“You Were Never Not Mine”: “Imgonnagetyouback” Meaning, Explained

Taylor Swift’s 18th track of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology is this sultry song about an ex who’s done something horrible. 

The lyrics describe her confusion over this situationship, and she can’t decide whether she wants this person back, or wants to get back at them. 

What’s really going on in this song, who could it be about, and why is the title stylized in all lowercase with no spaces? 

Here’s my full English teacher’s analysis of imgonnagetyouback meaning, line by line. 

imgonnagetyouback by Taylor Swift

• Title: imgonnagetyouback
• Written by: Taylor Swift
• Track: 18, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
• Pen: Fountain (with a tiny bit of quill)
• Lyrics from Genius

imgonnagetyouback Narrative Summary

• Setting: In a confusing situationship with an on again, off again love. 
• Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“you”, the one she loves and hates). 
• Mood: Confused, frustrated, infatuated, karmic. 
• Conflict: “I haven’t decided yet”: she doesn’t know where she wants this relationship to go. 
• Inciting Incident: “What you did”: the subject wronged her somehow. 
• Quest: “Get you back,” whether it’s revenge, or reconciliation. 
• Symbols & Metaphors: “imgonnagetyouback,” “lilac short skirt,” “fits me like skin,” “research,” “you knew the price goin’ in,” “honey”, “come clean,” “at the bar,” “bubbly,” “fix your face,” “I’m goin’ in,” “wife,” “smash up your bike,” “get you back,” “curse you out,” “take you back to my house,” “whispers in your eyes,” “think twice,” “never not mine,” “small talk, big love,” “what you did,” “I’m an Aston Martin you steered straight into the ditch,” “ran and hid,” “upper hand,” “touch your body,” “flip the script,” “leave you like a dumb house party,” “love you til the end,” “humming in the way you move,” “reset button,” “something new,” “got somebody,” “handcuffed,” “bygones will be bygone,” “eras fadin’ into gray,” “broke all the pieces, but still wanna play the game,” “poison.” 
• Lesson: Taylor controls the narrative. 

What is imgonnagetyouback About? 

imgonnagetyouback, stylized in all lowercase with no spaces, narrates Taylor’s intentions toward an ex-lover. She ponders whether she wants to hurt this person the way they hurt her, or forgive them and get back together. 

Who is imgonnagetyouback About? 

Taylor has never explicitly revealed who this song may have been inspired by. 

Most Swifties assume that the track is about her ex Matty Healy, who she may have been in a “situationship” with for years. 

The song seems to include details that parallel The 1975’s Fallingforyou, both in the stylization of the title, and in references like “my bike” and “your giant house.” 

But this track also closely parallels Olivia Rodrigo’s Get Him Back!, and some fans assume this is Taylor’s response to their songwriting credit dispute.

imgonnagetyouback Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

Please Note: I use gender neutral pronouns “they/them” to refer to the subject of imgonnagetyouback, as their gender is not revealed in the lyrics. 

“Lilac short skirt,” she says in the first verse, “the one that fits me like skin.” Lilac is a light purple that symbolizes young love or encouraging emotional expression. In the Swiftverse, it’s tied to Speak Now, which echoes the narrator’s plea that the subject reveal the truth. 

The skirt imagery is reminiscent of Vigilante Shit: she’ll attempt to get back at this person by looking really, really hot.

“Did your research,” she says to her ex, “you knew the price goin’ in.” This person knew what they were getting into while pursuing a relationship with the narrator. Taylor is a “shiny toy with a price,” like in Cruel Summer. 

“And I’ll tell you one thing, honey,” she says sardonically, “I can tell when somebody still wants me, come clean.” She tells the subject that they can’t hide from her. She’s the Mastermind who can “read your mind,” and she’ll see the truth on their face. 

“Standin’ at the bar like something’s funny, bubbly,” she says of the subject. They’re in a carefree mood, sipping drinks at the bar like they have nothing to worry about. 

But “the bar” could also be this person’s place in Taylor’s songwriting and lyrical universe, as in the “bars” of a song. They act like they have no worries, but should they be worried about their place at “the bar,” as in she’ll write a scathing track about them? 

“Once you fix your face, I’m goin’ in,” she says to the subject. To “fix your face” is to change your expression, and she wants them to get out of this carefree mood and into a serious one. She wants the truth, and she wants it now. 

Until they can be honest with her, she’s not “going in” to any kind of relationship or situationship with them. 

1st Chorus & Post-Chorus: “I Haven’t Decided Yet”

“Whether I’m gonna be your wife,” she tells the subject, “or gonna smash up your bike, I haven’t decided yet.” She’s got a big decision to make: does she want “go from one kiss to gettin’ married,” or smash up their childhood dreams and throw them away? 

This is where the lyrics have some interesting parallels to The 1975’s Fallingforyou. In that track, Matty Healy sings “All we need’s my bike and your enormous house.” Is this the same bike that Taylor will “smash up”? 

“But I’m gonna get you back,” she tells them. Whether she’s going to “get back at” this person and enact revenge, or “get you back” in a romantic reconciliation, she doesn’t yet know. 

“Whether I’m gonna curse you out,” she says, “or take you back to my house, I haven’t decidеd yet.” She’ll either “curse you for the longest time” like in cardigan, or fall under their witchy spell like in ivy’s “magnificently cursed.” 

“But I’m gonna get you back,” she repeats. She just doesn’t know what her next step is. Will she leap back in, or run away? 

🪶🤍 Are you a tortured poet? Find out with my TTPD Lyrics Quiz! 🤍🪶

“I, I hear thе whispers in your eyes,” she says, picking up on every vibe they put out, and “I’ll make you wanna think twice.” Like in Mastermind, “I can read your mind”: she can read into their feelings without saying a word. 

This longing stare of the subject echoes the “stolen stares” of Illicit Affairs and “if you know it in once glimpse, it’s legendary” of loml. She knows there’s something more behind their eyes, and she’ll get to the root of it. 

“You’ll find that you were never not mine,” she surmises. She’s always known how this will go, and this person has always and will always belong to her. 

Verse 2: “Small Talk, Big Love”

“Small talk, big love,” she says in the second verse, “act like I don’t care what you did.” They’re making small talk, and ignoring the “big love” that still lies between them.

Taylor’s putting on a poker face, acting nonchalant about this huge pain this person caused her. 

“I’m an Aston Martin that you steered straight into the ditch,” she says, “Then ran and hid.” She’s like a luxury sports car they took on a joyride. But they crashed her, and maybe shattered into “a million pieces.” 

Taylor has used expensive car metaphors before, like in Red’s “loving him was like driving a Maserati down a dead-end street,” and King of My Heart’s “all the boys in the expensive cars…never took me quite where you do.” 

But here, she’s the sports car, meaning she’s rare, shining, powerful, and desirable. They took her for a” test drive” and blew it, “then ran and hid.” Like in The Black Dog’s “tail between your legs, you’re leaving,” they slink away after they made a mess of her heart. 

“And I’ll tell you one thing, honey,” she tells the subject confidently, “I can take the upper hand and touch your body.” She’s in control, and she can either touch this person lovingly, or she can punch them in the face. 

She can “Flip the script and leave you like a dumb house party.” Just like the subject ran away after the car crash, she can ditch them, too. 

This line also echoes The 1975’s lyrics “All we need’s my bike and your enormous house.” Is this the same house, or are we in the same universe as that song? 

“Or I might just love you ’til the end,” she says, alluding to the end of the house party and the end of time. Will she be there for the party and the aftermath, “cleanin’ up bottles with you on New Year’s Day?” 

2nd Chorus & Post Chorus: “Flip You Off or Pull You Into The Closet”

The first part of the chorus repeats, then the narrator says, “Whether I’m gonna flip you off or / Pull you into the closet, I haven’t decided yet.” 

Will she give them the finger, or flip them off the “ride of your life”, or pull them into the closet for 7 minutes in heaven (or “seven years in heaven, like in happiness)? 

“Closet” could also mean to keep their relationship hidden or disguised in some way, so it’s open to multiple interpretations.  

Bridge: “Pick Your Poison Babe, I’m Poison Either Way”

“I can feel it coming,” she says, alluding to change in the air, “humming in the way you move.” Like “the whispers in your eyes,” she can sense this building attraction between them. 

“Push the reset button,” she says, “we’re becomin’ something new.” They’re starting over and starting fresh, but the button could also contain deeper meanings.

In I Wish You Would, she says “you always knew how to push my buttons,” to describe how her lover knows her sensitivities intimately. In You Are in Love, she says “buttons on coats” to reflect the small, pedestrian moments of everyday love and fidelity.  

To “push the reset button” means to start over, but this is also a sensitive subject, as they’ve never been faithful or long-lasting. 

“Say you got somebody, I’ll say I got someone too,” she says. The new thing they’re becoming is a situationship or an affair. 

“Even if it’s handcuffed”, she says, “I’m leavin’ here with you.” Even if she has to bind herself to this person forever, or become imprisoned by them, it’s what she wants. No matter the cost, she has to have them. 

🪶🤍 Are you a tortured poet? Find out with my TTPD Lyrics Quiz! 🤍🪶

“Bygones will be bygone,” she says, meaning the past is passed, “eras fadin’ into gray.” They can put the whole mess behind them, their history fading into an unclear haze. 

But “eras fadin’ into gray” could also allude to the “eras” of Taylor’s life. This new era she’s entering – into an affair or messy relationship – isn’t black and white. It’s not golden or red, either, as her usual colors of love. It’s something much darker, and it’s foreboding. 

“If all you want is gray for me,” she says in But Daddy I Love Him, “Then it’s just white noise, and it’s my choice.” She knows she’s entering into a messy gray area, but it’s her decision, consequences be damned. 

“We broke all the pieces,” she says of their messy love game, “but still wanna play the game.” Like in My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, they’ve both hurt others and each other. But this game of love with this opponent is so tempting and so exciting, that she wants to keep going. 

“Told my friends I hate you,” she says, “but I love you just the same.” This is the central duality of the lyrics. She can’t decide if she loves or loathes this person. All she knows is that she wants them. 

“Pick your poison, babe,” she says, “I’m poison either way.” To “pick your poison” is to choose how you want to die. Taylor muses that she’ll hurt everyone around her no matter what she does. 

Taylor has described herself as poisonous before, most notably in Don’t Blame Me’s “I once was poison ivy, now I’m your daisy,” and “drink my poison all alone” of The Great War. 

This has been her central worry in her lyrics for quite some time, as first described in The Archer: “who could ever leave me, darlin, but who could stay?” She wonders if her life is so big and so complicated that it will wound everyone around her. 

Will he still choose her, when he knows it might kill him? 

Final Chorus & Outro: “I’m Gonna Get You Back”

The chorus, post-chorus and outro repeat word for word, echoing her indecision about where she wants this relationship to go. It closes with the simple “I’m gonna get you back.”

But what’s the central message? It’s all her decision, and whatever happens next will be her choice. The subject has very little to say on the matter, as Taylor will get them back in whatever context she chooses. 

She’s told us this before, and now she reiterates: “I’m a mastermind, and now you’re mine.” Here, “you were never not mine.”

She’s a cosmic force to be reckoned with, and only she gets to choose her destiny, no matter the consequences. 

imgonnagetyouback Song Meaning: Final Thoughts 

Whether this song was inspired by Matty Healy or Olivia Rodrigo, it doesn’t particularly matter. The message is still the same: Taylor is the master of her own destiny. 

Whichever direction she chooses to go, she’s “the wind in your free-flowing sails,” and can change the weather with a click of her heels. 

Will she choose to pursue something that’s bad for her, or write a plot twist and go in the other direction? It’s entirely up to her, just as it always has been. 

More Songs From The Tortured Poets Department

• Stevie Nicks’ TTPD Prologue Poem
• TTPD Epilogue Poem “In Summation”
• Fortnight
• The Tortured Poets Department
• My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
• Down Bad
• So Long, London
• But Daddy I Love Him
• Fresh Out The Slammer
• Florida!!!
• Guilty As Sin?
• Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
• I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
• Loml
• I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
• The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
• The Alchemy
• Clara Bow
• The Black Dog
• The Albatross
• Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
• How Did it End?
• So High School 
• I Hate it Here
• thanK you aIMee
• I Look in People’s Windows
• The Prophecy
• Cassandra
• Peter
• The Bolter
• Robin
• The Manuscript