My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the third track from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Swift produced the song with Jack Antonoff. It was released on April 19 through Republic Records. A synth-pop song with elements of new wave, the lyrics of "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" are about being abandoned by a love interest told using metaphors and from the perspective of a toy. Some critics praised the song's catchiness while others were critical of its lyrical structure.

Background and composition
On February 4, Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department during her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights (2022) at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. The album cover was shared on Swift's social media shortly after the announcement. The album's tracklist was shared the following day with "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" as track three. Swift said she developed the album "for about two years" and after releasing the previous record Midnights. The song was written entirely by Swift; it is the only other track from the standard version of the album, alongside "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", where Swift is the sole credited songwriter. Swift told Amazon Music, "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" is about "being somebody's favorite toy until they break you and then don't want to play with you anymore." She added that "it's kind of like a song about denial really so that you could live in this world where there's still hope for a toxic, broken relationship."

Produced by Swift and Antonoff, "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" is a synth-pop song with pounding drums. It has also been considered "new wave-adjacent" by Maria Sherman of the Associated Press. The lyrics utilise metaphors and imagery describing herself from the stance of a toy and being abandoned by her deleterious partner rather than addressing his problems. Swift yearns to revisit a failed romance before a breakup. The pre-chorus, "But you should've seen him when he first got me," she sings about her former partner fascinated by her but later lost enthusiasm. In the lyrics, "There was a litany of reasons why we could've playеd for keeps this time, I know I'm just repeating mysеlf, put me back on my shelf," Swift suggests the pair were previous lovers and they were giving their relationship another attempt. Swift sings in the chorus, "My boy only breaks his favorite toys, toys, oh, I'm queen of sandcastles he destroys", describing their unhealthy relationship. The lyrics "'Cause he took me out of my box, stole my tortured heart" alludes to Swift's love interest being a rebound after a recent breakup. The song also references Barbie in the lyrics: "I felt more when we played pretend than with all the Kens, 'cause he took me out of my box."

Reception
In Jason Lipshutz's Billboard ranking of all 31 songs of the parent album, the song was placed at seventeenth, adding that the song "deserves the stadium treatment" and called it a "big, booming song". The Hollywood Reporter's described the song as a "poppy earworm", while Vulture said it was "sadder than you'd think". Cosmopolitan's Courtney Young ranked it twenty-sixth in her ranking of the top thirty breakup songs by Swift. An anonymous Paste review opined that the song "features another low-point in Swift's lyrical oeuvre" and added that Swift was "capitalizing on the Barbenheimer mania that none of us could escape" Upon first-listen, Business Insider's Callie Ahlgrim said the track was sonically reminiscent of the vault tracks from Swift's 2023 re-recorded album 1989 (Taylor's Version), "so this isn't necessarily a knock in my book." She added that the song failed to stand out and it was dependant on a "fast-dulling formula". In her post-review article, she recategorised the song from "background music" to "worth listening to" after repeated listens.

John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute said it was one of the "strongest songs" from the album's first half, writing: "a singalong refrain that plays with up-and-down movements," In his review of the parent album Tony Le Calvez of Lomabeat.com criticised the lyrical structure of its tracks, citing "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" as an example: "The lyrics fit into the chorus line like pouring a big bucket of clams into a smaller bucket; the clams are clattering all over the floor and making a mess." Writing for Exclaim!, Alex Hudson said the song was "yet another mid-tempo synthpop plodder".

Commercial performance
Upon the release of The Tortured Poets Department, its songs claimed the top 14 positions on the Billboard Global 200. "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" debuted and peaked at number six. In the United States, it debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached the top ten in charts of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Philippines and Singapore, attaining peaks of five, six, ten, seven, nine, and seven, respectively. The track also occcupied the top 25 positions in Belgium (17), Denmark (17), Greece (11), India (14), Luxembourg (12), Malaysia (11), Portugal (15), South Africa (17), Sweden (13), and the United Arab Emirates (14). Swift performed the song live during the surprise song set at the second night of the Eras Tour show in Paris on 10 May. A limited digital variant of the parent album contained the Eras Tour live recording of "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys".

Personnel
Credits adapted from the album liner notes


 * Taylor Swift – lead vocals, piano, songwriter, producer
 * Jack Antonoff – producer, programming, drums, electric guitar, bass, Moog, Juno, M1
 * Laura Sisk – recording
 * Oli Jacobs – recording
 * Jon Sher – assistant engineering
 * Jack Manning – assistant engineering
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Bryce Bordone – mix engineering
 * Randy Merrill – mastering
 * Ryan Smith – vinyl mastering