After ending her 13-year contract with Big Machine Records and signing anew with Republic Records in 2018, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums in November 2020.[2] The decision followed a public 2019 dispute between Swift and the talent manager Scooter Braun, who acquired Big Machine including the masters of her albums which the label had released.[3][4] By re-recording the albums, Swift had full ownership of the new masters, which enabled her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use and therefore substituted the Big Machine–owned masters.[5]
In April 2021, Swift released her first re-recorded album: the re-recording of her 2008 studio album Fearless, subtitled Taylor's Version. In addition to the re-recorded tracks, it contained several unreleased "From the Vault" tracks that she had written but left out of the original album.[6] On November 12, 2021, she released her second re-recorded album: the re-recorded version of her 2012 studio album Red, also subtitled Taylor's Version.[7] As with its predecessor, Red (Taylor's Version) also includes "From the Vault" tracks that Swift had intended for but left out of the original Red.[8]
"I Bet You Think About Me" is one of the vault tracks on Red (Taylor's Version).[9] Swift wrote the song while staying in Foxborough, Massachusetts, to play two Gillette Stadium shows as part of her Speak Now World Tour in June 2011.[10][11] She then contacted the American musician Lori McKenna, whom she had known through their mutual friend Liz Rose, to ask McKenna to join the song as a co-writer. The two completed writing at McKenna's house in Stoughton, Massachusetts within the first day of the Gillette show.[12] McKenna recalled that Swift had the rough idea and title, and she helped Swift "bounce stuff off of".[13] Officially titled "I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault)", it is track number 26 on Red (Taylor's Version).[14] Republic Records and MCA Nashville released the song to US country radio on November 15, 2021.[15] On April 30, 2023, Swift performed "I Bet You Think About Me" on guitar as a "surprise song" at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, as part of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour.[16]
The end product is a country[17][18] and folk-popballad.[19] It has a harmonica-driven production[20] with twangy vocals[21] and tenor background vocal harmonies from Stapleton.[17] In the lyrics, Swift makes multiple sarcastic remarks towards an ex-lover and his lifestyle.[22] Swift said, "We wanted this song to be like a comedic, tongue-in-cheek, funny, not caring what anyone thinks about you sort of breakup song", and explained that she and McKenna wanted to write a drinking song.[11] The ex-lover in question has made Swift feel inferior towards him; she fails to fit in with his "upper-crust circles", and he has once told her that he and Swift are "too different".[23] Recounting the differences between the two former partners' childhoods, she labels herself as a girl "raised on a farm" and the ex-lover as someone from a "silver spoon" and "gated community".[24] At the end of the song, Swift additionally calls out her ex-lover's love for "cool indie concerts", "organic shoes", and "million-dollar couch".[18][24] She concludes the song, referring to her songwriting profession: "When you say, 'Oh my god, she's insane, she wrote a song about me?'/ I bet you think about me."[25]
Reception
Critics generally praised Chris Stapleton's guest appearance.
Music critics praised the production, Swift's songwriting, and Stapleton's guest appearance.[26]Variety's Chris Willman gave "I Bet You Think About Me" a five-star rating and lauded the lyrics as sharp. Although Willman considered Stapleton's guest appearance too short, he praised the country production as rowdier compared to Swift's early artistic output.[27] Jessica Nicholson from Billboard complimented Stapleton's "burnished, bluesy vocal" which together with Swift's delivery brought forth a "well-crafted" song.[28] Also from Billboard, Jason Lipshutz remarked that Swift's "deadpanning" delivery made it highlight her attributes of a "funny" performer.[29] In USA Today, Melissa Ruggieri wrote that Stapleton's "whiskey-hued vocals are the beautiful sandpaper to Swift's sleek voice" and found the lyrics to contain some of Swift's "snarkiest".[30]Time's critics in 2023 placed "I Bet You Think About Me" fourth on their ranking of Swift's 25 vault tracks; Moises Mendes II commended the lyricism and deemed Stapleton a fitting guest vocalist.[31] Josh Kurp of Uproxx ranked it seven out of 26 vault tracks and said that the "sarcastic" lyricism made it a good drinking song.[32] At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards (2023), the song received a nomination for Best Country Song.[33]
A music video for "I Bet You Think About Me" premiered on the video-sharing platform YouTube on November 15, 2021. Swift and the American actress Blake Lively wrote the treatment for the video, and the latter directed it in her directorial debut.[43] The video documents a wedding, with the wedding couple played by the actor Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Sperry, who had been a friend of Swift's for years.[44][45] Swift plays an ex-girlfriend who intrudes upon the wedding.[46] Aaron Dessner has a cameo as a member of the wedding band, while Swift's brother Austin is credited as a producer for the music video.[47] Stapleton does not appear in the video.
