Taylor Swift Dishes on Writing Songs About Guys She Dates

It's not a big secret that Taylor Swift writes songs about real people that she knows, and most popularly, famous guys she has dated. In a new interview with YouTube, Swift opened up about one ex-boyfriend in particular who asked her not to pen a hit about him.

"Has any guy asked you not to write a song about him before you went on a date?" one fan asked Swift, which caused her -- and the live audience -- to laugh quite a bit. "Not at that point in the relationship!" Swift answered.

She continued, "Because at that point, you know, they're thinking I wouldn't have any reason to write a bad song about them. And then it's when they start to treat me in a way that wouldn't reflect well on them in a song, if I were to be honest, about it, I've had a guy be like, 'Ugh! You're not going to write about this, are you?' And I'm like … 'Uhh, yeah. I am.'"

It's obvious that while talking about this situation, Swift had someone specific in mind -- though she never said whether it was Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal or one of the other famous faces she's been paired with in the past. She added, "You'd think that they'd decide that before asking me on the date, or before we become a couple, or before all this stuff happens. But, it only occurred to … Well, him, it occurred to him that it wouldn't be a good song."

Swift also confirmed that, yes, she does always write about people she knows, because those make for the best songs. "I love it when a song is a story," she says. "My favorite stories have really beautiful characters, and I feel like you can most accurately describe a character if you know them."

See Taylor Swift Talk Dating and Songwriting With YouTube (Around 18:15)