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There’s one question that makes Taylor Swift uneasy. During the 29-year-old’s appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, she revealed that since the start of her career, she’s been asked ‘What will you do if you ever get happy? Will you just never be able to write a song again?” Taylor explained that the question would “deteriorate my mental health,” leaving her to wonder if at one day she would have to give up the one thing she loves doing.
“When I would get that question as a young person, I’d be like ‘Well, I started out writing songs about stuff I had no idea about,” she told the audience. The Mean singer shared that she started writing about heartbreak when she was 12 by pulling inspiration from movies and books.
Taylor even asked herself the same thing at one point. “I would go home and be like ‘What would happen if I were ever happy?’” She continued: “Would I not be able to do the thing I love the most in the world? Would I not be able to write breakup songs anymore? I love writing breakup songs. They’re so fun to write.” The Shake it Off singer finally realized that it doesn’t stop. After being in a relationship with actor Joe Alwyn for three years, she realized that she was still able to channel a little heartbreak on her recent album Lover.
After conversations with friends, the breakup song Death By a Thousand Cuts was born and to her was “proof that I don’t have to stop writing songs about heartache and misery, which, for me, was incredible.”
Taylor recently opened up about what writing her latest album meant to her and how much she learned about herself. “I don’t think I’ve ever leaned into the old version of myself more creatively that I have on this album,” she told Rolling Stone. “Where it’s very autobiographical, but also moments of extreme cachiness and moment of extreme personal confession.”