Swift’s relationship was a physical experience. Since breaking up, the full-bodied physical experience of another person has been replaced by a flattened, empty version. For example, Swift sings: “I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep.” When they were together, Swift saw a three-dimensional, moving, human being. After the break-up, she will now see him only through static, pixelated representations on an instagram feed.

In literature and popular culture, ghosts generally linger because they have unfinished business from their lives.

As in Never Grow Up, time in Innocent is a double-edged sword. Although growing up is terrible, it also provides healing and growth.

Better Than Revenge is Swift’s Iliad – a feminine recasting of the timeless tale of besmirched honor.