In news we truly did not see coming given the wave of Matty Healy drama since Taylor Swift dropped The Tortured Poets Department, Swifties are now speculating that the album's final track, 'The Manuscript', is about none other than Jake Gyllenhaall.
We truly thought the last song we'd ever associate the actor with was 'All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)', but fans have now noticed that the lyrics in 'The Manuscript' seem to reference the ballad — and even its corresponding short film, starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien.
Case in point? TikTok user Caro Reiser recently noted that the bridge of 'The Manuscript' alludes to Tay directing the project. Let's look at the lyrics, shall we? Ahem:
“Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for”
“Y'all remember Sadie Sink bawling crying while ‘All Too Well’ was playing in the background,” the creator muses in her video before stating, “It's about ‘All Too Well.’”
And a bunch of people on the internet seem to agree. “I'm pretty sure it's about Jake and how the process of releasing ATW10 and creating the short film allowed her to finally let go of what happened,” one X user muses before adding, “I think the line about her rereading her manuscript is her saying she no longer ‘remembers it all too well.’”
“A brand new Jake Gyllenhaal song in 2024... calling all too well the manuscript.. reliving it when they filmed the short film... saying the story isn't hers bc its her fans now. oh my god,” says another. OMG!
P.S. There are a number of other lines in the track that are very 'All Too Well'-coded, including:
“They compared their licenses
He said, 'I'm not a donor, but
I'd give you my heart if you needed it'”
Obviously, car rides are a major theme of the Red (Taylor's Version) track, given the short film's protagonists take a trip to upstate New York together. Oh, and we also can't forget about the iconic lines, “And you were tossing me the car keys/ 'F**k the patriarchy' / Keychain on the ground / We were always skipping town.”
“In the age of him, she wished she was thirty
And made coffee every morning in a French press”
Again, this is veeery reminiscent of the theme of Tay's 'ship with Jake, who was approaching 30 when they were rumoured to be together. This theme is also explored in 'All Too Well' via the lines, "You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would've been fine / And that made me want to die."
Plus, there's the forever heartbreaking lyrics, "But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come / And he said, 'It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one'" when Sadie's character is waiting for Dylan's on her birthday and her dad tries to comfort her in the short film.
“Afterwards she only ate kids' cereal
And couldn't sleep unless it was in her
mother's bed
Then she dated boys who were her own age
With dart boards on the backs of their doors
She thought about how he said since she was
so wise beyond her years
Everything had been above board
She wasn't sure”
As any Swiftie knows, post-Jakegate™, Taylor went on to date Connor Kennedy and Harry Styles, both of whom are younger than her.
So much drama!
