Taylor Swift may have built her career around reinvention, but a linguistic analysis of her songs suggests there is considerable continuity beneath her changing musical “eras”.
Dr Naomi Adam, a researcher in literary linguistics at the University of Liverpool, analysed more than 100,000 words from Swift’s catalogue and identified recurring themes involving colour, counterfactuality, embodiment, opposition and time. The analysis also found repeated references to body parts, clothing and how other people perceive the singer.
According to Adam, these patterns have remained consistent across Swift’s career and continue to appear in her latest material, suggesting they could also feature in her future releases.
“Change is a core part of the Swift marketing machine, which revolves around the evolution of her ‘eras’,” Adam wrote on The Conversation.
“The lyrics to these tracks, however, prove that Swift can be associated with continuity just as much as change.”
Database Covers 247 Songs
Adam said that since releasing her debut album in 2006, Swift has “transformed from a ringleted country ingenue to a slick city dweller to (for her latest album cycle) a sequin-clad showgirl.”
She added: “That cycle has just been extended with the arrival of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, featuring four new bonus tracks, including the single Patient Zero.”
For the research, Adam created a digital database containing every publicly available Swift track. Called the Taylor Lyric Corpus (TaLyCo), it contains 123,553 words from 247 songs across 12 studio albums, along with material from extended releases, charity singles and non-album singles.
The collection also includes contributions to film soundtracks, songs Swift wrote for other artistes and unreleased demo recordings.
“This comprehensive collection of Swift’s writing makes it easy to pinpoint recurring patterns over the course of her 20-plus year career,” Adam said.
Colour And Perception Recur Across Lyrics
Colour emerged as one of the strongest recurring themes. Songs including Maroon, Lavender Haze, White Horse and Gold Rush contain colour references, while Swift also titled an album Red. One of the newer Encore songs is called Pink Clouding.
Adam found that grey was Swift’s most over-represented colour. Examples include “Did I paint your bluest skies a darkest grey” from Coney Island and the opening lyrics of Evermore: “Grey November, I’ve been down since July”.
“Apart from an obsession with colour, Swift has also been described as ‘obsessed by how others perceive her’,” Adam said.
“Nowhere is this more evident than in the opening verse of new song Cleveland!
“Swift offers a sardonic assessment of herself which borrows heavily from public perception: ‘And with all of that money, why’s she dressed like trash? / When she smiles, it’s annoying.’”
Songs such as 2014’s Shake It Off and 2024’s Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me also present this outside perspective.
Body Parts And Clothing Carry Meaning
References to the body form another recurring pattern. Across the four new tracks, Swift mentions arms, elbows, faces, hearts, lips and shoulders.
Clothing also appears frequently throughout her catalogue, with references including cardigans, Eagles T-shirts, short or tight skirts, black dresses and old faded blue jeans.
Adam argues that these items rarely function merely as fashion details in Swift’s writing. Instead, they often become symbols of identity and self-expression.
The wider analysis identified counterfactuality, or speculation about what might have happened under different circumstances, along with embodiment, opposition and time as other recurring characteristics of Swift’s songwriting.
Patterns Persist Despite Changing ‘Eras’
Adam said Swift’s latest Encore tracks have received a mixed response, with some fans comparing their lyrics unfavourably with her earlier work. However, the corpus analysis indicates that many of the fundamental characteristics of her songwriting have remained consistent.
“Swift’s latest Encore tracks have met with a polarised response, including among some fans who have negatively compared the lyrics to those of earlier albums,” she concluded.
“Yet our corpus-based studies suggest Swift is writing much as she has always done – producing lyrics which are highly detailed, suffused with speculation and colourful in every sense of the word.”
Adam will discuss the research and its findings in an upcoming book, The Lyrics of Taylor Swift, written with colleague Suzanna McClure.