“He was like, ‘I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.’ That was nice,” she recalled to New Yorkmagazine in 2013. “Nicer than, like, the ranting, crazy e-mails I got from this one dude. It’s a lot more mature way of looking at a love that was wonderful until it was terrible, and both people got hurt from it — but one of those people happened to be a songwriter. So what are you going to do? Did you not Wikipedia me before you called me up [for a date]?”
During her Reputation concert special, which dropped on Netflix in 2018, the Pennsylvania native noted that her writing process is “usually me just trying to get past something and understand something I’m going through by writing about it.” At the time, Swift also reflected on how her relationship with “All Too Well” has changed since its debut years prior.
“There’s the life of this song, where this song was born out of catharsis and venting and trying to get over something and trying to understand it and process it. Then there’s the life where it went out to the world and you turned it into something completely different for me,” she said to fans at the time. “You turned this song into a collage of memories of watching you scream the words to this song or seeing pictures that you post to me of you having written the words of the song in your diary or you showing me your wrist and you have a tattoo of the lyrics to this song underneath your skin and that is how you changed the song ‘All Too Well’ [for] me.”
“Joe and I really love sad songs. We’ve always bonded over music. … We write the saddest. We just really love sad songs. What can I say?” Swift told Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show in December 2020 after the couple collaborated on her Folklore album. “And I say it was a surprise that we started writing together, but in a way, it wasn’t because we have always bonded over music and had the same musical tastes. And he’s always the person who’s showing me songs by artists and then they become my favorite songs.”
Scroll down to find out which celebrities Taylor Swift is singing about in hit songs like “Bad Blood,” “Dear John,” “Red” and “Look What You Made Me Do”:
Credit: Getty Images
Taylor Swift's Song Lyrics Decoded: Celebrities Featured in Her Songs
Art imitating life? Taylor Swift has a knack for writing about the ups and downs of falling in love — and with exes like Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston and Calvin Harris, she has no shortage of inspiration.
The performer previously admitted that she received a range of responses from her ex-boyfriends about her music. While discussing the 2012 song "All Too Well," which is based on her short-lived romance with Jake Gyllenhaal, Swift revealed that she spoke with her former flame about the breakup track.
"He was like, 'I just listened to the album, and that was a really bittersweet experience for me. It was like going through a photo album.' That was nice," she recalled to New Yorkmagazine in 2013. "Nicer than, like, the ranting, crazy e-mails I got from this one dude. It's a lot more mature way of looking at a love that was wonderful until it was terrible, and both people got hurt from it — but one of those people happened to be a songwriter. So what are you going to do? Did you not Wikipedia me before you called me up [for a date]?"
During her Reputation concert special, which dropped on Netflix in 2018, the Pennsylvania native noted that her writing process is "usually me just trying to get past something and understand something I’m going through by writing about it." At the time, Swift also reflected on how her relationship with "All Too Well" has changed since its debut years prior.
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"There's the life of this song, where this song was born out of catharsis and venting and trying to get over something and trying to understand it and process it. Then there's the life where it went out to the world and you turned it into something completely different for me," she said to fans at the time. "You turned this song into a collage of memories of watching you scream the words to this song or seeing pictures that you post to me of you having written the words of the song in your diary or you showing me your wrist and you have a tattoo of the lyrics to this song underneath your skin and that is how you changed the song ‘All Too Well' [for] me."
Not all her hits are breakup anthems, however. After sparking her romance with Joe Alwyn in 2017, the songwriter found herself connecting with the actor on a musical level.
"Joe and I really love sad songs. We've always bonded over music. ... We write the saddest. We just really love sad songs. What can I say?" Swift told Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show in December 2020 after the couple collaborated on her Folklore album. "And I say it was a surprise that we started writing together, but in a way, it wasn't because we have always bonded over music and had the same musical tastes. And he's always the person who's showing me songs by artists and then they become my favorite songs."
Scroll down to find out which celebrities Taylor Swift is singing about in hit songs like “Bad Blood,” “Dear John,” “Red” and “Look What You Made Me Do”:
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Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Forever & Always (2008)
Who: Joe Jonas
Lyric: "Did I say something way too honest? / Made you run and hide like a scared little boy?"
Lyric: "She's not a saint / And she's not what you think / She's an actress. / She's better known / For the things that she does / On the mattress."
Credit: Flynet
Back to December (2010)
Who: Taylor Lautner
Lyric: "I miss your tanned skin, your sweet smile / So good to me, so right / And how you held me in your arms that September night / The first time you ever saw me cry."
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Jeff Fusco/Getty Images
Dear John (2010)
Who: John Mayer
Lyric: "Dear John, I see it all now it was wrong / Don’t you think 19's too young to be played by your dark, twisted games? / When I loved you so, I should've known."
Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Innocent (2010)
Who: Kanye West
Lyric: "It's okay, life is a tough crowd / 32, and still growin' up now / Who you are is not what you did. / You're still an innocent."
The songstress confirmed to Vulture that the song was, in fact, written about the Yeezus rapper. "It was at an awards show, and there had been this falling-out between me and this guy," Swift recalled. "But, for me, it was important to write a song to him."
Credit: John Shearer/WireImage
Mean (2010)
Who: A music critic
Lyric: "Someday, I'll be living in a big old city / And all you're ever gonna be is mean."
Lyric: "I'm really gonna miss you picking fights / And me falling for it screaming that I'm right / And you would hide away and find your peace of mind / With some indie record that's much cooler than mine."
Credit: Vera Anderson/Getty Images; Inset: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage
Red (2012)
Who: Jake Gyllenhaal
Lyric: "Like the colors in autumn, so bright just before they lose it all"
Credit: Swarbrick/INFphoto.com
All Too Well (2012)
Who: Jake Gyllenhaal
Lyric: "Left my scarf there at your sister's house"
Credit: WENN.com
Begin Again (2012)
Who: Conor Kennedy
Lyric: "And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid / I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did."
Swift explained to Ryan Seacrest that her single was about coming out of a relationship and starting over, describing it as: "When you've gotten through a really bad relationship and you finally dust yourself off."
Credit: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images; Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images
Bad Blood (2014)
Who: Katy Perry
Lyric: "Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes / You say sorry just for show / You live like that, you live with ghosts"
Credit: FAMEFLYNET PICTURES; Bauer-Griffin
Out of the Woods (2014)
Who: Harry Styles
Lyric: "Your necklace hanging from my neck / Two paper airplanes flying, flying."
"I wrote that about a time in my life where I was in a relationship that just kind of… I was always kind of wondering, 'Where do we stand? Where do we stand?'" Swift told Access Hollywood. "It's the anxiety… that frantic anxiety of wondering if you're on solid ground yet."
Credit: Bauer-Griffin/GC Images); Inset: Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage
Style (2014)
Who: Harry Styles
Lyric: "You got that long hair, slicked back, white T-shirt."
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Inset: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for DIRECTV
Look What You Made Me Do (2017)
Who: Kanye West
Lyric: "I don't like your little games / Don't like your tilted stage / The role you made me play / Of the fool / No, I don't like you."
Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images; Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
…Ready for It? (2017)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: "Younger than my exes / But he act like such a man … Burton to his Taylor / Every love I've known in comparison is a failure."
Credit: Venturelli/Getty Images for Gucci; Inset: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Gorgeous (2017)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: "You should take it as a compliment / That I got drunk and made fun of the way you talk … Ocean blue eyes, looking in mine / I feel like I might sink and drown and die / You're so gorgeous / I can't say anything to your face / 'Cause look at your face / And I'm so furious / At you for making me feel this way / But what can I say? / You're gorgeous."
Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImage
I Did Something Bad (2017)
Who: Kanye West
Lyric: “If a man talks s—t, then I owe him nothing. I don’t regret it one bit, ‘cause you had it coming.”
Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (2017)
Who: Kanye West
Lyric: “Friends don’t try to trick you / Get you on the phone and mind-twist you / And so I took an axe to a mended fence”
Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images
I Did Something Bad (2017)
Who: Kim Kardashian
Lyric: “They got their pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons / They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one / So light me up (light me up)”
Credit: Getty Images
Don’t Blame Me (2017)
Who: Calvin Harris / Tom Hiddleston / Jake Gyllenhaal
Lyric: “I’ve been breakin' hearts a long time / And toyin' with them older guys.”
Credit: Jerad Williams/Newspix/Getty Images
Getaway Car (2017)
Who: Tom Hiddleston
Lyric: “But you weren't thinkin’/ And I was just drinkin’/ Well, he was runnin’ after us, I was screamin’, "go, go, go!" / But with three of us, honey, it's a sideshow / And a circus ain’t a love story /And now we're both sorry.”
Credit: Getty Images
Call It What You Want (2017)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “I’m laughin' with my lover, makin' forts under covers/ Trust him like a brother / Yeah, you know I did one thing right”
Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Call It What You Want (2017)
Who: Katy Perry
Lyric: “All the drama queens taking swings / All the jokers dressing up as kings”
Credit: Blitz Pictures/Shutterstock
Lover (2019)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand? / With every guitar string scar on my hand / I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover / My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue / All’s well that ends well to end up with you.”
Credit: MEGA; Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock
The Man (2019)
Who: Leonardo DiCaprio
Lyric: “They would toast to me, ‘Let the players play’ / I’d be just like Leo in St-Tropez.”
Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock; FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
London Boy (2019)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “You know I love a London boy / I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon / He likes my American smile, like a child when our eyes meet / Darling, I fancy you / Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates / So I guess all the rumors are true / You know I love a London boy.”
Credit: Shutterstock (2)
Invisible String (2020)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “Green was the color of the grass / Where I used to read at Centennial Park / I used to think I would meet somebody there / Teal was the color of your shirt / When you were sixteen at the yogurt shop / You used to work at to make a little money.”
Credit: Netflix
Peace (2020)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “Your integrity makes me seem small / You paint dreamscapes on the wall / I talk s—t with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor,” she sings. “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences / Sit with you in the trenches / Give you my wild, give you a child.”
Credit: Carlos Piaggio/Shutterstock; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Invisible String (2020)
Who: Joe Jonas
Lyric: “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind / For the boys who broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents / Gold was the color of the leaves.”
Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock; Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
The Lakes (2020)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die / I don’t belong and, my beloved, neither do you / Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry.”
Credit: Swarbrick/INSTARImages.com
Coney Island (2020)
Who: Jake Gyllenhaal
Lyric: “Did I leave you hanging every single day / Were you standing in the hallway / With a big cake, happy birthday.”
Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Long Story Short (2020)
Who: Kanye West / Kim Kardashian
Lyric: “Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things / Your nemeses will defeat themselves before you get the chance to swing.”
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Inset: Shutterstock
Coney Island (2020)
Who: Calvin Harris
Lyric: “But when I walked up to the podium, I think that I forgot to say your name.”
Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com; Rob Latour/Shutterstock
Long Story Short (2020)
Who: Joe Alwyn
Lyric: “When I dropped my sword / I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door / And we live in peace / But if someone comes at us, this time, I’m ready.”
Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock
It’s Time to Go (2020)
Who: Karlie Kloss
Lyric: “When the words of a sister come back in whispers / That prove she was not in fact what she seemed.”
Credit: Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
It’s Time to Go (2020)
Who: Scott Borchetta
Lyric: “Sometimes giving up is the strong thing / Sometimes to run is the brave thing / Sometimes walking out is the one thing / That will find you the right thing.”
Lyric: "And I was never good at telling jokes but the punch line goes / I'll get older but your lovers stay my age."
Credit: Shutterstock; Invision/AP/Shutterstock
All Too Well (2021)
Who: Jake Gyllenhaal
Lyric: “But I'm in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind / You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine / And that made me want to die.”
Credit: George Pimentel/Shutterstock; John Salangsang/Shutterstock
Would've, Could've, Should've (2022)
The Midnights bonus track seemingly explores Swift's messy history with Mayer. "If clarity's in death, then why won't this die? / Years of tearing down our banners, you and I / Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts / Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first," she sings.
Even more telling is the chorus, which hints at dancing "with the devil" at 19.
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