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Though the original song\u2019s lyrics seem to address a person vowing to take care of and protect a romantic partner, in the Faith: Legacy Edition<\/em> album booklet<\/a>, Michael discussed the production of the song and the transformative power of adding and subtracting different musical elements.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started off with a rhythm track with a snare, and when you play it like that it sounds a bit like Prince. I must have been listening to it without the snare and gone, ‘Oh my God, that totally changes the record!’ It suddenly becomes a gospel record,\u201d he said of early versions of the song.<\/p>\n \u201cA couple of things in my career have been a complete accident, where I stumbled upon the sound. I know when something resonates, and one of my saving graces is that I can hear something when I stumble upon it. I have the ability to stop and say: \u2018No. Actually, that\u2019s much better.\u2019 It\u2019s tiny little things like that that make a record, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n To say that Swift has been heavily involved in the production and marketing of her own music is the understatement of the century. By nodding to Michael\u2019s classic No. 1 hit, is she making a statement about power and musicality? Could the song be something of a spiritual sequel to \u201cThe Man,\u201d in which she imagined how her actions would be viewed if she wasn\u2019t a woman? Or, perhaps, the allusion is more to do with Babygirl<\/em> director Halina Reijn<\/strong>\u2019s interpretation of the song, as she explained to Indiewire<\/em><\/a>. For her, the track is about the freedom that comes with an assurance of safety.<\/p>\n “We all, men, women, any human being, any person, has a young child inside of them that needs to be taken care of,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether we are 80 years old or 6 years old, it\u2019s still there. And that is what it taps into for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether Swift is positioning herself as the father or the fathered, her entry into the George Michael Extended Universe is sure to be a seismic one. Welcome to your Showgirl Era, Daddy.<\/p>\n Representatives for Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n