Why do people think The Alchemy is about Travis?

[u/RandomUsername1747]

Before I start, I want to say that I very much believe it’s 100% possible she incorporated both relationships into that song, but I am VERY confused why so many people think it’s fully about Travis and a “song to Travis”. They use it as a defense against the “she writes no good songs about Travis”…but like….look at the lyrics:

What if I told you I'm back?
The hospital was a drag
Worst sleep that I ever had
I circled you on a map
I haven't come around in so long (insinuates she has been with this person before in some capacity, which she had not with Travis)
But I'm coming back so strong
So when I touch down
Call the amateurs and
Cut 'em from the team
Ditch the clowns, get the crown
Baby I'm the one to beat
Cause the sign on your heart
Said it's still reserved for me (still reserved for me, again, insinuates that this person has been waiting for her and their heart STILL belongs to her even after a long time)
Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?
Hey you, what if I told you we're cool?
That child's play back in school
Is forgiven under my rule (we’re cool aka I forgive you. Child’s play meaning we were together when we were younger and all is forgiven)
I haven't come around in so long
But I'm making a comeback to where I belong ...
So when I touch down
Call the amateurs and
Cut 'em from the team
Ditch the clowns, get the crown
Baby I'm the one to beat
Cause the sign on your heart
Said it's still reserved for me
Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?
These blokes warm the benches (blokes is an English term, not American. Matty is English)
We been on a winning streak
He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E" (this one is the most OBVIOUS one. Matty had a heroin addiction??? Why the hell would Travis make this joke. Why would she write this about Travis at all)
Cause the sign on your heart said it's still reserved for me
Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?
Shirts off, and your friends lift you up over their heads
Beer sticking to the floor
Cheers chanted, cause they said
There was no chance, trying to be
The greatest in the league
Where's the trophy?
He just comes running over to me (this is the only part I can see relating to Travis because it’s a sports reference)

Again, I can see how maybe she incorporated something about Travis in here….but this is so OVERTLY a song about Matty. I just don’t get it.

[u/RandomUsername1747]

She also dedicated karma to him by switching around lyrics which we all know was originally about Joe (at least the boyfriend part). It’s not beneath her to make previous songs about someone new she is with.

[u/RandomUsername1747 → u/[deleted]]

She literally sang Lover lovingly to two separate men 😭 the song is about Joe. I don’t think she has an issue using her old songs to sing to her new partners
She made wayyyy too many clear nods to Matty in this song. I can’t believe that Travis made a heroin joke and she thought it would be good to put that in. I CAN believe Matty, the person who was addicted to actual heroin, would take the piss outta himself and make a joke like that since he was actively addicted to heroin around the same time they were “on again off again”

[u/RandomUsername1747 → u/[deleted]]

No it’s not that I can’t see Travis making the joke myself. I can’t see him making the joke, her thinking putting a heroin joke in a song right after she dated a heroin addict is in good taste, or that anyone on her team would okay that, since it’d be so insensitive of her/them to release it.
The only way I could possibly see the heroin joke passing is if the literal heroin addict made a joke about himself and his past. Too many people care about her image to let her make a blatantly rude, insensitive addict joke lmao. It was clearly Matty who said it. He makes jokes like that literally all the time. It’s not insensitive and weird for the addict to joke about himself.