“How You Get the Girl”- Taylor Swift

For this weeks blog post I decided to analyze the lyrics from one of Taylor Swift’s new songs, “How You Get the Girl,” to see if what Taylor is explaining in her song coincides with what we have been reading about in class. Taylor swift usually writes songs about breaking up, however, this song talks about getting back together. So I categorized this as a love song and one that may fit the scripts written in Bader’s article, “Love Will Steer the Stars” and other improbable Feats: Media Myths in Popular Love Songs.” I matched the specific scripts with the lines of the song below:

The first verse goes:

Stand there like a ghost
Shaking from the rain, rain
She'll open up the door
And say, are you insane?
Say it's been a long six months- (1. Your perfect partner is cosmically pre-destined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you)
And you were too afraid to tell her what you want (3. Your true soul mate should KNOW what you’re thinking or feelings)
And that's how it works
It's how you get the girl
And then you say

The chorus:

I want you for worse or for better
I would wait for ever and ever
Broke your heart, I'll put it back together (1. Your perfect partner is cosmically pre-destined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you AND 8. Bickering and fighting a lot mean that a man and a woman really love each other passionately)
When you left her all alone
I would wait for ever and ever

And that's how it works
That's how you get the girl, girl, oh
And that's how it works
That's how you get the girl, girl

The second verse:

Remind her how it used to be, be
Yeah, yeah
With pictures in frames, of kisses on cheeks, cheeks
Tell her how you must've lost your mind (8. Bickering and fighting a lot mean that a man and a woman really love each other passionately)
When you left her all alone
And never told her why
And that's how it works
That's how you lost the girl
And now you say

The scripts I found to be most prevalent in this song with 

1. Your perfect partner is cosmically pre-destined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you, 
2. Your true soul mate should KNOW what you’re thinking or feelings (without your having to tell), 
3. Bickering and fighting a lot mean that a man and a woman really love each other passionately

The song talks about how a relationship breaks off and after some time they find each other again and try to remember the love that they had before they broke up. Something interesting I found in the song lyrics was that, throughout the song the male character seems to be trying to win the girl back by just saying “I want you for worse or for better, I would wait for ever and ever, Broke your heart, I'll put it back together, When you left her all alone, I would wait for ever and ever.” This relates to the idea of the Cad vs. Dad roles talked about in Taylor’s article. I think Taylor is telling males that in order to get women back in relationships and keep them they to be dad figures as opposed to Cad figures. But, I think that in real life, girls are more attracted to cad like figures and being a dad figure doesn’t get you as far in the dating game as Taylor seems to be claiming here. What do you guys think about this matter in relation to this song? 

Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media

myths in popular love songs."

Taylor, L. D. (2008). "Cads, dads, and magazines: Women’s sexual preferences and articles."