Magic Manifestation? Taylor Swift's "Change" Song Meaning, Explained

Looking back on Taylor Swift’s Change lyrics, after all that’s happened in the past decade, is like opening up a time capsule.

This song is an anthem to staying strong and persevering, which no one does better than Taylor. It’s speculated to be about her arch-nemesis, who – at the time – was her biggest supporter. But is it really?

Here’s my full English teacher analysis of Taylor’s Change song meaning, line by line. Let’s look at how the meaning of the song has changed in between 2008 and 2021.

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Change (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift

Title: Change (Taylor’s Version)
Track: 13, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Written By: Taylor Swift
Pen: Fountain
Secret Message: “You made things change for me.”
Lyrics via Genius

Change Lyrics: Narrative Analysis

Setting: The battlefield of life and dreams
Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“you”, either one person or a group), “we” (the collective group, all in it together).
Mood: Hopeful, strong, optimistic.
Conflict: Life tries to hold you down, and there are obstacles in the way to success.
Inciting Incident: “The final blow hits ya” – the ‘last straw’ makes you want to give up.
Quest: Rise up stronger than before, and reach a “revolution.”
Theme: Keep fighting – your time will come.

What was the Secret Message in Change?

The secret message in the Fearless liner notes for “Change” was “you made things change for me.”

This aims the song at either one particular person or a group of people in Taylor’s life.

Who are the Change Lyrics About?

Taylor has never specifically said who it’s about, but it’s likely (at least partially) about Scott Borchetta – or at least the original song is.

She said, “I wrote this song about being on a small record label, being a 16-year-old girl, and having a lot of odds stacked up against all of us.”

2008 Taylor likely wrote the song as a scrappy anthem to her team, who were trying to break her into the music industry.

The irony is that Scott Borchetta would turn from Taylor’s biggest supporter to her sworn enemy, and this puts the song in an entirely different perspective upon its re-release in 2021.

After Borchetta sold her catalog to Scooter Braun in 2019, Taylor has been fighting to reclaim her music with her series of re-records, and her first re-record? Fearless (Taylor’s Version), containing this song Change.

This totally changes the meaning and perspective of Change in the present day, and makes it one of the most haunting and powerful songs on Fearless (TV).

Change Meaning: Line by Line

Annotated portions of Taylor Swift's "Change" (Taylor's Version) lyrics. English teacher's red pen translates hidden meanings, points out literary and poetic devices, and helps the reader understand the overall meaning of the song.

“Well, it’s a sad picture, the final blow hits ya,” she opens the first verse. She’s narrating in second person, speaking to “you.” But we get the sense that she’s also speaking to herself, as will become clearer in the lyrics that follow.

The “sad picture” is this underdog she is, or the underdog she’s speaking to, and “the final blow” is like the last straw. Things are not going well, and nobody’s happy in this circumstance.

“Somebody else gets what you wanted again,” she says, watching success slip through her fingers, or “your” fingers. It’s the universal feeling of a losing battle, where you can never grasp what you’ve been reaching for.

“You know it’s all the same, another time and place,” she says of this repeating cycle of trying to win but only losing.

These events happen over and over, “Repeatin’ history and you’re gettin’ sick of it.” She – or “we”, or “you” – are getting sick and tired of this cycle of loss.

Will we ever get to win one? Or are we forever cursed to be second place, or last place in the race of life?

1st Chorus: “This Revolution”

“But I believe in whatever you do,” she encourages herself and her reader in the pre-chorus, ”And I’ll do anything to see it through.”

Taylor is our subject’s biggest supporter; they’re on the same team. It’s here that we can see more clearly that they’re fighting the same battle: the battle for Taylor’s career and success in the music industry.

“Because these things will change, can you feel it now?” she asks in the chorus. Change is coming – it’s in the air, blowing towards us – and we can feel the winds of change shifting in our favor.

“These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down,” she says, manifesting that all the obstacles in her way will crumble. These aren’t emotional walls as Taylor uses frequently in her songbook (see Cold as You, The Story of Us, Enchanted, et al); they’re walls that sit between her and her object of desire.

In the context of the original recording, the “walls” could be all the barriers they had to leap over to get Taylor into the music industry. But in the context of the re-record, the “walls” are everything that stands between her and owning her life’s work (Scott Borchetta, Scooter Braun).

“This revolution,” she says, manifesting great change and an overthrow of those in power, “the time will come for us to finally win.” The “revolution” for 2008 Taylor likely means a new artist bursting on the scene. But for 2021 Taylor, the “revolution” is re-recording her catalog, and owning her music once again.

“And we’ll sing hallelujah,” she says, imagining that in the future, they’ll be thankful and celebratory that they’ve finally won the war. “We’ll sing hallelujah” when the moment finally arrives; when they reach the end of the race they’ve been running, and emerge victorious.

Verse 2: “We’re Faster and Never Scared”

The battle descriptors continue in the second verse that paint a picture of a violent war.

“So we’ve been outnumbered, raided, and now cornered”, she says, illustrating this battle for her career as guerilla warfare. The music industry has so many successful artists, and competition is so fierce, that it’s difficult to fight this many battles at once.

But for 2021 Taylor, being “outnumbered, raided, and now, cornered” illustrates the battle for her masters. Her “vault” was “raided,” and she was backed into a corner, faced with an unfair contract in exchange for her life’s work.

“It’s hard to fight when thе fight ain’t fair” illustrates both past and present versions of Taylor’s battles. It wasn’t a fair fight to break into a scene of mass-produced pop artists, and it wasn’t a fair fight when her masters were sold out from under her.

“We’re getting stronger now,” she says, finding courage in battle, and they’ll “find things they never found.” 2008 Taylor would find new tactics to break into – and stay in – the industry. 2021 Taylor will get beaten down by the masters heist, but emerge stronger than ever before, and find a way to reclaim her music.

“They might be bigger,” she says of both her past and present opponents, “but we’re faster and never scared.” Young Taylor was scrappy, and adult Taylor still is.

At 18, she was fighting the goliath of the music industry as a newbie. But today, she IS the Goliath. She became stronger and faster because of those early obstacles, and now she’s unstoppable.

Pre-Chorus & Bridge: “Fight of Our Lives”

“You can walk away, say, ‘We don’t need this’,” she says to herself and her audience, assuring us that these battles are indeed scary, and it’s okay to know when it’s time to go.

“But there’s somethin’ in your eyes, says, ‘We can beat this’,” she says, seeing the glint in her own eyes, and in our eyes, that signals a knowing hope. “We can beat this,” she assures herself, and her audience.

The chorus repeats, then the bridge begins to narrate when things will actually start to change.

“Tonight,” she says in the bridge, “we’ll stand and get off our knees.” She’s told us that change is coming, and we’ll be winning soon. Now the moment is upon us. We’ll finally stand up tall, and begin the process of claiming victory.

After the “Fight for what we’ve worked for all these years,” all that hard work will pay off. It’s not time to quit, it’s time to see the fruits of our labor.

“And the battle was long,” she says, looking back, “it’s the fight of our lives.” The battle is now in both past and present tense, which hints that the “victory” hasn’t actually happened yet: she’s manifesting victory. She imagines what will happen when she wins the war, even though the war isn’t over yet.

“But we’ll stand up champions tonight,” she assures herself, and assures us. ‘It will all work out,’ she says, ‘I promise.’

Final Chorus: “The Night Things Changed”

“It was the night things changed, can you see it now?” she asks in the final chorus. It’s no longer “things WILL change”: things have already changed, and she can point back to one moment when the tide turned.

This could point to one particular night of her career: the 2007 CMA awards, which was a night that things really did change for Taylor. That award began a string of successes that finally broke her into the mainstream music scene.

But for 2021 Taylor, what was “the night things changed?” Likely the idea, or the release, of her first Taylor’s Version album: Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

This night was “When the walls that they put up to hold us back fell down.” She obstacles in her way – the music industry, or the petty men who stole her work – finally crumbled, because she kept pushing that wall over.

“It’s a revolution,” she says, the time finally arriving when those in power will be overthrown, “throw your hands up ’cause we never gave in.” This is her victory lap: she did it. It’s time to celebrate.

“And we’ll sing hallelujah,” she repeats, we sang hallelujah.” She will be thankful (to God, or to herself, or to her fans), in that moment, and in every moment from here on out. She is both looking back in past tense, and looking forward in present tense.

The war is over. The battle is won. And Taylor’s Change is a battle cry for anyone struggling, facing insurmountable obstacles. Your circumstances will change, you just have to keep trying.

Eventually, Taylor tells us, you’ll win.

Change Meaning: Final Thoughts

This song is such an appropriate narrative for the first Taylor’s Version album, as it takes us through her history in the industry, but also applies to her current struggles. She’s written a timeless track that will always describe her life and her story.

But what this song does really well is acknowledge that things are hard; life is hard. It’s a constant struggle. But if we’ve learned anything from Taylor, it’s that hard work – and constant perseverance – pays off big time.

‘Don’t quit,’ Taylor encourages us in Change, ‘because big change is right around the corner.’

More Songs from Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

Magic Manifestation? Taylor Swift’s “Change” Song Meaning, Explained

Change (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift

Change Lyrics: Narrative Analysis

What was the Secret Message in Change?

Who are the Change Lyrics About?