Who Is William Bowery? A Breakdown of Joe Alwyn’s Songwriting Pseudonym with Taylor Swift
Posted April 12, 2023 by: Admin
Taylor Swift, the famous singer-songwriter, has a beautiful partnership with her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, not only in love but also in music. The English actor has been collaborating with Swift on several tracks from her recent albums under the pseudonym William Bowery, creating beautiful and emotional pieces of music.
The musical duo started working together for Swift’s 2020 album Folklore, and they kept it a secret until the singer released her Disney+ film, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, where she confirmed that Joe was indeed William Bowery. Swift revealed that their musical collaboration was a “surprise,” but in a way, it wasn’t because they’ve always shared the same musical tastes and have bonded over music.
The pseudonym William Bowery has an interesting background, and although Swift hasn’t confirmed its meaning, fans have speculated that William stands for Alwyn’s grandfather, William Alwyn, who was a composer. Bowery represents the Bowery Hotel, where the couple was seen when they first started dating.
William Bowery’s name appears in the writing credits for several of Swift’s songs, including “Exile,” “Betty,” “Champagne Problems,” “Coney Island,” and “Evermore.” During her Disney+ film, Swift recounted how Alwyn wrote the “entire piano part” for “Exile” and how entranced she was with his singing.
Swift also revealed in an interview with Zane Lowe that all she had to do was “dream up some lyrics and come up with some gut-wrenching, heart-shattering story” to write with Alwyn. Thanks to their collaboration, Alwyn won his first Grammy when Swift’s Folklore took home album of the year in 2021. In her acceptance speech, Swift gave a sweet shoutout to Alwyn, expressing how he was the first person she played every song she wrote and how they had the best time writing songs together during quarantine.
