Taylor’s song “Don’t Blame Me” was released in 2017 on her Reputation album. The song is one of my favorites on the album, having the catchphrase of the song being “Don’t blame me your love made me crazy.” This lyric is not only catchy but can parallel the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy in The Great Gatsby. The song describes Taylor’s experience with being “addicted to love”, and describes the things this addiction led her to do. Like Taylor, Gatsby was addicted to being with Daisy, and this addiction led to the narrative that played out in the novel.
The song not only can be parralled to The Great Gatsby, but actually directly references the novel in the first verse, stating,
“Echoes (echoes) of your name inside my mind
Halo, hiding my obsession
I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy”
The specific line “I once was poison ivy but now I’m your daisy” describes how she used to be harmful or toxic, like poison ivy. However, she has changed and evolved into something more innocent like a daisy. Daisy’s in literature represents purity and innocence, even Daisy’s name in the novel represents a sense of innocence her character is trying to portray. The Irony of the novel is that even though Daisy comes off as innocent and pure, as her name implies, she is actually more similar to poison ivy. Her nature is toxic, and we see this as she leads Gatsby on throughout the narrative.
The lyrics also describe how Taylor fell into a deep obcession with her love interest, such as,
“Don’t blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doin’ it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be usin’ for the rest of my life (yeah, ooh)”
“For you, I would cross the line
I would waste my time
I would lose my mind
They say, “She’s gone too far this time””
She uses drug use as a metaphor to describe her addiction to her love interest. Gatsby also had a drug-like addiction to Daisy and any attention she could give him. daisy, on the other hand, had a similar obsession with her social status and image. Gatsby felt the need to climb the New York social ladder to be able to catch her eye again, this led to an endless chase for her validation, whenever her main focus was herself.