Why Taylor Swift’s Songs Hit Harder: The Power of Narrative Structure
Why do Taylor Swift’s bridges hit harder than everyone else’s?
Why does each song feel like an emotional roller coaster, starting off slow, then building into a freefall?
Why do we feel invested in these stories, and what makes them listenable again and again?
The answer is simple: it’s storytelling. Taylor structures her lyrical stories just like any other narrative story, with a beginning, middle, and end.
Let’s look at how and why she does this, and how you can incorporate Taylor’s narrative structure into your writing, too.
If you missed my full breakdown of narrative storytelling, check it out, then come back to learn exactly why it’s so powerful.
🍎 This is part 6 of my 9-part Lesson Series: Taylor Swift 101🍎
Narrative Structure in Songwriting
Narrative structure is simply the way that a story is organized: this happened, then that happened, and that’s how I ended up here.
But narrative structure isn’t something normally seen in pop songwriting. Some of the most popular songs of the last decade don’t have a narrative at all (think Boom Boom Pow and Moves Like Jagger, just to name a few).
Country music, however, has always used narrative storytelling to convey a full emotional picture. Country songs (heavily influenced by and stemming from the blues) usually give us the complete story: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter narrates growing up poor with hardworking parents, the lessons she learned, and how it makes her the person she is today.
Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues begins in prison, then narrates his childhood, how he came to be locked up, and how it feels to be stuck in jail with no hope.
Since Taylor began her career in the country genre, it’s likely that she was inspired to write in narrative form from the beginning. Like the country greats, she doesn’t just tell us how she’s feeling: she tells us what happened to make her feel that way.
Why Taylor Uses Narrative Structure
Taylor builds her stories in a precise and purposeful manner, just as carefully as a novel writer or poet would. Building her stories in this manner keeps us engaged, keeps us guessing, and keeps us coming back for more.
Humans naturally resonate with narrative storytelling. We need to know the what, why, when and how to relate, and Taylor gives us all the information we need to see ourselves within her lyrics.
Many of Taylor’s songs begin with backstory or important context that establishes her characters within the central conflict. She then moves into the heart of it all: a single event or heartbreak that brings it all to a head. She then wraps it up in the end, leaving us pondering the central emotions of the story.
Let’s look at exactly how Taylor structures her stories to create maximum impact, and how you can, too.
Narrative Structure in Taylor’s Songs
There are a few different frameworks that writers use to structure their narratives, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll look at the classic 3-act structure to analyze Taylor’s songs.
Remember your elementary school English teacher, who told you that stories always need to have a beginning, middle, and end? She was talking about the 3-act structure, and it’s very simple:
- Act 1: Setup
- Act 2: Confrontation
- Act 3: Resolution
The 3-Act Structure: Breakdown
🎢 In Act 1, we meet our central characters, get to know what motivates them and what pains them, and (usually) an inciting incident causes the rest of the plot to unfold. Think of act one as the beginning of the roller coaster ride: setting off into the great unknown.
🎢 In Act 2, the action begins rising. The inciting incident in act 1 causes emotional tension, and our characters have obstacles they need to overcome. Think of act two as the roller coaster churning to the top, right before the free fall.
🎢 In Act 3, the story reaches its climax. Lessons are learned, and our characters come to some sort of resolution, whether it’s happy or sad. Think of act three as the final loop-de-loop, before the ride pulls back into the gate.
It’s key to remember that this 3-act structure is only a framework, and not all of Taylor’s storytelling uses this structure. But her songs that have a clear series of events usually do, so let’s look at some examples to break it down further.
Taylor’s Act 1: The Setup
Taylor usually begins her narrative-style songs with exposition: explaining important background information that we need to know. She introduces her characters, gives them their central conflict, and hints at what’s to come.
She has an incredible knack for doing all of this very quickly and succinctly, usually within the first two or three lines.
Act 1: You Belong With Me
In You Belong With Me, the first lines plop us right into the middle of the inciting incident, while simultaneously introducing us to our central characters.
“You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset, she’s goin’ off about something that you said,” she begins, “‘cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do.”
Right off the bat, we’ve met three characters: our speaker (Taylor), who has a deep connection to the subject (the boy), and his girlfriend. The conflict is apparent: our speaker is jealous of his girlfriend, because she wants to be with him.
Taylor has laid all this out in only the first three lines.
Act 1: I Knew You Were Trouble
I Knew You Were Trouble begins with the inciting incident: “Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, I was in your sights, you got me alone.”
Our central characters are quickly introduced as the speaker, narrated by Taylor, and the subject, who seems to be bad news: he’s portrayed as a hunter.
We get a crucial backstory and setting with “a few mistakes ago”: she’s not in a good place, and hasn’t been for some time.
“I was in your sights” reveals that the subject is honing in on her vulnerability, while “you got me alone” implies that he’s caught his prey, foreshadowing the heartbreak to come.
“And when I fell hard, you took a step back without me,” she reveals at the end of the first verse. Here’s the central conflict: she fell hard for him, but for him, it was never that serious.
Act 1: my tears ricochet
my tears ricochet begins with the inciting incident: “We gather here, we line up, weepin’ in a sunlit room.” She’s revealed the setting through specific language (“we gather here” is a phrase commonly used in church services) and through imagery (“weepin’ in a sunlit room” implying a funeral at said church). Someone, or something, has died.
She then introduces our central characters with, “And if I’m on fire, you’ll be made of ashes, too.” Our speaker, who seems to be metaphorically burning down, will take down the subject with her.
“Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe,” she continues, “All the hell you gave me? Because I loved you, I swear I loved you.” The subject has wronged the speaker repeatedly over time, which reveals our crucial backstory: someone she loved hurt her deeply, and the rest of the song will reveal more about this central conflict.
✏️ Exercise: Read the lyrics to All Too Well, Back to December, or The Lucky One. What happens in Act 1? What characters are introduced, what’s the inciting incident, and what’s the central conflict? (If the song you picked doesn’t have a clear series of events, just pick one that does to make it a bit easier to identify).
Taylor’s Act 2: Building Tension
Act two’s job is to escalate the conflict with rising action, and build emotional tension. The central pain points introduced in act 1 will come to a head, and our characters will have to figure out what to do.
The middle verses of Taylor’s songs usually narrate moments between the characters that further illustrate the conflict.
Act 2: You Belong With Me
The middle portion of You Belong With Me builds more tension around the subject’s relationship, and his intimate connection to the speaker.
They walk around together, enjoying each others’ company which is “easy” compared to his tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend. “You say you’re fine, I know you better than that,” she says, “Hey, whatcha doing with a girl like that?” This simple but direct question builds tension. Will he wake up and see what’s right in front of him?
Act 2: I Knew You Were Trouble
The middle of I Knew You Were Trouble, we see how this relationship – that was troubled from the start – plays out, and the emotional consequences it has on the speaker.
“No apologies, he’ll never see you cry,” she assures herself in verse two, “Pretends he doesn’t know that he’s the reason why you’re drowning.” She’s suffering in silence, with the subject oblivious to the pain he’s caused.
“And I heard you moved on from whispers on the street,” she says, realizing that “a new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be.” She comes to see that he was never looking for a relationship; he was looking for a conquest.
“He was long gone when he met me,” she now understands, “And I realize the joke is on me.” She ignored her gut instincts, and the result is that she now blames herself. We’re beginning to see the emotional impact all the decisions they’ve made thus far, which will come to a head in the third and final act.
Act 2: my tears ricochet
The middle of my tears ricochet begins in the second verse, where Taylor explains, “You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene.” The anger and resentment is building, and she decides she’ll “haunt” the subject in retribution.
“You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me,” she says, implying that what was once a close relationship has turned hostile.
“I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace,” she continues in the second chorus, “’Cause when I’d fight, you used to tell me I was brave.” In this fight, this person used to have her back. Now, she’s fighting against them.
All these lines build up and increase the tension, which will come to a head in the bridge.
✏️ Exercise: Using the same song from the first exercise, identify the second act. How does the plot progress and how do the tensions rise? What’s important about the middle of the song, and how does it serve to escalate the plot?
Taylor’s Act 3: Emotional Climax
Act 3 is when the narrative comes to its climax. A big event or realization happens, which brings the characters some kind of resolution. It doesn’t have to tie everything together in a big bow, but it should address the end of the central conflict.
For Taylor, the climax usually comes in the bridge, where truths are revealed and emotions reach a boiling point.
If you’ve ever wondered why Taylor’s bridges are so powerful, it’s because she’s using them as the emotional climax of the story: she’s built everything up in the story to reach this moment. It’s because of the groundwork she laid in acts one and two that act three is so emotionally resonant.
Act 3: You Belong With Me
In You Belong With Me, the climax comes in the bridge, which pulls one particular moment from her memory: “Oh, I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night, I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re ’bout to cry” (clap, clap, anyone?). He drives to her house when he’s upset, and not his girlfriends’ house.
“Think I know where you belong,” she insists at the end of the bridge, “Think I know it’s with me.” She’s just illustrated her point, and tells him outright that he’s with the wrong person. This leaves us on a bit of a cliffhanger, wondering whether he will, in fact, break up with his girlfriend to be with the speaker.
The final chorus and outro of this song doesn’t resolve anything, but leaves us with a lingering feeling of unrequited love, which is exactly what the song is about: pining.
Act 3: I Knew You Were Trouble
In I Knew You Were Trouble, the climax also comes in the bridge: “And the saddest fear comes creepin’ in, that you never loved me, or her, or anyone or anything.”
The speaker moves beyond self-blame, now understanding that he was incapable of ever giving her love. It wasn’t her fault, but she should have listened to her gut. She doesn’t need to be jealous of the person he moved on with, because that person will end up learning the same lesson as she did. Anyone who gets close to this person will only find trouble.
The final chorus and outro echo “trouble” over and over, reflecting on how she felt about him, and the only thing he only ever gave her.
Act 3: my tears ricochet
In my tears ricochet, the climax comes in the bridge, where she exclaims, “And I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home.” The ties between them are irrevocably severed, and we learn that this person was like “home” to her. That’s why this situation is so painful. She can have anything she wants in the world, but nothing can turn back time.
“And you can aim for my heart, go for blood,” she says, “But you would still miss me in your bones.” He’s turned a friend into an enemy, and he’ll regret it forever.
“I still talk to you when I’m screamin’ at the sky,” she says, implying that it’s not that easy to move on from this pain or this person. She hopes “that when you can’t sleep at night, you’ll hear my stolen lullabies,” meaning her soundtrack – and the very song she’s singing right now – will loom over him for the rest of his miserable days.
The final chorus brings resolution with, “And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves /
You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same.” The war is over, and they’ve both suffered. But it will come back to haunt him and not her, because her “tears ricochet.” Her pain will come back to bite him, forever.
✏️ Exercise: Using the same song from before, identify the third act, or the emotional climax. What happens at this moment? Are there truths revealed that we didn’t know before? Is the conflict resolved? What lessons have our characters learned?
Why Narrative Structure Matters
If you want your stories to resonate just like Taylor’s do, using narrative structure is one of the easiest ways to accomplish it.
You can’t tell your reader that you’re feeling guilty without telling them why. You can’t tell them why without telling them how, and you can’t tell them how without telling them who and what.
If you want to ground your story in relatable reality, you’ll also need to tell them where and when.
If you follow a simple narrative structure, whether 3 acts, 5 acts, a hero’s journey, or any other story map, it’ll be much easier to get your point across.
Following a narrative structure creates engagement, enables character development, and helps the reader understand why you’re feeling the way you are. It also helps them see themselves within your narratives, because your storytelling has made it relatable.
Taylor seems to do this effortlessly, but keep in mind that she’s been crafting stories since she was a child, and she’s worked really hard to get to where she is in her writer’s journey. Keep practicing, and you can learn to write just as effectively as Taylor does.
➡️ ➡️ ➡️ Next Lesson: Imagery, Metaphors & Symbolism: How Taylor Builds Worlds
🎓 All Lessons in Taylor Swift 101 🎓
Unit 1: An Introduction to Taylor Swift
A Quick Timeline of Taylor Swift’s Career: The Basics You Need to Know
Genres and Eras: Taylor Swift’s Artistic Evolution
Unit 2: The Art of Storytelling
How Taylor Swift Uses Storytelling to Make Us Feel Everything
Taylor’s Signature Songwriting Style & What Makes it Effective
Why Taylor Swift’s Songs Hit Harder: The Power of Narrative Structure
Unit 3: Unlocking Taylor’s Lyrics: Literary Devices and Deep Themes
Imagery, Metaphors & Symbolism: How Taylor Builds Worlds
