 Genius Meanings
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Taylor Swift – Need
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“Need” is an alleged reject from Swift’s August 2019 album, which the infamous group Taylor’s Inner Circle obtained in March 2020. The group describes the song, saying:
The music
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Taylor Swift – Afterglow
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In “Afterglow,” Taylor sings about self-sabotaging a relationship, overreacting about a misunderstanding. Taking blame for the fight, she asks for forgiveness from her partner in
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Chris Stapleton) – I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]
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In “I Bet You Think About Me,” Taylor confronts her ex now that she was able to move on, knowing he still hasn’t. Using an angry and disappointed tone, Taylor puts the blame on her
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Taylor Swift – Come Back... Be Here
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On “Come Back…Be Here”, Swift croons about a lover lost to time over a simple production reminiscent of her Speak Now days. On the deluxe version of Red, it appears as the 18th
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Taylor Swift – "Slut!" (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]
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“Slut!” leans fully into Swift’s media reputation as a “slut,” accepting that branding as long as it means she’s dating “the one.” The song, the first From The Vault track from
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Big Red Machine (Ft. Taylor Swift) – Renegade
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“Renegade” describes being with someone who deals with mental health issues, while expressing both sympathy and frustration for how it affects the relationship. Fans believe it may
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Taylor Swift – Hits Different
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“Hits Different” was a bonus track on the Target-exclusive Midnights: Lavender Edition. However, due to requests from fans, Taylor announced on May 24, 2023 that the track would be
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Taylor Swift – Mastermind
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“Mastermind” is the closing track to the standard edition of Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights. She revealed the song’s title and track number in the first video of her
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Taylor Swift – Death By A Thousand Cuts
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“Death By A Thousand Cuts” compares the possible break-up of a relationship to a slow, painful death. It was inspired by the Netflix film Someone Great, rather than an aspect of
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Taylor Swift – cardigan
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Accompanied by the release of her project written and recorded during the lockdown due to COVID-19, “cardigan” is the lead single from Taylor Swift’s eighth studio album, folklore.
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Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down
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“You Need To Calm Down” finds Taylor Swift addressing various detractors who post hurtful comments online, following themes of self-love and being true to one’s identity which
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Taylor Swift – Lavender Haze
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“Lavender Haze,” the love life-inspired opening Midnights‘ track, captures the feelings of a honeymoon-style relationship and is inspired by the classic 50’s phrase of the same
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Taylor Swift – closure
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Closure is the 14th track on evermore. It is a wild industrial-folk number with Nine Inch Nails-style drums.
In her Apple Music Awards 2020 interview, Taylor notes that closure is
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Taylor Swift – How You Get The Girl
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Taylor Swift unveiled a little snippet of this song in her Diet Coke ad.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/522413036729298944
The song works as an advice to a guy who
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Taylor Swift – This Love
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The 11th track on 1989 finds Taylor using cyclical metaphors to ponder on the cycles of a relationship. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but regardless, it’s still love. It
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Taylor Swift – Mean
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Swift wrote “Mean” in response to music critic Bob Lefsetz, who gave her a cruel review after a February 2010 performance with Stevie Nicks. Lefsetz claimed that Swift “can’t sing
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Taylor Swift – Holy Ground
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“Holy Ground” is the the first of two of Swift’s songs that Jeff Bhasker has produced, the first being “The Lucky One.” When she started writing the song, she knew she wanted
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Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer
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“Cruel Summer” narrates the fragility and uncertainty at the beginning of Taylor’s relationship with Joe Alwyn. The two met officially at the Met Gala in May 2016, although she was
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Taylor Swift – All Of The Girls You Loved Before
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“All Of The Girls You Loved Before” is a song by Taylor Swift, intended for her seventh studio album, Lover (2019), but was not included on the final tracklist for unknown reasons.
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Taylor Swift – Daylight
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In the final song on her album Lover, Taylor Swift sings about struggling through previous relationships, beginning to doubt her ability to find true love, until she meets someone
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Bon Iver) – evermore
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The titular closing track on the standard edition of evermore is a meditative piano ballad tracking the narrator’s journey from a seemingly unending period of deep depression and
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Taylor Swift – Question...?
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Reflecting upon a past relationship on “Question…?,” Swift asks her former lover if their newer romantic experiences compare to the time that they spent together. Implicitly, she
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Taylor Swift – The Archer
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“The Archer” is a mid-tempo track about Swift’s insecurities in a relationship. It’s the third song released from 2019’s Lover, preceded by “ME!” and “You Need To Calm Down.”
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Keith Urban) – That's When (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]
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“That’s When” is a duet describing the aftermath of a relationship breakup, with Swift in the role of the individual who stepped away from a relationship due to needing space and
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Taylor Swift – Dear John (Taylor's Version)
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[Verse 1] / Long were the nights / When my days once revolved around you / Counting my footsteps / Prayin' the floor won't fall through again / And my mother accused me of losin
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Taylor Swift – Dear John
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“Dear John” is a reflection on Taylor’s short-lived relationship with fellow singer-songwriter John Mayer. Taylor conveys her feelings of frustration over the way she was treated
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Taylor Swift – invisible string
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“invisible string” references an east Asian folk myth about a red thread of fate tying two soulmates together. Like on Swift’s 2019 track “Lover,” she expresses gratitude for past
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Taylor Swift – Style
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“Style” details a tumultuous relationship between two people who keep coming back to each other. Swift seems to have taken inspiration from her romance with Harry Styles, even
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Taylor Swift – Ronan
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Swift wrote “Ronan” about a three-year-old boy named Ronan Thompson, who died of neuroblastoma after an eight-month battle in 2011. Ronan’s mother, Maya Thompson, who gets credit
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Taylor Swift – New Romantics
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“New Romantics” is a satirical song discussing how “new romantics” view love and life. It addresses the nonchalant and whimsical nature of the way young adults approach love
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Gary Lightbody) – The Last Time
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This song ties into the theme of what can happen throughout a relationship similar to one in songs like “I Almost Do” or “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. The relationship
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Fall Out Boy) – Electric Touch (Taylor's Version) [From The Vault]
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“Electric Touch” sees Swift and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy long for hope, vulnerability, and the uncertainty of new love while they also share their perspectives on the
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Tim McGraw (Ft. Keith Urban & Taylor Swift) – Highway Don't Care
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Three of country’s brightest stars team up for a song about both relationships and road safety. Tim McGraw tells a story in which a not-so-great driver is distracted, and turns on
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Taylor Swift – betty
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“betty” touches on the aftermath of “august,” which describes a summer love that was doomed from the start. Listeners learn that while the summer affair was going on, the speaker
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Taylor Swift (Ft. The Chicks) – Soon You'll Get Better
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Swift dedicates this heartbreaking tune to her mother, Andrea, who was diagnosed with cancer in April 2015, then re-diagnosed some time in 2018. Swift previously spoke about her
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Taylor Swift – Cold as You
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“Cold as You” is the fifth track of Swift’s debut album and details her experience with an emotionally unavailable guy. Unlike Shakespeare who compares his lover to a summer’s day
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Ed Sheeran & Future) – End Game
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This star-studded track is the sole collaboration on reputation. Before it was announced, “Eddie” and “Future” were written in graffiti in certain shots of the “…Ready For It
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Bon Iver) – exile
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“exile” describes two ex-lovers seeing each other following a break-up. Justin Vernon describes feelings of confusion about how quickly a lover moved on, while Swift offers a
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Taylor Swift (Ft. Ed Sheeran) – Everything Has Changed
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“Everything Has Changed” is a song about realizing your life has flipped upside down after falling for someone new. The track appears on Taylor’s fourth album, Red, and features
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The National (Ft. Taylor Swift) – The Alcott
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“The Alcott” is the final single from The National’s ninth studio album First Two Pages of Frankenstein .
Matt Berninger was inspired by his wife, Carin Besser, for the concept of
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Taylor Swift – I'm Only Me When I'm With You
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“I’m Only Me When I’m With You” is the twelfth song from the bonus track version of Taylor’s debut eponymous album, Taylor Swift.
The song is about Taylor and her best friend
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Taylor Swift – the lakes
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Per the unforeseen announcement of Taylor Swift’s eighth studio album “folklore” and the subsequent release of the album’s track list, “the lakes” is the featured bonus track on
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Taylor Swift – seven
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This song is about one of Taylor’s childhood friends who seemed to have had an unhappy life at home. Taylor reflects back on her innocence back then, how she thought that their
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