Getty ImagesSo tell us how you really feel, Calvin Harris.
In what quickly became a chicken vs. egg quagmire of he-said-she-said-then-he-said-too-much, the truth has come pouring out of Harris—in spades—as it now becomes clear that he spouted a few non-truths a while back about his latest hit song, "This Is What You Came For."
Taylor Swift has officially been revealed as the writer of the tune, and while at first he seemed OK with that very straight-forward news, what may have been at least a month's worth of angst came out in one long stream of tweets.
But let's back up for a moment.
Yes, Swift penned the tune under her pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. But intrepid Internet detectives had figured that out weeks ago, even noticing that it sounded like Swift's voice was on the track (which it is).
A magical Wikipedia elf even added Swift's name as a co-writer to the song's Wikipedia page, but that was soon replaced by Sjöberg.
A source told E! News at the time that they had heard of Swift using that alias, and we've since been told that Swift used that alias because, duhs-ville, if her name had in any way been attached to the song it would've taken attention away from Harris, her boyfriend at the time when he cut the record with Rihanna.
Yet going against the seemingly most plausible hypothesis were two things, the first being that Harris' rep reportedly told Teen Vogue last month that Swift isn't a writer on the song.
Now, was that what it sounded like at the time, a denial that Swift was involved at all? Or in hindsight was that a crafty way of not denying the Nils-alias rumor because of the game plan previously agreed upon by all parties?
(Meanwhile, a rep for Harris tells E! News that no such statement was given to Teen Vogue—and when reached for comment, the publication directed us to an update to its June 23 story on the speculation that still contained reference to a denial from Harris' rep. Swift's rep has only commented to confirm the writing credit.)
And the second niggling point is that Harris flat-out told Ryan Seacrest on April 29 that he didn't foresee collaborating with Swift.
"You know, we haven't even spoken about it. I can't see it happening though. No. She's about to take a long break, you know?" the EDM artist said, in person, on KIIS-FM's On Air With Ryan Seacrest.
Just to give him the benefit of the doubt for a sec, was that also a non-denial denial in which they didn't plan on working together in the future because they already had worked together, "This Is What You Came For" having dropped that day, April 29? Or, perhaps, was Harris just giving an answer that he and Swift had agreed upon beforehand so as to not take away from Harris' big moment?
Maybe Harris never gave a second thought to how this might look after-the-fact (presuming he knew his mic was on and that his words weren't evaporating into the ether), because things were going so well between them it never occurred to him that this could come back to bite him.
The above remarks taken alone could also sound a little scorned in hindsight, like perhaps they had already broken up—particularly considering how, three days later, Swift was dancing up a storm with Tom Hiddleston at the 2016 Met Gala. And then there was all that weirdness with Harris' car accident that preceded the revelation on June 1 that they had broken up.
We were told the breakup occurred at least a week beforehand, and it was Harris' idea; but that timeline could theoretically be off by weeks, the last convincing evidence of their togetherness being the 2016 iHeart Radio Music Awards on April 4.
But Harris also told Seacrest this about traveling with Swift, and it sounded rather sweet: "She knows when it's time to leave me for a bit on my own before the show. She's super encouraging, and she kind of gets her vibe going with other people as well, you know. She can even cheer up my manager, which is an unbelievable feat! So it's fantastic having her around."
So that made it sound as though they were not broken up yet on April 29.
(Yes, this is starting to sound like Serial to us too.)
OK, so the breakup was public by June 1. Then, on June 15, The Sun published the first pics of the couple soon to be known as Hiddleswift canoodling on the beach near Swift's Rhode Island home. The world was so consumed with that, and the illogical procession of events that ensued at a more rapid-than-ever pace for Swift as far as her storied romantic history goes, that the split itself was quickly overshadowed, relegated to a minor plot point in the sweeping Taylor Swift-Tom Hiddleston extravaganza.
A source said that Harris was hurt by his ex's PDA parade with her new beau, and that seemed to match up with his Snapchat activity during that time ("Who else is feeling sexy and free today, man?" he narrated one video).
Then the video for "This Is What You Came For" came out June 17, and that's when the more pointed examination of those looking for clues—any clues at all!—turned up Swift's vocals and zoomed in on this Nils Sjöberg business. A pic of Harris and a bunch of girls with the caption "I write songs" made it clear that his social media M.O. wasn't changing in the meantime, while also conceivably serving as a sub-Snap refuting the theory.
Which brings us back to what we're dealing with now—i.e. the very real possibility that, even if the very public aspect of Swift's new relationship has nothing to do with her ex-boyfriend, Swift was still a woman scorned. If not from being dumped, then from being cast aside in Harris' interview.
So why is this all coming out now?
The song-writing theory about "This Is What You Came For" wasn't exactly the most pressing thing on the Internet's mind this week, what with Tom and Taylor being in Australia and all, but TMZ reported this morning that, not only did Swift write the first version of the song, but she was pissed about what he told Ryan Seacrest. (Meaning, in that version, they were not in on Harris' denial of a collaboration together and Harris was being shady, not cagey.)
Swift's rep then went ahead and confirmed on the record, first to People, not even that she co-wrote but just plain "wrote" the song. And we can confirm that she wrote the lyrics and the melody.
Now, Swift could've solved this mystery in one fell swoop weeks ago when the speculation first stared popping. Sure, she may have been a little busy, hot 'n' heavy 'n' globetrotting with her new boyfriend and all, but was the delay more calculated? Did she always plan in some way, perhaps not knowing exactly when, to get a little payback? Stick it to him juuuuust a bit, and twist?
With a song she had already written, for a change!
Actually, timing aside, this already was a poorly kept secret. Swift's hand was forced after she, rather graciously, didn't even take credit when the Internet came calling a few weeks ago.
And since Swift's truth jab today came shrouded in a glaring lack of drama, Harris' decision to unload on Twitter because TMZ reported that Taylor was mad at a two and a half month-old interview was...not entirely surprising, since he also deleted their amicable-split tweet after she went public with Tom Hiddleston, but still surprising enough because he's a grown-ass man.
Of course, every Twitter rant has its supporters.
Harris became the unwitting host of the "#TaylorSwiftIsOverParty" on Twitter, with guests including—almost certainly—Katy Perry lining up to give the DJ a virtual high five.
Perry then retweeted herself from May 9, 2015:
We all know that the Taylor Swift party is never-ending, so we don't foresee her taking this too hard. Either way, though, Swift has been called out—not in a thinly veiled fashion, not through subtweets, not in song. Directly.
But by taking such pains to call out his ex, did Harris just end up looking even more petty?
The ball is now back in Swift's court, and if we've learned anything it's that the wait for her next swing could be a long one. And in the meantime, Calvin Harris has made it pretty clear that he's starting to get burned out by the game.