Taylor Swift Reveals the Surprising Influence Game of Thrones Had on Her Last Album

It’s certainly no secret that Game of Thrones has had a pretty massive impact on our popular culture, and it looks like one pretty major example was hiding in plain sight. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Taylor Swift revealed that a lot of her most recent album, reputation, was influenced by the hit HBO series.

As Swift revealed, she began binge-watching the series for fun in 2016, before it began to have an impact on the stories she was telling in music.

“So much of my imagination was spent on Game of Thrones,” Swift explained. “At the time, I was making reputation and I didn’t talk about it in interviews, so I didn’t reveal that a lot of the songs were influenced by the show.”

“These songs were half based on what I was going through, but seeing them through a Game of Thrones filter,” Swift continued. “‘Look What You Made Me Do’ is literally Arya Stark’s kill list. ‘King of My Heart’ was influenced by Khal Drogo and Daenerys. It’s even got this post-hook of drums — I wanted them to sound like Dothraki drums… I Did Something Bad’ I wrote after Arya and Sansa conspire to kill Littlefinger. That and “Look What You Made Me Do,” are very Cersei vibes, too. Daenerys as well.”

According to Swift, her growing obsession for Game of Thrones ultimately affected her career in an interesting way, motivating her to take a much more cryptic approach to how she reveals information with her fans.

“My entire outlook on storytelling has been shaped by [Thrones] — the ability to foreshadow stories, to meticulously craft cryptic story lines,” Swift revealed. “So, I found ways to get more cryptic with information and still be able to share messages with the fans. I aspire to be one one-millionth of the kind of hint dropper the makers of Game of Thrones have been.”

“You find yourself identifying with different characters several times an episode,” Swift added. “You go from hating someone to loving someone. You see someone as cold, and then you see the reasons behind why they do what they do. I just feel so lucky to exist when Game of Thrones is coming out.”

Although Swift has yet to reveal her Game of Thrones inspiration to any of the show’s cast members, she did recount an amusing experience of meeting series creator David Benioff and D.B. Weiss at a party.

“I was sitting there going, ‘Do I tell them? Is that weird? No one asked for this information.’ [But] one of the first things they said was ‘Our daughters love your music.’ I’m like, ‘This is my in.’”

What do you think of Taylor Swift’s Game of Thrones inspiration? Does it make you look at reputation differently know? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The final season of Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.