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- "Father Figure" is the fourth track on Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."The song uses character work and real-life touchpoints to explore power dynamics in business.Swift said the song is about "a young ingenue and their mentor," likely inspired by Scott Borchetta.
When she isn't singing about the record-breaking Eras Tour or her fairy-tale engagement to Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," is surprisingly fraught with tales of rivalry, scandal, betrayal, and even a business relationship gone sour.
Swift is known for writing lyrics with layered allusions and double meanings, and "Father Figure" is one standout example. The song presents itself as a brag, openly flaunting Swift's influence in her industry, particularly on younger artists who admire her.
Upon further inspection, however, the song's character work reveals itself. As the narrator, Swift adopts an alpha-male persona to explore a familiar power dynamic.
In Swift's theatrical event "The Official Release Party of a Showgirl," which includes behind-the-scenes clips of Swift discussing her creative process, she explained how she used the 1987 George Michael hit "Father Figure" as a jumping-off point for her song of the same name. (Michael is credited as a cowriter on Swift's version.)
"That line, in the context of the George Michael song, is romantic. It's about being in love with someone, but also, they look up to you as a mentor," Swift explained.
"I always thought it could be cool to use the line 'I'll be your father figure' as a creative writing prompt, and turn it into a story about power, and a story about a young ingenue and their mentor, and the way that that relationship can change over time, and betrayal, and wit, and cunning, and cleverness, and strategy," she continued. "Essentially, it ends up in a 'Who's going to win?' situation. Who's going to outplay the other? Who's going to out-fox the other?"
Still, as any Swiftie knows, even her most non-autobiographical and abstract lyrics tend to draw inspiration from her real life. Swift said of the fictional stories in "Folklore," for example, "I'm gonna infuse my own emotions into these characters, let's be honest."
So, who is the egoistical mentor in question? "Father Figure" contains several parallels to Swift's real life and quotes from past interviews that point us toward one likely answer: Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta.
Borchetta is the founder and CEO of Big Machine Records, Swift's former label
"When I found you, you were young, wayward, lost in the cold / Pulled up to you in the Jag, turned your rags into gold," Swift sings to open "Father Figure."
These lines seem to mirror Swift's own discovery as a teen ingenue. At 15, she signed to Big Machine, a boutique record label based in Nashville.
As the label's founder and CEO, Borchetta took on a parental role in Swift's life.
"When you have a business relationship with someone for 15 years, there are going to be a lot of ups and a lot of downs," Swift told Rolling Stone. "But I truly, legitimately thought he looked at me as the daughter he never had."
Swift's father-daughter relationship with Borchetta — or, at least, her innocent trust in that dynamic — echoes the relationship at the heart of "Father Figure."
"Leave it with me," the narrator coaxes. "I protect the family."
However, the song isn't all familial fun; Swift's narrator is keenly aware of how lucrative this dynamic can be, as long as he can keep his mentee in line. "This love is pure profit, just step into my office," the chorus goes, and later, "All I asked for is your loyalty, my dear protégé."
The "pure profit" is no metaphor: Swift quickly became Big Machine's biggest star, writing and releasing six albums that sold tens of millions of copies.
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Her multi-album contract was fulfilled with 2017's "Reputation," and in 2018, Swift signed a new deal with Universal Music Group, which allowed her to own any new music that she released outright.
Swift later revealed that renegotiations with Big Machine fell apart when she "pleaded for a chance" to buy the rights to her old music, and Borchetta refused.
"Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in," Swift wrote in an open letter. "I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future."
Swift's prediction came true just one year after her departure, when Borchetta sold Big Machine and all its assets to celebrity manager Scooter Braun.
Swift said she was "sad and grossed out" that Braun, whom she described as a bully, was the new owner of her life's work.
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"I thought I knew what betrayal felt like, but this stuff that happened with him was a redefinition of betrayal for me, just because it felt like it was family," Swift said of her relationship with Borchetta. "To go from feeling like you're being looked at as a daughter to this grotesque feeling of, 'Oh, I was actually his prized calf that he was fattening up to sell to the slaughterhouse that would pay the most.'"
When Braun's acquisition of Big Machine was formalized, he and Borchetta posed for photos together in a wood-paneled bar, with shelves full of whiskey in the background.
In her interview with Rolling Stone, Swift poked fun at those photos: "These are two very rich, very powerful men, using $300 million of other people's money to purchase, like, the most feminine body of work. And then they're standing in a wood-panel bar doing a tacky photo shoot, raising a glass of scotch to themselves."
This hyper-masculine imagery reappears in "Father Figure," in which Swift sings, "I'll be your father figure / I drink that brown liquor / I can make deals with the devil, because my dick's bigger."
The song seems to switch back to Swift's perspective in the bridge
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In Swift's release party film, she says of "Father Figure," "I can relate to both characters in certain parts of the song."
Indeed, Swift throws a wrench in the song's narrative when she launches into the bridge. The singer is no longer addressing an ingenue (defined as a guileless, innocent young woman), but a male adversary.
"I saw a change in you, my dear boy," Swift sings. "They don't make loyalty like they used to."
She continues by chastising this person for his "thoughtless ambition" and "foolish decisions."
Here, the song seems to switch from the mentor's perspective to his onetime protégé's, who has since outgrown (and outearned) him. This mirrors Swift's decision to leave Big Machine, rerecord her old music, and, eventually, regain control of her masters.
In the final chorus, Swift emerges triumphant: "Mistake my kindness for weakness and find your card canceled / I was your father figure, you pulled the wrong trigger / This empire belongs to me / Leave it with me."
Representatives for Swift and Borchetta didn't respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
