Taylor Swift has been widely hailed 
as one of the greatest songwriters of 
her generation. Not only are her songs 
catchy and meaningful, but they 
almost always tell an incredible, lively 
story. In particular, the songs that 
describe beautiful relationships and 
heart-wrenching breakups reach a 
level of storytelling that few other art-
ists can aspire to. And because these 
songs tell such descriptive stories, it’s 
only natural that fans might apply the 
songs to other circumstances — other 
characters, other couples, other sto-
ries. And so, with The Swiftie Proj-
ect series, Swifties within Daily Arts 
break down every romantic Taylor 
Swift song from every released album 
and match them to various fictional 
couples. The sixth part in this series 
contains songs from her sixth album: 
reputation. Most songs from this 
album have been included, although 
“I Did Something Bad,” “Look What 
You Made Me Do” and “This Is Why 
We Can’t Have Nice Things” have 
been omitted, due to their more per-
sonal, non-romantic stories.
Warning: Spoilers for various TV 
shows, movies and books are included 
in the following article. 
“…Ready For It?” — Emma 
Swan and Captain Killian (Hook) 
Jones, “Once Upon a Time”
Knew he was a killer first time that 
I saw him / Wondered how many 
girls he had loved and left haunted
Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison, 
“House”) and Captain Hook (Colin 
O’Donoghue, “The Right Stuff”) 
are hands-down (pun intended) the 
best couple of “Once Upon a Time.” 
When Emma and Hook first met, she 
was a savior, the ultimate represen-
tation of goodness. He, on the other 
hand (again, pun intended), was a 
pirate, a scoundrel who knowingly 
went after a married woman in his 
past. “…Ready For It?” is undoubt-
edly a sexually charged song, which 
fits Hook, whose sly comments and 
innuendos in season two solidified 
him as a memorable character. In “…
Ready For It?” Swift sings, “Knew 
I was a robber first time that he 
saw me.” Emma had a dark past of 
her own, which involved stealing 
her iconic yellow Volkswagen and, 
of course, her short-lived relation-
ship with Neal (Michael Raymond-
James, “True Blood”). Hook and 
Emma’s first adventure together 
was stealing a compass from a giant. 
By the end of the series, these two 
were thick as thieves. 
Mina Tobya: Daily Arts Writer 
“End Game” — Peter Parker 
and MJ, Marvel Cinematic Uni-
verse
Reputation precedes me, in rumors 
I’m knee deep / The truth is it’s easier 
to ignore it, believe me
No one’s reputation is as “knee 
deep” in rumors as Peter Parker’s 
(Tom Holland, “Uncharted”) after 
he’s revealed to be the face behind 
the Spider-Man mask. Luckily, the 
brave and brilliant Michelle ‘MJ’ 
Jones (Zendaya, “Euphoria”) isn’t 
deterred by the swarms of people 
flocking around him or the bricks 
thrown through his window. When 
their world is thrown upside down, 
MJ is always by Peter’s side, ready 
to face whatever threat comes their 
way. Their love story was built on a 
solid foundation of friendship and 
mutual trust, but a wrecking ball 
destroys that when MJ’s memory 

is wiped of all traces of Peter Park-
er. With “words on the tip of (his) 
tongue,” he walks out of her life. 
Instead of choosing to refresh her 
memory of him, Peter chooses to let 
her go so she can have the happiness 
she deserves. Without him, she is 
free to excel at Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology and live with-
out the imminent danger of being 
Spider-Man’s girlfriend, but she 
feels the absence of her first love. 
The many iterations of Spider-Man 
affirm these two to be legitimate 
endgame. They’ll get through this 
trial, like all the rest, because they’re 
just meant to be. 
Lola D’Onofrio: Daily Arts Writer
“Don’t Blame Me” — Anakin 
Skywalker and Padmè Amidala, 
Star Wars franchise
I would fall from grace / just to 
touch your face
Love can make you crazy. When 
you really fall for someone, you’ll 
do pretty much anything to keep 
them safe. Jedi prodigy Anakin 
Skywalker (Hayden Christensen, 
“Little Italy”) takes this logic to the 
extreme. Padmè Amidala (Nata-
lie Portman, “Black Swan”) is the 
love of his life. When Anakin starts 
getting premonitions of her death, 
he turns toward to the dark side 
to protect Padmè. This leads him 
directly toward his eventual trans-
formation into the sinister Darth 
Vader. It’s ultimately a tragedy — 
Anakin becomes so consumed by 
the dark side that he forgets his love 
for Padmè, killing her in the pro-
cess. But before the two eventually 
fall apart, there’s a brief and undeni-
ably awesome period of time where 
Anakin is wildly in love and indis-
criminately destructive because 
of it. Enter “Don’t Blame Me” by 
Swift — a song all about that thin 
line between love and insanity. As 
Anakin paces the Jedi Temple, plan-
ning the lengths he will go to save 
Padmè, he walks this very line. He 
struggles to maintain the appear-
ance of an upstanding Jedi knight, 
a “halo hiding (his) obsession”. But 
as things escalate, Anakin ends 
up cracking, turning against the 
Jedi. You can picture him thinking 
wildly that “love made me crazy.” 
All of it is worth it for Padmè. Every 
time he sees her, his eyes soften. He 
“falls from grace” without a second 
thought just to “touch (her) face.” 
Sabriya Imami: Daily Arts Writer
“Delicate” — Kat Stratford and 
Patrick Verona, “10 Things I Hate 
About You”
My reputation’s never been worse 
/ So, you must like me for me
Swift was painted as a bad girl 
during her reputation era — she 
was canceled, derided and misrep-
resented. And yet, during this time, 
as she faced the #TaylorSwiftIsO-
verParty, the fallout of her feud with 
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, 
and cutting remarks about being a 
boy-crazy, heart-breaking “serial 
dater,” she was actually falling in 
love. “Delicate” encompasses this 
dichotomy perfectly. The world 
looked down on her, but the per-
son she loved was only looking at 
her. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles, “O”) 
was similarly misunderstood in “10 
Things I Hate About You”; on the 
surface she seemed cutthroat and 
bitter, but she actually harbored a 
painful secret. Patrick (Heath Led-
ger, “The Dark Knight”) may have 
used deception to get into her good 
graces, but it didn’t take long for 
him to actually fall for her. And, yes, 

things do get worse before they get 
better, in terms of their relationship, 
but there is a moment where Kat has 
to be very vulnerable in front of him. 
In some ways, Kat reading her poem 
in front of Patrick and the rest of the 
class is her “is it cool that I said all 
that?” moment, and we couldn’t be 
happier about it. Patrick looked past 
Kat’s reputation-era facade, and as a 
result, Kat let him see who she really 
was. 
Lillian Pearce: Daily Arts Writer
“So It Goes…” — Eve Polastri 
and Villanelle, “Killing Eve”
You know I’m not a bad girl / But I 
do bad things with you
“Killing Eve” puts a whole new 
spin on the enemies-to-lovers trope. 
Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, “The 
Chair”) is a British intelligence 
investigator who is obsessed with 
female serial killers — and especial-
ly with the assassin Villanelle (Jodie 
Comer, “Help”). Their relationship, 
born from violence and crime, is rid-
dled with enticing and infuriating 
will-they-won’t-they energy. Eve’s 
obsession with Villanelle is further 
complicated by an attraction to her, 
which Villanelle uses to her advan-
tage. “But when you get me alone, 
it’s so simple / ‘Cause baby, I know 
what you know / We can feel it.” The 
chemistry between the two women 
is just as poignant as the blood on 
Villanelle’s hands: Swift’s “So It 
Goes…” is eerily reminiscent of this 
peculiar relationship, with lyrics 
like “You know I’m not a bad girl / 
But I do bad things with you” that 
speak to Eve and Villanelle’s dys-
functional relationship dynamic.
Graciela Batlle: Daily Arts Writer
“Gorgeous” — Seth Cohen and 
Summer Roberts, “The O.C.”
And I’m so furious / At you for 
making me feel this way / But, what 
can I say? / You’re gorgeous
Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson, 
“Take Two”) is the epitome of the 
typical popular girl that the nerdy 
guys in her grade are intensely 
drawn to. In Summer’s case, her 
“cool mean girl” charisma man-
ages to make the gawky Seth Cohen 
(Adam Brody, “Shazam!”) fall madly 
in love with her, while she doesn’t 

even bother to bat an eye in his 
direction. However, it takes Sum-
mer roughly six episodes to notice 
that Seth’s quirks are not so repul-
sive after all … they’re actually very 
cute! However, she’s still mad that 
a nerd like Seth was able to win her 
over, which dooms their relation-
ship to an endless rollercoaster of 
ups and downs. The playing field 
eventually becomes leveled, with 
Seth breaking Summer’s heart the 
same amount of times that Summer 
breaks his, but, in the end, no one is 
as gorgeous for the both of them as 
they are to each other. Even if Sum-
mer was furious that an uncool nerd 
like Seth managed to enamor her, 
she was left helpless because what 
can she say? Seth is, in Summer’s 
eyes (and mine), gorgeous. 
Lillian Pearce: Daily Arts Writer
“Getaway Car” — Joe Gold-
berg and Love Quinn, “You”
It was the best of times, the worst 
of crimes
What song could capture the 
love shared between two psychotic 
serial killers better than Swift’s 
“Getaway Car”? “It was the best of 
times, the worst of crimes” — how 
lovely it must be to not have to hide 
your true homicidal self — “I struck 
a match and blew your mind” — 
because there’s no stronger sign 
of devotion than killing someone 
for your beloved. “While he was 
runnin’ after us, I was screamin,’ 
‘Go, go, go!’ ” Ah, the memories. 
But, although one might think that 
Joe (Penn Badgley, “Gossip Girl”) 
and Love (Victoria Pedretti, “The 
Haunting of Bly Manor”) deserve 
each other, love is never so simple. 
Joe, though a murderer himself, 
starts to fear the lethal tendencies 
of Love (hypocrite, much?) and 
starts to plan his escape. (And by 
escape, yes, I mean his plan to kill 
her.) “We were jet-set, Bonnie and 
Clyde (oh-oh) / Until I switched to 
the other side, to the other side / It’s 
no surprise I turned you in (oh-oh) 
/ ‘Cause us traitors never win.” It 
really does write itself. 
Ava Seaman: Books Beat Editor
“King of My Heart” — Amelia 
(Mia) Mignonette Thermopolis 

Renaldi and Nicholas Devereaux, 
“The Princess Diaries 2: Royal 
Engagement”
And all at once you are the one I 
have been waiting for
“The Princess Diaries 2: Royal 
Engagement” has something the 
first film does not, and that is Chris 
Pine (“Star Trek”).
Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway, 
“The Devil Wears Prada”) must 
marry a man in 30 days or she can-
not become the queen of Genovia. 
Eligible for the throne, Pine’s char-
acter, Lord Nicholas Devereaux, is 
(supposedly) attempting to steal the 
throne from Mia. Mia and Nicholas 
have a meet-cute turned flirtatious 
rivalry throughout the film — it’s 
enemies-to-lovers excellence. By 
the end of the film, Mia takes back 
her power and moves to abolish the 
law that states she needs a husband 
to rule, and she is crowned queen. 
As a native San Franciscan, Mia is 
literally an “American queen,” but 
more importantly, Nicholas was 
the king of her heart whom she was 
waiting for. Here’s hoping for a third 
film where these two are happily 
married. 
Annabel Curran: Senior Arts Editor
“Dancing With Our Hands 
Tied” — Kaz Brekker and Inej 
Ghafa, “Six of Crows”
I could’ve spent forever with your 
hands in my pockets / Picture of your 
face in an invisible locket
If you thought I was done talk-
ing about the masterpiece that is 
Leigh Bardugo’s “Six of Crows” 
duology, you thought wrong. And 
since one masterpiece deserves 
another, there’s no better song than 
“Dancing With Our Hands Tied” 
to capture the palpable tension and 
trauma that characterizes the tragic 
yet beautiful relationship between 
Kaz and Inej. Both characters have 
pasts that are fraught with suffer-
ing and trauma that have left them 
wary and closed off to closeness or 
romance in any shape or form. Each 
haunted by their own histories and 
yet both inexplicably drawn to the 
other, they have no choice but to 
tiptoe around each other, playing 
a complicated game of avoidance 

that is very much like a complex and 
alluring dance. Emotionally guard-
ed against love and intimacy and 
each wearing their own armor and 
masks, it’s safe to say that these two 
hopeless lovers are indeed dancing 
dangerously with their hands tied. 
Hannah Carapellotti: Daily Arts 
Writer
“Dress” — Kate Sharma and 
Anthony Bridgerton, “Bridger-
ton”
Our secret moments in a crowded 
room / They got no idea about me and 
you
Dearest reader (yes, I just did 
that), 
There are few things more excit-
ing to watch unfold than an ene-
mies-to-lovers relationship: The 
obvious denial of feelings and the 
sweet payoff when a couple finally 
admits them is worth it every time. 
Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, “Broad-
church”) and Kate (Simone Ashley, 
“Sex Education”) get off to a rocky 
start because of a misunderstand-
ing, but the connection that exists 
between them — despite being the 
bane of each other’s existence — 
is hard to deny. Apart from their 
clear sexual chemistry, these two 
are far more alike than they real-
ize. They have both lived their 
lives for other people and the one 
time they want to do something 
for themselves, it puts everything 
at risk. “Dress” captures both the 
excitement and the complexities 
of Kate and Anthony’s relation-
ship. In fact, this author would 
argue that it’s one of Swift’s most 
romantic songs, despite the chorus 
being, “Only bought this dress so 
you could take it off” (although if 
you’ve seen the show, you know 
that line applies here, too). Great 
love requires great vulnerability, 
great risk. Swift understands that 
when she sings, “If I get burned, 
at least we were electrified.” Kate 
and Anthony both know they 
could get burned by taking that 
risk and being with each other, but 
they ultimately do, and it’s electric 
in all the best ways.

Arts
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The Swiftie Project Part Six: reputation

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