Don't Blame Me... for liking girls : a lesbian analysis of Don’t Blame Me by Taylor Swift

There are few things in this world that I cherish more than song lyrics. Being an expert at poetically arranging words in order to convey emotions shows in my opinion more genius and magic than any physician or wizard could ever demonstrate. It might be why I have a shelf full of notebooks waiting to be opened, longing for the words that are scribbled inside to be brought to life by a melody.

Unfortunately, my piano teacher gave up on my ability to play properly when I was five, and so did my violin and singing teachers soon after. But my lack of musical talent has not stopped my ever growing passion for lyrics and beautiful lines – it has actually had quite the opposite effect, if I dare say. If I was not when I was younger, I am now definitely in the “lyrics-over-melody” team, thus it should not surprise anyone when I state that the songs I love most are “visual” ones. By that I mean songs with lyrics that describe a situation so distinctly, and with such force and precision, that you can picture a vivid scene playing before your eyes. 

Don’t Blame Me is one of those songs for me. Ever since I first heard it in 2019, I knew it would be impossible for me to go back to what Taylor Swift wanted me to feel. When I play this song – my favourite of all times –, I am immediately transported to a universe that only exists inside my head. Since being a lesbian is a considerable part of my identity, it can be found in every aspect of my imagination ; that is why I wanted to offer a lesbian analysis of my favourite song and share how I envision the story that Taylor Swift provided us with.

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Disclaimer : My words are my own. This post is solely a listener’s interpretation of a work of art. I only intend to show how Taylor Swift’s lyrics might be relatable to a lesbian experience. This is in no way me speculating on the artist’s sexuality, nor an invitation to do so.

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When I listen to Don’t Blame Me, I am transported all the way back to Antiquity. The first time I pressed “play” on Spotify and every single time since then, my mind has pictured a forbidden love affair between a Greek goddess and a woman. It is their story that I want to present with this article. 

What causes a great scandal on Mount Olympus is not so much the lesbian aspect of the relationship as the fact that a goddess fell in love with a mere human. I imagine a trial where both of them are present and have to plead their case in front of Zeus, who has the power to shun and banish the goddess from Olympus if he chooses to. The whole song is sung by the goddess as she tries to convince Zeus to give her absolution.

the lyric analysis

The ominous atmosphere in which the story takes place is immediately displayed by the almost menacing mmh-mmh-mmh at the beginning of the song. 

Don't blame me, love made me crazy

The goddess tries to get out of the trial safe and sound by appealing to Zeus’ sympathy and how she lost all reason because of her feelings. It is almost as if another being, a kind of “presence” took control of her and her actions and therefore she cannot be reproached for what she has done. Love transformed her completely and she almost does not recognise herself – a very recurring theme in the lesbian experience, especially when one first comes to terms with one’s sexuality. 

If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right

Love has to put you in danger and make you do reckless things for it to be considered real. If you remain the same person and your lover does not change you and make you want to give it all up for them, then what good is it ? After attempting to make Zeus pity her, she seems to defy him ; at least she loved. 

Lord, save me, my drug is my baby

I'll be usin' for the rest of my life

Addressing the God of the gods directly with “Lord”, she beseeches him to absolve her, to forgive her for her “sin”, but that is immediately contradicted by the following lines, as they prove she has absolutely no intention of giving up her love affair. The “drug” reminds me of ambrosia, the substance that the Ancient Gods drank and that supposedly granted them immortality. By replacing this precious nectar with her lover, the goddess renounces her status as an immortal, asserting that to survive, she only needs her human partner. We could also take that line literally ; the metaphor of consuming someone, as in “eating someone”, might make us think of lesbian sex. 

I've been breakin' hearts a long time, and

Toyin' with them older guys

Just playthings for me to use

It is known that men were overcome by Aphrodite’s beauty and that many of them fell in love with her. We can find a reference to Greek mythology if we conjecture that it is the same for the goddess of this song, making men (both human and gods) fall to their knees before her, but not caring at the time, simply using them for her own amusement. 

Something happened for the first time, in

“The first time”, in my mind, has multiple significations. First, it refers to the goddess’ first sapphic experience : it is the first time she falls in love with a woman – and with anyone, really. It directly relates to what lesbians might face when they realise they are interested in someone who is not a man. But in my opinion, following the story that I imagine, the words “first time” also refer to the fact that she is the first of all the gods and goddesses to reciprocate a human’s feelings. This unprecedented event wreaks havoc on the Olympus even more than the homosexual aspect of their love.

The darkest little paradise

While being extremely simple, this line is very dear to me, because it perfectly encapsulates the “visual” side of the song. This sentence immediately reminds me of Diana and Actaeon’s story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 

Long story short, Diana, goddess of hunt, enjoys a bath in a secluded spring, escorted by her nymphs. But human hunter Actaeon stumbles upon the scene, and witnesses Diana’s nakedness. To punish him, Diana transforms him into a deer, condemning him to a tragic fate as he is eaten by his hounds. 

I like to imagine the same situation happening, in a concealed part of a forest, where the goddess bathes and the woman accidentally sees her. Their first encounter leads to them instantly falling in love and spending time together, sheltered by the woods that hide them from the eyes of the other Gods. 

Shakin, pacin', I just need you

The goddess could be shaking because she knows what she has done is prohibited, and tries to withdraw from it, leading her to pace relentlessly because she desperately needs her drug. Or, interpreting this in a whole different light, she is shaking because of a sexual innuendo, alluding to “I just need you”, a phrase that might be said during intercourse and that she recalls as she pleads her case. 

For the next verses, I like to imagine that the goddess turns to her lover, who is also present on the other side of the court, and speaks directly to her. 

For you, I would cross the line

Pretty simple ; here, crossing the line means engaging in a forbidden love affair with a human. The “line” can even be taken literally as there is a clear frontier between the human world and the gods’. 

I would waste my time

Relating to what we have seen above, I believe she is throwing her immortality away by symbolically choosing her lover over the ambrosia, thus leading her “forever” time to go to waste in the name of love. 

I would lose my mind

Once again, relating to the line Love made me crazy, she cannot come to her senses because she is too engulfed in her feelings. 

They say, "She's gone too far this time"

“They” refers to the other gods present at the trial and who have been judging their love since the secret came out. I interpret She’s gone too far this time as the goddess openly being a lesbian on Mount Olympus for quite some time and already being criticised for it, but loving a human being the last straw for her peers. 

This verse shows the goddess descending more and more into the depths of agony and insanity, once again addressing only her lover despite being in front of a holy audience. 

My name is whatever you decide

And I'm just gonna call you mine

Gods must be called by their names in order for humans to ask favours of them, but her lover gets a special treatment, and she gets to choose a name that would only be used by her – setting her apart from the rest, and resonating with the following line that implies exclusivity in the relationship.

I'm insane, but I'm your baby (your baby)

“Who cares if love induces madness if it means that I get to be hers?” 

Echoes (echoes) of your name inside my mind

If humans might hear gods’ voices sending them messages and missions directly inside their brains, here the narrative is flipped inside-out : the human has such a strong hold on her lover that she is reified, taking the place of a celestial being, and taking up all the space inside her girlfriend’s skull. 

Halo, hiding my obsession

The halo hints at a former religious-driven path, where the goddess tried to conceal her obsessive love for her partner in order to follow what is “right”. 

I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy

The goddess was once dangerous, untouchable, not moved by anything – which sends us back to toying with them older guys, just playthings for me to use – but since her beloved came into her life, she is now a tame, inoffensive flower, completely at her mercy. 

And baby, for you, I (I) would (would) fall from grace

Just (just) to (to) touch your face

We enter my favourite part of the song, and probably the one that made my brain come up with this story altogether. Indeed, this line encapsulates my whole interpretation : for the love of her sapphic partner, the goddess would do anything, including giving away her whole identity as a godlike being. 

Making the words “grace” and “face” rhyme creates this really interesting gap on what she is giving up (the highest possible ideal, being a holy entity) for something as simple as a light brush of a finger against a cheek.

If (if) you (you) walk away

I'd beg you on my knees to stay

These lines resonate with what we previously saw about them switching roles : the goddess is used to people praying on their knees to her, but here she is willing to do it to a mere human if it means she would have her. And, once more, we cannot overlook the sexual allusion of this line. 

I get so high, oh

Every time you're, every time you're lovin' me

You're lovin' me

Trip of my life, oh

Every time you're, every time you're touchin' me

You're touchin' me

Every time you're, every time you're lovin' me

Oh Lord, save me, my drug is my baby

I'll be usin' for the rest of my life

Usin' for the rest of my life, ohh-oh

I get so high, oh

Every time you're, every time you're lovin' me

You're lovin' me

Oh, Lord, save me, my drug is my baby

I'll be usin' for the rest of my life

Their relationship and their sexual relations act like a drug addiction that she cannot live without. Her lover gives her the highest highs that she has ever experienced – something that I think lesbians can relate to (am I right ?). If, for the last time, she begs Zeus to let her go unscathed, even she does not believe it ; she’ll be using the drug that her lover represents for the rest of her life. The permanence of this assertion gives no hope to the listener for absolution. Besides, since when do gods have lives ? To live, one must know they are to die. At the end of the song, it is clear that the goddess renounces the gift of immortality for the sake of love. But isn’t undying love proof enough that you are eternal ?

I hope this post made you want to listen to Don’t Blame Me and that you will love it as much as I do. If you already knew it, I can only wish to have brought you a brand new perspective and a fresh way to approach this song full of religious guilt. Don’t blame me for looking at the world with lesbian lenses, blame the world for not being lesbian enough !

Malou