We were all incredibly surprised by the drastic change of voice and style in Taylor Swift’s 2017 album, Reputation. The lyrics are brilliant, in usual Taylor Swift style. Though some of the songs were a hit-or-miss in my opinion, there were some that truly amazed me. Among these successes was “Don’t Blame Me.”
The song is slowly sung, reminiscent of a ballad, and peppered with the occasional psychedelic pop effect. At first listen, and glance of the lyrics, it appears to be your typical love song. Let’s take a glance at the lyrics.
[CHORUS]
Don’t blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doing it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be using for the rest of my life
I’ve been breaking hearts a long time
And toying with them older guys
Just playthings for me to use
Something happened for the first time
In the darkest little paradise
Shaking, pacing, I just need you
For you, I would cross the line
I would waste my time
I would lose my mind
They say, “She’s gone too far this time”
[CHORUS X2]
My name is whatever you decide
And I’m just gonna call you mine
I’m insane, but I’m your baby (your baby)
Echoes of your name inside my mind
Halo, hiding my obsession
I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy
And baby, for you, I would fall from grace
Just to touch your face
If you walk away
I’d beg you on my knees to stay
[CHORUS X2]
I get so high, oh
Every time you’re, every time you’re loving me
You’re loving me
Trip of my life, oh
Every time you’re, every time you’re touching me
You’re touching me
Every time you’re, every time you’re loving me
Oh, Lord, save me
My drug is my baby
I’ll be using for the rest of my life
(Using for the rest of my life, oh)
Don’t blame me, your love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doing it right (doing it right, no)
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be using for the rest of my life, oh
Don’t blame me, your love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doing it right (you ain’t doing it…)
Oh, Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be using for the rest of my life (I’ll be using, I’ll be using)
I get so high, oh
Every time, you’re, every time you’re loving me
You’re loving me
Oh, Lord, save me
My drug is my baby
I’ll be using for the rest of my life
Once more, this song appears to be your typical love song. It attests to the addictive nature of love, how there is a thin line between passionately loving someone and losing your mind, but I believe that the song isn’t all that beautiful. More likely, the song is talking about an experience with drug use.
The chorus literally uses the word drug to reference this supposed object of love. When one reads the sentence at first, “my drug is my baby” one does a reversal of the subject/predicate layout and actually interpret the meaning as “My baby (i.e. lover, significant other, object of affection) is my drug.” However, the reading I propose is that of, “The drug is my baby, what I need, what I adore.” The use of whatever drug the musical voice references, which in my opinion is some type of psychedelic. More so, the voice also says that she’ll “be using for the rest of my life.”
Onto the next stanza. Here we are told that she has been toying with the hearts of men for a long time and using them as playthings.Though this is a strict reference to human beings, and not an inanimate thing like drugs, people can be used as objects. Modern life frequently leaves it subjects feeling empty. People end up resorting to a myriad of pastimes to effectively combat the resounding emptiness that comes from lack of pleasurable and soul-filling activities. Often times, emptiness is combated with sex, food, mindless activities, alcohol, and drugs. In this stanza, she is confessing to using people as toys, possibly as objects of desire, in an attempt to fill her time. After doing this, she ends up discovering something else that can potentially replace her mindless consumption of people: a drug or drugs.
The final two verses of this stanza are also indicative of this. All drugs are generally viewed under a negative scope or something belonging to a subculture; they are viewed as something dark and unhealthy–of course, most drugs are. They can also create addictions. As I mentioned before, I theorize that the drug she is experimenting with maybe is a psychedelic. Psychedelic generally do not cause physical addictions, though some people may become psychologically dependant on them. In this case, the final verse of this stanza would not entirely fit with the theme (“shaking, pacing, I just need you”). In any case, a psychological addiction may cause these symptoms, as a drawback may cause an anxious breakdown or something along that line. However, other drugs do cause physical addiction and shaking is just one symptom of withdrawal.
If you look and analyze the lyrics literally, Taylor could be camouflaging a drug use with love interest, or if you look at the song metaphorically, it’s the other way around. Music and literature are things that can not be analyzed from a purely objective point of view. Everything is subjective in accordance to the viewer, reader, and/or listener. However, I do strongly believe that the song is a descent into drug use. This theme fits in with Taylor’s bad girl reinvention. The character of Taylor in the reputation album is one who obviously goes through a lot of issues through the songs and the music: lost love, chaos, illegal activities, and drug use could just be another pea in the pod.
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