Summary
- Taylor Swift's music is often autobiographical, with lyrics that reflect her personal experiences and relationships, leading fans to often dissect the meaning behind her songs.
- "Bad Blood" was revealed to be about Katy Perry, who allegedly tried to sabotage Swift's arena tour by hiring her backup dancers. The feud was later clarified by Perry.
- Swift has written songs about her ex-boyfriends, such as Joe Jonas and John Mayer, with whom she had public breakups. These songs, like "Forever & Always" and "Dear John," offer insight into her emotions and experiences in those relationships.
Taylor Swift is—plainly put— the queen of autobiographical songwriting. Her songs often take the shape of narrative-style diary entries, wherein the events of her life are documented lyrically, placed in the arms of melody and ultimately delivered as a present to her fans—with a red bow of oversharing to match. Swift has been in the music business for over twenty years and has made herself one of the most recognized pop stars in the world— not only for her music, but also for her personal life.
The country-turned-pop starlet is no stranger to the limelight with her feuds, romances, and heartbreaks often making headlines. Far from mysterious, Swift has often been transparent in revealing that her songs are based on personal experience, which causes fans to dissect her work to discover who or what she's writing about.
Here's a look at the stories behind iconic songs written by Taylor Swift, and who they're actually about.
Updated May 2024: All the albums that Taylor Swift releases have references to other celebrities, and "The Tortured Poets Department" is no exception. With songs about Joe Alywn, Matt Healy, Kim Kardashian, and Travis Kelce, there is a lot of emotion packed into the album. All the songs reveal what Swift has experienced in her life since she and Alwyn (and she and Healy) broke up. While Swift does not name names on any of her albums, Swifties have become sleuths when it comes to trying to determine just who songs are written about.
14 'Bad Blood'
Subject of Song: Katy Perry
In 2014, Taylor Swift revealed in an interview with Rolling Stone that her song "Bad Blood" was about another woman in the industry who did something horrible to her: Katy Perry. It had long been suspected that the song was, in fact, a jab at Katy Perry. "She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me." Swift said.
The situation was later clarified by Perry who, in a segment on James Corden's Carpool Karaoke series, said their feud began over back-up dancers.
“So there’s three backing dancers on her tour and they asked me before they went on her tour if they could go, and I said ‘of course, I’m not on a record cycle right now … but I will be in probably about a year. So put a 30-day contingency in your contract so you can get out if you want to join me when I go back.” Perry told Corden.
The dancers spoke to management and were subsequently fired.
“I tried to talk to her about it and she wouldn’t speak to me … it was a full shutdown and then she writes a song about me, and I’m like, okay, cool, cool, cool, that’s how you want to deal with it? Karma!” Perry continued.
13 'Forever & Always'
Subject of Song: Joe Jonas
Who could forget when Joe Jonas allegedly broke up with Taylor Swift over a 27-second phone call in the summer of 2008? Not her. Swift took the break-up hard and channeled her heartbreak over it into "Forever & Always,” off of her album Fearless.
The song called out Jonas as a "scared little boy" who "still hasn't called" and discusses flashbacks to when he said they were to be together forever and always.
Amidst the controversy, Jonas took to his MySpace in 2008 to clarify the subject of the infamous phone call he made.
“For those who have expressed concern over the ’27-second’ phone call … I called to discuss feelings with the other person. Those feelings were obviously not well-received. I did not end the conversation,” he wrote. “Someone else did. Phone calls can only last as long as the person on the other end of the line is willing to talk. A phone call can be pretty short when someone else ends the call.”
Though their breakup was dramatic, they are now on good terms. Swift is also friendly with Jonas's estranged wife, Sophie Turner.
12 'Better Than Revenge'
Subject of Song: Camilla Belle
As her relationship with Jonas was laid to rest, fans thought that Swift had moved past the heartbreak. But the drama surrounding the end to their short-lived romance did not stop there, especially when Jonas suddenly struck up a romance with actress Camilla Belle shortly after their split. Swift subsequently accused Jonas of cheating on her with Belle while they were together. In 2010, there was one song on Swift's album Speak Now that proved she was not forgiving when it came to the actress.
Fans speculated the song "Better Than Revenge" was about Belle, as it snidely referenced an actress, who isn't a "saint" and is singularly known for what she does on a mattress. Swift later spoke The Guardian in 2014 saying, “I was 18 when I wrote that. That’s the age you are when you think someone can actually take your boyfriend. Then you grow up and realize no one takes someone from you if they don’t want to leave.”.
But it seemed Belle didn't let 18-year-old Swift off the hook that easily in 2015, chiming in when Katy Perry appeared to call Swift out on Twitter, after the "Anti-Hero" singer insinuated that rapper Nicki Minaj was "trying to pit women against each other". Perry tweeted, “Finding it ironic to parade the ‘pit women against other women’ argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the takedown of a woman.”
Belle responded, "Couldn't have said it better".
11 'Dear John'
Subject of Song: John Mayer
It appeared that age was nothing but a number when a 19-year-old Taylor Swift dated a 32-year-old John Mayer from 2009-2010. But Swift was "too young" to be played by Mayer's "dark twisted games" as she sang on the melancholic song "Dear John" from her 2010 album Speak Now.
Their connection began in 2009, after Mayer tweeted about wanting to work with Swift writing, "Waking up to this song idea that won't leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it's good enough to finish. It's called 'Half of My Heart' and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer Stevie Nicks in contrast to my Tom Petty of a song."
But things turned sour after their romance ended and "Dear John" hit Mayer where it hurt. Mayer opened up about the song to Rolling Stone.
“It made me feel terrible,” Mayer said. “Because I didn’t deserve it. I’m pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do.”
10 'Back To December'
Subject of Song: Taylor Lautner
While it seems like Taylor Swift has more recently embraced accountability like her Midnights single "Anti-Hero," fans remember a specific song from her past that set the foundation for her owning up to her mistakes. "Back To December" was a song written by Swift inspired by then-boyfriend, Taylor Lautner, who she dated shortly in the fall of 2009.
The song seems to pick up post-breakup in March 2010, when the pair reunited for lunch. In the song, Lautner is lauded as a subject that Swift regretfully reflects on breaking up with. She sings about missing his "tan skin," "big smile" and how she wishes could go back to December to make everything right.
It was made apparent through the song that Lautner was incredibly good to the singer, even though she broke things off with him. The actor even confirmed the song was written about him when his Scream Queens costar Lea Michele prodded him about it.
In a recent episode of his podcast The Squeeze, which he hosts with his new wife, Lautner confessed that he wished he could go back to the night when rapper Kanye West humiliated Taylor Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs. The actor expressed that he had not known that the moment wasn't a skit and perhaps would have intervened if he had known what he came to know later that night.
Lautner and Swift reunited in 2023 in Swift's music video for "I Can See You." The song was a new addition to the album Speak Now, which featured "Back To December." Fans loved seeing the two on good terms, and Lautner even joined Swift on stage during her Eras Tour for the video's premiere.
9 'Out Of The Woods'
Subject of Song: Harry Styles
Swift's short-lived 2012 relationship with Harry Styles is enshrined in the lyrics of "Out of the Woods" off her album 1989. In the song, Swift compares her and Styles to "two paper planes" whose chances of making it out of the woods seem slim to none.
The singer opened up about her feelings when she was in a relationship with the "As It Was" singer during a live performance of the song in 2015 at the Grammy Museum.
"The number one feeling I felt in the relationship was anxiety, because it felt very fragile. It felt very tentative," said Swift. "It always felt like, okay, what's the next road block? What's the next thing that's gonna deter this? How long do we have before this turns into an awful mess and we break up? Is it a month? Is it three days? And so, you know, I think a lot of relationships can be very solid and that’s kind of what you hope for, for it to be solid and healthy but that’s not always what you get. And it doesn’t mean that it’s not special and extraordinary just to have a relationship that’s fragile and somehow meaningful in that fragility.”
8 'All Too Well'
Subject of Song: Jake Gyllenhaal
When Swift originally released her fourth studio album Red in 2012, one song became the emotional centerpiece of the album. It was this album that birthed the phenomenon that is "All Too Well," which gained even more recognition when the singer released the original 10-minute version on Red (Taylor's Version) following controversy over her masters. The saccharine ballad reads like a laundry list of fond memories the singer shared with ex-boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal. The song is almost audibly picturesque with its references to autumn drives upstate, swaying in dim refrigerator lighting and a lost scarf that had her fans harassing Gyllenhaal for its whereabouts.
The actor came under fire even more after Swift released All Too Well: The Short Film in 2021. He even confessed that he had turned off his Instagram comments upon being harassed on social media over the matter. In an interview with Esquire, the actor finally addressed the subject of the song.
“It has nothing to do with me. It’s about her relationship with her fans," he said. "It is her expression. Artists tap into personal experiences for inspiration, and I don’t begrudge anyone that.
He went on to more broadly address the matter saying, “At some point, I think it’s important when supporters get unruly that we feel a responsibility to have them be civil and not allow for cyberbullying in one’s name."
7 'So Long, London'
Subject of Song: Joe Alwyn
Given that Swift has referenced Alwyn in the song, "London Boy" it is clear that "So Long, London" is about him.
Not only did Swift reference her song, "You're Losing Me" with the lyrics, "I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use / The spirit was gone, we would never come to" but she also spoke about how she tried to keep the relationship going as long as she could, knowing that there were signs it was crumbling at every turn.
"You say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it / My white knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment," speak directly to the length of how long Swift and Alwyn were together. It may also be a hint at the fact that Alwyn was unhappy with the spotlight Swift had on her and that he has yet to achieve the same with his career.
6 'The Alchemy'
Subject of Song: Travis Kelce
Despite the admission Swift made at her Paris show that she had been working on The Tortured Poets Department portion of the Eras Tour for nine months, a song about Travis Kelce managed to make its way onto the album. That song is "The Alchemy."
With all the sports references in the song, there is no mistaking who "The Alchemy" was written for.
"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."
But Swift does not only mention Kelce in the song. She also takes subtle digs at her exes, Alwyn and Matt Healy, with the lines, "Those blokes warm the benches" and "He jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an 'E'," respectively.
5 'But Daddy I Love Him'
Subject of Song: Matt Healy
Swift knew that her fans disapproved of Healy. However, all the talk about what a bad boy he was and that Healy was not the man for Swift only made Swift want him more.
"I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing / God save the most judgmental creeps who say they want what’s best for me / Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see / Thinking it can change the beat of my heart," was a direct message to all who were talking poorly about the relationship. But as Swift would soon find out, Healy was not the one for her.
