Taylor Swift has become a modern-day mythological figure with her own lore (I’d say “folklore,” but that would be too on-the-nose.) Her romantic life is a storyline that plays out like a movie.
As someone who was formerly obsessed with her and paid very close attention to her life – her song lyrics, interviews, etc. – I feel qualified to write this. I still pay a lot of attention to her, both her music and in the news, but in a more detached way. Or at least, I try harder now not to wrap myself up in her life – which is difficult because it’s so fascinating to follow.
It recently occurred to me that while almost everyone knows who she is, many people don’t know all of her lore. So let me show you.
I’m going to break down her lore into eras. We’re all familiar with the many “eras” of Taylor Swift – according to albums. But to really dig much deeper than album titles, I’m going to create my own era names.
Breakout Era (2006-2008)
The self-titled album Taylor Swift was released in 2006. However, her music didn’t reach mainstream pop radio until late 2007, going into 2008. She was sixteen-years old when this album came out. No one really knows what jumpstarted her career – there was no “American Idol” or “The Voice” reality competition that thrusted her into the limelight. All we know is that her father had connections to a record company, so most likely, it was all about knowing the right people. However, this is not to discredit her fierce determination. As a kid, she spent weekends performing for small crowds, rather than having sleepovers with friends. She was born in Reading, Pennsylvania (on a Christmas tree farm) but her family moved to Nashville in her early teenage years in order for her to seriously pursue a singing career.
The album “Taylor Swift” is the most country-sounding record she’s ever released. The was her original aim: country music. She spoke and sang with a heavy southern accent, which was something she faked at the time in order to fit in with the scene. However, her music was so commercially successful, that they put “pop versions” of her singles on Top 40 radio stations. What made her music so successful was the vulnerability of her lyrics – how open she was about her personal life – how she named names in her songs. She sings about “Drew” and “Cory.” She also has a song called “Mary’s Song” in which she sings a real-life love story about a couple in their late 80s who fell in love with each other when they were just little kids. Everyone fell in love with her for her honesty and openness – something you typically didn’t see with popstars, who rarely ever write their own lyrics.
The greatest lore from her era is “Drew vs. Drew.” Taylor knew two different Drew’s in high school. There was a boy named Drew who she dated, and then they split up after he left for college. There was another boy named Drew who was an unrequited crush who she wrote “Teardrops on My Guitar” about. Do not confuse one Drew with the other. The other Drew – the one she never dated – was almost arrested in 2014 for suspected child abuse but was proven innocent and was not charged. Yikes.
Good Girl Era (2008-2009)
Taylor dated Joe Jonas in 2008: at the height of the Jonas Brothers popularity. However, a few months later, they split up. Taylor went on the Ellen show and slyly announced that Joe broke up with her over a 27-second phone call. Once this was revealed, Joe’s character was demonized. He was suddenly painted as a heartbreaker. In the next Jonas Brothers album, the song “Much Better,” Joe sings “get a rep for breaking hearts. Now I’m done with superstars and all the tears on their guitar.”
In the meantime, her second album “Fearless” came out and would go on to win a Grammy. She was enormously growing in popularity. Taylor also collaborated with the lead singer from the band “Boys Like Girls” with their duet “Two Is Better Than One” – there’s rumors that they dated but it hasn’t been proven.
The infamous Ellen interview about Joe Jonas was a huge moment in pop culture history. It really set her reputation as the hopeless romantic who gets her heart broken by bad boys. However, what would truly top that moment, would be the VMAs in 2009 (Video Music Award show.)
When presented with an award, Taylor got up on stage and began her acceptance speech. She spoke in a very humble and gracious manner. Out of nowhere, Kanye West jumped up on stage and stole the mic from her, and then announced to the audience that Beyonce has the best music of all time. The crowd booed him, but Taylor thought everyone was booing her, and she was absolutely mortified.
It was one of those moments that everyone couldn’t stop talking about. It further solidified her position as the victim, the sweetheart, the poor girl who gets stepped on by the bad guys. Everyone felt so bad for her. Instead of getting angry, she chose to forgive Kanye for mortifying her. She would go on, for the next several years, to become friends with him. (More on that later.)
I call this her “good girl era” because this is exactly what she was known for at the time. Everyone, especially parents of young kids, praised her for being a role model figure in Hollywood. She didn’t engage in underage drinking or drug use, she didn’t sing about partying or rebelling. None of her lyrics had curse words or profanity. She dressed modestly and didn’t sexual herself.
Taylor Swift had a role in the movie “Valentine’s Day” which is where she met Taylor Lautner, who played her love interest. The two of them ended up getting together in real life. At the time, Taylor Lautner was HUGE – he was the werewolf (Jacob) in the Twilight movie series. Like Swift, Taylor Lautner had a very clean image as “the good boy.” Fans went crazy seeing them together and called it “Taylor squared.” It seemed like finally, after years of heartbreak, Taylor was getting the fairytale ending she deserved.
Taylor hosted SNL in 2009, and this clip of her monologue perfectly sums up her image at the time.
The Slippery Slope Era (2010)
The good girl image began to fade when Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner broke up a few months later. In her third album, “Speak Now,” she dedicates a song to him called “Back To December.” It’s very clear that the song is about him because they broke up in December and one of the lines is “how you held me in your arms that September night” – clearly referring to the VMAs, when Kanye humiliated her. It’s through this song, that we learn why they broke up – she dumped him because she wanted more freedom. This narrative really flips the script: the heartbroken becomes the heartbreaker.
Following their split, Taylor went on the date John Mayer. She was 19-years old at the time and he was 32-years old. Plus, he had a very bad reputation. She featured in his song “Half of My Heart.” But they split up after a couple of months. In “Speak Now,” she would write the song “Dear John” in which she sings “don’t you think nineteen’s too young to be messed with?“
Her third album was full of so much drama. Not only does she spill the details on her breakup with Taylor Lautner and John Mayer, she also sings about a crush in “Enchanted.” With the few clues she gave, fans were able to figure out that the song was about Adam Young, lead singer of Owl City. Several months later, Owl City made a response song in which Adam reveals that he also has feelings for her. However, they never officially dated – apparently the timing was off.
There’s also a song called “Better Than Revenge” which takes a swing at the woman who Joe Jonas left her for. Nope, she has definitely not forgotten about Joe! The song is so controversial, slammed as “slut-shaming,” because of the lyric, “she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.” In the Speak Now rerecording, she removes this lyric and replaces it with another line because of how much criticism she received for being a “slut-shamer.”
And there’s another song about Joe called “Last Kiss,” in which she sings about missing him. Every single song on this album is so detailed and revealing. It’s like pulling pages out of her diary. This is what furthered her success even more – her fans felt like her best friends, her confidants, who know her like a sister.
I see this as the era in which Taylor knew that her good girl image was slipping. She gripped onto this status by reframing herself the victim of John Mayer, rather than the mistress. She also enforced her purity by attacking another woman in song for being “slutty.”
I call this “the slippery slope era” because it was a difficult transition of Taylor growing from girlhood to adulthood. I think she really struggled with seeking maturity while also trying to maintain her ‘teenage innocence.’ This is a universal theme for all women this age, except Taylor was going through it in the spotlight. I think she deeply feared that losing her good girl status would make her lose her fans. “Never Grow Up” accurately sums this up.
The Man-Eater Era (2011-2013)
It wasn’t long before Hollywood’s good girl became Hollywood’s man-eater. At least, this is how the world saw her. At this point in time, Taylor had been linked to a lot of men – her whirlwind romances with Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, and then Jake Gyllenhaal. She was also linked to casually dating quite a few other famous figures. The became the butt of many jokes regarding her love life, like, “she can’t keep a man,” or “watch out, she’s going to write a song about him!” Taylor also publicly declared, “I’m not a feminist.”
At an awards show, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made joke about Taylor’s love life. When asked about it in an interview, Taylor replied with, “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women” – clearly very bothered by the taunting. All the drama can be summed up in this following clip:
At twenty-years old, Taylor began dating twenty-nine-year old Jake Gyllenhaal. While the relationship ended up being very short, only a few months, like her other ones, it somehow seemed to hit her the hardest. We would learn all about the details of their romance in her 2012 release of “Red.” Like, how he stood her up at her twenty-first birthday party, how his friend-group was extremely condescending towards her, and how she left her scarf there at his sister’s house.
No more older men for Taylor. After Jake, the twenty-two year old decided to date younger as she began seeing eighteen-year old Connor Kennedy (which inspired “Begin Again”) She also wrote a song on Red called “Starlight,” which tells the true story of how Ethel and Bobby fell in love: “I met Bobby on the boardwalk, summer of ’45.”
But that was just a fling. Next came the bomb of Harry Styles, singer of the boy band One Direction. (She was 22, he was 18.) At the time, One Direction was HUGE – like die-hard girls who would jump of a bridge for them huge. They dated shortly after the release of Red, which means there were no songs about him on this one (more later!)
So, as you can see, Taylor had a long list of ex-lovers. Her music continued growing in popularity. However, she was clearly frustrated with how the general public perceived her. Also – Red was nominated for a Grammy but lost which was of course a huge disappointment for her.
The Single Girl Era (2014)
Taylor really fired back by proving to the world that she didn’t need a man. It was revealed in an interview that she took an entire year to intentionally remain single. Instead, she was focusing more on friendship and building her “girl squad.”
This year was massively transformative. Taylor also changed her political stance. She went from country conservative to city-living liberal. She announced that she was leaving the country genre behind in order to do pop. As she used say in interviews that she preferred staying out of politics, now she was calling herself a feminist and showing ally-ship for the LGBTQ+ community. And she moved to Manhattan, New York. Oh, and she cut her hair into a bob.
Her fifth album, “1989” was her first pop record. It was named after her birth year. Almost every song was (likely) about Harry Styles (most notably the song “Style.”) But the album was also about seeking freedom, moving on, and finding yourself. This was a sharp contrast to her previous work.
She poked fun at her reputation with “Shake It Off” (I go on too many dates, but I can’t make em stay. At least, that’s what people say.) and “Blank Space” (got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane.) It’s a very positive record in which Taylor finally figures out that graceful transition from girlhood into adulthood. This would become her most successful release, topping her formerly most successful “Fearless,” and becoming her second album to win a Grammy.
Some drama came out when Taylor explained that “Bad Blood” was about a feud between her and female friend. However, when fans figured out that she was fighting with Katy Perry, Taylor retracted her words and said that the song was actually about an ex-boyfriend. But it was too late – the truth had already been spilt. Katy Perry supposedly “stole” some of the dancers from Taylor while she was on tour.
It’s worth noting that Katy Perry dated John Mayer for a brief period after he had dated Taylor. Maybe that also added to the bad blood, maybe not. This feud would build up over the next few years, and Katy’s popularity began to flop.
The Girl Squad Era (2015)
Up until this point, all of Taylor’s relationships lasted only a few months. Calvin Harris (real name: Adam) and her would date for over a year. She was introduced to the DJ by mutual friend Ellie Goulding at a party. Their relationship was pretty low-key for the time being.
Still emphasizing the image that she was a “girl’s girl,” Taylor went out of her way to blast her female friendships in the media. She used Instagram to post photos of her frequent parties with big groups of famous women. She befriended nearly every woman in Hollywood (except for Katy Perry – they’re still feuding.) She was taking control of her reputation.
However, the girl squad aesthetic came with a lot of criticism. Most of her friends were Victoria’s Secret models (most notably, Karlie Kloss.) All of them were famous, rich, and beautiful. No longer seen as the girl next door, Taylor became this unattainable mean girl-type character. Now that she proved to the world that she wasn’t boy crazy, people were now getting mad at her for being the popular girl. She really couldn’t win when it came to sculpting her reputation.
Some people claim that during this time, before dating Calvin Harris, that she dated a woman. She was extremely close with Karlie Kloss, so some people theorize that they were more than friends. There was a video taken of them at a concert which looks like they are kissing, but it’s too blurry to tell. Some people also theorize that she dated Diana Argon and wrote a song about her on 1989. However, none of this is confirmed, just unsupported theories!
The Dead Era (2016-2017)
In summer 2016, #TaylorSwiftIsDead was trending on Twitter.
Earlier that year, Kanye West came back to haunt her. He released the song “Famous” which takes a serious jab at Taylor. “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex cause I made that b**** famous.” In response, Taylor claimed that the song was sexist and offensive. However, Kanye claimed that he asked her for permission beforehand, and that she told him she was cool with it.
Meanwhile, a nasty breakup happened between Calvin Harris and her. At first, it seemed like a chill separation. Calvin Harris announced on Twitter that they were no longer together and that there were no hard feelings. But shortly after, Taylor revealed that his recent song lyrics for “This Is What You Came For” was secretly written by her. This made Calvin Harris super angry and he wrote a bunch of angry tweets…
There were rumors that Taylor cheated on him with Tom Hiddleston at the Met Gala in summer 2016. That’s because of a video that surfaced showing the two of them dancing together. Alongside, as soon as she broke up with Calvin Harris, she jumped into a relationship with Tom.
(On Midnights in 2022, the song High Fidelity is about cheating on someone. The lyric is “do you really wanna know where I was April 29th?”, however, the Met Gala in 2016 was on May 2nd.)
There were also rumors that Calvin Harris cheated on her, or that they both cheated on each other. While together, he said on a radio show that he would never do a musical collab together (despite making “This Is What You Came For” together), and he also did not thank her or mention her in his acceptance speech at an award show. It’s likely that she felt unappreciated by him.
After jumping to Tom Hiddleston, their relationship skyrocketed. Paparazzi photos came out of her meeting his mother, only a couple weeks after they got together. At a 4th of July party, he was seen wearing a t-shirt that read “I ❤ TS.” People found their relationship to be very showy and fast-paced. They broke up after three months.
Now, back to the Kanye drama. So, Kanye and then-wife Kim Kardashian claimed to have video evidence that Taylor approved of his new song. They decided to release it. The video showed Kanye on speaker phone with Taylor. In this video, we hear Taylor say that she is okay with the lyrics.
After footage came out, so many people were involved in the drama. Most people turned against Taylor because it seemed like she lied about not agreeing with Kanye, which made her look like a liar. However, Taylor defended herself, claming that the video was highly edited. She said that she approved of “me and Taylor might still have sex,” but did NOT approve of being called “that b****.”
Everyone was mad at her and wanted her to be canceled. That’s when #TaylorSwiftIsDead was trending on Twitter. People spammed her social media with “snake” emojis. She spent the following several months hiding from the paparazzi, blacking out her social media, and going into hiding.
The full version was eventually leaked:
The Rebirth Era (2017-2019)
After disappearing for a year, Taylor came out with her sixth album, “reputation.” It was then revealed that she had been secretly dating actor Joe Alwyn for the past several months. They met at the 2016 Met Gala.
This album is super revealing. Through her lyrics, Taylor tells us how she left Calvin Harris for a quick getaway with Tom Hiddleston, only to fall deep into a secret and hidden romance with Joe Alwyn. She also wrote about her fallout with ex-friend Karlie Kloss. And of course, she write a revenge song about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian (Look What You Made Me Do) “I’m sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now… why? Cause she’s dead!”
What’s impressive about this record is that Taylor is no longer living in fear of being the bad girl. She had spent the entirety of her career trying to curate the perfect, squeaky-clean image. Her attempts kept backfiring. But on this record, she owns up to her faults, and no longer paints herself as the victim.
This is the first time that Taylor dated someone much, much less famous than herself. Most people had no idea who Joe Alwyn was (and still don’t.) He wasn’t known for any big roles (and still isn’t.) And he was kind of poor, according to Hollywood superstar standards. “Cause all the boys in their expensive cars, range rovers and jaguars, never took me quite where you do.”
Taylor explained in an interview that the reason why their relationship was so strong was because of their privacy. Rarely, would you ever see paparazzi photos of them out together. I believe he only went with her to one or two award shows. They were very, very low key. Most people didn’t even know that they were together.
Even though the album captured a very dark part of her life, you see a theme of coming back so much stronger. This album has the least amount of sad and heartbreaking songs. Instead, it’s really fun.
Personally, this is one of my favorite albums of hers. But it didn’t receive a Grammy nomination which was a huge disappointment for Taylor.
In 2019, came her seventh album “Lover” which followed the theme of rebirth in a contrasting way. It was a very colorful, optimistic, and lighthearted album. But it covered a wide range of romantic emotions – including painful ones like “Cruel Summer.” The album also furthered herself as a LGBTQ+ ally with “You Need To Calm Down” and as a feminist with “The Man.”
Also, for the first time, she became vocal about voting. She encouraged others to go out and vote, she even revealed her political stance and encouraged others who she wanted them to vote for. Back in 2016, Taylor was blamed for remaining silent while Trump was running for president, claiming that her impact could’ve stopped him from winning. She was accused of being tied to the alt-right. And now, she was speaking up.
When it comes to the love songs, we don’t really know who any of them are about. Since she was with Joe at the time, we can assume that the positive long songs are about him. As for the heartbreaking songs, she’s not specific about who they’re about. I think the songs on these albums are meant to be more universal than personal.
The Quarantine Era (2020 – 2021)
The Lover tour was put on hold when the pandemic began. In mid 2020, Taylor dropped the surprise album “Folklore” followed by the sister album six months later, “Evermore.” The two albums are indie, alternative. This is her first time moving into this genre. The gloominess and stillness of these albums perfectly capture the hopelessness and loneliness that so many of us felt during quarantine.
What’s so different about these albums is that they don’t have much to do with her personal life. Taylor explained that these songs were written from the perspective of fictional characters with made-up storylines. Folklore includes a love triangle from the perspective of three people in three different songs (Cardigan, August, and Betty.) Most of the songs are fictional, but not all. There’s a song about the real-life story of Rebekah Harkness (Last Great American Dynasty) and there’s a few that do pertain to Taylor’s life. Many think “closure” is about Karlie Kloss, “Invisible String” mentions Joe Jonas, “long story short” references the Kanye drama, and “peace” is about Joe Alwyn.
Obviously, at this time she was unable to go on tour, or even shoot any music videos. Yet somehow, she still made massively successful music. Folklore won a Grammy, making it her third album to win a Grammy, which made her the first and only woman to win three Grammy’s for Album of the Year.
The Eras Era (2021 – 2024)
Back in 2019, Taylor found out that her masters had been sold to producer Scooter Braun. Without her knowledge or consent, this man now owned the rights to her music. She called this “her worst nightmare.” It was announced that she would be rerecording her first six albums as a last resort of gaining ownership back over her music.
The first rerecording, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) came out in 2021. Several months at a time, rerecordings have been released, including never-before-heard “from the vault” tracks that originally didn’t make the cut. (As of Oct 2023, she has released 4/6 rerecordings.)
While the rerecordings have been proven to be a massive success, surely Taylor still feels incredibly burned by Scooter Braun. This video really captures how much rage this caused:
In 2022, in between rerecordings, she came out with Midnights. This is a very retrospective album, which was likely triggered by the process of going back to old songs to revisit intense emotions from the past. “Maroon” is probably a reflection of Jake Gyllenhaal, who inspired her album Red, “Bejeweled” about her breakup with Calvin Harris, “Vigilante Sh**” about Scooter Braun, “Question…?” about Harry Styles (because of it’s alarming resemblence to Style), “Midnight Rain” about Tom Hiddleston, “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” about John Mayer, with “Lavender Haze,” “Mastermind” and “Sweet Nothing” about Joe Alwyn. It’s clearly an overview of all of the people who inspired her work over the span of her whole career.
“The Eras Tour” covers songs from all of her albums. The show goes on for more than three hours, probably record-breaking. Shortly after going on tour, it was announced that Taylor and Joe Alwyn broke up. They had been together for around seven years. It was her longest relationship – by a very, very long shot.
No one can say for sure why they broke up – until her next album comes out. More than likely, she will give us all. of the details. That’s how she works!
Taylor spent a short time with lead singer of The 1975, Matty Healy. Her link with the controversial guy was severely hated on. Some fans were begging her to leave him and threatening to quit her music if they didn’t split.
Soon enough, they split. And as of now, she’s with Travis Kelce. This relationship has been much more welcomed by fans. So far, it’s been a highly publicized pairing that’s been drawing more attention. You never know what the future holds and we’ll see what happens.
I know it’s kind of wild that I know this much about Taylor Swift’s personal life. I really don’t mean to, it just happens – her lyrics are so revealing and the news is always talking about her. Her story is so fascinating and the drama continues to escalate. I hope that she can soon find peace in her life. With such lore, Taylor seems like more of a mythical being than a human. It makes you wonder if thousands of years from now, she will be remembered as a mythology.
Crystal Aura Gaze 
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