19, 2014: Taylor writes Style (source). She says this later to Ryan Seacrest about the track:
“Well, it’s basically kind of one of those relationships that’s always a bit off. If the song is about kind of a…I talk about in another song on the record a crooked love, which is kind of like never quite synced up right. And the two people are trying to forget each other and they’ve both been out with other people and they’ve both tried to forget the other and so it’s like “Alright, I heard you went off with her and you came back. Well, I’ve done that too, so.” That’s what that line means.”
February 24, 2014: Harry and Kendall are reported to have broken up. (source). Given that they split shortly after Taylor writes Style, I think that Taylor and Harry are probably talking again at this point.
March 4, 2014: Sierra from Alex & Sierra posts a photo of Meredith at Taylor’s home (source). Harry is the alleged writer of their song “I Love You”, rumored to be about Taylor.
March 2014: Harry buys a house in LA about 10 minutes away from Taylor's. This is when the news becomes public, but I think either a) the deal went through earlier, since this seemingly inspired I Wish You Would, which was written in the summer of 2013, or b) I Wish You Would was started but not completed until around this time.
April 29, 2014: Matty Healy’s mom says he’s writing a song for One Direction. Yeah. I know.
June 18, 2014: Taylor adopts Olivia. She goes with Steph Smith to pick up the cat. Steph follows both Taylor and Harry on this day. Some people think Harry was there too, I doubt it, I just think they talked about him.
Mid To Late 2014: Taylor writes Now That We Don’t Talk (source)
September 8, 2014: Taylor talks to Rolling Stone about 1989 and Harry.
Swift prides herself on never explicitly saying whom her songs are about, and she’s not going to start with this one. Yes, she sprinkles clues in her liner notes and makes winking references onstage, but she tries to keep them obscure enough to maintain some modicum of mystery (or at least plausible deniability). She’s so disciplined on this front that she won’t even say any of her ex-boyfriends’ names out loud – so when she does slip up, even in the most innocent way possible, it’s highly entertaining.
Swift is still talking about “Bad Blood” when she starts to explain why she wants everyone to know it’s about a female. “I know people will make it this big girl-fight thing,” she says. “But I just want people to know it’s not about a guy. You don’t want to shade someone you used to date and make it seem like you hate him, when that’s not the case. And I knew people would immediately be going in one direction—” As she suddenly realizes that she just accidentally referenced her ex-boyfriend’s band, Swift goes white. She buries her face in her hands. “Why?!” she howls, cracking up. It’s a classic Taylor Swift Surprised Face, only for real this time.
Swift won’t say much about her relationship with Styles, other than that they’re now friends. But talking to her, it seems clear that many of the songs on 1989 that are about a guy are about him. There’s “I Wish You Would,” about an ex who bought a house two blocks from hers (whom she implies was Styles). And “All You Had to Do Was Stay,” about a guy who was never willing to commit (ditto). Then there’s the song that sets a new high-water mark for Swiftian faux secrecy – a sexy Miami Vice-sounding throwback about a guy with slicked-back hair and a white T-shirt and a girl in a tight little skirt that is called – no joke – “Style.” (She allows herself a satisfied grin. “We should have just called it ‘I’m Not Even Sorry.'”)
For a couple whose every move was so thoroughly documented, it’s kind of shocking to think that something as newsworthy as a trip to the emergency room wouldn’t have wound up on the Internet. “You know what I’ve found works even better than an NDA?” says Swift. “Looking someone in the eye and saying, ‘Please don’t tell anyone about this.'” Even so, it’s impressive: The most top-secret hospital visit would necessarily involve three or four witnesses – and none of them talked?
Swift says that’s sort of her point. “People think they know the whole narrative of my life,” she says. “I think maybe that line is there to remind people that there are really big things they don’t know about.”
Of all the songs on the album that seem to be about Styles, the most intriguing one is “Out of the Woods.” Co-written by Antonoff, it’s a frantic tale of a relationship where, Swift says, “every day was a struggle. Forget making plans for life – we were just trying to make it to next week.” The most interesting part comes when Swift sings, “Remember when you hit the brakes too soon/Twenty stitches in a hospital room.” She says it was inspired by a snowmobile ride with an ex who lost control and wrecked it so badly that she saw her life flash before her eyes. Both of them had to go to the ER, although Swift wasn’t hurt. She corrects herself: “Not as hurt.”
October 30, 2014: Taylor says she and Harry are really close friends now (source).
November 10, 2014: Harry is asked about Taylor writing about him. He says this (and Taylor later likes a post about it on Tumblr):
"We write from personal experience, and I think everyone does, so it would be hypocritical of us to be like, 'Oh you can’t write about us,' And she's really good, so they’re good songs, " adding, "I’m really lucky in that sense." (source)
November 19, 2014: Taylor and Harry are spotted at a 1975 concert in LA. Yes. I know. (source)
November 19, 2014: US Weekly reports they’re “pals” now (source)
November 23, 2014: Harry whistles and claps for Taylor at the AMAs as she accepts an award (source and source). Taylor dances to Night Changes in the crowd (source). Harry says Shake It Off is a great song (source).
December 2, 2014: Both Harry and Taylor are at the VS fashion show afterparty.
The former duo were spotted sitting at the same table and dancing with friends at the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show afterparty, one year after the height of their romance (source).
December 5, 2014: Taylor is spotted at the 1975 show. (I bring this up because around this time, Matty starts mildly beefing with One Direction.)
“I was at the after party for the 1975 tonight at the Box in NYC, the whole band was there except for Matty. From no fewer than three members (George, John, Ross) and a number of groupies/hangers on, this was because he was "back at the hotel f**king Taylor Swift". Thought you might enjoy this, for what its worth I didn't spot her at the concert with the rest of us who were VIP, but he's not really the type to skip out on a party unless there is something else on offer.” (source)
December 9, 2014: Kendall and Cara sleep over at Taylor's Tribeca loft. (Cara is ALSO an ex of Harry's, but Taylor and Cara had been friends for a few years at this point.) (source)
December 10, 2014: Kendall and Taylor help Gigi put up Christmas lights (source)
December 12, 2014: Kendall and Cara are spotted with Harry at the British Fashion Awards
December 29, 2014: Taylor gives this interview about Style.
“The song is actually about those relationships that are never really done. You always kind of have that one person. That one person who you feel might interrupt your wedding and be like “Don't do it because we’re not over yet.”(source)
January 14, 2015: Both Harry and Taylor are at Caleb Followill’s birthday. They go to a diner afterwards. Harry tweets "Serendipity" the following morning (source).
February 13, 2015: Taylor releases the Style music video. The paper airplane necklace is featured (source). She's also wearing the same dress in one frame as she did when she went with Harry to the tattoo parlor.
October 16, 2015: One Direction releases Perfect, which was written by Harry. It contains the following lyrics:
But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms And if you like having secret little rendezvous If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do Then baby, I'm perfect Baby, I'm perfect for you And if you like midnight driving with the windows down And if you like going places we can't even pronounce If you like to do whatever you've been dreaming about Then baby, you're perfect Baby, you're perfect So let's start right now
And if you like cameras flashing every time we go out Oh, yeah And if you're looking for someone to write your break-up songs about Baby, I'm perfect Baby, we're perfect
November 14, 2015: Harry is asked about the song Perfect by James Corden. He says this:
“I think the thing with songwriting is that everybody writes from personal experience. It’s not always necessarily about what it sounds like it’s about, and sometimes it is. I think it’s open to interpretation.” (source)
May 17, 2015: Harry watches Taylor and Calvin at the BBMAs. The other members of One Direction go to Taylor’s afterparty, Harry does not. It is rumored that his song “Woman” is about this night (lyrics below).
I'm selfish, I know But I don't ever want to see you with him I'm selfish, I know I told you, but I know you never listen I hope you can see, the shape that I'm in While he's touching your skin He's right where I should, where I should be But you're making me bleed
This is a gif of them accepting their award, Harry is seemingly trying very hard to avoid making eye contact with Taylor and Calvin who are seated directly in front of him (both of them gave the band a standing ovation when they went up to accept their award). (source)
December 31, 2015: Taylor releases the Out of the Woods music video. She wears a blue dress similar to the one she wore in that infamous picture leaving the Virgin Islands, and at one point, tears off a necklace and throws it away (source).
February 1, 2016: Harry tweets this:
February 9, 2016: The interviewer goes on to tell Matty that 1D’s last album ‘Made In The A.M.’ is “basically a game of pop history name-that-tune”, to which he responds:
“They’re four guys who queued up outside an arena to sing in front of Simon Cowell. Do they really have any artistic credibility? That sounds like a mean thing to say, but it’s a good question. Like, do they? They’re nice guys.”
April 18, 2017: Harry covers Rolling Stone
He was surprised, he says, when photos from Central Park rocketed around the world. “When I see photos from that day,” he says, “I think: Relationships are hard, at any age. 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’s well aware that at least two of Swift’s songs – “Out of the Woods” and “Style” – are considered to be about their romance. (“You’ve got that long hair slicked back, white T-shirt,” she sang in “Style.”) “I mean, I don’t know if they’re about me or not …” he says, attempting gallant discretion, “but the issue is, she’s so good, they’re bloody everywhere.” He smiles. “I write from my experiences; everyone does that. 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. I’m never going to tell anybody everything.” (Fans wondered whether “Perfect,” a song Styles co-wrote for One Direction, might have been about Swift: “And if you like cameras flashing every time we go out/And if you’re looking for someone to write your breakup songs about/Baby, I’m perfect.”)
Was he able to tell her that he admired the songs? “Yes and no,” he says after a long pause. “She doesn’t need me to tell her they’re great. They’re great songs … It’s the most amazing unspoken dialogue ever.”
Is there anything he’d want to say to Swift today? “Maybe this is where you write down that I left!” He laughs, and looks off. “I don’t know,” he finally says. “Certain things don’t work out. There’s a lot of things that can be right, and it’s still wrong. In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together. You’re celebrating the fact it was powerful and made you feel something, rather than ‘this didn’t work out, and that’s bad.’ And if you run into that person, maybe it’s awkward, maybe you have to get drunk … but you shared something. Meeting someone new, sharing those experiences, it’s the best shit ever. So thank you.”
May 12, 2017: Harry dodges a question about whether Two Ghosts is about Taylor on BBC Radio 1 (source).
May 12, 2017: Harry's debut album is released.
Two Ghosts is speculated to be about Taylor:
Same lips red, same eyes blue Same white shirt, couple more tattoos But it's not you and it's not me Tastes so sweet, looks so real Sounds like something that I used to feel But I can't touch what I see We're not who we used to be We're not who we used to be We're just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat The fridge light washes this room white Moon dances over your good side This was all we used to need Tongue-tied like we've never known Telling those stories we already told 'Cause we don't say what we really mean
As is Meet Me in the Hallway:
Just let me know I'll be at the door, at the door Hoping you'll come around Just let me know I'll be on the floor, on the floor Maybe we'll work it out I gotta get better, gotta get better I gotta get better, gotta get better I gotta get better, gotta get better And maybe we'll work it out I walked the streets all day Running with the thieves 'Cause you left me in the hallway Give me some more Just take the pain away
And From the Dining Table:
Woke up alone in this hotel room Played with myself, where were you? Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon I've never felt less cool We haven't spoke since you went away Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won't you ever be the first one to break? Even my phone misses your call, by the way I saw your friend that you know from work He said you feel just fine I see you gave him my old t-shirt More of what was once mine I see it's written, it's all over his face Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won't you ever say what you want to say? Even my phone misses your call, by the way Maybe one day you'll call me and tell me that you're sorry, too Maybe one day you'll call me and tell me that you're sorry, too Maybe one day you'll call me and tell me that you're sorry, too But you, you never do Woke up the girl who looked just like you I almost said your name We haven't spoke since you went away Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won't you ever say what you want to say? Even my phone misses your call We haven't spoke since you went away Comfortable silence is so overrated Why won't you ever say what you want to say? Even my phone misses your call, by the way
May 2018: Harry covers GQ Australia.
"Styles has known Winston for years, heeds his advice, trusts his advice from the outside, in. Styles even lived in his loft in Hampstead Health for a short period for time; providing a shelter away from the press and public at a time when the band were bigger than Coca-Cola. (There's a good story about Winston's wife bumping into a very naked, very blonde, very famous pop star making toast downstairs one morning if you ever get a chance to ask.)"
January 2019: Harry and Taylor both attend Ed Sheeran's wedding (source)
March 2, 2020: Harry talks about Taylor writing songs about him on Howard Stern:
"I think about what it means to me to write a song about somebody else and for somebody else to do that, it's like flattering, even if the song isn't that flattering, you still spent time on it and ultimately, using Taylor as an example, she's a great songwriter. So at least they're good songs," he said. (source)
March 14, 2021: Harry and Taylor talk at the Grammys. She was also the first person to stand when he won (source).
May 25, 2022: Harry sings a bit of 22 at his show in London
February 5, 2023: Harry and Taylor talk at the Grammys again. When someone heckles him during his AOTY speech, Taylor immediately stands up in support of Harry. (source)
"Taylor and Harry have no issues and they are friendly," the source tells ET. "Taylor thinks Harry is such a talented artist and has nothing but respect for him. Their relationship was a long time ago, and Taylor has moved on and is very happy in her relationship with Joe [Alwyn]. She has matured as a person and things are peaceful and good between them."
