It seems like forever and always ago that Taylor Swift [1] and Joe Jonas [2] dated, but their short-lived love story lives on through Swift's music catalogue. Swift and Jonas dated [3] and broke up right before her original "Fearless" album was released in 2008, and fans have long speculated that songs on both "Fearless" and "Speak Now" are about their romance. Those songs came back into the spotlight when Swift released "Fearless (Taylor's Version) in 2021 and "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" [4] this July. "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" features vault tracks [5] that she wrote during the original "Fearless" era that weren't released at the time, and two of the songs — "You All Over Me" and "Mr. Perfectly Fine" — seem to reference their doomed relationship.
But despite their acrimonious split at the time — and the lyrical vitriol Swift saved for her ex — the pair are friends now. Swift even hinted at this change of heart in her 2020 song "Invisible String," in which she sings: "Cold was the steel of my axe to grind / For the boys who broke my heart. / Now I send their babies presents." When Jonas and Sophie Turner welcomed their first child in 2020 [6], it was reported that Swift sent the family a gift [7].
And when Swift released "Mr. Perfectly Fine," Turner posted, "It's not NOT a bop @TaylorSwift," on her Instagram Story, per Us Weekly [8]. Swift reposted it and wrote, "Forever bending the knee for the [queen] of the north" — a reference to Turner's "Game of Thrones" character.
In May, Jonas reflected on where he and Swift stand after all their drama. "I'm cool with Taylor," he told Dax Shepard in the 22 May episode of Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast [9]. "We're cool." And when Shephard asked if he thinks Swift's fans have let go of their anger at him, Jonas said, "I hope to think they like me. No one f*cks with the Swifties, you know?" He admitted that the fans were mad at him at the time, but "it's been many, many years removed."
See which Swift songs fans believe are about Jonas ahead.
Is "Forever & Always" About Joe Jonas?
During an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" [11] in 2008, Swift confirmed that the "Fearless" track "Forever & Always" was about her short-lived romance with Jonas. She wrote the song as their relationship was on the decline and got a last-minute recording session so she could add it to the album. They eventually broke up a month before the album was released. During that interview, Swift told the TV host, "You know what? It's like when I find that person that is right for me and he'll be wonderful, and when I look at that person, I'm not even going to be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18."
In 2019, Swift returned to "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" [12] and said she regretted putting Jonas on blast during that episode 11 years earlier. "That was too much. Yeah, that was too much," she said. "I was 18. We laugh about it now. That was mouthy, yeah, teenage stuff there."