Taylor Swift has certainly gotten a lot more media coverage in the past couple years, from releasing and re-releasing albums, to touring her iconic Eras Tour, and dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce. I mean this girl is everywhere. Even if you aren’t a fan I can bet you’ve seen her somewhere. Whether it was presenting an award at the Grammy’s or on your TV on Sunday night football, she’s everywhere. But I think we can all agree it’s safe to say that Taylor Swift gets her fair share of hate. “All her songs are breakup songs” “all her songs are about her exes” . Sounds familiar right? Well, I’m here to enlighten the haters and share that Taylor Swift is more than just a country turned pop singer who sings about her breakups and past situationships and show that lyrics go a lot deeper than just “shake it off”. Obviously music is all subjective but in my opinion, Taylor Swift is a lyrical genius. “All her music sounds the same” Well sure you could say the albums have the same vibe, but you cannot tell me 1989 sounds anything like Folklore.
One thing I’ve learned to appreciate about music in the past couple years is dissecting the lyrics. In all honesty, music used to just be about the beat and rhythm to me. If I liked it, I’d just listen to it and not really hear the lyrics, now (especially with Swift) I read the lyrics and dissect the meaning. It’s fun, sometimes it’s hidden, sometimes it’s just a blatant meaning. I’ve chosen some of the lyrics that prove Taylor Swift is far beyond the pop breakup anthem artists that she is known for. So what are my credits for being able to give you this information. 1. I’m a hardcore Swiftie sitting at the top 1% of Taylor Swift listeners according to my Spotify wrapped and 2. I’m a part of way too many chat groups that dissect Swift’s songs.
DISCLAIMER: I will use the word presumed because obviously we cannot get into the actual mind of the one and only Taylor Swift, this is just what is presumed.
Starting with her album Folklore (one of my favourite albums) that was a surprise release for fans in the summer of 2020. There’s one song on here that I want to talk about first and that song is seven. This song is presumed to be about childhood innocence and friendships and there is reference about her friend having an abusive father.
“And I’ve been meaning to tell you/ I think your house is haunted/ Your dad is always mad and that must be why”
“And I think you should come live with/ Me and we can be pirates/ Then you won’t have to cry/ Or hide in the closet”
These lyrics reference that Taylor knew what was going on in her childhood friend’s life and at a young age, she just wanted her friend to run away and live with her.
This song is a perfect example of Taylor being more than just her breakup songs, this song is about the nostalgia of your younger years and how you perceive traumatic events when you are younger.
I want to touch on a relationship-y type song, however, it isn’t about breakups and getting over your ex, it’s about staying with them when you are pouring more into the relationship than they are, it’s one sided. This song is pretty gut wrenching to me, I’m sure you’ve been in that position once or twice, putting your all into someone just for them to, well, tolerate it. This song is from the album Evermore which is a so-called “sister album” of Folklore. The song I’m dissecting next is, “tolerate it”.
“I wait by the door like I’m just a kid/ Use my best colours for your portrait/ Lay the table with the fancy sh–/ And watch you tolerate it”
These lyrics perfectly portray the feeling of putting all your effort into something, being so excited for that person, and not having those feelings be reciprocated, but you’re just so happy to have a part of them in your life, you stick with them and tolerate their subpar feelings for you.
“I know my love should be celebrated/ But you tolerate it”
“Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life”
The feeling of knowing that you deserve more but settling for less but still holding on to that person hopeful that they will give you some sort of attention.
Gut wrenching right?
In 2015, Taylor Swift’s mom, Andrea Swift battled a brain tumour. Taylor then released the song “Soon You’ll Get Better” and this song is one of those songs that will hit hard for anyone who has gone or known someone who has battled an illness.
When someone close to you gets sick there’s a feeling of “what will I do?” at time it feels like a selfish thing to think with that someone close to you going through a lot worse, but Taylor nails this feeling down with the lyrics:
“And I hate to make this all about me/ But who am I supposed to talk to?/ What am I supposed to do/ If there’s no you?/”
“You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal”
“Ooh-ah, soon you’ll get better/ Ooh-ah, you’ll get better soon/ ‘Cause you have to/
“Soon You’ll Get Better” is a real tear jerker.
One thing that we can all agree on is that Taylor does know how to curate the perfect breakup song that encapsulates every little feeling and moment. As an artist she has certainly evolved from the “Blank Space” and “Shake it Off” days. But it’s only right I end on a breakup song, and I’ll be taking one of her newest albums “The Tortured Poets Department”. This song is about someone destroying you during the relationship and being left destroyed after. These lyrics can be interpreted in so many different ways depending on how you look at it personally so I’m just going to share the ones that left me stunned, from the song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” So yes, it is about a breakup, but it’s about the behind the scenes, the feeling of being gaslit, manipulated, and being used until you’re left with a version of yourself you can’t even recognize.
“Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?/ Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?”
These lyrics to me just show how you can be so blindsided by a person you thought you knew so well. It’s almost like asking the question “what was the motive for all of this?” “was this your plan all along?”
“I would’ve died for your sins/ Instead I just died inside”
The feeling of doing anything for someone just to have them stab you in the back.
Taylor Swift is so much more than just an artist who makes pop beats about her breakups. And while I do have a bit (a lot) of bias as a hardcore fan, I think some of these lyrics just speak for themselves. So what do you think? Have I turned you into more of a Swiftie?