Stephen Barker Liles Revisits Taylor Swift’s Song About Him

Stephen Barker Liles resides proof that not all of Taylor Swift’s songs are about heartbreak. 

The Love and Theft singer, 39, took a visit down reminiscence lane through the newest episode of “The Bobby Bones Present” podcast, opening up about Swift, 33, writing the observe “Hey Stephen” concerning the pair after they bought shut whereas touring collectively in 2008. 

“[Taylor put us on the first tour we ever did,” Liles said after being asked if the song was actually about him. “It was like, she was just about to release the Fearless album so we went on our first tour and [she] wrote a music about me. We bought shut and it was cool.”

The music was rereleased in April 2021 when Swift dropped Fearless (Taylor’s Model) in an effort to reclaim her masters after they have been purchased and offered by Scooter Braun in June 2019. Fearless marked her first rerecording adopted by Purple (Taylor’s Model) and Communicate Now (Taylor’s Model) in October 2021 and July 2023, respectively. Her fifth studio album, 1989 (Taylor’s Model), is about to drop later this month. 

Whereas Swift has needed to battle in opposition to the narrative that every one her songs are venomous tunes about ex-boyfriends since her profession started, “Hey Stephen” — with lyrics like “I can’t assist it when you seem like an angel” and “I can’t assist if I need to kiss you within the rain gradual” — show that Swift’s discography is stuffed with a full vary of feelings in relation to issues of the center. 

“It’s a pleasant music,” Liles stated of the observe. “It’s just like the nicest music you can write about someone, in order that was cool.” 

Swift has a historical past of by no means naming the topics of her music — however her first 5 albums included secret liner notes that offered a glimpse into her inspiration. When Fearless was launched, eagle-eyed followers rapidly found that “Hey Stephen’s” code spelled out “Love and Theft.” 

In a 2008 interview with CMT Radio Stay, Swift performed coy concerning the observe however revealed that she wrote “Hey Stephen” as a option to specific her admiration for “Stephen,” saying, “It’s identical to slightly musical wink to the man that I believed was cute … I feel that man’s actually cute.”

Liles later confirmed the music was penned about him — and that he heard the observe earlier than the Fearless launch. 

“Me and Taylor actually hit it off and have become actually shut after we have been on tour collectively,” Liles informed Style of Nation in 2011. “We had an actual emotional relationship. We talked on the cellphone lots. She was actually cool. Sooner or later she known as me up and was like, ‘Hey, I wrote a music about you.’” 

The musician recalled discovering the information “humorous” as a result of he had written a music about Swift the week prior. 

“She was like, ‘Actually!’ She requested the way it went and I informed her about among the strains,” he recalled. “I didn’t inform her an excessive amount of, however I informed her about the primary tag of the music. She was like, ‘I need to hear it!’”

Associated: Taylor Swift’s Exes Most Candid Quotes About Her Songwriting

Writing what she is aware of! Taylor Swift is infamous for penning private tunes about her high-profile relationships, however how do her exes really feel about being her muses? The Grammy winner has been utilizing her love life as inspiration since her self-titled debut dropped in 2006, that includes hits “Tim McGraw” and “Teardrops on My Guitar.” Greater than […]

Love and Theft’s hectic tour schedule stored Liles from recording and sending the music to Swift on the time — “I by no means actually did something with it,” he informed Style of Nation — however the band laid down a uncooked model of the music, titled “Attempt to Make It Anyway,” whereas writing their self-titled fourth album in 2011.

“That is really one in all my favourite songs that I’ve ever written,” Liles shared on the time. “[Taylor] is superior. I actually dig Taylor. I dig what her and her household have carried out together with her profession, and I dig the individual she is. I hope she’s flattered by it. So far as I do know, not one of the different dudes she’s been hanging out with have written a music about her.”