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Pop culture podcaster Perez Hilton reacted to the comments from the mother of Taylor Swift’s school friend, who believes the song Ruin the Friendship was written about her son. Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has many tracks that appear to be inspired by the singer's personal life. In her 12th LP, Swift seemingly celebrated her love with her fiancé, Travis Kelce.
However, the album features one heartbreaking song, Ruin the Friendship, which many speculated was about her late high school friend, Jeff Lang. In an interview with The Tennessean, published on October 10, Lang's mother said that she believed it was about her son, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 21.
Perez Hilton blogged on Lang's mother's comments in his October 15 blog. The blogger admired the Grammy-winning singer for "still keeping her friend's memory alive" after so many years. In the interview, Susan Lang recalled the friendship between Taylor Swift and her son. She also thanked the singer for keeping her son's name "alive." Reacting to Lang's mother's comments, Perez Hilton wrote:
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"So sweet! We’re sending so much love to Susan, Taylor, and everyone who clearly loved and cherished Jeff so much. What a beautiful song to remember him by…May he rest in peace."
As per The Tennessean report, when Susan Lang heard Ruin the Friendship, she believed it was about her son, although he was not named. Talking to the outlet, she said:
"After all this time, she hasn’t forgotten about him. I’m thankful she’s keeping his name alive... They were really good friends. That’s rare these days. They hung out at her house a lot. They were always joking around with each other."
The report stated that Jeff Lang was a junior to Swift at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. He passed away in November 2010, weeks after Taylor Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now.
A look at the lyrics of Ruin the Friendship amid speculation it’s about Taylor Swift’s high school friend
In the Ruin the Friendship, Taylor Swift gave many references to the Nashville area and her prom. In the song the singer recalled watching the game from the person's brother's jeep. Later in the song, the Grammy-winning artist apparently regretted not kissing this person.
"When I left school I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye / And we’ll never know why,” the lyrics read. “It was not an invitation / But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say / It was not convenient, no / But I whispered at the grave / ‘Should’ve kissed you anyway’... My advice is always ruin the friendship / Better that than ask it all your life," the lyrics of the song read.
In the Track by Track version of The Life of a Showgirl for Amazon Music, Taylor Swift described Ruin the Friendship as:
"'Ruin the Friendship' is a song that wistfully goes back in time to moments that you hesitated, moments that you were too scared or anxious to do something that you were really curious about. The idea of 'if you told this person you have feelings for them, or if you kiss this person, you might ruin the friendship.'"
Even before the interview of Jeff Lang's mother had surfaced, many fans speculated that the song was about him. It is important to note that Taylor Swift has not confirmed the rumor herself.
According to People, Taylor Swift was awarded country songwriter of the year at the 2010 BMI Awards. In her acceptance speech, she thanked Jeff Lang. In her speech, she recalled singing at Lang's funeral a day before the awards ceremony. Swift shared that she "used to play [her] songs for him first."
