Taylor Swift's breakout single Tim McGraw talks about a love interest wearing a little black dress:
Remember the line “If you asked me if I loved HIM… I’d lie” in the song, I’d Lie? I think Taylor is telling on herself again in the 1st and last verses (notably the only verses this nameless, faceless HE is mentioned) of Tim McGraw. She tells the audience that she made up a fictional moment with some boy to create plausible deniability and wrap the real verses of the song in heteronormativity. We have no description of this guy, except the dismissive “just a boy.” Heck, we know more about the truck–it’s a Chevy, it drives backroads frequently, it gets stuck often–then we know about the guy. And all the way back to Taylor’s first single she was using he vs you. She had a throw away make-believe boy talking romantically about eyes as stars, but he’s just a red herring.
The actual subject of the song is this third (female) person, YOU who is wearing a little black dress. Taylor reminisces about how she (wearing faded old blue jeans) had her head on this girl’s chest. It’s the girl Taylor is missing. It’s their memories Taylor brings up hoping the gal will remember her by them. The boy under the stars–that’s a lie.
The moon, a symbol of femininity, is prominently featured in Tim McGraw. YOU (we know her already from other songs) is wearing a little black dress and Taylor is in old faded blue jeans. “Danced” is a tool that shows these girls are more than friends. The letter that was never delivered to the other person reminds me of “the hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you” in The Archer. Taylor tries to come out, but loses her courage for fear of losing her audience. The letter to this girl in Tim McGraw reveals Taylor’s romantic feelings, but Taylor loses her courage and the words remain safely under her bed. The unsent letter also reminds me of “writing letters addressed to the fire” in evermore. A song about losing a special lover due to her bearding and closeting. Again, Taylor wrote the coming out letters, but didn’t have the courage to make them known.
Then in Fearless this girl in the dress comes up again in Other Side of the Door:
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