What Does "Ready For It" Mean? Track 1 Reputation Breakdown

Opening her reputation Era – and setting the tone for the entire album, we have the dark and twisty tale of …Ready for It? This is a Taylor who – up until this point – we had never seen before.

Her color palate is dark, her lyrics are even more cryptic than usual, and she’s coming back with a vengeance.

But what does Ready for It mean, and what are all these “thief” and “killer” metaphors trying to tell us?

Let’s go into Taylor’s new deep dark world – in the middle of the night, in my dreams – and see if we can figure out the major themes and messages.

Here’s my full English teacher analysis of Taylor’s Ready For It meaning, line by line.

…Ready for It?

Title: “…Ready for It?”
Track: 1, Reputation (2017)
Written By: Taylor Swift, Ali Payami, Shellback, Max Martin
Pen: Fountain with a bit of glitter gel pen
Lyrics from Genius

Ready for It Narrative Summary

Setting: Inside Taylor’s head (“in the middle of the night, in my dreams”).
Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (love interest).
Mood: Excited, satirical, sexy.
Conflict: Entering into a new relationship with past baggage.
Inciting Incident: “First time that I saw him” – they meet, and spark an instant connection.
Quest: Figure out if this new love will be tainted by her past.
Theme: Starting fresh with a dark past.
Lesson: This is an entirely new Taylor. Are we ready for it?

Interesting Note: This is one of only a handful of songs in Taylor’s songbook that uses punctuation. The ellipses imply a lingering question, and are similarly used in “So it Goes…”

But in “…Ready for It?” the ellipses signal a lingering question before the song even starts. What is Taylor hinting at with this punctuation?

Perhaps it’s her past, or her perceived past.

Who is Ready for It About?

It may have been partially inspired by her romance with Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend at the time of reputation.

But this song is about so much more than romance – it’s about her past, her reputation, and her re-emergence into the pop world.

As Taylor told us in the reputation Prologue, “When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test.“

What’s important is the message, and the muse will always come second.

What is Ready for It About?

Ready For It revolves around the excitement, hopes, and fears of a new relationship when your past isn’t exactly pristine, or isn’t perceived as pristine.

Taylor compares love to a game that has rules and consequences; entering the “game” with her as your teammate is not for the faint hearted.

Her lyrics hint at the downfall of her reputation, and the struggle of re-emerging into a new world – and a new romance – as a new Taylor.

What Does Ready for It Mean? Line by Line Analysis

Annotated portions of Taylor Swift's "Ready For it" lyrics on a newsprint background. Red English teacher's pen translates each line, points out double meanings, and helps the reader understand the tone and message of the song.
The first verse lyrics read:
"Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him
Wondered how many girls he had loved and left haunted
But if he's a ghost, then I can be a phantom
Holdin' him for ransom, some
Some boys are tryin' too hard, he don't try at all, though
Younger than my exes, but he act like such a man, so
I see nothin' better, I keep him forever
Like a vendetta-ta"

“Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him,” she says in the first verse. The subject is a “ladykiller,” or his ‘looks could kill.’ This isn’t some demure doormat of a guy – he’s formidable.

“Wondered how many girls he had loved and left haunted,” she says, supposing that he’s left a trail of heartbreak in his wake. He’ll “love ‘em and leave ‘em,” but as we’ll soon learn, Taylor repeats the same pattern. Are they a perfect match?

“But if he’s a ghost, then I can be a phantom,” she says, implying that if he’ll haunt her, she’ll haunt him right back. He’s capable of breaking her heart, and she’s capable of breaking his.

But to be “haunted” isn’t only to be left in pain, it’s also to be left in pleasure. She can haunt his dreams and fantasies just as well as he can haunt hers.

She’ll be “Holdin’ him for ransom,” meaning she’ll steal his heart, never to be returned without paying the price.

“Some boys are tryin’ too hard, he don’t try at all, though,” she says of his natural charisma. Like in Fearless, he’s “absentmindedly makin’ me want you.” He doesn’t know how attractive he is, or doesn’t care.

He’s also “Younger than my exes, but he act like such a man,” meaning he’s mature for his age. He might be younger than those “older guys” (like in Don’t Blame Me), but she feels she’s stepping up with this match, to a man who’s more worldly.

“I see nothin’ better,” she says, in one of the most confusing lines of the song. To not see anything better means you’re settling for a less-than perfect match.

But “I see nothin’ better” can also mean that you’ve never seen anything better than this: it’s the ultimate love. So which is it? Maybe one, or maybe both.

“I keep him forever,” she decides, right then and there, “Like a vendetta-ta.” She’ll hold tight to him like a grudge, which hints at the larger themes of the album: revenge and retaliation.

Pre-Chorus & Chorus: “No One Has to Know”

“I, I, I see how this is gon’ go,” she says in the first pre-chorus, “Touch me and you’ll never be alone.” Being the mastermind that she is, she knows exactly how this will play out. Touch her once, and he’ll never let her go.

“I-Island breeze and lights down low,” she says, painting a scene of a secluded, tropical escape, “No one has to know.” They can run away to where they can’t be found, where the “lights down low” keep them hidden in the dark.

“No one has to know” means they need to – or want to – keep this romance private. Is this Taylor’s portrayal of her London love nest, amidst the “island breeze” of the UK? Or is this just her fantasy world, dreaming of what could happen if there was no one watching?

“In the middle of the night, in my dreams,” she says in the chorus, “You should see the things we do, baby.” Midnights and early mornings are a time of deep reflection and rumination in the Swiftverse, but here, it’s a sexual fantasy.

Like in I Can See You, she’s dreaming about what could happen if she finally got him all to herself.

“In the middle of the night, in my dreams,” she repeats, “I know I’m gonna be with you, so I take my time.” This can be interpreted in a few different ways.

The first is that she lingers in these fantasies, dreaming about their escapades. But the second is that she only gets to be with him in dreams, so she savors those dreams and doesn’t rush.

“Are you ready for it?” she asks, either asking if he’s ready for these fantasies to become reality, or if he’s ready for a love that will change him forever.

But “are you ready for it” is also, essentially, the intro to the reputation album as a whole. ‘Are you ready to hear my deepest, darkest ruminations on this record?’ Taylor asks her fans.

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2nd Verse: “He Can be My Jailer”

Criminal metaphors re-emerge in the second verse, setting up a Bonnie & Clyde-esque narrative like in Getaway Car.

“Knew I was a robber first time that he saw me,” she says of her reputation. She paints herself as a heartbreaker, too, “Stealin’ hearts and runnin’ off and never sayin’ sorry.”

Taylor has satirically referred to her “maneater” reputation in her previous discography, most pointedly in Blank Space. Here, she does the same thing. The media has painted her with a ‘Scarlet A,’ so she leans in, making light of the false narrative.

“But if I’m a thief, then he can join the heist,” she says. If she steals hearts, he can join her band of thieves. Like in cowboy like me, game recognizes game, and they are two of a kind.

“We’ll move to an island,” she says, suggesting an isolated getaway spot. But this could also point to her physical move to an island: Great Britain.

“And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor,” she says, implying that he can “imprison” her heart, keeping it locked behind bars.

This prison/cage metaphor will come up again (and possibly in the context of this same romance) in So it Goes, Bejeweled, Midnight Rain, and Dear Reader. Here, she asks to be locked away and kept. But in the future, she’ll bang on her cage bars, wanting out.

“Burton to this Taylor” is a play on words, referencing the fated romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, an iconic couple who had a rocky relationship, to say the least.

“Every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure” directly following the Burton/Taylor reference is a cheeky nod to her reputation as a “maneater.” Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor did not have a successful relationship, and Taylor comparing her current love to their love is not setting a high bar for their romance.

This is also satire – she’s saying ‘we could have a love like this iconically doomed couple. Wouldn’t that be fun?’ But it’s also a very real wish that this one will work out, when her past loves have crumbled painfully. She’s laughing at her pain, until she cries.

“I forget their names now, I’m so very tame now,” she says, satirically poking fun at her maneater image, “Never be the same now, now.” We know Taylor doesn’t forget a thing – she makes lists and checks them twice.

‘I’m such a good girl now,’ she jests, ‘haven’t you heard of my squeaky clean reputation?’ But this one – she hopes – won’t be the same as the last, because she is not the same person she was pre-reputation.

Refrain: “Baby, Let the Games Begin”

The pre-chorus and chorus repeat, reiterating her dreams: escaping to an isolated spot to be together, and living out their fantasies. Then the refrain introduces one of the central album themes: games and calculated moves.

“Baby, let the games begin” repeats, interspersed with “are you ready for it?” These seemingly simple lines could mean several different things.

Firstly, it could mean ‘let’s do this,’ and ‘let’s try this love on for size.’ Good or bad, up or down, this is a ride she’s ready for. The game of love is on.

Secondly, she’s “ready for” the “game of life” to begin once again, though the rules have changed dramatically since her last album. She had a major scandal, withdrew from the spotlight, and now reemerges “ready for it” to begin again.

The final meaning is that the “game” of the album is about to kick off. She’s about to take us on a twisting, turning road through her reputation. She’ll show us where she’s been, where she’s going, and introduces the album with a simple question to her reader: “are you ready for it?”

We are, and we can’t wait to see where this new version of Taylor will take us.

Ready For It Meaning: Final Thoughts

There could be no better song to kick off the album than Ready For It. This song seems simple at first glance, but it deftly sets up the rest of the album’s themes: games, revenge, new love, perception vs. reality, and introduces the “new” Taylor.

As she told us in the reputation Prologue, “We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us.”

Up until now, Taylor has only chosen to show us her “nice” and more demure side. But with all that she went through in the years preceding reputation, that “nice girl” lost her innocence.

What re-emerges on reputation, beginning with Ready For It, is a new Taylor, and a darker Taylor. She’ll hold no punches, and she’ll tell it like it is.

She’s still showing us only what she wants to show us, but the new Taylor will be much more revealing, and she’ll play the game of celebrity like chess.

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