I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

Last updated

"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Tortured Poets Department
ReleasedApril 19, 2024 (2024-04-19)
Studio
Genre
Length2:36
Label Republic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Taylor Swift
  • Jack Antonoff
Lyric video
"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" on YouTube

"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, it is a Western, Americana, and country pop song with a sparse arrangement featuring twangy tremolo guitars backed by drum machine and keyboards. Its lyrics use outlaw imagery and sexual innuendos to describe the narrator's intentions to "fix" her problematic romantic partner before realizing she cannot.

Contents

Some critics praised the song's production and sultry vibe, deeming it a sonic highlight of the album. One critic felt that its concept fell flat. "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and peaked within the top 40 in Australia, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, and the United States. Swift performed the song live twice during the Eras Tour in 2024, during the stops in Madrid and Warsaw.

Background and release

At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, Taylor Swift won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights (2022). During her acceptance speech, she announced that her eleventh studio album The Tortured Poets Department would be released on April 19. [1] She had developed the album over the previous two years, since she finished Midnights, and continued working on it through the US leg of the Eras Tour amidst publicized reports on her breakup with English actor Joe Alwyn and a brief romance with English musician Matty Healy. [2] [3] She described the album as a "lifeline" and something she "really needed" to make. [4] Swift posted the album's tracklist on February 5, with "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" revealed as the eleventh track on the album. [5] The song was released alongside the album on April 19, 2024 via Republic Records. [6] Swift performed the song live twice during the Eras Tour; the first time on guitar as a mashup with "Sparks Fly" during the May 29 show in Madrid, then again on guitar as a mashup with "I Can See You" during the August 2 show in Warsaw. [7]

Composition and lyrics

"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" is a Western, [8] Americana, [9] and country pop [10] track that experiments with Southern Gothic [11] and country elements. [12] In it, Swift sings in the lower register of her vocals. [13] The track's arrangement is minimal [14] and features sparse, tremolo twangy guitars, [15] [16] a backdrop of drum machines and keyboards, [17] and reverbed percussion slaps to accentuate the lyrics. [18] Swift's vocal harmonies are backed by synths. [19] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone described the arrangement as "moody coffee-house", [20] while Nate Jones of Vulture wrote that the production sounds "like it comes straight out of an Old West saloon". [15]

The lyrics depict a narrator being confident in her abilities to "fix" her problematic man, until she realizes at the end that she cannot do so. [21] [22] [23] Although other people in the bar wonder why the couple is together, the narrator is determined to bring out the sweet nature of her lover. [9] The song contains sexual innuendos and outlaw imagery. [14] [24] It also uses imagery of God and heaven to describe the narrator falling for a bad boy ("They shake their heads sayin', 'God, help her'/ When I tell 'em he's my man"). [25] [26]

Critical reception

The song received generally positive reviews from music critics. Slant Magazine selected "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" as one of the 20 best collaborations of Swift and Antonoff. [18] Annie Zaleski regarded the song as a sonic highlight on The Tortured Poets Department and wrote that it is best listened to using "very good headphones". [9] In The New York Times , Jon Pareles thought that the track contained some of the best musical moments on the album, and Lindsay Zoladz picked the ending line ("Woah, maybe I can't") as one of her favorite moments. [19] Mary Kate Carr of The A.V. Club wrote that "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" is one of the album's more interesting tracks sonically with its "sultry" vibe. [27] Consequence's Mary Siroky praised its "lonesome, moody instrumentals" that made it one of "a few wonderful moments of personality". [28]

In a ranking of the album's tracks, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard ranked the song 18th out of 31, saying that Swift "nicely operates in her lower register" and conveys the "half-convinced feeling" through lilted syllables. [13] However, Paste provided a negative review, saying that while the track showed Swift venturing to musical directions that evoked the "country renegades" before her like Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, it fell flat due to her "self-aggrandizing inflation of importance, glinting through via a seismically-bland bridge". [17]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department [29]

Charts

Chart performance for "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"
Chart (2024)Peak
position
Australia (ARIA) [30] 19
Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [31] 22
Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100) [32] 91
France (SNEP) [33] 151
Global 200 ( Billboard ) [34] 20
Greece International (IFPI) [35] 40
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [36] 21
Portugal (AFP) [37] 40
Singapore (RIAS) [38] 19
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [39] 62
Swiss Streaming (Schweizer Hitparade) [40] 44
UK Streaming (OCC) [41] 22
US Billboard Hot 100 [42] 20

Certification

Certification for "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [43] Gold35,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

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  3. ↑ Dailey, Hannah (April 16, 2024). "Everything We Know About Taylor Swift's New Album The Tortured Poets Department So Far". Billboard . Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  4. ↑ Bonner, Mehera (February 16, 2024). "Taylor Swift Reveals Bonus Track Title and New Album Cover for The Tortured Poets Department". Cosmopolitan . Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
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  6. ↑ Monroe, Jazz; Strauss, Matthew (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Tortured Poets Department, Plus 15 More Songs: Listen and Read the Full Credits". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on May 25, 2024. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
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  9. 1 2 3 Zaleski 2024.
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  13. 1 2 Lipshutz, Jason (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department: All 31 Tracks Ranked". Billboard . Archived from the original on January 30, 2025. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
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  15. 1 2 Jones, Nate (May 20, 2024). "All 245 Taylor Swift Songs, Ranked" . Vulture . Archived from the original on September 13, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
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  17. 1 2 "Taylor Swift Strikes Out Looking on The Tortured Poets Department". Paste . April 19, 2024. Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
  18. 1 2 "Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff's 20 Best Collaborations". Slant Magazine . April 29, 2024. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
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  28. ↑ Siroky, Mary (April 19, 2024). "On The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift Gets Lost in the Shadow of Taylor Swift". Consequence . Archived from the original on April 20, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
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  37. ↑ "Taylor Swift – I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
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