Point of View & Character Building: How Taylor Swift Makes Her Stories Feel Personal

One of the biggest misconceptions about Taylor Swift’s songwriting is that she always writes from her own perspective. Many listeners assume her lyrics are direct accounts of her life,  especially in albums before folklore and evermore.

But focusing only on the “muse” behind a song misses the point entirely, and overlooks one of Taylor’s greatest gifts: her ability to create vivid, relatable characters through masterful storytelling.

Taylor builds her characters through careful choices in point of view, vivid backstory, emotional depth, and strategic word choice. 

So how exactly does she do it? 

I’m your Swiftie English teacher, I’m here to break it all down for you.

Point of View vs. Grammar 

Before we dissect how Taylor builds relatable characters, we need to look at an important building block of writing: point of view. Her strategic use of point of view is what allows Taylor’s characters to come alive.

In writing, point of view describes who is telling the story: “I” (first person), “you” (second person), or “she/he/they” (third person).

Separately, grammar uses these pronouns too, but Taylor doesn’t just choose pronouns at random. She wields them carefully to shape how we experience her songs.

Point of view shapes how we experience a story and how we connect with its characters. In Taylor Swift’s songwriting, POV isn’t just a stylistic choice; it’s a character development tool.

Taylor’s Point of View

Since the beginning of her career, Taylor has primarily used the first-person point of view in her songwriting, using “I” instead of the third-person “she”. 

This is likely where the assumption that her songs are all about her real life stems from. And though she may have simply started using first person because it felt natural, today she uses it tactfully and purposefully. 

The first person point of view removes any distance between herself and her audience: we feel as though she’s telling us a candid story about her real life, which fosters a relationship with us, the reader. 

But even though she says “I”, it doesn’t mean that every lyrical story is written from her perspective. For all we know, she could be writing as anyone. But narrating as herself, even when the stories are not about her, makes more of an impact. 

Even when the songs are clearly not about her real experiences, Taylor still uses the first person point of view to connect with her audience. In stories she has explicitly told us are fiction (like the folklore triangle of betty, august, and cardigan), she still uses “I”, and this is intentional.

Why? Because it’s much easier to connect emotionally to a person telling a story about themselves, versus a person telling a story about someone you don’t know. We see this illustrated on social media all the time: the stories that go viral are almost always told in first person.

When we hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, we’re more invested, more intrigued, and more engaged.

First Person POV & Grammar

Taylor’s use of first person narration (“I”) makes us feel as though we’re reading her private diary. It’s like we get a peek behind the curtain at what’s going on in her life, and makes her songs much more relatable.

Even if it’s not a story about her lived experience, It feels like she’s telling her own story from her own perspective. 

Using the first person grammatically also helps us put ourselves in her shoes. If it’s a song we really relate to, we become the “I”, and she’s suddenly narrating our own thoughts and feelings. 

1st Person Examples: 

• “I just wanted you to know, this is me trying”, the speaker says in this is me trying. 
• “I’m trying so hard not to get caught up now,” the speaker says in Fearless. 
• “I knew you were trouble when you walked in,” the speaker says in I Knew You Were Trouble, “so shame on me now.” 
• betty, which Taylor has told us is about a trio of fictional characters, says, “I’m only seventeen, I don’t know anythin’, but I know I miss you.” Taylor is obviously not 17, and she knows quite a lot about life and love. But what allows us to really connect to this song is her narration as if it’s from her perspective. It places us in the shoes of the characters, and helps us see what they see.

Second Person 

Taylor doesn’t often narrate her stories in second person, but her grammatical use of second person serves a purpose. 

Since Taylor’s lyrics are usually narrated in the first person point of view (“I remember it all too well”), the subjects of her songs are often addressed in second person (“you remember it”) instead of third person (“he remembers it”).  

What this does is important: it makes her songs feel like private conversations between two people, like this is confidential information that she’s trusted us with. 

The use of “you” makes us feel as though she’s speaking directly to us, but it also helps us project the emotions of the song onto any “you” in our lives. Think of the bridge to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived at The Eras Tour – that’s a stadium full of fans screaming to their exes as “you”. 

Second person doesn’t always mean she’s speaking to someone else, though. Sometimes she uses second person to address herself, which makes us feel even more privileged to hear her candid words of advice to her younger self. 

2nd Person Examples: 

• “Why’d you have to rain on my parade?” the speaker asks the subject in This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. 
• “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?” the speaker asks the subject in The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. 
• “You’re on your own, kid,” our speaker says, “you always have been”, which is a great example of Taylor speaking to her younger self as “you” (She also does this in songs like Robin and Never Grow Up). 

Third Person & Multiple POVs

Taylor hardly ever narrates in third person (she/he/they), but she does refer to some characters grammatically in third person (“loving him was red,” “they called off the circus”). 

Narrating in third person indicates that the speaker isn’t inside the story. But even in the few examples where Taylor does narrate in third person, she almost always switches back to first person, utilizing multiple points of view. 

She uses third person tactfully and carefully, making sure to always let us know that her speakers are, in fact, a vital part of the story. 

• When Emma Falls in Love begins narrating in third person: “When Emma falls in love, she paces the floor,” which would usually indicate that the narrator is not inside the story. But our narrator periodically places herself back inside the story, with “I know” and “sometimes I wish I was her”, switching points of view. 
• The Last Great American Dynasty begins in third person: “Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train.” But by the end, it’s from Taylor’s point of view in first person (“and then it was bought by me”). We learn that she’s deliberately drawing parallels between Rebekah and herself, and that Rebekah’s story mirrors Taylor’s story. 
• betty, cardigan and august all narrate the same story from multiple perspectives, but all are told in a first person point of view (“you were never mine”), and not third person (“she says”, “James went”). 

✏️ POV Exercise: All Too Well is narrated in first person (“I was there,” “I remember it”), and the subject is addressed as “you” (“your lovers stay my age,” “your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones”). 

How would this narrative feel different if it were narrated in third person (“she was there”, “she remembers it”, “his Brooklyn broke her skin and bones”)?

Character Development in Taylor’s Songs

We’ve explored how Taylor sets herself up to write relatable characters using point of view and grammar. Now, let’s dive into how she builds the characters themselves.

Taylor has a knack for building complex, deep characters in only a few lines. We immediately relate, we feel their feelings, and we’re a passenger on their emotional rollercoaster. 

‘But that’s easy,’ you may be saying, ‘because the main character is always her, and we already know her and her life story.’ Not true! 

One of Taylor’s signatures is her autobiographical songwriting, but as we just explored in her use of point of view, we can’t assume that every song she sings is from her perspective. 

The one thing that is true throughout all of her songs, however, is that they stem from real emotions. 

English professors will tell you to write what you know, but that doesn’t mean you have to experience a situation to write a narrative about it. It means to use your real, experienced emotions to fuel your stories. 

Taylor’s characters are experiencing loss, big changes, insecurities, heartbreak, self-doubt, triumphs, deep love, regret, and rumination. You’ve experienced all those things, too, which is what makes it relatable. 

We can’t directly relate to Taylor Swift, with her private jet, massive mansions, celebrity friends, and billions of dollars. But we can relate to her feelings of vulnerability, grief, anger, being scared, feeling empowered, and losing love. 

These are the universal emotions she uses to build her characters, brick by brick, and why they feel so much like us. 

Here’s exactly how she does it. 

Backstory (Exposition) 

Taylor usually begins her narratives with crucial backstory. This helps us imagine her characters and what they’re going through. She lays the groundwork by telling us how this feeling or situation came about, and then sets off down the narrative road to see how it plays out. 

Since we get to see how this entire conflict began, we’re invested in how it ends for our central characters. 

Examples: 

• Begin Again starts with: “Took a deep breath in the mirror / He didn’t like it when I wore high heels / But I do.” We see that our speaker is nervous, illustrated by the deep breath, and we also learn why: she’s just come out of a controlling relationship. Will she find love again? Will she trust again? 
• Enchanted begins: “There I was again tonight / Forcing laughter, faking smiles / Same old tired, lonely place.” We get the feeling our speaker is at an event she doesn’t particularly want to be at, because she’s done this all before. She’s going through the motions, but inside she’s in a “tired, lonely place”. This backstory lays the groundwork for the brighter moments of hope to come, and leaves us invested in her story. 
• this is me trying begins: “I’ve been having a hard time adjusting / I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting.” Our speaker is in a very rough emotional space. Their once brilliant life, compared to shiny car wheels, is now stagnant and rusted. This leaves us invested: will they get to a more stable place? Will they be okay?

✏️ Exercise: Read the lyrics to Look What You Made Me Do starting from the second verse (“I don’t like your kingdom keys”). Pretend that anything before that line doesn’t exist.

Without the previous verse’s backstory, does it change your perception of the central characters? Do you grasp why the narrator is vindictive, or does it need more explanation? 

Physical Descriptions 

Taylor doesn’t neglect to fully flesh out what her characters look like. Some of her most memorable imagery comes down to what her characters are wearing, or their physical features, which brings them to life. 

Her physical descriptions also help to illustrate the emotional lives of her characters. What her characters look like on the outside often tells us more about what they look like on the inside. 

Examples: 

• “You got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt, and I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt” in Style helps us fully imagine these two characters. She paints the male subject as a classic Americana bad boy, and the speaker as the “good girl” who is religious but rebellious. 
• “The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me / And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet” from Maroon helps paint a picture of an emotional scene. We imagine our speaker in a stained white t-shirt, blushing the color of wine with embarrassment or lust. 
• “She wears short skirts, I wear sneakers” in You Belong With Me tells us a lot about these two characters with very short physical descriptions. We picture the subject as the popular girl who has it all, and the speaker as a more casual, less flashy girl who cares more about her inner world than her outer appearance. 

✏️ Exercise: Find a Taylor Swift lyric that includes descriptions of clothing. What does this description add to the story? If the character were wearing something different, how would you perceive them differently?

Depth & Complexity 

Taylor has a way of painting complete characters with very few words. Her central characters have goals, dreams, flaws, motivations, and challenges they need to overcome. 

This helps us to really imagine them, root for them, and feel the emotions they’re feeling.  

Examples: 

• In Dear John, both the speaker and the subject are fully fleshed out. The speaker isn’t just a young girl who fell for a manipulative older man; she’s also optimistic but in denial, blames herself for falling for him, ignored important advice, and finally finds the courage to take a stand. The subject is older but not more mature, is mercurial, holds grudges, gives empty apologies, and has a pattern of seducing and manipulating young girls. 
• In exile, we also find both main characters to be complex. The male speaker is jealous, resentful, and baffled as to why she left him. The female speaker sees his jealousy, but from her point of view, she’d given him plenty of chances to love her the way she needed. He’s confused, and she’s exhausted from his confusion. 
• In Ours, the speaker is self-aware: no one likes her boyfriend. She can list all of his red flags, but ignores them, insisting that “people throw rocks at things that shine.” We can see her delusion, but she’s hard-headed: this love is right. 

✏️ Exercise: Read the lyrics to the last great american dynasty. If the character of Rebekah was portrayed as a perfect housewife, who never got into trouble or made waves, how would this narrative be different? Would you still relate to this character?

Conflict, Actions & Reactions 

Taylor illustrates how her characters move through the world by telling us about specific situations, and what they do in the face of conflict. 

Placing her characters inside of a conflict allows us to see what kind of person they really are, exposes their vulnerabilities and personalities, and challenges their beliefs. 

Examples: 

• “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace,” our speaker says in my tears ricochet, “And you’re the hero flying around, saving face.” After a major fallout, our speaker can’t go quietly into that good night – she wants to bring the subject down with her. But the subject goes on pretending like everything is okay, caring more about what it looks like than what it feels like. 
• “I don’t like your perfect crime,” our speaker says in Look What You Made Me Do, “How you laugh when you lie / You said the gun was mine.” Taylor paints the subject as a lying, manipulative cheat, who tries to blame her for their actions. But our speaker is here as a truth teller, and won’t let this person get away with their “perfect crime.” 
• “People like you always want back the love they gave away,” our speaker says in All You Had to Do Was Stay, “And people like me wanna believe you when you say you’ve changed.” The subject is described as insincere and begrudging, who doesn’t give love freely and openly. The naive speaker tried to give the benefit of the doubt, but learned the hard way that some people will never change. 

✏️ Exercise: Read the lyrics to All Too Well [10-Minute Version] (Taylor’s Version). How would the narrative change if the subject actually showed up to the birthday party? How does his absence illustrate what kind of character he is? 

Character Arcs 

Throughout the length of a song, Taylor shows us how her characters grow and change. Through their responses to the central conflict, we get to see how they’ve evolved. 

This makes them dynamic, reflecting how people are in real life, and helps to see ourselves within her characters. 

Over the breadth of her catalogue, Taylor herself demonstrates her own character arc. In the beginning, she was a small-town country artist, and today is one of the most well-known pop artists in the world. 

For more on Taylor’s personal character arc, see my exploration of Taylor’s hero’s journey and heroine’s journey. 

Examples: 

• In Blank Space, our speaker begins as an all-powerful, confident temptress, who could “show you incredible things” and “make the bad guys good for the weekend”. But as the narrative goes on, she slowly devolves into “Screaming, crying, perfect storms” and a “rose garden filled with thorns.” We finally learn that her worldview (though this song is satire) is “boys only want love if it’s torture.” 
• Never Grow Up narrates a complete character arc, with the speaker talking to her younger self as the subject. In act one, the subject is innocent, where “everything’s funny” and “you’ve got nothing to regret.” In the second act, she’s grown into a petulant teenager who is embarrassed by her mom, wanting nothing more than to be independent. In the third act, she’s being dropped off to live on her own for the first time. She learns what it’s like to be without the comforts of home and family, and realizes that growing up is not all it’s cracked up to be. 
• In Getaway Car, our speaker is looking to leave a bad relationship, and uses a new romance to make her escape. Right off the bat, she’s flawed: she knows this will end badly, but disregards the truth for convenience. She does end up leaving him heartbroken, but deeply regrets it in the end. She’s learned that the way out of one relationship isn’t by jumping into another. 

✏️ Exercise: Think of a TV show character that changes over the course of a season or series. How do they change, why do they change, and what does it tell us about them? Does it help you relate to this character, watching them change and evolve?

Why Taylor’s POV & Characters Matter

Taylor Swift’s characters feel so real not because they are her, but because she breathes life into them with emotional truth, relatable realities, and intimate point of view. 

Whether she’s channeling her own experience or inhabiting someone else’s, her narratives invite us to see ourselves, and that’s the true magic of her songwriting.

For Taylor, point of view and building characters aren’t simple narrative choices: they’re the lifeblood of her storytelling.

Taylor’s storytelling isn’t some illusive formula: it’s a series of strategic choices made to be relatable, emotional, and candid. We see ourselves in her stories because she’s built them that way.