Taylor Swift Addresses Doing ‘Eras Tour’ Amid Joe Alwyn Heartbreak on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Taylor Swift made it look easy continuing with her Eras Tour performances after her split from Joe Alwyn made headlines in April 2023 — but that doesn’t mean it was.

In her song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” which is track No. 13 on The Tortured Poets Department, Swift, 34, admits that she was only pretending to be happy while reeling from the breakup.

“Cause I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my s—t / They said, ‘Baby, gotta fake it till you make it,’ and I did / Lights, camera, bitch, smile, even when you wanna die / He said he’d love me all his life,” Swift sings over the upbeat, synth-driven track.

The Grammy winner goes on to say she was “shattered while the crowd was chanting, ‘More.’”

The song serves as a peak behind the polished facade that Swift maintained on stage after she and Alwyn, 33, ended their six-year relationship.

“I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks, cause I can do it with a broken heart / I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday every day,” Swift sings. “I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague / I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art.”

The tune stands in stark contrast to a statement that Swift made during a May 2023 Eras Tour show in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

“I don’t know, I’ve just never been this happy in my life — in all aspects of my life — ever before,” she told the crowd. “And I just want to thank you for being a part of that. I don’t know. It’s not just the tour. My life finally feels like it makes sense.”

The comment came amid Swift’s brief romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, which Us Weekly confirmed came to an end in June 2023 after less than two months. It’s possible that “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” speaks to Swift’s feelings about ending things with Healy, 35, although the lyrics point to a long-term relationship as Swift sings about promises to “love me for all time” and “finding his things in drawers.”

Swift taking pride in putting on a great show for her fans, despite what’s going on in her personal life, is something she has spoken about before. During her December 2023 Time profile, the musician said, “I know I’m going on that stage whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable or stressed.”

She added, “That’s part of my identity as a human being now.”