Taylor Swift has likely inspired many artists to think, “Wow, she wrote a song about me!” throughout her career.
Although the newest song, The Life of a Showgirl, won’t be available until October 3rd, the singer of “I Bet You Think About Me” already has a large collection of songs that reveal details about her previous relationships, friendships, and crushes.
It’s true that Taylor’s songwriting often references different periods of her life and relationships. She’s included allusions to her current partner, Travis Kelce, as well as past relationships with Harry Styles, John Mayer, and Tom Hiddleston. She’s also mentioned public figures like Kim Kardashian and even Ethel Kennedy in her songs.
Although the 35-year-old singer has never directly said who inspires her songs, she has mentioned that she often writes about people she knows when she feels creatively moved.
“Certain people have a powerful impact on you,” she shared in a 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I’m not sure what it is about some individuals that makes them so creatively stimulating.”
As a lifestyle expert, I’ve noticed that for some celebrities, being featured as Taylor Swift’s inspiration in one of her songs is actually considered a real honor. It’s a testament to her influence, and they see it as a special recognition!
Harry-who was in a relationship with Taylor from 2012 to 2013-explained that he considers what it feels like to write a song *about* another person, as he told Howard Stern on his radio show in 2020. He added that it’s actually quite flattering when someone else does that.
The “Watermelon Sugar” singer was okay with being the subject of some of Taylor’s breakup songs. He pointed out that even if a song isn’t entirely complimentary, the fact that someone wrote it about you means you were worth writing about. Using Taylor as an example, he added that she’s a very talented songwriter.
At the same time, people who are said to have inspired some of Taylor’s songs – such as John – have voiced their unhappiness with how they’re depicted in her albums.
As a songwriter, I believe it’s a bit of a lazy approach to writing songs,” John told Rolling Stone back in 2012. “I understand she’s incredibly popular, and I don’t want to criticize anyone, but I think it’s a misuse of your abilities to deliberately create something shocking just to get a reaction. That’s ridiculous.”
For Taylor, songwriting has always been a personal process. It’s never been focused on how listeners will interpret her songs or what sparked the ideas, particularly when the songs are about past relationships.
She described it as both a talent and an art form, telling Zane Lowe in 2019 that dealing with people’s interest in the hidden meanings behind her music is simply “what comes with the territory.”
When Taylor feels like people are paying more attention to her personal life than to her music, she has a straightforward piece of advice for herself and other young women in the music industry.
“Don’t let anything prevent you from creating art-just keep making things,” she said then. “Don’t get so focused on something that you stop being creative, and if you need to, express what you’re going through *through* your art.”
If you are dying to know who Taylor may have weaved into her art, keep reading…
Prior to The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor had definitively written only one song about her then-boyfriend on the Chiefs-with the exception of the reworked version of “Karma” from The Eras Tour, naturally-that being “So High School,” which the couple, now engaged, fittingly used as the music for their proposal announcement on Instagram in August 2025.
While some fans think “The Alchemy,” another song from The Tortured Poets Department, might be about Travis Kelce due to the football and high school references within it, “So High School” offers a clearer hint with these lyrics: “Are you going to marry, kiss or kill me? / It’s just a game but really / I’m betting on all three, for us two.”
Back in 2016, Travis told AfterBuzzTV that if he had to play “Marry, Kiss, Kill” with Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift, he’d choose Taylor Swift for the kiss.
Regarding Travis’s opinion of the song, even though he’s a dedicated Swiftie and knows the competition is fierce, it remains his absolute favorite.
He playfully admitted to Access Hollywood in 2024, “To be honest, I’m probably a bit partial.”
Even though it didn’t last long, Taylor Swift seemed to have written several songs on The Tortured Poets Department about her brief relationship with The 1975’s lead singer in 2023. This includes the album’s title song, which also mentions their shared friend and frequent collaborator, Jack Antonoff.
There’s speculation that songs like “Fortnight,” “Down Bad,” and “But Daddy I Love Him” are also about Matty, with the last one seemingly addressing the criticism Taylor faced regarding their relationship.
Although Matty told the paparazzi, according to Entertainment Tonight in 2024, that he hadn’t heard the album but thought it was likely “good,” his mother Denise Welch strongly criticized the idea that the breakup songs were about him.
“You can’t talk about it,” the Loose Woman cohost explained during a 2025 interview on Watch What Happens Live, “but then she went and wrote an entire album about the very thing she wasn’t supposed to discuss.”
For more on Matty’s place in Taylor’s catalogue, read here.
Throughout their six-year romance, Taylor wrote numerous songs inspired by-and even created with-the Conversations With Friends actor. Soon after their relationship became public in 2016, she released Reputation, an album featuring several tracks about Joe, including “Call It What You Want,” “Dress,” and “King of My Heart.”
On Lover, Taylor included the song “Cornelia Street,” named after the New York City apartment she lived in when she and Joe first started dating. Fans also think Taylor wrote “invisible string” on folklore about her relationship with Joe, along with Midnights’ “Sweet Nothing” and its extra track “You’re Losing Me.” Jack, the producer, has said that “You’re Losing Me” was actually written two years before Taylor and Joe broke up in 2023.
Joe is among the numerous individuals in Taylor’s circle who now collaborate with her as a songwriter, receiving credit for songs on folklore and evermore, including tracks like “betty,” “champagne problems,” “exile,” and more, all while using the alias William Bowery.
“It all happened quite by chance during lockdown,” the Brutalist graduate explained to GQ in 2022. “I was just playing around on the piano, singing poorly, and someone happened to hear. Then we thought, ‘Why don’t we try to finish this song together?’”
For more songs inspired by Joe, see here.
After the well-known-and eventually proven to be altered-phone conversation from 2016 between Kanye and Taylor regarding a mention of her in his The Life of Pablo album, Taylor has responded to the former couple on several occasions, often in a subtle way.
As recently as 2024, Taylor Swift wrote the song “thanK you aIMee,” which many believe is about Kim Kardashian, because she capitalized letters in the title to spell out Kim’s name. (On a different version of the TTPD album, she altered the capitalization to spell out “YE” in the song title, seemingly referencing the rapper.)
Before TTPD, Taylor had already released songs referencing her conflicts with Kim and Kanye related to the “Famous” controversy. One example is “Mad Woman,” from the album folklore, which includes the lyrics, “Women like hunting witches too / Doing your dirtiest work for you / It’s obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together.”
Taylor’s debut single from Reputation, “Look What You Made Me Do,” referenced the very public drama she was experiencing. Similarly, “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” explores the pain of a friendship falling apart after attempts at reconciliation.
Of course, Taylor’s musical connection to Kanye goes all the way back to that infamous 2009 MTV VMA moment, when he famously interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the Video Music Awards. On her album Speak Now, in the song “Innocent,” she extends forgiveness to Kanye for the incident, which sparked significant criticism – even from someone as well-known as then-president Barack Obama.
In the song, Taylor sings, “It’s OK / Life is a tough crowd,” and then reflects on his age during the VMAs. He continues with, “32 and still growing up now / Who you are is not what you did / You’re still an innocent.”
For a thorough dive into Taylor’s beef with Kanye, see here.
Taylor and the Loki actor had a brief romance in the summer of 2016, but it clearly influenced the “Karma” singer’s music. Many fans believe songs like “Getaway Car” and “High Infidelity” detail their relationship, which happened while she was still involved with, and ultimately split from, Calvin Harris after a year together. She and Tom sparked relationship rumors in the same month – June 2016 – that she and Calvin parted ways.
In both songs, Taylor explores the idea that a relationship beginning with even a little bit of cheating is destined to fail.
Although fans believe Taylor, Calvin, and Tom were involved in the drama behind the song “Getaway Car,” none of them have publicly discussed what inspired the songs.
Even though Taylor Swift denied writing songs about her relationship with the One Direction member, many fans believe there are hidden references to the “Watermelon Sugar” singer throughout her album 1989.
The song “Style” is widely believed to be about Harry, largely due to its title. Similarly, “Out of the Woods” and the bonus track “Wonderland” also seem to allude to him. “Wonderland” specifically mentions a “Cheshire cat smile,” which many fans interpret as a reference to Harry’s hometown of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, England.
At the same time, the 1989 song “Is It Over Now?,” originally recorded for the vault, clearly shows the moment Taylor realized her relationship with Harry was finished.
She sings, referencing the well-known January 2013 photo taken of her after the reported split with her partner in the Virgin Islands: “Blue dress on a boat,” and adds, “Your new girl is my clone.”
In “Now That We Don’t Talk,” she brings up the failed vacation once more and criticizes Harry’s well-known musical preferences with the lyrics, “I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock / Or that I’d like to be on a mega-yacht.”
Although Taylor dated several other celebrities from the UK later on, Harry was her first British boyfriend. Because London is mentioned in other songs from her earlier work, such as Red’s “Come Back, Be Here” and “Message in a Bottle,” people also believe those songs are about Harry.
Harry wasn’t the sole source of inspiration for 1989. Many fans actually think the song “Bad Blood” is about Katy Perry, as Taylor Swift told Rolling Stone in 2014 that it was about a different “female artist” who “tried to ruin a whole arena tour.”
“I realized we were completely rivals,” Taylor explained, noting that some of her dancers had joined Katy’s Prismatic tour at the time. “It wasn’t a love triangle or anything like that; it was a matter of professional competition.”
However, Taylor maintained she penned the song simply to get some feelings off her chest.
“I didn’t want to start a lot of rumors,” she told Rolling Stone. “My goal was for people to relate it to times they’ve felt betrayed personally.”
In the end, the song sparked a conflict-Katy posted on X the day after Rolling Stone published an article, writing, “Watch out for Regina George in sheep’s clothing.”
The singers eventually resolved their differences in 2019. Following this, Katy made a brief appearance in Taylor’s music video for “You Need to Calm Down.”
Taylor Swift is also a fanfiction writer! Before Red came out, she met Ethel Kennedy while she was dating Ethel’s grandson, Conor Kennedy. Inspired by them, Taylor wrote the song “Starlight,” which tells the story of a romantic date night reimagined for the Kennedy matriarch and her late husband.
Oh my gosh, you guys, Starlight is just… everything! Taylor actually told me in a Red interview that it all started with a photo of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy when they were only 17! Can you believe it? She didn’t even *know* the story behind it, but she saw them and thought, ‘They look like they’re having the best night!’ Seriously, that’s so Taylor, right? And then she just… wrote the whole song imagining what that night might have been like! It’s just so magical and romantic, and knowing that little detail makes it even more perfect. I’ve listened to it a million times and it still gives me chills!
In response to the nod, Ethel told the Cape Cod Times, “She is just sensational, inside and out.”
Many believe Taylor Swift’s incredibly popular breakup song, “All Too Well”-especially the 10-minute version-is about the Donnie Darko actor. The song includes details like autumn-the time of their brief 2010 relationship-a family home, and a specific scarf. (Jake’s sister is the well-known actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and during their relationship, the couple famously shared a striped Gucci scarf.)
Taylor seemingly referenced her relationship with Jake in songs like “The Last Time,” “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” and the Red vault track “I Bet You Think About Me.” These songs mention details about his taste in music and his privileged upbringing.
Although many people think the album Red was largely influenced by Jake, he denied any connection to it after it was re-released in 2021.
“It’s about her relationship with her fans,” he told Esquire in 2022. “It is her expression.”
Taylor, for her part, agreed with Jake’s feelings, pointing out that she watched “All Too Well” evolve into something more significant than just a song about a breakup.
It was amazing how the fans immediately connected with the song and decided it was their favorite,” she shared on Good Morning America in 2021. “They naturally started to see it as the standout track from Red… and that happened within the first six months of the album’s release.
A lot of fans think that The Tortured Poets Department’s “The Manuscript” explores how “All Too Well” affected Taylor, and specifically, her relationship with Jake.
Yes, when Taylor was 19, at least half of her heart belonged to the musician behind “Gravity,” and he likely influenced some of her Speak Now songs. Taylor has said that both “Dear John” and “The Story of Us” were inspired by the same person.
She explained to USA Today in 2010 that ‘The Story of Us’ was inspired by an encounter at an awards show. She and a former partner found themselves seated near each other, and she felt an overwhelming urge to ask him, ‘Is this killing you? Because it’s killing me.’ However, she kept quiet. She described how they both maintained a sort of emotional distance, with ‘silent shields up.’
Although Taylor has stated she no longer hides clues about her personal life in Easter eggs, the original album notes for Speak Now-where she once left secret messages for fans-contained the phrase “CMT Awards” within the lyrics for “Story of Us.” Both Taylor and John were at the CMT Awards in 2010.
As for where “Dear John” is concerned? John himself had to respond to the brazen shots fired.
“I didn’t think I had done anything to warrant that treatment,” the musician explained to Rolling Stone back in 2012. “I’ve gotten much better at owning my mistakes, but I honestly didn’t do anything to deserve what happened. It was a really unkind act on her part.”
While Taylor might not have always handled things maturely when she was younger, she’s definitely moved past needing drama now. She told her fans before performing “Dear John” on The Eras Tour in 2023, “I’ve let go of everything that happened when I was 19,” adding, “What matters are the songs I created and the memories we shared.”
As she put it, “I do not care. We’ve all grown up. We’re good.”
After a relationship with Twilight star Taylor Lautner in 2009, Taylor Swift wrote the song “Back to December” reflecting on their time together. The song references a “September night” when he saw her upset-Lautner was present at the 2009 VMAs-and she subtly acknowledged him in the song’s album notes by writing, “Tay.”
Before the 2023 rerelease of Speak Now, the former star of Sharkboy and Lava Girl playfully mentioned his involvement with the album, telling Today, “I feel safe.”
Some fans believe that “Today Was a Fairytale” and “I Can See You”-the music video for which he appeared in-were also inspired by her Valentine’s Day co-star. In the song “I Can See You,” Taylor sings about maintaining a “professional” relationship, which was then followed by a romantic connection.
Surprisingly, Taylor Swift used to be nervous around Adam Young, the singer of “Fireflies.” The song “Enchanted” is inspired by the night she first met the lead singer of Owl City. She shared that she specifically wrote the word “wonderstruck” into the lyrics as a hint for him, because he had used that same word in an email he sent to her.
“Meeting him,” Taylor shared with Yahoo in 2010, “brought this incredibly strong feeling: I was really hoping you weren’t already in love with someone else.”
A year passed, and Adam answered Taylor’s heartfelt song with a new version of his own. He included his own words, singing, “Oh Taylor, I was so enchanted to meet you too.”
He confessed he’s quite shy and explained that, because music is the best way he can express himself, he recorded a song as a response to what he called the stunning track on their latest album, as noted in a message on his band’s website. He finished by writing, “You are a true princess from a dreamy fairy tale.”
A long time ago, Taylor was very open about the people who influenced her songwriting, particularly when it came to her split with Joe Jonas. In 2008, she quickly wrote “Forever and Always” and added it to her album Fearless just before her memorable appearance on Ellen. During that interview, she publicly criticized the Jonas Brothers member for ending their relationship with a very short, 25 to 27-second phone call.
On her 2010 album, Speak Now, Taylor subtly acknowledged Joe in two songs. One example is “Last Kiss,” a deeply emotional ballad that mentions July 9th-the date of a 2008 Jonas Brothers concert she went to while she was dating Joe.
On the album, Taylor also included the song “Better Than Revenge.” This was her response to the Jonas Brothers’ song “Much Better,” which contained a thinly veiled reference to her in the line, “I’m done with superstars and all the tears on her guitar.”
As I’ve followed Taylor’s musical journey, it’s been fascinating to see how she’s revisited past relationships. Later in her career, she started including sweeter references to her romance with Joe, like in Red’s “Holy Ground,” and especially in folklore’s “Invisible String.” That song is really special because it shows her reflecting on how their connection evolved over time. She beautifully captures the idea of moving on, singing, “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart,” and then, incredibly, “Now I send their babies presents.” It’s a really mature and heartwarming sentiment, showing growth and forgiveness.
However, with the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Taylor revisited the topic with “Mr. Perfectly Fine” in 2021, even though she originally wrote the song around the time of their 2008 split. It was Joe’s former wife, Sophie Turner, who appeared to confirm the song was about her husband at the time, posting it on social media and playfully commenting, “It’s NOT a bop.”
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2025-10-02 10:19