"Delicate" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017). She wrote the song with the producers Max Martin and Shellback. Inspired by the events surrounding Swift's celebrity and personal life, the lyrics depict a narrator's vulnerability and anxiety over whether her blossoming romance would last. "Delicate" is an electropop and synth-pop ballad that features vocoder-manipulated vocals, dense synthesizers, and elements of tropical house and dancehall in its beats.

Directed by Joseph Kahn and filmed in Los Angeles, the music video for "Delicate" premiered on March 11, 2018, at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. In the video, after becoming invisible upon receiving a mysterious note, Swift dances barefoot through public places and ultimately becomes visible again after dancing in a pouring rain. Critics interpreted the video as Swift's autobiographical reference to her personal life, as she had retreated herself from the press leading up to the release of Reputation. A day following the video's release, Big Machine Records sent "Delicate" to radio airplay in the United States as the album's fourth single.

"Delicate" received widespread critical acclaim for the vulnerability depicted through its songwriting and mellow production. It featured in 2018 year-end lists by Billboard, Slant Magazine, and Rolling Stone, and critics have considered "Delicate" one of Swift's career-defining songs. In the United States, the single peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reached number one on three Billboard airplay charts, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Elsewhere, it received platinum certifications in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Swift performed the song on the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) and the Eras Tour (2023–2024).

The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released her fifth studio album, 1989, in October 2014. 1989's synth-pop production transformed Swift's sound and image from country music to mainstream pop. The album was a commercial success, selling over five million copies in the United States within one year and spawning three Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. The BBC asserted that the success solidified Swift's status as a global pop star.

Swift was a target of tabloid gossip during the promotion of 1989. Her "America's Sweetheart" reputation, a result of her wholesome and innocent image, was blemished from publicized short-lived relationships and disputes with other celebrities, including a dispute with the rapper Kanye West and the media personality Kim Kardashian. Swift became increasingly reticent on social media, having previously maintained an active presence with a large following, and avoided interactions with the press amidst the tumultuous affairs. She conceived her sixth studio album, Reputation, as an answer to the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.

Swift wrote "Delicate" with its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. It was engineered by Sam Holland and Michael Ilbert at MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and Los Angeles, California. The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and it was mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound Studios in New York.

Swift conceived "Delicate" as a confession to a prospective lover and described the song—the fifth track on Reputation—as the album's "first point of vulnerability". The preceding four tracks are about Swift's flippant disinterest in her perceived reputation, which is the recurring theme throughout the album. On "Delicate", she begins to reveal her inner vulnerability. Swift explained the song's meaning during an album release party with iHeartRadio: although she could feign disinterest in others' opinions about her, things became complicated "when you meet somebody that you really want in your life", which prompted her to wonder, "Could something fake like your reputation affect something real, like someone getting to know you?" To create a sound that reflects the lyrics' vulnerable sentiment, Martin and Shellback manipulated Swift's vocals with a vocoder, which Swift thought sounded "really emotional, vulnerable, and ... sad but beautiful". This vocoder effect is recurring on subsequent Reputation tracks.

"Delicate" is a mellow electropop and synth-pop ballad. Its production is driven by pulsing, dense synthesizers. The song features elements of urban music, showcased through influences of house music, tropical house, and dancehall in its beats, and Swift's emphasis on rhythm in her singing-speaking vocal delivery, influenced by hip-hop and Caribbean music. At the beginning of the song, Swift's character tells her lover that, because her reputation has "never been worse", he "must like [her] for [herself]". Carl Wilson from Slate interpreted this part as Swift's revelation on her public image: after the media gossip, she achieved a "liberation" that allowed her to "make her private life her own at last". She shares intimate moments with her love interest at a dive bar "on the East Side". Throughout the song, Swift goes through her inner monolog about whether what she does would affect this blossoming romance and how much her feelings would be reciprocated, over a muted pulse: "Is it cool that I said all that? Is it too soon to do this yet? 'Cause I know that it's delicate." Though she feigns confidence and tries to control her inner self-awareness, she admits: "I pretend you're mine all the damn time." In the refrain, a high-pitched voice echoes the title "Delicate" back to Swift's lyrics.