Ranked: the tracks for Taylor Swift's ex-lovers

By Olivia Kerber

Picture of Taylor Swift provided by 8 News Now

Taylor Swift has undoubtedly become one of the most recognizable pop artists of the 21st century, and with this fame, she has had to undergo ceaseless criticism—the most popular of these critiques being that she only writes about her ex-boyfriends. Whether you believe this to be true or not, she definitely has a few songs about her past relationships…okay, maybe more than a few. Let's take a look at the best of these songs.

Drew Dunlap- “Tim McGraw”

Serving as Taylor Swift's first kiss and first boyfriend, Dunlap is an inspiration for some of Swift's very first songs. After Dunlap graduated high school, he and Swift broke up because he left for college while she was still in high school. Although there are multiple songs about Dunlap, such as “Our Song” and “Fifteen”, one song in particular stuck out— “Tim McGraw.” The song distinctly shows Swift's earnest lyricism while simultaneously attempting to display an age-old story, summer romance, in a contemporary way. Swift sings solemnly, “And I was right there beside him all summer long, and then the time we woke up to find that summer gone.” Swift ended up placing this track first on her self-titled album, “Taylor Swift,” because of its importance to her. Currently, there is no animosity between Swift and Dunlap, and Swift ended up telling USA Weekly “He bought Taylor Swift (the album) and said he really loved it, which is sweet. His current girlfriend isn’t too pleased with it, though.” Despite only writing the song in 15 minutes her freshman year, this lightweight ballad is certainly Swift's best song about Dunlap. 

Jordan Alford- “Picture to Burn”

Jordan Alford, a fellow classmate of Taylor Swift, left Swift for her friend, whom he ended up later marrying… yikes. Needless to say, this event incentivized one of Swift's most bitter tracks— “Picture to Burn.” According to Swift, Alford is a narcissistic, lying redneck. Swift Harshly states, “There’s no time for tears, I’m just sittin’ here planning my revenge. There is nothing stoppin’ me from goin’ out with all of your best friends.” The song is an evisceration of Alford, and it continues to have relatability for young girls despite Swift's evolution as a more mature songwriter. There is only one word for this song— spiteful! 

Joe Jonas- “Forever & Always”

Joe Jonas broke up with Taylor Swift in a 27-second phone call. At that point, he was practically begging to be put in a break-up song. Jonas motivated songs such as “Last Kiss” and “Holy Ground,” but the fairytale story told in “Forever & Always” is the most iconic. Frankly, the song is generic and archetypal— yet exceedingly catchy. “And I stare at the phone. He still hasn't called, and then you feel so low you can't feel nothing at all.” Jonas clearly didn’t break her heart enough, or else she might have utilized some better songwriting skills. Lyrically, the song adds nothing to the album, but Swift’s vocals on the track are raw and sentimental. Swift’s uproar of passion is purposely employed throughout the piece. “In this case, the guy I wrote it about ended up breaking up with me for another girl. Guess I know why he was fading,” Taylor states in a 2010 interview. 

Taylor Lautner- Back to December

In a short-winded relationship, the two Taylors dated for a few months in 2009. Swift only wrote one song about Lautner— “Back to December.” Contrary to the status quo of Swift's songs criticizing her ex-boyfriends, this song apologizes to Lautner. Swift only realized how good her relationship with Lautner was after their relationship was over. “Wishin’ I’d realized what I had when you were mine, I go back to December, turn around and make it alright, I go back to December all the time,” Swift impressively sings. Taylor stated in a 2010 interview that “guys get what they deserve in my songs, and if they deserve an apology, they should get one. There was someone who was absolutely wonderful to me, and I dropped the ball, and I needed to say all that.” Wow! History was made; “Back to December” was the first song out of the three albums she had previously dropped to apologize to an ex-boyfriend! Launter has no hard feelings, and, in fact, he told People Magazine that it's a “nice compliment” to be called Taylor’s best ex. 

John Mayer- Dear John

John Mayer and Taylor Swift dated when he was 33 and she was 19; a bit weird if you ask me. What kind of motives do older men have when they date someone who is barely of legal age? Definitely not good ones! For this reason, Swift was compelled to write a song about this 14-year age difference— “Dear John.” Taylor performs, saying, “Dear John, I see it all now; it was wrong. Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played by your dark, twisted games when I loved you so?” Mayer (still not wanting to act his age) responded by saying the song was a “lousy thing to do” and rejected it as “cheap songwriting.” Despite the lyrics of the song, the deliberate pace and blues influence reflected in the track is formidable, and this power ballad is entitled to some applause. 

Jake Gyllenhaal- All Too Well

Taylor Swift's most hated ex, Jake Gyllenhaal, broke up with Swift in 2010. Swift wrote multiple songs about this passionate relationship, such as “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Bet You Think About Me.” Her top song about Gyllenhaal, and arguably her best song of all time, is “All Too Well.” The song is the emotional centerpiece of the album, with the lyrics mirroring her yearning for her broken relationship. “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.” When asked about Swift's fans' reaction to the song, Gyllenhaal expresses, “My question is: Is this our future? Is anger and divisiveness our future? Or can we be empowered and empower others while simultaneously putting empathy and civility into the dominant conversation? That’s the discussion we should be having.” Okay, Jake, it's never that deep.

Harry Styles- Out of the Woods

The two most basic pop songwriters dating? I think yes! Though Harry Styles and Taylor Swift are on good terms, a breakup always serves as inspiration for Swift's songwriting. With hits such as “I Know Places” and, of course, “Style” being written about Styles, “Out Of The Woods” captures Swift's feelings on the situation most prudently. The track's repetition of the phrase “Are we out of the woods yet?” assists in her reflecting on her anxiety about the relationship. The rhetorical question posed throughout the track reveals Swift's wishful thinking about the relationship, even though the two were built to fall apart. Styles told Cameron Crowe when asked if he had a message for Swift that, "In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together. You're celebrating the fact it was powerful and made you feel something, rather than 'this didn't work out, and that's bad.”

Calvin Harris- High Infidelity 

After a long string of high-profile flings, Calvin Harris was Taylor's first public long-term relationship. “High Infidelity” by Taylor Swift takes a look into what the final days of their relationship were like. She sings, “Do you really wanna know where I was April 29th? Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes?” On April 29th, 2016, Harris released the song “This Is What You Came For,” which featured Rihanna. In an interview about the song, he was asked if he would ever collaborate with his then-girlfriend and replied, “I can't see it happening.”— Swift had already co-written the song under a pseudonym. This was the breaking point for their relationship, so Swift had to throw some shade with this song. 

Tom Hiddleston- Getaway Car

Post-breakup with Calvin Harris, Swift had a brief love affair with Tom Hiddleston. After their break up, Hiddleston only had good things to say about Swift— “Taylor is an amazing woman. She's generous and kind and lovely, and we had the best time.” I can certainly discern why she wrote “Getaway Car,” a song about rebounding to another doomed relationship. Swift uses the metaphor of a getaway car ride to symbolize the relationship she had with Hiddleston, to get away from a “crime scene”— her relationship with Calvin Harris. 

Joe Alwyn- Lover 

Joe Alywn and Taylor Swift dated for six years, and they only broke up this April. These six years surely influenced some of her songs, such as “Delicate” and “End Game,” but most popularly, her song “Lover.” The song incorporates a Waltz tempo and legitimately doesn’t sound like anything else that has gained popularity currently. Swift says she wants the song to sound like “just the last two people on a dance floor at 3 a.m. swaying.” Swift presents the most mundane parts of a relationship as something deeply intimate. “We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January, and this is our place, we make the rules, and there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear, have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?” She sings as she considers the universal experiences of romance. 

Now, we can only wait for a song about Travis Kelce…