Taylor Swift Fans Think Patient Zero Is About Joe Alwyn Taylor Swift releases four new songs on The Life Of A Showgirl: The Encore, and fans believe Patient Zero references her past relationship with Joe Alwyn. Taylor Swift, the billionaire popstar, 36, released four new songs on Friday as part of The Life Of A Showgirl: The Encore, an extended edition of her 2025 album. The new tracks are Patient Zero, Pink Clouding, Babylon, and Cleveland! The final song appears to reference her new husband Travis Kelce's hometown of Ohio. However, fans are convinced that Patient Zero, a single about a toxic former relationship, is about her romance with Joe Alwyn. Swift and Alwyn dated for six years from 2017 until early 2023, marking her longest and arguably most low-key relationship to date. There were rumours of an engagement, but neither Swift nor Alwyn publicly confirmed the reports.Fans Speculate Patient Zero Targets Joe AlwynFans believe Patient Zero documents their romance, with Swift seemingly singing about a social-climbing ex. The single shares similarities with her 2022 track You're Losing Me, widely believed to be about Alwyn, which referenced medical terminology, while Patient Zero features a pulse sound in the background. You're Losing Me includes the lyrics about losing a pulse and a heart that won't start, echoing Patient Zero's lines about toxins taking hold and a reluctance to let go.Patient Zero also parallels another track believed to be about Alwyn, 2019's Cruel Summer, in which she referred to him as grinning like a devil. In Patient Zero, she sings about the devil on his shoulder under his halo. Other lyrics reference an ex stepping into the spotlight after dating her, with English actor Alwyn relatively unknown outside the UK before their romance.She sings about him bursting into life like fireworks, saying I love you first, and charming family and friends not because he loves you but because he loves how everybody loves him. She adds that he shines bright but is bathing in your reflected light on a free social climb.Music Video and Fan ReactionsThe music video for Patient Zero stars Irish actor Colin Farrell and actress Dakota Johnson. Ireland has links to her relationship with Alwyn because the couple stayed in Dublin while he filmed the series Conversations With Friends. They are also said to have spent 50,000 pounds renting Glin Castle in County Limerick for a romantic Christmas getaway over six days in 2018.Taking to X/Twitter after the single's release, fans speculated the single is about Alwyn, who is now rumoured to be dating Love Story actress Sarah Pidgeon. Fans wrote that Patient Zero is straight up dissing Joe Alwyn and that Taylor is calling him a devil disguised as an angel, an emotional parasite who uses women's shine to climb socially. They added that she presents herself as patient zero, the first victim of that disease.Other fan comments included that Patient Zero is fucking Joe Alwyn shade and that streets are saying it is basically a diss track that warns Sarah Pidgeon about Joe Alwyn.Joe Alwyn Breaks Silence on SplitBack in 2024, Alwyn, who is notoriously private about his personal life, broke his silence about his split from Swift, describing his time with the popstar as long, loving, and fully committed. When asked if he listened to her album The Tortured Poets Department, which was rumoured to be about their breakup, Alwyn said he would think and hope that anyone and everyone can empathize. He added that this isn't a direct answer to the question, but just thinking about what he wants to talk about. He hoped that anyone and everyone can empathise and understand the difficulties that come with the end of a long, loving, fully committed relationship of over six and a half years.Patient Zero will have its official premiere at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, September 27.