--- title: Taylor Swift Call It What You Want: 2016 and Joe Alwyn description: Taylor Swift's new song’s lyrics appear to reference Swift’s personal life and her relationship with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn. canonical: https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-03T16:48:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:29.399Z og:title: How Taylor Swift's New Song Reference Joe Alwyn and 2016 og:description: And she appears to reference her current boyfriend, Joe Alwyn og:url: https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86a42a79cbff67/6988e37e22fb85444ee236f7/taylor-swift-workout.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Celebrity Sightings in New York City - September 7, 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Taylor Swift's New Song Reference Joe Alwyn and 2016 twitter:description: And she appears to reference her current boyfriend, Joe Alwyn twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86a42a79cbff67/6988e37e22fb85444ee236f7/taylor-swift-workout.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It's Time to Analyze How Taylor Swift's 'Call It What You Want' Lyrics Reference Her Year in the Spotlight by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Nov 3, 2017 4:48 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 07: Taylor Swift seen on the streets of Manhattan on September 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images) NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 07: Taylor Swift seen on the streets of Manhattan on September 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images)James Devaney—GC Images by [Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly Nov 3, 2017 4:48 PM UTC Taylor Swift dropped the dreamy love song [“Call It What You Want”](http://ew.com/music/2017/11/03/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want/) early Friday — and in keeping with her _Reputation_ releases thus far, the song’s lyrics appear to reference Swift’s personal life and her relationship with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn. Sings Swift in the song’s first verse, “My castle crumbled overnight/ I brought a knife to a gunfight/ They took the crown but it’s alright/ All the liars are calling me one/ Nobody’s heard from me for months/ I’m doing better than I ever was.” The singer battled tabloid headlines throughout 2016, ending relationships with Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston and finding herself in the middle of a feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West after West’s controversial “Famous” lyric about Swift. She later backed away from public view — keeping quiet throughout the remainder of the year and sometimes courting criticism as a result. (Swift famously didn’t make a public statement about the 2016 presidential election, a decision that drew ire online.) It was during last year that Swift also met Alwyn and “Call It What You Want” seemingly references how their relationship pulled her out of a personal struggle. Sings Swift in the second verse, “All my flowers grew back as thorns/ Windows boarded up after the storm/ He built a fire just to keep me warm/ All the drama queens taking swings/ All the jokers dressing up as kings/ They fade to nothing when I look at him/ And I know I make the same mistakes every time/ Bridges burn, I never learn/ At least I did one thing right, I did one thing right/ I’m laughing with my lover/ Making forts under covers/ Trust him like a brother/ Yeah, you know I did one thing right/ Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night.” Swift began dating Alwyn in 2016 and, thus far, the songs released off _Reputation_ have included numerous references to their relationship. Last week, Swift released the [video for “…Ready For It?”](http://ew.com/music/taylor-swift-ready-for-it-video-easter-eggs-joe-alwyn/all-the-references-to-joe-alwyn-in-taylor-swifts-new-video) which also featured numerous visual clues and hints about Alwyn. Below, read the full lyrics for “Call It What You Want.” _Reputation_ is out Nov. 10. \[Verse 1\] My castle crumbled overnight I brought a knife to a gunfight They took the crown but it’s alright All the liars are calling me one Nobody’s heard from me for months I’m doing better than I ever was \[Chorus\] Cause my baby’s fit like a daydream Walking with his head down I’m the one he’s walking to So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to My baby’s fly like a jet stream High above the whole scene Loves me like I’m brand new So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to \[Verse 2\] All my flowers grew back as thorns Windows boarded up after the storm He built a fire just to keep me warm All the drama queens taking swings All the jokers dressing up as kings They fade to nothing when I look at him And I know I make the same mistakes every time Bridges burn, I never learn At least I did one thing right, I did one thing right I’m laughing with my lover Making forts under covers Trust him like a brother Yeah, you know I did one thing right Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night \[Chorus\] Cause my baby’s fit like a daydream Walking with his head down I’m the one he’s walking to So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to My baby’s fly like a jet stream High above the whole scene Loves me like I’m brand new So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to \[Bridge\] I want to wear his initial on a chain around my neck Chain round my neck Not because he owns me But ’cause he really knows me Which is more than they can say I recall late November Holding my breath, slowly I said “you don’t need to save me But would you run away with me?” Yes \[Chorus\] My baby’s fit like a daydream Walking with his head down I’m the one he’s walking to So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to My baby’s fly like a jet stream High above the whole scene Loves me like I’m brand new So call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to \[Ending\] Call it what you want, call it what you want Call it what you want, call it what you want Call it what you want, call it what you want Call it what you want, call it what you want Call it what you want yeah, call it what you want to _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/music/2017/11/03/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/) _originally appeared on EW.com_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/"},"headline":"It's Time to Analyze How Taylor Swift's 'Call It What You Want' Lyrics Reference Her Year in the Spotlight","datePublished":"2017-11-03T16:48:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:29.399Z","description":"Taylor Swift's new song’s lyrics appear to reference Swift’s personal life and her relationship with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn.","url":"https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86a42a79cbff67/6988e37e22fb85444ee236f7/taylor-swift-workout.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christopher Rosen / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe86a42a79cbff67/6988e37e22fb85444ee236f7/taylor-swift-workout.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - September 7, 2016","caption":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - September 7, 2016","creditText":"James Devaney—GC Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5009227/taylor-swift-call-it-what-you-want-lyrics/","name":"It's Time to Analyze How Taylor Swift's 'Call It What You Want' Lyrics Reference Her Year in the Spotlight"}}]}] ```