A teenage tantrum may have been an inspiration for one of the songs of Taylor Swift’s recently released album, The Tortured Poets Department.
While speaking to PopSugar in 2008, Swift recalled having a heated argument with her father, Joe Swift, about a boy he didn’t approve of her dating. At one point in the argument, she declared, “But daddy, I love him.”
“This song, I wrote it right after my one epic teenage tantrum that I ever threw in my whole life,” Swift said. She said the fight inspired her hit song, Love Story, from her album Fearless.
Swift continued to speak about the argument. “I remember screaming something like, ‘But daddy, I love him!’ and running out and storming into my room and slamming the door and then I sat down on the floor and wrote the song.”
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Nearly 20 years later, Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department with a single titled, But Daddy, I Love Him! The lyrics read, “Now I’m running with my dress unbuttoned / Screaming ‘But Daddy I love him!’ / I’m having his baby / No, I’m not, but you should see your faces.”
Swift sings about having a “forbidden love” with a man whom she has so much “chemistry” with. However, he is rejected by her parents and the “people in town.”
Fans speculated that the song was about Matty Healy. She had a fling with the 1975 frontman following her break-up with her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn.
Swiifties believe that she refers to her current boyfriend, Travis Kelce, in the track as well. “Now I’m dancing in my dress in the sun and / Even my daddy just loves him / I’m his lady, and oh my God / You should see your faces.”
Taylor Swift Opened Up About What Inspired Some of Her Songs in the New Album
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift previously shared details about what inspired some of the songs in her new album.
In the Amazon Music listener’s commentary, Swift spoke about some songs from the album that were inspired by her life. “It’s about a dramatic, artistic, tragic kind of take on love and loss,” she explained.
Speaking about Fortnight and My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, Taylor Swift shared what inspired the songs. “You ended up not with the person you loved and now you have to just live with that every day,” she said. “Wondering what would’ve been, maybe seeing them out.”
She went on to say, “And that’s a pretty tragic concept, really. So I was just writing from that perspective.”