Taylor Swift: Mystery 'Stephen' exposed

Taylor Swift: Mystery 'Stephen' exposed

Isn't it quite an honor to have a song written about you? But the honor is a bit more impressive if the person who wrote and sang the song is country superstar Taylor Swift.

That is the case with Stephen Barker Liles, the 25-year-old front man for the band Love and Theft, who at one time was the apple of Taylor's eye -- and is now the subject off her song "Hey Stephen" on her new album, "Fearless".

"The song is actually about a guy who I had a crush on and never told him," Taylor previously informed. "So I wrote everything that I was thinking down in the song instead of telling him."

In an interview, Stephen explained what it was like to find out the country cutie had a secret crush on him.

"When I first heard it, I was like wow!" Stephen said. "It's probably the nicest thing a girl has ever done for me."

The two met when Love and Theft opened up for Taylor while on tour in 2008.

With lyrics like, "Hey Stephen I could give you 50 reasons why I should be the one you choose/All those other girls, well, they're beautiful/But would they write a song for you?," there was little doubt it was meant for Stephen.

As if that weren't enough, not only did Taylor encode a secret message in the liner notes of the song's lyrics (the apparently random capital letters in the lyrics spell our "Love and Theft"), but the songstress made sure Stephen heard the track right away.

Stephen Barker Liles

"She invited us to go with her at midnight to pick up the record... and listen to the track," Stephen said. "It means a lot to me. Like, a lot a lot."