One of the most well-known pop stars worldwide, Taylor Swift’s stardom has soared to unprecedented heights in recent years. Between releasing her tenth album, Midnights, in 2022 and embarking on her 152-show, multi-continent tour, The Eras Tour, in 2023, Taylor Swift has become one of the most recognizable names on the planet.
With the April 19, 2024, release of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, Swift has given her critics, listeners, and millions of Swifties an intimate and raw glimpse into her struggle with heartbreak, mental illness, and substance use while being subject to constant public scrutiny. As many Swifties know, The Tortured Poets Department is hardly the first time Swift has explored topics like depression and addiction in her songwriting.
In this blog post, we explore Taylor Swift’s style of songwriting and how her music and ability to connect with listeners have impacted fans and cultural attitudes toward mental health. Continue reading to learn more about how Swift has woven mental health into her discography, including 1989, Folklore, and The Tortured Poets Department.
Taylor Swift’s Approach to Songwriting
Having won more Grammy Awards for Album of the Year—more than any other artist in music history—Swift has long been hailed for her songwriting and storytelling abilities.
When her sophomore album, Fearless, was released in 2008, Swift’s fans began deciphering her lyrics about relationships and breakups, trying to figure out what her songs were about. Between Fearless and her subsequent two releases, Speak Now and Red, Swift became well-known for writing about her exes.
Though some may have considered Swift a “sellout” by transitioning from country to pop music, Swift did precisely the opposite with her 2012 and 2014 albums, Red and 1989. From 1989 onward, Swift’s songwriting reached beyond mere storytelling as she grew into adulthood alongside her listeners, who related to her as she wrote about infidelity, unrequited love, loneliness, and struggles with self-esteem.
Key Songs and Their Messages
“Clean” – 1989 (2014)
Though fans found most of the subject matter in 1989 related to Swift’s on-and-off relationship with Harry Styles in 2012, one track, in particular, would become a fan favorite over the years: “Clean.” Over time, many listeners came to view “Clean” as a metaphor for overcoming addiction.
With the chorus to the song, Swift uses the imagery of drowning and pouring rain to paint a picture of reaching rock bottom, from which she emerges renewed.
Rain came pouring down
When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe
And by morning
Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean
In the chorus, she illustrates a common notion—that one must reach rock bottom before one can get clean or become sober from substance abuse or addiction.
The bridge to “Clean” reads a bit more precisely.
Ten months sober, I must admit
Just because you’re clean, don’t mean you don’t miss it.
Ten months older, I won’t give in
Now that I’m clean, I’m never gonna risk it
Here, Swift compares the longing for her past relationship to the cravings one often experiences when recovering from addiction. But then, she says that after ten months of being sober, she’s “never gonna risk” another relapse.
Though listeners could interpret “Clean” as a song about feeling “addicted” to a former relationship or about overcoming addiction itself, some Swifties believe the song is about Swift’s battle with body dysmorphia and disordered eating.
In a 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, Swift spoke about overanalyzing pictures of herself in the media and restricting her diet to stay thin—eventually developing an eating disorder.
“I tend to get triggered by something when it’s a picture of me where I feel like my tummy looked too big or…someone said that I looked pregnant…that’ll just trigger me to starve a little bit, just stop eating,” she admitted.
Swift said that for years, she thought it was expected to feel like she was “gonna pass out at the end of a show” when touring. “Now I realize, no, if you eat food, have energy, and get stronger, you can do all these shows and not feel it,” she said.
The Grammy winner also shed light on how some people may not realize they have an eating disorder or that the issue can develop over time.
“I don’t think you know you’re doing that when you’re doing it gradually,” she said.
“You don’t ever say to yourself, ‘Look, I’ve got an eating disorder,’ but you know you’re like, making a list of everything you put in your mouth that day, and you know that’s probably not right,” Swift explained.
Swift has found herself on the other side of her body image issues.
“I’m a lot happier with who I am [and]…I don’t care as much if, like, somebody points out that I have gained weight. It’s just something that makes my life better,” she said.
“This Is Me Trying” – folklore (2020)
While the world was at home socially distancing at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift was doing the same, but in a home studio writing folklore and its successor, evermore.
Musically, both folklore and evermore were stark departures from Swift’s usual sound and aesthetic. Lyrically, folklore was celebrated for how Swift poetically and emotionally captured the feelings and experiences she—and many others—dealt with during the pandemic. While some songs on the album are about a fictional love triangle conceived by Swift, others explore themes of loneliness, nostalgia, and escapism.
During the pandemic, millions struggled with their mental health, and many turned to substances to cope with the effects of COVID-19. While performing the album at Long Pond Studio, Swift explained that those who face these struggles yet continue moving forward inspired her to write the folklore track “This Is Me Trying.”
Swift emphasized that many people who struggle with mental health or addiction are seldom encouraged or praised for enduring every day that comes. “No one parts them on the back every day, but every day, they are actively fighting something,” she said.
With the first verse and chorus of “This Is Me Trying,” Swift said she envisioned the song’s speaker as a person who “has been…messing things up with people they love, [or] has been letting everyone down”:
Pulled the car off the road to the lookout
Could’ve followed my fears all the way down
And maybe I don’t quite know what to say
But I’m here in your doorway
I just wanted you to know
That this is me trying
I just wanted you to know
That this is me trying
Swift said to her, the person in the song has driven to a cliff and is saying to themself, “’I could do whatever I want in this moment, and it could affect everything forever.’” “But this person backs up and drives home,” Swift said.
“I love that—the idea that not driving off the cliff is an act of trying, which is almost the ultimate act of trying,” producer and co-writer Jack Antonoff said.
“Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” – The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
Though Swift may have concluded 1989 with a nod toward her mental state, she opens The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) with “Fortnight,” leaving no questions asked about how she has been doing:
I was supposed to be sent away
But they forgot to come and get me
I was a functioning alcoholic
‘Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic
With this first verse of “Fortnight,” Swift writes that she “was supposed to be sent away,” perhaps for psychiatric treatment.
This notion is echoed in other tracks, like “Fresh Out the Slammer” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” which includes a lyric now quoted all over TikTok and X: “You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me.”
In the second line of “Fortnight,” Swift claims that no one came to get her to take her away, implying that she lacks a support system. Swift’s absence of a support system appears more apparent when she claims that she was a “functioning” alcoholic until nobody acknowledged a change in her appearance.
Saying that her drinking habits were functional before nobody noticed her suggests that Swift’s alcoholism eventually reached a point of no return, with the realization that she no longer had someone to lean on.
Several songs later, in “Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine)” Swift finds herself “barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine,” trying to escape the “hurricane” of loneliness that comes with stardom.
Impact on Fans and Listeners
Immediately after the release of TTPD, Swift’s discussion of mental health and substance use quickly became a trending topic online and on social media.
“The level of self-loathing displayed on this album is heartbreaking and relatable,” one Reddit user said. “TTPD is the album for everyone who had to deal with depression and heartbreak at the same time. It’s not a fun experience.”
“[I]t really struck me how much rawness she shared about depression, coping mechanisms that end up making everything worse, [and] the internal debate that rages when you feel crazy (but know deep down you’re not and whatever crazy means),” another Redditor said.
While countless Swiftes have found comfort in the fresh material TTPD offers, fans and listeners have talked about the impact of songs like “Clean” and “This Is Me Trying” for a while.
“Tylor Swift’s “Clean” is so powerful. Like, it could be about heartbreak, mental illness, addiction, or abuse. The song shapes itself according to what struggles you had,” a user on X said.
Swift’s discussion of addiction during the Long Pond Studio sessions particularly resonated with fans.
“I just finished watching the Long Pond Studio session and I truly adore the entire album folklore, but a song that really pulled at my heart strings is ‘This Is Me Trying,’” a Swiftie said on Reddit. “The way she talks about how it can be about addiction hits close to home.”
Another Swftie responded with an emotional and inspiring story about how Swift’s songs impacted them: “This song and her speaking about it in the Long Pond Sessions…is amazing. It means so much to me. I still can’t even believe she wrote this song sometimes.”
Swift looks back on her experience during that time.
I am almost 10 months sober. Unfortunately I was even too f****d up to remember most of my experience at the [Reputation] tour.
I called a national suicide hotline one day when I was at my worst in addiction. The guy on the other end of the line convinced me to go to detox/rehab. I’ve been sober ever since.
Swift’s Advocacy for Mental Health
Taylor Swift’s impact has expanded beyond her music over the last decade. Over the years, she has used her platform to speak out against homophobia, sexism, bullying, income inequality, and body shaming.
The Australian Center for Social Impact offers an accurate take on Swift’s role as a mental health advocate: “Taylor Swift has actively promoted mental health, but not in a ‘celebrity meets cause’ kind of way.”
In other words, while mental health advocacy may not be part of her branding strategy, the artist leads by example. Her simply talking about struggling with anxiety, depression, and disordered eating helps reduce stigma and increase awareness around these conditions, which in turn can encourage others to seek support.
That said, her lyricism and music’s impact on fans’ wellness genuinely make her an advocate. Swift’s personal experiences in her music encompass a range of universal themes that help her fans process and cope with similar emotions and experiences.
Beyond the catharsis that Swift’s millions of fans find in her songwriting, her discography is empowering. The pop star often discusses themes of resilience, self-exploration, and taking control over one’s life in her music, which can be particularly inspiring to struggling listeners.
With such a large fanbase and well-known music collection, Swift also offers a safe space for community, peer support, and friendship among her listeners.
Reach out for Support
If you or a loved one are struggling with substance abuse or a mental health condition, do not hesitate to reach out for help. Here at The Summit Wellness Group, we look forward to helping you on the path to lifetime recovery. Contact us anytime at (770) 830-3119 or by completing our contact form today.