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PODCAST

Decoding Taylor Swift

Joe Romm and Toni Romm

This podcast will change your life. Imagine learning the secrets of how to make the words you write and speak more persuasive, memorable, and viral. Well, Taylor Swift has mastered these viral storytelling tools. This podcast decodes her songs to reveal not just their true meaning but also the tricks she uses that have made her the most viral pop star of this century. Fans listened to Decoding Taylor Swift "longer than 97% of other shows," and "we received more shares than 97% of other shows,"

music music commentary

All Episodes

38:11

How Swift’s The Man is like the Gettysburg Address:...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/02/11

The Man is one of Taylor’s most ironically meta songs. But it also repeatedly uses one of Lincoln’s favorite literary devices: a storytelling tool that you can use too to make your content go viral. The third song on the Era’s Tour set list is Taylor’s most iconically feminist song, which inspires some hilarious rants by Toni you won’t want to miss.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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39:49

Cruel Summer’s real meaning is devilishly clever of...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/02/03

Cruel Summer is a crowd-pleasing banger and an opening highlight of the Era’s Tour. But it’s also one of Swift’s most lyrically masterful stories, from the foreshadowing in the opening lines to the ironic karmic twist at the end of the bridge. If you want to learn the art of viral storytelling, this is a must-see episode.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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49:04

The Eras Tour setlist’s deeper meaning revealed by...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/01/27

In Season 3, Joe and Toni will decode the meaning of every single song on the Era’s Tour setlist. They start here with the opening song, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. They reveal the powerful allegory Taylor embedded in the song, how it helps reveal the deeper meaning of the setlist, and why you need to master Swift’s storytelling secrets if you seek to help change the world.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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52:59

CLASSIC: Our most-watched episode reveals Taylor’s...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/01/20

Joe and Toni are taking a week off before diving into Season 3, where they decode every song from the Era’s Tour! So, they are sharing their first and most popular episode. But with a twist. This is the never-before-seen VIDEO version. Hear the podcast's origin story and learn the storytelling trick every Swiftie needs to know to decode the deeper meaning of her songs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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61:51

Life of a Showgirl: We rank every song BUT also...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/01/14

In Season Two’s final episode, Joe and Toni rank every song on the album and reveal the interconnected meanings of all the songs. Also, they discuss their favorite lyrics as well as Taylor’s top tools for telling stories, including her mastery of the word BUT and the hero’s journey.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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71:12

The meaning of Swift’s Life of a Showgirl, how it...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2026/01/06

The Life of a Showgirl is the key to unlocking the whole album’s meaning. It’s also her most meta and circular song, deeply connected to her grandmother Marjorie's story. Plus Toni finally shows off her singing with hilarious impressions of Britney Spears, Bob Dylan, and Sabrina Carpenter.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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51:15

Honey is Taylor’s most ingenious love letter to words...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/12/30

This is a must-see episode for anyone who loves words and decoding Taylor’s songs. Starting with one of the cleverest opening lines Swift has ever written, Honey is a masterclass in storytelling. If you love words as much as Joe and Toni, please follow and rate the podcast. And if you know another logophile, please share this episode with them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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51:00

Taylor is NOT attacking Blake Lively in CANCELLED!...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/12/23

CANCELLED! is a much better song than the critics think. In this episode, Joe and Toni decode the song’s real meaning by diving into the storytelling strategies Swift uses in her songs, which are secrets you can use in your writing. In the process, they realize they enjoy and appreciate the song a lot more than when they first heard it.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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46:31

What do Taylor Swift, The Beatles & Springsteen have...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/12/16

Many critics think Wood, with all its sexual puns and double entendres, is somehow beneath Taylor. But they should lighten up. It’s a funny song. Also, Joe and Toni reveal how Taylor anticipated that critique, which is why the song alludes to The Beatles' Norwegian Wood and Bruce Springsteen's 'Dancing in the Dark', both of which have sexual double meanings. Indeed, lots of double meanings are a key reason Taylor is a modern-day Shakespeare.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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44:40

The REAL meaning of Swift’s Wish List, what the...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/12/09

Wish List is the most misunderstood song on The Life of a Showgirl because too many people take too much of Taylor Swift’s fantasy literally. But Joe and Toni decode the deeper meaning and reveal one of Taylor’s most powerful storytelling strategies that you can use to become a better writer and speaker. Also, a huge shout out to our fans for our Spotify Wrapped naming us a “2025 Instant Hit Show” (more popular than 98% of other new shows), a “2025 Marathon Show” (our fans listened longer than 97%

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45:18

Decoding Actually Romantic and the Taylor...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/12/02

Actually Romantic is a funny and clever song. But it's also a diss track aimed at Charlie XCX, who herself put a song out about Taylor on her breakout 2024 Brat album, Sympathy is a Knife, which Charlie said was not a diss track. But Taylor clearly felt dissed, so we'll decode both of these songs to explain why, starting with Actually Romantic. In the end, we’ll see why Charlie might not have realized how much her song would piss off Taylor, but also why Actually Romantic might have benefited from a

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60:24

Revealed: Ruin the Friendship’s hidden connections to...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/11/25

Ruin the Friendship’s big mystery is why Taylor Swift put a High School heartbreaker on an album about the Eras Tour. Joe and Toni do a deep dive decoding the song’s meaning by explaining its crucial connections to The Fate of Ophelia and the teenage love triangle in Folklore. Then they explore why Taylor has so many haters with the help of former Cosmopolitan editor Amy Odell who hosts the fashion and pop-culture podcast 'Back Row with Amy Odell' (Apple Podcasts, Spotify).Learn more about your ad

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67:33

Why Eldest Daughter is NOT about Taylor Swift—and...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/11/11

Eldest Daughter may be the most controversial song on “The Life of a Showgirl.” Joe and Toni dive headfirst into the controversies about whether this song is too cringe, while raising the provocative question of whether this song is actually about Taylor Swift. And you won’t want to miss our fast-paced interview with New Yorker senior editor Tyler Foggatt who is Taylor fanatic.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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42:19

Taylor’s genius trick in Father Figure will blow your...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/11/04

One of Swift's biggest mysteries is why she has so many songs with bad or missing father figures, including many tracks on “The Life of a Showgirl.” In this must-see episode, Joe and Toni fully decode Father Figure, solve the mystery, and reveal one of Taylor’s most ingenious musical devices. They also explain the many illuminating connections between Father Figure and Getaway Car, one of Taylor’s fan favorite songs from Reputation.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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60:37

A Taylor Swift whiz helps us decode Opalite’s...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/10/28

Opalite does NOT mean what you think it does—as you’ll learn in this eye-opening episode. PLUS, we have a must-see interview with the brilliant Charlie Harding, a songwriter who co-hosts the award-winning hit podcast, Switched on Pop. The #2 song in America may seem like a simple bop, but in reality, it’s a complex lyrical gem that shines a whole new light on the album. And if you’ve ever wondered why Swift loves to work with Max Martin, Harding provides rare insight into the reclusive Swedish

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59:37

EXCLUSIVE! An Elizabeth Taylor expert helps us decode...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/10/22

Joe and Toni talk to Ben Mankiewicz, an expert on Liz Taylor and Cleopatra—who are both quintessential showgirls Swift is obsessed with. In the episode’s middle segment, the three discuss the many parallels between the two Taylors that Swift alludes to in the song. Ben is an amazing storyteller and host of the podcast The Plot Thickens whose latest season is on the ill-fated movie Cleopatra, which starred Liz and which his great-uncle Joseph directed and wrote. If you want to fully understand the

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54:15

How Decoding The Fate of Ophelia’s REAL Meaning...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/10/14

This episode will change how you think about Taylor’s entire album! Joe and Toni explain the real meaning of The Fate Of Ophelia— the #1 song in America AND the world—and how it is the key to decoding what Taylor called the “perfect puzzle” of the entire album. You’ll learn the real meaning of the music video and the remarkable parallels between the album’s first song and the final one, The Life of A Showgirl. Joe brings his expertise on Shakespeare to reveal the song’s unexpected origin and what

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45:17

Taylor Swift’s ‘Life of a Showgirl’: Ironic, Raunchy...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/10/06

Taylor promised on Travis’s New Heights podcast that the 12 songs on ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ would ‘fit together like a perfect puzzle.’ But her critics’ hot takes mostly miss this point and misfire. So, in Season 2, Joe and Toni will help you solve this puzzle by decoding the REAL meaning of each episode—the irony and karmic twists beneath the literal lyrics—ending with an epic reveal in the final episode on the title song. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so you don’t miss a single

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46:09

What the Stunning Meaning of ‘Cardigan’...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/09/23

Taylor told Travis on his New Heights podcast that ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ will have the same kind of storytelling she used so movingly on Folklore. So, Joe and Toni decode her unforgettable hit song ‘Cardigan’—the heart of both the album and its teenage love triangle—to reveal Betty’s unexpectedly tragic fate. This episode will transform how you think about Folklore and may hold the key to decoding her new album when it drops on October 3.

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43:50

The Karmic Secret to Decoding ‘Life of a Show Girl’...

Decoding Taylor Swift ·

2025/09/16

If you want to fully decode Taylor’s new album dropping October 3, you’ll need to understand the 2 types of irony Taylor, Max Martin, and Shellback use in songs like “Shake It Off.” That #1 hit seems like a basic bop, but it’s not. Joe and Toni reveal how Taylor and her co-writers convey their true meaning by combining the first kind of irony—"when you mean what you say, but you don't say what you mean”—with the second kind, which is irony of fate, also known as poetic justice or karma. As Swift

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