Who is Lucy Dacus? Singer says Taylor Swift asked for her approval before naming her in The Tortured Poets Department title track

Lucy Dacus recently revealed that Taylor Swift asked her before naming her in the title track of her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, released in April 2024. For the unversed, Lucy Dacus is a singer, songwriter and musician who is also a part of the Grammy-winning supergroup boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker.

During her exclusive interview with People Magazine on March 27, Dacus confirmed that she was the "Lucy" whom Swift mentioned in the title track.

When asked about the name-drop during the interview, Dacus said:

"I think it's fair game to say 'yes.' She actually texted me and asked for my approval. Well, I pushed play on the album just like, 'Oh, this is so crazy.' This is the first Taylor record to come out since meeting her, and listening to a friend's record feels so much different than a stranger's record."

For the uninitiated, The Tortured Poets Department is the second track from the eponymous album.

According to Cosmopolitan, the song was widely speculated to be about The 1975's Matty Healy, whom Swift was rumored to have dated in 2023 after her breakup with Joe Alwyn.

"Sometimes, I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me/ But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave/ And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen/ Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be," Swift sings in the song.

Elsewhere in the interview with People Magazine, Lucy Dacus said it was "weird" to hear Taylor Swift say her name on the record after having spent years listening to the Shake It Off singer.

Dacus added that Swift's 11th studio album was "super open-hearted", continuing that it was hard to name musicians at Swift's level "writing from the heart that openly."

---

Lucy Dacus released her first studio album in 2016

Born in May 1995, Lucy Elizabeth Dacus was adopted by her parents, who raised her in Mechanicsville, Virginia. In a March 2025 interview with The New Yorker, she revealed that her mother had also been adopted, adding:

“My mom was adopted, too. My parents always said, ‘All of the universe had to align for you to be in our family. What are the chances, and how perfect is this?’ I had friends who would say, ‘Oh, you’re like Little Orphan Annie. I’m so sorry your parents didn’t want you.’ I was, like, ‘No, my parents really did want me. You’re probably a mistake.’ As a second grader, I was just a little b***h about it.”

She met her birth mother when she was 19 and developed a good relationship with her quickly, starting that they both had very similar personalities.

Lucy Dacus dabbled in music from a young age, writing songs since she was eight. She was raised in a Christian family and grew up singing religious music.

After high school, Lucy Dacus enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University to study film but dropped out due to administrative issues, compounded with feeling stifled and understimulated in the environment.

After dropping out, she worked at a shop called Richmond Camera to support herself while writing songs during her free time.

Lucy Dacus released her first studio album, No Burden, in 2016, when she was around 21. The LP, first released via Egghunt Record, was re-released by Matador Records a few months later.

Following the album's release, she met Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers while performing opening gigs, and the three forged a friendship.

During this time, Dacus released her second studio album, Historian, in 2018, while simultaneously working with Bridgers and Baker.

The three musicians debuted their indie supergroup, boygenius, in 2019 and released their self-titled EP.

boygenius at the 66th GRAMMY AWARDS Premiere Ceremony (Image via Getty Images)

That same year, Lucy Dacus moved from Richmond to Philadelphia, where she shared a house with seven people. In 2021, Dacus released her third studio album, Home Video.

Two years later, boygenius released their debut album, The Record. boygenius's debut album was immensely successful, winning three Grammys, including Best Alternative Music Album, in 2024.

On a personal front, Lucy Dacus recently revealed that she and her boygenius member, Julien Baker, are in a committed relationship. For the unversed, Dacus came out as queer during a 2016 interview with NPR.

During a March 2025 cover story for Them, Dacus said she was not bothered by the public focusing on her relationship with Baker, adding:

“I don’t care. That’s the thing. I actually don’t need to be understood about this because I understand. I have more confidence in our relationship than I have in myself. I feel like I need validation and I need other people to check my work, but I don’t need anyone to check my work on this.”

---

In other news, Lucy Dacus released her fourth studio album, Forever Is a Feeling, on March 28, 2025.