“Call It What You Want” was first announced on social media on November 2nd, 2017, which was coincidentally the 13th anniversary of Taylor meeting the man who signed her to Big Machine Records, Scott Borchetta.

After the song was announced, many fans were quick to point out lyric parallels between the bridge of this track and her 2008 hit “Love Story,” on which Taylor daydreams about running away with her boyfriend.

In 2019, Taylor reflected on songs like “Call It What You Want” from her album ‘reputation’ as the ones that told the true love story of her relationship.

In her September 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, she tells us that it’s about her “newly quiet, cozy world that was happening on [her] own terms for the first time.”