Yunda Asri Lestari, 1909010038. 2023: Sublimation: A Self-Defense Mechanism in Taylor Swift’s Song Lyrics. Undergraduate thesis for Sarjana Sastra Degree, English Literature Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences and Communication, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto.

Sublimation is a process of transforming harmful or destructive emotions into something positive or generating socially acceptable outputs. It is part of Sigmund Freud's (1894/1896) defense mechanisms in his series of psychoanalytic theories. Taylor Swift created a defense mechanism by expressing it in her musical works with sublimation. Taylor Swift sublimates in her songs, such as “Mean”, “Innocent”, “Look What You Made Me Do”, and “Vigilante Shit”. The purpose of this research is to discover the forms of Taylor Swift's sublimation in four song lyrics. In this qualitative research, researcher used Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of defense mechanisms to analyze the sublimation type in Taylor Swift's songs and Michael Riffaterre's semiotic theory for poetry to analyze the signs of sublimation found in Taylor Swift's four songs through her songs’ lyrics. This research used primary data forms of sublimation in the forms of words, phrases, and sentences. The result of this research shows that the forms of sublimation found in Taylor Swift's four song lyrics, which are “Mean”, “Innocent”, “Look What You Made Me Do”, and “Vigilante Shit” consist of four forms. These forms are a form of destructive emotions that Taylor Swift managed to alter into something constructive. Those are disappointment, anger, hatred, and sadness. Taylor Swift sublimated those destructive emotions in order to prevent or diminish intrapsychic conflicts that could arise.