Many Swifties believe that the singer is actually Elly Conway, the debut author behind new novel Argylle – we examine the evidence
Taylor Swift isn’t merely a singer-songwriter. She’s dabbled in acting, with a cameo on New Girl back in 2013, plus roles in films including Valentine’s Day, The Lorax, and that cursed adaptation of Cats. She’s also a keen real estate investor with a property portfolio worth $150 million (apparently she’s Sophie Turner’s landlord too). And now, it looks like she’s turning her hand to writing books.
…Well, sort of. Some eagle-eyed (or deluded?) Swifties have conjured up a theory that Taylor Swift is actually debut author Elly Conway, the writer behind spy thriller Argylle. The book was only published on January 4, but it’s already been adapted for the big screen with the likes of Bryce Dallas Howard (playing Conway, the author), Henry Cavill and Dua Lipa starring in the film which is released on February 2.
There’s scant information available about Conway’s life and background, which has given rise to conspiracies about her true identity. “Elly Conway was born and raised in upstate New York. She wrote her first novel about Agent Argylle while working as a waitress in a late-night diner,” reads her bio on the Penguin website. Her Instagram is similarly opaque, with just a smattering of bland posts featuring nature and food.
What’s Taylor Swift got to do with any of this? Well: here are all the wild clues that Swift is actually the author behind Argylle.
TAYLOR POSTED A PHOTO IN A ‘CONWAY’ JUMPER
Last March Swift uploaded a carousel post to Instagram. In one photo, she can be seen wearing a sweatshirt which says ‘Conway’. Wow x
If you look a little closer, though, you can see the jumper clearly says ‘Conway Recording Studios’, the name of a studio in Hollywood that Swift regularly visits. So perhaps it’s more likely that she’s just… wearing a sweatshirt?
SHE’S USED PSEUDONYMS BEFORE
Or – maybe – Swift decided to use the name of the studios as a pseudonym. It wouldn’t be her first time using a pen name, either. She’s previously worked on music using the name ‘Nils Sjoberg’, including co-writing the Calvin Harris hit ‘This Is What You Came For’ and producing Jack Leopards & The Dolphin Club’s cover of ‘Look What You Made Me Do’.
“I think when a pseudonym comes in is when you still have a love for making the work, and you don’t want the work to become overshadowed by this thing that’s been built around you, based on what people know about you,” she told Rolling Stone back in 2020. “And that’s when it’s really fun to create fake names and write under them.” The plot thickens!
SWIFT HAS ALSO IMPERSONATED A RED-HAIRED AUTHOR BEFORE
In Argylle, Conway is portrayed by actress Dallas Howard as a red-headed author. And in Swift’s short film All Too Well, Swift played… a red-headed author!
CATS
Swift is the proud owner of three cats – Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson, and Benjamin Button – with Benjamin even joining the singer for her TIME Person of the Year cover shoot last year.
It’s not been lost on Swifties that a Scottish Fold cat (the same breed as two of Swift’s cats) features in the Argylle film. The cat, called Chip, belongs to director Matthew Vaughn and his wife Claudia Schiffer. Chip is also on the film’s promotional poster, contained inside a cat carrier backpack – not dissimilar to the one that Swift uses in her Netflix doc Miss Americana. Spooky!
CHIP’S INSTAGRAM
Chip has his own 10,000-follower-strong Instagram account where he posts about his lavish lifestyle as a self-professed “nepo kitty”. The majority of posts are selfies of Chip looking very sweet – but there are a few which reference Swift.
In December Chip posted a happy birthday message to Swift, while in September he posted a photo of Sophie Turner and Swift out in New York with cats’ faces photoshopped over theirs.
THE ARGYLLE TWITTER ACCOUNT IS POSTING SWIFT LYRICS
Back in October, the account posted a GIF from the film with the caption “He’s got that James Dean, daydream look in his eye” – a line from the Swift song ‘Style’. Another GIF was posted with the caption “Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?”, a lyric from ‘Wonderland’.
SWIFT LOVES ARGYLE
“Argylle?!” one TikToker posited in a explaining theory. “Like, girl loves an argyle sweater.”
…That’s it, that’s the clue. Swift likes wearing argyle knits and the book is called Argylle.
ARGYLLE TWT USING TAYLOR LYRICS WHAT??? pic.twitter.com/Fie9wDv4CC
— sami ⸆⸉ saw nessa :’) (@NONSENSEDOVE) January 8, 2024
So, is it really possible that Swift found the time in her busy schedule to pen an entire novel? I’m not so sure. In any case, Sophia Nguyen, writing for The Washington Post, has as good as debunked the theory. As she claims, it’s more likely that the idea for the film actually predated the book’s existence, and that Matthew Vaughn’s production company eventually decided to commission someone to ghostwrite the Argylle book under the name ‘Elly Conway’ to tie in with the movie. “The Swiftie speculation over Elly’s identity was just a happy accident that no one was interested in debunking,” Nguyen suggests. It makes perfect sense: with legions of Swifties commenting, sharing, and poring over every last bit of promotional material for Argylle, they’ve generated a hell of a lot of anticipation and hype for the film for free.
We’re yet to have concrete confirmation on whether Taylor Swift actually is the author behind Argylle, but sorry Swifties, it’s looking unlikely.