31 Taylor Swift songs, interpreted from a queer perspective

"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" was apparently inspired by a couple who lived next door to Swift's family while she was growing up.

Swift seems to narrate the story from Mary's perspective, opening with a female pronoun: "She said, I was 7 and you were 9 / I looked at you like the stars that shined."

Because the other half of the couple is neither named nor gendered in the lyrics, Swift seems to fill the role herself, as if she and Mary share these intimate memories ("Our very first fight," "Our favorite spot in town").

Their relationship is defined by fate, but also by disbelief: "Our daddies used to joke about the two of us / They never believed we'd really fall in love." This could point to attraction that breaks with convention, or a fantasy tinged with the fear of familial rejection.

Notably, those fathers are mentioned in the first two verses but absent in the final chorus, when Swift recounts Mary's wedding.

"The Very First Night" was released as a vault track on "Red (Taylor's Version)," meaning it was cut from the album's original tracklist in 2012.

Fans immediately found the song notable for its apparent bait-and-switch.

In the pre-chorus, Swift sings, "They don't know about the night in the hotel / They weren't riding in the car when we both fell," establishing a classic rhyme scheme known as AA BB.

However, the next couplet doesn't rhyme: "Didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture / They don't know how much I miss you."

The final "you" is jarring since the ear is trained to expect a four-line stanza made up of two rhyming couplets. "Her" would have been the natural word here, and the substitution seems designed to be obvious — particularly for a lyrical expert like Swift.

This strategy continues throughout the song as she pairs words like "whispered" and "whisper" with "you."

The song also features the lyric, "We broke the status quo / Then we broke each other's hearts." It's difficult to argue that Swift having secret rendezvous with a man would break the status quo in any significant way.

"Welcome to New York" is the opening track of "1989," Swift's official pivot to pop.

She said the album was largely inspired by the "celebration of being unique" in New York City, noting the "freedom" she felt after moving there.

"Everybody here was someone else before," she sings in the second verse. "And you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls."

When asked specifically about the aforementioned line on a 2014 episode of "The Talk," Swift responded, "I wrote the song kind of following when gay marriage became legal in New York."

"So many of my friends had to be kind of scrutinized for who they were in love with from the time they came out," she continued. "I didn't want to make a big deal of it because I don't think it should be a big deal who you love."

The state of New York legalized same-sex marriage in June 2011. Swift moved to the city three years later in March 2014 and released "1989" in October of that year.

"Style" is ostensibly about Harry Styles, whom Swift reportedly dated in late 2012 and early 2013. But the lyrics describe a relationship that evades commitment and clear boundaries, so both people were romantic with others in their downtime.

"I say, 'I heard that you've been out and about with some other girl,'" Swift sings in the second verse. "He says, 'What you heard is true but I can't stop thinking 'bout you and I.'"

Swift replies: "I've been there too a few times."

Given the vague phrasing, this could easily be interpreted to mean that Swift had also been "out and about with some other girl."

Swift kept her interpretation similarly vague while discussing the line with Ryan Seacrest in 2014.

"It's basically one of those relationships that's always a bit off. The two people are trying to forget each other, they both have been out with other people and are trying to forget one another," she explained. "So, it's like, 'Alright, I heard you went off with her and you came back, and well, I've done that, too.'"

"Out of the Woods" recycles the image of a Polaroid picture that Swift used in "The Very First Night," perhaps indicating the songs were inspired by the same person.

"You took a Polaroid of us / Then discovered / The rest of the world was black and white / But we were in screaming color," she sings in the first verse.

The juxtaposition between the monochromatic world and the relationship's "screaming color" carries the implication of a queer awakening, as gay pride is heavily associated with vibrance and rainbows.

"Out of the Woods" also embodies an anxious, claustrophobic feeling that many closeted queer people may relate to. Swift draws a parallel between the thrill of falling in love and the fear of being discovered.

"I Wish You Would" features the lyric "We're a crooked love in a straight line down," which echoes the prejudiced idea that queer love is deviant, unnatural, or "crooked" in a culture that deems being straight as the standard.

"The song 'How You Get the Girl' is a song that I wrote about how you get the girl back if you ruined the relationship somehow and she won't talk to you anymore," Swift told Audacy in 2014.

"Like, if you broke up with her and left her on her own for six months and then you realize you miss her," she continued. "All the steps you have to do to edge your way back into her life, because she's probably pretty mad at you. So it's kind of a tutorial."

While this song could be read as Swift doling out advice for clueless men, it's not outrageous to imagine that she's speaking from experience. Because Swift only uses "she" and "her" pronouns throughout the song, both interpretations are able to coexist.

"Wonderland" is a source of much speculation among Swift's fans. The song is built upon a bed of references to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," the famous 1865 novel by Lewis Carroll that was animated by Disney in 1951.

Swift uses "falling down the rabbit hole," which transports Alice to Wonderland, as an extended metaphor for falling in love.

"Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?" is a nod to Alice's observation that "curiosity often leads to trouble." Swift also aligns herself with the book's band of outsiders with the lines, "Too in love to think straight" and "We both went mad."

Many fans have noted that Dianna Agron — who was frequently photographed with Swift in 2011 and 2012 before abruptly distancing from each other in 2013 — had a "Wonderland" quote tattooed on her ribcage that has since been removed. She also reportedly had a Tumblr, deleted in 2013, that was called "felldowntherabbithole."

"I believe that love comes in many ways, shapes, and colors," Agron told Nylon in 2015. "I feel proud that we as a society are starting to understand and support more than just the social norms."

Just the title of "New Romantics" could be interpreted as a cheeky nod to queerness, especially since the public support for gay marriage began hitting new highs in the years that Swift wrote "1989."

"'Cause baby, I could build a castle / Out of all the bricks they threw at me," she sings in the chorus.

Throwing bricks is symbolically linked with the 1969 protest at Stonewall Inn in New York City, which is often cited as a turning point in the national fight for LGBTQ liberation.

It's safe to say Swift is aware of this history: She gave a surprise performance at Stonewall Inn in 2019 and included a nod to the landmark in her music video for "You Need to Calm Down." (Ryan Reynolds is shown creating a painting of its facade.)

Another noteworthy lyric arrives in the second verse when Swift sings, "The rumors are terrible and cruel / But, honey, most of them are true."

"Don't Blame Me" employs drug use as a metaphor for love, broadly evoking themes of experimentation and rebellion.

In the first verse, Swift draws a contrast between the men she's used as "playthings" and a new kind of relationship, one that's authentic and private: "Something happened for the first time / In the darkest little paradise." Shortly after, she admits, "For you, I would cross the line."

In the second verse, she gets more specific: "Halo hiding my obsession / I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy."

Fans have theorized this points to Karlie Kloss, Swift's one-time best friend. They were nearly inseparable for several years before a rumored rift in 2018.

Kloss is best known as a model and Victoria's Secret Angel. When Swift performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2013 and 2014, the two women would exchange playful touches and strut down the runway holding hands ("Halo hiding my obsession").

In March 2014, the duo took a road trip through Big Sur, which Kloss described as "an adventure of a lifetime with my girl." She also shared a photo of a yellow daisy, tagging Swift as the center of the flower ("Now I'm your daisy").

"Gorgeous" is plainly about forbidden love — or, more accurately, forbidden attraction. Swift is agonized by the subject's beauty because, as she admits, "there's nothing I hate more than what I can't have."

This song could certainly be about Joe Alwyn, Swift's current partner of nearly six years, who she may have met while dating another man.

It could also be about sapphic desire. As Lindsay Zoladz wrote for The Ringer, "the listener has to accept that there exists something, or someone, that Pop Overlord Taylor Swift cannot immediately command with the snap of a beautifully manicured finger."

"Doesn't 'Gorgeous' sound like it's about having a crush on a woman?" Zoladz continued. "Wouldn't that be the only kind of love forbidden to Taylor 'I'd Never Alienate My Republican Fan Base' Swift?"

(Note: "Gorgeous" was written and released several years before Swift expressed liberal political views and aligned herself with the LGBTQ community.)

(Also note: During the "Reputation" stadium tour, Swift would use the song to introduce the "gorgeous women" onstage with her.)

"Dancing With Our Hands Tied" is another example of Swift associating love with anxiety and panic, a striking motif of both "Reputation" and "Lover."

The title applies a common idiom, "used to say that someone is unable to act freely because something (such as a rule or law) prevents it," according to Merriam-Webster.

As a hyper-famous woman, Swift is likely "unable to act freely" in a new relationship for fear of rumors, tabloids, and paparazzi.

In a queer context, "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" captures the fear of coming out and being met with homophobia. This is illustrated in the song's second verse: "I loved you in spite of / Deep fears that the world would divide us."

During every show on the "Reputation" stadium tour, Swift would dedicate "Dress" to Loie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and an out lesbian. According to Vogue, who photographed Fuller in 1913, she lived with her girlfriend from 1905 until her death.

"Dress" is perhaps Swift's most explicitly sexual song ("Only bought this dress so you could take it off"). Although Swift is a noted fan of wearing dresses, it's possible to read this line as the song's subject taking off her own dress.

"Dress" also includes the line "I don't want you like a best friend" twice in each chorus, indicating a friends-to-lovers arc. This is notable because, one, falling in love with your best friend is canonically queer, and two, Kloss described Swift as her best friend on more than one occasion.

Later, Swift sings defiantly, "Everyone thinks that they know us / But they know nothing about us." This doesn't seem to match the tone of Swift's relationship with Alwyn. At the time "Reputation" was released, the public knew hardly any information about their dynamic or history.

"They have quite a low-key relationship, which Taylor likes," Swift's pal Ed Sheeran said in October 2017. "It's normal, and no one really knows about it right now."

Even the song's name invites speculation that it could be about a queer relationship. Put plainly, the song is about sex — so it's interesting that she represented that concept with a dress, a widely recognized symbol of femininity.

Swift described her seventh album "Lover" as "very, very autobiographical," citing "extreme catchiness and moments of extreme personal confession."

She released its lead single on April 26, which is recognized nationally as Lesbian Visibility Day. She promoted the flamboyant music video with a post on Instagram, writing in the caption, "ME! Out now!"

She seems to nod to the gay-pride flag in both the video and the lyrics, singing of herself, "But one of these things is not like the others / Like a rainbow with all of the colors."

In her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana," Swift explained the video's aesthetic concept to Brendon Urie, who is featured on the song.

"Whatever makes you, you — emo kids, theatre, dance sequences, 'La La Land,' everything," she began, to which Urie replied, "Nailed it."

"And when it's me, it's like — dancers, cats, gay pride, people in country western boots. I start riding a unicorn," she continued. "Everything that makes me, me."

"You Need to Calm Down" is Swift's most emphatic declaration of support for the LGBTQ community.

Although Swift doesn't explicitly identify herself as a member of the community, she sings in the song's pre-chorus that "shade never made anybody less gay."

This may be a callback to "I Forgot That You Existed," the opening track of "Lover," in which Swift said she "lived in the shade you were throwing."

In the music video, Swift also wears a wig with the colors of the bisexual-pride flag.

Fans speculate that "Cruel Summer" was written in 2016 when Swift was socially ostracized due to her feud with Kim Kardashian and Ye, formally known as Kanye West. A photocopied page of her diary was included with physical copies of "Lover," in which Swift had written, "This summer is the apocalypse."

Some believe this song was inspired by Alwyn, although according to that same diary, he didn't begin dating Swift until October 2016.

Instead, phrases like "angels roll their eyes" and "no rules in breakable heaven" may be references to Kloss' legacy as a Victoria's Secret Angel.

In the bridge, Swift sings, "I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you," calling to mind a closeted queer romance.

"The Man" exposes sexist double standards in Hollywood, exploring how Swift might be perceived if she were born a man but made all the same choices.

Swift explained the song's concept in an audio clip for Spotify's storyline feature.

"I've had the thought several times in my career, wondering if I had been a man instead of a woman, and if I had lived my life exactly the same way — had the same triumphs, made the same mistakes, dated the same people — what would people have said about me if I was a man instead of a woman?" she said.

The phrase "dated the same people" becomes relevant when paired with the song's bridge: "What's it like to brag about raking in dollars / And getting bitches and models?"

In "The Archer," Swift compares falling in love to preparing herself for "combat" and expresses a deep-rooted fear of being seen and understood. Queer fans may relate to this as a fear of being outed.

The song's bridge is particularly foreboding: "'Cause they see right through me / They see right through me / They see right through / Can you see right through me? / They see right through / They see right through me / I see right through me / I see right through me."

While superficially a love song, "False God" contains clear undertones of religious guilt and shame, recognized by queer people who were raised in God-fearing households.

"They all warned us about times like this / They say the road gets hard and you get lost when you're led by blind faith," she sings in the pre-chorus. In this context, "they" would refer to those who use religion as a reason to oppose gay rights.

Indeed, Swift's early work hints at a relatively religious and conservative upbringing. She references praying and keeping faith in tracks like "Our Song," "Christmas Must Be Something More," and "Come in With the Rain."

Although her current relationship with religion is a bit murky, Swift does mention Jesus in her 2019 track "Soon You'll Get Better," and in "Miss Americana," she self-identifies as a Christian.

"It's Nice to Have a Friend" thematically mirrors "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)," describing a childhood friendship that blossoms into an adult relationship.

The songs even follow the same structure, describing a youthful crush in verse one and a budding teen romance in verse two, concluding with the couple's wedding and happy ending.

"It's Nice to Have a Friend" doesn't use any male or female pronouns, but several details suggest girlhood and shared femininity: swapping gloves, sleeping in a tent together as kids, "light pink sky," "call my bluff, call you 'babe.'"

"The 1" is the opening track on "Folklore," which Swift described as a collection of stories, visuals, and characters as a vehicle for expressing her own "whims, dreams, fears, and musings."

"The lines between fantasy and reality blur," she told fans upon the album's release. "Speculation, over time, becomes fact."

"The 1" broadly explores the question of "what could've been," recounting details of past relationships with overtones of nostalgia and regret.

"We were something, don't you think so? / Rosé flowing with your chosen family," Swift sings in the final chorus. "And it would've been sweet / If it could've been me."

Swift has used "chosen family" to describe friends she made in her 20s, specifically those she left behind: "It's sad but sometimes when you grow, you outgrow relationships," she wrote in 2019.

But the term is also deeply entwined with the LGBTQ community, where it's used to describe a group of friends, usually queer, who support and celebrate your identity — especially in the face of homophobia or familial rejection.

"Seven" is clearly in conversation with "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend." This trilogy seems to excavate queer feelings and connections that arise at a tender age, especially within friendships that begin platonically or appear platonic from the outside. (See also: "I knew everything when I was young," the pivotal line in "Cardigan.")

Of the three songs, "Seven" contains the brightest glimmers of queerness. Swift sings about someone with "braids like a pattern" whom she wants to run away with: "Pack your dolls and a sweater / We'll move to India forever."

Swift even references the famous idiom "in the closet," used to describe someone who's hiding their sexuality: "I think your house is haunted / Your dad is always mad and that must be why / And I think you should come live with me / And we can be pirates / Then you won't have to cry / Or hide in the closet."

The dad who's "always mad" recalls the father figures in "Mary's Song," who didn't believe their kids would really fall in love.

"Illicit Affairs" is widely interpreted as a song about marital infidelity, but a love affair could be "illicit," or forbidden, for a variety of reasons — including laws, rules, or societal norms.

Swift sings of a relationship full of "clandestine meetings and longing stares," an experience that could be applied to a variety of queer love stories throughout history and pop culture. Fans have paired the lyric with TV shows and films like "Call Me by Your Name," "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," "Heartstopper," "Happiest Season," and "My Policeman."

Another line in the bridge, "You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else," recalls the rainbow-infused allusions in "Out of the Woods" and "Me!"

The central metaphor of "Invisible String" was likely inspired by an East Asian folk myth known as "the red thread of fate," visualized as a red string tied around the fingers of soulmates, connecting them by either end.

The song is also rich with Easter eggs and callbacks. Swift opens by referencing Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee, known as her adopted hometown. In verse two, she references the title of her 2014 single "Bad Blood."

Because much of the song draws from real details in Swift's life, fans were quick to note the intentional phrasing in the final chorus: "Time, wondrous time / Gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies."

Blue-purple-pink is the exact arrangement of the triple-striped bisexual-pride flag, from bottom to top.

I previously wrote about the queer interpretation of "Betty" and how it can, and should, coexist alongside Swift's official explanation that it's written "from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy."

Within the song itself, the narrator is only known as James, named after Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's eldest daughter. (Swift herself was named after James Taylor.)

The song declines to give the narrator any gendered pronouns or identifiers. This vagueness makes it easier to visualize your own versions of the characters — and with Swift's feminine voice serenading a girl named Betty, it's arguably easiest to visualize two girls.

The core listening experience of "Betty" is hearing a girl sing about wanting to kiss another girl.

"Gold Rush," the second track on "Evermore," is about pining for someone who "everybody wants" and refusing to submit to their charms ("I can't dare to dream about you anymore").

Swift describes this person's beauty as "gleaming, twinkling," and perceptibly feminine: "What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? / With your hair falling into place like dominoes."

One year before the release of "Evermore," Kloss shared a photo of herself in a golden dress for the 2019 Met Gala. She captioned the post, "Gold rush."

Swift had previously described Kloss using terms like "gold" and "sunshine." She selected the sun when asked to describe Kloss using a single emoji in 2015. (In return, Kloss selected the princess for Swift.)

Swift told Apple Music's Zane Lowe that "Tolerate It" was largely inspired by "Rebecca," a 1938 Gothic novel by Daphne du Maurier.

"I was thinking, 'Wow, her husband just tolerates her. She's doing all these things and she's trying so hard and she's trying to impress him, and he's just tolerating her the whole time,'" she explained. "There was a part of me that was relating to that, because at some point in my life, I felt that way."

The song's central couplet captures this heartbreaking indifference: "I know my love should be celebrated / But you tolerate it."

During a 2019 interview with Elvis Duran, Swift echoed this very sentiment while discussing her public support of LGBTQ rights and the Equality Act.

"I just wanted to make it known to everyone around me, and my loved ones, and my fans, and my friends and my colleagues, like, I don't just tolerate the way that you are, I celebrate the way that you are," she said.

Much like "Betty," "Dorothea" is a love song addressed to a girl. Swift described the titular character as "a girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams."

But unlike "Betty," Swift has never declared that "Dorothea" was written from the male perspective.

"If you're ever tired of being known for who you know / You know, you'll always know me, Dorothea," Swift sings in the chorus.

"Friend of Dorothy" is popular queer slang; you may have heard the term in the 1995 film "Clueless" or more recently in Netflix's "The Crown." It was originally coined as a synonym for a gay man, but it's more commonly used today as a catchall for any member of the LGBTQ community.

On its face, "Ivy" is the "infidelity" chapter of "Evermore's" failed marriage anthology.

The narrator seems to be a married woman who's in love with someone else, terrified that her husband will find out.

Many fans have theorized that "Ivy" was inspired by Emily Dickinson. Scholars believe the poet was a lesbian and in love with her childhood best friend, Sue Gilbert, who ended up marrying Dickinson's brother.

The two women shared plenty of intimate letters and Gilbert apparently inspired much of Dickinson's poetry, the most famous of which ends with the line, "Sue - forevermore!" (Not to mention, "Evermore" was announced on Dickinson's birthday, December 10.)

The Apple TV+ series "Dickinson" celebrates the poet's queerness and focuses largely on her clandestine romance with Gilbert. At the end of a 2021 episode titled "Grief Is a Mouse," the women reunite for a passionate sex scene that leads into the credits, soundtracked by "Ivy."

Swift herself approved the song's usage in the show, according to showrunner Alena Smith.

"I really wanted to use that song — I mean I love that song and also the fans have sort of developed a mythology around it as being a song that relates to Emily and Sue on some emotional level," Smith told The Hollywood Reporter, adding, "We were lucky that Taylor said yes."

"Cowboy Like Me" uses the titles "cowboy" and "bandit" as euphemisms to describe two people in cahoots, hiding who they are from the outside world.

"You're a cowboy like me," then, could be interpreted as a private recognition of shared queerness.

"You asked me to dance / But I said, 'Dancing is a dangerous game,'" Swift sings in the first verse, a clear reference to "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" and the risk she associates with being openly in love.

Later, Swift sings of "the old men that I've swindled" and pretending she was in love for financial gain: "Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear / Like it could be love / I could be the way forward / Only if they pay for it."

Celebrities have been known to engage in relationships for PR purposes — to promote a film, for example, or rehabilitate a person's reputation.

PR relationships have also been historically used to conceal a celebrity's sexuality. Stars like George Michael and Colton Haynes have described the "isolation" and emotional pain this caused before they felt comfortable publicly coming out as gay.

"Right Where You Left Me," one of the most heartbreaking songs in Swift's catalog, also contains one of her most conspicuous queer references.

"I swear you could hear a hairpin drop / Right when I felt the moment stop," Swift sings in the pre-chorus. "Glass shattered on the white cloth / Everybody moved on / I stayed there."

The commonly used idiom is "you could hear a pin drop," meaning it's very quiet. But Swift intentionally changed the noun to "hairpin."

"Dropping hairpins" is a well-known euphemism in the LGBTQ community, described by the New York Times as "a traditional gay gambit."

"This means to drop clues, if not outright statements, about one's own homosexuality in an effort to induce one's interlocutor to follow suit," the Times reported in 2015.

The Stonewall Inn protest is also known as "the hairpin drop head around the world."