Why ‘But Daddy I Love Him’ Might Be Taylor Swift’s Most Gut-Wrenching Song

Taylor Swift is known for her emotionally devastating ballads — but there is one song on The Tortured Poets Department that fans think might be her most gut-wrenching tune yet.

Track six from the soon-to-be-released record, titled “But Daddy I Love Him,” will come in at five minutes and 40 seconds in length. It is the longest track on TTPD, followed by the title track, which comes in at four minutes and 53 seconds.

“But Daddy I Love Him” crossing the five-minute mark puts Swift’s top five longest songs alongside “All Too Well” (five minutes and 29 seconds or 10 minutes and 13 seconds, depending on which version you are listening to) off of Red (Taylor’s Version), and “Dear John” (six minutes and 45 seconds), “Last Kiss” (six minutes and eight seconds) and “Enchanted” (five minutes and 53 seconds), all three of which appear on Swift’s 2010 album, Speak Now.

With the exception of Enchanted — a candy-coated love song about falling in love at first glance — all of Swift’s most lengthy tracks are detailed accounts of relationships that have failed or are in the process of failing.

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Swift also has a habit of mentioning her father in more heartbreaking tracks. In “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” — a song allegedly about ex Jake Gyllenhaal — she sings, “You charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes / sipping coffee like you’re on a late-night show / But then he watched me watch the front door wishing you would come / He said ‘It’s supposed to be fun, turning 21.” In her debut album’s angriest song, “Picture To Burn,” her dad is also mentioned in the lyrics, “And if you come around here saying sorry to me / My daddy’s gonna show you how sorry you’ll be.”

“But Daddy I Love Him,” meanwhile, has a father reference directly in the title. Add in that TTPD is largely rumored to be an album inspired by her split from ex Joe Alwyn, and the song is likely to be a soul-crushing experience for the listener.

In addition to Swift’s longest tracks often being heartbreakers, she’s famously known for putting some of her most emotionally devastating ballads as track five, which is where both “All to Well” and “Dear John” reside. Midnights’ “You’re on You’re Own Kid,” Folklore’s “My Tears Ricochet” and debut’s “Cold As You” are also songs that have landed in the coveted spot.

“But Daddy I Love Him” is the sixth track on Tortured Poets, but many think the singer could be setting fans up for a one-two punch. as TTPD’s fifth track is titled “So Long, London.” During her time with Alwyn, 32, Swift spent the majority of her time in the U.K. to be closer to the England native. Since the pair’s split in April 2023, Swift has seemingly shifted back to her New York City roots, also recently spending much of her time in Los Angeles with now-boyfriend Travis Kelce.

“So Long, London” may be a double entendre. It wouldn’t be a first for the Grammy-winner, touching on both her move back to the States and the end of her romance with Alwyn. Regardless of the topic at hand, Swift has all but guaranteed that her track fives will continue to devastate listeners, which she credits to the fans.

“Track five is kind of a tradition that really started with you guys because I didn’t realize I was doing this, but as I was making albums, I guess — I don’t know why — but instinctively I was just kind of putting a very vulnerable, personal, honest, emotional song as track five,” Swift explained during a July 2019 Instagram Live.

She continued: “So, because you noticed this, I kind of started to put the songs that were really honest, emotional, vulnerable, and personal as track five. So, that has definitely happened in the case of track five on this album Lover.”

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The pattern continued after Lover, with Reputation featuring “Delicate” and Midnights’ “YOYOK.” However, after TTPD hits shelves on April 19, track six may also find its own place in Swiftie-lore. The entire album may be one big gut-punch in and of itself, considering the few details she’s teased about her reasons behind making it.

“I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me,” she told concertgoers at a February Eras Tour show in Melbourne, Australia. “It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”

The Tortured Poets Department will be released on Friday, April 19.