“Bye Bye Baby” (Taylor’s Version) is Taylor Swift writing and singing about her masters situation and relationship with Sc*tt B*rchetta (thread)

Taylor has already played with the marriage/divorce metaphor when it comes to Sc*tt and her masters, as seen in “my tears ricochet” so we have precedence here

the first verse (unchanged) shows how she tried to hold the relationship between her and Sc*tt together but now she’s given up. she’s driving away and will never come back (see also: it’s time to go)

the second verse has a lot of rewrites, which is what makes me think about Sc*tt. in the “the one thing” version, the picture frame used to have a b&w photo of her love interest. in this one, it’s unclear who is in the photo — if it’s one or them as a couple

but now, i think the photo frame is not on HER dresser but on HIS dresser and it’s empty because it used to have a photo of Taylor but now it’s gone. this makes sense in the overall song because the person she loves doesn’t love her the same way so they took out the photo

but in the meta context of her masters, it also reminds me of “He's got my past frozen behind glass” she used to be his prized possession. but now she has escaped and now “But I've got me” — that’s why the photo frame is empty

and she says he “hesitated,” which refers to how Sc*tt refused to give her back her masters when was so sure of “everything” and that they would be together but now she’s “a part of your past”

and now finally let’s talk about the devastating chorus. in the “bbb” version, Taylor sings how she only got “sympathy” from Sc*tt. in “the one thing” version, she says “i want you back”. but taylor doesn’t want Sc*tt back anymore, hence the lyric change

in fact, in the “bbb” version, she says “you just couldn’t keep me.” this probably refers to the contract he offered her where she could “earn” a master for every new album she turned in, but that deal still trapped her and wasn’t good enough

so yeah, this is Taylor saying goodbye to Sc*tt and her old masters. but hopefully she will get those back soon.

we love and support you Taylor!