Taylor Swift’s Album ‘Lover’: Breaking Down the Most Telling Lyrics

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Taylor Swift’s Album ‘Lover’: Breaking Down the Most Telling Lyrics

Taylor Swift may try to keep her personal life under wraps, but her seventh studio album, Lover, suggests she is lucky in love with boyfriend Joe Alwyn. Swift, 29, dropped Lover on Friday, August 23. “There’s a lot of a lot on this album,” the Grammy winner previously told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m trying to convey an emotional spectrum. I definitely don’t wanna have too much of one thing. You get some joyful songs and you get the bops, as they say.” Swift acknowledged that the album also includes some “really, really, really, really sad songs,” but “not enough to where you need to worry” about her. [jwplayer YwEPyBAf-l3ahXupL] “This time around I feel more comfortable being brave enough to be vulnerable, because my fans are brave enough to be vulnerable with me,” she explained. “Once people delve into the album, it’ll become pretty clear that that’s more of the fingerprint of this — that it’s much more of a singer-songwriter, personal journey than the last one.” While Swift has sung about her “long list of ex-lovers” in the past, Lover appears to have several references to an engagement to potential marriage to Alwyn. The “You Need to Calm Down” songstress was first linked to The Favourite actor in 2017 following her split from Tom Hiddleston. An insider previously told Us Weekly that Swift thinks Alwyn is The One. “She wants to get engaged to him,” the source said in December 2018. “She just doesn’t feel as though she has to impress anyone at this point.” Lover isn’t all love songs, however. Swift addresses the double standard that exists for women while dating in “The Man.” She also seemingly takes on her public feuds, the theme of her last album, Reputation, in “I Forgot That You Existed.” Scroll through for a breakdown of the most telling lyrics. And drop your own theories in the comments!

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“I Forgot That You Existed”

“And I couldn't get away from ya / In my feelings more than Drake, so yeah,” Swift sings, referring to the rapper’s hit “In My Feelings.” She continues: “Your name on my lips, tongue-tied / Free rent, living in my mind / But then something happened one magical night / I forgot that you existed.” 

While Swift may be singing about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who she has been at odds with for years, she could also be referring to ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris. The pair’s 2016 split turned nasty after she revealed that she helped write his hit “This Is What You Came For.” The DJ went on a lengthy Twitter rant slamming her at the time. In “I Forgot That You Existed,” Swift sings about someone sending her a “clear message” teaching her some “hard lessons.” 

“It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference,” the lyrics read. “I forgot you got out some popcorn as soon as my rep started going down. … Would have been right there front row / Even if nobody came to your show.” 

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“Lover”

“I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover / My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue,” Swift sings, seemingly referring to the wedding tradition of the bride wearing something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new. “All's well that ends well to end up with you.” 

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“The Man”

Swift compares how men and women are treated differently in “The Man,” acknowledging how “bad” boys are praised for getting “bitches and models.” 

“And they would toast to me or let the players play / I'd be just like Leo in Saint Tropez,” she sings, seemingly referring to Leonardo DiCaprio. “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can/ Wondering if I’d get their quicker if I was a man.” 

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“Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince”

“It's you and me, that's my whole world / They whisper in the hallway, ‘She's a bad, bad girl,’” she sings, possibly addressing her struggle with her reputation. “The whole school is rolling fake dice / You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes / It's you and me, there's nothing like / this Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince.” 

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“Paper Rings”

Attention Alwyn: Swift makes more wedding references in “Paper Rings.” 

“I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings / Uh huh, that's right,” the lyrics read. “Darling, you're the one I want, and / I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this / Uh huh, that's right.” 

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“Cornelia Street”

Swift stayed at a house on Cornelia Street at the beginning of her relationship with Alwyn. 

“I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends / I’d never walk Cornelia Street again,” the lyrics read. “That's the kinda heartbreak time could never mend / I'd never walk Cornelia Street again / And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name.” 

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“London Boy”

Alwyn’s British roots seemingly inspired Swift’s “London Boy.” 

“You know I love a London boy /  I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon / He likes my American smile, like a child when our eyes meet,” she sings. “Darling, I fancy you / Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates / So I guess all the rumors are true / You know I love a London boy.” 

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“Soon You’ll Get Better”

Swift’s mother, Andrea, was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and the musician revealed in her September 2019 Vogue cover story that she recently suffered a setback. Swift and the Dixie Chicks address dealing with an the illness in “Soon You’ll Get Better.” 

“In doctor's office lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared / That was the first time we were there / Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you,” she sings. “Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too / And I say to you / Soon, you'll get better.” 

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“It’s Nice to Have a Friend”

Swift goes from “school bells” to “church bells” in “It’s Nice to Have a Friend.” 

“Church bells ring, carry me home / Rice on the ground looks like snow,” the lyrics read. “Call my bluff, call you ‘Babe’ / Have my back, yeah, every day.” 

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“Daylight”

Swift refers to herself as “the butt of the joke” in “Daylight,” admitting she “trusted the wicked.” However, she also sings about seeing the light.

“It’s morning now, it’s brighter now / I don’t want to look at anything else now that I saw you,” she sings. “I’ve been sleeping so long in a 29 dark night / Now I’m wide awake.” 

She also seemingly references her 2012 track “Red” in the song. 

“I once believed love would be (Burning red) / But it's golden,” she sings. “Like daylight, like daylight.”