Who is ‘Enchanted’ by Taylor Swift about?

If you can’t remember what kind of person you were in 2010, there’s a strong chance that you were a Swiftie, like the rest of the world. When Taylor Swift dropped her third studio album, Speak Now, it was a real game-changer for the music industry. In fact, the album is getting a re-release as part of Swift’s “Taylor’s Version” saga. Bare in mind that this was Swift’s country era, not her hybrid style of country and pop, for which she’s now well-known. She was 21 years old at the time, barely scratching the surface of her talent and potential, but Speak Now paved the way for her current works, including her studio albums Folklore and Evermore, and the latest, Midnights.

It’s been 13 years since Speak Now, which gifted us one of Swift’s most timeless songs, “Enchanted.” Although it isn’t on repeat as much as “Love Story” and “Blank Space,” it’s a hidden gem in Swift’s discography, even if not many listeners know the story behind it. Swift has made a reputation out of writing songs around her exes, specifically Harry Styles, who was the subject of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” However, not much gossip has circulated regarding Swift’s harmless crushes.

Swift wrote “Enchanted” about a man with whom she’d become infatuated after meeting him in New York City. She sings of how she hopes to continue the relationship, using specific lyrics such as “wonderstruck” — a word transcribed from one of the emails the subject sent to Swift after they met. There are conflicting reports that suggest the identity of the man to be Owl City’s Adam Young, although he and Swift never dated.

As Distractify reports, “Adam realized he was the man Taylor was possibly talking about in the song she wrote since he saw the letters of his name spelled out in her album notes. He penned her an open letter and posted it to his Tumblr page. In it, he revealed that he planned to release his own version of the song as a way of responding to her. In Taylor’s song, she sings, “I was enchanted to meet you,” and in Adam’s version of the song, he sings, “I was enchanted to meet you, too.”

The song essentially communicates Swift’s worries with meeting someone, developing an attraction to them, and hoping the feelings will be reciprocated.

The 33-year-old singer-songwriter told Pop Buzz: “I wrote ‘Enchanted’ about a guy who I was enchanted to meet, obviously. He was somebody that I had talked to a couple of times on email, and then I was in New York and I went to meet him. I remember just the whole way home thinking, ‘I hope he’s not in love with somebody.’” 

Swift has come a long way since her supposed crush on Adam Young, having dated the likes of Joe Jonas, Tom Hiddleston, and the aforementioned Harry Styles, about whom she penned a harsh breakup song.