When it comes to Taylor Swift songs, "Enchanted" can walk, so "All Too Well" can run. The six-minute romantic epic from Swift's 2010 album Speak Now proved that Swift had the storytelling skills and gravitas to write her famous 10-minute tales. Red 's breakup anthem, which Rolling Stone named one of the best songs of all time. That is, it wasn’t until 2021, when it experienced a TikTok renaissance, that “Enchanted” had its moment of glory. As a result, it became the only Speak Now song to gain a permanent spot on the Eras Tour playlist, and "Enchanted (Taylor Version)" reached the top 20 on the Billboard charts, giving the song new life. However, there is surprising history and rumored inspiration behind the lyrics.
In a 2010 interview with Yahoo , Swift explained that she wrote "Enchanted" after meeting someone who captured her heart in New York, expressing her desire to stay in a relationship. "I came back and started writing this in my hotel room because it was just this positive, longing feeling of, 'I hope you understand how much I love seeing you,'" she said. Even her use of the word "wonderstruck" in the chorus is a very intentional message. “That person had used that word in an email,” she said. "So I specifically put it in the song so he would know."
That man is reportedly "Firefly" singer Owl City, aka Adam Young. As is customary with her music, Swift has never directly confirmed who wrote "Enchanted," but the song's secret message in the Speak Now booklet is "Adam." Young heard the song was about him and responded by posting a cover of "Enchanted" on his blog, incorporating his auto-tuned style.
Young kept most of Swift's lyrics, but he did change some to reflect his vision of their near-romance, such as adding her name to the chorus. In the outro, Young gives Swift an answer by directly responding to her pleas with her iconic refrain, "Please don't fall in love with someone else, please don't have someone waiting for you." "I've never been in love with anyone else, I've never had anyone waiting for me," he sings. "Because you are all my dreams come true and I just want you to know, Taylor, that I love you so much."
While the Owl City cover confirmed that he also had strong feelings when he met Swift, she never responded to his performance, confirming that their relationship never expanded beyond the songs themselves. Regardless, Young is proud to be the subject of one of Swift's most underrated and obsessive songs. "I met Taylor in New York...she came to one of my shows and I met her and I was kind of starstruck," he told Rappler in 2015. "Then lo and behold, she wrote a song called 'Enchanted' that I felt was about me, which was really cool and an honor that someone could write something like that."
