Is Taylor Swift's When Emma Falls in Love About Emma Stone?
Taylor Swift Seemingly Confirms "When Emma Falls in Love" Is About Emma Stone
Taylor Swift is never afraid to write songs about people she knows (including exes, nemeses, and friends), and fans think they've gotten another one. On 5 June, Swift, 33, revealed the track list for "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," and it includes six previously unreleased tracks she wrote during the original "Speak Now" era that she calls "vault" songs. The songs include one called "When Emma Falls in Love," and fans immediately wondered if the track could be about actor (and Swift's friend) Emma Stone. When the song was finally released on 7 July, they scoured the lyrics for clues, and later that day at her Eras Tour show, Swift performed it live for the first time and seemed to confirm it's about Stone. Here's what to know.
Stone, 34, attended Swift's Eras tour back in March, and when she talked to Vanity Fair about it in an article published 5 June, she revealed some details about her and Swift's long-lasting friendship. "I've known her since we were 17 and 18, so she hooked me up, which was very nice 'cause I know those tickets are impossible to get," she said. That means, according to Stone, they met around 2006, about two years before Swift started working on the songs for "Speak Now" in 2008 and 2009.
And from 2009 onward, Swift and Stone were often photographed together. Swift attended the 2010 premiere of "Easy A" with Stone, and they were photographed hanging out at the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscars party. Stone even presented Swift with a Teen Choice Award in 2011.
Is Taylor Swift's "When Emma Falls in Love" About Emma Stone?
When Swift performed it for the first time in Kansas City, she said of the track, "I wrote about one of my best friends," per videos shared by concertgoers. That seems to be Swift confirming Stone is the titular Emma. But there are clues in the lyrics themselves, too.
In the song, Swift sings about a close friend and what happens when she falls in love. She sings in the first verse, "'Cause Little Miss Sunshine always thinks it's gonna rain," which could be a reference to the iconic sequence in "Easy A" when Stone's character plays "Pocketful of Sunshine" over and over.
In the song, Swift says "Emma" finds "a boy with eyes like a man / Turns out her heart fits right in the palm of his hand." During the era Swift was writing "Speak Now," Stone dated singer Teddy Geiger and actor Kieran Culkin. Stone and her now ex-boyfriend Andrew Garfield began filming "Amazing Spider-Man" in 2010 — probably after the song was written. Many of Swift's fans think this lyric at the end is a reference to her relationship with Culkin.
But in a lot of ways, the song isn't just about romance. It's a tribute to their friendship, and the way Swift looks up to, admires, and loves her friend and her ability to embrace romance. Whatever relationship Swift sings of didn't last (Stone married husband Dave McCary in 2020), but their friendship did.
