Taylor Swift

Story of Song

The story of this song as told by Taylor swift to “That’s Country”: “I came into the writing session with Liz Rose and said, I’ve got this idea. I had overheard a friend of mine talking to his girlfriend and he was completely on the defensive saying, ‘No, baby… I had to get off the phone really quickly… I tried to call you right back… Of course I love you. More than anything! Baby, I’m so sorry.’ She was just yelling at him! I felt so bad for him at that moment. So I came up with the first line ‘You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset, going off about something that you said,’ and I ran that into the story line that I’m in love with him and he should be with me instead of her. It just became this whole picture. It was really fun for us to write the line, ‘She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts.’”

In an interview with MTV News Taylor explained: “This song is basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn’t appreciate him at all. Basically like ‘girl-next-door-itis.’ You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time.”

Release date

It was released on April 18, 2009

Songwriter/s

Taylor Swift – Liz Rose

Label

Big Machine – Universal Republic

Chart Rankings

US – 2

UK – 30

GERMANY – 5

It was a commercial success in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and in the US where it became Taylor’s highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 and third best-selling single. You Belong With Me won Favorite song at 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards, Record of the Year, received nominations for the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The single was certified 6 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and considered one of the best-selling singles worldwide, with sales of more than 5.1 million units (according to the IFPI). The song’s promo video won the 2009 MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video.