Here, Taylor Swift chronicles her story of finding the right man after a lot of bad relationships. She starts off as unlucky in love, feeling better off on her own, until the "king of my heart, body and soul," appears out of nowhere. She explained during her iHeartRadio Reputation Album Release Party:
"I think it's really interesting when people talk about their love stories. Like when you guys blog about like, 'me and my husband, me and my boyfriend,' or just anybody talking about how they fell in love. There seems to be these definitive phases, and it doesn't matter how long that phase lasts, there seems to be a moment when you knew it transitioned into the next phase.
People will be like, 'Oh my god, we were friends for six years, and there was this moment, and we knew, and then it changed. Then there was a moment and it got deeper, and then there was a moment and we knew. Or, like, I saw this person and there was this moment, and we knew.
Everybody has a different story with how they connect with someone else. And what I find interesting are the moments where it switches, because you always hope that that switch is going to move you forward and not backward. Because, it can happen both ways. It can happen either way."
Swift structured the song so such that each segment is its own phase of a relationship, with the sections getting deeper and more fast-paced as the tune proceeded. She explained:
"I've always wanted to structure a song where each individual section of the song sounded like a move forward in the relationship, but still be listenable. So, I wanted the verse to seem like its own phase of a relationship, the pre-chorus to sound like its own phase of a relationship, and the chorus to sound like its own phase of a relationship. And I wanted them to have their own identity, but seem like they were getting deeper and more fast-paced as the song went on. So finally, I was able to achieve that in a song."
As with all the songs on Reputation in which Swift sings of finding true love, the man in question is agreed to be British actor and model Joe Alwyn. A clue that Taylor gives on this track is that it is a transatlantic relationship:
I'm your American queen And you move to me like a Motown beat
Admittedly her two previous were also Brits (Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston), but during the pre-chorus Taylor seems to be throwing some shade at them.
All the boys in their expensive cars with their Range Rovers and their Jaguars Never took me quite where you do.
Like many of the tracks in Swift's oeuvre, cars get mentioned. The referencing of vehicles in Taylor's songs dates back to when she pined for a "boy in a Chevy truck" on her debut single, "Tim McGraw."
