This is my essay on father figure being about JA. I’m not going to cite or link sources this stuff but if you were here you remember and if you weren’t I bet you could google it. Disclaimer this is how I’m interpreting the song don’t argue with me about it I don’t care if you disagree.
The opening is about meeting a young an aspiring actor starting to spend time in circles she’s in. He had a couple projects early on, but nothing huge. She was already rich and famous (hence the jag and chateau). His thirst and craving to work hard reminded her of a younger self, she saw a lot of potential in him. Proven with her posts hyping up his projects and attending his events in ways that made him feel supported but didn’t over shadow him. She went to after parties and sat at tables with him without attending the red carpet multiple times.
The first chorus is like, oh honey I’ve navigated this fame thing before. I can figure this out. I can make big swings on your behalf with my PR team bc I have the clout and experience and the best experts in the industry working on my behalf. Your project didn’t go the way you planned? You didn’t get the recognition you wanted? Come here baby, I’ll dry your tears. I’ve been there. Also see the NYD lyrics “I’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town babe, or if you strike out and you’re crawling home.”
Her team essentially became his team. She’s protecting the family, meaning him, his family, and hers, from herself and her fame. She bought into the idea that she’s a burden. She’s using what she has to help him achieve his dreams but also to protect him from being Taylor Swifts boyfriend as much as she can.
The next verse adds to character development, and could also be a comment on the dynamic that maybe he didn’t care about her money when it benefited him, and she doesn’t even think about it bc she’s so used to paying for everything. The rise / reign thing is her sharing her experience getting torn down before Reputation, exactly when she met him. If he messes up, she knows how to help him navigate that. I think the loyalty line is a sarcastic exaggeration of the character in the song, but one of those jokes that has truth to it. Is it so much to ask for loyalty when I do so much for you? It’s understood from the music he cheated on her more than once.
The only change in the next chorus is one line, they’ll know your name in the streets. This is pretty self explanatory for me; you’re going to benefit from this relationship and that’s inevitable. Sometimes you have to take what comes to your benefit and embrace it.
The next verse/bridge is when he turned dark on her and everything that comes with being with Taylor Swift. When she didn’t wither away from the spotlight with age, as even she thought would happen, he couldn’t handle it. HE wanted to be an infamous actor, do high brow movies, and not be associated with her in public. We saw this in full force when he did interviews and ultimately when he accepted projects that took him away from supporting her during big career highlights. At the time, the fandom I spend time in could see she seemed unwell. With the hindsight of midnights, you’re losing me, and TTPD, it’s clear this was a low in their relationship.
The last choruses take us to the breakup and further develops the story of the character in the song. After the breakup was announced, he tried to put statements out there to make her look bad and her team shot it down respectfully like the experts they are. Her portrait is in the mantel because their status and everything they have together wouldn’t be there without her career and work - her Grammys and awards are LITERALLY all over her houses. We look back to the cheating with the reference to scandals. Card canceled is pretty self explanatory. I’m sure there’s hundreds of other things they had to do to split up, including dealing with his songwriting credits on her work. Sure, he deserves that credit, but it’s her empire at the end of the day.
She saw potential in him as an artist, and actor, and as a life partner. He disappointed her and now that’s all over.
