Cold Revenge for a Cold Heart: “Vigilante Shit” Meaning, Explained
Vigilante Shit is one of the funnest revenge songs Taylor has ever written. The lyrics describe her cunning plans to take down her enemies.
But who are these enemies, and how should we interpret this track?
Here’s my full English teacher analysis of Taylor’s Vigilante Shit meaning, line by line.
Vigilante Shit by Taylor Swift
- Title: Vigilante Shit
- Written by: Taylor Swift
- Track: 8, Midnights
- Pen: Fountain with a touch of black-inked glitter pen.
- Lyrics from Genius
Vigilante Shit Narrative Summary
- Setting: A sleepless night, dreaming up a revenge fantasy.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor, or another protagonist), subject (“you,” a man who has wronged her, or multiple men who have wronged her).
- Mood: Vengeful, tricky, tactful.
- Conflict: She’s been burned.
- Inciting Incident: “You did some bad things”.
- Quest: Get revenge, like a vigilante.
- Symbols & Metaphors: “vigilante shit,” “cat eye sharp enough to kill a man,” “bad things,” “last lie,” “looks could kill,” “dressin’ for revenge,” “start shit,” “how it ends,” “don’t get sad, get even,” “cold, hard proof,” “envelope,” “thick as thieves,” “lady” & “ladies,” “ doin’ lines and crossin’ all of mine,” “white-collar crimes,” “villains” vs. “innocents.”
- Lesson: “Don’t get sad, get even.”
What is Vigilante Shit About?
Vigilante Shit describes Taylor plotting revenge against her enemies. Someone has done a great wrong against her, and the lyrics detail how she’ll get them back.
She described the inspiration behind Vigilante Shit in the Midnights Prologue:
“Why are you still up at this hour? Because you’re cosplaying vengeance fantasies, where the bad bad man is hauled away in handcuffs and you get to watch it happen. You laugh into the mirror with a red wine snarl. You look positively deranged.”
This song is “cosplaying vengeance fantasies,” she she’ll tell us all about her dreaming and scheming in the lyrics.
Who is Vigilante Shit About?
Taylor has never revealed if Vigilante Shit is about any real people in her life.
Fans theorize that at least one of the subjects could be Scooter Braun, who bought her masters from her ex-manager, Scott Borchetta.
She has also written about the master’s heist in songs like my tears ricochet, hoax, mad woman, the lakes, and long story short.
Vigilante Shit Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line
“Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man,” she begins in the first verse. She weaponizes her femininity, as well as calls attention to her signature eye makeup look.
“You did some bad things,” she says, “but I’m the worst of them.” This implies that they’ve had sex, but it could also mean that he did something to hurt her. But he poked the wrong bear – she’s a dangerous woman to mess with.
“Sometimes I wonder which one’ll be your last lie,” she muses. She’s trying to decide when to take him down, and implies that it’s at her discretion when his life as he knows it will end.
“They say looks can kill,” she says, using the common phrase that describes a scathing glance. “And I might try”, she says, meaning she’ll try to kill him with her “looks”: how hot she is and how cold her revenge can be.
“I don’t dress for women,” she says, “I don’t dress for men / Lately, I’ve been dressin’ for revenge.” She is singularly focused on getting revenge, and it’s out to impress anyone. She only wants payback.
Chorus: “Don’t Get Sad, Get Even”
“I don’t start shit”, she says in the chorus, ”but I can tell you how it ends.” She isn’t the one to start drama and beef, but she will be the one to finish it.
“Don’t get sad,” she encourages her audience, “get even.” The common phrase is “don’t get mad, get even,” but she changes one word. Don’t fall into depression over what you’ve lost, she says, instead focus on your revenge plot.
“So on the weekends,” she says, describing her free time, “I don’t dress for friends.” She’s not trying to impress her friends or anyone else.
“Lately, I’ve been dressin’ for revenge.” Her only focus is getting even. She’s “dressed” in revenge, and cloaked in rage.
She’ll look so good, and cook up a revenge plot so hot, that he won’t even know what hit him.
Verse 2: “Picture Me Thick As Thieves With Your Ex-Wife”
The second verse seems to describe the narrator divulging her affair with a married man to the man’s wife. But it could also describe other “crimes” that aren’t of the adulterous kind.
“She needed cold, hard proof, so I gave her some,” she says. The wife is looking for evidence that her husband has up to no good, either in his relationships or his business.
“She had the envelope, where you think she got it from?” Taylor cheekily asks. The narrator gave the wife evidence of his crimes in order to tear his world apart.
“Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride” means that in the divorce, she got everything. The narrator gave her the evidence she needed in court to prove his crimes.
“Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife,” she smiles, taunting him with a possible friendship between his ex-wife and the narrator.
“And she looks so pretty,” she says, describing his ex-wife, “Drivin’ in your Benz.” She got the status car, is looking hot, and took everything from him. He’s left with nothing, and can only watch as she drives away.
“Lately, she’s been dressin’ for revenge,” the narrator says of the ex-wife. Now both the narrator and the ex-wife are singularly focused on revenge, and nothing else.
2nd Chorus: “She’s Been Dressing for Revenge”
“She don’t start shit, but she can tell you how it ends
Don’t get sad, get even
So on the weekends
She don’t dress for friends
Lately, she’s been dressing for revenge”
-Taylor Swift, “Vigilante Shit”
The second chorus changes from first person to third person: “she don’t start shit, but she can tell you how it ends.”
The narrator has converted the ex-wife to come over to her side, and now they’re two of a kind. Their focus is the man’s destruction.
Bridge: “The Lady Simply Had Enough”
The bridge pulls together both narratives and describes how women in general can use their sexuality to their advantage.
“Ladies always rise above,” she says, describing how society thinks “ladies” should behave. They shouldn’t lower themselves to the level of their oppressors.
“Ladies know what people want,” she says, “Someone sweet and kind and fun.” Real “ladies” know how to behave: be kind, be sweet, be the good girl. Ignore bad behavior and stay sweet, society says of femininity.
🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌
“The lady simply had enough,” Taylor says. “The lady” or ladies in general tried doing it in the “proper” way at first, but it was too much. They needed to stop pretending, stop being a doormat, and step up to the revenge plate.
Like the “mad woman”, male behavior made it impossible to continue on with a fake smile. So they switches sides, taking on “masculine” traits of The Man to enact their revenge on the species.
Verse 3: “He Was Doin’ Lines and Crossin’ All of Mine”
“While he was doin’ lines,” she says in the third verse, describing his cocaine use. But a “line” is also a boundary, and he’s been “crossin’ all of mine.”
He’s taken it too far, and done something highly offensive. But don’t worry, she’ll get her payback.
“Someone told his white-collar crimes to the FBI,” she slyly smiles. She ratted him out to the authorities. A white-collar crime is usually financial, and this suggests that this man was doing some shady business deals.
“And I don’t dress for villains,” she says, “Or for innocents.” This means that she doesn’t pretend to be a villain, and she doesn’t pretend to be innocent.
“I’m on my vigilante shit again,” she says, meaning she’s singularly focused and getting justice for all the crimes committed against her and all women.
She’s like the Robin Hood of femininity, and will seek out and destroy the men who try to tear down the women they purport to love.
Final Chorus: “I Can Tell You How it Ends”
I don’t start shit, but I can tell you how it ends
Don’t get sad, get even
So on the weekends
I don’t dress for friends
Lately, I’ve been dressin’ for revenge
-Taylor Swift, “Vigilante Shit”
The song closes with “Lately, I’ve been dressin’ for revenge,” and now that we know she’s been “on my vigilante shit again,” it takes on a new meaning.
It’s almost as if she’s putting on a superhero costume, if the superhero is out to defend all women who have been taken advantage of.
“Dressin’ for revenge” usually means you’re out to look so sexy that your ex-man will want you back. But she’s not dressing to appeal to men; she’s dressing to destroy them.
🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌
Vigilante Shit Meaning: Final Thoughts
This song draws a lot of attention for who it’s supposedly about, and fans are curious as to whether Taylor actually did what she says in the lyrics.
But that’s not the point at all. The point of Vigilante Shit is to encourage all women to not tolerate it anymore. It’s a battle cry, and encourages us to use our femininity to our advantage.
Yes, it’s fun to think that Taylor got revenge on a man who wronged her. But how can you do the same?
More Songs From Midnights
- Midnights Prologue
- Lavender Haze
- Maroon
- Anti-Hero
- Snow on the Beach
- You’re On Your Own, Kid
- Midnight Rain
- Question…?
- Bejeweled
- Labyrinth
- Karma
- Sweet Nothing
- Mastermind
- The Great War
- Bigger Than The Whole Sky
- Paris
- High Infidelity
- Glitch
- Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
- Dear Reader
- Hits Different
- You’re Losing Me
