I never hear much about Calvin Harris on these threads...tons about Harry, Jake, John, even Tom, but never Calvin. I wasn't a massive Swifty at the time, but I do remember it being pretty serious...What happened there? Did she write any songs about him? How come he faded away like other relationships haven't?

Hi all,

Was listening to midnights on repeat (like everyone else on here I imagine) and randomly remembered that Tay Tay dated Calvin Harris for a substantial period.

Does anyone suspect any songs about him on this album? From what I can tell, the songs are mainly about the usual suspects (Harry Styles, John Mayer, Tom Huddleston).

Any other songs about him on other albums?

I literally forgot that he existed 😂

The question is basically in the title. Taylor dated Calvin for a decent time but I can’t associate any of her songs to him

Hey guys ,so recently i noticed that there's really not much we know about taylor and calvin's story it's mostly that bad break up and aftermath that we read online about them ,so i've searched about them and that period of time and i got something to say First i don't really buy the idea of him being a bad guy who treated her wrong during the relationship as they seemed very happy and cozy together, she mentioned him in interviews and on tour declaring her love toward him, he also seemed very happy and in love with her protecting her publicly(like when she wrote a letter for apple music), it was going strong they tripped together and had celebrated their one year anniversary(taylor's longest relationship at the time),until april 29th period(which she mentioned in "high infidelity" about meeting tom hiddleston). the break up with calvin was very sudden and after 2 weeks she goes PDA with tom,with whom she broke up after a few months,then she gets together with joe and rest is history So REP album comes out and i think there's many missing pieces to this puzzle because i think some songs about calvin has not been recorded or maybe some songs that we think are about joe are actually about calvin. Which we have to wait untill REP tv vaults come out. There's some references to him that shows she really have loved him "my tears ricochet" in which she says cause i loved you i swear i loved you till my dying day. "Dwoht" i loved you in secret,first sight yeah we love without reason. "So it goes" "End game" " "Coney island" wondering where did my baby go،sorry for not making you my centerfold, did i leave you hanging every single day,... "Bejeweled" i miss you(i know it's not a love song but still) "High infidelity" "Sweet nothing" i mean it's a song about taylors relationship with joe but there's tiny references that might be toward him:the title and wicklow "Champagne problems" i never was ready so i watched you go. It's my opinion,let me know what you think:)

Hey all, relatively new Swiftie here (started listening during Lover era).

Because of Red and how saturated it is with Jake, I’ve been reading more about which songs are about who from every album.

Taylor and Calvin dated for about a year and it made me wonder if any songs were about him, but apparently only I Did Something Bad and Getaway Car are (partially) about him.

This surprised me due to the length of their relationship… what are everyone’s thoughts on them together and Calvin in general? He didn’t seem to leave as big of an impact compared to other exes.

Taylor talked about Tolerate It inspiration with Zane Lowe. She said she wrote the song after reading "Rebecca" and it reminded her of a relationship she once had with someone who was ambivalent of it, of being with someone who was there, but wasn't being there (see two clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQacWbsLbS4&t=1510s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQacWbsLbS4&t=2245s). Notice her tone inflection when she was saying “you know” in the second snippet. That is an annoying inflection.
With the inspiration being said, here is my analysis of the song and why it is about Calvin Harris:

1. This song is similar to Better Man lyrically she ghost wrote for Little Big Town.

2. She made lyrical callback to Gorgeous and Invisible String in this song.

Let’s talk about Better Man First.

Before people jump to the conclusion that it was a rejection from Red era, I’d like to put up some background information around the song:

Back at the height of Calvin Harris Twitter rant in July 2016, he released a song called Ole, which most people knew even back then that it was about his diss track for Taylor. But he denied the accusation by saying it had been created months before they broke up. And then he got John Newman to sing it. And we know what Taylor’s like. She’s petty. So she played the same game by finding a rejection from her vault, changing a few lyrics to suit the Calvin narrative, then getting Little Big Town to sing it. And then when CMA came up, before Calvin Harris releasing his own My Way music video which is also a Taylor diss track, she made it public that she ghost wrote the hit country track which btw, won the CMA and the hype buried Calvin’s song.

Continue the unrequited love argument above, of course people can also speculate that maybe Better Man was written for John Meyer or Jake Gyllenhaal. But considering the timing of the release, why should she release a diss track about an old relationship years before 2016? She already had enough drama in her life that year and both men didn’t join the bandwagon Kim Kardashian started in July 2016, so she really had no reason to attack them again. On the other hand for Calvin, she had every reason and the timing was right. And she even talked about the man's jealous in Better Man and when Taylor and CH broke up, she accused him of being jealous of her success through her PR. The actor in Better Man music video looked a bit like CH, with both spotting a beard and mustache.

Some clues for CH connection for these two songs:

1. Lyrically, both songs deal with an unrequited unbalanced relationship. Their themes are very similar to each other;

2. About the unrequited dynamic re CH, there are several clues: in her Elle article re 30 things she learnt before she turned 30, she said she would never fall in that kind of love again; In her songs about Joe re their beginning, she sings that her love was frozen, but he painted it golden, and she was weary when he sent his courting signal; CH looked kinda indifferent when she thanked him on the BB awards or AMA or VMA stage, and I heard people on the site talk that he was not engaging and was constantly looking at his phone while she was talking with other people.

3. The man in Tolerate it is indiscreet. We know Calvin was indiscreet when he was with Taylor. He went to that shady massage parlor. He also sent a d*ck pic to a total stranger online. For all the faults of John Meyer, I don’t think he was being indiscreet when he was with Taylor. In fact, people only knew they were dating after she wrote that iconic Dear John song, which itself talks about a manipulative relationship, not an unrequited one. John was manipulative. He liked to play mind games until he met Taylor who completely changed the rule. He was already avoided by women even back then. In fact Taylor’s parents warned her but it seemed she didn’t listen, as she was an adult already, instead of a teenage when she wrote Love Story for a mature guy and Andrea and Scott staged an intervention. John’s ex Jessica Simpson wrote an autobiography in 2016, outed John’s manipulative traits. And he reaped what he sowed. He is still single now because women in industry really don’t want to have anything to do with him. Similar for Jake, he wasn’t indiscreet. In fact, he is very discreet about his private life. If we take “We are never ever getting back together” music video as well as Red forward notes about Red Love in literal sense, her relationship with Jake just burnt out, and he was just a bit elusive.

4. As for the man in Better Man and Tolerate It, he wasn’t manipulative; he was just indifferent, cold, and neglective. In Gorgeous, she sings I’ve got a boyfriend, he’s in the club doing I don’t know what. In Tolerate it, we have this parallel: While you were out building other worlds, where was I?

5. Then there is that lyric: where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire. And guess where do we find that man? In Invisible String: something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. We know this song is about Joe. And we also know Joe happened after Calvin (Tom was always a mistake, so we can ignore that).

6. In Tolerate it, she sings “now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life”. Usually only for a public figure, people will make footnotes when they report him or write an article about him. Calvin Harris, is a celebrated DJ.

7. About the meaning of tolerate it, you kind definitely get the vibe from this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OLZJmaU77w) when he and Taylor spent the last holiday together in British Virgin Island. She was trying to have fun, but he was just there.

8. This song has EDM element in it which we know Calvin is a DJ.

Hi everyone!

Recently, I've read a lot of theories on this Subreddit that say certain songs are about Calvin H. Songs like Closure, Tolerate it, etc eluding to the fact that Calvin was not invested in the relationship.

I feel like it was Taylor who wasn't feeling it anymore and wanted out instead of Calvin and the last nail in the coffin was probably when he said that he doesn't see a collaboration happening between them ever. That must have been hurt her because even though she had agreed to not reveal her involvement in the songwriting process, having her "SO" just outright deny a possibility of then working together that too when they already had... it was just wrong.

Any way, I know that it doesn't really matter and she's happy now but I've always been curious about what actually went down between them. Is there someone out there who knows exactly why they broke up and who was leaning more towards the break up, who was not in love anymore and if a song like Tolerate it would actually apply to their situation?

Would love to know your thoughts!

Do we know of any songs that were written about Calvin Harris? Taylor was with him for around 2 years and it seems surprising that she wouldn't have written about a relationship that long, but I don't ever seem to hear anyone talking about him or songs about him. Do we know or suspect of any about him?

Disclaimer: I know Taylor said Folkmore aren’t confessional, but are made up stories. But I notice a theme ever sense Rep about cheating in her music. So even if Folkmore aren’t autobiographical, I believe she wrote these fictional stories to help her process her toxic relationships before she met Joe.

Which leads me to my point… I think Tolerate It and Ivy are about Calvin. Even before this realization, I always thought those two songs were connected. A woman in a relationship is neglected even though she gives him her whole world. So she has an affair with someone who she feels so loved by.

It’s obvious that Calvin neglected Taylor. From Gorgeous, to Cruel Summer, to Bejeweled, then High Infidelity. It seems like she was smitten with him, and did everything for him at first but he ignored her and was constantly trying to undermine her. So she started losing interest and then met Joe. The original lyrics to Gorgeous were: “I’ve got a boyfriend, he’s older than us/ I haven’t seen him in a couple of months/ I go through phases when it comes to love.”

I’m so glad she wrote High Infidelity. It really explains the emotional negligence he put her through. And this is why I think Ivy/Tolerate It are fictional ways to explain how she felt: a woman who was disempowered and made small by a man who was supposed to love her. She was driven into secrecy which lead her to the love of her life. I see so many parallels in those storylines.

I know that I'm not the first person with this theory, but I do think it's easy to miss the lyrics that hint at who the song is about. First, there's the obvious being that Calvin has a song called Blame. Second, the line "my name is whatever you decide and, I'm just gonna call you mine", at first listen, sounds like that's something that Taylor is saying but what if it's supposed to be from Calvin's perspective? He has said countless times in interviews when asked if prefers being called Calvin or Adam, that "I'm whatever you want to call me". Lastly, this song can't be about Tom because she talks about if he left she'd beg him on her knees to stay. If Getaway Car is about him, then it doesn't sound like there would be much begging going on on her part. It's obviously a past lover and not Joe or else she wouldn't have used a past tense in "love made me crazy". Does anyone agree or have their own theories?

edit: grammar mistake

So I know the fandom has a scathing hatred for Calvin Harris, but hear me out - There are parts of “My Tears Ricochet” that make me believe it’s about Taylor’s relationship with Harris, their public falling out and his handling of the breakup, and the aftermath. Let me set the scene : we all know 2016 was an insane year for Taylor, probably one of the craziest and worst years of her life. As we know, she would eventually refer to that summer as “the apocalypse”. But let’s take a step back to June 2016, when she and Harris broke up:

“And you’re the hero flying around saving face”:

Immediately after their breakup, Calvin tweeted “The only truth is that a relationship came to an end & what remains is a huge amount of love and respect.”

In Ricochet Taylor sings: “Even on my worst day, did I deserve babe, all the hell you gave”: Not long after that tweet, he deleted her from social media, and erased every possible trace of their relationship, including the tweet mentioned above. He tweets, then deletes: “Oh boy it's about to go down," along with three skull emojis, then started cruelly responding to fan comments about Taylor, saying that he wasn’t jealous that she was dating someone new: “Not jealous, sir. FREE.” In July, he releases a song insinuating that Taylor was cheating her new boyfriend with him. THEN the whole drama with “This is What You Came For” happened, with Harris publicly berating her, and insinuating she tears other people down for fun - he wrote:

“I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do. I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and BURY like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it." To which Katy responds “Time...the ultimate truth teller.”

I capitalized bury because this becomes a common theme - more on that in a sec. It’s during this time that Kim Kardashian releases the recording (that proved Taylor’s point in my opinion) prompting unbridled hatred for Taylor, and resulting in the “#TaylorSwiftisoverparty”, which was trending on Twitter, as well as her being called a snake by basically the entire world, and a mural with her likeness and the words “RIP Taylor Smith”. She would then go on to reference this in “LWYMMD” by saying “oh! Cause she dead” and I’d like to point out that there was a gravestone with the name Nils Sjoberg in the beginning of that video while Zombie Taylor crawled out of a grave.

This leads me to the lyric, “and if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed...” It seems that during a time when her entire world was crashing down, all Harris could do was be petty, tear her down, join the #taylorswiftisoverparty, and in his own words, try to “bury” her. In Ricochet she further alludes to this singing “you wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” and “you had to kill me but it killed you just the same.”

“And when you can’t sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullaby” This could be an allusion to “This is what you came for”. Though it wasn’t “stolen” necessarily, Harris did have a problem when it came out that Taylor had actually written and helped produce the song, as well as sang in it.

“We gather stones, never knowing what they’ll mean. Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring”

This is Taylor saying time went by and they’ve gone their separate ways, while he was busy gathering stones to throw at her, she was busy falling in love with her future husband (picking out stones for a wedding ring).

Taylor then sings: “you turned into your worst fears - tossing out blame, drunk on this pain, crossing out the good years” In an interview a year later, Harris says of the breakup aftermath:

“It was completely the wrong instinct,” he says, sighing [...] when it ended, all hell broke loose. Now I see that Twitter thing as a result of me succumbing to pressure. It took me a minute to realize that none of that matters. I’m a positive guy.”

Finally, “look at how my tears ricochet” Yes, 2016 was the worst year of her life and Harris made it worse by trying to bury her. He joined the firing squad and tried to burn her as the stake like everyone else, and he clearly regrets it. But now Taylor is in love, happy, making the best music she has ever made. All the tears she cried during the time of her breakup ricocheted and are now his to shed.

Whew - I know that was really long, sorry. Hope no one dislikes me for my interpretation, I know how much the fandom hates Harris.

I was talking to a friend about our fave Taylor songs, and she mentioned Getaway Car (solid choice). I realized that I don't think there are many songs about Calvin? Not that he deserves them, lmao. I just thought it was so funny that even John Mayer got a positive song (Ours), but Calvin's main song is about how much she desperately wanted out of the relationship.

I'm not super in tune with theories about which songs are about who, so can any one confirm if he has any happy/positive songs about him? Or any other songs at all??

“Baby, this is what you came for Lightning strikes every time she moves And everybody's watchin' her But she's lookin' at You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh-ooh You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh-ooh You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh, ooh, ooh Baby, this is what you came for Lightning strikes every time she moves And everybody's watchin' her But she's lookin' at You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh-ooh You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh-ooh You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh, ooh, ooh You, ooh-ooh, you, ooh-ooh”

The only logical reason that this song would be sung by Rihanna instead of Taylor, and Taylor would write it under a pseudonym and not want to be credited for it, despite being Calvin Harris’ girlfriend at the time would be because this song is about KARLIE KLOSS and their Victoria Secret fashion show appearance. Taylor most likely had it already written and Calvin found it and remixed it. But Taylor backed out of singing it because it would only fuel the gay rumours. It was too on the nose at the time.

Hey guys, I’m new to this subreddit so I’m not sure if this has been discussed already, but what are your thoughts on this. I think it was her first relationship that actually lasted a year.

Edit: Guys, I was young back then so my information was limited to blogs, news, and youtube videos that may or may not be biased. That’s why I asked in this subreddit because I know you guys know more about the issue. Btw, Thanks for the interactions! Sorry for my english, not a native speaker❤️

I'm SO late to the game, but I'm just finding out that Taylor Swift has written (or co-written) songs with multiple artists. I first found out through the Calvin Harris song, but discovered the Kellie Pickler song (amazing lyrics) and the Sugarland song. I know that I've got to be missing a lot of songs that she's helped write for other people, and I'd really like to start a playlist of these songs.

Does anybody have a list of these or a suggestion of one of these songs I can find? I'm a writer, so even if I don't like the song itself (I'm not exactly a country fan, but found myself in love with the Kellie Pickler song anyways), reading lyrics is totally my thing! And, damn, is she nothing but an amazing lyricist!

Thanks in advance!

I did not pay as much attention to TS until folkmore and so missed an era of her life that seemed quite formative. I would love if someone could give me a tl;dr of the intense dislike of Calvin Harris among Swifties? Beyond the Twitter spat and the fact that TS's eating disorder seemed to be at its worst while she was with him, is there something really big that happened that I somehow missed and that will contextualize the hatred for me?

Fanks :)

Edited to fix a typo and to say thank you thank you thank you!