Taylor Swift's Song 'Picture To Burn' May Have Given Us A Glimpse Into Her Dad's True Character
Did her early song warn fans of his aggressive behavior?
Brian Friedman / Shutterstock Taylor Swift has recently been in Australia for sold-out runs of her Eras Tour in Melbourne and Sydney. As is typical for her, her family has been with her.
Swift is very close with her parents, Scott and Andrea. They can often be seen at her shows or accompanying her to other events like award shows. Scott Swift in particular has developed a reputation for being kind. He can typically be found passing out guitar picks or food to fans waiting hours to see their favorite singer.
However, Scott Swift is now in the news for a completely different reason.
Early Tuesday morning, Taylor Swift’s dad allegedly assaulted an Australian paparazzo.
Entertainment Weekly reported that Scott Swift was accused of attacking a member of the paparazzi in Sydney.
The outlet shared a statement from local police, “Police have been told a 71-year-old man allegedly assaulted a 51-year-old man at Neutral Bay Wharf about 2:30 a.m. (Tuesday 27 February 2024), before leaving the location. The younger man reported the incident and inquiries are now underway by officers attached to North Shore Police Area Command. The man did not require medical treatment.”
If reps for Swift are to be believed, quite the brawl nearly ensued. Her spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly, “Two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water.”
Daily Mail identified the paparazzo as Ben McDonald, who claimed that Scott Swift was “charging” at him in Sydney.
McDonald stated, “In 23 years of taking pictures, I have never seen anything like it.”
Taylor Swift may have hinted at this behavior from her father in her early song 'Picture to Burn.'
While fans have never had any reason to believe that Scott Swift is violent, it is possible that Taylor let fans know about her dad’s true character in “Picture to Burn,” a song from her self-titled debut album released in 2006.
“If you come around sayin’ sorry to me, my daddy’s gonna show ya how sorry you’ll be,” Swift sings in the second verse of the song. The bridge seemed to be a callback to this lyric: “If you’re missing me, you’d better keep it to yourself, ‘cause coming back around here would be bad for your health.”
The lyrics have become a joke among Swifties who have said that the only thing Scott Swift could possibly do is throw guitar picks at someone. Now, it doesn’t seem so innocent.
According to Genius, "Picture To Burn" is "an angsty breakup song about Jordan Alford, who went on to date, and later marry, one of Taylor’s former friends named Chelsea.”
Is it possible that Scott Swift was really so angry at Alford that his daughter thought he could cause him bodily harm? Was Taylor’s plan for getting back at Alford letting her father handle him — whatever that meant?
It’s unlikely that Scott Swift is really a violent person.
Despite his actions in Australia, it seems unlikely that Scott Swift is truly violent. He has certainly been in high-pressure situations like this where he wanted to protect his daughter, and he showed no signs of aggression.
However, it does seem suspicious that a young Swift was willing to write such candid reflections of her father’s attitude. It is possible that the Swift family is hiding some dark secrets. Then again, just one album later, Swift told listeners of “The Best Day” that “I have an excellent father. His strength is making me stronger.”
It's more than likely that Scott Swift was simply trying to protect his daughter and got caught up in the heat of the moment — if it was him involved in the altercation at all. For now, it's all speculation, but true Swift fans are leaning toward Scott being more lapdog than pitbull.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.