Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. She broke into the country music scene with her eponymous self-titled debut studio album, Taylor Swift in 2006, which included the singles "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song". Swift also released the holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, later titled as The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007.
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 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.
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 12 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), two Brit Awards (including a Global Icon award), an Emmy Award, 28 [https://guinnessworldrecords.com/]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 and Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards.
You Do
Taylor Swift Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't like your tilted stage
The role you made me play
Of the fool, no, I don't like you
I don't like your perfect crime
How you laugh when you lie
You said the gun was mine
Isn't cool, no, I don't like you (oh)
But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do
I don't like your kingdom keys
They once belonged to me
You ask me for a place to sleep
Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)
The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama
But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma
And then the world moves on, but one thing's for sure (sure)
Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours
But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time (nick of time)
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time (I do it all the time)
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me (yeah)
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me (ah, ah, ah, ah)
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams (ah, ah, ah, ah)
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me (ah, ah, ah, ah)
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
(Ooh, look what you made me do)
(Look what you made me do)
(Look what you just made me do)
"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now" (Ooh, look what you made me do)
"Why?" (Look what you made me do)
"Oh, 'cause she's dead" (Oh)
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do
In this song, Taylor Swift takes on a more aggressive and vengeful persona. She sings about someone who has hurt her and how she doesn't like them or their actions. The tilted stage mentioned in the lyrics could be a reference to Kanye West's floating stage from his 2016 tour, which Taylor previously criticized. The lyrics suggest that this person has lied to her and made her feel foolish, hence the line "the role you made me play of the fool". She then states that she has gotten smarter and stronger over time, rising up "from the dead" and keeping a list of people who have wronged her, with the offender's name in red and underlined.
Swift's lyrics suggest that she seeks revenge, with the repeated lines of "look what you made me do" emphasizing that the person is responsible for the consequences of their actions. Additionally, the lines "I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams" and "nobody trusts me" suggest that Swift will take action to make the person who hurt her experience the same pain she felt. The song ends with a voicemail recording of Swift stating, "I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh 'cause she's dead", symbolizing the end of the old, sweet persona that Swift was once known for and the emergence of a more powerful and assertive version of herself.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't like your little games
I don't appreciate the manipulative tactics you use
Don't like your tilted stage
I am not fond of the way you elevate yourself at my expense
The role you made me play
I resent the part you forced me to play in your games
Of the fool, no, I don't like you
I refuse to be your fool any longer and I want nothing to do with you
I don't like your perfect crime
I am disgusted by your flawless deception
How you laugh when you lie
Your disingenuous laughter at your own lies makes me sick
You said the gun was mine
You tried to shift the blame onto me when it was your own wrongdoing
Isn't cool, no, I don't like you (oh)
Your actions are not impressive, I do not want to associate with you
But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
I have become wiser and more resilient just in time to protect myself
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
I frequently overcome adversities and rise above difficult situations
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined
I have compiled a list of people who have wronged me and your name is at the very top
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh
I meticulously review my list and take thorough action to ensure justice is served
Ooh, look what you made me do
You are solely responsible for my current behavior and the actions I must take
Look what you made me do
Your actions have caused me to act upon the consequences
I don't like your kingdom keys
I dislike the power and control you hold over me and others
They once belonged to me
I was once in your position until you took that away from me
You ask me for a place to sleep
You sought my aid and hospitality when it was convenient for you
Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)
You selfishly shut me out and celebrated while I was left in the cold
The world moves on, another day, another drama, drama
Life goes on for everyone else while I am constantly embroiled in your drama
But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma
I cannot let go of the concept of eventual justice and revenge against you
And then the world moves on, but one thing's for sure (sure)
Time may pass, but one thing will always remain true
Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours
I may have already achieved my goals, but I know that you will eventually suffer consequences for your actions
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me
I have lost trust in everyone and cannot trust anyone either
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
You will forever be haunted by the memory of me and what you have done
"I'm sorry, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now"
I am no longer the same person you knew
"Why?"
You are curious as to why I have changed
"Oh, 'cause she's dead"
The old me no longer exists, having been replaced by a stronger, smarter version who is not afraid to hold you accountable
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group
Written by: Fred Fairbrass, Jack Antonoff, Richard Fairbrass, Robert Manzoli, Taylor Swift, Christopher Fairbrass
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Rebecca Leitman
Taylor taking control of her image and coming back stronger than a 90s trend. She turned all the backlash and hate into an amazing piece of work. Proud fan
bertottiedits
Same here 🤘
chomp
Imma be honest, I don't pay attention to any celebrity gossip or drama, so I had 0 context behind this album and why she was "bad". This is actually the album where I started to listen to her music because I liked the new genre she was puttin out.
dotdotdot
i would love to be now trying this tho, taking control of my image and coming back as a stronger person and turn the hate from a trio that hates me into a piece of work
tnd
Me too shame i wasnt her fan from the beginning but she grew on me i freaking love her now
alec beats🍉
When the heck was she “bad” LIKE Everybody WORSHIPS Her
Rebecca Tabor
I physically remember when this MV dropped and everyone at my high school was gossiping about it. Everyone was either for her or against her, and it was so crazy how she shook the world. Goals.
Ɍ𝕠𝓼𝚎ꪑǻ𝕣ᶦ𝚎
Fr
Raddestroyer2196
I don’t like your little games 0:21
Jerahmeel HP
6 years and it still hits the same. It never gets out of style.