Breaking: Taylor Swift’s marriage talk in lyrics explored – what this means for future with Travis Kelce

On her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), Taylor Swift sings repeatedly about her desire to walk down the aisle, cursing a lover who promised her “rings and cradles” before discarding her, and sharing she “died on the alter” waiting for proof that her partner loved her.

While TTPD paints a forlorn picture of 34-year-old Taylor feeling disappointed by the lack of marriage proposals, marriage is a theme Taylor has long sung about, with all of her albums, from her debut release, ‘Taylor Swift’, to ‘Lover’ to ‘Midnights’ all presenting dreams about walking down the aisle.

With fans praying for a proposal from Taylor’s love Travis Kelce, take a trip down memory lane with all of Taylor’s lyrics about marriage, from wistful and whimsical, to tortured and tired.

Debut
Taylor’s been dreaming about marriage since she released her first album, titled ‘Taylor Swift’. The dreamy lyrics in ‘Mary’s Song’ read: “We were sitting at our favourite spot in town / And you looked at me, got down on one knee /Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle / Our whole town came and our mamas cried / You said I do and I did too”

Fearless
Singing about how we dream of marriage in our teens, ‘Fifteen’ sees Taylor realise marriage isn’t everything, writing: “Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday / But I realised some bigger dreams of mine.”

Taylor’s Shakespeare-inspired track, ‘Love Story’, is perhaps her most fairytale take on marriage, with the lyrics reading: “He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring / And said, “Marry me, Juliet / You’ll never have to be alone / I love you and that’s all I really know /I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress / It’s a love story, baby, just say, yes.”

On ‘Fearless’ Vault Track ‘We Were Happy’ Taylor sings of thwarted plans to marry her teenage sweetheart, wistfully writing: “No one could touch the way we laughed in the dark / Talkin’ ’bout your daddy’s farm / And you were gonna marry me / And we were happy.”

Speak Now
The whole of ‘Speak Now’s’ title track centres around someone dreaming of interrupting a wedding to tell their love not to get married – a different take on Taylor’s normally love-filled lyrics about marriage.

In the Vault Track ‘Foolish One’ Taylor laments not being the one her lover wants to marry, writing: “Cause you got her on your arm and me in the wings / I’ll get your longing glances, but she’ll get your ring.”

‘Timeless’ sees Taylor tell the tale of lives lived by other couples, singing: “I was forced to marry another man / You still would’ve been mine / We would have been timeless.”

Red
Heartbreak album ‘Red’ doesn’t see 22-year-old Taylor dream of marriage so much – at least not for herself. On ‘Starlight’ she sings about Ethel Kennedy, writing: “We could get married / Have ten kids and teach ’em how to dream.”

1989
Taylor was living her best single life when she released ‘1989’, and this is reflected in the lack of marriage-related lyrics, with just one reference to tying the know on her first pure pop album.

‘How You Get The Girl’ sees Taylor reference wedding vows, singing: “I want you for worse or for better.”

Lover
In contrast to ‘Reputation’, Taylor’s next album, ‘Lover’, was awash with marriage references.

The title track featured her now-iconic take on wedding vows and is regularly used as a first dance song. “Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand? / I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover / My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue / Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover.”

Paper Rings’ see Taylor telling her partner she’d “Marry him with paper rings.”

Folklore
Another album with minimal marriage references, the pandemic release mentions a wedding just once, in ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’, with Taylor writing: “The wedding was charming, if a little gauche.”

Evermore
‘Champagne Problems’ tells the story of a doomed love, with several lyrics about a declined proposal.” Sometimes you just don’t know the answer ‘til someone’s on their knees and asks you,” Taylor writes, adding: “She would’ve made such a lovely bride, what a shame she’s [expletive] in the head.”

Midnights
Taylor seems to have rejected the notion of marriage in ‘Midnights’, with several scathing comments about being expected to walk down the aisle included in her 2022 album.

On the opening track of ‘Midnights’, ‘Lavender Haze’, Taylor bemoans that people expect her to get married, writing: “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride. The only kind of girl they see is a one-night or a wife.”