“The Man” is the fourth track on the seventh studio album ‘Lover’ by Taylor Swift.
The much-anticipated 2019 album ‘Lover’ contains 18 tracks on the standard edition including three singles “ME!” featuring Brendon Urie, “You Need to Calm Down” and the title track “Lover.” The new album is in complete contrast to Taylor’s previous album ‘Reputation’ released in 2017, which focused on speaking out her mind against her haters. In this era, however, Taylor Swift is in love, and that reflects throughout the album.
In Taylor’s 2019 interview with Vogue magazine, she teased a snippet of “The Man” lyrics. The lyrics suggest that Taylor is assuming the perspective of being a man, addressing her concerns on gender discrimination.
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In the lyrics to “The Man,” Taylor Swift plays with the idea of being a man and how that would make her so much more ‘accepted’ in the society.
Taylor Swift talks about how society would interpret her behaviours and life quite contrastingly if she was a man. The first example she draws is her dating life. It is a known fact that Taylor Swift has had a ‘long list of ex-lovers’ who will call her insane! But if she had been a man the same scenario would be interpreted as ‘playing the field before committing to one person.’
In the pre-chorus, Taylor talks about the perks a man enjoys in society. He would be considered a ‘fearless leader,’ the ‘alpha male’ type and often society would have a tendency to believe a man over a woman. Being a female of 29-years-old, Taylor Swift has accumulated and enforced immense power over the music industry and on the society in general.
In the second verse of “The Man,” Taylor presses on about the perks of being a man in modern society. A man would usually be recognized for his work, being acknowledged that he ‘hustled’ for his victories. For a woman, it would usually be numbed down to being ‘lucky’ or even ‘prude.’ The society expects a woman to lay low, even when she is being mistreated. In contrast, if a man was rude or stood up for himself, he would be honored as a hero!
In the bridge of the song, Taylor Swift goes all out on these gender stereotypes. If a man had cash and threw it away on women, he would be a baller and a stud. If a woman did the same, she would be a ‘bitch’ or even a ‘slut.’
Let us hear what you think about this song on Taylor’s brand new album ‘Lover.’ What are your other favourite songs on the album? Drop a comment below.
The complete album releases on August 23, 2019, through Republic Records.
Update: 18/02/2020
Taylor Swift performed an acoustic version of “The Man” live in Paris. Watch below.
Update: 27/02/2020
Taylor Swift premiered the music video for “The Man” portraying what it is like to be an alpha male in society. Or even, how if a man does something, he is portrayed as an alpha male just because he is a man.
However, the most important piece of the message comes after the song, when the music video shooting comes to a half. We see that Taylor Swift is the director of the music video, a video about the power-hunger of a man! However, we later realize that Taylor Swift herself played the role of “The Man” in the video. Excellent work, Taylor!