Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston References in Taylor Swift's "Better Man" Lyrics
Earlier today, Little Big Town—a country group that performed with Taylor Swift on the 1989 World Tour—revealed that their new song "Better Man" was written by Swift herself. "She sent us this song, and it was one that was really special to her," Karen Fairchild said in the Facebook Live press conference the group held. "And she thought of us because of the harmonies, and she's never pitched a song to anyone before and the moment that we heard it we were like, 'Man, that is a song that we're gonna cut.'"
Swift confirmed the news herself on Instagram this afternoon:
And the song's lyrics are interesting, in the context of Swift's recent breakups with Calvin Harris (the year-plus-long relationship that ended in June and got very messy this summer) and Tom Hiddleston (the summer fling that may be back on).
Swift concedes in the chorus, "But I just miss you, and I just wish you were a better man"—which may be her way of acknowledging all of Harris' shade-throwing post-breakup (the "This Is What You Came For" Twitter rant, the Hiddleston-inspired song "Ole", the other probable Swift song "My Way", etc.). She ends it with the biting "We might still be in love, if you were a better man/Better man."
But there's plenty of lines that suggest it could be about Hiddleston, including "I know I'm probably better off all alone/Than needing a man who could change his mind/At any given minute/And it's always on your terms." Which could be alluding to the fact that Hiddleston and Swift did long distance while Hiddleston was shooting a movie in Australia.
Or...it may not be about a specific guy at all!
But, since this is Taylor Swift, we're going to read into it. Below, the full lyrics, annotated:
I know I'm probably better off on my own [Before Swift dated Hiddleston and Harris, she was all about her squad and the single life. She told People in October 2014, "It would take an astonishing human for me to even consider getting back into a relationship. It would take something really, really, really, really different—a kind of a one-in-a-million person for me to face all that."]
Than lovin' a man who didn't know
What he had when he had it
And I see the permanent damage you did to me
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