Even if you don’t listen to her, you can’t escape from Taylor Swift. Unless you literally never leave your house, you’ve probably heard her latest song, “Blank Space“. Even if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics, you should realize that this single seems to have a bit more meaning to it than her usual songs.
The Meaning of “Blank Space”
According to Swift herself, Blank Space started as a joke, where she’s taking on the persona of how the media portrays her. This is evident by the lyrics Ain’t it funny rumors fly/And I know you heard about me
.
The media depicts Taylor Swift as this girl who can never keep a man, and the evidence is that she has had many boyfriends in the past few years. Got a long list of ex-lovers/They’ll tell you I’m insane/Cause you know I love the players/And you love the game
, the song quotes. The blank space
in the songs seems to refer to the book of love, and she’s about to write the potential man’s name in there.
Of course, Swift is young, and it’s natural for some people in their twenties and even thirties to serial date before settling down. As the song depicts, she and her date are young and reckless
. This could be her way of telling her critics that many people her age do this, but they aren’t covered like she is.
Later on, it becomes more personal. During one verse of the song, Swift seems to self-deprecate herself. Calling herself a nightmare dressed like a daydream
who gets drunk on jealousy
, she almost seems to call herself out. It’s been argued that she really does feel this way about herself, and her claiming that it’s a character she’s playing is just her denying it. However, no one can know this for sure unless you personally know her, and we’re going to assume that most of our readers don’t.
This is what makes the song interesting. It’s up to the listener to decide if she’s playing a character, or being self-aware.
