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A Lyrical Analysis of LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

Or how Sky joined tumblr to rant about her many theories about this delicious song. So after a night of reading EVERYONE’S opinions about Taylor’s latest, I couldn’t stop myself from doing a breakdown. Most people are assuming this song is all about one person (we all know who!) but the more I listen to it, the more I think it’s actually about three different people in Taylor’s life. I don't like your little games Don't like your tilted stage The role you made me play Of the fool, no, I don't like you

Obviously, we know who this is about. She comes out strong. But then we segway into this: I don't like your perfect crime How you laugh when you lie You said the gun was mine Isn't cool, no, I don't like you (oh) I think this is about Person #2. “Perfect Crime” speaks to me of someone who thinks they can get away with something--like groping a woman in front of everyone and then denying it and shifting the blame to her enough to sue her. One of the reasons sexual assault rarely gets prosecuted is because He said/She Said crimes are the hardest to prove ie “A perfect crime”. Also the line “you said the gun was mine” fits perfectly into this. I don't like your kingdom keys They once belonged to me You ask me for a place to sleep Locked me out and threw a feast (what?)

I think this is about person #3--maybe someone she was in a relationship with. Who she let into her kingdom (ie her heart) and who shut her out. Ooh, look what you made me do Look what you made me do Look what you just made me do Look what you just made me— Ooh, look what you made me do Look what you made me do Look what you just made me do Look what you just made me do

This also changes the repetitive “look what you made me do” into something bigger. Many thinkpieces have said that it’s a “bullying” and “abusive” phrase but I actually think that is the point.

Taylor is subverting the thing that men say to women constantly, in life, in business, in bed, in relationships. She is throwing back a phrase that is used to shift blame--not to particularly shift blame herself, in the song she acknowledges she “got hers” and the fallout means “I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me“--but instead, she uses a phrase that likely has been said to her in life, in business, in court and in relationships, and she’s hurling it back into the world. It’s mocking. It’s angry: Look what I made you do? Now look what you made ME do.