Swift’s fourth, and what appeared to be her final, Fourth of July bash featured the starriest guest list yet, including Cara Delevingne, Ruby Rose, St. Vincent, and Swift’s boyfriend at the time, British actor Hiddleston. Swift memorably posed in Hiddleston’s lap for a couples photo with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. But what raised the most eyebrows was a photo of Hiddleston frolicking on the seashore in an “I ♥ T.S.” T-shirt. Hiddleston claims it was merely a cheeky bit of sun-protection. “The truth is, it was the Fourth of July and a public holiday and we were playing a game and I slipped and hurt my back,” Hiddleston told GQ in 2017. “And I wanted to protect the graze from the sun and said, ‘Does anyone have a T-shirt?’ And one of her friends said, ‘I’ve got this’…. And we all laughed about it. It was a joke.”
Swift moved on from one Brit to the next, quietly dating actor Joe Alwyn from 2017 to 2023, while the world spent back-to-back cruel summers without Taymerica. The singer’s retreat from the spotlight dovetailed with public speculation about Swift’s politics, which still spark headlines despite the artist’s exclusive endorsement of Democratic candidates dating back to 2018. Swift has publicly endorsed both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the last two presidential elections after receiving criticism for not endorsing a candidate in 2016.
“You know, the summer before that election, all people were saying was, ‘She’s calculated. She’s manipulative. She’s not what she seems. She’s a snake. She’s a liar,’” Swift recalled in a September 2019 Vogue cover story. “These are the same exact insults people were hurling at [then presidential candidate] Hillary Clinton. Would I be an endorsement or would I be a liability? Look, snakes of a feather flock together. Look, the two lying women. The two nasty women. Literally, millions of people were telling me to disappear. So I disappeared. In many senses.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce during the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships.Gotham
After the end of Swift’s six-year relationship with Alwyn, she briefly dated The 1975 frontman Matty Healy. When they called it quits in June 2023, the following month, perhaps in a self-referential nod to her split from the British musician, Swift revived her annual Fourth of July party for the first time since 2016. “Happy belated Independence Day from your local neighborhood independent girlies,” wrote Swift at the time alongside Instagram photos featuring friends Selena Gomez, Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, stylist Ashley Avignone, and Sydney Ness. Even the polaroids had reappeared. “See you tonight Kansas Cityyy,” added Swift, one day before Kelce attended her Eras Tour stop in Kansas City, which ultimately led to their romance. Not only did Swift find happily ever after shortly after that post, so did some of her friends: Este is married to Jonathan Levin, while Gomez and Benny Blanco wed last September.
