Taylor Swift fans are trying to work out who the mysterious William Bowery is

While there were no obvious clues planted before the album dropped, fans have still gone into detective mode

Taylor Swift and her partner, Joe Alwyn, in 2019 (Rex)

Taylor Swift released her eighth album, the critically acclaimed Folklore, almost without warning.

The record was announced on 23 July via Swift’s social media channels, just 17 hours before it actually dropped.

Previous album campaigns have been littered with Easter eggs, clues and hidden meanings that dedicated Swift fans (Swifties) have made it their mission to uncover.

Even now, without those breadcrumb trails before the album release, they’re discovering points of intrigue surrounding what many are hailing as Swift’s best album to date.

One of the biggest questions to emerge (so far) is the identity of the mysterious William Bowery, who is credited on two of the 16 songs on the album: “Exile” and “Betty”.

Fans have two lead theories as to who is behind the name. One is Swift’s own brother, Austin, who is widely believed to have been behind a cover of her song “Look What You Made Me Do”, performed by the invented band, Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club.

However, fans seem more convinced that William Bowery is Swift’s boyfriend, the actor Joe Alwyn.

They noted that Swift and Austin have been seen together at the Bowery Hotel in New York City, and attended a party there after a Kings of Leon gig. One intrepid fan claimed to have learnt that Alwyn’s great-grandfather, a music teacher and composer, was called William.

https://simpaticoswift.tumblr.com/post/624443774249189376/who-is-william-bowery-a-theory

In “Exile”, Swift references her lover being her “crown”, possibly referencing Alwyn’s role in the Oscar-winning film, The Favourite, or as a play on the Kings of Leon show. There are multiple references to film screenings in “Exile”, and also a lyric that says: “You were my town.”

On her album Lover, Swift sings praises for London, where Alwyn is from, on “London Boy”. She also refers to herself as “New York City” and Alwyn as “the West Village” in “False God”.

While fans continue to speculate, you can read what the critics are saying about Folklore here.