Taylor Swift plays her “serial dater” image to her advantage with “Blank Space,” a synth-pop anthem that the RIAA certified 8x platinum in July 2018. Swift explained to GQ in October 2015 that she wrote the song from the perspective of the “crazy, but seductive, but glamorous, but nuts, but manipulative” woman that the media painted her as.

Throughout the song, Swift carefully brings this character to life through juxtaposition that showcases her raging passion. She also included the noise of a pen clicking towards the end of the chorus, suggesting that the character is writing her new lover’s name in her “blank space.”

After the song rocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Swift became the first woman to knock her own song out of the #1 spot — 1989’s lead single, “Shake It Off,” had topped the chart for four weeks before “Blank Space” took over.

The song’s music video came out in November 2014, and brought Swift’s obsessive dater persona to life alongside American model Sean O'Pry. It became the fastest VEVO video to reach a billion views, achieving the milestone in July 2015. Check out a scene-by-scene breakdown of the music video by Genius users here!

As part of the 1989 deluxe edition Swift created with Target, she shared a voice memo she recorded during the “Blank Space” writing session, giving fans a glimpse into her creative process. Swift sang her drafted lyrics over acoustic guitar, while producers Max Martin and Shellback offered ideas for production.