Taylor Swift reveals how Game of Thrones inspired reputation
Entertainment Weekly // by Alex Suskind // May 9th 2019
Taylor Swift began binge-watching Game of Thrones in 2016. Though sheâd heard rumblings about a Red Wedding, the pop star managed to stay away from most major spoilers. âI can avoid pretty much any information,â she tells EW. âFor a couple years, every time Iâd see my name in print, Iâd throw the phone. If you can avoid your own presence, spoilers [are] easy.â
Though she began watching the show for pleasure, her interest soon made its way into her life in different ways. As she reveals here for the first time, the dark and twisted world of George R.R. Martin began to infiltrate her music. âSo much of my imagination was spent on Game of Thrones,â she says. âAt the time, I was making reputation and I didnât talk about it in interviews, so I didnât reveal that a lot of the songs were influenced by the show.â (Shout out to EWâs James Hibberd, who called that one.)
Swift adds that reputation ended up turning into a split album, with one side featuring weaponized songs about vengeance, and the other exploring love and looking to find âsomething sacred throughout all the battle cries.â Sounds like the recipe for an epic, Westerosi-style plot.
âThese songs were half based on what I was going through, but seeing them through a Game of Thrones filter,â Swift says. ââLook What You Made Me Doâ is literally Arya Starkâs kill list. âKing of My Heartâ was influenced by Khal Drogo and Daenerys. Itâs even got this post-hook of drums â I wanted them to sound like Dothraki drums.â She also wrote lines based on plots from season 7 right before the record dropped. ââI Did Something Badâ I wrote after Arya and Sansa conspire to kill Littlefinger,â she says. That and âLook What You Made Me Do,â she adds, âare very Cersei vibes, too. Daenerys as well.â
Though she hasnât confessed the Thrones connection to any cast members (sheâs met both Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke), Swift did tell series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff once at a party. âI was sitting there going, âDo I tell them? Is that weird? No one asked for this information.â [But] one of the first things they said was âOur daughters love your music.â Iâm like, âThis is my in.ââ (The showrunners were flattered by Swiftâs fandom.)
While Swift loves adding little clues in her songs for fans to find, GoT influenced her to up her game. âMy entire outlook on storytelling has been shaped by [Thrones] â the ability to foreshadow stories, to meticulously craft cryptic story lines,â she says. âSo, I found ways to get more cryptic with information and still be able to share messages with the fans. I aspire to be one one-millionth of the kind of hint dropper the makers of Game of Thrones have been.â
Another reason Swift loves the show is the way it builds characters. âYou find yourself identifying with different characters several times an episode,â she says. âYou go from hating someone to loving someone. You see someone as cold, and then you see the reasons behind why they do what they do. I just feel so lucky to exist when Game of Thrones is coming out.â
So who does she think will end up on the Iron Throne? âDaenerys, Arya, or Sansa,â she says. âBut if Iâm being realistic, I think Sansa has the skill set and the ability to delegate and put on a brave face but a stoic demeanor.â Then what happens to Arya? âArya [would] be Hand of the King.â And then, hopefully, Swift will write an anthem called âNot Today.â