4. “I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE”
BEHIND THE MUSIC
Taylor got the idea for this song almost six months before she was scheduled to write with Max Martin, so she emailed him saying how excited she was. She set out the melody for the chorus on the piano and, when the writing date finally arrived, brought her composition to Martin and his frequent production collaborator Shellback, telling them, “At the end of the chorus, I just want this to go crazy. I want it to be really chaotic.”
BETWEEN THE LINES
“I Knew You Were Trouble” goes in new directions, sonically and lyrically. While this song resides soundly in the pop camp, it integrates R&B vocal influences and dance-hall rhythms, distortion, and dubstep. Her message is just as bold: rather than blaming the guy for being bad news, she takes it on herself, having ignored the warning signs. “It talks about that feeling of not ‘shame on you, you broke my heart,’ [but] ‘shame on me, you broke my heart,’” explained Taylor.
FUN FACTS
According to Scott Borchetta, Justin Bieber told Taylor that he thinks “I Knew You Were Trouble” “is the best song ever” and declared he’d make his next lip sync video of it. But Selena Gomez, Taylor’s dear friend, managed to one-up him without even trying, posting a video of her and some friends doing a choreographed routine to the song on the Swift One’s 23rd birthday.
DIARY DECODER
“When you saw me dancing” could have been a first encounter, but it’s a hotly debated topic as to who cast his eyes on Taylor...
CHARTING SUCCESS
This third single shot to number three on the Hot 100. According to ABC News, “I Knew You Were Trouble” marked Taylor’s 50th Hot 100 single, landing her in the company of an elite group of female hit makers: Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, and Connie Francis. (Though Taylor hadn’t released 50 official singles, her previews were included in that total.)
(excerpted from our book on Swifty: Taylor Swift: The Platinum Edition, which is available everywhere books are sold)
Big thanks to @wolfgirl54 for the Swift Notes pic!
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Swift Notes: Red (A Guide to Taylor Swift's Songs)
FanfictionA song-by-song analysis of Taylor Swift's RED album, excerpted from our just-released-in-stores Taylor Swift: The Platinum Edition.
