Taylor Swift’s ex Joe Alwyn breaks silence on the Popstar and Travis Kelce engagement: ‘Paper rings? Never!’

Taylor Swift’s engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce may have thrilled millions of fans, but it also thrust her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn back into the spotlight. The 34-year-old English actor began trending on X (formerly Twitter) Tuesday after Swift announced her engagement with a romantic photoshoot featuring Kelce on bended knee.

Swift and Alwyn dated for six years, beginning at the 2016 Met Gala and quietly parting ways in March 2023—just four months before she met Kelce. Despite the length of their relationship, the couple never walked a red carpet together. Their romance, however, inspired Swift to pen an estimated 32 songs about Alwyn, including 2019’s Paper Rings, where she famously sang, “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings.”

Fans wasted no time drawing comparisons between past and present. Swift’s Brazilian fan account posted a close-up of her massive diamond sparkler, joking, “Paper rings? Never! Look at the size of that ring.” Another user scoffed, “Was that so hard, @joealwyn?” Meanwhile, one viral post reminded followers: “After a Joe Alwyn comes a Travis Kelce who shows you off, doesn’t hide you, and proposes marriage to you.”

Others responded with memes, including one of a tear-streaked woman captioned: “Oh Joe Alwyn seeing the engagement photos.” Still, not everyone mocked the actor. Some defended him, with one fan writing, “He deserved better anyway.” Another joked about being one of the few remaining Alwyn stans, likening the experience to a shell-shocked soldier.

Alwyn himself has previously spoken about the difficulty of his breakup. In 2023, he told The Sunday Times Style Magazine that navigating the end of a long, loving relationship under public scrutiny was “a hard thing” and admitted it took time to make peace with the gap between “what is known and what is said.”

The actor, who still follows Swift on Instagram, collaborated with her extensively during their relationship. Under the pseudonym William Bowery, he co-wrote or produced 10 songs across her albums Folklore and Evermore, including Exile, Betty, and Champagne Problems. His contributions earned him a Grammy in 2021 for Folklore and a nomination in 2022 for Evermore.

Away from Swift, Alwyn has remained busy with his own career. He will soon make his stage debut in The Lady from the Sea at London’s Bridge Theatre alongside Alicia Vikander and Andrew Lincoln, running from September to November. On screen, he has several major projects lined up, including Aneil Karia’s adaptation of Hamlet, Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare biopic Hamnet, and Sam Esmail’s thriller Panic Carefully.

Though their paths have diverged, Swift and Alwyn’s shared history continues to fascinate fans. And while the pop superstar begins planning what many are already calling “the wedding of the century” with Travis Kelce, the actor who once inspired some of her most intimate songs is carving out his next chapter on stage and film.