Okay, so when I first started seeing headlines about Taylor Swift incorporating Game of Thrones into her music, I thought it would be something pretty surface-level. Like, she saw that Arya Stark was a badass and that inspired her, which would be perfectly fine.
But then I read this interview she did with Entertainment Weekly, and the way she talks about the show you’d think that her latest album, 2017’s Reputation, was one Night King reference short of being a Game of Thrones tribute project. And that’s even better.
Swift started binging the show in 2016. She’s had a long history of avoiding reading about herself in the press, so dodging spoilers was no problem. “For a couple years, every time I’d see my name in print, I’d throw the phone. If you can avoid your own presence, spoilers easy.”
“So much of my imagination was spent on Game of Thrones,” she continued. “At the time, I was making Reputation and I didn’t talk about it in interviews, so I didn’t reveal that a lot of the songs were influenced by the show.”
"These songs were half based on what I was going through, but seeing them through a Game of Thrones filter. ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ is literally Arya Stark’s kill list. “King of My Heart” was influenced by Khal Drogo and Daenerys. It’s even got this post-hook of drums — I wanted them to sound like Dothraki drums…”I Did Something Bad” I wrote after Arya and Sansa conspire to kill Littlefinger. [That song and “Look What You Made Me Do” have] Cersei vibes, too. Daenerys as well."
I mean, the show got her good. “My entire outlook on storytelling has been shaped by [Thrones] — the ability to foreshadow stories, to meticulously craft cryptic story lines,” she said. “So, I found ways to get more cryptic with information and still be able to share messages with the fans. I aspire to be one one-millionth of the kind of hint dropper the makers of Game of Thrones have been.”
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Okay, so Taylor Swift is a superfan. I watched the video for “Look What You Made Me Do” after reading this, and now all I can see is Game of Thrones. “I got a list of names and yours is in red underline,” is an obvious Arya reference. There are ravens in the beginning. She’s dressed up like a wight. I see her luxuriating in jewels and I think Cersei. I hear “I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time” and I think Sansa. “I don’t trust nobody and nobody trust me” is basically a Game of Thrones mission statement. Maybe this is a tribute album. James Hibberd called it.
Swift talked about what appeals to her about the show:
"You find yourself identifying with different characters several times an episode. You go from hating someone to loving someone. You see someone as cold, and then you see the reasons behind why they do what they do. I just feel so lucky to exist when Game of Thrones is coming out."
We are in step, Taylor. Oh god, does this mean I’m going to start listening to her music? Put a pin in that.
Finally, who does Swift think will end up on the Iron Throne? “Daenerys, Arya, or Sansa,” she said. “But if I’m being realistic, I think Sansa has the skill set and the ability to delegate and put on a brave face but a stoic demeanor…Arya be Hand of the King.” We’ll see.
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