Taylor Swift's 'The Last Time,' Song On New 'Red' Album, Is About 'This Unreliable Guy'

Whom Was Taylor Swift's 'The Last Time' Written About?
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 01: Taylor Swift attends the 46th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on November 1, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 01: Taylor Swift attends the 46th annual CMA Awards at the Bridgestone Arena on November 1, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

You know that Taylor Swift song about the time she was in a healthy relationship with a guy who treated her really well, was emotionally available and wanted nothing else but to commit to her?

Probably not, but part of the fun of listening to a new Swift album is to decipher which of her caddish ex-boyfriends the scathing lyrics on each track are about.

However, Swift does often offer clues as to which former beau she's singing about. In an interview with NPR this weekend, the 22-year-old songstress discusses her latest album, "Red," and sheds some light on "The Last Time." (Sample lyric: "This is the last time I’m asking you why / You break my heart in the blink of an eye.")

Swift tells NPR:

The idea was based on this experience I had with someone who was kind of this unreliable guy. You never know when he's going to leave, you never know when he's going to come back, but he always does come back. My visual for this song is, there's a guy on his knees sitting on the ground outside of a door. And on the other side of the door is his girlfriend, who he keeps on leaving — and he keeps coming back to her, but then he leaves again. He's saying, "This is the last time I'm going to do this to you." And she's saying, "This is the last time I'm asking you this: Don't do this again." And she's wondering whether to let him in, and he just wants her to give him another chance, but she doesn't know if he's going to break her heart again. It's a really fragile emotion you're dealing with when you want to love someone, but you don't know if it's smart to.

While Swift doesn't reveal exactly who the "unreliable guy" is, Vulture conducted a recent lyrical analysis of "Red" and concluded that "The Last Time" is about Jake Gyllenhaal, because a reference to LA seems more geared to the "End of Watch" star than her last suitor, New England high-schooler Conor Kennedy.

While it's also been suggested that "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," also from "Red," is about Gyllenhaal, the actor has remained mum on the topic.

Another one of Swift's paramours, John Mayer, however, did not react well to reports that he was the inspiration for "Dear John," telling Rolling Stone in June that he was "really humiliated" by the song.

Before You Go

Yahoo Taping With Taylor Swift on August 18, 2014 in New York City

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