One of the reasons why Taylor Swift is such a successful artist is because of her distinct ability to write songs that feel like a story is being told. Every song is like embarking on a journey; many of her lyrics relate to experiences most of us can admit to having. This is why every time I listen to her music I can’t help but find parallels between her lyrics and the many, many books I’ve read throughout my life. Especially ones that left a lasting impact on me. This is why I’ve decided to compare well-known Taylor songs, to the book twins I associate them with!
Song – My Tears Ricochet (2020)
My Tears Ricochet is the 5th track on Swift’s critically acclaimed Folklore album. It identifies the pain of being betrayed by someone you once trusted, while using death as a metaphor to symbolize the ending of a relationship and the grief felt in the aftermath. The song also goes into the loss of identity that a person undergoes after a breakup. The individual being left often feels as if a fragment of their soul has been stripped away. Such raw emotions about love, betrayal, heartbreak, and the strength needed to overcome that agony were beautifully encompassed into the song, replete with metaphors that allow it to flow like a poem.
“I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace. And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves. You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same.”
This verse further helped solidify the book that this song will forever remind me of, which is none other than the recently adapted movie, It Ends With Us.
Book – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (2016)
It Ends With Us may fall under the romance category, but I consider romance to be the subplot rather than the main topic the story centers around. My experience with the novel was witnessing a young woman’s process of falling for someone who projects themselves as something they are far from.
That was vague, so let me further emphasize. The novel follows 23-year-old Lily Bloom on her journey of building her legacy. Freshly out of college, she moves to the city of Boston to fulfill her life-long dream of becoming a florist. During the first days of her arrival, she encounters a man named Rlyle Kincaide on a rooftop. They share a heartfelt conversation, but inevitably part ways, expecting to never see each other again. However, the two are thrown together again and again in a series of coincidences, until a friendship, later turned relationship, unravels.
Lily seems to be walking on cloud 9 for some time, and the author does an amazing job of making the reader feel secure with the progression of the story, just enough to allow us to let our guards down. However, it is much too early in the book for all conflicts to be resolved. It is only the beginning of an ordeal that will test the protagonist’s strength in immense ways.
Confronted with a partner who may be wearing a facade built off lies and deception, memories from her past that return to haunt her, and the reappearance of a childhood link to her old life, Lily finds herself trapped in a hole that continues to grow deeper. Her feat to remove herself from the circumstances that were slowly killing her – despite being in love with the person who would have become the death of her – is what truly linked her story to My Tears Ricochet.
Song – Guilty as Sin (2024)
Guilty as Sin is no doubt my favorite song from Taylor’s most recent album The Tortured Poets Department. Not only for its catchy rhythm and upbeat melody but for the significance behind its words.
“What If the way you hold me is actually what’s holy? If long-suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me religiously.”
The song digs deep into heavy themes that involve moral conflict and the internal struggle women go through in the face of forbidden desire. By using terms like “crucify”, “holy”, and “roll the stone away”, the lyrics connect to Christian theology. This immediately made sense to me, since there is a lot of shame surrounding women when embracing their sexuality among many religions. The song progresses to a state where Swift decides to throw caution to the wind and express herself, despite the possibility of self-sabotage. These elements suggest an internal struggle with sin, redemption, and the nature of desire.
“Without ever touching’ his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?”
Book – Sunday Morning by Jewel E. Ann (2024)
Sunday Morning is one of my favorite books of all time. It is definitely up there with the top ten, and that is not a statement I say often. I adored being transported into the 1980s which is when the story takes place, and I loved the down-to-earth characters. I was fully invested in their lives and the conflicts the protagonists faced along the way. Her main dilemma is what so strongly connects her story to Guilty as Sin.
Sarah Jacobson is an 18-year-old girl from the small town of Devils Head, Missouri, with big dreams and even bigger secrets. Her life goal is to become a country music star and perform in Nashville’s center stage. Unfortunately, her dreams don’t align with the cookie-cutter- life her parents have so perfectly planned for her. Daughter of the town’s preacher, Sarah has lived a perpetually repressed life, shunned from the outside world. Her family disapproves of mainstream music, TV, makeup, immodest clothes, and anything that would deter her from following a path of purity. It is abundantly clear from the beginning that Sarah has had a very sheltered upbringing and was raised in a conservative household.
With her dreams of becoming a country music star nearly abandoned in favor of her parents’ demand that she study law in college, Sarah begins to accept the life that was already laid out for her. That is until the summer after she graduates, and a family friend returns to Devils Head. After serving six years in the military, Isaac Cory had to abandon his dreams of pursuing music at the age of 18 after being enlisted. When Isaac presents Sarah with the offer to go to Nashville and perform music with him, she cannot decline.
However, as the two spend more time together, Sarah begins to feel more into their friendship than amicability. Initially ashamed by the feeling she harbors, Sarah tries to distance herself from Isaac. Sarah works to deconstruct the pure culture ideologies and double standards that were ingrained into her as a child and eventually learns to feel comfortable with her sexuality while continuing to honor her faith.
Song – Right Where You Left Me (2021)
Right Where You Left Me tells the story of a girl frozen in the moment of heartbreak while feeling like life keeps passing her by. Swift emphasizes how our memories can be locked in time, leaving us in a permanent state of nostalgia while the world moves on.
“Did you hear about the girl who got frozen? Time moves on for everyone else, she won’t know it. She’s still 23, inside her fantasy, like it was supposed to be.”
While the song is interpreted in a metaphorical sense, the book it juxtaposes is nothing but literal when delving into the topic of being frozen in time.
Book- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (2021)
I recently did a full in-depth review of this astonishing, beautifully written, future classic, gem of a book. But to keep it short and simple, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue follows Adeline LaRue and the span of her 300-year lifetime, from 1714 to 2014.
At the age of 23, Adeline made a deal with a god. In exchange for a life full of freedom and no responsibilities, she agreed to sell her soul to Luc – a god of the night (with whom you should never strike a bargain).
The non-specific wish was taken way out of proportion, and Adeline was cursed with a life of being forgettable to anyone she met, and of course – immortality. While the concept of eternal life may seem appealing at first, you’ll quickly tire of it after three centuries of being unable to form any human connections. The premise of the story is following Adeline throughout her odyssey of self-discovery, while she adapts to the concept of living forever. Throughout her life, she encounters acquaintances – some platonic, others not – that have the potential to be fruitful. Unfortunately, Adeline was robbed of the opportunity to further carry out these relationships due to a fatal mistake made in her early 20s. As heart-wrenching as that felt to read, It further helped connect the book to Right Where You Left Me, by conveying a sense of abandonment that Swift emphasizes on with verses like: “You left me oh no, you left me no choice but to stay here forever.”
Song – Miss. Americana & the Heartbreaker Prince (2019)
Miss. Americana is the 7th track on Swift’s Lover album, and a genius metaphor for political imagery while using a high school setting as a microcosm for the larger picture of American politics. Throughout the track, Swift compares the teenage experience of high school with political corruption. The “Heartbreak Prince” symbolizes themes of love alongside the struggle for survival in a chaotic landscape.
“My team is losing, battered, and bruising. I see the high-fives between the bad guys. Leave with my head hung, you are the only one who seems to care.”
“It’s you and me, that’s my whole world” They whisper in the hallway, ‘She’s a bad, bad girl’. The whole school is rolling fake dice. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.”
These quotes pertain to broader themes of disenfranchisement and disillusionment. The ‘bad guys’ aren’t simply bullies but rather representations of corrupt authority figures, while ‘fake dice’ symbolize rigged systems.
Book – The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (2018)
The Cruel Prince is a book I am beyond excited to talk about considering it is my blueprint of all fantasy books and since it got me into the genre. It is also a superlative representation of Miss. Americana. I feel as if the song was written to be the official anthem of the book.
The story begins with the abrupt capture of 7-year-old Jude Duarte, a human girl stolen by the Fae of Elfhame. She is taken into their magical world to repay the debts of her mother. Jude is raised in the high fantasy world of Eltham and trained to be a lady’s maid for the next ten years. However, her aspirations greatly differ from what she was brought up to be. Jude dreams of becoming a knight for the king and would do anything to fulfill that dream. Like most fantasy books, The Cruel Prince revolves around a political system, which in this case was built in favor of the Fae. Being a woman and a human sets Jude at a disadvantage from other Knights in training.
Jude embarks on a mission to serve the crown prince Dane as an undercover guard for a year, in turn for the opportunity of becoming a knight. Jude must navigate power struggles and dangerous politics while fighting for acceptance in a society that holds disdain for her species. The plot twists and turns as Jude is drawn deeper into a fierce power struggle, with a star-crossed lover that even she could not foresee.
Song – This Love (2014)
This Love is the 11th track on Swift’s 1989 album, where the singer delves into the hardships of a dreadful post-breakup. Swift tells the story of how she does her best to “move on with someone new” after a past lover, but the act only leaves her in sorrow rather than satisfaction. She is tormented by the constant memories of her previous relationship that have taken hold of her heart and refuse to let go.
“This love is good, this love is bad, this love is alive and back from the dead. These hands had to let it go free, and this love came back to me.”
The song concludes with the pleasing ending of Swift being reunited with her past lover after long-suffering. What can be taken away from the hauntingly beautiful lyrics is the old saying that goes “If you love someone, let them go. If they return, they have always been yours.”
Book – Until You by Penelope Douglas (2013)
I saved the absolute best for last since I can safely say that I did not finish this book. This book finished me. Having been my favorite novel for three consecutive years, Until You is told from the male lead’s perspective. I usually read books featuring female protagonists, so I didn’t expect to adore this book as much as I did. Thankfully there is a separate book told from the female lead’s perspective. However, Until You best encapsulates the essence of a love that died and resurrected, which is why I associate it with This Love so strongly.
We follow the characters Jared and Tate for eight continuous years. What initially begins as a wholesome friendship at the age of ten, evolves into stronger feelings as the characters reach early adolescence. However the summer before the two start high school, Jared goes to visit his father who has recently been released from prison.
The events that take place that summer scar Jared for a very long time. After his return home, he experiences dissociation from his emotions, which leads him to push his loved ones away, including Tate. What begins as an act of self-preservation evolves into full-out animosity on Jared’s part. Over the next four years, he expresses strong feelings of disdain for Tate, as he associates his trauma with his former best friend. Although he knows it is rational, Jared struggles to disassociate the two from each other.
This book made me feel a beautiful harmony of emotions. I never thought sadness could be a beautiful feeling until I read this story that is charged with angst, longing, grief, and finally the redemption of a love that never fully died. As the two characters eventually come back to each other, it can be taken away that fate cannot be deetered.
“Yesterday lasts forever. Tomorrow comes never. Until you.”
