Taylor Swift’s broad discography overflows with songs about defying the haters. As no stranger to scandal and persecution by the press, it’s not surprising Taylor has a song to deal with every type of hate out there.
While you might think it’s foolish to give attention to your bullies and abusers, Taylor justified her sweetly venomous music when she said, “When [the haters] stop coming for me, I will stop singing to them,” in her authentic style of cute-country fearlessness in the face of hostility.
Our playlist of hate-defying music captures the swarming energy you need to fight back against your enemies with self-empowerment, confidence and careless indifference, rather than spurring even more fist-flying hatred.
Taylor Swift Songs About Defying The Haters
1. Shake It Off
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. Shake It Off is a landmark song from Taylor’s entire discography.
Released in 2014, it was one of the tracks which signified the change from her early country-inspired acoustic music to the electrified anthems that constitute her work today.
Shake It Off has a cheerleader type of energy that, in itself, is enough to put some strut in your walk.
Against a bright landscape of harmony soaked in confidence, Taylor’s lyrics detail the hate she receives from the media, “I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain, go on too many dates but I can’t make them stay,” – hate which Taylor’s sparkling, positive energy dispels from her field.
Perhaps unknowingly, Swift summons the ancient belief that movement and noise repel evil spirits from one’s presence, through her lyrics “But I keep cruising, can’t stop, won’t stop moving,” as she drowns out the hate with music and dance.
2. ME! ft. Brendon Urie
As self-absorbed as this summery song might be, it carries a ton of messages within its lyrics. ME! is a letter to a lover or an ex.
Between masses of reflective lines like, “I know that I’m a handful baby … I know I tend to make it about me,” Taylor affirms how, although she might be a lot of work to deal with, she is completely unique and beautiful despite her bad sides.
Swift completes her song’s summer feeling with blue-sky imagery which holds a crystal clear message; “Like a rainbow with all of the colours, baby doll, when it comes to a lover, I promise that you’ll never find another like me.”
Rippling with confidence, ME! was made for anyone seeking some self-assurance of their place in a relationship, or strength after a tumultuous break up.
3. Mean
Mean is a song that takes a cutely savage swing at anyone that tries to wear you down. In the innocent style of her early era, Taylor illustrates the silent battle she fights against her not-so-silent bullies.
Their “words like knives”, their voices like “nails on a chalkboard” and their “wildfire lies and humiliation” are just some of the things she struggles against.
But she abruptly turns the tables on them in her chorus: “Someday I’ll be living in a big old city, and all you’re ever gonna be is mean. Someday I’ll be big enough so you can’t hit me, and all you’re gonna be is mean.”
Sung in a sweet country tone, this line conjures power beyond its mere words and becomes a condescending blow to anyone who causes you abuse.
4. Clean
This track is about washing away the excess left over from a past relationship. Swift uses captivating imagery like, “You’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore,” to show how burdened she remains even though her relationship is over.
But Clean’s chorus shows how she is able to renew herself from misery, “Rain came pouring down when I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe, and by morning, gone was any trace of you.”
Taylor defies the hate left smouldering by the memory of her lover with her line, “Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you.”
Clean’s sound might not expel the pumping energy you need to start a fight against the person who’s done you wrong, but it nevertheless fills a void; taking the form of a softly comforting song for anyone defying the hate alone.
5. I Did Something Bad
This song is a crowning piece of Taylor’s discography and undeservedly obscure due to the fact it was never released as a single. If it was, it would have turned the world on its head.
Taylor’s ‘revenge’ era is marked by a sound that’s almost dystopian compared to her early work. I Did Something Bad is bold, relentless and gritty, complete with a fervid energy you can harness to put everyone around you to shame.
Taylor is shameless in her defiance, and fearless against the hate she will inevitably get for her actions, “They say I did something bad, then why’s it feel so good? Most fun I ever had and I’d do it over and over and over again if I could.”
This is a song you can turn on whenever you need to spark an inextinguishable fire within yourself to get you through whatever the day might throw at you.
6. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Taylor’s US #1, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together catapulted to the top of the charts for its message of using personal power against your ex.
Doused with a cloying American sweetheart attitude, Swift patronisingly sings to her ex, “I’m really gonna miss you picking fights,” whilst embroidering her lyrics with irony;
“You’d hide away and find your peace of mind with some indie record that’s much cooler than mine,” vocalised with sarcasm showing that Taylor knows her records are actually better than her ex’s music taste.
As much as this song is clearly an anthem about defying the haters and living your own best life, we can’t help but conspire that maybe the reason her man didn’t treat her right in the first place is because of the annoying, catty attitude she demonstrates prolifically throughout her vocal tone and music video.
7. I Forgot That You Existed
I Forgot That You Existed clearly shows how you can cut a person out of your life completely and move so far forwards that their hate will never warp your mind again.
The song admits spending too much time “thinking about how you did me wrong,” and the subtle torture of “living in the shade you were throwing ‘till all of my sunshine was gone.”
But the song’s message is prominent and hopeful: “I forgot that you existed, and I thought that it would kill me but it didn’t.”
Her clever, cut-off lyric “I forgot that you- Got out some popcorn…” shows how little she truly cares as she focuses on her own life instead. This track was written for anyone seeking to transform into a carefree and lightweight free spirit.