Pop star Taylor Swift has spoken about the intense scrutiny around her lyrics, saying some fans push interpretations beyond a healthy limit.

The singer, recently recognised among the 30 greatest living American songwriters, said her music often becomes a subject of deep analysis, with listeners trying to connect songs to specific people and events.

“There’s corners of my fanbase who are gonna take things to a really extreme place,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do about that. There’s people who are gonna try to, like, do detective work, figure out the details, who is that about? What is this?”

Swift said it becomes uncomfortable when songs are treated as definitive proof of her personal life. “When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it’s a paternity test,” she said. “Like, ‘This song’s about that person.’ Because I’m like, ‘That dude didn’t write the song, I did.’ But that’s part of it.”

Her lyrics have long sparked speculation, with fans linking tracks across albums like The Tortured Poets Department and 1989, as well as songs such as All Too Well and Dear John, to people from her past.

Despite the ongoing theories, Swift said she stays focused on her own connection with her work. “You have to hold tight to your perception of your art and your relationship with it, and then you kind of have to [mimes blowing it out] there it goes. Hope you like it. And if you don’t now, hope you do in five years, and if you never do, then I was doing it for me anyway.”