Taylor Swift 'Obsessed by How Others Perceive Her', University Researcher Reveals

Taylor Swift's lyrics reveal recurring concerns with public perception beneath her changing musical eras, University of Liverpool researcher Dr Naomi Adam wrote in The Conversation, discussing a database spanning her 2006 debut and later releases.

Swift's career has involved successive reinventions, but Adam's analysis focuses on what persists in the writing. Her collection, the Taylor Lyric Corpus, or TaLyCo, contains 123,553 words and draws together 247 songs across 12 studio albums, alongside material beyond those releases.

Taylor Swift's Changing Eras and Familiar Themes

Adam, a researcher in literary linguistics, created the bespoke database from every publicly available track by Swift. It encompasses extended releases, charity singles, non-album singles and soundtrack contributions, as well as songs written for other artists and unreleased demo recordings.

The breadth of that collection allows recurring language to be examined across different periods of Swift's career. Adam identified a particular fascination with colour, counterfactuality, embodiment, opposition and time.

Counterfactuality concerns what could have happened had circumstances been different. Embodiment is reflected in the attention to the body, including repeated references to individual body parts.

'Change is a core part of the Swift marketing machine, which revolves around the evolution of her 'eras',' Adam wrote. 'The lyrics to these tracks, however, prove that Swift can be associated with continuity just as much as change.'

In her account, Adam described The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore as extending that cycle with four bonus tracks, including the single Patient Zero. She argued that familiar patterns also appear in those songs.

Grey Runs Through Taylor Swift's Colour Palette

The range of colours in Swift's writing is apparent in titles such as Maroon, Lavender Haze, White Horse and Gold Rush. Her album Red provides another example, while Adam also identified the Encore track Pink Clouding.

Despite that variety, grey is the most frequently employed colour in the lyrics, according to Adam's analysis. She cited Coney Island and Evermore as examples of its appearance.

The researcher's account links this recurring palette to a broader pattern of detailed language. Colour is one strand of the analysis, alongside descriptions of the body and clothing that place emphasis on physical details and personal identity.

Across the four bonus tracks, Adam identified references to arms, elbows, faces, hearts, lips and shoulders. Those details sit within a catalogue in which clothing also carries meaning beyond its appearance.

Public Perception in Taylor Swift's Writing

Adam noted that Swift has previously been described as 'obsessed by how others perceive her'. The phrase appears in her discussion of the lyrics and reflects an interpretation of Swift's writing.

She pointed to the opening verse of Cleveland! as an example, describing a sardonic self-assessment that draws heavily on public perception. Her account also identifies Shake It Off from 2014 and Who's Afraid of Little Old Me from 2024 as songs adopting an outside perspective.

Clothing provides another way of expressing identity in the lyrics, Adam argued. Cardigans, Eagles T-shirts, short, tight or little skirts, black dresses and old faded blue jeans recur across past tracks.

Adam described these items as symbols of identity and self-expression rather than simply fashion choices. Her interpretation places them alongside the other recurring features of Swift's language.

The researcher noted a polarised response to the Encore tracks, including fans' unfavourable comparisons with earlier albums. Her corpus-based research, however, suggests continuity in the detailed, speculative and colourful writing.

Adam will discuss the research and its findings in The Lyrics of Taylor Swift, an upcoming book written with colleague Suzanna McClure.