Music has always been about creating the soundtrack for our own lives, andTaylor Swifthas been mastering this craft for nearly twenty years now. I’m just one of her many, many fans, lovingly known as “Swifties,” who finds myself relating to the songs she writes about her own life far too often.
Of course, music isn’t the only art form that’s capable of defining certain eras (see what I did there?) of our lives. Visual media, from movies to TV shows and more, also have the power to help us navigate specific periods of our lives, whether we realize it at the time or not.
There are thus times when the stars align, and we findboth music and visual media working together to create a definitive era. This has happened to me a few times, including the simultaneous 2020 release dates of Ariana Grande’sPositionsalbum and the premiere ofThe Mandalorianseason 2, but none greater than what took place last year.
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April 2024 Saw The Two Overlapping
Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album,The Tortured Poets Department, arrived on August 14, 2025, just a few weeks beforeStar Wars: The Bad Batchseason 3, the animated TV show’s final season, came to an end. If you’ve never heard of this particularStar WarsTV show, let me be the first to introduce you.
Star Warshas a wealth of various media types, but animation is by far its most underrated, andThe Bad Batchacts as a spiritual successor to theStar Wars: The Clone Warsanimated series. The story follows the titular “Bad Batch,” also known asClone Force 99, a group of genetically-enhanced clone troopers (thinkStar Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones).
If you’re not familiar withThe Bad Batch, I knowyou’ve at least heard ofThe Mandalorian, and the two stories are actually quite similar. The Bad Batch takes in a young clone girl named Omega, who they train and protect in the earliest days of the sinister Galactic Empire. It’s a touching found family story that could win anyone over.
Much like Swift in the days that inspiredThe Tortured Poets Department, however, this family hadgone through some intense loss and turmoilprior to, and during, season 3. That made it even easier for me to draw comparisons between the two when Swift releasedTTPDmore than midway through the season.
Many Songs On TTPD Paralleled Events Happening In The Show
The Lyrics Perfectly Echo Various Story Beats
It’s alreadya common phenomenon to compare Swift’s songs to the lives and stories of fictional characters- there are entire TikTok accounts dedicated to it (and I owe you my life, TikTok editors) - but some of the parallels between songs onTTPDand things that were actively happening inThe Bad Batchwere just downright uncanny.
Take “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” for example, the tenth track onTTPD. The song tells the story of what it was like for Swift to grow up in the music industry, comparing it to “the circus life” and warning that “You should be” afraid of her, because “You caged me and then you called me crazy.”
When this song dropped along with the rest of the album, Omega was actively being held prisoner by the Empire for a second time, andshe was essentially embodying everything Swift sings in this song- especially the aforementioned lyric about being caged. It’s now impossible for me not to think of her whenever I listen to this song.
There are so many more I could point out, too. Take a look at just a few of the lyrics that perfectly matchThe Bad Batchseason 3’s story beats.
I could go on, especially withThe Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, but we would definitely be here for a long, long time. In processing her own life withThe Tortured Poets Department,Swift accidentally ended up creating what has ultimately become my personal soundtrackfor this very specificStar Warsstory.
Revisiting This Album Means Revisiting This Star Wars Story, Too
The Two Are Eternally Intertwined For Me
This wasn’t just a one-time thing, either.The Tortured Poets DepartmentandThe Bad Batchseason 3 are now eternally tied together in my mind, as I still find myself well over a year laterpicturing these characters whenever I’m listening to the lyrics on this album. It’s definitely ruined the album for me in the best way.
Perhaps the best example of this was when I sawThe Tortured Poets Departmentset live at Swift’s The Eras Tour in New Orleans last October. When I was yelling out the lyrics from the album along with Swift,it was these characters and their story I was thinking of, not my own life. I relived it all together in real time.
Taylor Swift’s Music Fits With A Lot Of Different Star Wars Stories
The Tortured Poets Department Is Far From The First
I really need to note, however, that Swift’s music, especiallyThe Tortured Poets Department, can also fit with a lot of differentStar Warsstories - and other fictional stories as well. If I had a dollar for every Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala edit I’ve seen to “loml,” I would be a very rich person.
While most of Swift’s music does seem to be autobiographical, she has also confessed to writing fictional stories into her songs.
FromfolkloretoFearlessand even1989,there’s no limit to whatStar Warsstories can manage to parallel the unique storytelling Swift has masteredin her writing. It’s really no wonder, then, that I’ve managed to tie up an album likeThe Tortured Poets Departmentso tightly with aStar Warsstory I love so much.
While most of Swift’s music does seem to be autobiographical, she has also confessed to writing fictional stories into her songs, especially onfolkloreandevermore. I’m not sure ifTaylor Swiftis a bigStar Warsfan, but I would certainly believe she’s written songs about those stories - even one as unique asThe Bad Batch.
