When Taylor Met the Finale: Swift’s Unfulfilled Desire for a Rom-Com Ending

The Basics: 

Six months after her relationship has ended, Taylor Swift sings “come back, come back, come back to meee heeee” to her ex. She is sad that he has not returned yet. If this was a romantic movie instead of real life, he’d “be here by now”. 

Literary Device: Epizeuxis

Taylor Swift returns to one of her favorite literary devices for If This Was a Movie. Epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or a phrase with no other words in between. In If This Was a Movie, Swift repeats the phrase “come back” three times at the start of each chorus and three more times in the middle of the chorus. The repetition creates a sense of emotional desperation as Swift pleads for her lover to return. Repetition is, as we shall see, also a key theme of the song. 

Analysis:

Swift’s bonus track If This Was a Movie reiterates themes that she explored in Fearless and Speak Now. Throughout these albums, Swift has been comparing and contrasting her own love stories, break-ups, and even her career success with tropes from other genres – fairy tales, ghost stories, and medieval legends. In If This Was a Movie, Swift compares a break-up and the aftermath to what would happen in a rom-com. Swift and her boyfriend had a “fight” in which she “locked him out.” In a rom-com, this setback would be a misunderstanding that occurs about 75% through the movie. The final quarter would correct the mistake, there would be a big romantic gesture, and the couple would emerge stronger than ever. In the story of her own relationship, Swift is pleading for this romantic gesture. “If this was a movie”, her partner would “come back” and “stand in the rain ‘til [she] came out” or she would find him “back at [her] front door.” Swift yearns and pleads for this relationship to play out like the final quarter of a rom-com. She ends the song by explicitly asking her partner: “Is that the kind of ending you wanna see?” and “Baby what about the ending?” 

Swift also indicates that she experienced the passage of time differently during the relationship than she does now that she is alone. In the first verse, she remembers “When time stood still and I had you.” In the second verse she recalls being “Wrapped up in your arms” and that it felt like “Nothing’s gonna change, not for me and you.” Swift’s happy memories represent moments of stillness when she was unaware of the ticking of time’s clock and unbothered by change. In contrast, she “now [is] pacing down your hall, chasing down your street.” Just as single Swift’s body is in constant motion, so are her thoughts. Instead of settling peacefully on the present moment, they vacillate wildly between the past and the future. Swift is constantly “playing back”, “going back”, “flash[ing] back” or imagining what a future reconciliation might look like. She misses not just her partner, but the peace and stability of a relationship. Swift’s fantasy about being in a movie is not just the fantasy of a happy ending – it is also imagining a relationship that she can rewind, pause, and fast forward to suit her needs. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Swift replays this particular relationship, it will not have a different ending.