Taylor Swift Says Inspiration For ‘Patient Zero’ Came From Chat With Friends About This Awkward Relationship Request From an Ex

Taylor Swift is opening up about the strange relationship behavior that inspired the first single from her just-released The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore deluxe edition, “Patient Zero.” An Instagram post from the U.K.’s Capital FM on Friday morning (Sept. 25) reported that Swift had revealed the origins behind the slinky song that is one of four newly recorded tracks on the LP.

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“I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and one of my friends told us that she had been reached out to by the new girlfriend of an ex of hers, asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy that this new girlfriend was having,” the singer told the outlet; a spokesperson for Swift confirmed to Billboard that Swift had shared the her thoughts with Capital FM.

“And everyone in our group just immediately started saying like, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that too’, and telling the stories of when this kind of reach out had happened for them,” Swift continued. “And I thought to myself, if this has happened to all of us, it’s such an interesting kind of angle on humanity and on relationships, and I wonder if I could write something from the perspective of getting this phone call, and really only from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before.”

The song’s first verse appears to dovetail with that explanation, with Swift singing, “I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve been expecting your call/ No, it’s not a bad time at all/ I heard somebody saying there’s trouble in paradise/ And my lips are sealed tight now.” The chorus then says it all: “It’s not for me to tell/ Someone else what to do/ But if you wanna party with somebody who might know/
About the devil on his shoulder under his halo/ When the toxins take their hold, you’d rather die than let it go/ But if you’re sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero.”

The deluxe version of Swift’s 12th studio album, out now, also features the newly recorded song “Babylon,” “Pink Clouding” and “Cleveland!” The original album spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and opened with a record-breaking 4.002 million equivalent album units in the United States in its first week.

Swift will celebrate the refreshed album’s release on Sunday (Sept. 27) at the 2026 MTV VMAs, where she plans to premiere the cinematic video for “Patient Zero,” which co-stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell. Swift directed the visual and she is slated to receive the inaugural Artist Director Honor at the show, where she is nominated 13 times.