Taylor Swift Reveals Origin Behind Boyfriend Joe Alwyn's "William Bowery" Pseudonym

Taylor Swift talked to Jimmy Kimmel about boyfriend Joe Alwyn using the pseudonym "William Bowery" for his songwriting work on albums folklore and evermore.

By Ryan Gajewski Dec 15, 2020 8:03 AMTags
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Taylor Swift has got a blank space, baby, and she'll write your name—even if it's not your actual name.

The music superstar guested on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday, Dec. 14, where host Jimmy Kimmel wanted to know the backstory behind her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, getting credited as "William Bowery" for the songwriting work he did on Taylor's two surprise 2020 albums, folklore and evermore

"Your boyfriend wrote some of the lyrics to some of the songs under a pseudonym, William Bowery," Kimmel said during the interview clip, seen below in the video. "Who chose that name? Did you choose that, or did he?"

Taylor took a beat before answering, as it appeared that she was hesitant to divulge anything about the mysterious pen name. Ultimately, she replied, "He did."

Jimmy then did his due diligence by asking if there is a meaning to that specific name choice.

"You gotta ask him because it's really more his story than mine," she demurred. The 31-year-old Grammy winner was then about to add to this by starting to say, "But yeah, he does a lot of ..." but she couldn't finish the sentence before the host cut her off with a joke. C'mon, Jimmy, know your place. 

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Taylor had previously confirmed speculation about the mysterious songwriter during her concert film folklore: the long pond studio sessions, which debuted on Disney+ on Nov. 25. William Bowery is credited with co-writing "exile" and "betty" on folklore, along with "champagne problems," "coney island," and the titular track on the recently released evermore