Manifesting Destiny: Taylor Swift’s “Superstar” Meaning, Explained

Superstar is an intriguing and mysterious track in Taylor Swift’s catalog. To this day, fans try to theorize who Taylor’s celebrity crush in the lyrics could have been. 

But looking back on this early song, with Taylor Swift now the biggest celebrity the world has ever seen, the lyrics take on a new (and ironic) meaning. 

Here’s my full English teacher analysis of the Superstar lyrics, line by line (and clue by clue). 

Superstar (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift

• Title: Superstar (Taylor’s Version)
• Track: 18, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), originally track 5 on Fearless Platinum Edition (2008)
• Written By: Taylor Swift, Liz Rose 
• Pen: Fountain
• Secret Message: “I’ll never tell.” 

Superstar Song Meaning: Narrative Summary

• Setting: Inside an all-consuming celebrity crush in her teenhood. 
• Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“you”, the “superstar” celebrity) 
• Mood: Sweet, pining, shy. 
• Theme: Pining for an unreachable crush. 
• Conflict: He’s unattainable or somehow forbidden. 
• Inciting Incident: “The first note played” – she possibly saw him perform live, or heard him on the radio. 
• Quest: Play out this forbidden fantasy inside her head. 
• Metaphors & Deeper Meanings: “Superstar,” “misty morning”, “first note played,” “breaking all my rules,” “girls in the front row,” “dim that spotlight,” “I can’t keep my eyes off of you”, “no one special,” “wide-eyed girl,” “photograph to hang on my wall,” “when my world wakes up,” “I’m invisible,” “you sing me to sleep.” 
• Imagery: “misty morning,” “all the girls in the front row scream your name,” “dim that spotlight,” “just another wide-eyed girl,” “you sing me to sleep every night from the radio.” 

What is Taylor Swift’s Superstar About? 

Superstar (Taylor’s Version) sees teen Taylor pining for a fellow artist. She has an exciting celebrity crush, but it’s somehow forbidden or out of reach due to the distance between them. 

Who is Superstar About? 

Taylor has never revealed who Superstar is about, and the hidden message in the liner notes read: “I’ll never tell.” 

My personal (totally unhinged) theory is that it’s about Damien Rice, who was a popular indie artist in the early 2000s, and Taylor was most definitely aware of. 

He’s one of the great lyricists of our generation, and several clues in the song point to him, as I’ll lay out in the analysis below. 

But even though it’s exciting to try to identify the muse, what’s most important in this song is what Taylor thinks about her place in the celebrity world. Her ideals will change as she morphs into the massive celebrity she is today.

Superstar Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

“This is wrong,” she begins in the first verse, setting up the central conflict: this love is forbidden or unattainable, “But I can’t help but feel like / There ain’t nothin’ more right, babe.”

Something about this desire is bad for her, either because she can’t have this person, or because having them would be bad for her reputation. 

“Misty mornin’ comes again and I can’t / Help but wish I could see your face,” she says. “Misty morning” not only describes the kind of foggy brain-cloud we experience upon waking, but it also references an Elvis Presley lyric. 

“When she smiles up soft and gentle / With a trace of misty morning,” Elvis sang in I Just Can’t Help Believin’. This song wasn’t one of Elvis’s larger hits, but Damien Rice (then with his band Juniper) covered it in 1998. 

“I knew from the first note played,” she says, definitely confirming that this celebrity crush is a musician, “I’d be breakin’ all my rules to see you.” This is also a meta moment, however, as this song is essentially her “first note” in her love song to him. 

Whether the “rules” she’ll break are her own boundaries or her parents’ rules (remember, she was still a teenager when Fearless first dropped), it’s hard to say. But the central message is: this love is forbidden, and this will become a very common theme in Taylor’s later discography. 

⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️

Pre-Chorus & Chorus: “Dim that Spotlight” 

“You smile that beautiful smile,” she says, watching him on stage, “And all the girls in the front row / Scream your name.” She’s comparing herself to the other women in the audience, and feels like she doesn’t have a chance: there are so many girls who want him. 

This is also a common theme on Fearless, and her previous album Taylor Swift. In songs like Teardrops on My Guitar, Invisible, You Belong With Me and Hey Stephen, she portrays herself as an outsider that can’t compete with other girls. 

“So dim that spotlight,” she says, turning down the lights and metaphorically going somewhere darker and more private. “Tell me things like ‘I can’t keep my eyes off of you’.” She wants his eyes only on her, to be the center of his attention. 

But this is also where I (personally) think Taylor has left us a clue. Damien Rice, in his first solo single The Blower’s Daughter, sings the line, “I can’t take my eyes off of you.” Taylor’s version only changes one word, but in the track, she sings it very similarly to Rice. 

Rice, in this era, was at the height of his career, headlining Coachella and touring all over the US (including Nashville). Taylor was most definitely aware of him and his incredible lyricism, but this is all my personal speculation and not based on fact.

“I’m no one special,” she continues, hinting at a lack of self-confidence or star power, “ just another wide-eyed girl / Who’s desperately in love with you.” She’s just a young and naive “wide-eyed” teen, who doesn’t think she can best the sea of girls in his audience. 

“Give me a photograph to hang on my wall,” she asks him, “Superstar.” It’s like she wants to take a piece of him home to worship and idolize, because she can’t have the man himself. 

Verse 2: “When My World Wakes Up Today”

“Mornin’ lonelinеss comes around when I’m not / Dreamin’ about you,” she says in the second verse. When she doesn’t wake up with thoughts of him, she feels totally alone. 

“Whеn my world wakes up today,” she says, describing them as living in two separate universes, “You’ll be in another town.”

This places us in Taylor’s small town world of her teenhood, which she longs to escape. She wants to go to the bright lights and big cities, literally and metaphorically, which she sings about in songs like Mean and Welcome to New York.

“And I knew when I saw your face,” she says, “I’d be counting down the ways to see you.”

She’s plotting and scheming her way toward this forbidden crush, but she’s held back by her age. How much can she get away with, and should she try? 

Bridge: “You Played in Bars, You Play Guitar”

“You played in bars, you play guitar,” she says in the bridge, possibly hinting that this person is older or more mature than her. She’s 19 at the time of this release, so unless she was performing, she’s unlikely to have been able to see him live in a bar. 

“I’m invisible and everyone knows who you are,” she laments. She’s either invisible in comparison to him, or she wrote this track at a time where she wasn’t rapidly gaining notoriety (i.e. her debut era vs the Fearless era that skyrocketed her to fame). 

“And you’ll never see, you sing me to sleep,” she lets him in on her secret, “Every night from the radio.” This is the closest she can get to her crush: listening to him on the radio, and it soothes her. 

She pines away from the comfort of her bed, dreaming about what could be.

Final Chorus & Outro: “Sweet, Sweet Superstar”

“So dim that spotlight, tell me things like ‘I can’t take my eyes off of you’,” she repeats in the final chorus.

But now, in the context of 2024, to “dim that spotlight” feels like she’s yearning for privacy instead of longing for a famous crush. 

“I’m no one special, just another wide-eyed girl,” she says, which is also ironic given our modern-day context. She was always special, but she wasn’t always famous, and now she’s the most famous person in the world. 

“Give me a photograph to hang on my wall, Superstar,” she asks him, in another twist of modern irony. Taylor is likely the most photographed person in the world. 

“Sweet, sweet superstar,” she sings in the final lines, “Superstar.” She’s both idolizing him, and wanting a piece of that fame for herself.

Little did teenage Taylor know what was coming for her, and that she’d be more famous and idolized than any of her crushes could ever be in just a few short years.

⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️

Superstar Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

I’m so excited that Taylor included this song on the re-record, because it’s one of the few that means a totally different thing in 2021 than it did in 2008. 

2008 Taylor longed for her celebrity crush, and 2021 Taylor was – and is, now in 2024 – the most massive celebrity the world has ever known. She has more “girls in the front row” screaming her name, and more of her photographs hung on walls than any famous person to ever exist. 

So what’s the key takeaway from Superstar? Taylor viewed the pedestal of celebrity before she was placed on it, and she knew it was a precarious place to be. She knew it would take her out of the real world and into the world of fame and facade. 

2008’s Superstar wrote her fans’ future feelings down, almost predicting what would happen for Taylor in the future.

No, it wasn’t on purpose (unless she truly is a magical witch). But if any single song subliminally manifested her career, it’s this one. 

More Songs from Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

• Fearless & Fearless TV Prologues
• Fearless
• Fifteen
• Love Story
• Hey Stephen
• White Horse
• You Belong With Me
• Breathe
• Tell Me Why
• You’re Not Sorry
• The Way I Loved You
• Forever & Always
• The Best Day
• Change 
• Jump Then Fall 
• Untouchable
• Come in With the Rain
• The Other Side of the Door
• Today Was a Fairytale
• You All Over Me [From the Vault]
• Mr Perfectly Fine [From the Vault]
• We Were Happy [From the Vault]
• That’s When (ft. Keith Urban) [From the Vault]
• Don’t You [From the Vault]
• Bye Bye Baby [From the Vault]