“Better than Revenge” by Taylor Swift
In the world of celebrity romance, sometimes things can get quite ugly. These are individuals who experience the same type of tumultuous matters of the heart that we all do. However, in their case, they actually have the public’s ear. So a back-and-forth can manifest itself via well-publicized diss tracks being dropped.
And such is the case with the premise behind Taylor Swift’s “Better Than Revenge”. As the story goes, Joe Jonas unceremoniously dumped Taylor Swift after the two of them dated throughout the summer of 2008. Then to make matters worse, Joe and musical siblings, collectively known as the Jonas Brothers, released a track in 2009 in which they supposedly put forth that his new girlfriend is “much better” than Swift. And of course anyone who is actually aware of Tay Tay’s style knows she isn’t the type, especially back in those days, to take such matters lying down. So all of this led to her eventually dropping “Better Than Revenge” in 2010.
That is why within the song it is speculated that Taylor is telling the addressee to show “how much better” than her she is actually is.
But who is the addressee of “Better Than Revenge”?
Simply put, this song is considered to be about Camille Belle. Camille is a Hollywood actress. But more important to this narrative, she is the lady who Joe Jonas went on to date right after breaking up with Taylor Swift. So going back to the Jonas Brothers’ “Much Better” song, if the above theory is to be believed, then it would be based on Belle’s perceived superiority to Swift.
And in a nutshell, when Taylor put this song together, she was strongly under the belief that Camille stole Joe from her. Moreover in that regard, she feels that Belle blindsided her. So then she goes on a tirade against the “actress”. And to make a long story short, the singer is presenting her as deceitful. She even goes as far as implying that Camille tricked her new beau into believing she’s “a saint” when in reality “she’s not”. Moreover, she implies that this lady is immature and unstylish. But most-scathingly, the narrator basically refers to the object of her ire as a ho, i.e. a woman who is “better known for” sleeping around than anything else.
Conclusion
So apparently Taylor did some type of research while putting together the lyrics. She never goes as far as to namedrop Camille Belle, but listeners are able to piece together what time it is. And if you, the reader, think this may be an extreme way for someone to deal with a man stealer, by putting them on complete blast, well that’s exactly the point. Or as Swift puts it, ‘there’s nothing she does better than revenge’.
However, it should be noted that as Tay Tay matured, she seemingly came to realize the folly of her ways. Or as she put it in a 2014 interview, she was at the tender age of 18 when she composed “Better Than Revenge”. And since then, she has come to the understanding that “no one [can] take someone from you if they don’t want to leave”.
Facts about “Better Than Revenge”
This track is from Taylor Swift’s third album, Speak Now. And it was originally brought to us by Big Machine Records, the label which Taylor’s relationship with infamously dissolved some years later.
This song was written by Taylor Swift, who also contributed to its production. And the other co-producer would be Nathan Chapman.
During 2016 Taylor Swift had a widely-covered beef with fellow music superstar Kanye West and by extension his mega-celebrity wife, Kim Kardashian. It proved to be quite a challenging time for Swift in terms of the public’s perception of her. And during July of that year, Camilla Belle released a tweet in which she promoted the idea of karma catching up with “those who hurt you”. And many people viewed said tweet as a reference to Taylor.
