4. Father Figure

1. Musical Style: 1960s Jazz fused with late-Eighties George Michael

2. Literary References: "A Star Is Born" (1937, 1954, 1976, 2018), "Don't You Want Me?" by the Human League, "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo

3. Key Lyric: "This Empire belongs to me"

4. Favorite Lyric: "You'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drowning"

5. Taylor's Callback: "All Too Well," particularly the famous line, "Fuck the Patriarchy!" Also, thematically, "The Man."

6. TL/DR: He said loyalty; he meant servitude.

7. Previous Track 4s: A Place in This World, Hey Stephen, Speak Now, I Knew You Were Trouble, Out of the Woods, Don't Blame Me, The Man, exile, 'tis the damn season, Snow on the Beach, Down Bad.

First things first: Look at those previous track fours...there was no way "Father Figure" was going to be anywhere else on the Showgirl playlist. Almost all of these songs deal with some kind of conflict, either within the persona of the singer or with an outside force.

I had an epiphany yesterday while thinking about this song and what I wanted to write today: nowhere in the lyrics does she ever mention the music industry! The first time I heard this, I thought it was a diss track to Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Records, Taylor's first music label.

It may be that, but it's much more than that. It's natural to associate this song with the music industry because of its connection with George Michael, another singer with a famous feud with record executives who wanted him to look and sing in a particular way.

He broke away from this (and finally came out as gay) in the single "Freedom 90" from his brilliant album "Listen Without Prejudice." Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to get out of his record contract with Warner Brothers. Taylor, of course, fought for years to regain ownership of her original master recordings.

All this background, combined with the general knowledge of how the music industry treats new acts, makes the song seem obviously linked to the classic story, "A Star is Born," in which an older man brings a young woman from obscurity to stardom, only to see her surpass him both professionally and personally. 

But that's not what we find in the lyrics. It's "The Godfather" (Taylor's Version).

Look at all the Mafia-influenced images: "I protect the family," "made a deal with the devil," "sleeping with the fishes," the emphasis on loyalty above all else, the flaunting of wealth (the Jag, the chateau, paying the check, pure profit, portrait on the mantel) all evoke images of the Mafia Don outraged that his protege has the balls to try to rise up and break away from him.

The crude line "Because my dick's bigger" is not simply for shock value; it's another callback to "The Man" where she insists that the things she does for which she's criticized would be praised coming from a male singer, and this line is another example.

It's also linked to the idea of "Fuck the Patriarchy" from "All Too Well" because it covers the hyper-masculine world of all businesses, but particularly the music industry, in which machismo and bravado is celebrated in men but wholly unacceptable for its women. 

Taylor is at the peak of her narrative skills with this song. It took me several listens to determine the voice of the lyrics and conclude it's the same persona throughout the song. On first listen, I thought the protege might have taken control of the narrative, but the point-of-view remains consistent throughout.

What we don't know, what is only implied and inferred, is whether the speaker is victorious or defeated at the end of the song. The final lyric, an echo of the first verse, "You remind me of a younger me, I saw potential," could be either an epitaph of dominance or a cry of remorse in defeat. Which one is it? 

Musically, the song is intentionally evocative of Michael's original "Father Figure," for which Taylor received permission from his estate to create, a fitting tribute to a talent who left us far too soon. Taylor and her collaborators also create a jazz-influenced bridge that carries us to the climactic final verse where the speaker boldly declares, "This Empire belongs to me," even though the wealth of that empire is owed to the talent of the protege.

"Father Figure" is a triumph of musical and lyrical complexity, and it's no surprise that Swifties are citing this newest Track Four as their favorite on the album. This Empire clearly belongs to Taylor.