The city of Toronto went wild for Taylor Swift this month. I wasn’t at any of the city’s six sold-out shows in her blockbuster Eras tour, but I have the friendship bracelets to show I was “concert adjacent.”
You can’t hear about Taylor Swift without hearing about her skills as a songwriter and a storyteller. She writes from the heart about love, romance, heartbreak, bitter breakups and betrayal. Listeners speculate on which song is about which ex – does “All I know is that you drove us off the road” refer to a snowmobile accident with Harry Styles? Is Dear John really about John Mayer?
The occasion inspired me to look more closely at her lyrics. I found lots of examples of analogies, word play, comparisons and contrasts. Here are two:
- “And you call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest” – All Too Well
- “I can read you like a magazine” – Blank Space, one of her most streamed songs on Spotify
Read more in the November issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery.
Which lyrics speak to you?