Father Figure - Taylor Swift
Addressing the elephant in the room
It feels strange to not have talked about Swift yet on this Substack, yet at the same time, it also feels like kind of a sell-out to recommend a song by the biggest pop star on earth. However, the purpose of this blog is to share the songs that shape our everyday lives, so it would be a disservice to the Cratediggerz ethos if Greg and I weren’t truly being honest about what we are listening to.
Let me just begin by saying that The Life of a Showgirl ranks in my bottom three Taylor Swift records. I had higher expectations than I did for The Tortured Poets Department and even Midnights, mostly because I resonated more with the themes Swift was describing in the weeks leading up to the album’s release. Showgirl rarely had any showgirl elements, the production was disappointing, and the lyrics even more so. I’m of the camp that Swift is allowed to be happy and put out fun, glitter-pen albums, but that’s not the problem here. The problem is that it was disappointing. It was a regression in the lyricism for which Swift is consistently venerated.
But for all my quips and qualms with the album and Swift’s direction in general, I would describe myself as a fan, and I do genuinely try to find the best in her albums. There are standouts on this album, and one of them is “Father Figure.” The music journalist Shaad D’Souza wrote in the New York Times that Swift is at her best when she’s in a defensive pose, and this is certainly the case with “Father Figure.” I was a bit hesitant about the chronically online clickbaity title, similar to Eldest Daughter and CANCELLED!, but unlike the other two songs, “Father Figure” delivered and stuck to its theme.
“Father Figure” takes the perspective of both the mentor and the mentee. The feud between Swift and label execs has been part of Swift’s public image since 2019, when Scooter Braun, with the backing of private equity firms, purchased Big Machine Records (Swift’s former label) from Scott Borchetta and became the owner of her master’s. From 2021 to 2023, Swift began re-recording her old albums and released them as “Taylor’s Version.” Her fan base rallied behind her; her incredibly ambitious project and the feud driving it only made them more defensive.
The song begins with a story:
When I found you, you were young, wayward, lost in the cold
Pulled up to you in the Jag
Turned your rags into gold
“Father Figure” is Swift’s best because it’s the most her. She doesn’t bore fans with vague details. We, the Swifties and those who are up to date with her, are acutely aware of the dynamic she’s describing.
It’s straight from the heart. It’s vindictive. It’s feisty. “I made a deal with the devil because my dick’s bigger,” she sings in the chorus, interpolating George Michael’s 1987 song of the same name.
To be a Taylor Swift fan is to be so enmeshed in her private affairs, feuds and relationships. Swift is at her peak when she invites people into her showgirly world, clawing back at the curtains to reveal what happens behind the glitz and glamour of being her.