Is it romantichow all my elegieseulogize me?– ‘the lakes’ (2020)
As pop superstar Taylor Swift is set to be formally inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday, June 11, data consultancy The Nerve takes a deep dive into her discography, finding themes that map not just the progression of her songwriting but also the shifts in her image as an artist.
The Nerve collated Swift’s discography from open-source database Musicbrainz, and filtered it down to tracks from the singer-songwriter’s 12 standard albums, including bonus tracks from deluxe album versions and From the Vault tracks from album re-recordings.
The data consultancy then analyzed the lyrics in these songs through Probe, its content and narrative analysis solution, and found the following key themes:
These themes are present throughout a tumultuous but rewarding journey that saw Swift gain the adoration of people who found themselves in her music, lose this favor just when her stardom shot up to tremendous levels, and gain it back tenfold not long after. In all this, her songwriting was both a witness and a weapon.
