Taylor Swift Wrote A Song About A Film Inspired By One Of Her Songs: Inside 'Someone Great's Love Story

21 December 2022, 17:52 | Updated: 16 June 2023, 11:38

Taylor Swift's songwriting skills inspired a movie script, and of course, she couldn't resist writing a song in response!

We all know that Taylor Swift is one of the most prolific songwriters of our generation, but did you know that one of her songs has actually inspired an entire Netflix Original film?

The romantic comedy Someone Great was penned after director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson was inspired by pop icon's song, 'Clean', which hails from her critically acclaimed '1989' album.

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If that wasn't impressive enough, Taylor then went on to write a song about the movie – before she even knew it was partly influenced by her, it's like Swift-ception!

The 2019 title has a seriously impressive cast, with stars like Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise and LaKeith Stanfield all taking on the main roles.

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Someone Great follows the relationship between Jenny (Rodriquez) and her two best friends (Snow and Wise) after a job offer causes her to split with her serious boyfriend (LaKeith) of nine years.

The comedic yet gut-wrenching film explores love and loss, friendship and growing up – something that clearly struck a chord with Miss Swift as she wrote 'Death By A Thousand Cuts' in response to the Netflix title.

The track – which was included on her seventh studio album, 'Lover' – instantly plucked at fans' heartstrings, and once the director caught wind of Taylor's musical reply, she took her joy to Instagram.

Jennifer gushed in the post and shared a screenshot of the pop star's lyrics: "A couple days ago I was searching ‘Someone Great’ on twitter and found something curious. There were rumors swirling around that Taylor had a song on ‘Lover’ called DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS (written with Jack Antonoff) inspired by my film. Well. Turns out, it’s true [sic]."

She continued to dish on the serendipity and revealed that she listened to '1989' religiously following a devastating break-up, she likened the record to "a best friend with a bottle of tequila and a bear hug".

"I found the most comfort in Clean, a song about rebirth after love lost. It inspired me and Someone Great," she admitted in the heartfelt post.

"And now, in the most surreal, what the f*** is even happening, full circle situation I find myself with a new song that will help me through heartbreak," the filmmaker continued.

She then quoted lyrics from the song Taylor wrote after watching her directorial debut: “Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts, flashbacks waking me up. I get drunk, but it’s not enough, cause the morning comes and you’re not my baby...”

We love to see art inspiring art! 'Death By A Thousand Cuts' compares the end of a relationship to a slow and painful death, and during an appearance on the Elvis Duran Show, Taylor confirmed that it was in part written about the rom-com, which she described as a "gut punch".

"Oftentimes I write songs about my own life but there's always flickers of other people's work that influence me in some way," she said.

Taylor revealed that she didn't realise 'Clean' had a part in the conception of Someone Great until Jennifer emailed her, she said: "I just wrote a song based on something she made, which she made while listening to something I made. Which is the most meta thing that's ever, ever happened to me."

The 'Lover' song in question, while not a single, has become a fan-favourite over the years, with a TikTok video going viral recently that identified a clever yet tormenting detail to the song...

The creator was playing the ballad when she came across a discovery and explained to her TikTok audience: "She [Taylor] literally wrote the most gut-wrenching breakup song to the chorus of 'Pachelbel's Canon in D', otherwise known as The Wedding Song.”

Trust Taylor to write a heartbreak anthem using a melody that you’d hear whilst walking down the aisle, she really is a mastermind.

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