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 throughout the newest episode of “The Bobby Bones Show” podcast, opening up about Swift, 33, writing the observe “Hey Stephen” in regards to 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 tune about me. We bought shut and it was cool.”

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

While Swift has needed to struggle 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 help it if you look like an angel” and “I can’t help if I want to kiss you in the rain slow” — show that Swift’s discography is crammed with a full vary of feelings in the case of issues of the center. 

“It’s a nice song,” Liles mentioned of the observe. “It’s like the nicest song you could write about somebody, so that was cool.” 

Swift has a historical past of by no means naming the themes of her music — however her first 5 albums included secret liner notes that supplied 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 Live, Swift performed coy in regards to the observe however revealed that she wrote “Hey Stephen” as a approach to specific her admiration for “Stephen,” saying, “It’s just like a little musical wink to the guy that I thought was cute … I think that guy’s really cute.”

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

“Me and Taylor really hit it off and became really close when we were on tour together,” Liles advised Taste of Country in 2011. “We had a real emotional relationship. We talked on the phone a lot. She was really cool. One day she called me up and was like, ‘Hey, I wrote a song about you.’” 

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

“She was like, ‘Really!’ She asked how it went and I told her about some of the lines,” he recalled. “I didn’t tell her too much, but I told her about the main tag of the song. She was like, ‘I want to hear it!’”

Related: 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.” More than […]

Love and Theft’s hectic tour schedule stored Liles from recording and sending the tune to Swift on the time — “I never really did anything with it,” he advised Taste of Country — however the band laid down a uncooked model of the tune, titled “Try to Make It Anyway,” whereas writing their self-titled fourth album in 2011.

“This is actually one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written,” Liles shared on the time. “[Taylor] is awesome. I really dig Taylor. I dig what her and her family have done with her career, and I dig the person she is. I hope she’s flattered by it. As far as I know, none of the other dudes she’s been hanging out with have written a song about her.”