Taylor Swift (Kind of) Explains the Real Story Behind "Bad Blood"
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Taylor Swift got candid in her interview with GQ for the magazine's November issue, diving into the story behind "Bad Blood" and the perception of her that she took personally. On songwriting, she explained, "I've never named names, so I feel like I still have a sense of power over what people say — even if that isn't true, and even if I don't have any power over what people say about me." She added, "The fact that I've never confirmed who those songs are about makes me feel like there is still one card I'm holding." The song everyone's talked about most this year, of course, is "Bad Blood," which is reportedly about her rumored feud with Katy Perry. Here's what Taylor had to say about that:
"You're in a[n] interview, and the writer says, 'Who is that song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.' And you sit there, and you know you're on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don't want him — or his family — to think you're firing shots at him. So you say, 'That was about losing a friend.' And that's basically all you say. But then people cryptically tweet about what you meant . . . I never said anything that would point a finger in the specific direction of one specific person, and I can sleep at night knowing that. I knew the song would be assigned to a person, and the easiest mark was someone who I didn't want to be labeled with this song. It was not a song about heartbreak. It was about the loss of friendship."
Keep reading to check out more must-read quotes from the interview, then look back on the many incredible moments in Taylor's ridiculously awesome year.
- On how she feels about being labeled as calculating: "Am I shooting from the hip? Would any of this have happened if I was? . . . You can be successful for three or four years. Accidents happen. But careers take hard work."
- On whether she ever feels lonely: "I'm around people so much. Massive amounts of people . . . So then when I go home and turn on the TV, and I've got Monica and Chandler and Ross and Rachel and Phoebe and Joey on a Friends marathon, I don't feel lonely."
- On being comfortable with her alone time: "You know, during the first few years of your career, the only thing anyone says to you is, 'Enjoy this. Just enjoy this.' That's all they ever tell you. And I finally know how to do that."
- On how she's been perceived: "You take your creative license and create things that are larger than life. You can write things like 'I get drunk on jealousy but you'll come back each time you leave, 'cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream.' That is not my approach to relationships. But is it cool to write the narrative of a girl who's crazy but seductive but glamorous but nuts but manipulative? That was the character I felt the media had written for me, and for a long time I felt hurt by it. I took it personally. But as time went by, I realized it was kind of hilarious."
- On studying the ins and outs of the industry: "I used to watch Behind the Music every day. When other kids were watching normal shows, I'd be watching Behind the Music. And I would see these bands that were doing so well, and I'd wonder what went wrong . . . And what I established in my brain was that a lack of self-awareness was always the downfall . . . So self-awareness has been such a huge part of what I try to achieve on a daily basis. It's less about reputation management and strategy and vanity than it is about trying desperately to preserve self-awareness, since that seems to be the first thing to go out the door when people find success."