The Real Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me' (Taylor's Version)

In a 2019 appearance on Good Morning America, Taylor Swift revealed that her contracts allow her to re-record her first five albums starting in November 2020. "I think that artists deserve to own their work," she explained (via The New York Times) "I just feel very passionately about that." So where does "You Belong With Me" (Taylor's Version) come in?

"Just like all of my songs, 'You Belong With Me' is based on a real person. When I write a song, my goal is to confess what happened in a situation ... When I look at the track listing on my album, I can see a face pop out in my mind," Swift told The Boot. "I remember I was overhearing a conversation one of my friends was having with his girlfriend, and he was obviously getting completely chewed out by her! She was just screaming through the phone at him, and I think it was for something really small, like he told her he'd call her in 10 minutes and instead it was 15 minutes later ... something like that." 

This gave Swift a realization: "I remember thinking to myself, 'Why does he let her push him around like that because she obviously doesn't appreciate him?' But instead of saying that out loud to him, I wrote it down in a song."

These days, Swift might identify with that character in her song. She's clearly going where she's appreciated, and isn't letting anyone push her around.

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