Taylor Swift Debut Prologue (Full Text) & What it Means
Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album – Taylor Swift – arrived on the American music scene on October 24, 2006.
Inside the album booklet, fans were surprised and delighted by the puzzle they received: capital letters amongst a sea of lowercase lyrics.
This was the beginning of the Swiftie fandom as we know it today. We instantly began decoding these cryptic clues to spell out secret messages, one for every track on the album.
But Taylor also started another tradition with her debut album: the prologue. Each of her album forewords gives context to the contents of the albums, and explains where she was in her life when she wrote the songs.
Let’s dissect the Taylor Swift debut prologue and see what we can learn about the art and the artist, in anticipation of an updated prologue when she releases Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).
Quick English lesson:
A Prologue is an introduction to a piece of art (usually literature, but in this case, an album) that gives contextual background information.
A Foreword is similar, but is usually not written by the author themselves. A foreword usually gives reasons why someone might want to read (listen to) the art.
Taylor uses these two terms interchangeably while prefacing her albums, even though she’s the one writing both introductions.
Taylor Swift’s Debut Prologue: Full Text
Please Note: Below is the text of Taylor Swift’s debut album prologue, formatted to be easier to read. In the original album booklet, there were no spaces or paragraph breaks (like I have added here), but I have kept the bold and all-caps text as it originally was.
“I love you’s
I love you, family. Dad, because you are my biggest fan, and I’ll never get tired of the way you smile when I pick up a guitar and play. Mom, for being my best friend and most trusted companion, even in times when you were my only friend. That was just fine. Austin, my little brother, for being so much more brave than I ever hope to be. My aunt, Alison, for being such a beautiful person. My aunts, uncles, cousins, and relatives (even the ones I didn’t know I had) for making Thanksgiving something someone should write a book about. I love my mom and dads’ friends who have been so unbelievably supportive (and so unbelievably loud at my shows).
I love my friends. Abigail, I love you because you are my best friend in the entire world. Can’t wait to room together when we’re 65 and wrinkly and living in Minnesota. I love Ally, Kelsey, Kathryn, Jeff, Clay and all my awesome friends in Hendersonvile. Britany Maack for being my first friend, I miss you!
I love everyone who helped put this album together. Scott Borchetta for believing in me and actually DOING something about it. Shake and bake, Radioman. This is how we roll. Nathan Chapman because he is the most amazing red-headed freckle-faced little producer in the world and I love your beautiful wife Stephanie. Thanks Nathan for gracing me with your first album. Liz Rose, you are my songwriting soulmate, and one of my dearest friends. Robert Ellis Orrall, you Rock! Nick for breaking your drumsticks on my songs, Tim for playing on my session ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, and everyone else who played on the album because you are THAT GOOD. Chad, for your amazing mullet (and engineering skills).
I love my record label. Jack Purcell, for your Minnesota accent. Mandy McCormack, for humoring me in my mailbox obsession. Rick Barker, because I learned everything I Know about radio in… nevermind. HAHA. Bobby Young, thanks for taking us shopping. Whitney Sutton, you are so organized and I love you for it. JZ, because of that adorable laugh/nose thing you do. Erik Powell, for being cool and pretty much a genius. Larry Hughes, you rock! Jamice Jennings, for being the sweetest ever. Kelly Rich, you are the wizard of Marketing! Jayme Austin for adding so much spirit to the label. Sandi Spika Borchetta, for being creative/brilliant/beautiful and buying me pretty things to wear. Penny Lazo, you are a crazy rock star. Andrew Kautz, if I ever walk into the label and you’re not there, I will not know what to do with myself. Natalie Kilgore, for your amazing sense of humor. Ray Pronto, for putting this Big Machine in motionnn.
I love the people who helped me get here. Arthur Buenahora, thank you for signing a FOURTEEN year old to a full writers publishing deal. I will never forget that. In fact, I love everyone at Sony Publishing. Pat Garet and Suzy Dalton for letting my little ten-year-old self open up for you. Harry Warner, for being such a gentleman and having my back at BMI. Frank Bell for being so brutally honest about my music from the time I was like 12, and so supportive of my career NOW. Andrew Orth for 14 years of great photos!! Paula Erickson for being the most stylish publicist in the world. Jody Williams, for listening to my rants about high school, and being such a dear friend and musicologist. HHS for supporting me 100%. Bob Taylor and Bob Borbonus at Taylor Guitars for believing in me and making perfection in the form of guitars. Mike Milom for being a genius and the best lawyer ever. Sarah, Ed, and Jim at GAC for taking such a vested interest in me, and PUTTING ME ON TV! CMT you’re awesome! Trey Fanjoy, because you are such a visionary and for directing an amazing video. Pete Fisher you are amazing. Rod Essig, for believing in me from the beginning and being so passionate about what you do. I Love Tim McGraw for making such inspiring music. I love Faith Hill for being the most graceful woman in the world. I love you, Jack Ingram. If at any point in my life, ever ever amount to being HALF as cool as you, I will throw myself a party. I LOVE RADIO because I haven’t met one person I don’t consider a friend. I love all of my myspace friends for taking such an active roll in what I do, I will never forget how you all rallied for me from the beginning.
I love everyone who’s inspired me to write a song, whether you know if or not. I love anyone who has ever turned the volume up when my song comes on the radio, anyone who has bought this album. Anyone who can sing along to my songs when I play them live. Anyone who’s ever requested my song on the radio, or even remembered my name. If you ever see me in public, I want to meet you. I will thank you myself. You have let me into your life, and I will never be able to thank you enough for that. I love YOU, and I love God for putting you in my life.
Love love love
-T-
PS: To all the boys who thought they would be cool and break my heart, guess what? Here are 14 songs written about you. HA. “
-Taylor Swift, 2006, Taylor Swift (debut album)
Major Themes in Taylor’s Debut Prologue
Here are the major themes and tones that Taylor demonstrated in her very first prologue, which set the scene for so much of her career to come.
These themes will likely come back around in her Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) prologue, but will be updated to reflect her current outlook on her earliest career moments.
Love For Her Family
Taylor’s very first “I love you’s” are to her dad, mom, and brother Austin. She recognized even at this young age that she couldn’t have released an album, or begun her career, without their support (both financially and emotionally).
She’ll thank them again in her Fearless album prologue, and write several songs about her love for her family including The Best Day, Never Grow Up, Soon You’ll Get Better, and marjorie.
Love for Her Friends
Taylor thanks her best friend Abigail right off the bat, whom she’ll mention again in her Fearless track Fifteen (she even features her BFF in the music video!).
Already we can see that Taylor’s friendships are important for her, and she’ll write several songs about her friends later in her career including 22, When Emma Falls in Love, and Welcome to New York.
Love for Scott Borchetta
It’s heartbreaking to see young Taylor’s love for her former manager and label executive. Taylor and Scott built Big Machine Records together, with Taylor as his first – and always largest – client.
This would sadly come back to cause Taylor immense heartbreak, as Borchetta would sell the label – and with it, her master recordings of her first six albums – in a deal with her nemesis Scooter Braun.
This would begin her journey of re-recording her albums to reclaim her name and work, and inspire songs such as my tears ricochet, hoax, and mad woman.
“Sandi Spika Borchetta, for being creative/brilliant/beautiful and buying me pretty things to wear”
We can see that Taylor is personally – and not just professionally – close with the Borchettas here, as she even thanks Scott’s wife Sandi for her fashion assistance.
Taylor will later say that the split with Borchetta was like losing family, and it’s easy to see here why that was the case.
Love for her Collaborators
“Liz Rose, you are my songwriting soulmate, and one of my dearest friends.”
Taylor thanks her (then) songwriting partner Liz Rose, whom she would keep working with through the Fearless album. The album went on to receive several awards, but the public and the media questioned whether a girl so young could have actually written these songs.
The intense backlash and scrutiny she received for Fearless led her to write her following album, Speak Now, entirely on her own with 100% solo writing credits.
I’m curious to see if Taylor will bring back Liz Rose for the debut re-record, as clearly they made a great team. It’s now very, very clear that Taylor can – and does – write incredible songs on her own, and with collaborators.
Love for Other Artists
Taylor thanks fellow singer/songwriters Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Jack Ingram for their inspiration.
You’ll recognize those first two names as iconic country artists, but Jack Ingram is less well-known. He is an artist who was also signed to Big Machine Records at the time.
I’m curious to see whether Taylor will bring in any of the artists she credited with inspiration for her re-record of debut, particularly Ingram (as she could seriously up his star power by doing so).
In the future, Taylor will go on to credit even larger names for inspiring her, including Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Carole King.
She’ll also go on to write some heavy-hitting songs about being in the patriarchal music industry, including mirrorball, Nothing New, and The Lucky One.
Her (Former) Love for Radio
“I LOVE RADIO because I haven’t met one person I don’t consider a friend.”
If you know anything about Taylor’s 2017 sexual assault case, you know that this shout-out to “radio” foreshadows something much darker.
In 2013, at a meet-and-greet at KYGO Radio in Denver, Colorado, Taylor was groped by one of the station’s DJs. The DJ was terminated, and went on to sue Taylor for defamation and 3 million dollars.
She counter-sued for battery and assault, the case went to court in 2017, and was decided in Taylor’s favor. She was awarded the amount she counter-sued for: $1.
Love for Her Fans
“You have let me into your life, and I will never be able to thank you enough for that.”
Part of the reason why it’s so rewarding to be a Swiftie is because Taylor never holds back showing her love and appreciation for her fans. She was grateful for us from the very beginning, and has never forgotten that it’s our support of her career that has gotten her where she is today.
Though her relationship with her fans has changed significantly as the fandom has grown – no more meet and greets, for example – she still gives us a shout-out every night on the Eras Tour, and has never forgotten that we’re the reason she does this.
Love for God
“I love YOU, and I love God for putting you in my life.”
Taylor began her career solidly as the good-Christian-country-girl, and she uses Christian language in her first prologue, and in the Fearless prologue.
But after Red, most religious themes and language disappeared from her art. This is perhaps deliberate, as by Red she’ll have moved more solidly into the pop world and out of country genre, and by 1989 will have shaken off (sorry, bad pun) her country sound altogether.
But this also could indicate a spiritual and personal metamorphosis as well. Her mention of Christian religious themes go from debut’s (unreleased, but most definitely a vault track for TV) Sweet Tea and God’s Graces to Red’s Holy Ground, but then seemingly disappear.
In her later years, she’ll lean into more karmic and mystical ideals, demonstrated in songs like Invisible String and The Prophecy.
Love of Heartbreak Tracks & Clapbacks
The initial appeal of Taylor Swift’s music to her earliest fans was her earnest look at what it’s like to have your heart broken as a teenager. The secret messages in the liner notes only drew us closer to her personal life, as we wondered who these songs could be about.
Here, she very clearly states that all 14 songs on debut are about boys who have broken her heart, an inspiration that she’ll continually use throughout her career.
But as she leaned into this cheeky clapback scheme in debut, she’d try to lean back out of it again by reputation. The speculation and commentary on her personal life grew to slut-shaming proportions, and would have a lasting impact on career and her mental health.
Songs that comment on the slut-shaming she’s received include Slut!, Blank Space, Shake it Off, New Romantics, End Game, and more.
Taylor Swift’s Debut Prologue: Final Thoughts
We can clearly see that Taylor set the tone for her career right from the start. Though she’ll change her image over the decades, she’s still the same cheeky, lovable and loving person she was when she wrote this very first prologue.
It’s interesting to go back and see her earliest thoughts on her career, and to compare this to her later thoughts on fame, celebrity, the music industry, and her personal life.
I’m keen to read the Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) prologue and compare them side-by-side: I think we’re in for quite a ride, and we’re very, very ready for it.
Once debut TV is released, I’ll update this post to include the new prologue.
More Album Prologues
- Fearless & Fearless TV Prologues
- Speak Now & Speak Now TV Prologues
- Red & Red TV Prologues
- 1989 & 1989 TV Prologues
More on Taylor’s Career
Read More: Analyzing all the Songs on Taylor’s Debut Album
