I tried the experiment of listening to the tracks from The Manuscript backward to get a sense of...
Remember, this is the PUBLIC Narrative, which may differ from Taylor's private life and from the real truth.
Big thanks to song writing timeline info to Reddit Swifties and especially:
Debut (released Oct 24, 2006)
4 delu, least bargaining w/1
September 2006: Taylor writes Come In With The Rain and releases an early mix of the song on MySpace.
December 1, 2006: [Interview with CMT] Taylor talks about the Debut rejects that will later become some of the Fearless Vault Songs in 2021.
- “I've been very selfish about my songs. I had this dream of this project [Debut Album] coming out for so many years now that I just stockpiled. I'm so happy that I did because now we have a second album full of songs and a third album full of songs, and I don't have to lift a finger.”
December 2006: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor writes White Horse.
December 28, 2006: Performance at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville including Our Song.
Early 2007: Taylor writes The Other Side Of The Door.
April 2007: Taylor writes You're Not Sorry, possibily about Sam Armstrong.
- [Interview from October 2008] “I wrote it about maybe a year and half ago about this guy that kept apologizing and kept doing the same thing over and over again and after a while you just have stand up to that person and say, ‘You’re not sorry. At all... bye.’” “I wrote a few more songs [other than Should've Said No] on this upcoming record about him just because, you know, I wasn’t done being mad about it. I know he's on the edge of his seat waiting.
July 2007: Taylor has written more or less 75 songs, including Fearless.
- [Unrated Magazine Interview] “I've got, like, 75 written, and we just have to whittle it down to whatever number of songs we want to put on the album, and start recording.
August 2007: Taylor writes The Best Day while on tour with Brad Paisley.
November 7, 2007: After months of putting it off, Taylor finishes Change after winning the CMA Horizon award. This will be the last time in which her fiddler Emily Poe would perfom with Taylor.
November 10, 2007: Taylor meets up with Colbie Caillat and they write Breathe, for her former fiddle player, Emily Poe.
“Breathe is a song about having to let go of someone in your life who you care about and you don't want to hurt but you've outgrown the friendship or the relationship. “It’s a song about having to say goodbye to somebody, but it never blames anybody. Sometimes that’s the most difficult part. When it’s nobody’s fault.
March 2008: Just days after writing Love Story, Taylor has a writing session with Craig Wiseman. She brings Love Story with her, asking if he wanted to finish it with her, but he refused.
Early June 2008: Taylor records Crazier and White Horse.
July-Oct 2008 Joe Jonas
Fearless (released Nov 11, 2008)
anger 4, acceptance 1
2009 Demi Lovato pops off
After Lovato infamously told the paparazzi to “Ask Taylor!” when asked about former bestie Gomez in 2009, it was clear the two women weren’t close. The “Body Say” singer has since slammed Swift on multiple occasions, including for her drama with Perry.
March-April 2009 Lucas Till
July 2009 Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner meet on the set of ‘Valentines Day’ film
September 13, 2009
July/Sept to sometime after Dec 12 Taylor-Squared breaks up
https://people.com/music/taylor-swift-and-taylor-lautner-relationship-timeline/
Jan 31, 2010
Dec 2009 to Feb 2010
Jan 31, 2010 Taylor Swift sings w/Stevie Nicks at the Grammys
June 16, 2010: The Story Of Us is the last song Taylor writes before having a writer's block that ended 6 months later.
Speak Now (released Oct 25, 2010)
2 all, 1 acceptance
26 October 2010 Taylor and Jake are spotted together in Brooklyn getting lunch with Emma Stone:
Late December 2010: initial idea for All Too Well is born during a Speak Now Tour rehearsal.
2010: According to its US Copyright file, Stay Stay Stay was written.
31 October 2010 Taylor and Jake are spotted in Big Sur together and stay at California’s Post Inn Ranch.
[I could find the flavors of ice cream they ordered, but I couldn’t find any pics of them…]
2 November 2010 - Taylor and Jake are spotted in Santa Barbara together:
They get ice cream, interact with fans, and Taylor reportedly laughs at everything Jake says.
11 November 2010 Taylor and Jake G take a chartered plane to London:
[I heard he was papped with the scarf from “the very first week” but couldn’t find pics]
- Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal has reportedly spent 100,000 pounds on his lady love Taylor Swift to fly her to London so that the couple could spend some quality time together.
16 November 2010 Jake attends the Love and Other Drugs premiere without Taylor:
[To be fair it looks like Jake and Anne Hathaway were doing the promotion as a set for each stop. I classify it as chemistry for the movie’s sake]
Anne Hathaway told Entertainment Weekly,how her relationship with Gyllenhaal stayed on a surface level since making the cowboy love story. "It was more of a bump-into-each-other casual thing. I was always happy to see you [Gylenhaal], but we didn't really reach out to each other. I kind of felt more bonded to you than I felt that we were friends."
25 November 2010 Taylor and Jake spend Thanksgiving in Brooklyn with Jake’s family:
30 November 2010 Taylor and Jake have coffee in Nashville:
5 December 2010 Jake is asked about Taylor and says this:
“One of the greatest parts about being in a relationship is the intimacy you share, but it can be difficult if you’re being watched the whole time.”
[This reminds me so much of what Taylor’s currently saying about Joe. Interesting, looking back on it.]
7 December 2010 Jake and Taylor do the “maple latte” pap walk stunt in Brooklyn with Maggie and her daughter:
9 December 2010 Taylor and Jake drive around LA, Jake yells at the paps:
Oct 23, 2010-Jan 4, 2011
https://people.com/music/taylor-swift-jake-gyllenhaal-relationship-timeline/
19 January 2011 Taylor and Jake are spotted together by fans in Nashville:
First at a coffee shop and then at dinner. Jake did not have any other business in Nashville, so it can be assumed he came there to talk to Taylor.
Were Taylor and Jake real? I don’t know. They really only ever did that one pap walk and didn’t seem to publicly promote each other’s work, as far as I could find, despite both releasing projects while together. The one pap walk they did seems to maybe have been to cover for All Too Well, which had possibly already been written (likely about Liz) before Jake and Taylor started dating.
27 February 2011 Taylor attends the Vanity Fair Oscar party:
She is spotted by a Washington Post reporter talking with Jake. Here’s what they had to say about what was overheard:
Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal, recently broken up, huddle in a nook by the bathrooms, under the forlorn gaze of a portrait of Greta Garbo. Gyllenhaal is using words like "care" and "feel." It is not a good spot to linger.
First week of March 2011: Taylor edits All Too Well with Liz Rose's help.
March 27, 2011: While in her hotel room in Dublin, Taylor writes Better Man.
June 11, 2011: Taylor says, during a show in Detroit, that she had written 10 of the Red album songs, all of them sad.
June 17, 2011: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor mentions "feeling blissfully happy" especially since she wrote "those 2 songs", which she will record after flying back to Nashville after the show in Pittsburgh, PA. One of them may be State Of Grace.
- [On Good Morning America] "I wrote this song about when you first fall in love with someone — the possibilities, kind of thinking about the different ways that it could go. It’s a really big sound. To me, this sounds like the feeling of falling in love in an epic way."
June 24, 2011: Taylor meets up with Lori McKenna at her house in Boston. They write I Bet You Think About Me.
July 2011: Taylor writes Starlight. Originally, the demo was more country.
August 26, 2011: Kuk Harrell tweets that Taylor and Justin Bieber wrote a song together, called Cannon Balls. Tom Strahle, one of Justin Bieber's collaborators talked extensively about the song in these lives.
September 8, 2011: [From Lover Journal 1] Taylor writes Red on a plane on her way to Nashville.
October 4, 2011: Taylor writes Sad Beautiful Tragic on her ukulele, while on her tour bus, while reminiscing about a relationship that had ended months ago.
October 21, 2011: Maya Thompson, Ronan's mother, is invited by Taylor to her concert in Glendale. She tells Maya that she has just written a song about her son Ronan.
December 2011: Taylor writes Begin Again.
Late December 2011: Taylor reworks Starlight.
January 2012: Shortly after hiring Max Martin and Shellback, Taylor starts writing a sad piano ballad called 'Trouble', that will become I Knew You Were Trouble. She emails Max Martin about it, but they have to put the song on hold for 6 months.
February 2012: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor writes Holy Ground.
March 2, 2012: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor writes Nothing New. While still in Australia, she also writes The Lucky One.
April 12, 2012: Taylor has a writing session in LA with Dan Wilson. The first song they write is Treacherous.
April 13, 2012: Taylor and Dan Wilson write and Come Back... Be Here.
April 23, 2012: Taylor meets Max Martin and Shellback. The first song they write is Message In A Bottle.
April 24, 2012: Taylor, Max Martin and Shellback write *We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together*
May 15, 2012: Taylor meets Ed Sheeran for the first time, after his concert in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Ritz Hotel: they write Run, their first song ever.
May 17, 2012: Taylor has lunch with Mark Foster from Foster The People in Beverly Hills, CA. They write Forever Winter.
May 27, 2012: Taylor and Ed write Everything Has Changed.*
June 2012 Dear John
July-Oct 2012 Connor Kennedy
Oct 17, 2012: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor writes This Love in LA. This will be the last song produced by Nathan Chapman and the only one recorded in Nashville.
Red (released Oct 22, 2012)
6 anger, 1 delu & 1 acceptance
Nov 18, 2012: Taylor meets Jack Antonoff and his band, Fun., for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany, while at the MTV Europe Music Awards. They bond over 80s music.
Nov 2012 to Jan 2013 Harry Styles
31 December 2012 The NYE Haylor Stunt Kiss:
4 January 2013 Taylor leaves Harrry and the islands early:
5 January 2013 Taylor signals the Haylor breakup:
9 January 2013 Taylor and Harry’s breakup announced:
Jan 10, 2013: January 10, 2013: Taylor tweets "Back in the studio. Uh oh...". She will confirm that the song was All You Had To Do Was Stay on October 27, 2014 on Tumblr.
Jan 15, 2013: January 15, 2013: Taylor posts a picture of herself in the studio, with the caption "Somewhere in LA". She'll later reveal that she was writing How You Get The Girl.
Jan 2013 Taylor offended by the joke
May 20, 2013 Taylor makes it known she doesn’t like Justin Bieber
May 27, 2013: While in Rhode Island for the Memorial Day weekend, Jack playsTaylor an instrumental track that will later become I Wish You Would.
July 2013 The start of Taymerica parties and introduction of ‘ The Squad’
https://people.com/taylor-swift-cutest-moments-with-friends-during-1989-era-pictures-8383306
September 15, 2013: Jack completes the instrumental track that will later become Out Of The Woods, after his show was cancelled.
November 19, 2013: Taylor records Blank Space. This is based on the wall behind her on an Instagram post from this day, the credits, and the behind the scenes clip.
January 2014: Taylor writes You Are In Love.
January 23, 2014: Taylor and Ryan Tedder write Welcome To New York. Ryan produces a demo in three hours. This demo is the one included in the album.
January 21, 2014: Taylor sends Ryan Tedder the I Know Places Voice Memo.
January 22, 2014: [From the 1989 Booklet] Taylor and Ryan finish and record I Know Places.
February 9, 2014: [From the 1989 Booklet] While in London, during the European leg of the Red Tour, Taylor and Imogen Heap write Clean in just 9 hours at Imogen's home studio. Taylor will sing the song just two times.
February 15, 2014: [Lover Journal] Taylor, Max Martin and Shellback write Shake It Off.
February 19, 2014: Taylor, Max Martin, Shellback and Ali Payami write Style. This is the last song made for the album.
March 24, 2014: [From a Lover Journal] Taylor moves to New York.
Aug 30, 2015 Taylor presents Kanye an award-they are good
Sept 2014 Katy Perry Feud goes public
Swift explained to Rolling Stone that the artist "did something so horrible" and called her relationship with the unnamed singer akin to "straight-up enemies." She added, "And it wasn't even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I'm surprisingly non-confrontational—you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So, now I have to avoid her. It's awkward, and I don't like it."
1989 (released Oct 27, 2014)
2 all, 0 sad
Nov 12, 2014 clown, Diplo, body shames Taylor
Feb 2015 to May 2016 Calvin Harris
25 March 2015 Taylor and Calvin papped in matching outfits at Whole Foods in Nashville shopping for Karlie’s Kookies:
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris surfaced in Nashville ... could it be? Taylor and the famous DJ were coming out of Whole Foods Wednesday night -- wearing matching shirts no less -- when 2 people snapped the pics. This isn't the first time they've been together recently. Taylor went to Calvin's concert in Vegas earlier this month. There were reports he chartered a jet to fly her to the gig. They got all flirty at the Brit Awards after-party in London back in February.
March 2015: So It Goes written [conflict w/Sept 2017]
I’d [Oscar Görres] just become a father. I was not in the room when the melody and the lyrics were written. Max and Shellback did half of the album with her in L.A., and I had done this [instrumental] track—which is weird too, because I don’t do tracks… Shellback was looking through things on his computer, listened to that track, and Taylor reacted to it. "Oh, what’s that? That’s special. I haven’t done anything like that. Can we do that?" So they were vibing and doing melodies, and Taylor had the lyrics. She wrote everything quickly. I woke up—this is the funny part of the story—and someone is FaceTiming me at 6:30 in the morning. I’ve just had a child. I was up all night and my eyes were bloodshot and my hair was crazy. I saw it was Shellback and I ignored the call, put my phone away, and jumped into the shower. My girlfriend is like, "...Someone’s calling you constantly, it’s Johan [Shellback]! Can you just take it?" I got out of the shower with a towel wrapped around me and I texted Shellback like, "Ok, it’s 6:30 a.m., I am so tired, I’ve been up all night, and I just got out of the shower. Can I call you back later?" He said, "No. Call me. Now." [Laughs.] I called him back and saw this girl on his couch. She goes, "Hi! It’s Taylor! How are you?" And I’m presenting myself [in a towel] after a shower… it was a very unpleasant picture for her. She goes, "We just heard the track… I can read you the lyrics! I had this idea. What do you think about that?" And I was like, "…yes!" It was a very strange songwriting session for me, but I’m very thankful for that. It’s the one FaceTime call I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
May 2015 Bad Blood video is a who’s who–rumored to be about Katy Perry
July 2015 Taylor steps in it
2016 Kanye + Scooter
Kanye West was already pretty famous when he joined forces with Scooter Braun. It was in 2016 when multiple reports revealed that the "Donda" rapper had asked Braun to join his management team
July 1, 2016 Kanye puts disgusting revenge porn of Taylor in his ‘Famous’ video
July 2016 Calvin Harris was an Ass
May-Sept 2016 Tom Hiddleston
July 18, 2016
Aug 2016: [1 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor’s streetwear
Aug 26, 2016: [1 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor is in NYC for Blake's baby shower:
Saturday afternoon, Blake Lively had her shower for baby #2 about an hour outside of Manhattan. It was a quiet, private event at the Bedford Post Inn in Bedford, N.Y., a source tells E! News. Guests arrived at 11 a.m. for the 90-minute party before some went back to her and Ryan Reynolds' house nearby for more celebrating. Taylor Swift, who just gave Lively a birthday shoutout and hosted her at the Taymerica Fourth of July blowout, was among the party goers, E! confirms.
Aug 29, 2016 [1 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor has jury duty in Nashville:
Aug 31, 2016 [1 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor's street style:
Sept 2016: [2 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor out and about
Sept 2-29, 2016: The first Reputation songs,Gorgeous and KOMH, are written
Sept 2016: Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston called it quits on their whirlwind romance after three months of dating
Sept 9, 2016 [2 mo after SnakeGate] Tommy Hilfiger's New York Fashion Week show:
Swift makes her first public appearance since the Snapchat scandal and Hiddleswift breakup, at Gigi Hadid and Tommy Hilfiger's New York Fashion Week show on Sept. 9.
Oct 13, 2016: [3 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor goes out w/Serena Williams, while friends including Karlie Kloss, Zoe Kravitz and Lily Donaldson
Nov 2, 2016: [4 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor presents at the CMAs
Nov 7, 2016 [4 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor hosts Lorde's b-day in NYC:
Nov 8, 2016 [4 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor posts voting selfie (USA, obv):
Sharing her selfie from the polling place, she encouraged all her fans to vote. That’s wonderful.
@taylorswift13 It is wrong to exploit feminism in order to sell records but then stand idly by as a misogynist ravages the country. Just FYI
— Casey Mink (@Casey_Mink) November 8, 2016
@taylorswift13 hey why aren't you throwing your weight on a candidate? It's literally the least you could do. Today is your deadline.— Bowen Yang (@bowenyang) November 8, 2016
.@taylorswift13 Too little too f*ckin late, girl!— Remembrance Gay (@kevinjn) November 8, 2016
Nov 11, 2016 [4 mo after SnakeGate] screening Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk:
Taylor was joined by her mom Andrea Swift, friends Este and Alana Haim, as well as some other pals. The group reportedly caught a showing of Kristen Stewart‘s new movie Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which is currently playing in limited release before it goes wide.
Nov 24, 2016 [4 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor and Austin watch KinkyBoots (NYC):
Dec 2016: [5 mo after SnakeGate] This is fucking adorable
Jan 11, 2017: [6 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor goes out to the gym
Jan 21, 2017: Taylor Tweets support for the Women’s March
Backlash ensues
Feb 5, 2017: [7 mo after SnakeGate] Taylor does a pre-Super Bowl show
March 9, 2017: backlash Tweets about Taylor declining a LADIES LUNCHEON
Feb 6, 2017 to May 13, 2017 (specifics unknown): [8th & 9th mo after SnakeGate] Taylor and Tom Hiddleston broke up in September of 2016, and she seemingly moved to London soon after.
The Sun reports that Taylor was staying in North London (in disguise) and that she and Joe Alwyn are dating. The outlet spoke to an insider in May 2017 who says "She's been walking around with Joe in London using disguises, like scarves and hats, to keep her identity under wraps. Nobody has a clue they've been walking past a music superstar - not even her new neighbors."
Taylor actually spoke about this phase of her life with TIME Magazine during her Person of the Year interview, saying (re: Kim Kardashian infamous leaking her call with Kanye West), “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
Taylor was not confirmed physically seen:
May 14, 2017: Taylor Swift visits her mom in Nashville on Mother’s Day
May 2017 Katy Perry releases a cringy, poorly written comeback song
May 2017 Taylor and Joe Alwyn get together
July 13, 2017: The last (w/confirmed date) song for Reputation is written (End Game).
Aug 7 to Aug 14, 2017 Sexual Assault Trial
August 18, 2017, Swift wiped all posts from her social media accounts, as well as her official website.
Aug 25, 2017 LWYMMD released and has pointed references to Katy Perry
the diss track includes lyrics that potentially reference her feud with Perry. "Locked me out and threw a feast," Swift sings at one point, a line many have speculated connects to Perry's single, "Bon Appetit." The track also shares a similar beat to Peaches' "Operate," which is featured in Mean Girls, the movie cited by Perry in her infamous 2014 tweet urging followers to "watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing" (a post purportedly about Swift).
Sept 2017: So It Goes might have been written last min [conflict w/March 2015]
Take note that Oscar Gorres says “I’d just become a father.” Not “I had my second child.” The date of writing is disputed date bc he has two kids: One was born on March 2, 2015, the other one on September 12, 2017
Oct 24, 2017: …Ready for it? Released
Reputation (released Nov 10, 2017)
6 delu, 0 acceptance
Jan 1, 2018 Karlie jumps into the fray
May 8, 2018 to Nov 21, 2018 Reputation Tour
May 8, 2018
Perry extended a literal olive branch to the singer
July 18, 2018: The first song, Cruel Summer, is written for the Lover album.
Nov 19, 2018 Taylor begins recording Lover, the first song of the Lover album
In the Lover voice memo on the deluxe edition, she said the song was "the catalyst for what the rest of the album turned into," suggesting that this was one of the first songs she finished for the album.
Nov-Dec 2019: Afterglow, IFTYE, INTHAF were written.
Jan 2019: Taylor finishes writing The Archer, Cornelia St, ITHK, MA&THP, and YNTCD.
Feb 24, 2019 Taylor finishes recording Lover
In the EW article, she said she posted the palm trees when she finished recording.
April-May 2019
On Ellen she alluded to possibly adding songs to the album at the last minute, so she was probably talking about DBATC. So the album was "done" on February 24 until she decided to add DBATC sometime in April or May.
June 15, 2019 Taylor performs at The Stonewall Inn
June 17, 2019 Katy Perry portrayed in a positive light in the YNTCD video
2019 3 enemies unite
June 30, 2019 Masters Heist is revealed
June 30, 2019
June 2019 London Boy is added on to the (previously) finished Lover album at the last min
Lover (released Aug 23, 2019)
5 bargaining, 0 sad and anger
Nov 25, 2019 Artist of the Decade
March 2020 truth came to light that the KimYe phone call was edited
Sept 2020
Jan 7, 2024 nominated for Golden Globe for “Beautiful Ghosts” in Cats film
Jan 31, 2020 Miss Americana documentary
folklore (released July 24, 2020)
3 anger, sadness, acceptance; 1 delu
evermore (released Dec 11, 2020)
5 acceptance; 0 bargaining
April 2021
Fearless TV
Nov 2021
Red TV
ATW Short Film
May 18, 2022 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
Midnights (released Oct 21, 2022 at 12AM EST)
3 for delu & acceptance ; 0 bargaining
3am (released Oct 21, 2022 at 3AM EST)
2 delu, anger & sadness; 0 acceptance
Jan 2023 Taylor performs Anti-Hero for the 1st time in a surprise appearance at the 1975 concert
Feb 2023 Grammy for ATW short film
April 2023 Taylor and Joe breakup
May-June 2023 Taylor is seen with Matty Healy
Oct 2023
1989 TV Released
Jan 24, 2024 Pretentious Douche, Damon Albarn wrongly says Taylor doesn’t write her own songs
Feb 2024 Grammy for Album in the Year (4th time and record)
