There’s a heartbreaking twist hidden in The Life of a Showgirl . When the album’s tracklist was revealed , the predominant theory was that the song “Ruin the Friendship” would be a fiery diatribe about Taylor Swift’s rumored falling out with Blake Lively . But that wound up being so far from the truth. Instead, the tragic tune tells the true story of Swift’s high school crush, who died early in Swift’s career.

In the first couple verses of “Ruin the Friendship,” Swift describes growing close with a good friend, who she’s suppressing her romantic feelings for due to his girlfriend. The first hint that the song is about a real person from Swift’s past comes when she mentions geographical specifics that set the scene in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Swift attended high school: “

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