Closing track “Clara Bow” — whose namesake is an actress from the silent film era — is “a commentary on what I’ve seen in the industry that I’ve been in over time,” Swift revealed to Amazon Music.
“I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid,” she said. “And they’d say, ‘You know, you remind us of…’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘But you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ “
“And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as, like, ‘You could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you.’”
So, when deciding who to name-drop in the “The Lucky One”-esque tune (Stevie Nicks, Bow and Swift herself), the singer said she “picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these archetypes of greatness in the entertainment industry.”
Clara Bow, Swift noted, “was the first ‘it girl,’” while “Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music.”