Taylor Swift - Blank Space

Taylor Swift is a pretty polarizing artist - people seem to either love her and think she's a great role model with catchy as heck tunes or think she's somewhat of a fake who has played the music industry in her rise to fame (country star?).

One of her catchy songs recently popped in my head (I wish I had better control of that), and that is Blank Space. Man, that songs is super duper catchy, but if you think about it, it arguably lends itself to the argument that T-Swift isn't the greatest of people. Let's break it down.

Nice to meet you, where you been?

I could show you incredible things

Magic, madness, heaven, sin

Saw you there and I thought

Oh my God, look at that face

You look like my next mistake

Love's a game, want to play?

New money, suit and tie

I can read you like a magazine

Ain't it funny, rumors fly

And I know you heard about me

So hey, let's be friends

I'm dying to see how this one ends

Grab your passport and my hand

I can make the bad guys good for a weekend


The song starts off pretty innocent. She's meeting someone new, he's cute, and she's ready to give the good 'ol game of love another shot. Cool.


Then it gets a little dark: "I'm dying to see how this one ends." Wait, what? So she's already looking forward for it to end. Not a chance of the happy ending. Now, a dream of mine has always been to go on a date with her in order for her to write a song about me - providing me with some sort of semi-fame. Could it be that rather than being a cynic who doesn't believe in love or has been hurt too many times, that Taylor is actually just looking for a new muse? Seeing how she can turn the ending into her gain? Hmm.


She ends the first verse with something that really bugs me: "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend." Um, congratulations? Is that really an accomplishment. I'm not really convinced that is saying anything. If you make a bad guy good for a weekend, is he really good? Or is he just masquerading as good for his own advantage? Also, again she's referencing the shortness or ultimate futility of the impending relationship. Sketchy much?





So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain
Got a long list of ex-lovers
They'll tell you I'm insane
'Cause you know I love the players
And you love the game



'Cause we're young and we're reckless
We'll take this way too far
It'll leave you breathless
Or with a nasty scar
Got a long list of ex-lovers
They'll tell you I'm insane
But I've got a blank space baby
And I'll write your name


It's going to be forever or go down in flames - well thanks captain obvious! I mean, it could go down in mutual respect. But, I get how binaries are much more inciting than complexities.


If she's got a long list of ex-lovers who will tell you she's insane, isn't that a reflection more on her than them? I totally get if it was just one or two guys, but a long list? She basically inferring that you'll join the list in the not too near future, but hey join the list. I think the easy thinking here would lead us to believe she wants to write your name on the list of ex-lovers, but the lyrics, I'd argue, are really insinuating that she's ready to write your name down in song. Go get that fame you pretty-faced man!

Cherry lips, crystal skies

I could show you incredible things

Stolen kisses, pretty lies

You're the king baby I'm your Queen

Find out what you want

Be that girl for a month

Wait the worst is yet to come, oh no

Screaming, crying, perfect storm

I can make all the tables turn

Rose gardens filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh my God, who is she?"

I get drunk on jealousy

But you'll come back each time you leave

'Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream


The second verse starts off with more generic beginning of a relationship stuff. The phrase pretty lies really bugs me here though. It's followed by her essentially saying that she's going to not be herself and fake her existence for a bit just to show how good she is at playing the game. Like this whole verse is completely messed up. Taylor Swift plans on screwing with your head and dangling you on a string. Seriously, I get that she's (subjectively) pretty and pretty famous, but this does not sound worth it. At all.


Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't say I didn't warn ya

Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't say I didn't warn ya


The chorus is thrown in here a few more times, but here's the only unique text left. She's concluding here that it's essentially all of her lovers' faults for the way she is and how she acts. She's screwing with them and screwing with the current mysterious lover because that's the only way boys want love. Believe me, I get there are some seriously players out here, but this feels like a tad bit of a stretch. Yikes.

One Direction - The Story of My Life

Ah, One Direction. The boy band to sweep into millions of people's hearts only to eventually go in their own directions. One of their more popular songs, The Story of My Life, initially feels like a passionate love story of desperation and drive, but looking at it more closely makes it a whole lot sadder. Let's look.
Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explainI leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days

This opening is actually pretty interesting and a great set-up if you think about it. The mention of my heart in the second line seems to indicate that the walls are metaphoric for walls surrounding his heart. The unexplainable stories surround the heart, but never fill it. Instead, they tease the heart and leave it with an aching emptiness. Ouch.
She told me in the morning
She don't feel the same about us in her bones
It seems to me that when I die
These words will be written on my stone

This first verse, which is short and to the point, essentially tells us that the boys of 1D, for the sake of this song, are living in a perpetual state of one-sided relationships. Her telling him (them) this isn't anything new. In fact, it's so trite at this point, he glumly concludes that instead of his tombstone saying "loving father," he'll instead have "She don't feel the same about us in her bones." Crushing, man.

And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The ground beneath my feet is open wide
The way that I've been holdin' on too tight
With nothing in between
The story of my life, I take her home
I drive all night to keep her warm and time
Is frozen (the story of, the story of)
The story of my life, I give her hope
I spend her love until she's broke, inside
The story of my life (the story of, the story of)


The bridge feels a little melodramatic, but it continues the feeling of monumental disappointment. He's saying the ground beneath him is crumbling, or separating, while he's been holding on to a love that was never there. It's a reflection of the song's entire message where he gives up everything for his love (even his life in this case), but it's never reciprocated.


Let's be honest, most of us only really remember the chorus of a song. It's the catchiest part. Out of context, you could argue that he's a white night of sorts. He goes on this grand adventure to take her home, keep her safe, and restore her hope all the while gaining her love (she spends it on him). But in the greater context, the story of his life is a repetitive cycle of eventual heartbreak. I'm no expert, but you'd think he'd learn. 

Written on these walls are
The colors that I can't change
Leave my heart open
But it stays right here in its cage
I know that in the morning now
I see ascending light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is untamed, still


Pretty simple here. The first part of the verse essentially is another way to state exactly what they said in the song's beginning. Then, it's another morning, he's broken again from heartbreak, but his heart isn't done yet. I'd argue that untamed isn't reference his lack of relationship, but instead it's not learning. He's being just as reckless with it as ever. Hearts don't think very often, after all.
And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The fire beneath my feet is burning bright
The way that I've been holdin' on so tight
With nothing in between
The story of my life, I take her home
I drive all night to keep her warm and time
Is frozen (the story of, the story of)
The story of my life, I give her hope
I spend her love until she's broke, inside
The story of my life (the story of, the story of)

Different metaphor, but he's still dying for a love that isn't there. Brave man.
And I've been waiting for this time to come aroundBut baby running after you is like chasing the clouds

This bit here feels like a nod to the fact that time is frozen. Sure, in one sense time feels frozen when he is in love with the girl. It's as if when they're together everything stops. But also, with time frozen, he has to wait for it to move - to come around when it's the right time (maybe it's been frozen at the wrong time all along). Unfortunately, it's not that easy because who the fuck can catch a cloud?

The song ends with some repetition of the chorus because that stuff is a crowd pleaser. Definitely a tragic song after all. But seriously, someone needs to teach these guys the learn part of live and learn.