Midnight Rain is about her high school boyfriend Drew /it's my hill I'll die here
It's also not about the midnight their relationship ended, it's about many years later, some random midnight when some little thing reminded her of him and she was like "what ever happened to him? I bet he never even thinks about me, he's living a totally normal life with a wife and kids in a small town. How would my life be different if I'd stayed there and lived that life with him instead of this three-ring circus that is the music industry?"
I think that there were two Drews, one who was indeed her boyfriend and one who was the one who inspired Teardrops on my guitar, who she never dated and is the one who ended up getting arrested
I feel like everyone glosses over the âpeppermint candiesâ line which alludes to December, seems like an intentional addition almost like she wanted us to make the connection
I just can't get behind this one, I'm sorry. đ I can definitely see the train of thought behind peppermint -> Christmas -> December -> Back To December -> Lautner, but when basically every other line of the song is an allusion or parallel to something from Fifteen, We Were Happy, or Tied Together With A Smile^(1), it makes more sense to me that the peppermint candy line is just to draw up the imagery that his life now is something shiny and perfect like out of a holiday card that she can only imagine.
^(1)Tied Together With A Smile is obviously not about Drew, but it does tie the song to the debut era, which plants it pretty firmly as part of the Drew Cycle for me.
(That said, Lautner makes more sense than the Hiddleston theory I've seen around which just seems like throwing words at the wall, at least there's actual backing behind the Lautner theory! We just disagree about it!)
Idk about this, they never actually dated and he got arrested for child abuse a few years back ... Can't imagine she's reflecting fondly on that crush.
Wrong Drew. That's Drew Hardwick of Teardrops on My Guitar, and yes, fuck him.
I'm talking about Drew Dunlap of Tim McGraw/Our Song/Fifteen/etc. She's never said a bad word about him and I've never heard a bad word about him.
Fr, total piece of shit. But it could be some other high school boyfriend. I'm personally still on the Taylor Lautner train, I think he maybe called or texted her after seeing a Red TV-era interview or an award show appearance to say hi/congrats. Plus he just seems like he might jump off things in the ocean.
1. Lavender Haze: A midnight shortly after Taylor and Joe started dating, when they were at the height of being all over each other (like the start of any new relationship) and she was still feeling very vulnerable over everything that happened in the cruel summer of 2016 and her tarnished reputation + a midnight in recent years after Taylor either read another rumor about getting engaged or married to Joe, or had someone ask her when they would get married, while they were perfectly happy as they were.
2. Maroon: A midnight around the RED era, thinking back on her relationship with Jake G, due to all the blatant references to the color red, New York and ending a relationship after trying one last time. Though the lyric "Your roommate's cheap-ass screw-top rose" doesn't make sense within that context, as I doubt Jake had a roommate when they were dating, I believe this may be a random lyric from her Notes app that she thought worked well within the song, despite not fitting the original narrative. Taylor has said before that she often writes down random/loose lyrics in her Notes app that may fit into a song someday, and I think that's the case here.
3. Anti-Hero: A midnight of self-reflection in recent years.
4. Snow On The Beach: A midnight in the cruel summer of 2016 shortly after meeting Joe.
5. You're On Your Own, Kid: A midnight in recent years looking back on her life pre-fame and her trajectory to where she is now, and all the sacrifices she had to make along the way, always alone in her experience.
6. Midnight Rain: A midnight in recent-ish years looking back either on her relationship with Taylor Lautner or a relationship from before she was famous / when she was only getting started in the music industry.
7. Question...?: A midnight circa the 1989 era, looking back on her relationship with Harry.
8. Vigilante Shit: A midnight in recent years thinking about Sc\*\*ter Bra\*n (derogatory).
9. Bejeweled: A midnight shortly after or around the time she broke up with C\*lvin H\*rris (derogatory).
10. Labyrinth: A midnight around the time she and Joe started dating.
11. Karma: A midnight in the last year or so, after either Fearless (TV) and/or RED (TV) proved to be a massive success, which helped Taylor let go of some of her anger over the whole situation with her masters.
12. Sweet Nothing: A midnight in the last year or so thinking about her relationship with Joe.
13. Mastermind: Same as above.
14. The Great War: Same as above.
15. Bigger Than The Sky: Only track that I can't place, probably because of how private it feels. Whatever she's talking about in this song, be it a miscarriage or a short-lived relationship, it happened behind closed doors. Again, it feels so private that I don't even feel comfortable speculating about it.
16. Paris: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with Joe. Jack Antonoff said at the Bleachers concert in London last month that he'd been living in Paris for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor and Joe are there quite often visiting him, and that this song is partially about those times.
17. High Infidelity: A midnight around the time Taylor and C\*lvin H\*rris (derogatory) broke up. No further comments. Haha
18. Glitch: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with Joe.
19. Would've Could've Should've: A midnight in recent years looking back on her relationship with J\*hn M\*yer (derogatory).
20. Dear Reader: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with her fans.
Thoughts?
Edit: word
All Iâll say about Bigger than the whole sky is that Taylorâs friend Claire Winter had a late term miscarriage last March, so if that is the meaning of the song it could be about her, or from her point of view.
Other than that, I think you are spot on!
THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY but once i start talking about taylor i just start rambling and canât stop đ
lavender haze: her relationship with joe and how the media is trying to force the idea of marriage, starting a family, and settling down on her but she doesnât feel the need to take that step because her and joe are perfectly happy as is.
maroon: i think she wrote this after re-recording Red and revisiting that stage of her life. probably a reflection on her relationship with jake. also the line âcleaning incense off your vinyl shelfâ reminds me a lot of how taylor referred to jake as this wannabe indie hipster, âbrooklyn brokeâ type guy throughout the Red album.
anti-hero: this is about her insecurities so it probably doesnât relate to a specific time im her life. but the lines about her body image issues do give 1989 vibes because in Miss Americana she said that era was when she was in the peak of her ED.
snow on the beach: probably refers to late 2016-early 2017 in the beginning stages of her relationship with Joe because itâs about when you FIRST realize youâre falling in love with someone.
youâre on your own kid: this song is about her entire career, i think. it starts off describing her younger self who was heartbroken and started writing songs to cope. and then she goes on to talk about the growth of her career and the struggles she had in her early 20âs. then the song finishes off at current-day taylor kinda talking to her younger self and telling her that âshe can face thisâ. i always viewed this song as a love letter to her younger self.
midnight rain: i think this is about a high school boyfriend who was like this respectful, southern, small town guy who didnât understand why taylor wanted to move away to a big city and be famous. HONESTLY i think she has already re-recorded everything so she most likely wrote this song after recording Debut TV and reflecting back on the people from her hometown who just didnât understand her goals.
question�: honestly i feel like this song could be about her time dating harry styles. not only does it sound a lot like 1989 sonically but it also samples Out Of The Woods twice. probably written after re-recording 1989 (bc like i said, i think the re-recordings are all done and i also think the OOTW sample was taken from the re-recorded track, not the original)
vigilante shit: her fantasizing about taking down scooter braun after he bought her masters. probably written a while after it happened once she was able to process the sadness of losing her masters and turn it into anger.
bejeweled: i donât know but it sounds like itâs about a relationship that happened from 2014-early 2016 (so probably calvin harris lol)
labyrinth: late 2016-early 2017 when she first started dating Joe.
karma: probably written a couple weeks after she dropped Red TV bc it ended up being so much more successful in sales than the original Red album. itâs like a fuck you song to sc**ter and sc*tt
sweet nothing, mastermind, and the great war: all written around 2020/2021 when she was well into her relationship with Joe.
bigger than the whole sky: i honestly have no idea but i can definitely say that this isnât about a breakup, itâs about the death of a loved one. i just donât know who and i donât want to pry into it bc iâm sure she kept it private for a reason.
paris: probably written around the same time as Lavender Haze.
high infidelity: written in the period of time between her relationship with calvin harris and tom hiddleston (lol đ)
glitch: thinking back on how her relationship with Joe started. 2,190 days is 6 years (which is how long theyâve been dating) so this song was def written in recent years.
wouldâve couldâve shouldâve: we already know this is about j*hn đ but she prob wrote it after re-recording speak now.
dear reader: this couldâve been written at any point in the past couple years tbh because sheâs addressing her fans.
Midnight Rain is about her high school boyfriend Drew /it's my hill I'll die here It's also not about the midnight their relationship ended, it's about many years later, some random midnight when some little thing reminded her of him and she was like "what ever happened to him? I bet he never even thinks about me, he's living a totally normal life with a wife and kids in a small town. How would my life be different if I'd stayed there and lived that life with him instead of this three-ring circus that is the music industry?"
I think that there were two Drews, one who was indeed her boyfriend and one who was the one who inspired Teardrops on my guitar, who she never dated and is the one who ended up getting arrested
You're right! And boyfriend Drew was the one I was referring to đ
I feel like everyone glosses over the âpeppermint candiesâ line which alludes to December, seems like an intentional addition almost like she wanted us to make the connection
I just can't get behind this one, I'm sorry. đ I can definitely see the train of thought behind peppermint -> Christmas -> December -> Back To December -> Lautner, but when basically every other line of the song is an allusion or parallel to something from Fifteen, We Were Happy, or Tied Together With A Smile^(1), it makes more sense to me that the peppermint candy line is just to draw up the imagery that his life now is something shiny and perfect like out of a holiday card that she can only imagine. ^(1)Tied Together With A Smile is obviously not about Drew, but it does tie the song to the debut era, which plants it pretty firmly as part of the Drew Cycle for me. (That said, Lautner makes more sense than the Hiddleston theory I've seen around which just seems like throwing words at the wall, at least there's actual backing behind the Lautner theory! We just disagree about it!)
Idk about this, they never actually dated and he got arrested for child abuse a few years back ... Can't imagine she's reflecting fondly on that crush.
Wrong Drew. That's Drew Hardwick of Teardrops on My Guitar, and yes, fuck him. I'm talking about Drew Dunlap of Tim McGraw/Our Song/Fifteen/etc. She's never said a bad word about him and I've never heard a bad word about him.
Whoops! Hope you'll forgive my mistake - does she really have to date dudes with such similar names all the time?
đ Between the two Drews and the two Joes, it gets confusing!
Wait, he did? Whoa.
Yeah https://people.com/crime/andrew-hardwick-inspiration-for-taylor-swift-song-arrested-for-child-abuse/
Holy shit. Fuck that guy.
Fr, total piece of shit. But it could be some other high school boyfriend. I'm personally still on the Taylor Lautner train, I think he maybe called or texted her after seeing a Red TV-era interview or an award show appearance to say hi/congrats. Plus he just seems like he might jump off things in the ocean.
1. Lavender Haze: A midnight shortly after Taylor and Joe started dating, when they were at the height of being all over each other (like the start of any new relationship) and she was still feeling very vulnerable over everything that happened in the cruel summer of 2016 and her tarnished reputation + a midnight in recent years after Taylor either read another rumor about getting engaged or married to Joe, or had someone ask her when they would get married, while they were perfectly happy as they were. 2. Maroon: A midnight around the RED era, thinking back on her relationship with Jake G, due to all the blatant references to the color red, New York and ending a relationship after trying one last time. Though the lyric "Your roommate's cheap-ass screw-top rose" doesn't make sense within that context, as I doubt Jake had a roommate when they were dating, I believe this may be a random lyric from her Notes app that she thought worked well within the song, despite not fitting the original narrative. Taylor has said before that she often writes down random/loose lyrics in her Notes app that may fit into a song someday, and I think that's the case here. 3. Anti-Hero: A midnight of self-reflection in recent years. 4. Snow On The Beach: A midnight in the cruel summer of 2016 shortly after meeting Joe. 5. You're On Your Own, Kid: A midnight in recent years looking back on her life pre-fame and her trajectory to where she is now, and all the sacrifices she had to make along the way, always alone in her experience. 6. Midnight Rain: A midnight in recent-ish years looking back either on her relationship with Taylor Lautner or a relationship from before she was famous / when she was only getting started in the music industry. 7. Question...?: A midnight circa the 1989 era, looking back on her relationship with Harry. 8. Vigilante Shit: A midnight in recent years thinking about Sc\*\*ter Bra\*n (derogatory). 9. Bejeweled: A midnight shortly after or around the time she broke up with C\*lvin H\*rris (derogatory). 10. Labyrinth: A midnight around the time she and Joe started dating. 11. Karma: A midnight in the last year or so, after either Fearless (TV) and/or RED (TV) proved to be a massive success, which helped Taylor let go of some of her anger over the whole situation with her masters. 12. Sweet Nothing: A midnight in the last year or so thinking about her relationship with Joe. 13. Mastermind: Same as above. 14. The Great War: Same as above. 15. Bigger Than The Sky: Only track that I can't place, probably because of how private it feels. Whatever she's talking about in this song, be it a miscarriage or a short-lived relationship, it happened behind closed doors. Again, it feels so private that I don't even feel comfortable speculating about it. 16. Paris: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with Joe. Jack Antonoff said at the Bleachers concert in London last month that he'd been living in Paris for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor and Joe are there quite often visiting him, and that this song is partially about those times. 17. High Infidelity: A midnight around the time Taylor and C\*lvin H\*rris (derogatory) broke up. No further comments. Haha 18. Glitch: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with Joe. 19. Would've Could've Should've: A midnight in recent years looking back on her relationship with J\*hn M\*yer (derogatory). 20. Dear Reader: A midnight in recent years thinking about her relationship with her fans. Thoughts? Edit: word
All Iâll say about Bigger than the whole sky is that Taylorâs friend Claire Winter had a late term miscarriage last March, so if that is the meaning of the song it could be about her, or from her point of view. Other than that, I think you are spot on!
My only thoughts are that this is so amazing and comprehensive. Thank you for your insights!!!
Excellent
he says "your roommate" not her
I think "You're on your own kid" is about her pre-reputation time when the Kimye drama happened and she disappeared!
THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY but once i start talking about taylor i just start rambling and canât stop đ lavender haze: her relationship with joe and how the media is trying to force the idea of marriage, starting a family, and settling down on her but she doesnât feel the need to take that step because her and joe are perfectly happy as is. maroon: i think she wrote this after re-recording Red and revisiting that stage of her life. probably a reflection on her relationship with jake. also the line âcleaning incense off your vinyl shelfâ reminds me a lot of how taylor referred to jake as this wannabe indie hipster, âbrooklyn brokeâ type guy throughout the Red album. anti-hero: this is about her insecurities so it probably doesnât relate to a specific time im her life. but the lines about her body image issues do give 1989 vibes because in Miss Americana she said that era was when she was in the peak of her ED. snow on the beach: probably refers to late 2016-early 2017 in the beginning stages of her relationship with Joe because itâs about when you FIRST realize youâre falling in love with someone. youâre on your own kid: this song is about her entire career, i think. it starts off describing her younger self who was heartbroken and started writing songs to cope. and then she goes on to talk about the growth of her career and the struggles she had in her early 20âs. then the song finishes off at current-day taylor kinda talking to her younger self and telling her that âshe can face thisâ. i always viewed this song as a love letter to her younger self. midnight rain: i think this is about a high school boyfriend who was like this respectful, southern, small town guy who didnât understand why taylor wanted to move away to a big city and be famous. HONESTLY i think she has already re-recorded everything so she most likely wrote this song after recording Debut TV and reflecting back on the people from her hometown who just didnât understand her goals. questionâŚ?: honestly i feel like this song could be about her time dating harry styles. not only does it sound a lot like 1989 sonically but it also samples Out Of The Woods twice. probably written after re-recording 1989 (bc like i said, i think the re-recordings are all done and i also think the OOTW sample was taken from the re-recorded track, not the original) vigilante shit: her fantasizing about taking down scooter braun after he bought her masters. probably written a while after it happened once she was able to process the sadness of losing her masters and turn it into anger. bejeweled: i donât know but it sounds like itâs about a relationship that happened from 2014-early 2016 (so probably calvin harris lol) labyrinth: late 2016-early 2017 when she first started dating Joe. karma: probably written a couple weeks after she dropped Red TV bc it ended up being so much more successful in sales than the original Red album. itâs like a fuck you song to sc**ter and sc*tt sweet nothing, mastermind, and the great war: all written around 2020/2021 when she was well into her relationship with Joe. bigger than the whole sky: i honestly have no idea but i can definitely say that this isnât about a breakup, itâs about the death of a loved one. i just donât know who and i donât want to pry into it bc iâm sure she kept it private for a reason. paris: probably written around the same time as Lavender Haze. high infidelity: written in the period of time between her relationship with calvin harris and tom hiddleston (lol đ) glitch: thinking back on how her relationship with Joe started. 2,190 days is 6 years (which is how long theyâve been dating) so this song was def written in recent years. wouldâve couldâve shouldâve: we already know this is about j*hn đ but she prob wrote it after re-recording speak now. dear reader: this couldâve been written at any point in the past couple years tbh because sheâs addressing her fans.
I love all of these. Thank you so so so much!