Taylor Swift Opens Up to Paul McCartney About Living a 'Real Life' with Boyfriend Joe Alwyn

For Taylor Swift, maintaining her private relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn is about finding "bits of normalcy."

The "Cardigan" singer, 30, sat down with Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone's latest cover story as part of their Musicians on Musicians issue. In it, she opens up about maintaining a "real life" with Alwyn, 29.

While discussing her song "Peace" off her album Folklore — which McCartney noted was a track he enjoyed — Swift revealed that the song was one "more rooted" in her personal life.

"I know you have done a really excellent job of this in your personal life: carving out a human life within a public life, and how scary that can be when you do fall in love and you meet someone, especially if you’ve met someone who has a very grounded, normal way of living," she told McCartney during their October chat.

"I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives," she continued. "I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow."

The Beatles alum, 78, then asked if Alwyn can "sympathize" and "understand" Swift.

"Oh, absolutely," Swift responded of Alywn, who she seldom discusses publicly.

"But I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids," she added.

The "Shake It Off" star explained that she considers the importance of the couple's privacy when making many of her decisions.

"Whether that’s deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it’s really just trying to find bits of normalcy," she said.

"That’s what that song 'Peace' is talking about," Swift reiterated. "Like, would it be enough if I could never fully achieve the normalcy that we both crave?"

After the cover story was released, Swift shared some sweet words for McCartney.

"It only took one day to confirm what I had suspected for years: Paul McCartney is the loveliest person alive," she wrote. "Thank you @rollingstone for making this happen."

Alwyn and Swift began dating in the fall of 2016, which she confirmed in a diary entry from the deluxe edition of her album Lover.

While the two have kept their relationship private, Alwyn made a brief appearance in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana in which the “Blank Space” singer ran into the actor’s arms before they walked around backstage following one of her concerts.

Despite their private nature, The Favourite actor accompanied Swift to the Golden Globes, where she was nominated for best original song for the track “Beautiful Ghosts.” The song was featured in Cats, where Swift played Bombalurina.

Swift’s revelation in the documentary echoes what a source told PEOPLE in August 2019.

"Joe loves acting but doesn’t want to be a celebrity. They both agree that, for their relationship to keep working, they want to keep things quieter," the source said. "She’s the happiest she’s ever been."