‘Midnights’ answers all the questions we had about Taylor Swift and Dick Grayson

Trust me, I did my research. 

by Andrea Rojas for CatCo Worldwide

So, the rest of us are still obsessed with Midnights, right? Yeah? Good, because I haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

Being a tried and true Gothamite, I can’t stop thinking about Dick Grayson, either, and how he fits into this whole tour of Taylor’s late-night thoughts. Lucky for all of us, I’ve turned myself into something of an expert. Buckle in, we’ve got some ground to cover. 

If you weren’t around here during the Dilor (aka Swiftson) Era, here’s a quick run-down to catch you up. Dick Grayson (Gotham’s golden boy, certified heartthrob) met Taylor Swift at the 2009 Wayne Gala and hit it off pretty much immediately. 

[IMAGE: Taylor Swift and Dick Grayson hunched over a table at the 2009 Wayne Gala. Taylor’s hair is pulled back loosely and she’s wearing a gold dress with a pattern of rhinestones. Dick is wearing a dark striped suit with a gray button up. They are leaning into each other, clearly blocking out the rest of the gala to talk.]

Weren’t they just adorable? They dated for a few months at the end of 2009 but broke it off before the end of the year. Why? No one quite knows, but we do know that they got back together in 2013 and stayed together for almost three years (but more on that later). 

We know for sure (by Taylor’s own admission) that “I Almost Do” and “Style” are about Dick Grayson, but what about the songs in Midnights? Let’s discuss. 

Question…?

Think about this one; it’s 2013. Taylor’s just broken up with Connor Kennedy, Dick is three days from being very publicly dumped by Zatanna. They see each other at the Emmys. Taylor Swift gives a show-stopping performance of “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” But these two?

[IMAGE: two images side-by-side. In one, Taylor Swift is wearing a cream colored dress with silver accents. In the other, Dick Grayson is wearing black slacks, a black button down, and a white jacket with geometric patterns sewn into it.]

They are absolutely getting back together. 

They might not have started things up again that night, but we know Taylor was thinking about it. Like she said in an interview with the New York Magazine in 2012…

I remember thinking, like, why did we break up? And I wanted to go up and ask him, hey, nice to see you, why did we break up?

Can I ask you a question, indeed. 

So we’ve got Taylor and Dick and some regrets and some, frankly, gorgeous outfits. And then you’re going to tell me this picture exists?

[IMAGE: a grainy picture from the 2013 Grammys. It’s definitely two people in white kissing. It could, allegedly, be Taylor and Dick in their Grammy outfits.]  

“DID YOU EVER HAVE SOMEONE KISS YOU IN A CROWDED ROOM????” 

Question…? is all about seeing someone you shouldn’t have broken up with and really, really wishing you hadn’t. Wishing “you’d put up more of a fight” and all that. Which is EXACTLY what Taylor was doing at that very party. Dick, too, if this 2011 Gotham Gazette article is anything to go by. 

Everything about dating her [Taylor Swift] was incredible. So much fun… except, maybe I wish I’d tried a little harder.

And, of course, we have “some dickhead guy.” I know there are a lot of thoughts on this one, but he’s pretty clearly either John or Jake, and considering the entire city of Gotham hates Jake Gyllenhall (do NOT get me started on that Thomas Wayne biopic. It’s an insult), I’ll bet Dick hated him before it was cool. 

“THEN WHAT DID YOU DO?”

If you’re Taylor and Dick, you start dating a month later. 

Midnight Rain

Okay, so all of 2013 is like, basically a honeymoon period for these two. They’re adorable. They’re wearing matching scarves. 

[IMAGE: Taylor Swift and dick Grayson holding hands in a park. There are leaves on the ground and both of them are bundled in coats and hats. They’re wearing matching navy blue scarves.]

And sunshine? Taylor was calling Dick sunshine years before Midnights, like in this 2014 E! article. 

No, seriously, I think Dick’s the nicest guy I’ve ever dated. Definitely a nice break… He might be the nicest guy I’ve ever met. He’s like if sunshine were a person, you know? 

There are a couple lines that make this even more obvious, in case I haven’t convinced you yet. That “jumping off things in the ocean”? 

[IMAGE: Taylor Swift and Dick Grayson on a boat somewhere with clear water. They’re both dripping wet, standing on the edge of the boat holding hands, preparing to jump in again.]

No? That doesn’t do it for you? How about “picture perfect, shiny family?” How about “the life I gave away?” How about the Wayne Family Holiday Card in 2015? 

[IMAGE: A holiday card featuring the Wayne family, including Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake-Wayne, Cassandra Cain, and Damien Wayne. All are wearing ugly Christmas sweaters and lounging on a couch in a perfect imitation of relaxation. Dick is perched on the arm and sitting next to him, one hand on his knee, is Taylor Swift.]

Like oh. My. God. And they both still have the pictures! We saw it sitting on Dick’s desk during a Live last year, and Taylor admitted to still having it in a 2020 New York Magazine interview. 

Of course I still have it! That family was… Don’t get me wrong, they’re kind of a lot, but they’re also so much fun, and they love each other. Just because Dick and I didn’t work out doesn’t mean that stops being true. Did you know they still send me cards? And Alfred sends me recipes all the time. 

Don’t lie, you were obsessed with them too. But, with the benefit of hindsight, we all know that this adorable couple was going to experience one of the most intense celebrity breakups I’ve ever seen. 

We know Taylor broke up with him and that Dick was completely devastated by it (“Broke his heart ‘cuz he was nice,” anyone?). But just how heartbroken was he? Taylor and the Waynes were decidedly tight-lipped about the whole thing.

There’s something he’s hiding, for sure. A mystery in Gotham city. And it all centers around one picture. You know the one. At the ring shop?

[IMAGE: Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne in a jewelry shop. Both are dressed in casual suits, Bruce in a light gray jacket and Dick in a pale blue. They’re looking at something in one of the display cases.]

That’s right people, in case you weren’t up on all the Dilor drama in 2016, he was going to propose.

What happened? Midnights answers that one for us too.

High Infidelity

Before we get started, I love Taylor. I support her. And so does Dick, like he said in 2017 to People magazine:

I loved Taylor. I still love Taylor, honestly. It didn’t work out with us.

So, yes, Taylor is forgiven. That being said.

“High Infidelity” is all about Taylor admitting to cheating and lying. But who? Dick, I’m pretty sure. Look back at that People interview. 

Taylor and I… we kept a lot of secrets from each other. Too many, I guess. I don’t blame her for a single thing that happened between us. I just hope she doesn’t blame me either. 

“I bent the truth too far tonight?” 

“There’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love?”

Now, I don’t know everything that went down between Taylor and Dick, but it seems like a pretty slow death. If we assume that “High Infidelity” is about the end of their relationship, we can put a lot of pieces together. Throughout early 2016, Taylor and Dick were seen out together less and less, and they started seeming more tense while they were doing it. 

[IMAGE: Taylor Swift and Dick Grayson at an outdoor cafe. They’re both wearing large coats and sunglasses. Neither of them are talking or smiling. Dick is looking down at his hands folded on the table.]

It sounds to me like they were growing further and further apart, clinging to something they didn’t really have anymore. The slow, painful death of a relationship that ends in someone cheating on someone else isn’t quite as sexy as Zatanna breaking up with Dick Grayson at a magic show, but it seems like what happened. 

Look back at that Wayne Holiday Card. The “house lonely, good money” line has me wondering it that moment was as perfect as we all wanted it to be. 

And April 29th? Sounds like that’s the day everything really ended. That’d tie up our timeline, considering Dick and Taylor announced their break-up in the middle of May and Taylor started dating Tom Hiddleston not long after. 

A color I’ve searched for since

There it is, all laid out. Like I promised, Midnights answers a lot of questions. Just maybe not the answers we wanted. 

But listen, I love Taylor and I love Dick and I can’t end this article like this, so let’s go back to “Midnight Rain.” Remember when Taylor said “we all get just what we wanted?” Yeah?

[IMAGE: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn walking next to each other down a New York street. Both are wearing large, comfortable looking sweaters. They’re smiling.]

[IMAGE: Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon at a restaurant in Bludhaven. He’s leaning down to kiss her cheek. One of his hands is on her shoulder, her hand over his. An engagement ring is clearly visible on her finger.]

Yeah. Everything works out in the end.