“Mr. Perfectly Fine” is the twenty-second track on Taylor Swift’s first re-recorded album ‘Fearless,’ originally released in 2008. This is one of the six brand new tracks on the re-recorded album tagged ‘From the Vault.’ The song talks about a guy who is a smooth talker with a lot of promises of love, and no actions following through.
The move to re-record her first six albums stemmed from the long-standing legal feud between Taylor Swift and her former record label ‘Big Machine Records,’ first of which will be her second studio album ‘Fearless’ from 2008. The re-recorded ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)‘ contains six never-before-heard tracks including a collaboration with Keith Urban. The album releases on April 9, 2021.
Releasing the song ahead of time, Taylor Swift Tweeted out to contrast her songwriting from the era of ‘Fearless’ to now; “Me in 2020: life is chill, writing songs based in fiction to avoid drama, feeling pretty grown up. My 2008 music from the vault, in a goblin voice: “REELEEEEEEASE MR PERFECTLY FIIIIIIINE”
Listen to “Mr. Perfectly Fine” by Taylor Swift
Buy ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ Album on Apple Music & Amazon
“Mr. Perfectly Fine” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
In the first verse of the song, we hear an endless list of promises and compliments given by this guy to Taylor Swift while they were dating. He swept Taylor off her feet with sweet nothings such as he is “here to stay,” he “would never go away,” “I’ve been waitin’ for you all my life,” “until the end of times” and so on. And Taylor listened to these words of magic coming off of his ‘perfect face.’ The whole world seemed to be perfect!
Pre-chorus
Alas! There are rarely happy-endings in the ‘Fearless’ era of Taylor Swift. She quickly realized that he is also a Mr. Change of Heart, i.e. changed his mind about everything he said above. One fine day, he realized that Taylor was not the one he’s been waiting for all his life, and he has to walk away. Taylor Swift, broken-hearted, wishes him the best of luck!
Chorus
Taylor asks the guys how he is doing after the breakup. He says (or pretends to be) that he is perfectly fine (thus, the song title). It literally cannot be ‘perfectly fine’ if he really meant 10% of the things he whispered to Taylor Swift in the first verse. Taylor Swift is a mess and she calls herself Miss Misery! The guy was so self-centered that he believed his entire life was about him. All the people that come and go in his life are merely circumstantial; “Always at the right place at the right time.”
Taylor calls him Mr. Casually Cruel and gives us some serious nostalgia into the lyrics of “All Too Well” which has the same phrase.
Verse 2
The worst part about this breakup was how this guy handled it. It seemed as if one fine day he woke up and decided that it was time to move on. There was no explanation as to why he is walking away from her. She must have felt used and very unimportant to be discarded so easily. He walked away so fast that he didn’t even see her cry, not that it would have changed anything. And he is perfectly fine afterward!
Verse 3
In the third verse, Taylor tries to bring out some of his egoistic traits mainly to make herself feel better about having to move on. This boy was all about his personnel marketing; always in a well-pressed suit, well-groomed, shiny shoes, all eyes on him, and he always gets the best seats in the room. He carries himself thinking he is above everyone else. All these are everything Taylor Swift is not. So, maybe, just maybe, it was not worth it after all…?
Bridge
Despite all the flaws in him, Taylor Swift was ready to spend her life with him. She was going to be Miss Here to Stay! Now, she has to brush herself, pick herself up, and move on. And someday she will be okay. And someday he might miss her. But then, she will be Miss Perfectly Fine, having moved on.
The entire song is written by Taylor Swift and is a good example of the creativity of Taylor in the songwriting department.
Let us know what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics on Genius.