Pop star Taylor Swift is no stranger to fans diving deep into her lyrics, and while she appreciates the passion, she admitted that some interpretations can feel a bit much at times.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Times, where she was named among its “30 Greatest Living American Songwriters,” Taylor spoke about the evolving relationship between her music and her listeners, particularly when it comes to decoding her songs and having their own ‘tradition’.
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One of the most notable tradition between them is the placement of emotionally driven songs as Track 5 on her albums, including songs like “Dear John,” “You're on Your Own, Kid,” “All Too Well,” and more.
At the same time, Taylor acknowledged how invested fans can get in trying to piece together the stories behind her lyrics.
“There are special things like that but at the same time there’s sort of so many of them now, which is great, but there’s corners of my fanbase who are gonna take things to a really extreme place,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do about that. There [are] people who are gonna try to, like, do detective work, figure out the details — who is that about? What is this?”
She added that while she understands the curiosity, some conclusions can feel overly specific and ‘weird’.
“When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it’s a paternity test,” she said. “Like, ‘This song’s about that person.’ Because I’m like, ‘That dude didn’t write the song, I did.’ But that’s part of it.”
Still, Taylor recognizes that such engagements are part of her connection with fans and her life in the spotlight.
“You have to hold tight to your perception of your art and your relationship with it, and then you just kind of have to like [blows] ‘There it goes, hope you like it. If you don’t now, hope you do in five years. And if you never do, then I was doing it for me anyway,’” she said.
Beyond fan theories, the award-winning singer also shared how her songs often come from a mix of intention and spontaneity.
She cited an example from “Elizabeth Taylor,” a track from her album The Life of a Showgirl, which was inspired by a conversation with her fiancé, Travis Kelce, about how much she admires screen icon Elizabeth Taylor for being so passionate in life despite challenges in artists’ rights and exploitation.
“I was like, ‘Her eyes were violet. Some people said they were blue. Some people said they were violet. I think they were violet.' We get home. He gets out of the car and I'm just in my head just this intrusive melody….[sings "Elizabeth Taylor"] And I'm just scrambling to open my record app on my phone.”
According to her, most of her song lyrics come from ideas out of nowhere and that she just grabs every opportunity to write about it.
“That’s like one of those spontaneous places where it floats down like a cloud in front of you and all you have to do is grab it. The song transpires from there. It comes as if nowhere. That’s a really fun way that songs come about. That’s the way it happens, most of the time,” she said.