Blank Space

"Blank Space" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on November 10, 2014, as the second single from her fifth studio album, 1989. Co-written and produced with Max Martin and Shellback, the track is a sleek electropop number built on a minimal arrangement of synthesizers, hip-hop-influenced beats, and layered vocals. Swift recorded the song at MXM Studios in Stockholm and Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles.

The song is a satirical, self-aware response to media portrayals of Swift as a serial dater with a chaotic love life. Instead of rejecting that image, she leaned into the caricature, adopting the exaggerated persona of a glamorous, unhinged romantic who lures in lovers and discards them. She told GQ in October 2015 that she wrote from the perspective of the "crazy, but seductive, but glamorous, but nuts, but manipulative" woman the media had painted. The chorus includes the memorable line: "Got a long list of ex-lovers / They'll tell you I'm insane / But I've got a blank space, baby / And I'll write your name."

Commercially, the single was a major success. It debuted at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and rose to number one in its third week, replacing Swift's own "Shake It Off" at the top. This made Swift the first woman in history to succeed herself at number one on the Hot 100. The song stayed at number one for seven consecutive weeks, her longest-running number-one single at the time. It also reached number one in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The RIAA certified it 8x Platinum in July 2018. The song earned three Grammy nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance, though it did not win in any category. Its music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, premiered on the same day as the single and has accumulated over 3.8 billion views on YouTube, making it one of the platform's most-viewed videos. The video depicts Swift as a lavish, vengeful lover in an opulent mansion, reinforcing the song's tongue-in-cheek narrative. [edit]