Writing Lessons from 53 Taylor Swift Songs

Written By Shirsten Shirts

Irresistible Storytelling

Several months ago I did a post on the 11 elements of irresistible storytelling. Since then, my obsession with this idea has only grown, adding to it most recently with the book 7 Figure Fiction by Theodora Taylor.

In this book, she refers to the idea of these primal storytelling elements we are instinctually attracted to similar to Jennifer Lynn Barnes, whom I referenced as introducing me to the idea in the previous post. But rather than refer to these elements as various types of desserts, she whittled it down even further, to one simple ingredient:

Butter.

Storytelling Butter

I LOVE this. Because butter added to anything makes it better and even more irresistible: cookies, bread, vegetable pot pie, steak (I think—I’m a vegetarian, but you get the idea!).

Since then, I have been adding to my personal reference list of specific story “butter.” My goal is to have 500 specific story themes/details/ideas I can refer to if I’m ever wanting to juice up a particular scene, and a few of my added items ended up coming from Taylor Swift songs.

That’s when it hit me: a huge part of the reason for Taylor Swift’s massive appeal is because she is so good at adding this storytelling butter to her songs. So I thought it would be fun to break down some of my favorite Taylor songs and add that storytelling butter to my personal list.

Of course, whenever I do something like this, I always want to share! So I very painfully narrowed down my top favorite 53 Taylor Swift songs. Check back frequently as I’ll continue adding until I have them all! 

As a reminder in case you didn’t catch the first post (you can read it here), I narrowed the most fundamental irresistible storytelling elements into 11 categories. I’ll be referencing those categories in parenthesis as I go.

Note: These are my favorite songs because they’re playing into my favorite or most personal/relatable ideas. As such, they might differ from your favorite tropes/details/etc.

It’s always helpful to look at the types of storytelling elements and themes you tend to be the most drawn to so that you can either put them in your stories, or understand how your taste might be different from that of your reader’s.

Irresistible Storytelling Categories:

Desire
Danger
Escapism
Connection
Surprise
Joy
Power
Competition
Bittersweetness
Spectacle
Growth 

  • the 1

    I guess you never know, never know

    And if you wanted me you really should’ve showed

    And if you never bleed you’re never gonna grow

    And it’s alright now

    
But we were something, don’t you think so?

    Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool

    And if my wishes came true
It would’ve been you


    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Trying to figure out what someone else (especially a significant other) is feeling/thinking (Surprise)
    2. Not feeling wanted (sometimes finding out after the fact that you were) (Bittersweetness)
    3. Thinking back on lost/good times (Joy)
    4. The one that got away (Connection, Bittersweetness)

  • Afterglow

    Why’d I have to break what I love so much?

    I’m the one who burned us down
    But it’s not what I meant
    Sorry that I hurt you

    Tell me that you’re still mine
    Tell me that we’ll be just fine
    Even when I lose my mind

    Tell me that it’s not my fault
    Tell me that I’m all you want
    Even when I break your heart

    Hey, it’s all me, just don’t go
    Meet me in the afterglow

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Remorse for hurting someone you love (Bittersweetness)
    2. A partner that loves/accepts/wants you back even when you screw up or act “crazy” (Connection)
    3. Making up/reuniting after time apart (Connection)
    4. Learning from/owning up to your mistakes (Growth)
    5. Wanting to reunite with a lost love (Desire)

  • Okay. I couldn’t just choose a few lines from this song, so I ended up breaking the entire thing down! There is just so much buttery storytelling goodness to be found.

    All Too Well

    I walked through the door with you

    The air was cold

    But somethin’ ’bout it felt like home somehow

    And I left my scarf there at your sister’s house

    And you’ve still got it in your drawer, even now

    Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide eyed gaze

    We’re singing in the car, getting lost upstate

    Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place

    And I can picture it after all these days

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Walking into/finding a place that feels like home (Joy)
    2. Having a past love keep something of yours due to lingering feelings (Bittersweetness)
    3. Innocent/naive first love (Growth, Connection)
    4. An older partner making you feel safe (Power, Connection)
    5. Singing in the car (Joy)
    6. Getting lost with someone (especially someone new to your life) (Danger)
    7. Autumn (Escapism)
    8. Looking back on a lost love (Bittersweetness)

    And I know it’s long gone and that magic’s not here no more
    And I might be ok but I’m not fine at all…

    
‘Causе there we arе again on that
    Little town street
    You almost ran the red

    ‘Cause you were looking over at me

    Wind in my hair, I was there

    I remember it all too well

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Feeling nostalgia/pain over lost love (Bittersweetness)
    2. Pretending you’re okay in front of people (Bittersweetness)
    3. Having a love interest so distracted by you that they miss something/mess up in some way (Surprise)
    4. Riding in the car with the wind blowing through your hair (or just a breeze that sweeps you/a love interest up in it in some way) (Joy)

    Photo album on the counter

    Your cheeks were turning red

    You used to be a little kid with glasses

    In a twin-sized bed

    And your mother’s telling stories ’bout you on

    The tee-ball team

    You tell me ’bout your past

    Thinking your future was me

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER;

    1. Looking through childhood items/mementos of a love interest (or having them do the same for you) (Joy)
    2. Getting to know a love interest’s parent for the first time (Danger, Joy)
    3. Making future plans for the first time with a new love (Connection)

    And you were tossing me the car keys

    “F*ck the patriarchy” keychain on the ground

    We were always skipping town

    And I was thinking on the drive down

    Any time now, he’s gonna say it’s love

    You never called it what it was

    Til we were dead and gone and buried

    Check the pulse and come back

    Swearing it’s the same, after 3 months in the grave

    And then you wondered where it went to

    As I reached for you but

    All I felt was shame

    And you held my lifeless frame

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Getting to drive a love interest’s car (or vice versa) (Joy, Danger, Connection)

    • This is a surprisingly common storytelling element - the new love interest trusts you enough to toss you their keys or to ask to drive your car

    2. Spontaneous vacations/road trips (for fun or to get away from something undesirable (big or small)) (Joy, Danger)
    3. Waiting for the first “I love you” (Connection)
    4. Realizing you feel a lack of connection/sparks after time together (Bittersweetness)
    5. Feeling hurt/shame during a dramatic conversation (Bittersweetness)
    6. A numb embrace (Bittersweetness)

    And I know it’s long gone and

    There was nothing else I could do

    And I forget about you long enough

    To forget why I needed to…

    ‘Cause there we are again in the middle of the night

    We’re dancin’ ’round the kitchen in the

    Refrigerator light

    Down the stairs, I was there

    I remember it all too well…

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Trying to get over a breakup (Bittersweetness)
    2. The middle of the night (Escapism)
    3. Dancing in the kitchen (or anywhere unconventional) (Joy)

    And there we are again

    When nobody had to know

    You kept me like a secret

    But I kept you like an oath

    Sacred prayer and we’d swear

    To remember it all too well

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Secret relationships (Surprise)
    2. Being the more invested party in a relationship (Bittersweetness)
    3. Making an intimate promise/oath with someone (Surprise, Connection)
    4. A love interest quietly telling you they’ll remember this moment forever (or vice versa) (Connection)

    Well, maybe we got lost in translation

    Maybe I asked for too much
    But maybe this thing was a masterpiece

    ‘Til you tore it all up

    Running scared, I was there

    I remember it all too well

    And you call me up again

    Just to break me like a promise

    So casually cruel in the name of being honest

    I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here

    ‘Cause I remember it all, all, all

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Metaphors (a really good and well-placed metaphor is like candy for a reader) (Escapism)
    2. A love interest breaking up/avoiding commitment due to fears (especially if you know they care) (Bittersweetness)
    3. Dramatic phone calls (a love interest saying something hurtful) (Bittersweetness)

    They say all’s well that ends well

    But I’m in a new hell every time

    You double-cross my mind

    You said if we had been closer in age

    Maybe it would have been fine

    And that made me want to die.

    The idea you had of me

    Who was she?

    A never-needy, ever lovely jewel

    Whose shine reflects on you

    Not weeping in a party bathroom

    Some actress asking me what happened

    You.

    That’s what happened: You

    You, who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes

    Sipping coffee like you were on a late night show

    But then he watched me watch the front door

    All night, willing you to come

    And he said, “It’s supposed to be fun…

    Turning 21″

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Betrayal (Bittersweetness)
    2. Obsessing/spinning in your mind (Bittersweetness)
    3. Age gap romance (Surprise, Connection, Growth)
    4. Love interest offering excuses for a breakup (Bittersweetness)
    5. Trying for perfection/ideal (Growth)
    6. Presenting a different version of yourself to the world (Growth)
    7. Feeling like arm candy/the shiny new thing (Bittersweetness, Spectacle, Power)
    8. Crying in the bathroom (Bittersweetness)

    • Another frequent buttery story detail!

    9. Getting emotional support/comfort from a stranger (Bittersweetness)
    10. Love interest charming the parent (especially when it may be false in some way) (Danger, Joy)
    11. Being stood up (especially at a big event) (Bittersweetness)

    Time won’t fly

    It’s like I’m paralyzed by it

    I’d like to be my old self again

    But I’m still trying to find it

    After plaid shirt days

    And nights when you made me your own

    Now you mail back my things

    And I walk home alone

    But you keep my old scarf

    From that very first week

    ‘Cause it reminds you of innocence, and it smells like me

    You can’t get rid of it

    ‘Cause you remember it all too well

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Trying to reorient yourself after a big breakup (Bittersweetness, Growth)
    2. Wearing the boyfriend’s shirt (Joy, Connection, Spectacle)
    3. Intimacy (Connection)
    4. Having your things returned after a breakup (Bittersweetness)
    5. Smells that remind you of lost love (Bittersweetness)

    And I was never good at telling jokes

    But the punch line goes:

    “I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age”

    From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones

    I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight

    And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?

    Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?

    ‘Cause in this city’s barren cold
I still remember the first fall of snow

    And how it glistened as it fell

    I remember it all too well

    Just between us, did the love affair maim you

    All too well

    Just between us, do you remember it

    All too well

    Just between us, I remember it

    All too well

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Running into or hearing about the ex that never learned how to commit (Bittersweetness, Growth)
    2. Feeling like a romance took something from you (Bittersweetness)
    3. A “twin flame” relationship (someone who changes the course of your life, even if you don’t end up together) (Connection, Growth)
    4. Learning an ex is also in pain from the breakup (Bittersweetness, Connection)
    5. The big city (Spectacle)
    6. First snow/scenes in snowfall (Spectacle)

  • The Archer

    I’m ready for combat
    I say I don’t want that
    But what if I do?
    ‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies
    I’ve got a hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you

    I’ve been the archer
    I’ve been the prey
    Who could ever leave me, darling…
    But who could stay?

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Picking/preparing for fights (Competition)
    2. Saying you don’t want something that you secretly do (Surprise)
    3. Emotional speeches (giving them or rehearsing them in your head for someone who deserves it) (Bittersweetness)
    4. Complicated (sometimes even combative) but interesting/addictive personalities (manic pixie dream girl-esque) (Growth, Danger, Power, Competition, Connection)

  • august

    Salt air
    And the rust on your door
    I never needed anything more
    Whispers
    Of, “Are you sure?”
    “Never have I ever before”

    Your back
    Beneath the sun
    Wishing I could write my name on it
    Will you call when you’re back at school?
    I remember thinking I had you

    For me it was enough
    To live for the hope of it all
    Cancel plans just in case you’d call
    And say, “Meet me behind the mall”
    So much for summer love and saying “us”
    ‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Salty ocean air (Escapism)
    2. First cars (beat-up or new) (Joy)
    3. The first time (plus double checking that she’s really, truly on board!) (Connection)
    4. Whispered/murmured sweet nothings (Connection)
    5. Warming beneath a summer sun (Escapism)
    6. Waiting for him to call (Bittersweetness, Danger)
    7. Meeting in secret (Surprise)
    8. Summer romance (teenage or otherwise) (Escapism)
    9. Being the other woman (Surprise, Danger)

  • All You Had to Do Was Stay

    Here you are now

    Calling me up

    But I don’t know what to say

    I’ve been picking up the pieces of the mess you made



    Had me in the palm of your hand
    Then why’d you have to go and lock me out

    When I let you in?

    Now you say you want it back

    Now that it’s just too late

    Well, it could’ve been easy
    All you had to do was stay

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Getting the “I want you back” call (Connection, Bittersweetness)
    2. Getting left by someone you love (Bittersweetness)
    3. Getting to say it’s too little, too late (Power)

  • Anti-Hero

    Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby
    And I’m a monster on the hill

    It’s me
    Hi
    I’m the problem, it’s me
    At tea time
    Everybody agrees
    I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror
    It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Feeling like everyone has their life more together than you do (Bittersweetness, Desire, Competition)
    2. Feeling like the unattractive/clumsy/unpopular one in a sea of “It Girls” (Bittersweetness, Desire, Competition)
    3. Feeling like you’re the problem (Bittersweetness, Desire)
    4. Worrying people are gossiping about you (Danger, Surprise)
    5. Refusing to take an honest look at yourself (Growth)
    6. Getting distracted by trivial or meaningless things (Growth)

  • Back to December

    These days I haven’t been sleeping
    Staying up, playing back myself leaving

    When your birthday passed and I didn’t call

    Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times

    I watched you laughing from the passenger side

    And realized I loved you in the fall

    And then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind

    You gave me all your love and all I gave you was, “Goodbye”

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Unable to sleep (especially due to pain/heartache) (Bittersweetness)
    2. “Punishing” someone by ignoring or refusing to call/pick up (Bittersweetness)
    3. Summer romance (Connection)
    4. Laughing in the car (watching him drive with your heart full) (Joy)
    5. Realizing you’re in love (Surprise, Connection)
    6. Refusal/inability to say “I love you” (Bittersweetness, Growth)

  • betty

    Betty, I know where it all went wrong

    Your favorite song was playing from the far side of the gym

    I was nowhere to be found, I hate the crowds, you know that

    Plus, I saw you dance with him

    You heard the rumors from Inez

    You can’t believe a word she says

    Most times – but this time it was true

    The worst thing that I ever did

    Was what I did to you


    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Favorite songs (songs with memories/songs that mean something) (Joy)
    2. School dances (Joy)
    3. Seeing a significant other dance/touch/kiss/have an intimate moment with someone else (Competition)
    4. Rumors (high school rumors or otherwise) (Surprise)
    5. Infidelity (high school romance or otherwise) (Bittersweetness)

  • Blank Space

    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… 

    Screaming, crying, perfect storms

    I can make all the tables turn

    Rose garden 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

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Style/fashion/luxury/wealth
    2. Summer settings
    3. Secret/hidden/forbidden love
    4. Secrets or lies (secret pasts)
    5. Pretending to be someone else (hidden, taken, posed identities - explicitly taken, or simple people-pleasing/acting different around someone else)
    6. Fights or angst in romance
    7. The crazy girl (manic pixie dream girl)
    8. Will-they-won’t-they romance, toxic relationships, opposites attract, passion

  • Call It What You Want

    And I know I make the same mistakes

    Every time

    Bridges burn

    I never learn

    At least I did one thing right

    I did one thing right

    I’m laughing with my lover

    Making forts under covers

    Trust him like a brother

    Yeah, you know I did one thing right
Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night…

    
I recall late November

    Holding my breath, slowly I said,

    “You don’t need to save me,

    But would you run away with me?”
…yes

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Mistakes (especially repeated mistakes and ones that hurt people you care about)
    2. Laughter and play (romantic)
    3. Forts/hideouts/close spaces
    4. Getting close enough to someone to trust them unconditionally
    5. Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night (this is just my favorite lyric of Taylor’s :))
    6. Running away together (especially nervously/vulnerably/slowly proposing something to a love interest)

  • cardigan

    But I knew you

    Dancing in your Levi’s

    Drunk under a streetlight

    I knew you

    Hand under my sweatshirt

    Baby, kiss it better

    And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed
    You put me on and said I was your favorite

    But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss
    I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs
    The smell of smoke would hang around this long
    ‘Cause I knew everything when I was young

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Details (especially sensory or nostalgic details)

    • Levi’s, hand under the sweatshirt

    2. Feeling safe/seen/loved by someone in a moment where you feel lost or invisible
    3. Breakups (especially ones that are difficult to get over; the one that got away)
    4. The boldness of being young and feeling like you know

  • champagne problems

    I dropped your hand while dancing
    Left you out there standing
    Crestfallen on the landing
    Champagne problems
    Your mom’s ring in your pocket
    My picture in your wallet
    Your heart was glass, I dropped it
    Champagne problems

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Breaking someone’s heart
    2. Proposals
    3. Walking away from someone you care about

  • Crazier

    You showed me something that I couldn’t see

    You opened my eyes

    And you made me believe

    You lift my feet off the ground

    You spin me around

    You make me crazier, crazier

    Feels like I’m falling
    And I’m lost in your eyes

    You make me crazier, crazier, crazier oh

    Baby, you showed me what living is for

    I don’t wanna hide anymore

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Feeling drunk in love (crazy with love)
    2. Meeting someone who opens your world/perspective to new things
    3. Meeting someone who helps you believe/heal/open up

  • Daylight

    Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky
    And so I became the butt of the joke
    I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked
    Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke
    Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down
    Maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town
    Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now
    It’s brighter now, now

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Facing embarrassment/humiliation from friends or the community
    2. Trusting the wrong person (and making mistakes toward people you love as a result)
    3. Tantrums/short tempers

  • Delicate

    Third floor on the west side

    Me and you

    Handsome, you’re a mansion with a view

    Do the girls back home touch you

    Like I do?

    Long night, with your hands

    Up in my hair

    Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs

    Stay here, honey

    I don’t wanna share

    ‘Cause I like you…

    
This ain’t for the best

    My reputation’s never been worse, so

    You must like me for me

    Yeah, I want you…

    We can’t make any promises

    Now can we, babe?

    But you can make me a drink

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. NYC apartments
    2. First touches/kisses/times
    3. Hands tangled in hair
    4. Stumbling up the stairs in the heat of passion
    5. Being liked for exactly who you are
    6. No strings attached romances (especially when they turn into something more)
    7. Ill-advised romances

  • Don’t You

    Hey
I knew I’d run into you somewhere

    It’s been a while, I didn’t mean to stare

    I heard she’s nothing like me

    I’m sure she’ll make you happy

    
But don’t you

    Don’t you smile at me and ask me how I’ve been

    Don’t you say you’ve missed me if you don’t want me again

    You don’t know how much I feel I love you still

    So why don’t you

    Don’t you

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Running into an ex (especially when it ignites old feelings/feelings that never went away)
    2. Hearing about an ex’s new love
    3. Hiding your true feelings

  • exile

    I can see you staring, honey

    Like he’s just your understudy

    Like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me

    Second, third, and hundredth chances

    Balancing on breaking branches

    Those eyes add insult to injury

    I think I’ve seen this film before

    And I didn’t like the ending

    I’m not your problem anymore

    So who am I offending now?

    You were my crown

    Now I’m in exile seeing you out

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. An ex coming into contact with a new love interest (jealousy)
    2. Growing enough to finally seeing past his pretty words/big talk/charm/supposed earnestness
    3. Finally moving on

  • False God

    And you can’t talk to me when I’m like this

    Daring you to leave me just so I can try and scare you – you’re the West Village

    You still do it for me, babe

    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

    Blind faith

    But we might just get away with it

    Religion’s in your lips
    Even if it’s a false god

    We’d still worship

    We might just get away with it

    The altar is my hips

    Even if it’s a false god

    We’d still worship this love

    IRRESISTIBLE STORYTELLING BUTTER:

    1. Spiraling; testing a love interest to see how much they really care (usually from a place of insecurity)
    2. Knowing a relationship is bad, but pursuing it anyway
    3. Finding comfort in one another

 
 

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Shirsten Shirts
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