Taylor Swift is in love again and this time it’s in a city: London

Taylor Swift is in love again and this time it’s with a nation.

“God, I love the English,” sings the American pop legend on “London Boy,” a track from her seventh studio album, “Lover,” released Aug. 23.

An obsessed ode to her boyfriend, actor Joe Alywn, and her hometown of London, she makes her name hard in this three-minute guide to the UK’s capital.

But Londoners are wary.

See Taylor Swift’s opinion about the city and which places she mentions:

Camden Market

Like many visitors to London, Swift starts by walking around Camden Market in the afternoon. This is a bad idea.

Even if you’re not a global megastar avoiding harassment, it’s still a tourist trap packed with backpack-wearing teenagers from around the world – although some of the street food there is pretty good.

To escape the crowds on land, take one of the regular boat trips along the Regent’s Canal from Camden to Little Venice, taking in sights such as London Zoo.

Jason’s Trip and the London Waterbus Company are two of the leading tour operators.

Camden Market, Camden Lock Place, London N21 8AF

Highgate and Hampstead

Swift’s boyfriend Alwyn was raised in the North London neighborhoods of Tufnell Park and Crouch End, so it’s no surprise that the singer references wealthy locales within walking distance of her home neighborhoods.

Leafy Highgate is best known for its cemetery, where Swift can visit the final resting places of music industry legends George Michael and Malcolm McLaren.

Highgate is where the boyfriend takes our heroine to meet “all her best friends”.

Historic 17th-century pub The Flask is more than up to the task: it has a fireplace, charming wood-beamed ceilings and a romantic past involving highwayman Dick Turpin.
The glorious open green spaces of Hampstead Heath are a short drive away, where Swift can shake off those cobwebs on a post-pub stroll.

Highgate Cemetery, Swain’s Lane, London N6 6PJ
The Flask, 77 Highgate West Hill, Highgate, London, N6 6BU

Rugby at the bar

“I love afternoon tea, university and West End stories.”

It’s a testament to the power of the love Swift has for her “London Boy” and her friends exchanging jokes and banter from sophomore year “uni” – a colloquial term for university.

Love is love, however, and while Londoners online have been quick to point out that watching rugby in North London’s most spoiled corners speaks of privilege with a capital P, we can only go where our hearts take us.

west end

The West End is an umbrella term for London’s central entertainment and shopping districts: Covent Garden, Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square and beyond.

There are plenty of great spots here for afternoon tea, but the avant-garde luxury and millennial rose hues of Sketch in Mayfair are better suited to a pop princess.

If you’re looking for “Louis V on Bond Street”, however, you’ll be out of luck. Although there is a tube station of that name, Bond Street technically does not exist: there is only Old Bond Street and New Bond Street, where the Louis Vuitton store is located at numbers 39-42.

Brixton

The gentrification of Brixton, in south London, can be mapped in its appearance in pop songs. In 1979, The Clash sang “The Guns of Brixton”, before the 1981 riots, and in 1982 British-Guyanese singer Eddy Grant had a worldwide hit with “Electric Avenue”.

Now Swift has declared that she likes “nights in Brixton”. We can recommend a meal at Brixton Market and its many restaurants, followed by a movie at the century-old Ritzy Cinema and a pint at Effra Hall Tavern.

Brixton Market, 16B Electric Ave, Brixton, London SW9 8JX
Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton SW2 1JG
Effra Hall Tavern, 8 Kellett Rd, Brixton, London SW2 1EB

Shoreditch

“Shoreditch in the afternoon,” sings Swift. Even the American upstart knows that the East London neighborhood, centered on the markets, nightlife and curry houses of Brick Lane, has lost its edge.

The artistic types that made the area a hot spot in the early 21st century are long out of business. Swift would no doubt prefer to just stop for a street art tour or a pint at Ten Bells, famous for its associations with Jack the Ripper, before moving on.

The Ten Bells, 84 Commercial St, Spitalfields, London E1 6LY

hackney

Maria McKee sang “Show Me Heaven”; Taylor Swift pleads “Show me Hackney”.

Hackney, in east London, is the birthplace of actor Idris Elba, who appears at the beginning of “London Boy”, saying “We can go driving on my scooter, just riding in London”.

That’s one way to see the area’s sites, though you’re more likely to find trendy locals riding bicycles than polluting vehicles.

Broadway Market is the best place to put on a straw hat and keep an eye out for artisan breads, while the London Fields Lido is a 50-metre heated outdoor pool that can be enjoyed year-round.

London Fields Lido, London Fields West Side, London E8 3EU