A Handful of Taylor Swift's Songs Can Be Traced Back to Her Relationship With Joe Jonas
Published April 9 2021, 5:13 p.m. ET
It's been more than a decade since Taylor Swift first released "Fearless," the country album that would grant her her first (and second, third, and fourth) Grammy awards. After a long and messy battle for the rights to her masters with Scooter Braun, Taylor has finally released the first of several albums she's re-recording.
"Fearless (Taylor's Version" released on April 9, bringing her former relationship with Jonas Brother Joe Jonas back into the spotlight.
The pair only dated for a few months before he broke up with her ina 27-second-long phone call, but the short-lived relationship defined much of her early music. The two are on good terms now, which she made clear in "invisible string" on "Folklore." But how many of Taylor's songs are about her relationship with Joe?
1. "Forever and Always"
Originally, "Forever and Always" wasn't meant to be on "Fearless," but at the last minute, Taylor recorded the song and added it to the album. She's said she wrote the song while she and Joe were on a decline, and shortly after the album was released, they officially split.
2. "Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version)"
"Mr. Perfectly Fine" wasn't on the original release of "Fearless" but is instead a song Taylor pulled "from the vault" for her re-recorded version. Swifties almost immediately assumed it was about Joe, which was later basically confirmed by his wife, Sophie Turner when she shared the song to her Instagram Stories with the caption "It's not NOT a bop."
3. "You All Over Me" ft. Maren Morris
Another breakup song written around the time she and Joe were together, "You All Over Me" features country artist Maren Morris on the vocal tracks and is another of Taylor's "from the vault" songs added to the rerecorded version of "Fearless." It didn't take long for Swifties to discover the track was about Joe once they pieced together the lyrical similarities between it and "Last Kiss."
4. "Last Kiss"
"Last Kiss" is one of two songs from Taylor's third studio album, "Speak Now," inspired by her relationship with Joe. She said the song was meant to explain all of the messy feelings one has after a breakup, which she was dealing with while writing the song.
5. "Better Than Revenge"
OK, we know this song has some hard misogynistic undertones to it, but it's honestly a tried-and-true bop from "Speak Now." The song was reportedly throwing shade at Camilla Belle, the actress Joe supposedly left Taylor for at the end of their relationship.
While the actress remained silent about the diss track, years later when Taylor and Kim Kardashian's feud reached its peak, she shared a quote on Twitter basically confirming the song had always been about her.
"No need for revenge. Just sit back and wait. Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves and if you're lucky, God will let you watch," she said.
Of course, we all know how things really ended in the Kim/Taylor feud, but it doesn't seem like Camilla and Taylor will ever be friends.
6. "Holy Ground"
Taylor's relationship with Joe trickled all of the way into her fourth album, "Red." The opening lyrics allude to when she performed with the Jonas Brothers on tour in 2008, but she really confirmed it was about Joe with the line "When you came to the show in SD," referring to when he showed up to one of her "Speak Now" tour dates in San Diego.