taylor swift‘s music served as the unofficial soundtrack of Golden Globes 2026 — and fans couldn’t help but wonder what some key players in the audience were thinking.
Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn attended the awards ceremony on Sunday, January 11, along with her film co-stars Hamnetwhich eventually took home the win for Best Motion Picture Drama. (Actress Jessie Buckley too won an individual award for his performance in the film.)
Although it’s been two years since Swift, 36, and Alwyn, 34, their relationship lore still lives rent-free on fans’ minds, especially when Swift’s song “The Fate of Ophelia” blared throughout the room.
“Joe Alwyn needs to listen to The Fate of Ophelia 💀,” one social media user tweeted, while another joked that Alwyn “deserved a risk pay for that Golden Globes moment.”
The 2026 Golden Globe Awards are here, and Hollywood’s biggest stars brought their fashion game, from couture gowns to sharp tailoring. Comedian Nikki Glaser reprises her role as host for the event, which kicked off on Sunday, January 11, and brought Tinseltown’s hottest to the red carpet. “Hosting the Golden Globes this (…)
A third onlooker said the actor might have been “scared for a second” that Swift would “appear on stage”.
Rather at night, host (and proud Swiftie) Nikki Glaser made her grand entrance in “Style” before delivering her monologue. “Shake It Off” was also heard at another point in the ceremony.
Joe Alwyn; Taylor Swift; Charli XCX
Getty Images (3)“Nikki is terrorizing him with these songs 💀,” one X post said, referring to Swift’s ex.
Alwyn and Swift dated for more than six years before their split made headlines in 2023. She moved on with her now fiance, Travis Kelcelater that year.
The actor wasn’t the only audience member on Sunday whose history with Swift is a little rocky. Charli XCX took the stage with Joe Keery to present the awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Soundtrack.
“Joe Alwyn and Charli Xcx are being forced to listen to all of 1989 at the Golden Globes,” joked one X user.
A separate viewer took a harsher view, quipping: “He should have played London so long and romantic too.”
Taylor Swift and Charli XCX have long denied any tension between them, but their rumored beef made headlines again with the release of Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. After the album dropped in October 2025, fans immediately began speculating that track 7, “Actually Romantic,” is about Charli. “What do I do (…)
Swift made light of her split from Alwyn in the emotional breakup song “So Long, London,” which appears on her 2024 album, Department of Tortured Poets. When he let go The life of a chorus girl a year later, fans were quick to suspect that Charli, 33, was the subject of the track “Actually Romantic.”
Years after opening for Swift with her Visit to the stadium of reputation in 2018, Charli’s friendship with the pop superstar appeared to sour when Swift came out Matty Healy in 2023. Charli — who is married to Healy’s best friend and band mate Jordi Daniel – apparently referenced his complex history in his 2024 song “Sympathy Is a Knife” brat.
“I don’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show / Fingers crossed I hope they break up quick,” the lyrics say.
In her own song, Swift jokes that Charli writing a song about her is “really romantic,” teasing, “No man ever loved me like you.”
Swift gave more information the inspiration of the song in a track-by-track version of The life of a chorus girl, explaining, “‘Actually Romantic’ is a song about realizing that someone else has had a one-sided, confrontational relationship with you that you didn’t know about… How flattering is it that someone has made you such a big part of their reality when you weren’t even thinking about it?”