Taylor Swift and Harry Styles may be an item again

The celebrity media obsession with Taylor Swift's love life continues: The latest reports link her with an earlier crush, Harry Styles, teen heartthrob of the British boy band One Direction, currently fluttering tween hearts everywhere.

The breathless news, from MTV and others, is that Swift, 22, was spotted holding hands with Styles, 18, on the X Factor set, where she was rehearsing her Thursday night performance of a song from her latest record, Red.

X Factor host Mario Lopez spilled the beans about what he saw on set during his radio show on 104.3 MyFM on Friday night.

"Taylor Swift was the special guest performer, and a little inside scoop for you: During rehearsals, Harry from One Direction came and slapped me on the back and said, 'Hey, Mario, how ya doing?' And I said, 'What are you doing here?' And he sort of [pointed] toward Taylor."

Swift and Styles walked away "hand in hand," Lopez reported.

Guess Swift must be getting over the end of her summer fling with Kennedy scion Conor Kennedy, also just 18. So far, no word on whether she's written a song to commemorate that broken romance.

According to MTV, Swift and Styles met last spring at the Kids Choice Awards. Hollywood Life reported that in April they had a brief fling, which was suspended when he went on tour to Australia and she found out he was messing around with other girls.

It may be that I Knew You Were Trouble is a song about Styles, a boy who brings new meaning to the phrase "big hair." He also has a history of dating older women: One of his romances was with a British woman 14 years older.

But one thing is certain: If they are dating again, the publicity can only be good for both of them - she with already-top-selling Red to promote, and he with 1D's sophmore record, Take Me Home, to support.

True love.

USA Today