It's only been six weeks since Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris split, but it's safe to say that a lot has happened in that time.
It seemed that things had ended amicably, with Calvin confirming the news of the breakup with this tweet – which Taylor then retweeted.
And as Hiddleswift continue their world tour, Calvin was seemingly shading her on social media, by posting snaps of him hanging out with other women, alongside dubious captions like this. 😏
But there's a new layer to all this post-breakup behaviour that is very interesting.
There's been a lot of speculation over recent weeks that Taylor actually wrote Calvin's chart-topping single, "This Is What You Came For."
And now the rumours have been confirmed, with a spokesperson for Taylor telling People: "Taylor Swift wrote "This Is What You Came For" under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg."
So let's look at all the evidence that pointed right to this fact.
The speculation began when the songwriting credits appeared on Wikipedia. The first entry stated that Taylor Swift was a co-writer. However, this was deleted and replaced with a different writer – Nils Sjöberg.
Now, obviously, Wikipedia isn't the most reliable of sources. However, when you search the name "Nils Sjöberg," you will find only a couple of results.
Searching for "Nils Sjöberg songwriter" turns up ABSOLUTELY NO RESULTS. But when you search "Nils Sjöberg alias," things get even more interesting.
What appears is this Tumblr – belonging to an artist. One post features a sketch of himself and Taylor, with a comment underneath saying that Taylor uses him as an alias when writing songs.
Then there was this tweet – from Calvin Harris's longtime collaborator, John Newman, which was posted when Calvin announced this new collaboration with Rihanna. Which, for no reason at all, also mentions Taylor Swift.
However, this tweet was quickly deleted, with Taylor removed from the post.
This is my favourite @CalvinHarris track ever made, one of the best pop songs i have heard @rihanna https://t.co/2V5XQjzWFG
Why would Taylor have even been mentioned in the first place? And why was her name mysteriously deleted in the re-uploaded tweet? Because she wrote it.
Then comes the fact that immediately after the song dropped, a link to purchase it appeared on Taylor's official website.
Then came the theory that Taylor's vocals even appear on the song.
View this video on YouTube
And it does sound as though Taylor's voice is spliced with Rihanna's in the repetitive "Oohs" in the song, specifically at these points in the song – 0:35, 0:39, 0:43, 1:21, 1:25, 1:29, 2:39, 2:43, 2:47, 3:41, 3:44, and 3:48.
all the you-ou-ous in "this is what you came for" are taylor swift and not rihanna. don't @ me.
And this would make sense if it's really true that Taylor wrote the song at her piano and used voice notes to send the song to Calvin.
This detail is especially interesting, seeing as Taylor has spoken on numerous occasions about using this technique of recording voice notes and sending them to collaborators.
According to TMZ this is exactly what happened. Apparently he immediately loved the track, so they both went into the studio to record a demo, with Taylor doing the vocals. They then decided not to release the song as a joint effort, worrying that the attention on them as a couple would overshadow the song.
But now reports have surfaced suggesting that Taylor and Calvin actually ended up splitting over the song – after Calvin categorically denied in an interview that they'd even discussed working together.
Whether or not that part is true, the fact that this news has broken in among the confusion around Hiddleswift has made our brains explode.
