Back then, singer said she screamed it at her parents after her “one epic teenage tantrum,” not after watching “The Little Mermaid.”
Taylor Swift performs at Friends Arena on May 17, 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden. Michael Campanella/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Taylor Swift is the absolute best when it comes to playing the long game. For the latest proof just look to one of the fan favorites from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department‘s “But Daddy I Love Him.”
Initially it was assumed that the title was a winking nod to a phrase uttered by Ariel in the 1989 Disney animated classic The Little Mermaid, in which the smitten mermaid gave up her voice to be with Prince Eric. But, as it turns out, the film — which was released in the same year Swift, now 34, was born — was not the inspiration for the song after all.
In a resurfaced Popsugar clip from 2008, Swift described an argument with her father Scott that came after the then-19-year-old singer was apparently dating a man her parents didn’t care for. “This song, I wrote it right after my one epic teenage tantrum that I ever threw in my whole life,” Swift said in the clip. “And I remember screaming something, like, ‘But daddy, I love him!’ And running out and storming into my room and slamming the door and then I sat down on the floor and wrote this song.”
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The song she was referencing was “Love Story” from her second studio LP, 2008’s Fearless. On her current European leg of the Eras Tour, “But Daddy” is among the new songs Swift has added to the revamped setlist.
Watch the resurfaced clip of Swift describing the origins of “But Daddy I Love Him” below.
