Salt in the Wound? Complete “Bad Blood” Analysis

Of all the Taylor diss tracks she’s written in her career, Bad Blood might be the catchiest. It’s about a feud with a former friend, and how Taylor plans to handle their sour relationship. 

We can speculate who this song is about, but what’s most interesting to me is Taylor’s lyricism. She uses some incredible metaphors and imagery to portray her emotions in this tense moment. 

What are these former friends fighting about, and why has their “blood run cold” in the heat of battle?

Here’s my complete English teacher dissection of Taylor’s Bad Blood meaning, line by line and vendetta by vendetta. 

Cover image for the song analysis of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' featuring the title in large, pale blue letters against a cloudy sky background. The phrase 'Taylor's version' is styled in cursive, indicating the specific version of the song. The logo 'Swiftly Sung Stories' is placed subtly at the bottom.

Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)

  • Title: Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)
  • Written by: Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback
  • Track: 8, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
  • Pen: Fountain (with maybe a bit of glitter) 
  • Lyrics from Genius

Bad Blood Narrative Synopsis

  • Setting: In the midst of a public feud. 
  • Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (her now-enemy) 
  • Mood: Spiteful, vengeful. 
  • Conflict: This person did something to deeply hurt Taylor. 
  • Inciting Incident: Her arch nemesis did something to tarnish Taylor’s reputation. 
  • Quest: Get them back, in song. 
  • Symbols & Metaphors: blood & wounds, shiny/rusted, weakness, breathing, scars, “band-aids don’t fix bullet holes,” ghosts/haunting, cold-blooded. 
  • Theme: Avenging her good name. 
  • Imagery: “What was shiny? Now it’s all rusted,” “salt in the wound,” “Still got scars on my back from your knife,” “blood runs cold.” 
  • Lesson: Don’t f*** with Taylor Swift. 

What is Bad Blood About? 

Bad Blood portrays an ex-friend of Taylor’s doing something irrevocably damaging. This feud is described using blood, battle, and wound metaphors. 

But it’s also about how Taylor handles conflict, and how she believes that karma will come back around for us all. 

Who is Bad Blood About? 

It’s speculated to be about Taylor’s feud with Katy Perry. Perry accused Swift of hiring dancers “out from under her” for a tour in the Red era. There were Twitter wars back and forth, but Taylor has never confirmed who the song is really about. 

But who the feud is with doesn’t really matter; Bad Blood lets us in on Taylor’s inner world, and narrates her first time standing up for herself in a big, big way. This theme will continue into reputation, and permeate all the rest of her songs to come.

Bad Blood Analysis: Line by Line

Analysis of the lyrics of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood,' illustrated against a cloudy sky. Annotations dissect the metaphors and other literary devices used. The image cites 'Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" (Taylor's Version)' and is part of the 'Swiftly Sung Stories' series.
the opening chorus reads: "'Cause, baby, now we got bad blood

You know it used to be mad love

So take a look what you've done

'Cause, baby, now we got bad blood, hey

Now we got problems

And I don't think we can solve them

You made a really deep cut

And, baby, now we got bad blood, hey"

This is one of only a handful of Swift’s songs that opens with the chorus. It opens “in medias res”: in the middle of the action. We’ll only get more content later in the verses. 

From the very first line, she sets up the central metaphor: “now we got bad blood.” To have “bad blood” means your relationship is tainted and fraught. It means you have ‘beef’ with each other. 

“It used to be mad love” means they used to have a friendly relationship. Maybe not especially close, but cordial. “Mad love” is a slang term meaning someone is your friend and you respect them. 

But there’s no more “mad love”. Now there’s just mad. “So take a look what you’ve done,” Taylor tells her enemy. “Now we got problems.” 

Whatever this person did was unforgivable. “You made a really deep cut,” she tells them, and now Taylor is metaphorically bleeding. But this person has also “cut” the cord of their relationship, and severed it irrevocably. 

Blood, bleeding and cuts will run throughout the song, symbolizing being hurt, but also symbolizing the betrayal that caused the “bad blood.” 

Verse 1: “Salt in the Wound Like You’re Laughin’ Right At Me”

Analysis of the lyrics of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood,' illustrated against a cloudy sky. Annotations dissect the metaphors and other literary devices used. The image cites 'Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" (Taylor's Version)' and is part of the 'Swiftly Sung Stories' series.
The 1st verse reads: "Did you have to do this?

I was thinking that you could be trusted

Did you have to ruin

What was shiny? Now it's all rusted

Did you have to hit me

Where I'm weak? Baby, I couldn't breathe

And rub it in so deep

Salt in the wound like you're laughin' right at me"

Verse one gives us some backstory and exposition. “Did you have to do this?” Taylor asks. “I was thinking that you could be trusted.” They – at the very least – had some trust before this falling out. 

“Did you have to ruin what what shiny? Now it’s all rusted” describes their prior relationship as something gleaming; something special and sparkly. But now it’s rusty, corroded with betrayal. 

But what else is a common use of rusting and tarnishing? To ‘tarnish your reputation.’ I think what the shiny/rusty object really conveys is how this person damaged Taylor’s reputation in the public eye. 

“Did you have to hit me where I’m weak?” she asks. She was metaphorically “hit” in a sensitive spot. This could be any insecurity, and being hit there knocked the wind out of her: “Baby, I couldn’t breathe.” 

The use of “baby” throughout this song is infantilizing and not endearing, just a she used in her Red vault track Babe. It’s a sarcastic use of the word. 

“Rub it in so deep / salt in the wound like you’re laughin right at me” means that her enemy not only “hit” her and made her bleed, but then poured salt in the wound. 

To ‘pour salt in a would’ means that you make something worse, just to make it sting all the more. This salting was malicious and devious, “like you’re laugin’ right at me.” 

This harmful behavior felt pointed, and it felt personal.

Pre-Chorus & Chorus: “It’s So Sad To Think About the Good Times”

Analysis of the lyrics of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood,' illustrated against a cloudy sky. Annotations dissect the metaphors and other literary devices used. The image cites 'Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" (Taylor's Version)' and is part of the 'Swiftly Sung Stories' series.
The pre-chorus and chorus read: "[Pre-Chorus]

Oh, it's so sad to

Think about the good times

You and I

[Chorus]

'Cause, baby, now we got bad blood

You know it used to be mad lovе

So take a look what you've done

'Causе, baby, now we got bad blood, hey

Now we got problems

And I don't think we can solve them

You made a really deep cut

And, baby, now we got bad blood, hey"

The pre-chorus looks back to the times pre-feud: “it’s so sad to think about the good times.” They used to be pals. 

“You and I” refers both to their previous “good times”, and also leads directly into “now we got bad blood.” It’s a clever transition from pre-chorus to chorus. 

“Now we got bad blood,” she summarizes, pulling in the central metaphor. To have “bad blood” means that there is some kind of feud. But she’s also playing on the old saying “blood is thicker than water.”

They may have been close before, like family, but this person will never get back into Taylor’s trusted circle again. Her bloodline – her family, her closest confidants, her career – won’t ever let a traitor into the lineage again.

🩵🩵 Can you pass the 1989 TV Lyrics Quiz? 🩵🩵

Verse 2: “Still Got Scars On My Back From Your Knife”

Analysis of the lyrics of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood,' illustrated against a cloudy sky. Annotations dissect the metaphors and other literary devices used. The image cites 'Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" (Taylor's Version)' and is part of the 'Swiftly Sung Stories' series.
The 2nd verse reads: "Did you think we'd be fine?

Still got scars on my back from your knife

So don't think it's in the past

These kinda wounds, they last and they last

Now, did you think it all through?

All these things will catch up to you

And time can heal, but this won't

So if you're comin' my way, just don't"

Verse two continues the wounding metaphors. “Did you think we’d be fine?” means that her enemy didn’t think it would hurt, or didn’t think their actions through. 

“Still got scars on my back from your knife” is use of the metaphor ‘stabbed me in the back.’ A backstabber is a betrayer or a traitor, and Taylor uses the “scars on my back” as a roundabout way of saying this person stabbed her in the back. 

She won’t quickly get over this: “those kinda wounds they last and they last.” What do wounds do? Scar. And scars don’t disappear quickly. In some cases, you have them forever, and there’s no way to reverse the damage. 

“All these things will catch up to you” is Taylor hinting at karma, which has always been a big theme for Taylor, ever since Mean from Speak Now. Karma is coming for her enemy, and we know karma is Taylor’s bff. 

“Time can heal” is a use of the common proverb “time heals all wounds.” But in this case – Taylor says – “this won’t.” Time will not fix what has gone down between them. 

Events ‘coming back around’ is reflected in “so if you’re comin’ my way, just don’t.” She’s saying karma will come to you; don’t you come to me. 

Bridge: “Band-aids Don’t Fix Bullet Holes”

Analysis of the lyrics of Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood,' illustrated against a cloudy sky. Annotations dissect the metaphors and other literary devices used. The image cites 'Taylor Swift, "Bad Blood" (Taylor's Version)' and is part of the 'Swiftly Sung Stories' series.
The bridge reads: "Band-aids don't fix bullet holes

You say sorry just for show

If you live like that, you live with ghosts (Ghosts)

Band-aids don't fix bullet holes (Hey)

You say sorry just for show (Hey)

If you live like that, you live with ghosts (Hey), mmm

If you love like that, blood runs cold"

The bridge begins with the now-iconic line “band-aids don’t fix bullet holes.” Taylor has coined some of her own proverbs before, but this might be the most memorable. 

She’s using the wounding and stabbing metaphor in a different context: you can’t patch up a bullet hole with a band-aid. There’s no quick fix for such a deep wound. 

“You say sorry just for show” means this person may have apologized publicly, but it was two-faced, like Jekyll and Hyde. They didn’t mean it. 

“If you live like that,” Taylor warns, “you live with ghosts.” Living as a two-faced liar will haunt you for the rest of your days. And what else will haunt you? Karma. 

“If you love like that,” she continues, “blood runs cold.” If your love isn’t genuine and you use it to hurt people, the “blood” between the two of you will “run cold.” 

This implies this person is cold-blooded, a metaphor for a calculated and psychopathic personality. 

Final Chorus: “Now We Got Bad Blood”

“‘Cause, baby, now we got bad blood

You know it used to be mad love (Mad love)

So take a look what you’ve done

‘Cause, baby, now we got bad blood, hey (Bad blood)

Now we got problems

And I don’t think we can solve them (Think we can solve them)

You made a really deep cut

And, baby, now we got bad blood, hey (‘Cause now we got bad blood)

‘Cause, baby, now we got bad blood

You know it used to be mad love

So take a look what you’ve done (Look what you’ve done)

‘Cause, baby, now we got bad blood, hey (Ooh, woah, no)

Now we got problems

And I don’t think we can solve them

You made a really deep cut

And, baby, now we got bad blood, hey”

-Taylor Swift, “Bad Blood” (Taylor’s Version)

The final chorus repeats the messages we heard before, and ends with “and now baby we got bad blood, hey.” 

The “hey” might seem insignificant, but it is: it’s Taylor yelling at this person as they’re walking away. It’s her final attempt to wound them as deeply as they wounded her. 

It’s ‘hey, look what you did, asshole!’ 

The song itself is also the final message: you hurt me, and I won’t hurt you back. Karma will take care of that for me.

I’m just going to shake it off, and worry about myself while the universe worries about your fate. 

Bad Blood Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts 

Though it’s not one of the most lyrically or sonically complex songs on 1989, Bad Blood still has a potent message: don’t mess with Taylor. It’ll come back to bite you. 

It’s also a continuation of her patterns after falling outs, both in breakups and in public spats: she puts it all out in her lyrics. 

And isn’t that the ultimate revenge, a chart-topping song that will live in the stratosphere forever, while those petty haters stare up at it in the clouds? 

I think any “bad blood” with Taylor is a very, very dangerous idea. 

🩵🩵 Can you pass the 1989 TV Lyrics Quiz? 🩵🩵

More Songs From 1989 (Taylor’s Version) 

1989 Prologues: Original vs. Taylor’s Version

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