Jake Gyllenhaal remembers it all too well. 

The scene: It’s November 2021, and Taylor Swift’s re-record of Red has just been released. To accompany the 10-minute version “All Too Well,” her emotional trainwreck of a song, Swift reveals a short film she directed starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. It is immediately and widely accepted that Gyllenhaal, who Swift dated for about 3 months from 2010-2011, is the villain of the story despite no direct confirmation from the singer herself. (Although, the evidence does add up…) 

Jokes and memes about a Gyllenhaal reckoning flood the internet alongside think pieces debating at what point an age gap is inappropriate. (Swift was 20 when they dated; he was 29.) The whereabouts of a certain scarf start trending. Even Dionne Warwick chimes in to the conversation, tweeting, “If that young man has Taylor’s scarf he should return it.”

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At the time, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t comment on the reaction—though he did turn off his Instagram comments, the only public sign that he’d received the loud-and-clear “fuck you” from Swift’s fanbase. But in a new interview with Esquire, published on February 17, the actor responds for the first time: “It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans,” he says. “It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.”

While Gyllenhaal claims the reaction hasn’t been hard on him, he does expand a bit more after the writer points out that the actor’s comments had been turned off. “At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name,” he says. “That begs for a deeper philosophical question. Not about any individual, per se, but a conversation that allows us to examine how we can—or should, even—take responsibility for what we put into the world, our contributions into the world. How do we provoke a conversation? We see that in politics. There’s anger and divisiveness, and it’s literally life-threatening in the extreme.” 

He continues, “My question is: Is this our future? Is anger and divisiveness our future? Or can we be empowered and empower others while simultaneously putting empathy and civility into the dominant conversation? That’s the discussion we should be having.” 

So there you have it: A vague roundabout response that, sorry, could have worked as a monologue for O’Brien’s character in the “All Too Well” short film. When life imitates art! And no, he hasn’t listened to the album. 

Iconic musical friend duo Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift have collaborated yet again, and when the video for their song drops, be on the lookout for some familiar faces.

For those late to the fandom (welcome, the water’s fine), Swift and Sheeran are longtime friends, with the former launching the latter to superstar status when she tapped him as the opener for the North American leg of her Red tour in 2013. A year prior, Swift released a song with Sheeran called “Everything Has Changed,” accompanied by a music video starring two little kids who looked like, well, smaller versions of the singers. Those kids were Ava Ames and Jack Lewis. 

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Ten years later, it seems Sheeran is taking a page out of Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) handbook, which just so happened to feature a re-recording of the song that started it all. Not only will Swift be featured on his upcoming song “The Joker and the Prince” off his latest album, Equals (read, “=”), the video will feature a bit of stunt casting that will make fans everywhere swoon. Yes, Ames and Lews are back. Except they’re not so little anymore. Guess you could say everything has changed.

Guess you could say everything has changed, though some (extremely light) stalking reveals that the kiddos did, in fact, keep in touch over the years, having a little “reunion” back in 2018. 

 Needless to say, the fans are obsessed with this sweet detail, along with the upcoming video as a whole. Will the storyline be a continuation of “Everything Has Changed”? Nostalgic or romantic? We love the Music Video Cinematic Universe, don’t we folks?

The full music video for “The Joker And The Queen” (feat. Taylor Swift) goes live on February 10. The fact that Valentine’s Day is coming up definitely doesn’t make me feel anything about any of this and I am totally not gonna cry, but thanks for checking!

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Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift have some drama in their history, but according to Entertainment Tonight, Kardashian is still a big fan of her music. 

In an interview on the Honestly With Bari Weiss podcast, Kardashian answered questions on her entrepreneurship, her journey to becoming a lawyer, and her music taste. Of course, she was asked about her ex Kanye West, and which of his albums is her favorite (spoiler alert: it’s Yeezus). She was also asked, “What’s your favorite Taylor Swift album?”

“I really like a lot of her songs,” Kardashian said on the podcast. “They’re all super cute and catchy. I’d have to look in my phone to get a name.”

The previous tension between Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian was surrounded by an infamous lyric in West’s song “Famous” relating to Swift. In 2016, Kardashian shared footage of a call between West and Swift about including a reference to her in the song. A series of subtle social media posts later, the drama seems to have just about fizzled out. As Kardashian put in a Twitter thread following the debacle, there are “more serious and important matters” to address. 

Taylor Swift favorites aside, during the interview, Kardashian was also asked who her favorite Saturday Night Live cast member is. “What a set-up! You know who it is,” she teased, seemingly alluding to her new beau Pete Davidson, who she’s reportedly exclusive with, as a source tells E! Online.

“They are really happy and seeing where it goes,” the source said. “Pete has told her he doesn’t want to see anyone else.” Kardashian reportedly feels the same, with the source continuing, “She is telling some people they aren’t super serious but she isn’t seeing anyone else…. She’s trying to not make a big deal about it but is super into him…. Kim is smitten over him and it’s very exciting to her.” 

Unfortunately, that’s when the prince realized he forgot the words. “But the Centrepoint young guys and girls were there all loving it and cheering away,” he remembered. “So I thought, ‘Well, if they’re enjoying it, then the night is for them. So sod it. I can’t be the doofus who’s going to ruin it for everyone.’”

Still, the prince was internally screaming—as anybody would. He continued, “and so I desperately try and remember some of the words and sing as hard as I can. Beneath my black tie, there was a lot of sweating going on. I felt like a swan, where I was trying to keep myself composed on the outside, but inside, the little legs are paddling fast.”

Prince William also shared a fond memory about singing in the car with his mom, Princess Diana, who was particularly fond of the Tina Turner song, “The Best.”

“When I was younger, Harry and I, we were at boarding school. And my mother used to play all sorts of songs to kind of while away the anxiety of going back to school,” he shared, per People. “And one of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner’s ‘The Best’ because sitting in the backseat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment. And my mother, she’d be driving along, singing at the top of her voice. And we’d even get the policeman in the car, he’d be occasionally singing along, as well.”

He added, “When I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother.”

Prince William’s episode Apple Fitness+’s Time to Walk series drops on Apple Music on December 6.

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In all of these cases, the public discourse around these women’s bodies has effectively obscured their exciting, unprecedented professional and personal achievements. But this handful of examples doesn’t even scratch the surface of the egregious minimization of women’s successes in favor of dissecting their physical appearance. It’s hard not to wonder how this behavior will continue to trivialize monumental wins for other women. 

As Taylor Swift continues to dominate the music industry by reclaiming control of her masters, will headlines once again start picking apart her body? In the 2020 documentary Miss Americana, Swift said there were times she’d see “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or…someone said that I looked pregnant…and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit—just stop eating,” and she talked to Variety at length about the need to “accommodate everything toward praise and punishment, including your own body.” 

As Britney Spears becomes a free woman for the first time in 13 years, do we have to brace ourselves for the commentary to come about how she’s “bounced back” from a previous physical iteration of herself that people arbitrarily deemed unacceptable? Let’s not forget how Spears was viciously attacked for her appearance after her now notorious 2007 MTV VMA performance, prompting outlets like today.com to ponder, “Did Spears, lest we forget a mother of two, deserve to be held up against the standard of her once fantastically toned abs, sculpted by sessions of 1,000 tummy crunches? Or was she asking for it by choosing that unforgiving black-sequined bikini?” The brutal remarks she’d encountered throughout her career inspired the lyrics to 2007’s Piece of Me (“I’m Mrs. She’s Too Big Now She’s Too Thin”).

To be clear, this normalization of body commentary—both positive and negative—doesn’t affect just celebrities. The cultural custom trickles down and impacts women from all walks of life, and I’ve experienced it firsthand for the better part of three decades as I’ve navigated the tumultuous road of eating disorder recovery. I’ve heard everything from “I’m so jealous of your discipline!” when I was in and out of intensive outpatient programs to “You look healthy now!” when I was heavier but still suffering the mental anguish of anorexia. 

The latest incidence of unsolicited commentary occurred on the heels of publishing the most deeply personal and vulnerability-hangover-inducing essay of my life, regarding my compulsive exercise habits. During a perfectly average dinner of tacos and margaritas, a perfectly average situation ensued, meaning a stranger felt entitled to comment on my body. In this particular instance, while I—a person with an eating disorder so old it could’ve legally been taking tequila shots with me—attempted with all my might to eat my tacos without agonizing over their carb content, our waiter felt compelled to approach our table of four and gesture at my arms. 

“You work out a lot,” he said. Still raw from writing about my workout compulsions, I glanced at my boyfriend and gave the waiter a dumbfounded stare that I am now ashamed to realize morphed into a polite smile because I had no idea how to respond. “Flex for my friend over there,” he said without hesitating to call the attention of his colleague, manning the cash register. “Flex for him now.” I laughed and gave a half-hearted biceps curl before immediately wanting to drown in a vat of salsa. All things considered, it was a mild form of uninvited commentary, given the horrific harassment women face daily. He was, after all, attempting to pay a compliment—or something? But the situation left me feeling uneasy, and even violated, particularly after being so vulnerable about my body and the impact of others’ (very vocal) opinions on my perception of it. 

We know that catcalling sucks, but why is the practice of publicly commenting on women’s bodies (and expecting them to perform on demand: “Flex!”; “Smile!”) still so normalized? And why do women have to keep continuously drawing boundaries and reclaiming their bodies in light of this relentless norm? 

Dionne Warwick has a few choice words for Jake Gyllenhaal, the alleged possessor of Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” scarf. As fans continue to theorize about the whereabouts of the accessory mentioned in “All Too Well” (which appeared in both the short film for the song and again in the recently-released video for Red vault track “I Bet You Think About Me”), Warwick took to Twitter, her preferred medium, to indirectly address Gyllenhaal. (“All Too Well” is widely believed to be about the actor, though it’s never explicitly been confirmed.) 

“If that young man has Taylor’s scarf he should return it,” Warwick tweeted, to the point as ever. 

She continued, “It does not belong to you. Box it up and I will pay the cost of postage, Jake.” Dayumn.

Not that the Oscar-nominated actor is hard up for cash (nor is Dionne Warwick), but UPS even offered to cover the cost, so there’s really no excuse now.

Though Swift wrote “you keep my old scarf” back in 2012, it’s unclear whether the object is still in Gyllenhaal’s possession. His friend and fellow actor Andrew Burnap tweeted, in full sincerity, that he thought he had it, though he later figured out that the scarf he apparently got from Gyllenhaal  was not that scarf.

Anonymous gossip account Deux Moi received messages from someone who said they had the scarf and apparently showed proof enough to convince whoever runs the account to post, so that’s another theory. For her part, Jake’s sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, also referenced (allegedly) in “All Too Well,” doesn’t have any idea whether the Taylor Swift scarf was ever in her possession. “I am in the dark about the scarf,” she said. “It’s totally possible. I don’t know.” 

Dionne Warwick, can you please investigate??? It’s getting cold; Taylor Swift needs her scarf back!

Blake Lively directed the music video for Taylor Swift’s song “I Bet You Think About Me,” a from-the-vault track released on Red (Taylor’s Version). Lively and Swift cowrote the video’s treatment, which sees Swift crashing the wedding of an ex, played by Miles Teller. It’s a cheeky video, and if you pay attention, there’s a reference to that scarf from “All Too Well.” 

It happens around the two-minute mark, when Swift gives Teller’s new bride a present in a red box: a red scarf. Said bride then drapes the scarf over her neck as wedding guests look on lovingly. Watch it for yourself, below: 

For those unfamiliar with the red scarf, it’s first mentioned in Swift’s song  “All Too Well,” largely believed to be about her ex, Jake Gyllenhaal. “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house /
And you’ve still got it in your drawer even now,” Swift sings. 

Interest in the scarf resurged on November 12 when Swift rereleased Red and with it a 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” The pop icon directed a short film to accompany the new extended song, and the scarf plays a major role in it. 

If all this “All Too Well” talk has you thinking about nabbing your own red scarf, here are some options: 

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift are close friends, so it makes sense that they’re finally working together. Swift famously used the names of Lively and Ryan Reynolds’s children (James, Inez, and Betty) on her 2020 song “Betty.” 

“The names are the names of our kids, but you know, we trust her implicitly,” said Reynolds in an interview with SiriusXM back in August 2021. “She’s very sensitive to any of that stuff, and obviously the song has nothing to do with our kids other than our kids’ names.”

Jake Gyllenhaal may be waiting for the world to move on from Red (Taylor’s Version), but another one of Taylor Swift’s exes is nothing but supportive.

On Saturday, November 13, Swift performed the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” on Saturday Night Live with the short film starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien playing in the background. It was an iconic performance layered with Swift’s dramatic flare, the artist hitting each additional line with audience-rousing righteous anger. Take a minute (or 10) to watch:

But while all that collective rage is being targeted at Gyllenhaal, Joe Jonas was perfectly fine watching from the crowd. (Those of you that know Jonas and Swift’s brief relationship in 2008 allegedly inspired a series of breakup songs on her Fearless album—including the recently released “Mr. Perfectly Fine”—will find that sentence funny. I do this for you.)

Jonas arrived at 30 Rockefeller Center ahead of the show with his wife, Sophie Turner. Back in April, the Game of Thrones star had the best reaction to Swift’s latest track dragging her husband, writing, “It’s not NOT a bop,” in an Instagram Story post. 

It seems Jonas and Swift have buried the hatchet since he famously broke up with the pop star over voice mail 13 years ago. Fans even suspect may be heading towards a collab. Let’s just say the Jonas Brothers have been dropping a lot of 1989-related hints. 

Still, Swifties were hyped to see Jonas show up for their fave. “I can’t believe we live in a world where we say Taylor Swift sing, ‘Hey Joe, I’m doing real well,’ on SNL in 2009 to seeing Joe Jonas showing up in 2021 to support her performance on SNL,” one fan tweeted. “What kind of glitch in the matrix?”

Of course, Jonas and Turner weren’t the only one showing up for Taylor Swift. Swift’s besties Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were there along with Sink. Reynolds even performed his Instagram Husband duties for the pop star:

Selena Gomez was right with Swift in the green room making TikToks!

According to Twitter, the list of famous Swifties also includes her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Cara Delevingne, and Anya Taylor-Joy at the very least. Still no eyes on Jake Gyllenhaal.

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By now, Taylor Swift’s short film All Too Well has emotionally wrecked you and you’re ready for a second (or third or fourth) viewing to discover all the hidden messages the singer pieced into the 15-minute video.

Well, look no further. After watching the emotional rollercoaster starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink multiple times and scouring the Internet for fan theories, here are all the easter eggs that Glamour found in All Too Well.

O’Brien and Sink’s age difference.

Before we even get into the video itself, Swift made a very deliberate choice while casting the roles in her short film. It’s been a long-held belief by fans that “All Too Well” was written about the singer’s relationship with ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal. The pair dated in 2010, when Swift was just turning 21 years old and Gyllenhaal was 30. 

Though Swift has never confirmed these rumors, she cast two popular actors who share a similar age difference: The Teen Wolf star is 30 while the Stranger Things actor is just 19 years old. 

If the film’s visuals don’t illustrate the age difference enough, the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” off Red (Taylor’s Version) includes additional lyrics like, “And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes, ‘I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age,’” as well as, “You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine.”

The red scarf.

Okay, so the scarf is more of an easter egg when referenced in her other works, but it is one of the biggest symbols in the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe. It’s also another piece of evidence used against Mr. Gyllenhaal. Here’s the lyric: “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house. And you’ve still got it in your drawer even now.”