Since the debut of her self-titled album in 2006, singer-songwriter Taylor Alison Swift—who goes by the stage name Taylor Swift—has released 10 studio albums and won 12 Grammys and countless other awards and accolades. Swift is notable not just for retaining the public’s attention for over a decade, but for writing her own music (most singers do not write their songs, with notable examples being Rihanna and Ariana Grande) giving the public a peek into her diary, as it were. As the years and albums have gone by, many songs have covered the same themes and ideas. Others have reversed her previous opinions, lending themselves to a pattern of growth that can be traced not just throughout her discography, but in specific songs. In her songs “White Horse” and “All Too Well,” Taylor Swift reflects on past relationships and demonstrates her growth from naivety to maturity in a way that directly contrasts with her previous depiction of relationships as fairy tales. This growth narrative uniquely resonates not just because of the language used, but because her status as a young white woman better enables her to tap into society’s sympathies.

Swift’s status as a young white woman plays a large part in her growth from daydreams to concrete love stories because it allows her to tap into society’s sympathies and plant herself in our mind’s eye as someone to be protected. This is not to say that Swift is not an excellent songwriter and does not deserve all the fame and fortune she has, but simply that her songs have the impact they do in part because of her skin tone. Valerie Pollock, a gender studies graduate student at Georgia State University, discusses the impact of Swift’s skin tone in the singer-songwriter’s portrayal of innocence in her thesis, where she states that “innocence is afforded to those who are class-privileged, presumed heterosexual, and always white. Black sexuality has been historically constructed as innately oversexualized and deviant, which leaves out the possibility for innocent black girlhood to exist, making young black girls guilty until proven innocent” (Pollock 12). We see this in the black female artists of today such as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Doja Cat, all of whom leaned into their sexuality from the start of their careers instead of performing innocence in the manner Swift did at the beginning of her career. There is nothing wrong with taking control of one’s sexuality, and it is nothing to shame the artists for, but this dichotomy emphasizes that we have never seen a black artist perform innocence in the way Swift does simply because society does not afford them the leeway to do so. As Pollock points out, in the collective mind of pop culture, “innocent black girlhood” does not exist. An innocent youth is “one who is white, female, and class privileged,” all characteristics Swift possessed and purposefully or accidentally, took advantage of in her music (Pollock 13).

Swift’s song “White Horse” marks her first turn away from fairy tale language and her growth from naivety to maturity. At the beginning of her career, Swift positioned herself as a young fairytale ingenue—sweet, innocent, unlucky in love, but longing for that textbook love story every young girl longs for. This is most evident in the song “Love Story,” in which Swift uses blunt metaphors such as “you’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess / it’s a love story, baby just say yes” to encapsulate the perfect daydream ending she desires (Love Story). Her stories are not grounded in reality—they are escapist. “White Horse” reverses this dream of a fairy tale ending and positions itself as a story of growth. Its lyrics directly contrast those of “Love Story:” Swift sings “I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale / I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell” in the chorus of the song (White Horse). While she does not get her happy ending, Swift uses this loss of innocence as a moment of growth, singing that instead, she will “find someone someday who might actually treat [her] well” White Horse). Swift has seen past the myth of the escapist, dreamy fairytale ending captured in the pages of storybooks and found a more grounded footing for herself. However, the imagery of both “White Horse” and “Love Story” rely on Swift’s whiteness to garner sympathy and make the narratives believable. In the “Love Story” music video, she dons a long white princess dress to play out the happy ending to the Shakespearean tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” a play that takes place in Italy without a single character of color. This disparity remains obvious in the “White Horse” music video where she sits by a window and cries about her breakup, our sympathies resonating with her not just because of her breakup, but because “she is innocent enough to need our help to protect her”—an innocence that relies upon her skin tone. Ultimately, while “White Horse” is a story of growth, it is still grounded in fairytale imagery and only the beginning of Swift’s personal growth.

Four years after Fearless came Red, and in this album, Swift uses real, grounded anecdotes in her songs instead of imaginary stories to demonstrate the final step in her newfound maturity. Swift abandons the fairytale imagery from Fearless altogether and has taken to grounding her stories in reality with imagery from her everyday life—her music evokes images of scarves, driving, promises, and autumn. She even explicitly sings, “that magic’s not here no more,” regarding her breakup with her previous partner (All Too Well). This references her previous album’s themes around magic in relationships while still staying grounded and more mature: true to the themes of Red. It should be noted that I am using “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” for my analysis despite its later release in 2021 since, as a vault track, it was written but not released at the same time as the original album, thus better encapsulating the full picture of Swift’s songwriting and maturity. In this song, she uses real yet romantic imagery to encapsulate her relationship with lyrics such as “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house / And you’ve still got it in your drawer, even now” and “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath” (All Too Well). Swift’s language is no longer imaginary, and consequently, she feels more tangible than ever before. Her language implies that she now has a better understanding of the real world and how love works, emphasizing her growth and maturity. Furthermore, her lyrics are empowered and accusatory. He has not just broken her heart, he has committed a crime, and she is not shy about calling her former lover out with phrases such as “casually cruel in the name of being honest” and “maybe this thing was a masterpiece / ‘til you tore it all up” (All Too Well). For Swift, the song is no longer just about her hurt, but about her worth. When she sings, “back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known,” she places herself on a higher pedestal and acknowledges that she did not do anything wrong and should not direct her blame inwards—her ex-lover has lost far more, and she deserves better than him (All Too Well). However, even in the “All Too Well” music video, Swift displays a reliance upon stereotypically white images and aesthetics: she is seen driving down the winding roads of a picturesque New England town in autumn to stay at a cabin in the woods with her boyfriend. Ultimately, by Red, Swift demonstrates that she does not need fairy tale metaphors like Romeo and Juliet to write about love and happiness, but can instead use personal experiences grounded in reality to craft beautiful, mature, and more relatable songs.

Swift started her career with a reliance on white aesthetics to garner innocence and sympathy as she grew from a naive teenager to a mature young woman, a journey that can be seen in her songs “White Horse” and “All Too Well.” However, this essay only discusses her journey from 2008-2012. Now, as a 33-year-old woman in 2023, Swift has matured far beyond the usage of her whiteness to garner innocence. While she originally relied upon white aesthetics, she has slowly realized that by giving listeners a peek into her diary, the message of her songs—maturity and growth, among others—can resonate with anyone listening to them and stand on their own. She has stepped into politics, expressed her opinions openly, and collaborated with people of color in her music videos and songs: notable examples include the “You Need to Calm Down” music video from her 7th studio album Lover, which she produced with the gay Black singer Todrick Hall, and the “Lavender Haze” music video from her 10th studio album Midnights, which featured the transgender Dominican model Laith Ashley as her love interest. Swift is still young, and maturing, and her image and songs are ever-evolving as she prepares to set out on her Eras Tour and re-release more albums. However, while it is important to give credit to Swift for her steps towards equality in her music, it is equally important to acknowledge that despite the steps she is taking now, she had her start in a safe, white space—one that artists of color do not get.

Bibliography

Pollock, Valerie. “Forever Adolescence: Taylor Swift, Eroticized Innocence, and Performing Normativity.” Thesis, Georgia State University, 2014. (https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=wsi_theses)

Swift, Taylor. “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).” Spotify. Track 30 on Red (Taylor’s Version). Republic Records, 2021.

Swift, Taylor. “All Too Well.” Youtube. Track 30 on Red. Big Machine Records, 2012.

Swift, Taylor. “Lavender Haze.” Youtube. Track 1 on Midnights. Republic Records, 2023.

Swift, Taylor. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version).” Spotify. Track 3 on Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Republic Records, 2021.

Swift, Taylor. “Love Story.” Youtube. Track 3 on Fearless. Big Machine Records, 2008.

Swift, Taylor. “White Horse (Taylor’s Version).” Spotify. Track 5 on Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Republic Records, 2021.

Swift, Taylor. “White Horse.” Youtube. Track 5 on Fearless. Big Machine Records, 2008.

Swift, Taylor. “You Need To Calm Down.” Youtube. Track 14 on Lover. Republic Records, 2019.