Is Taylor Swift’s New Song “Ruin the Friendship” about Blake Lively?

One newly announced song on Taylor Swift’s new album The Life of a Showgirl has fans wondering if the megastar has written a song about Blake Lively.

Swift, 35, unveiled the title of her new album and its 12 new songs on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The album releases on Oct. 3, giving Swifties everywhere ample time to speculate over the titles of tracks like “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Elizabeth Taylor,” and most notably in the aftermath of the album’s announcement, “Ruin the Friendship,” the sixth track on The Life of a Showgirl. 

Lively and Swift’s longtime friendship has been under public scrutiny in the months since Lively’s ongoing legal battle with her It Ends with Us costar and director Justin Baldoni began in December 2024, when Lively first filed a complaint against Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, Heath and Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, as well as its co-founder Steve Sarowitz, claiming sexual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation, which they deny.

Swift’s name was brought into the mix when Baldoni’s legal team alleged that Swift had pressured him to accept Lively’s rewrites on the movie in a complaint Baldoni filed in January that has since been dismissed.

Baldoni’s team later attempted to subpoena her. Although that subpoena was later withdrawn, Baldoni’s legal team continued to allegedly “demand” access to records of Lively’s communications with Swift. Most recently, Judge Lewis J. Liman denied Lively’s motion for a protective order to keep her communications with Swift regarding It Ends with Us out of Baldoni’s hands. Documents obtained by PEOPLE on June 18 suggested that Baldoni alleges to have never received access to Swift’s communications with Lively.

As Swift fans responded to the news of The Life of a Showgirl’s track list on Aug. 13, X user @mynerdyhome was one among a number of fans who quickly suggested that the song “Ruin the Friendship” — and perhaps also the album’s 10th track, “CANCELLED!” — are about Lively. 

“Who else thinks Ruin The Friendship and CANCELLED! are about Blake Lively👀🍿Taylor Swift…please…,” the user wrote in a post that has over 10,000 impressions.

Didi Effe, a Brazilian television host and presenter, wrote on X on Aug. 13, “I am CER-TAIN that Ruin The Friendship on Taylor Swift’s new album is about Blake Lively.”

Billy Bush even spoke to the notion that Swift may discuss or hint at her friendship with Lively on his podcast Hot Mics on Aug. 13. “Now that is an interesting question – I think so,” he said in a clip from the podcast. “I do think that she will shade Blake Lively on her album. Why? Because Blake Lively is, after all, an ex. And she likes to talk about her exes. She’s an ex. She’s an ex bestie. Her greatest regret has nothing to do with Justin Baldoni, ruining his career, giving him anxiety for life. That’s not her regret. Her regret is falling out with Taylor Swift. Everybody wants to be in that Swiftie entourage.”

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Back in April, a source told PEOPLE that Swift “was really hurt” after she was implicated in Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle, and in May a source told PEOPLE that her friendship with Lively “has halted.” At that time, another insider said that while the pair were “taking some space,” they were “not no longer friends.”

In June, though, a source told PEOPLE that Lively and Swift were working toward being “on good terms,” though the pair’s friendship “isn’t the same as it was before.”

Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl releases Oct. 3.