Literary

Criticism

Proponents:

Mandani, Angel Issah

De Jesus, Andrei

Estares, Mary Maragret

Consing, Vanesse Kevin

Diaz, Genevieve

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 Contents:

I. Lyrics of the Song…………………………………………...3

II. Background of the Singer / Composer…………………….7

III. Background of the Song…………………………………….7

IV. Literary Analysis…………………………………………....8

V. Adaptation…………………………………………………..9

VI. Reference…………………………………………………...9

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Song Title: Blank Space by Taylor Swift

Lyrics:

Nice to meet you, where you been?

I could show you incredible things

Magic, madness, heaven, sin

Saw you there and I thought

"Oh, my God, look at that face

You look like my next mistake

Love's a game, wanna play?" Ay

New money, suit and tie

I can read you like a magazine

Ain't it funny? Rumors fly

And I know you heard about me

So hey, let's be friends

I'm dying to see how this one ends

Grab your passport and my hand

I can make the bad guys good for a weekend

So it's gonna be forever

Or it's gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it's over, mm

If the high was worth the pain

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

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'Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

'Cause we're young, and we're reckless

We'll take this way too far

It'll leave you breathless, mm

Or with a nasty scar

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

But I've got a blank space, baby

And I'll write your name

Cherry lips, crystal skies

I could show you incredible things

Stolen kisses, pretty lies

You're the King, baby, I'm your Queen

Find out what you want

Be that girl for a month

Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh, no

Screaming, crying, perfect storms

I can make all the tables turn

Rose garden filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh, my God, who is she?"

I get drunk on jealousy

But you'll come back each time you leave

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'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream

So it's gonna be forever

Or it's gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it's over, mm

If the high was worth the pain

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

'Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

'Cause we're young, and we're reckless (oh)

We'll take this way too far

It'll leave you breathless, mm (oh)

Or with a nasty scar

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane (insane)

But I've got a blank space, baby

And I'll write your name

Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn ya

Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn ya

So it's gonna be forever

Or it's gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it's over (over)

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If the high was worth the pain

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane (I'm insane)

'Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

'Cause we're young, and we're reckless

We'll take this way too far (ooh)

It'll leave you breathless, mm

Or with a nasty scar (leave a nasty scar)

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

But I've got a blank space, baby

And I'll write your name.

Background of The Singer:

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 Taylor Alison Swift

Taylor Alison Swift (December 11, 1989) also known as Taylor Swift, is a Multi Grammy
award winning American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and cultural icon who,
at the age of 20, became one of the youngest artists in history to win the Grammy Award for
Album of the Year in 2010. Young Taylor Swift, who was born in West Reading,
Pennsylvania moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was 14 years old just to pursue her
dream career in country music. Her musical piece become popular, which is frequently
influenced by her personal experiences specially her past relationship, has earned wide media
attention and critical praise.

Despite her popularity, Taylor Swift rapidly abandoned her country roots in favor of creating
mainstream pop music for a broader audience and she decide to debut her first pop album
called 1989, it has full of fresh distinctive sounds, blended vocals, and electronically based
melodies tracks and one of this is the song called “Blank Space”.

Background of The Song:

Taylor released "Blank Space" in 2014 as part of her studio album 1989. Taylor collaborated
on it with Max Martin and Shellback. Taylor sings about meeting and falling in love with so
many boys that she believes she has finally met "the one". It is also about a decreasing
romantic relationship and the Character’s efforts to save that relationship. The song
emphasizes power imbalances in romantic relationships and how women can be interpreted
as insane or jealous when they express their feelings of dissatisfaction. In this song Taylor
explores themes of love, passion, and the emotional rollercoaster that often accompany
romantic relationships. The lyrics portray the singer as having had several romantic
encounters, leaving a trail of broken hearts and ex-lovers behind.

Literary Analysis
Feminism Approach:

Taylor Swift's convoluted romantic past has consistently generated excessive controversy for
something that should be very straightforward. She received criticism for dating too many
men during her twenties, despite the fact that this was untrue. While criticizing her for writing

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songs about her personal life, the media did not hold male artists to the same standards.
Nevertheless, Swift handled everything with class and came out with some incredible songs,
such as "Blank Space."

The song Blank Space Suits to land on the Feminism, Because Feminism explores women's
societal roles, experiences, and passions in order to shed light on the ways in which gender
injustice manifests itself. In the song, we can see that it describes the woman's point of view
in love. The woman or let's say Taylor Swift is the one who can play the boys that are in love
with her. We all know that Feminism argues that gender determines everything, in this song,
Taylor swift is more dominant than the man. It simply explains that we can't judge a person
by just his/her gender, but anyone can do anything without giving a big deal to their gender.

She wrote this song in response to how she was portrayed in the media, which is that she was
always keeping up with relationships. The song portrays a flirty woman who is involved in
several love relationships. Upon closer inspection of "Blank Space," Swift asserts her
authority over the story of her romantic life. She views herself as a self-aware person, skilled
at embracing and rejecting the clichés attributed to her, as opposed to being defined only by
media scrutiny. Especially in this song, Swift assumes a more dominating role than her male
counterpart, defying gender norms and delivering a potent message that goes beyond gender-
based expectations in society.

Adaptation:

Sierra is a wealthy woman who lives alone in a large house. She has never been in love with a
man because she thought she didn't need one because she could be alone. One day, she meets
a man who promises to change his life. She tells him that she will always make money for
him. Initially, she is happy with him. However, as time passes, she notices something strange
in his behavior. One day, he leaves, and she catch him with another woman. She is very upset
and doesn’t know what to do. She confronts him and asks him why he is doing this. He
doesn’t say a word and Sierra slaps him and leaves. She cries and cries because of what
happened, but she realizes that why should she cry? Why should she be worried? She can live
her life without a man.

Reference:

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Ray, M. (2023, December 4). Taylor Swift | Biography, Albums, Songs, & Facts.
Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Taylor-Swift

McIntyre, H. (2023, August 23). Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’ is Back. . .And growing in
popularity.Forbes.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/
2023/08/23/taylor-swifts-blank-space-is-backand-growing-in-popularity/amp/

Songfacts. (n.d.). Blank Space by Taylor Swift - SongFacts. Songfacts.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/taylor-swift/blank-space