No Prince Charmings: “Call It What You Want” Meaning, Explained
Call it What You Want – Taylor Swift’s proclamation that she’s no damsel in distress – is deeply layered with metaphors. It’s a love song, but it’s also personally reflective and emotionally devastating.
What’s really going on inside Taylor’s poignant lyrics? What should we “call it”? And how do the larger themes of reputation appear within this song?
Let’s find out. Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of Taylor’s Call it What You Want meaning, line by line.
Call it What You Want
Call it What you Want relies on one of Taylor’s most common romance archetypes: the princess being rescued by her white knight. But unlike other songs that use this trope (like Love Story), Taylor is decidedly “not a princess,” and “this ain’t a fairytale,” like in White Horse.
This song is sandwiched between “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” and “New Years Day,” and it’s a key transitional song to change the mood from vengeful to hopelessly romantic.
- Title: “Call it What You Want”
- Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff
- Track: 14, Reputation (2017)
- Pen: Fountain
- Lyrics from Genius
Call it What You Want Narrative Summary
- Setting: After her “kingdom” has crumbled, holed up in a new, private love bubble.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor), “My Baby” (her lover), “They” (everyone outside of the love bubble).
- Mood: Reflective, healing, hopeful.
- Conflict: “They took the crown”: her reputation was ruined by gossip and slander.
- Inciting Incident: “My castle crumbled overnight.”
- Quest: Shrug off labels, confident in her new love she’s found.
- Lesson: If you know that your love is real, then it doesn’t matter what other people think.
What is Call it What You Want About?
This track narrates a tumultuous time in Taylor’s life, where she retreated from the spotlight. The “castle” of her career and reputation has “crumbled overnight,” but at the same time, she found solace in a new lover.
Who is Call it What You Want About?
Taylor has never explicitly revealed who Call it What You Want is about, but in this clip, she seems to be serenading her then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
But Call it What You Want is actually very little about the central romance. It’s about Taylor’s downfall, and finding comfort with someone who doesn’t care about her reputation (“you must like me for me”).
In 2016, Taylor essentially disappeared from the spotlight following Snakegate. She felt canceled; like her career had been taken from her. This is the point in her life in which she wrote this song, and she’s likely reflecting on this turbulent time.
Call it What You Want Meaning: Line by Line
“My castle crumbled overnight,” she begins in the first verse, setting up the central metaphor: her career – or reputation – as a “kingdom.” Her realm has fallen apart, and she feels set adrift.
This is a commonly used metaphor which she’s also used in songs like Long Live, Look What You Made Me Do, New Romantics, The Archer, Castles Crumbling, long story short, and Bejeweled.
“I brought a knife to a gunfight,” she says, outnumbered and outmatched by the hate coming her way. She was unprepared for this war, and had to surrender.
“They took the crown, but it’s alright,” she says of her haters (and possibly Kim/Kanye). The “crown” is her reputation, which was stolen by liars and fraudsters. This continues the fairytale theme, which will come back around in the chorus.
“All the liars are calling me one,” she says of these slanderers, “Nobody’s heard from me for months.” She’s retreated from the spotlight, cutting off communication and staying out of the public eye.
But we shouldn’t worry or be concerned, as she says “I’m doin’ better than I ever was.” She’s happier now, hiding away from it all, than she was out in the harsh spotlight.
Just like she told us in the reputation Prologue, “We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us.” We may not see her happiness, or her sadness, because she’s chosen not to reveal it.
We’ll find out why in the chorus that follows.
Chorus: “My Baby’s Fly Like a Jet Stream”
“Cause…My baby’s fit like a daydream,” she says in the chorus, “Walkin’ with his head down / I’m the one he’s walking to.” She’s now got something new that keeps her “doing better than ever”: “my baby.”
“Fit like a daydream” has a double meaning, the first being that he’s hot. “Fit” is British slang for sexy or good looking. But it could also mean that they “fit like a daydream”: they’re deeply compatible.
This new person, “walking with his head down,” hasn’t paid attention to all the chatter that tore down her reputation. He looks straight ahead, and only walks toward Taylor, not distracted by other narratives swirling around her. Like in Delicate, “you must like me for me.”
“So call it what you want, yeah,” she says, “Call it what you want to.” At first glance this seems like simply shrugging off all the gossip, and not caring about what other say about your relationship. But it’s deeper than that.
She established in the first verse that she – by all accounts – should be a “damsel in distress.” Her “castle crumbled”, and “they took the crown.” Is this new person her white knight, who’s come to rescue her?
No. “Call it what you want” means that this may look like a fairytale ending, but she is no damsel in distress. ‘You can call it being rescued,’ she says, ‘but that’s not what this is at all.’ She’ll reinforce this in the bridge.
“My baby’s fly like a jet stream,” she says, “High above the whole scene.” He doesn’t get dragged down in the trenches of gossip and slander; he stays flying above those petty narratives. This new love soars.
He “Loves me like I’m brand new,” but as she told us in Look What You Made Me Do, she IS brand new. “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now…’cause she’s dead.” This means she is starting on a clean slate with him, unmarked by her previous traumas.
“So call it what you want, yeah,” she repeats, “Call it what you want to.”
Should we call it hiding away? An escape? A distraction? Protection? Being rescued? Maybe it’s all of these things, and maybe it’s none of them. We can call it whatever we want, but to her, it’s everything, and she’s finally happy after rising from the ashes.
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Verse 2: “All My Flowers Grew Back as Thorns”
“All my flowers grew back as thorns,” she begins the second verse. What was once a beautiful career – that she painstakingly grew and cultivated – now only hurts her. It’s a similar metaphor to Don’t Blame Me’s “I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy.”
“Windows boarded up after the storm,” she says, “He built a fire just to keep me warm.” She retreats into her “castle” gates and metaphorically boards up the windows, keeping out the harsh conditions outside. Her new man protects her, and keeps her heart from icing over.
“All the drama queens taking swings,” she says, “All the jokers dressing up as kings / They fade to nothing when I look at him.” The palace that was once hers (her career, her reputation) has devolved into a royal menagerie of infighting and pretenders.
“Drama queens” could refer to Kim Kardashian, or any of the Twitter celebs who turned on her during Snakegate. “The jokers dressing up as kings” could likewise refer to Kanye, spouting off nonsensical lies.
But she’s got her new man by her side, and like in Dress, “say my name and everything just stops.” The chaos of the world around her quiets, and she can be peacefully content with his company.
Pre-Chorus: “At Least I Did One Thing Right”
“And I know I make the same mistakes every time,” she says in the pre-chorus, “Bridges burn, I never learn.” She’s trusted the wrong people, both in love and in life, and it only ends with hurt feelings and severed relationships.
But “At least I did one thing right,” she says, “I did one thing right.” This time, she’s trusted the right person, and relied on someone who is reliable.
“I’m laughing with my lover, makin’ forts under covers,” she says of their cozy love nest, “Trust him like a brother / Yeah, you know I did one thing right.” They’re intimate and comfortable, but like in Dress, “I don’t want you like a best friend.”
Here, she has the best of both worlds: the comfortable familiarity of a brother or best friend, with the intimacy of attraction and trust. She feels secure, and she’s sure she’s making the right decisions after a series of difficult ones.
Now, she only sees “Starry eyes sparkin’ up my darkest night.” In her dark night of the soul, his sparkling eyes light the way, illuminating her path forward.
Bridge: “I Want to Wear His Initial on a Chain ‘Round My Neck”
The chorus repeats, then the bridge expands upon what this new romance means to her.
“I want to wear his initial on a chain ’round my neck,” she proclaims, “Not because he owns me / But ’cause he really knows me.” She’s not the damsel in distress who needs to be “owned” by a man, nor the desperate girlfriend who makes her boyfriend her entire personality.
As she told us in reputation’s opening poem Why She Disappeared, “Standing broad-shouldered next to her was a love that was really something, not just the idea of something.”
He’s standing next to her, not in front of or behind her. He doesn’t own her, he’s her true partner. He’s left an indelible mark on her with this honest intimacy, like the “golden tattoo” of Dress (symbolized by the necklace).
He is allowed to know the real Taylor, underneath the pop star facade, “Which is more than they can say.” All the haters aren’t allowed to see the real woman underneath the corporation. Like she’s already told us, “We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us.”
“I recall late November,” she looks back, the seasons symbolically changing from autumn (a time of great change) to winter (a desolate, cold season). Something big is about to happen in their relationship.
“Holding my breath, slowly, I said, ‘You don’t need to save me, but would you run away with me?’” She asks for his partnership, and to escape with her; not to take her away.
“Yes (Would you run away?)” she repeats, dying to get out of this suffocating situation. Will he come with her, and stand beside her while she navigates this new, even more complicated life?
Outro: Call it What You Want
The repetition of “call it what you want” in the outro is important. Taylor uses repetition to call our attention to specific themes and meanings. So why is it repeated so many times here?
Each time she repeats the phrase, it alludes to different aspects of her situation. We can call it hiding, or running away, rest, seclusion, or burrowing her head in the sand. But what should we not call it? Being rescued.
She’s not a damsel in distress; she can save herself, as she’s proved time and time again, and especially poignantly in reputation.
Her castle may have crumbled, but that doesn’t mean she needs a white knight to swoop in and slay the dragons.
“Call it what you want” means she doesn’t care about the chatter anymore. Gossip has already done the worst thing it could do: nearly end her career. So some meaningless words that speculate on her relationship? She’ll brush it off, rise up, and save herself. She’ll just happen to have a man by her side while she does it.
🐍🐍🐍 Are you ready for the reputation Lyrics Quiz? 🐍🐍🐍
Call it What You Want Meaning: Final Thoughts
One of the largest themes of reputation is perception vs. reality. Here, she tells us the reality: “I’m doing better than I ever was.” The way her new life is perceived, however? She no longer cares.
People will talk; she just won’t listen. She will set the narrative from here on out, and only tell us what she really wants us to know, and only through song.
We can “call it what we want to” – hiding, running, escaping, avoiding, bad for her, good for her – but she doesn’t care. This is the one thing she did right, and she knows she made the right choice.
The key phrase is “she knows.” The world can talk all they like, but only she gets to know what happens inside her world. And right now? It’s looking pretty comfortable, or as comfortable as it can be with the constant, harsh spotlight shining down on her.
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