Taylor Swift is revealing some of the hidden meanings behind her song “I Knew It, I Knew You”!
The 36-year-old Red superstar wrote the country song with Jack Antonoff for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, with the track inspired by the character Jessie and her journey in the movie.
Months after the song’s release, Taylor is now breaking down some of the lyrics herself and revealing that several lines were intentionally written to have more than one meaning.
During a rare appearance on country radio for the iHeartCountry House Party on Saturday night (September 5), Taylor said that she’s noticed fans analyzing the song closely.
“I love that the lyrics of this song are really being delved into by the fans,” she said, adding that “several lyrics” have multiple meanings.
What Do Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” Lyrics Mean?
Taylor explained how some of the lyrics simultaneously evoke childhood memories while making literal references to the world of Toy Story.
She pointed specifically to the opening of the song, which includes the phrase “daze of the blades of the grass in summer.”
Taylor explained that she intentionally used “daze,” but listeners could also hear the word as “days.” To her, “daze” represents looking back on childhood and remembering a beautiful memory that has become somewhat blurry around the edges.
The reference to blades of grass also works on two levels.
While grass evokes memories of childhood, playing outside and using your imagination, Taylor noted that the characters in Toy Story are literally toys, meaning their perspective from the ground only reaches approximately the height of the grass.
“I thought of it as like a childhood daze of you look back and you see this sort of blurry, beautiful memory that’s kind of blurry at the edges,” she explained. “But also there’s the added meaning of they’re toys…they can only see up to the height of blades of grass.”
Another line references “parachutes for the free fall of being younger.”
Taylor explained that this is partly a nod to the toy soldiers and their parachutes in the Toy Story universe. However, the line also symbolizes having someone in your life who helps you grow up and makes your metaphorical landings softer along the way.
“There’s the actual parachute army toys in Toy Story, as well as symbolically, somebody who helps you grow up, helps your landings be softer,” she explained.
She explained that having a limited amount of time in a song to capture the themes of an entire movie encouraged her to pack multiple ideas into individual lines.
“You only have so long in a song to convey and surmise and sum up this entire film that people just watched. Sometimes you’ll try to have a double meaning in a line,” she said.
What Inspired Taylor Swift to Write “I Knew It, I Knew You”?
Elsewhere during the radio appearance, Taylor opened up about the larger inspiration for the song.
She said that watching an early screening of Toy Story 5 made her particularly interested in Jessie’s full-circle journey.
“I was seeing that she was going through a full-circle moment as a character…a lot of reunions of old friends, seeing people that you haven’t seen in a while, and kind of forgiving past heartbreak, or whatever, and kind of healing that within yourself,” Taylor said of the inspiration.
Taylor and Jack wrote and produced “I Knew It, I Knew You” together. When the song was originally released, she said creating it simultaneously felt like a musical departure and a return home because of her lifelong connection to the Toy Story franchise.
Toy Story 5 was released in theaters in June.
Find out what Taylor previously revealed about writing “I Knew It, I Knew You” for the movie.
The post Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ Lyrics & Meaning: She Reveals the Song’s Double Meanings appeared first on Just Jared – Celebrity News, Entertainment News & Photos.
