On Thursday, People.com published an exclusive interview with Lucy Dacus about her new album, Forever Is a Feeling; her “new pal” Chappell Roan; and whether or not the “Lucy” mentioned in Taylor Swift‘s 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department is her.
“I think it’s fair game to say ‘yes,”‘ Dacus said of the name drop. “She actually texted me and asked for my approval.” I’m very notably not a Swiftie, but I am a big fan of consent, so this is a heartening news item regardless!
Dacus is mentioned on the titular track, which contains a number of Swiftian, thinly veiled allusions to 1975 frontman Matty Healy, with whom Swift had a brief romance in 2014 and again in 2023. Given Dacus and Healy were friends (at one time, anyway), the mention makes sense. For reference, here are the lyrics in question:
”Sometimes, I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me/ But you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave/ And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen/ Everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be/ Cause we’re crazy.”
“This is the first Taylor record to come out since meeting her, and listening to a friend’s record feels so much different than a stranger’s record,” Dacus said. “So I was like, ‘This is really weird. This voice that I’ve heard basically what feels like my whole waking life saying my name.'” Fair! (However, I personally would love to be name-dropped—even as an accessory to a simp—in a song from an artist I’ve been listening to for the length of my life.)
“It was definitely an experience,” Dacus added. “I sat down and I was like, ‘Huh. Wow.’ But I think that that record of hers is super open-hearted, and I don’t know how many people at her level, if anyone is at her level, are writing from the heart that openly.”
Meanwhile, Dacus did not elaborate further on her (former?) friendship with Healy. However, I think we all can use our imaginations as to how that one ended. Remember when Healy mentioned her in an utterly humorless ableist joke about her band, boygenius? “I told Lucy Dacus that ‘Boygenius’ had inspired me and George to start a new band called ‘Girlretard.’ I don’t really hear from her that often.” (Presumably, that’s a namedrop of George Daniel, his 1975 bandmate—and Charli XCX‘s longtime partner.)
Hours later, Dacus succinctly responded: “You don’t hear from me at all.” Healy deleted his Twitter account shortly thereafter.
I mean, you really have to give it up f0r her at this point…
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- Ariana Grande just dropped new music. [Just Jared]
- If you are also obsessed with Adolescence, read this interview with creator Stephen Graham and his producing partner, co-star, and wife. [Variety]
- Leo Woodall made “relationship merch” for Meghann Fahy, but in classic man fashion, he got the year wrong. [Us Magazine]
- I had to read about Jenna Bush Hager‘s sex life, now you do. [People]
- Welcome back to Aimée Anne Duffy (aka Duffy), who’s made her first public appearance after she was abducted a decade ago. [E! News]
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