Taylor Swift's 'Father Figure' Lyrics Reframe Her Early Career—From Her ExBoss's Perspective Alyssa BaileyOctober 3, 2025 at 1:04 AM 0 Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl track "Father Figure" seems to reframe her early career from the perspective of the record executive who first signed her.
- - Taylor Swift's 'Father Figure' Lyrics Reframe Her Early Career—From Her Ex-Boss's Perspective
Alyssa BaileyOctober 3, 2025 at 1:04 AM
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Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl track "Father Figure" seems to reframe her early career from the perspective of the record executive who first signed her.
She sings about a man who prioritizes his profits while saying he'll be a father figure and mentor to her.
Swift's lyrics allude to the fight she faced to buy back her masters after she left her first label, Big Machine Records.
At first glance, fans might think Taylor Swift's "Father Figure" lyrics are about another rising female singer who betrayed Swift after she had mentored them.
But Swift, who has sung from the perspective of other people before, seems to explore her own past in the music industry through the eyes of the executive who first took a chance on her. The song's lyrics focus on the exploitation of talent in the music industry.
Swift portrays him as posing as a "father figure" to win her trust and loyalty—so he can ultimately profit off of her work. As she sings in the chorus, "I can make deals with the devil because my dick's bigger / This love is pure profit."
This mentor wanted her to succeed—up to a point. She adds in the second verse: "Said, 'They want to see you rise, they don't want you to reign' / I showed you all the tricks of the trade / All I ask is for your loyalty / My dear protégé."
The bridge and final chorus portray what happened when Swift parted ways with this person and the conflict that ensued: "You want a fight, you found it / I got the place surrounded."
Swift did face a real-life battle after leaving her first record label, Big Machine Records, over the masters of her first six albums. The executive Swift worked with was CEO Scott Borchetta.
When Swift's masters were sold to Scooter Braun in 2019, the singer detailed her frustration in an open letter, writing about her deal with the label and how she believed Borchetta truly viewed her and her work.
She started her letter by saying, "For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums."
She added that her masters being sold to Braun was her "worst case scenario. This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen to someone for whom the term 'loyalty' is clearly just a contractual concept. And when that man says 'Music has value,' he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it.
"When I left my masters in Scott's hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn't want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever."
Swift ended her note by saying she left her "past in Scott's hands and not my future." She finally bought back her masters this year, leading to a much happier ending.
"Father Figure," which interpolates George Michael's 1987 song of the same name, tells a familiar story in the music business and serves as a warning to other young artists. Read the full lyrics and listen to the song below:
Verse 1When I found you, you were young, wayward, lost in the coldPulled up to you in the Jag', turned your rags into goldThe winding road leads to the chateau"You remind me of a younger me"I saw potentialChorusI'll be your father figureI drink that brown liquorI can make deals with the devil because my dick's biggerThis love is pure profitJust step into my officeI dry your tears with my sleevePost-ChorusLeave it with meI protect the familyLeave it with meI protect the familyVerse 2I pay the check before it kisses the mahogany grainSaid, "They want to see you rise, they don't want you to reign"I showed you all the tricks of the tradeAll I ask is for your loyaltyMy dear protégéChorusI'll be your father figureI drink that brown liquorI can make deals with the devil because my dick's biggerThis love is pure profitJust step into my officeThey'll know your name in the streetsPost-ChorusLeave it with meI protect the familyBridgeI saw a change in youMy dear boy, they don't make loyalty like they used toYour thoughtless ambition sparked the ignitionOn foolish decisions which lead to misguided visionsThat to fulfill your dreamsYou had to get rid of meI protect the familyChorusI was your father figureWe drank that brown liquorYou made a deal with this devil, turns out my dick's biggerYou want a fight, you found itI got the place surroundedYou'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drowningWhose portrait's on the mantle?Who covered up your scandals?Mistake my kindness for weakness and find your card cancelledI was your father figureYou pulled the wrong triggerThis empire belongs to mePost-ChorusLeave it with meI protect the familyLeave it with meI protect the familyLeave it with meOutroYou know, you remind me of a younger meI saw potential
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