Entertainment

This Infamous Taylor Swift Ex May Be Referenced In "...Ready For It?"

by Sophy Ziss
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Taylor Swift dropped another new single on late Saturday, Sept. 2 and fans are buzzing about it. The new song "...Ready For It?" leaves fans with a million more questions about who inspired the song. Was it one of her famous exes? Is "...Ready For It?" about Calvin Harris? On the surface, Swift's latest track wouldn't sound out of place on a Harris LP, but the lyrics provide some clues about who and what may have inspired the song. It definitely could be another song inspired by one of her relationships.

"Younger than my exes/but he act like a man/so I see nothing better," she raps in the "...Ready For It?" intro. This has to be about Harris, right? Or, fine, it could be about the 26-year-old actor Joe Alwyn she's dating now. But it could be about Harris; her previous "older" exes are in their late 30s by now, and Harris is only in his early 30s. Just a thought. Also, without the song's EDM flavor, it could be just another Swift jam about a dreamy boyfriend. But many internationally renowned producer-DJs has she dated? Whose songs she furtively co-wrote under a pen name? Right. Only the one.

Now, the song's bridge is mysterious. It hints at a sexy tryst with a lover — either real or imagined, it's hard to say. "In the middle of the night/in my dreams/you should see the things we do, baby" is as direct a reference to physical intimacy as we'll ever get from a Swift track. "In my dreams" is a telling phrase, though — does it speak to a hot relationship that ended poorly, or one she's fantasized over since? I wonder what Joe Alwyn thinks about hearing his girlfriend sing that "no one has to know" about their secret romance.

The boldest "...Ready For It?" statement of all, though, is when Swift proclaims "Welcome to this Taylor/Every love I've known in comparison is a failure/I forget their names now." Swift's romantic history follows her wherever she goes, even as she claims to have distaste for the press' attention. So, to have her say "every love I've known in comparison is a failure" to the point where she's jokingly forgotten their names — that's a big deal. Swift and Harris dated for well over a year, and by all accounts, 'twas a whirlwind romance: Dinner dates, international travel, and coordinating outfits seemed to be all part of the package.

It's hard to say for sure what happened between Swift and Harris — but she might finally be trying to explain her side of the relationship to her fans through this track.