More about: Taylor Swift

If ‘Love Story’ and its use of princes, castles and happily-ever-after imagery was Swift’s initial idea of romance, ‘White Horse’ is waking up from that daydream and realising love can also be something of a painful nightmare.

Written shortly after her debut record, ‘White Horse’ is the first song on Fearless in which Swift is feeling a sense of melancholy; the shocking realisation that love is actually painful and no one gets out of it unscathed. Always one to tie songs together, Swift uses similar themes and concepts that she used in ‘Love Story’ again in ‘White Horse’ (“I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale/I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet”), as if the two tracks are an A/B-Side story into a specific relationship and experience Swift had.

Co-writer Liz Rose described the song as “every teenage girl’s dream song of everything she ever wished from a boy” - though there is a sense of timelessness with ‘White Horse’ that you can’t just attach to teenagehood. Swift has been able to universalise her experiences since she first started songwriting and ‘White Horse’ truly is a song that anyone, at any age, can relate to. The secret message (All I Ever Wanted Was The Truth), suggests there was some betrayal from the other party, but Swift penned ‘White Horse’ about the initial moment when she realised it really was over. For Big Machine Records, she describes: “To me, 'White Horse' is about what, in my opinion, is the most heart-breaking part of a break-up – that moment when you realize that all the dreams you had, all those visions you had of being with this person, all that disappears.”

Back then, I remember Taylor being very excited on Twitter about ‘White Horse’ being used in her favourite show, Grey’s Anatomy, in September 2008, shortly before the album came out. She stated: “We didn’t know if we were going to put it on the record because if it wasn’t going to be on the show, then we weren’t going to put it on the album. Then they called and said they were very interested in the song. We recorded it right away, sent it off to them, and they put it in!” ‘White Horse’ ended up being a career milestone for Swift —  winning two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance with it — but I would say having her song in the fifth season premiere of her favourite show probably tops that. We can all thank Grey’s Anatomy for encouraging Taylor to put ‘White Horse’ on Fearless.

Since the re-recordings in Fearless (Taylor's Version) became available, it’s been a joy to compare and contrast the two versions. ‘White Horse’ is a song in which you can feel that Swift’s feelings towards that decade-old situation has changed. In the original, you can hear the pain of deception and how foolish and ashamed Swift feels. In the re-recordings, though, Swift is coming at it from a new point-of-view: innocence is still there in her vocals, but much of the original naiveté has been stripped away and she no longer sounds ashamed of feeling sad. Now, Swift's perspective is different and although I hate that she was pushed to have to re-record her albums, it’s been thrilling to pick up subtle details and changes like these.

Looking back, I remember ‘White Horse’ as a song I played on repeat as a 16-year-old thinking about a lover who wronged me that never even existed in the first place. Although I never really understood the pain Swift was going through when she wrote it in her teens, having a song like ‘White Horse’ and other similar tracks from ‘Fearless’ to ‘You’re Not Sorry’ definitely helped a lot of young people navigate those difficult moments when they eventually experienced them. 

More about: Taylor Swift