Just Out Of Reach: Taylor’s “Untouchable” Song Meaning, Explained
Untouchable is a unique song in the Taylor Swift songbook, in that it wasn’t originally written by Taylor herself: Nashville duo Luna Halo originally wrote and recorded the song in 2007.
Swift first reworked the song for her Fearless Platinum Edition in 2008, then gave it further edits in 2021’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
Here’s my English teacher analysis of the Untouchable song meaning, line by line. Let’s uncover what the lyrics mean, why Taylor chose to cover a song (twice!), and how she put her own spin on it.

Untouchable (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift
- Title: Untouchable (Taylor’s Version)
- Track: 15, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), originally track 2 on Fearless Platinum Edition (2008)
- Written By: Taylor Swift, Cary Barlowe & Nathan Barlowe (of Luna Halo), Tommy Lee James
- Pen: Fountain
- Secret Message: “We always want what we can’t reach.”
Untouchable Song Analysis: Narrative Summary
- Setting: Inside a dream, then in the waking world, pining for someone.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“you,” love interest, or something she can’t have)
- Theme: Wanting what you can’t have, but dreaming about it anyway.
- Mood: Pining, dreamy, obsessed.
- Conflict: She wants something she doesn’t have, or can’t have.
- Inciting Incident: Dreaming of this person or thing.
- Quest: Get to hold this person or thing in her real, waking life, and not just in dreams.
- Metaphors & Deeper Meanings: “Untouchable,” “distant diamond sky,” “reaching out,” “caught up in you,” “burning brighter than the sun,” “when you’re close,” “Coming undone,” “middle of the night,” “This dream,” “million little stars spelling out your name,” “taste of heaven,” “half full,” “won’t wait here all day,” “you’d be here anyway,” “waking from this dream,” “by my side.”
- Imagery: “distant diamond sky,” “burning brighter than the sun,” “coming undone,” “million little stars spelling out your name,” “taste of heaven,” “half full.”
What is Untouchable About?
Untouchable is about longing for a person or thing that you can only dream about having.
The central cosmic metaphors – “burning brighter than the sun” and “like a distant diamond sky” – paint this person or object as so far out of reach that there’s little hope of ever attaining this far-out dream.
Who is Untouchable About?
Untouchable was not originally written by Taylor Swift, though she did personalize the lyrics and the melodies.
The track was originally written by Nashville duo Luna Halo, and though they’ve never revealed what the song meant to them, they did reveal how it came into Taylor’s songbook in an interview.
As the entire song was not created by Swift, we can surmise that it wasn’t inspired by anyone in her life. What it really means to her, we may never know.
Untouchable Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

“Untouchable like a distant diamond sky,” she begins in the first verse, setting up the central theme and metaphor. This person or thing is so far out of reach, that it might as well be out in the stratosphere.
“I’m reachin’ out,” she says, trying to bridge the distance between her and the object of her desire, “and I just can’t tell you why.” It’s hopeless, and she doesn’t know why she keeps attempting it.
“I’m caught up in you, I’m caught up in you,” she says, ruminating on this person or thing that her heart so deeply desires.
“Untouchable, burning brighter than the sun,” she says in the pre-chorus, revealing that this far-off desire burns hot within her soul. This love is like a fire that burns within her, but it’s also so unattainable that she can’t get close.
“And when you’re close, I feel like comin’ undone,” she says, comparing herself to Icarus. The Greek mythological figure flew too close to the sun, and his wax wings melted, leaving him falling down to earth to his death.
Like Icarus, she tries to reach the burning hot destination she desires, but it only hurts her in the end.
“In the middle of the night, when I’m in this dream,” she says, (which should remind you of a nearly identical lyric in Ready for It). This zooms out of the narrative, revealing that it’s all been a dream from the start. So what’s inside her dream?
“It’s like a million little stars spellin’ out your name,” she says. She dreams only of this person or thing that she wants so badly. It’s like her dreams are trying to send her a cosmic message, spelling out the name of the person or thing she is dreaming about.
“You gotta come on, come on, say that we’ll be together,” she says to the object of her desire.
“Come on, come on, little taste of Heaven,” she encourages. They could be heavenly, if she could only have a chance at attaining this love.
This lyric recalls The Cure’s classic Just Like Heaven, which also uses dream metaphors and imagery: “you’re just like a dream.”
“Taste of heaven” also ties into the cosmic imagery and metaphors of the song: stars, sun, and soon, the moon.
⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️
Verse 2: “It’s Half Full, And I Won’t Wait Here All Day”

“It’s half full and I won’t wait here all day,” she says in the second verse. But what is only “half full”?
It could be two things: the moon, as in a half-moon in the cosmic universe of this love, or the metaphoric “glass is half full.”
Either way, she’s not getting the reassurance she wants. She only has half a chance, and she’s not going to wait around in this place of limbo and not knowing forever.
“I know you’re sayin’ that you’d be here anyway,” she says, but she doesn’t quite believe them. This person or thing is not here with her – they’re “untouchable.” They won’t come down to earth long enough to be with her, so their promises ring empty.
“But you’re untouchable, burnin’ brighter than the sun,” she repeats, describing their huge presence.
But what else burns” brighter than the sun”? Passion, and the flames of love. Those types of flames are fickle, and they can burn out.
“And now that you’re close, I feel like comin’ undone,” she says again. Either they metaphorically burn so hot and bright that she’ll get burned, or she’s taking such a big risk by ‘flying too close to the sun’ that her wings of optimism will slowly melt, and she’ll fall from the sky of love.
2nd Chorus: “A Million Little Stars Spellin’ Out Your Name”

The second chorus expands upon the dream, and tells us what it’s like waking from this nighttime obsession.
Inside the dream, while she sleeps, it’s “like a million little stars spellin’ out your name.” But when she’s “wakin’ from this dream,” she finds herself alone: it was all a fantasy inside her dreamworld, and it’s not her reality.
“I wanna feel you by my side, standin’ next to me,” she says in her waking world, but this person or thing isn’t there. Has she awoken from a dream, or awoken from a nightmare?
“You gotta come on, come on, say that we’ll be together,” she repeats, begging them to come be with her. But she also knows that it isn’t real; it’s only an untouchable fantasy.
Final Chorus & Outro: “Wakin’ From This Dream”

The final chorus repeats the star simile again, naming this desire in her mind. She begs for it to be real, like in Jump Then Fall’s “Don’t be afraid, please, jump, then fall.”
“Come on,” she repeats, longing for her object of desire to come closer without burning her.
The stars spell out this longing in her dreams, but what happens to stars once the daylight comes flooding in? You can’t see them anymore.
Untouchable Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
Taylor undoubtedly knew what she was doing when she chose to cover this song, and she knew what she was doing when she made it her own.
Not only do the themes and imagery fit in with the rest of her songbook, but the longing and desire fits into the Fearless album seamlessly, and also call forward to what would be her next album, Speak Now.
Though she didn’t write the original lyrics, this track does foreshadow so many cosmically-coded songs to come, including Snow on the Beach, Bejeweled, Down Bad, and many more.
Her more mature voice in the Taylor’s Version recording lends itself so nicely to this track, and it’s wonderful that she included this underrated gem on the re-record.
⭐️ How well do you know Fearless? Take the Fearless TV Lyrics Quiz ⭐️
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
- 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]