The sound of Taylor Swift's songs may have changed over the years, but the subjects she sings about typically remain the same. She uses her music as an outlet for her emotions, which means that the majority of her lyrics talk about the emotional pain she's been through. As a beautiful woman with all the money and fame she could ever need, the biggest problems in Taylor's life are boys. That's why so many of her songs talk about her ex-lovers and how they shattered her heart. Of course, once in a while she does sing about her other enemies that she's never locked lips with.
No matter whom she's speaking about, the subjects are close to her heart. Even though critics have bashed her for years over her obsession with love, she never lets the criticism get to her. One of her latest songs, 'Shake it Off', proves that she's not willing to bow down to the haters. She stays true to herself and sings about whatever (and whomever) she wants to sing about. Since it's hard to keep tabs on all of Taylor's exes and celebrity feuds, here are a few of the many people that Taylor has written songs about:
15 Joe Jonas
When Taylor was only 18 years old, she was in a relationship with Joe Jonas, who was a teen heartthrob at the time. However, according to an interview Taylor had on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Jonas ended up breaking up with her over the phone in just twenty-seven seconds. Getting dumped in such a quick, careless way didn’t sit well with Swift. That’s why she wrote her hit song, 'Forever And Always', about the boy. Some of the most insulting lyrics are, “Was I out of line? Did I say something way too honest, made you run and hide, like a scared little boy?”
14 Camilla Belle
Joe Jonas wasn’t the only one who Taylor blamed for their sudden breakup. She believed that his only reason for dumping her was to start dating Camilla Belle, an actress who has appeared in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and When a Stranger Calls. Since Taylor couldn’t let Camilla off the hook, she wrote a song about her called 'Better Than Revenge'. The nastiest lyrics in the song say, “ She’s an actress. She’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress. Soon she’s going to find that stealing other people’s toys on the playground won’t make you many friends.”
13 Taylor Lautner
Taylor Swift appeared in the movie Valentine’s Day with Taylor Lautner back in 2010, and they made an adorable couple. However, their real life relationship didn’t last long. After a few months, Swift was the one to break up with the other Taylor. Instead of writing a rude song about him, she decided to write a sweet song apologizing about her rude behavior. It was called 'Back to December', and some of the sweetest lyrics are, “So this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you saying, ‘I’m sorry for that night.’ And I go back to December all the time.”
12 John Mayer
John Mayer has a bad reputation when it comes to love. He has dated plenty of celebrities, such as Jennifer Love Hewitt and Katy Perry. However, even though he’s been around the block and he’s twelve years older than Swift, the pair decided to date for a short while. Of course, it didn’t end well, at least according to Taylor. She wrote a song about him that actually included his name, so there was no denying who it was about. Her song, entitled 'Dear John', has harsh lyrics like, “Dear John, I see it all now that you’re gone. Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with?”
11 Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake has played lovable characters in Brokeback Mountain, Nightcrawler, and even Donnie Darko. That’s why it shouldn’t be surprising that the actor left quite an impact on Swift, even though he broke up with her over text. Once they separated, she wrote a song called 'All Too Well'. In it, she pines for a love that she clearly wishes she hadn’t lost. Here are a few of the most touching lyrics: “And I know it’s long gone and that magic’s not here no more, and I might be okay, but I’m not fine at all. […] Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece until you tore it all up.”
10 Katy Perry
Boys aren’t the only subject that Taylor Swift writes and sings about. After Katy Perry tried to “steal” some of Taylor’s backup dancers, she wrote the song 'Bad Blood'. The video contains a large group of female singers and actresses, most notably Selena Gomez, who is supposed to represent Katy as the “bad guy.” In the song, which came out an entire year after their argument, Taylor says, “Did you think we’d be fine? Still got scars on my back from your knife. So don’t think it’s in the past. These kind of wounds they last and they last.”
9 Harry Styles
There are quite a few songs that are rumored to be about Harry Styles, which includes I 'Knew You Were Trouble' and 'Out of the Woods'. The latter song references a necklace, which both Harry and Taylor wore when they were a couple. She says, “Your necklace hanging from my neck. The night we couldn’t quite forget. When we decided to move the furniture so we can dance.” Meanwhile, I Knew You Were Trouble has lyrics like, “He’s long gone when he’s next to me, and I realize the blame is on me, because I knew you were trouble when you walked in.”
8 Conner Kennedy
When Taylor writes about her exes, the songs aren’t always brutal. Sometimes, she actually talks about how much she appreciated her time with the person. For instance, when it comes to Conner Kennedy, she doesn’t have a bad word to say about him. 'Everything Has Changed' is rumored to be about the man, but it’s a sweet song that’s filled with love and positive emotion. It has lyrics like, “All I've seen since eighteen hours ago are green eyes and freckles and your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like I just want to know you better."
7 Brandon Bordello
Before Taylor hit it big, her boyfriends were average men. When she was a freshman in high school, she dated a boy named Brandon Bordello. However, he was a few years older than her, so they ended up breaking up when he went off to college. That gave her plenty of time to write songs about him, like Tim McGraw and 'Our Song'. Tim McGraw was her way of telling Brandon that she wanted him to remember her by using lyrics like, “When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song. The one we danced to all night long.” Meanwhile, Our Song is all about the fun times they shared together with lyrics like, “Our song is the way you laugh.”
6 Sam Armstrong
Sam Armstrong was another average boy that Swift dated before she was famous. However, the song she wrote about him cheating on her became pretty big. It was called 'Should’ve Said No', which she included on her first album. In the lyric booklet that came inside of the CD case, every S and A and M was capitalized. If calling him out with a booklet wasn’t harsh enough, she also did it in her song when she sang lyrics like, “You shouldn’t be begging for forgiveness at my feet. You should’ve said ‘no,’ baby, and you might still have me.”
5 Martin Johnson
Taylor had a brief romance with the lead singer of Boys Like Girls, Martin Johnson. Even though it didn’t last long, she wrote two songs about him, both of which became massive hits. One was called 'Love Story', which had lyrics like, “I sneak out to the garden to see you. We keep quiet because we’re dead if they knew,” which referenced her publicists advice to stay away from him. The other song inspired by Martin was called 'White Horse', which had lyrics like, “I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairy tale. I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet.”
4 Kanye West
Kanye West made headlines when he interrupted Taylor’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to complain about Beyoncé losing. Even though the media bashed him for his rude interruption, Taylor forgave him years later in a song called 'Innocent'. Kanye was 32 at the time of the infamous VMA incident, and in her lyrics of the song, she uses that number to make it clear that she’s talking about him. She says, “It’s okay, life is a tough crowd. 32 and still growing up now. Who you are is not what you did. You’re still an innocent.”
3 Bob Lefsetz
Bob Lefsetz is a man who blogs about music for a living. He’s meant to give his honest opinion, which means that he’s not always going to have nice things to say. Back in 2010, the former fan of Swift turned on her by saying that she couldn’t sing after hearing a bad performance at the Grammys. She responded by creating a song called 'Mean', which has lyrics like, “I can see you years from now in a bar talking over a football game with that same big loud opinion, but nobody’s listening. Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things, drunk and grumbling on about how I can’t sing.”
2 Will Anderson
Will Anderson is the lead vocalist of Parachute. Paparazzi have caught him and Taylor together on numerous occasions, and even though he describes her as his best friend, the media swears that there is more between them. In fact, it’s rumored that her song, 'Begin Again', is about Anderson. If that’s the truth, he’ll soon be on her list of former lovers, because the song has sweet lyrics like, “And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid. I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny because he never did. I’ve been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end, but on a Wednesday in a café I watched it begin again.”
1 Adam Young
Adam Young is the lead singer from Owl City. After Taylor met him in person after weeks of exchanging emails, she wrote 'Enchanted' about him. It had lyrics like, “Please don’t be in love with someone else. Please don’t have somebody waiting on you.” Adam Young recorded his own version of the song where he added a verse that says, “I was never in love with someone else. I never had somebody waiting on me. Because you were all of my dreams come true. And I just wish you knew. Taylor I was so in love with you.”
Sources: huffingtonpost.com, huffingtonpost.com, eonline.com, huffingtonpost.com, wired.com, huffingtonpost.com, huffingtonpost.com, huffingtonpost.com, huffingtonpost.com
