Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans… Read Full Bio ↴Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting, which is often inspired by her personal life, has received widespread media coverage and critical praise.

Swift rose to mainstream prominence with her sophomore studio album, Fearless (2008), a country pop record with crossover appeal. Aided by the top-five singles “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me”, Fearless was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010), blended country pop with elements of rock and featured the top-ten singles “Mine” and “Back to December”.

Drawing inspiration from various pop, rock, and electronic genres, Swift's fourth studio album Red (2012) saw her transcending her country roots. She completely moved to pop with her synth-pop fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), and expanded the electropop sound on her next two studio albums, reputation (2017) and Lover (2019), which respectively embraced urban and retro styles. The four albums spawned a string of international top-five singles, including “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “I Knew You Were Trouble”, “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space”, “Bad Blood”, “Look What You Made Me Do”, “ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco)”, “You Need to Calm Down”, and “Lover”.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift experimented with folk and alternative rock on her eighth and ninth studio albums, folklore and evermore (both 2020), whose lead singles “cardigan” and “willow” topped charts around the world. She also released the critically acclaimed documentaries Miss Americana and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions that year. Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights (2022), marked her triumphant return to pop after two folk albums. The album set the record for biggest first day and first week ever on Spotify, spawned the hits Anti-Hero and Lavender Haze, and sold over 1.5 million copies in its first week becoming not only the biggest debut of the decade but also Swift's biggest debut ever. She would make history by becoming the first artist to occupy the entire top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 with tracks from Midnights.

Additionally, Swift began re-recording her back catalog in November 2020 as a result of a publicized dispute with talent manager Scooter Braun and her former label Big Machine, regarding the acquisition of the masters of her back catalog. In April 2021, Swift released a re-recorded issue of her 2008 album Fearless, titled Fearless (Taylor's Version). It debuted at number one in the US. Swift continued releasing re-recorded versions of her back catalog in November, 2021 with the release of Red (Taylor's Version), a 30 track re-issue of her 2012 critical smash. The album debuted at #1 in the US, spawned the #1 hit All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault), and broke the record at the time for biggest first day for a female album on Spotify. Red (Taylor's Version) was a critical and commercial hit, and proved that Swift's ambitious, yet ongoing plan to re-record her first 6 albums was well worth it.

Along with the release of Red (Taylor's Version) came All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), Swift's filmmaking debut. The 15 minute romantic drama was based on the lyrical content from Swift's 2012 fan favorite “All Too Well” starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien. It had a limited theatrical release in major cities, and Swift held special screenings of the film throughout 2022 at various film festivals. In December, 2022 Taylor announced that she would be making her feature directorial debut with Oscar-winning studio Searchlight Pictures.

Following the release of Midnights, Swift would embark on her first tour in five years, The Eras Tour—a retrospective tour covering the entirety of her discography. During her ongoing tour, Swift would release her next two re-recorded albums, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October of 2023. The former of which would land Swift as the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in Billboard 200 history, surpassing Barbra Streisand. The latter was her sixth album to sell one million copies in a single week in the US, her largest album sales in a week span. “Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version)”, the lead single for 1989 (Taylor's Version), would peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the 66th annual GRAMMY Awards, Taylor Swift surprised viewers by announcing her eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. On April 19, 2024, the album was released globally, breaking records: it became the first ever to amass 1 billion Spotify streams in a week and sold 2.6 million units in its first week in the US. Swift dominated the charts, monopolizing the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 and securing the top 10 positions on Australia’s ARIA Singles Chart. The lead single, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, quickly soared to the number-one position on the Hot 100. Additionally, just two hours after the album’s release, Swift surprised fans with a reissue titled THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY, which included 15 extra songs.

Swift has released several songs for film soundtracks. She co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack— “You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home” and “Crazier”, and contributed two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, including the single “Today Was a Fairytale”, which was her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. She also contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album: “Safe & Sound - from The Hunger Games Soundtrack”, co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and “Eyes Open”. “Safe & Sound” won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2013, Swift recorded “Sweeter than Fiction”, a song she wrote and produced with Jack Antonoff for the One Chance film soundtrack, which received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. Swift and English singer Zayn Malik, mononymously known as Zayn, released a single together, “I Don't Wanna Live Forever”, for the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades Darker (2017). She also recorded an original song called “Beautiful Ghosts”, which she wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Cats's soundtrack (2019). In 2020, Swift's documentary Miss Americana featured the song “Only the Young” which was written after the 2018 United States elections. In 2022, she released an original song titled “Carolina” for Where The Crawdads Sing (2022) inspired by the novel written by Delia Owens.

With sales of over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is a best-selling music artist. Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards, including four Album of the Year wins, which makes Swift the artist with the most awards for that category in history, two Brit Awards (including a Global Icon award), an Emmy Award, 28 Guinness World Records, 32 American Music Awards (the most wins by an artist), and 23 Billboard Music Awards (the most wins by a woman). She ranked eighth on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists Chart (2019) and was listed on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015). Swift has been included in various power rankings, such as Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2010, 2015 and 2019) and Forbes Celebrity 100 (placing first in 2016 and 2019). She was named Woman of the Decade (2010s) by Billboard, Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards, and Person of the Year (2023) by Time Magazine.

WRITING SONGS ABOUT YOU
Taylor Swift Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I can't believe you did it again, walk by and took my heart with you
Why'd you have to look so good, don't you know I'm trying to hate you
Tryin' to have a dream without you in it, but how can I put out this fire
When you're the one that lit it?
I can't wait for the day I stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not
I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, until I do
I keep writing songs about you

I got a stack of papers so high and it's all about you baby
Keep thinking maybe I can make sense of something crazy
Something I can get out of my head
I write your name, I write your name, and I tear it all to shreds
I can't wait for the day I stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not
I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, until I do

I keep writing songs about you

And if you ever change your mind you want me back again
I hope these songs will remind me why I shouldn't let you in

I can't wait for the day I stop pretending that I'm really okay, cause I'm not
I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, till I do
I'll just wait for the day, I'll stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not

I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, till I do
I keep writing songs about you.

Overall Meaning

In "Writing Songs About You," Taylor Swift laments about a love that she just can't seem to get over. The song begins with her expressing disbelief that the person has once again taken her heart with just a single glance. Swift sings, "I can't believe you did it again, walk by and took my heart with you / Why'd you have to look so good, don't you know I'm trying to hate you." Despite her best efforts, she cannot shake her feelings towards this person.

Swift explains that it's not just the physical attraction that she can't shake off, but the emotional bond that once existed. She confesses in the lyrics, "Tryin' to have a dream without you in it, but how can I put out this fire / When you're the one that lit it?" Swift is desperate to move on, to "know how it feels to be over you for real," but she can't seem to stop herself from writing about this person in her songs.

The song ends with the bittersweet realization that Swift may never get over this person. She sings, "I'll just wait for the day, I'll stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not / I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, till I do / I keep writing songs about you." The repetition of the line "I keep writing songs about you" drives home the point that despite her best efforts, Swift cannot escape her feelings towards this person.

Line by Line Meaning

I can't believe you did it again, walk by and took my heart with you
I am surprised that you have taken my heart again just by walking by, leaving me vulnerable

Why'd you have to look so good, don't you know I'm trying to hate you
Why did you have to be so attractive, don't you realize I am struggling to hate you?

Tryin' to have a dream without you in it, but how can I put out this fire When you're the one that lit it?
I am trying to dream without you in it but it's difficult since you are the one who ignited this flame within me

I can't wait for the day I stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not
I am looking forward to a day when I don't have to pretend that I am okay when I am not

I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, until I do
I want to experience what it feels like to truly be over you, but until then

I keep writing songs about you
I will continue to write songs about you

I got a stack of papers so high and it's all about you baby
I have a large stack of papers solely dedicated to writing about you

Keep thinking maybe I can make sense of something crazy
I am constantly trying to make sense of this crazy situation

Something I can get out of my head I write your name, I write your name, and I tear it all to shreds
I am trying to get you out of my head by writing your name and then tearing up the paper

And if you ever change your mind you want me back again I hope these songs will remind me why I shouldn't let you in
If you ever change your mind and want to come back, these songs will remind me why I shouldn't let you back in

I'll just wait for the day, I'll stop pretending that I'm really okay when I'm not
I will wait for the day when I no longer have to pretend that I am okay when I am not

I wanna know how it feels to be over you for real, till I do
I want to know what it's like to truly be over you, until I experience it

I keep writing songs about you.
I will continue to write songs about you.

Contributed by Ian P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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