Magic in the Air: Analyzing “Today Was a Fairytale” Meaning
Taylor Swift has always been fascinated with fairytales: white knights, princesses, kingdoms and slaying dragons. But what do fairy tales really mean to her?
Her magical first date song Today Was a Fairytale can give us some pretty big clues.
Here’s my line by line analysis of Taylor’s Today Was a Fairytale meaning.
Today Was A Fairytale (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift
- Title: Today Was a Fairytale (Taylor’s Version)
- Track: 20, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), originally recorded for the Valentine’s Day soundtrack (2010)
- Written By: Taylor Swift
- Pen: Fountain with a bit of glitter gel pen
Today Was A Fairytale Analysis: Narrative Summary
- Setting: Looking back on a perfect first date.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (love interest, “you”)
- Mood: Dreamy, infatuated.
- Theme: Fairytale love.
- Conflict: No explicit conflict, but as the audience, we are conflicted as to whether a happily ever after will really happen.
- Inciting Incident: “You took me by the hand and picked me up at six.”
- Quest: Remember this fairytale moment.
- Metaphors & Deeper Meanings: “Fairytale,” “damsel in distress,” “dress,” “looked like a mess,” “time slows down,” “magic in the air,” “smile that takes me to another planet,” “nothing made sense,” “heart beating in my chest,” “the way you kissed me,” “I can’t put this down.”
- Imagery: “You took me by the hand and you picked me up at six,” “I wore a dress / you wore a dark gray t-shirt,” “told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess,” “time slows down.”
What is Today Was a Fairytale About?
Today Was a Fairytale narrates Taylor’s perfect first date with her love interest. She looks back fondly on this amazing night, comparing it to a storybook romance.
Who is Today Was a Fairytale About?
Taylor has never revealed who this track may have been inspired by, but it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is what is revealed about teenage Taylor’s ideals of love, and her youthful optimism.
Taylor had flip-flopped back and forth about whether she believes in happily ever afters or not (in songs like Love Story, Long Live, White Horse, Forever & Always and more).
In this track, she clearly did believe in storybook romance, but we don’t get to see her grasp a happy ending: it’s left purposefully vague.
⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️
Today Was a Fairytale Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line
Taylor sets up her storybook romance with, “Today was a fairytale, you were the prince,” she says in the first verse.
This gives us setting (probably late at night, looking back on the day she had) and context (they likely went on a date). It also sets up one of the central archetypes: her love interest as a “prince” or perfect gentleman.
“I used to be a damsel in distress,” she says, painting herself as the classic archetype of helpless woman who needs rescue. What’s changed, and why is she no longer a “damsel in distress”? We’ll find out later.
“You took me by the hand and you picked me up at six,” she says of her perfect gentleman date. He’s prompt and considerate, as well as romantic.
“Today was a fairytale, I wore a dress,” she says, adding color to her “damsel in distress” character.
Taylor often uses dresses in the context of young romance, as in Tim McGraw, The Other Side of the Door, and Dear John. Here, it represents both dressing for the occasion, as well as nods to her femininity.
“You wore a dark gray T-shirt” is a bit comical when next to her dressier outfit, but this is also intentional. He’s the man, so he can wear what he wants. She’s the girl, and in her fairytale, she has to be feminine and pretty.
“You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess,” is sweet, but it’s also a little self-conscious. Taylor has never “looked like a mess,” but she believes she did.
This reveals a bit about what a “fairytale” romance means to her: being accepted by her love interest, even when she can’t accept herself. Like in The Other Side of the Door, she wants to be seen and known on a deeper level, no matter what she looks like.
Pre-Chorus & Chorus: “Time Slows Down Whenever You’re Around”
“Time slows down,” she says in the first pre-chorus, “Whenever you’re around.”
As the track is a nod to Cinderella, we can feel the clock ticking toward midnight. This night will have to come to an end, but he makes it feel almost cinematic, as if they have more time than they really do.
“Well, can you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me,” is a recognition not only of their chemistry, but of this scenario where everything plays out perfectly. He picks her up, he’s not late, he holds her hand, and he gives her the perfect cinematic kiss.
“Fell in love when I saw you standing there” is close to love at first sight, but we get the sense this isn’t the first time they’ve met. So if it’s not their first meetup, it’s likely the magic of the moment that is making her feel butterflies.
“It must have been the way,” she says of the reasons she’s falling in love, “Today was a fairytale.” She can’t help it – this cinematic moment is just too perfect. Whether the love is real or not is unclear, but at this moment, she feels it.
Verse 2: “You’ve Got a Smile That Takes Me To Another Planet”
“Today was a fairytale, you’ve got a smile,” she says in the second verse, “That takes me to another planet.”
Taylor has always had a fondness for solar system imagery and metaphors, which she’s used before in Untouchable, Mary’s Song (Oh My, My, My), and Tim McGraw. However, this is the first use we see of love being a cosmic, transportative force.
She’ll use a nearly identical metaphor again in Snow on the Beach (“Your eyes are flying saucers from another planet”).
“Every move you make, everything you say is right,” she says of this perfect night, “Today was a fairytale.” It’s not just his dreamy eyes or his punctuality. It’s everything about him that is ideal. This hints that for Taylor, a “fairytale” means something that goes off without a hitch.
“Today was a fairytale, all that I can say / Is, now it’s gettin’ so much clearer,” she explains, “Nothing made sense ’til the time I saw your face.” Here’s the central transformation away from “damsel in distress”: clarity.
Before this night, she was confused. Maybe about love, maybe about him, or maybe about her place in a romantic narrative. But here, she feels right at home, and something about him or their chemistry makes her feel like she no longer needs rescuing.
The dramatic irony is that by using the fairytale metaphor, she is – by default – the damsel in distress.
Bridge: “I Can’t Put This Down”
“Time slows down / Whenever you’re around,” she repeats. Is she really gaining clarity, or is it only because this romance is in slow motion, and she has time to get her bearings?
“I can feel my heart,” she says, “It’s beating in my chest.” Like the clock ticking toward midnight, her heart is thumping in anticipation.
“Did you feel it?” is another way of asking, ‘do you feel the same way about me as I do about you?’ Or, ‘are we on the same page about where this is going?’
“I can’t put this down,” she says of her intense feelings for him, comparing them to a storybook that she wants to read over and over. She can’t stop thinking about him, and how perfect this whole night has been.
Final Chorus & Outro: “Today Was a Fairytale”
The chorus repeats twice to close out the song, ending with “today was a fairytale.” So what have we learned about Taylor’s fairytale ideals?
First, teenage Taylor wants cinematic love. We already knew this from songs like The Way I Loved You (“screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain”), Love Story’s Romeo “throwin’ pebbles,” and the perfect hometown wedding of Mary’s Song (“our whole town came and our mamas cried”).
But the love that she narrates in Today Was a Fairytale doesn’t have any of the super intense drama of previous fairytale songs. In comparison, this narrative is actually pretty boring: they go on a date, and that’s pretty much it.
Her next fairytale narratives will be Speak Now and The Story of Us, which include a lot more drama and strife. So why is this song a bit of a yawn in comparison to those richer stories?
It seems like she’s trying to define what a “fairytale” really means for her, and if they can even happen in the real world. The progression of her storybook ideals will move more toward the unhappily-ever-after in songs like I Knew You Were Trouble and Blank Space.
I think what we’re seeing here is the optimism of youth, from a girl who didn’t yet know that fairytales aren’t real. As she said in the Fearless TV prologue, she was discovering “every new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending.”
This idealistic track is all a part of that learning process.
⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️
Today Was a Fairytale Meaning: Final Thoughts
This song is interesting in the progression of Taylor’s ideals and optimism. She wants the fairytale ending, but we don’t get to know how this particular story ends. She gives us one day – one date – and that’s it.
Has she left it open-ended on purpose, because she doesn’t know how it ends? Or has she left it open-ended because she does know how it ends, and therefore concluded that no matter how dreamy one date can be, it’s very small in the context of an entire relationship?
Either way, it’s an intriguing peek back at teenage Taylor, the lessons she’s learned since, and what she really desired in a teen romance.
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
- Superstar
- The Other Side of the Door
- 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]
