This song finds Swift, who penned the track with producers Max Martin and Shellback, sending up her image as a heartbreaker who writes all of her songs about former boyfriends. She warns us that she's "got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane" plus she has, "a blank space baby, and I'll write your name." At the Secret Sessions listening parties that Swift held to preview 1989, she said her intention with this track was to run wild with the way the media portrays how she conducts her romantic life.
Swift explained the "boys only want love if it's torture" lyric to UK newspaper The Sun: "I was thinking about this," she said. "Boys only want love if it's torture and a constant chase. Men want love if it's real, right, healthy and consistent."
If you're one of the many who thought Swift was singing "the lonely Starbucks lovers" (or, more sensically, "star-crossed lovers") in the song's chorus, you're not alone. The real line, however, is, "Got a long list of ex-lovers." Swift found this amusing. She called it, "A delightful misunderstanding about this song that was written about misunderstandings."
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