This isn't folklore: Joe Alwyn is a Grammy winner.
While the British star is most known for his acting roles in The Favourite and the upcoming series Conversations With Friends, he became a professional songwriter during lockdown, collaborating with his longtime girlfriend Taylor Swift on her albums folklore and evermore. And when folklore won Album of the Year at the 2020 Grammys, Alwyn—who co-wrote and co-produced songs "betty" and "exile" under the pseudonym William Bowery—scored a trophy.
"That was a surreal bonus of lockdown," he told The Guardian in a new interview. "That's an understatement."
As Alwyn explained to the outlet, he and Swift hadn't planned on working together, it came about organically. "It wasn't like, 'It's 5 o'clock, it's time to try and write a song together,'" he shared. "It came about from messing around on a piano, and singing badly, then being overheard, and being, like, 'Let's see what happens if we get to the end of it together.'"
"I mean fun is such a stupid word, but it was a lot of fun," he continued. "And it was never a work thing, or a 'Let's try and do this because we're going to put this out' thing. It was just like baking sourdough in lockdown."
And as for that Grammy? As Alwyn noted, that was a "ridiculous bonus."
Swift, 32, and Alwyn, 31, have been going strong since the start of their relationship in 2016. In fact, the superstar singer has penned a few tracks about their romance—including one about being in a love with a "London Boy."
However, when it comes to discussing their love story in interviews, the couple tends to be more tight-lipped. "If I had a pound for every time I think I've been told I've been engaged, then I'd have a lot of pound coins," Alwyn told WSJ. Magazine earlier this month. "I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn't say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn't say."
So, fans will have to wait and see if Swift shares those delicate details in her future songs.