Why did Taylor Swift and Harry Styles break up?

In December 2012, DailyMail reported that Taylor and Harry broke up on vacation. “Yes I can confirm they have split up,” a source told the tabloid. “They were on holiday and had an almighty row. They are two young stars at the top of their game so who knows what will happen in the future.”

In a 2013 Vanity Fair cover story, Swift authorized a source to tell all about why Styles broke up with her. “He wore her down,” the source says of Styles, who allegedly “chased” Swift for a year. “He was all, like, ‘You’re amazing—I want to be with you. I want to do this.’” Styles texted Swift to alert her of a picture on the Internet of him kissing a friend good-bye and the relationship crumbled. They were “making out like with their hands all up in each other’s hair,” says the source. He reportedly kept trying to fix the relationship and Swift took him back “But the whole time she says she feels like he’s looking at every girl,” the source continues. And then when they were in London together he “disappears one night and after that it was like he just didn’t want to keep going.” According to Vanity Fair, Styles’ rep said that the sources claims are “undeniably false.”

Styles is believed to have inspired Swift’s tracks “Style” and “Out of the Woods.” In a verse of “Out of the Woods, she sings, “Looking at it now / Last December (Last December) / We were built to fall apart / Then fall back together (Back together)/ Ooh, your necklace hanging from my neck / The night we couldn’t quite forget.” Styles and Swift had matching airplane necklaces which hinted at their relationship later referencing “Two paper airplanes flying, flying, flying.”

The Harry’s House musician opened up about their relationship and what it was like to have a song written about him in an interview with Howard Stern in 2020. “Two Ghosts” featured in his debut album is also said to be about Swift. “I think about what it means to me to write a song about somebody else and for somebody else to do that, it’s like flattering, even if the song isn’t that flattering, you still spent time on it and ultimately, using Taylor as an example, she’s a great songwriter. So at least they’re good songs,” he said. He continued, “The only time you really think, ’is this song too personal?’ is if you think about, ‘is this going to be really annoying for the other person?’ Because I do [care].”

Though there doesn’t seem to be bad blood between the two singers as the two embraced at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in 2021 where Swift won Album Of The Year for folklore and Styles won Best Pop Solo Performance for “Watermelon Sugar.”