If there's anything I learned about myself as an adult, it's that I like to collect data. A few months ago, I shared a Google spreadsheet with collections of Taylor Swift symbolism over her discography. You can see the entire post with my methodology at A (mostly) comprehensive list of themes and motifs used across Taylor Swift's lyrics. Anyway, I decided to do something even crazier, and take time to visualize this data over time with Tableau!

I’m still learning Tableau and data viz, but this works for what I want it to. Each page has a graph over time and a table with the lyrics. Link to Tableau if it doesn’t show up

Graphs as of 29 May 2024

31 October 2023: Each page has the count and the related lyrics. For a quick summary of each item, see A (mostly) comprehensive list of themes and motifs used across Taylor Swift's lyrics. Otherwise, here’s a list of all the charts so far.

29 May 2024: I’ve created a chart for each theme/trend/motif so it can render better on Tableau.

25 June 2024: Added a brief summary of each motif and its general usage in Taylor’s discography.

Accidents, fate, planning on Tableau
Taylor reflects on accidents and fate for many of her albums, but owns her agency and planning by Lover and Midnights. She also laments the fate she’s consigned herself to in The Tortured Poets Department, when she realizes no amount of planning can change her life or lovers.
Aim and hunting on Tableau
Taylor talks about being a target most in the Red and 1989 eras. She revisits the idea again in Lover and Midnights to talk about her insecurities.
Apparel and appearances on Tableau
Clothing gets mentioned consistently throughout her discography. Dresses get mentioned the most, with shoes and shirts following.
Arguments and battles on Tableau
These get consistently mentioned but are lowest in Taylor Swift and reputation. Battle imagery is mentioned at its highest after Lover. All’s fair in love and warfare/poetry, and we see some of the battle imagery used in Midnights carried over into The Tortured Poets Department.
Body parts on Tableau
Body parts are mentioned in higher frequencies than other items, but the mentions decrease in the folklore era. Her favorite body parts are eyes, hands, and faces.
Borders, lines, and walls on Tableau
Taylor mentions being walled off from other people most during Speak Now. Being walled off and walling people off are often a statement on being isolated or protecting something important to her. In the Tortured Poets Department, she recognizes that love can be its own cage.
Bright lights and darkness on Tableau
Bright and shiny are often used to describe people and things she thinks are wonderful. In contrast, darkness is often a time of uncertainty and despair. She uses this motif consistently throughout her discography.
Buildings and rooms on Tableau
Taylor often uses parts of a building to set the stage for the scene. While she most often references home, the parts of a building she references most are doors, rooms, and windows.
Celebrity and publicity on Tableau
Taylor has always made statements on both throughout her discography, but the highest mentions happen after eras where she has appeared often in public conversation (Red, rep, midnights). The Tortured Poets Department is when Taylor snaps back at her critics and her fans about the standards she’s held to.
Cold and ice on Tableau
This is often used to represent emotional isolation and is one used through her work.
Colors and painting on Tableau
Colors get mentioned a lot in her work, and the top three are red, blue, and gold. As Taylor has grown, she's often used painting to demonstrate emotion or gestures of affection.
Communication and silence on Tableau
This includes letters, notes, phone, and other types of communication methods. Taylor seems to favor phone calls.
Crime on Tableau
Crime is at its highest in reputation, followed by midnights. Theft, murder, and fraud are the biggest offenses. Taylor plays on crimes of passion, using arson, theft, and murder to demonstrate the intensity of her love.
Dancing on Tableau
All albums mention dancing, but she danced the most in Red.
Death, ghosts, haunting on Tableau
All albums mention dancing, but she danced the most in Red.
Death is most mentioned, followed by ghosts and hauntings. These are often about regrets, memories, and zest for life. folklore and midnights have the highest mentions of these. The Tortured Poets Department is where Taylor reflects on her ghosts and their effects on her life now.
Deception and secrets on Tableau
I once read that secrets are the currency of intimacy, and for Taylor, that’s no different. Top 3 mentions of secrets and deception are Midnights, reputation, and Speak Now.
Dreams on Tableau
Taylor doesn’t sleep much, so dreams don’t have a lot of mentions. Surprisingly, dreams are most mentioned in Red.
Fairytales and kingdoms on Tableau
Fairytale and kingdom motifs are consistent across Taylor’s discography and lyrics. Queens are her most referenced royalty, with mentions starting in Red. Taylor also believes in magic, but mentions of it start to dwindle after Speak Now.
Family and friends on Tableau
Family and friends get equal mentions across her discography. Surprisingly, her friends and family are least mentioned in Taylor Swift, Red, 1989, reputation, and Lover.
Films, performances, photos on Tableau
These media types are often used to symbolize memories or events that happen in the public eye. Taylor has most often used photos/pictures as a symbol for memories, while films and performances are a stand-in for the Hollywood scene and celebrity industry.
Fire on Tableau
Fire is most mentioned in reputation and midnights… Albums that coincidentally follow periods of heightened fame or critical acclaim in her life.
Furniture on Tableau
Furniture gets mentioned infrequently, and often with buildings and rooms. Her most mentioned furniture are beds, followed by chairs and drawers.
Games, winning, losing on Tableau
Love’s a game and some relationships are all about keeping score, as this is most used in Lover. Keeping score is also a motif she uses a lot when it comes to romantic relationships, contentious relationships, and the public.
Gender roles on Tableau
Gender roles are mentioned throughout the discography, but most often are mentioned in Midnights and folklore. Lover has a whole song dedicated to gender roles, but it’s in The Tortured Poets Department that Taylor calls out the standards she’s held to as a female megacelebrity.
Growing up on Tableau
Taylor sings about youth/innocence and coming of age a lot, most often in Fearless, Speak Now, and Red. Subsequent mentions of youth/innocence and adulthood/maturity are often from a place of reflection on later albums.
Health, alcohol, substances on Tableau
Alcohol is the most mentioned substance by Taylor. Taylor has also mentioned mental health consistently through her discography. The Tortured Poets Department is where we see her most directly talk about her struggles and frustration with fame and love.
Highs and lows on Tableau
Taylor has used heights to convey integrity, increased emotions, and precarious situations and challenges. This is most used in folklore.
Honor and integrity on Tableau
Taylor has mentioned honor as a trait she values through her lyrics.
Locations on Tableau
Taylor has compared big cities to small towns across her discography, most notably starting in Fearless. Town includes her hometown, and has been used to refer to Hollywood, or places people don’t think of. Cities were used a lot in Red and 1989, as a transition from country to pop star.
Money and treasure
Money is often used in relation to consequences or the value of her work. Treasure is used when talking about things precious to her. There is sometimes overlap between the two. This motif was most used in evermore.
Music and writing on Tableau
Taylor uses this to talk about her own life. This one is the most literal motif.
Name drops on Tableau
A list of all the names dropped in Taylor Swift’s lyrics.
Perception
This includes perceptions she has of herself and other people have of her. There is a sense of rebirth and growth throughout these lines.
Plants on Tableau
Taylor talks about flowers most consistently across her discography. While roses are the most mentioned, an interesting tidbit is that most of the mentioned flowers are red or purple. Unique plant mentions rise in Midnights and drop to almost zero in The Tortured Poets Department.
Relationships on Tableau
Of all the relationship instances, Taylor mentions infidelity or the presence of another person more often than marriage. This motif is explored most often in evermore, followed by Fearless and Speak Now.
Religion on Tableau
Love is Taylor’s religion, in its best and worst times. It’s also used to juxtapose opposing ideas, like innocence and guilt. While present across her entire discography, it’s most used in Lover.
School on Tableau
Taylor has used school-related motifs to talk about learning and relationship dynamics similar to those stereotypically found in high school. Consistently used across the discography, it was most present in Lover.
STEM on Tableau
This one is for the STEM Swifties. She doesn’t often use STEM motifs, but when she does, it’s often about events that emotionally shake her or about being a calculating mastermind.
Sun, moon, stars on Tableau
While she sings about the sky a lot, Taylor has a particular affinity for the stars at night. It wouldn't be surprising that most of these mentions also are on midnights.
Times and seasons (in progress)
Transportation on Tableau
Taylor most often talks about ground transportation (cars) in her discography. She also talks about roads when talking about her path in life and the choices she makes. Red mentions transportation motifs the most.
Water on Tableau
Taylor loves rain and it makes the most mentions across her discography. Water is most mentioned in Fearless.
Weather on Tableau
Weather is used to convey an emotional state or omen. Unsurprisingly, rain is her most mentioned weather phenomenon.
Weapons on Tableau (as of Jan 2024, separated this from Wounds)
Weapons have often used to describe how people have hurt her. This includes backstabbing, insulting her, and focusing on her deepest insecurities. She explores this most in folklore and 1989… Is it any surprise she’s angry by The Tortured Poets Department?
Wounds on Tableau
Taylor talks about bloodshed across her discography, but most in folklore, Midnights, and the Tortured Poets Department.

Methodology on organizing lyrics

Here are the rules for my methodology reiterated here:

(NEW) Vault tracks appear in the era they were credited to, not the year they were released.
I grouped similar types of words and motifs together. Some lines appear in several places for this reason.
I didn't consider what we think we know of Taylor's life to pull this together.
I tried to take the lyrics literally to collect the data. As a result, some data points contextually won't make sense since they're a detail instead of the motif/metaphor for the particular work.
Lines that are similar but had a different preceding or succeeding line "counted" several times. Choruses counted once.
I omitted the non-album songs. Maybe one day I'll do it, but I'm not holding my breath.

Note (May 2024): The original version of this post had content that is now separated into a different blog post. View Favorite insights from Taylor’s Versions of Red, Speak Now, and 1989

There are just some of the insights I gleaned, but I promise I have many, many, many more. I'm only one person, so this list isn't perfect or even complete(!), but I tried to be as xcomprehensive as possible.

The google sheet I’m using to collect all these lines are separate from the one in the original google doc I shared. I had to play with it a little to get the data to appear the way I wanted it to. Anyway, please be nice and leave me some feedback if there’s something I missed. Thanks all!

Leave me feedback!