45 Gilmore Girls Episodes As Taylor Swift Songs

Is the Venn diagram of Gilmore Girls fans and Swifties a circle? It can certainly feel like one, especially in the days following the release of Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. TikTok edits of Rory and Jess set to the album’s moodiest, bad-boy lyrics appeared on my FYP immediately. Elite Daily dubbed Swift “the Lorelai Gilmore of songwriters,” thanks to her unmatched knack for dropping pop culture references.

And it’s a comparison Lauren Graham, who plays Lorelai, would likely appreciate, as she’s a “huge fan” of Swift’s music. “She was incredibly poised, and kind, and knew about Gilmore Girls and we had a really cool conversation,” said Graham, who met the musician recently.

Given how readily Swift’s catalog and the show’s canon complement each other, it would make sense if she’d watched it growing up. Regardless, here are 45 Gilmore Girls episodes as told through Taylor Swift songs.

Season 1, Episode 1: “A Place In This World”

Rory might have been a precocious kid, but she was still very much a kid — like during the pilot episode when she decided she no longer wanted to transfer to the Chilton School because of her crush on Dean. This debut track, which Swift wrote when she was a teenager herself, gets at the confusing ups and downs of that time in a way Rory would resonate with.

Season 1, Episode 8: “Gold Rush”

Lane being so into a school bandmate that she impulsively runs her fingers through his hair — and promptly runs away in shame — may be one of the funniest moments in Gilmore Girls history. You can almost imagine Swift’s daydream-y song about a crush playing in her ears as she makes the inexplicable move. “With your hair falling into place like dominoes,” indeed!

Season 1, Episode 10: “Soon You’ll Get Better”

In “Forgiveness and Stuff,” Richard has a frightening heart episode, bringing out a particularly vulnerable side of Emily. “I did not sign on to your dying,” she tells him in the emergency room. “And it’s not going to happen — not tonight, not for a very long time.” Her moving plea is familiar to Swift’s lyrics in “Soon You’ll Get Better,” which she penned about her family’s experience with cancer.

Season 1, Episode 21: “That’s When”

Rory telling Dean “I love you, you idiot!” and him welcoming her back with open arms is very much a match for Swift’s playful song about reuniting after a tough break. This is also the episode where Max proposes with his 1,000 yellow daisies — it’s so Fearless-coded.

Season 2, Episode 3: “Midnight Rain”

In “Red Light on the Wedding Night,” Lorelai abruptly ends her engagement with Max days before their wedding. Luke’s comment about how marriage can halt one’s ability to “grow and evolve” really scares Lorelai. She ultimately arrives at the conclusion that people evolve together if it’s the right fit — and Max isn’t. Swift’s track about avoiding a commitment because she’s still stepping into herself (“He wanted a bride, I was making my own name”) could be the theme song for Max and Lorelai’s untimely end.

Season 2, Episode 4: “Getaway Car”

Then again, this Reputation classic about hightailing it from a failed relationship also works pretty well — especially when Lorelai and Rory embark upon a hasty road trip with no plans except to “go, go, go,” as Swift would put it.

Season 2, Episode 5: “I Hate It Here”

Upon Jess’ arrival in Stars Hollow, he sees an idyllic vision of small-town splendor before him — kids, families, a thriving main street — and is frankly disgusted. Swift’s Tortured Poets track “I Hate It Here” describes someone who escapes to the romantic inner world of a book to escape their surroundings. Given Jess’ status as a bookish bad boy, it might as well be his theme song.

Season 2, Episode 9: “It’s Nice To Have A Friend”

At the end of “Run Away, Little Boy,” Lorelai has a heart-to-heart with Luke where she admits she’s worried about never having someone who will always be there for her. “There’s Rory, and Sookie, and this town, and... you,” she says. “At least, I think I’ve got—” Luke assures her she does. It’s one of their most adorable moments, and they’re not even dating yet. So Swift’s airy, feel-good song about a friends-to-lovers couple fits just right.

Season 2, Episode 13: “Guilty As Sin”

Before they ever kiss, Rory and Jess are very into each other, like during the town basket fundraiser, where Jess outbids Dean for a picnic date with Rory. Rory insists to her mom that everything’s above board — as Swift puts it in this Tortured Poets track, “Without ever touchin’ his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?” — but by the end of the episode, when Rory sneaks off to call Jess, it’s clear that she has more-than-friend feelings brewing.

Season 2, Episode 19: “Out Of The Woods”

This is the episode where Rory and Jess have their study date that ends in a car crash, making it a natural pairing for Swift’s song about a (rumored) snowmobile accident. Both the episode and the 1989 track use the device of a mishap and ER visit to make a bigger statement about a budding connection getting a little too real, too fast.

Season 2, Episode 21: “Treacherous”

Another iconic moment in Jess and Rory’s flirtationship, “Lorelai’s Graduation Day” sees Rory skip school and miss her mom’s graduation to visit Jess in New York for the day. This isn’t a shining moment for Rory, but it’s a manifestation of the kind of young, impulsive, caution-to-the-wind attraction that Swift sings about in “Treacherous.”

Season 2, Episode 22: “Cruel Summer”

Rory impulsively kissing Jess and then immediately deciding she has to spend the summer in Washington, D.C. because her feelings are just too powerful? Absolute “Cruel Summer” behavior. Swift’s ode to a love in its early, secret stages fits this era of Rory and Jess well — he’s the “bad, bad boy,” the “shiny toy with a price” she’s simultaneously scared of and thrilled by.

Season 3, Episode 19: “Haunted”

Jess’ disturbing behavior at the party in “Keg! Max!” leaves Rory rattled and confused. Swift’s Speak Now song about a partner turning into someone unrecognizable rings true here. “Come on, come on, don’t leave me like this,” she sings. “I thought I had you figured out. Something’s gone terribly wrong.”

Season 3, Episode 21: “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”

After Jess’ sudden departure from Stars Hollow, Rory doesn’t take any time to wallow. Rather, she dives even deeper into her studies during the final few weeks of high school. Clearly, she has something in common with Swift, who, in “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart,” sings of a fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to moving on. “I can hold my breath, I’ve been doin’ it since he left,” she sings, going on to say she can “pass this test.” So Rory!

Season 3, Episode 22: “The 1”

On her graduation day, Rory takes a moment to call Jess and officially end their relationship. “I think I may have loved you, but I just need to let it go,” she says. For one of Gilmore Girls’ most devastating lines, Swift’s “The 1” from Folklore sums it up pretty well: “But we were something, don’t you think so? Roaring ’20s, tossing pennies in the pool. And if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you.”

Season 4, Episode 8: “Mean”

Rory was needlessly cruel in her review of a ballerina for the Yale Daily News in “Die, Jerk,” so Swift’s song about standing up to a bully, which was itself based on a bad review, is a perfect fit.

Season 4, Episode 13: “Back To December”

This is the first time Rory and Jess have come face to face since he abruptly left Stars Hollow. He has some major regrets about how he left things, but all he can muster is an agonized “I love you.” Like Swift sings in “Back to December,” her mea-culpa ballad about breaking a good person’s heart, Jess knows he can’t undo any of the damage, but he has to get it out anyway.

Season 4, Episode 14: “The Archer”

During her first year at Yale, Rory struggles to balance a rigorous course load and being away from her mom for the first time, and those worries spill over into Dean’s arms, with Rory telling him that “everything’s falling apart.” Her concerns are reminiscent of Swift’s anxieties in “The Archer,” particularly the devastating “they see right through me” bridge.

Season 4, Episode 15: “Tolerate It”

One of Gilmore Girls’ most quietly devastating moments is from “Scene In A Mall,” in which Emily goes on a massive shopping spree to make herself feel better about Richard focusing more on his business than her. When she returns home and asks how he likes the new glass apples she bought, he clearly doesn’t give Emily’s contribution much thought. Quoth Swift, she laid the table with the fancy sh*t and watched him tolerate it.

Season 4, Episode 8: “Florida!!!”

“It’s warm in Florida,” Paris tells Rory in Season 4, suggesting they spend spring break in the Sunshine State. The trip turns out to be a transformative one — they drink, they party, they kiss! — so Swift and Florence Welch’s “Florida!!!” duet, where they sing about the state being “one hell of a drug” feels appropriate.

Season 4, Episode 20: “The Manuscript”

In this Season 4 episode, Paris begins to question her affair with professor Asher Fleming after a medical emergency makes her realize the breadth of their age gap. Swift’s song about a relationship where the older partner assures her that everything is “above board” feels reminiscent of the ill-fated pairing.

Season 4, Episode 21: “Daylight”

Luke asking Lorelai to dance at his sister’s wedding is a big gesture on his part. If the sweet episode needed a Swiftie touch, it would be “Daylight” — the Lover track about embracing a comforting kind of love over the “burning red” relationships of the past. The song itself feels like a healing hug, so it feels right at home in an episode about Luke and Lorelai realizing how safe they are while waltzing together.

Season 4, Episode 22: “Snow On The Beach”

Yeah, Rory and Dean sleeping together ends Gilmore Girls Season 4 on an unpleasant cliffhanger. But in the midst of all the drama, it’s easy to forget that this episode also has Luke and Lorelai’s first kiss. “Snow on the Beach” is all about the stirring discovery that the person you have feelings for has them right back, which is exactly what happens between Luke and Lorelai as they smooch outside the newly opened Dragonfly Inn.

Season 5, Episode 1: “Our Song”

Swift’s meta, rollicking debut track about a young couple looking for a personal anthem? Yeah, that’s exactly what Dean and Rory do in Season 5’s awkward opening scene, choosing “The Candy Man” as their special song before Lorelai interrupts the moment.

Season 5, Episode 3: “Cowboy Like Me”

Luke and Lorelai are two fiercely independent people who find solace in each other, so they’re already Gilmore Girls’ resident “Cowboy Like Me” couple. But this Season 5 episode fits the Evermore song especially well. Not only do they go on a first date in a vaguely Western-themed restaurant, but Luke’s use of a poker term (“all in”) to describe his commitment to Lorelai echoes Swift’s imagined partner whose love is a costly bet.

Season 5, Episode 4: “’Tis The Damn Season”

Given the damage Rory and Dean’s affair left in its wake, it only makes sense that they tried to pursue a real relationship afterward, but recapturing the high-school-sweetheart magic is easier said than done. Just like Swift sings in her wistful ode to a hometown hookup, “I’m stayin’ at my parents’ house, and the road not taken looks real good now.” As her first real boyfriend and a symbol of a simpler time, he’s probably the “warmest bed [she’s] ever known.” But alas, you can’t really go home again.

Season 5, Episode 7: “Enchanted”

“You Jump, I Jump, Jack” is the beginning of a new era for Rory. It’s her first time properly getting to know the charming but mysterious Logan, and he welcomes her into his lavish world with a gorgeous ball gown and umbrella stunt that makes her feel like she’s floating on air. The fairy-tale vibes of “Enchanted” are fitting for the beginning of Rory and Logan’s whirlwind love story.

Season 5, Episode 9: “The Way I Loved You”

This Fearless ode to a messy love’s triumph over a perfect-on-paper relationship is often associated with Rory, Jess, and Dean’s love triangle. But it fits Richard and Emily surprisingly well, too. During Season 5, the couple’s long-simmering resentments give way to a trial separation, and Emily goes on a date with someone new. But after this handsome bachelor walks Emily to her front door, she gets inside and breaks down crying. He’s great! But he’s not Richard.

Season 5, Episode 14: “Hits Different”

This is Luke and Lorelai’s first big breakup episode. Despite being through her share of splits, she takes this one hard — bad dreams, sobbing in bed, leaving Luke a concerning voicemail that mortifies her so much she breaks into his house to delete it. As Swift sings, though, it hits different because it’s him.

Season 5, Episode 16: “Afterglow”

Fortunately, the breakup does not last long — and two episodes later, Luke marches over to Lorelai’s house, scoops her up, and passionately kisses her. The swoon-worthy gesture didn’t need any dialogue to get the message across, but if Luke did want a script for backup, “Afterglow” has him covered. “Hey, it’s all me, in my head,” Swift sings. “I’m the one who burned us down. But it’s not what I meant.”

Season 5, Episode 18: “Now That We Don’t Talk”

In “To Live and Let Diorama,” Rory, Paris, and Lane hang out in Stars Hollow to commiserate about their respective romantic problems. “Logan and I were hot and heavy, had a good two weeks, then it became about voicemails, then crickets,” Rory says. Swift’s song about communication gone cold after a brief, passionate relationship fits this era of Rory and Logan well, and “I call my mom, she said that it was for the best” is particularly reminiscent of Rory crying into Lorelai’s lap at the end of the episode.

Season 5, Episode 22: “This Is Me Trying”

This Folklore track could be the anthem for Rory’s fight with Lorelai and break from school in the Season 5 finale. Lyrics about wasted potential (and, particularly, “I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere”) fit with Rory’s sense of aimlessness. And “My words shoot to kill when I’m mad” matches up with her conversation with Lorelai a couple of scenes later, when she tells her mom, “You didn’t go to college, so you don’t understand.” Ouch.

Season 6, Episode 8: “Style”

Just like the couple in Swift’s 1989 track, Rory and Jess haven’t talked in a while by the time they meet in “Let Me Hear Your Balalaikas Ringing Out”— aka the “WHY did you DROP out of YALE?” episode. But it’s because they know each other so well — “We never go out of style,” Swift sings — that Rory hears Jess when he urges her to return to her true self. (And it doesn’t hurt that he quite literally has that James Dean daydream look in his eye.)

Season 6, Episode 15: “You’re Losing Me”

This Midnights-era track describes a relationship that’s falling apart in front of Swift’s eyes as she begs her partner to do something to no avail. It captures Luke and Lorelai’s communication breakdown following April’s arrival in Season 6, when Lorelai thinks a weekend getaway might help her reconnect with Luke. Sadly, his grumpy attitude dashes her hopes, and he misses nearly every opportunity to restore her faith in their future.

Season 6, Episode 16: “Babe”

Rory has a few infidelities under her belt by the time she starts seeing Logan, but when he pulls a Ross Geller-esque “we were on a break” in Season 6, she’s not thrilled to be on the other side of things. Swift’s line, “I keep picturing her hands on your neck, I can’t unsee it,” echoes the way Rory feels as she hears about his hookups from the women themselves — the bridesmaids in his sister’s wedding.

Season 6, Episode 18: “Sweeter Than Fiction”

“Sweeter than Fiction” is Swift’s underrated bop about believing in a loved one and watching them soar, which applies to Rory and Luke visiting Jess at his publishing house in Philadelphia. They may be the only two people who truly knew what he was capable of, so to see them celebrate his success (“There you’ll stand, 10 feet tall, I will say I knew it all along,” Swift sings) is a special moment on Gilmore Girls.

Season 6, Episode 22: “So Long, London”

The Tortured Poets Department has no shortage of breakup songs, but “So Long, London” — the heartrending bookend to “London Boy” — might be one of the most devastating in Swift’s canon. Her song about the final stages of a relationship rings especially true to Lorelai’s Season 6 ultimatum about getting married. “You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? I died on the altar waitin’ for the proof,” Swift sings.

Season 7, Episode 1: “Come Back... Be Here”

If Rory was a Swiftie, you know she’d be crying to “Come Back... Be Here” after Logan moved to London.

Season 7, Episode 7: “Paris”

You might think “Paris” was chosen because this Season 7 episode takes place there. And, well, you’d be right! But this playful Midnights track is also an ode to escapist fantasy, a love bubble that shuts out anything that could thwart the good vibes. When revisiting “French Twist” through this lens, it becomes clear why Lorelai acquiesces to Chris’ hasty Paris proposal: Rory and Stars Hollow would have made her realize it was a really bad idea.

Season 7, Episode 11: “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”

If anyone on Gilmore Girls has license to scream Swift’s angriest song, it’s Lane. Sure, the specific lyrics about a past relationship may not apply to her, but she would absolutely resonate with the Midnights track’s themes of regret and disappointment in life’s turns at a young age. After all, an amazing rock career was the plan. But becoming a mom after her first time ever having sex? Not at all.

Season 7, Episode 21: “Champagne Problems”

Swift’s song about turning down a proposal is a natural fit for Rory and Logan in Gilmore Girls’ penultimate episode. The song is about college sweethearts (“This dorm was once a madhouse”), while the very title evokes Logan’s luxurious lifestyle. But more than anything, the lyric, “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer ’til someone’s on their knees and asks you,” is extremely Rory. As she tells Logan, she did think about marriage before — in theory. “It’s always a really wonderful thought. But it was always hypothetical.”

A Year In The Life, Episode 1: “Marjorie”

Swift’s beautiful ode to her late grandmother is a fitting song for the “Winter” episode of A Year in the Life, which devotes much time to remembering Richard, who was played by the late Edward Herrmann.

A Year In The Life, Episode 2: “Nothing New”

In “Spring,” Rory begrudgingly goes out for a job at an up-and-coming media company — only to realize she’s not what they are looking for. Coming face to face with a journalist who represents a new era, it’s easy to imagine a song like “Nothing New” playing in Rory’s ears, a reminder that she was once on the brink of a game-changing career, too.

A Year In The Life, Episode 3: “Dorothea”

Throughout A Year in the Life’s “Summer” episode, Rory repeatedly tells the people of Stars Hollow that she’s “not back,” but just visiting. To admit otherwise would be to acknowledge that her life and career haven’t panned out the way she thought they ought to. As Swift sings on this wistful Evermore track, “This place is the same as it ever was. But you don’t like it that way.”

A Year In The Life, Episode 4: “All Too Well”

While “All Too Well” might be about a breakup, it’s also about memory — the way a crisp fall day can bring you back to a different time and place entirely. Just like Swift says “I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it,” Rory feels lost and looks to tap into her book-loving teen self by writing one of her own. Meanwhile, Jess assures Luke he’s “long over” Rory, but as his longing gaze makes clear, he remembers their love all too well.