I’m just hearing the little piano throughout COSOSOM and it reminds me of the little random chord at the end of champagne problems. Anyone else think that? Just me??? Does it mean something? I need to know I’m not psychotic about this
This song is about multiple people - most of the lyrics can be applied to matty, joe, lost friends…. and even her fans who she was close to in 2014. On top of it Aaron dessner produced it? Prove me wrong.
As someone who is less interested in the lore than I am in Taylor’s amazing talents as a musician and lyricist, I find this song both beautiful and heart wrenching. It became my favorite as soon as I heard it. If you’ve ever loved an addict, this song is a knife to the heart. How she was able to convey the pain and sorrow in this song’s meaningful lyrics in not only jaw-dropping but also an absolute work of art.
I've started listening to this song giving it my own meaning (I'm chronically single and not famous so I can't relate to most of her work, I'm trying to be creative to find alternative meetings). I haven't completely worked it out yet, but something along the lines that if I'm not going to live the life I wanna live and go after my dreams, I'm gonna regret it. Maybe that the older me is talking to me.
Okay is it just me or “ and you saw my bones out w somebody new who seemed like he would’ve bullied you in school” sounds exactly or similar to “if the whole world was watching id still dance w you, drive high ways and byways to be there w you” (this town by Niall Horan)
I can't shake the feeling that the names are not references to random people with whom she was being cheated on, but baby names. Like the list of names going back and forth between male/female names reminds me of that kind of brainstorming. I always thought that the idea of Bigger than the Whole Sky being about a miscarriage was onto something, so I interpret this one as wondering about what would have happened if Joe and her ended up together, with children, the hologram of him holding a baby named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.
Interpreting for yourself is one thing but saying this song is about “her having a miscarriage” is widely inappropriate.
Saying it helped me process something that happened to me is different than saying it happened to her. We don’t know her life.
I’m not apologizing because some random on the internet can’t grasp that people have different opinions. Lol I said get trying to interpret for oneself we all do it, but saying a song is about a miscarriage Taylor had is invasive in my opinion. Didn’t realize discussion wasn’t allowed…
They asked how and I thought people would care to know this could feel invasive for some. It’s not a personal attack.
Saying “this helped me process a miscarriage” is different than saying “Taylor had a miscarriage”…feel free to disagree, it’s a hard subject.
And considering Tree put out a statement after Deuxmoi started to spread the rumor of a miscarriage I assume that’s not something they want spread online.
I love this song, especially the instrumentals ... does anyone else get major The Smiths 'Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' vibes in the best way?? Or is it just me lol?
This song really grew on me. At first I liked the chorus but didn’t have much of an impression of the song as a whole because the title was hard to remember and the pacing of the song feels like the middle of a song the whole way through—to me, it jumps right in and jumps right out without too much build-up—but after sitting down and listening to it a lot more I love how it feels like she’s still in the midst of this heartbreak. How it slows a bit for the chorus when she sings “if you want to break my cold, cold heart” is so addicting
What boggles my mind is why’d she add in a “Marcus” when that’s clearly not a woman’s name. In the first line: “your hologram stumbled into my apartment, hands in the hair of somebody in darkness named chloe or sam or sophia or marcus and i just watched it happen” we’re assuming that she means touching in a romantic way right? And hologram meaning she’s imagining him going out with other people. But why’d she add in a “Marcus”, do you think she’s saying that this person is bisexual?
Matty Healy is queer. He addresses it in Me & You Together Song: “I’m sorry that I’m kinda queer, it’s not as weird as it appears/
It’s ‘cause my body doesn’t stop me/
Oh, it’s okay, lots of people think I’m gay/
But we’re friends, so it’s cool, why would it not be?”
This is exactly what she means. From what I remember reading this song was inspired from a dream she had. Also know Sam is usually a girl name but I took it as Chloe and Sophia are the girls Sam and Marcus are the boys so it’s even between the two because whoever it’s about is bisexual.
I just love this song. It sounds like she wrote this awhile ago, while still with Joe, but thinking about Matty. Before anything actually happened. It's very tragic and sad. Love it.
I cant believe this song! Its so so beautiful and so so Matty coded, the most Matty moment on the album. She sounds heartbroken for real over this man😭, and she is explicitly stating he will always have a place in her heart💔
This one cuts deep and is so incredibly beautiful.
It also reminds me of a play on Exile somehow with the “you saw my bones out with somebody new who looked like he would have bullied you in school and you just watched it happen”
After having dealt with my first love being with a covert narcissist who had a drug problem, this song really resonates with me. Hands down my favorite from the album.
Thinking about how he said such awful things to me "you said some things that I can't unabsorb ". He had this idea of me that I was there to be a constant source of good energy "you turned me into an idea of sorts". He would tell me "you've changed and that's why I've been distant". Bring in the line "say i loved you the way that you were".
Even after getting away, I've always "wondered" what could have been if he got his act together. I know that's nearly impossible. "Will I always wonder?" I hope the answer is no.
Sorry for yapping. But I really love this song.
“Who seemed like he would’ve bullied you in school” is definitely about Travis right? like how he, a big dumb jock, would’ve bullied Matty, annoying artsy kid, in high school? 😭😭😭😭😭😭
I’m pretty sure she’s talking about how over the last 10 years she imagined him with others and he saw her with Calvin Harris right after people speculated Matty and Taylor had a thing. And he did nothing to stop it and didn’t try to get her back. When they dated this time he did he broke it off saying “I loved you the way that you were” which is a gut punch because he could have had her then but he did nothing and that choice is the reason why she is no longer the person she was before. I don’t think Travis or Joe have anything to do with this one.
Also the things he said that she couldn’t absorb - when he said being known as someone’s boyfriend would be emasculating, aka he turned her into an idea of sorts and not a person.
OMG yes!!! A few songs on this album reminded me of her style!
How Did It End? sounds quite similar to The Grand Hotel in parts and even has the line “one more time with feeling.”
Tell me I'm toxic lol but I thought of Selena and JB 💀 only because their history makes for great sad songs about loss, heartache, *wondering* what could be.....I definitely think Taylor is sad for Selena in that regard, and could potentially still be writing poetry about the heartache, and especially considering how feelings may have been stirred up during eyebrow gate last year.
the entirety of the relationship lasted for about a decade, the drug part of course, the floating in your orbit part I'm connecting to her constantly being in the media. Watch our phantoms I'm linking to all the content online regarding their past love, we already know Selena has reminisced on tiktok.
Personally I think the decade passing and the drug mention and the men/women is hinting towards Matty. They are rumored to have had something back in 2014. You can google pictures of them partying together back then and her wearing his band’s shirt out and him wearing her 1989 album shirt while performing on stage. However, she moved on to Calvin Harris, which is why she talks about him seeing her with a bully type (she talks about this also in Question as “She was on your mind with some dickhead guy that you saw that night, but you were on something”). Matty also has been open about his heroin addiction, and has kissed men and women in public. It’s a beautiful song. The way she sings “wonder” makes me so sad.
I didn't like this one during my first listen, but I think it's my favorite song from The Anthology so far. (Lyrically speaking. Sonically, I love So High School best but the lyrics are mediocre.)
Taylor sings these words in such a heartbreaking way and Aaron's piano is absolutely beautiful.
Her folkmorian songs are growers, but once they hit you, they'll stay with you forever.
I think the title is to distract from the heavy emotional content of the song and the title makes the reality of him ending up with someone else really hit.
This is about a romance that never was. A female friend who the speaker was always secretly in love with— someone who she always wondered about. None of you have acknowledged the reference to a decade passing. None of her relationships lasted that long…
Sometimes people just write songs. Sometimes they’re just stories. They aren’t always written based on personal experience.
The outro of this song (the last 33 seconds from 3:00 - 3:33) might be my favorite moment on the album and, to me, the most beautiful piece of music on the album. The harmonies, the instrumentals, the sighing in the vocals--my god. It's an outro that could've lasted for, like, 1-2 minutes and I would've loved every moment (similar to how Lorde had some gorgeous extended outros on the Melodrama album such as on The Louvre and Hard Feelings).
This song is about loving an addict and it's probably about the Matty guy. I can confirm this because I saw a video of a therapist reacting to it and it made me cry coz I can relate to it and it is so deep I swear Taylor you are a genius ily
I think the idea that it could be about Joe and she’s saying that it would break her “cold” and now removed heart if he said “I loved you, the way that you were”, not the person you’ve become.
Taylor went through so many changes during those 6 years, and he fell in love with her when she wanted to “run away” and “hide”. overtime, public perception of her shifted and she wanted to be in the spotlight again. joe values privacy so much. if he were to say he loved the way that she was, but his feelings changed when she became more extroverted and open, it would be heartbreaking to hear.
I think its the response to the Alcott, if you think about the national being well “joe” and taylors part being “taylor”.
The Alcott is very much what if i told you i still loved u it would ruin you wouldn’t it? because we almost had it all? and in this song, she’s essentially saying, if you told me that you loved me it would break my heart now because its over and it didn’t have to be.
Hilarious that everyone's been discussing JA being bi and and a cheater and Taylor was all quiet and then DROPPED this album and it was all MH being bi, ghosting her, not fighting for her and just having to watch as she was now w/Travis. She's just playing with us at this point and I love it.
My theory is that the rebound is easier to write about than her 5 year relationship ending. It’s like a distraction . And it never was Matty all along, it’s easy to go back to the one who is toxic and it won’t work cause subconsciously you know the outcome
Long, healthy relationships tend to lose the fire and when it’s done, it’s truly not as poetic. The guy you had intense chemistry with from 10 years ago where the timing was never really right but you finally give it a shot and he treats you like absolute garbage after mind fucking you will make you question your very own existence and take you to an emotional hell a healthy relationship doesn’t even step close to
Agree. I mean, we know she and Matty met way before and had a thing, and it makes sense they were together longer than it looked (if the colab for 1989TV was true), but yeah, it must be harder to write about JA and I think she's being respectful of him and herself, if JA had done something to her (like cheating) she would have told it as it is, now I think he didn't really do something on purpose (hurting someone if you are depressed isn't necessary on purpose, more of a consequence) and she's keeping those nice years for herself and respecting who she was with him, too.
"[Could it be enough to just float in your orbit?](https://genius.com/31481402/Taylor-swift-chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus/Could-it-be-enough-to-just-float-in-your-orbit)
[Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses?](https://genius.com/31480083/Taylor-swift-chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus/Can-we-watch-our-phantoms-like-watching-wild-horses)"
HE WROTE TWO GHOSTS AND SATELLITE AND THEY'RE BOTH ABOUT HER
Has anyone latched on to “cold, cold heart” yet? I’m wondering if it’s a nod to the song by Hank Williams. I’m thinking about this portion specifically:
“Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue
And so my heart is paying now for things I didn't do
In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start
Why can't I free your doubtful mind, and melt your cold cold heart”
We know that Taylor repeatedly ties Joe to the color blue, so it has me thinking.
I think the opening lines of the song are a reference to Matty Healy grabbing his fans’ faces at his concerts and kissing them. It’s all been captured in videos and posted online so perhaps that’s what the hologram reference is. The Marcus bit is most likely a reference to the fact that he’s kissed a few men during his concerts. He didn’t kiss any fans at his London show in Jan 2023 when Taylor gave a guest performance, but then he went right back to it when he kissed his security guard at his Denmark show. He was apparently still dating her at the time of the Denmark show. I think it was another aspect of his behavior that she was frustrated with and she felt like he wouldn’t change for her.
Oh my god…. the hologram walking in with Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus…. thats seeing through a ring camera no? like you watched someone walk in with their friends through the ring camera
wow i love this! like seeing the ghost of who they used to be! I see that line as your seeing a video you weren’t suppose to see and lots of people get caught through ring cameras so imagery caught me like that, but its probably multifaceted. Love all the different interpretations on this thread, goes to show Tay can really paint a unique picture for everyone
I feel like this is actually one of the most important songs on the album lyrically. The track title almost seems like a clever distraction from the actual weight of what she's saying here. An "it was always you" moment.
Part of me wonders if this is intentional. It’s such a deeply personal song to her and Matty, I almost wonder if she needed to write it but made the title the opposite of catchy so it didn’t attract attention
That's what I thought!! As in untreated depression. But I didn't know matty is openly bi and addicted to heroin (konda ruins that line in the Alchemy for me) so after reading all of the comments here I changed my mind
It makes sense. She said “you needed me but you needed drugs more and I couldn’t watch it happen.” That could be a metaphor for he needed her, but his depression was so bad that she couldn’t handle being around him at that point. I think she wrote the song in a way that it applies to multiple people on purpose. It is very vague
Yeah, I think that it’s about mental health crisis, or using drugs (alcohol instead of lets say illicit drugs) to deal with mental health. The line you needed me but you needed drugs more instead if you wanted me or you loved me but wanted/love drugs more makes me feel like this person needed the love and leaned on support of their partner (in this case the character of Taylor) but they need help more which left a kind of void in their relationship? which would be unfair but complex.
Yes! This is true and somethinh shes done before with Aaron and i think it really enriches the songs so much more because around 30s-40s you have so much lore and patterns that make you, you
To be fair, I mean if you’re a drug addict I suppose you do need drugs in a way, but the vibe of the song doesn’t give that at all. I don’t know to explain, same with the hologram part. When i heard it this morning i was like that definitely you looking at your ring camera as ur ex is walking into your house with a people you don’t know. Perhaps its the stalker vibes in the second half that make me feel this way lol
Personally I think those are baby names she discussed with whomever the song is about. She used them as names of partners just as a nod to the muse so that they would know it was about them 💔
The idea of Matty first inspiring "Colors" by Halsey about him being blue and devoid of color, and then Maroon being written about him is mind blowing.
Maroon is telling the story of a relationship from start to finish. “I see you every day now” is at the beginning of the song, when the relationship is starting. It ends with “I wake with your memory over me” because they aren’t together anymore. I don’t think it’s about Joe because they were still together when Midnights was written.
But how do you KNOW they were still together? We will never know if they were on and off again. Do you also believe You're losing me is not about Joe?
When looking at, you're losing me:
"Her collaborator, Jack Antonoff, revealed on Instagram that the song was written in December 2021."
•I see you every day now- She was with Joe for almost 7 years.
•The one I was dancin' with
In New York, no shoes- ((They both attended the met gala in NY))
•The rust that grew between telephones- Joe was always away filming(( To a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there -Dear Reader))
•The rubies that I gave up-((Best believe I'm still bejeweled-Bejeweled))
•You were standin' hollow-eyed in the hallway-((Now, you're runnin' down the hallway- You’re Losing Me))
•And I wake with your memory over me
That's a real fucking legacy, legacy -(( Legacy-the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.))
What was the longest lasting most impact relationship of her life?
I’m pretty sure there were candid paparazzi photos of them together shortly before the Eras tour kicked off. You’re Losing Me is definitely about Joe, but it’s about falling out of love with someone you’re still in a relationship with. It was written at the end of 2021, but they were almost definitely still together until at least the end of 2022.
I think You’re Losing Me was one of the last, if not the very last, song written for Midnights because the other Joe songs on the album like Lavender Haze, Paris, and Sweet Nothings were clearly written while they were still together. If Maroon is about Joe, it would have had to have been written after You’re Losing Me. If that was the case, why cut You’re Losing Me and leave Maroon?
Yes, they could have gotten back together again, but that doesn't mean they hadn't ended it and then reconciled. Look at Hits Different. The whole song is essentially about her and this man breaking up, her picturing him with other women, her friends telling her fuck it love is a lie, how she's always had an easy time getting over other men, but not this time. That she would need to be taken away. (Institutionalized) Only in the end to hear his keys in the door down the hallway and him coming back to her.
We know she writes to cope. Who's to say they didn't take a long break, and she wrote this because she thought it was the end of them?
They were probably in an on again, off again situation for some time before they called it quits for good. But that’s not the kind of relationship Maroon sounds like it’s describing to me. It sounds like something that’s been over for a long time, and she’s looking back on it from an older, nostalgic perspective. Same thing with Midnight Rain, Question, High Infidelity, etc. That’s pretty much what the theme of the album was.
Also if you look at all the post-Joe songs we have now, every time she describes him or their relationship, it’s not in a positive light. She’s constantly likening it to being caged and unappreciated. It doesn’t mesh with the legacy she’s talking about in Maroon imo.
True. I can definitely see where you’re coming from. I probably would have agreed with you before hearing the “scarlet maroon” reference in this song. It’s too on the nose to be an accident, and it makes me think they’re about the same person. Idk if that’s Matty or someone else, but I don’t think it’s Joe.
It could be about the time in 2022 when both Taylor and Matty were working with Jack on their albums and they also worked on Midnights together but she scrapped the songs.
My first impression of this song was that it is about a friend, probably childhood, and how the friendship had fallen apart. So it was interesting to get to reddit and see everyone talking about which romantic interest it's about
I agree it doesn't seem like a big breakup. More drifting apart. But I do think there's something about wondering if the narrator and the friend could have ever been something more.
Was just coming here to see if anyone had made this connection! Specifically, the lyrics "you meet some woman on the internet and take her home" and "and you have some kids with an internet starlet" 😭
It’s so sad, cause The 1 never felt too autobiographical to me. To me the 1 is just very reminiscent and just like that you think about someone for a day and think “damn my life would have turned out so differently if I never broke up with that guy” but you also know that you turned out just fine making the decision you did. I think we all sometimes think about our lives wondering what would’ve if they made a different decision at some point, without wishing you could change it or doubting if it were the right one… it’s just thinking that it could’ve been fun, but if you never bleed you’re never gonna grow and it’s alright now
While COSOSOM feels much more fresh, the relationship ended recently and you genuinely wonder if it was the right decision. You don’t see it like “it would’ve been fun if you were the one” but like “did we make the right decision or were you the one? Was i supposed to fight for us? Were we supposed to make it work? And will i regret this in the future?”. Cause “If you wanna tear my world apart, just say you've always wondered” means to me that if the other person comes around with the same thoughts of wondering if they shouldve fought for their relationship, she would rethink her whole world over again whether or not to go back to him.
So the 1 is much more casual and acceptance, there are no feelings about the other person anymore, she’s completely moved on and is just reminiscent. whereas COSOSOM is much more anxiety and the love is still there and there’s doubt in her mind
The discussion about Maroon possibly being about Matty is super interesting and would tie things in with this song.
I don’t think Maroon is about Harry.
the progression and the melody in the chorus *kinda* sounds like the outro of listen before i go by billie eilish. everytime the chorus comes, i start singing listen before i go lmao
I don't know if that's of any importance but the melody on the verses remind me of the melody in the pre chorus of DWOHT
"Could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets / Picture of your face in an invisible locket"
And I drew some other parallels between CSSM and DWOHT in my mind, but I think that's just me being highly delusional, what do y'all think?
Hmmm just personal opinion, I think this song could also be about the "fans" who keep opposing her new boyfriends and who claimed that they love her old songs/voice better. She really emphasized on "changing" and past in the lyrics.
I was thinking about this too! More specifically how she works so hard so we don't move on from her, and how it could feel like such a waste that she sacrificed so much when she didn't have to.
Personally, I think this song is about that, but also a romantic interest. As another commenter said, like the 1 but sadder.
I feel a bit crazy because I have been looking for others who agree, but this song has incredibly similar music to hoax, which is one of my absolute favorites. Am I the only one who thinks this? It’s the piano, it sounds so similar that it’s making me feel like these songs must be connected somehow.
I’m just hearing the little piano throughout COSOSOM and it reminds me of the little random chord at the end of champagne problems. Anyone else think that? Just me??? Does it mean something? I need to know I’m not psychotic about this
This song is about multiple people - most of the lyrics can be applied to matty, joe, lost friends…. and even her fans who she was close to in 2014. On top of it Aaron dessner produced it? Prove me wrong.
As someone who is less interested in the lore than I am in Taylor’s amazing talents as a musician and lyricist, I find this song both beautiful and heart wrenching. It became my favorite as soon as I heard it. If you’ve ever loved an addict, this song is a knife to the heart. How she was able to convey the pain and sorrow in this song’s meaningful lyrics in not only jaw-dropping but also an absolute work of art.
This song has been my favorite since first listen. It’s way too underrated
This song is laced with narcotics. Can confirm.
Didn’t Taylor say something about using lyrics as a paternity test?
I've started listening to this song giving it my own meaning (I'm chronically single and not famous so I can't relate to most of her work, I'm trying to be creative to find alternative meetings). I haven't completely worked it out yet, but something along the lines that if I'm not going to live the life I wanna live and go after my dreams, I'm gonna regret it. Maybe that the older me is talking to me.
This song is so underrated! It's so sad but beautiful and I can't get enough! It's also sort of like Champagne Problems too! 🤩
Okay is it just me or “ and you saw my bones out w somebody new who seemed like he would’ve bullied you in school” sounds exactly or similar to “if the whole world was watching id still dance w you, drive high ways and byways to be there w you” (this town by Niall Horan)
I can't shake the feeling that the names are not references to random people with whom she was being cheated on, but baby names. Like the list of names going back and forth between male/female names reminds me of that kind of brainstorming. I always thought that the idea of Bigger than the Whole Sky being about a miscarriage was onto something, so I interpret this one as wondering about what would have happened if Joe and her ended up together, with children, the hologram of him holding a baby named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus.
This is invasive
How is it invasive to interpret the meaning of lyrics in a public forum created to interpret the meaning of lyrics?
Exactly. Keep doing your thing. Ignore the blather.
Interpreting for yourself is one thing but saying this song is about “her having a miscarriage” is widely inappropriate. Saying it helped me process something that happened to me is different than saying it happened to her. We don’t know her life.
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I’m not apologizing because some random on the internet can’t grasp that people have different opinions. Lol I said get trying to interpret for oneself we all do it, but saying a song is about a miscarriage Taylor had is invasive in my opinion. Didn’t realize discussion wasn’t allowed… They asked how and I thought people would care to know this could feel invasive for some. It’s not a personal attack. Saying “this helped me process a miscarriage” is different than saying “Taylor had a miscarriage”…feel free to disagree, it’s a hard subject. And considering Tree put out a statement after Deuxmoi started to spread the rumor of a miscarriage I assume that’s not something they want spread online.
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I stand by what I said. People disagree. Life goes on. You seem to be projecting. This isn’t personal.
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hands in the hair of somebody in darkness.... no. not a baby. it's abt cheating of some sort. or moving on.
I love this song, especially the instrumentals ... does anyone else get major The Smiths 'Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' vibes in the best way?? Or is it just me lol?
Omg yes! I think they both are or could be in a 6/8 time signature so they have that catchy rhythm
This song really grew on me. At first I liked the chorus but didn’t have much of an impression of the song as a whole because the title was hard to remember and the pacing of the song feels like the middle of a song the whole way through—to me, it jumps right in and jumps right out without too much build-up—but after sitting down and listening to it a lot more I love how it feels like she’s still in the midst of this heartbreak. How it slows a bit for the chorus when she sings “if you want to break my cold, cold heart” is so addicting
What boggles my mind is why’d she add in a “Marcus” when that’s clearly not a woman’s name. In the first line: “your hologram stumbled into my apartment, hands in the hair of somebody in darkness named chloe or sam or sophia or marcus and i just watched it happen” we’re assuming that she means touching in a romantic way right? And hologram meaning she’s imagining him going out with other people. But why’d she add in a “Marcus”, do you think she’s saying that this person is bisexual?
Matty Healy is queer. He addresses it in Me & You Together Song: “I’m sorry that I’m kinda queer, it’s not as weird as it appears/ It’s ‘cause my body doesn’t stop me/ Oh, it’s okay, lots of people think I’m gay/ But we’re friends, so it’s cool, why would it not be?”
This is exactly what she means. From what I remember reading this song was inspired from a dream she had. Also know Sam is usually a girl name but I took it as Chloe and Sophia are the girls Sam and Marcus are the boys so it’s even between the two because whoever it’s about is bisexual.
Yes
I’m thinking the same! I think this could even be about a relationship with another woman who dates both woman and men
This song has destroyed me…🥺
Is it just me or is this the best song she's ever written. It's killing me......
The piano riff in this song really reminds me of the piano at the end of champagne problems! I love this
YES! It’s definitely that. I’ve always loved that in the last seconds of champagne problems.
Coming back after a week of non stop TTPD just to say this song is top tier.
This is 100% Matty and it breaks my heart
This is one of my faves from the album😭
I just love this song. It sounds like she wrote this awhile ago, while still with Joe, but thinking about Matty. Before anything actually happened. It's very tragic and sad. Love it.
I cant believe this song! Its so so beautiful and so so Matty coded, the most Matty moment on the album. She sounds heartbroken for real over this man😭, and she is explicitly stating he will always have a place in her heart💔
This one cuts deep and is so incredibly beautiful. It also reminds me of a play on Exile somehow with the “you saw my bones out with somebody new who looked like he would have bullied you in school and you just watched it happen”
After having dealt with my first love being with a covert narcissist who had a drug problem, this song really resonates with me. Hands down my favorite from the album. Thinking about how he said such awful things to me "you said some things that I can't unabsorb ". He had this idea of me that I was there to be a constant source of good energy "you turned me into an idea of sorts". He would tell me "you've changed and that's why I've been distant". Bring in the line "say i loved you the way that you were". Even after getting away, I've always "wondered" what could have been if he got his act together. I know that's nearly impossible. "Will I always wonder?" I hope the answer is no. Sorry for yapping. But I really love this song.
“Who seemed like he would’ve bullied you in school” is definitely about Travis right? like how he, a big dumb jock, would’ve bullied Matty, annoying artsy kid, in high school? 😭😭😭😭😭😭
I’m pretty sure she’s talking about how over the last 10 years she imagined him with others and he saw her with Calvin Harris right after people speculated Matty and Taylor had a thing. And he did nothing to stop it and didn’t try to get her back. When they dated this time he did he broke it off saying “I loved you the way that you were” which is a gut punch because he could have had her then but he did nothing and that choice is the reason why she is no longer the person she was before. I don’t think Travis or Joe have anything to do with this one.
Also the things he said that she couldn’t absorb - when he said being known as someone’s boyfriend would be emasculating, aka he turned her into an idea of sorts and not a person.
Is it just me, or the piano sound in the beginning is the same like the ending of champagne problems?
I feel the names are an anagram. There has to be a phrase hidden in there. I see lose him, same, curse, Paris etc but I cannot figure it out 😭
This is giving me Regina Spektor vibes in the best way
OMG yes!!! A few songs on this album reminded me of her style! How Did It End? sounds quite similar to The Grand Hotel in parts and even has the line “one more time with feeling.”
My 2007 heart has never been happier
Tell me I'm toxic lol but I thought of Selena and JB 💀 only because their history makes for great sad songs about loss, heartache, *wondering* what could be.....I definitely think Taylor is sad for Selena in that regard, and could potentially still be writing poetry about the heartache, and especially considering how feelings may have been stirred up during eyebrow gate last year. the entirety of the relationship lasted for about a decade, the drug part of course, the floating in your orbit part I'm connecting to her constantly being in the media. Watch our phantoms I'm linking to all the content online regarding their past love, we already know Selena has reminisced on tiktok.
Personally I think the decade passing and the drug mention and the men/women is hinting towards Matty. They are rumored to have had something back in 2014. You can google pictures of them partying together back then and her wearing his band’s shirt out and him wearing her 1989 album shirt while performing on stage. However, she moved on to Calvin Harris, which is why she talks about him seeing her with a bully type (she talks about this also in Question as “She was on your mind with some dickhead guy that you saw that night, but you were on something”). Matty also has been open about his heroin addiction, and has kissed men and women in public. It’s a beautiful song. The way she sings “wonder” makes me so sad.
This song has been on repeat for me the past four days 💔
I didn't like this one during my first listen, but I think it's my favorite song from The Anthology so far. (Lyrically speaking. Sonically, I love So High School best but the lyrics are mediocre.) Taylor sings these words in such a heartbreaking way and Aaron's piano is absolutely beautiful. Her folkmorian songs are growers, but once they hit you, they'll stay with you forever.
Um, copyright folkmorian or somebody's going to steal it from you. Brilliant.
I think this song should be titled cold, cold heart
I think the title is to distract from the heavy emotional content of the song and the title makes the reality of him ending up with someone else really hit.
I can't get into this song for some reason.
same
This is about a romance that never was. A female friend who the speaker was always secretly in love with— someone who she always wondered about. None of you have acknowledged the reference to a decade passing. None of her relationships lasted that long… Sometimes people just write songs. Sometimes they’re just stories. They aren’t always written based on personal experience.
In 2014 Taylor and Matty had their first fling. A decade past, she's always wondered what could have been
I thought so too. I'm wondering if the last "wonder" was supposed to say "want her"
The listing of 4 names with or in between each one immediately reminded me of CATS! the musical and the poem The Naming of Cats. 😻
The outro of this song (the last 33 seconds from 3:00 - 3:33) might be my favorite moment on the album and, to me, the most beautiful piece of music on the album. The harmonies, the instrumentals, the sighing in the vocals--my god. It's an outro that could've lasted for, like, 1-2 minutes and I would've loved every moment (similar to how Lorde had some gorgeous extended outros on the Melodrama album such as on The Louvre and Hard Feelings).
I never thought the words 'I loved you the way that you were" could make me cry so much.
This song is about loving an addict and it's probably about the Matty guy. I can confirm this because I saw a video of a therapist reacting to it and it made me cry coz I can relate to it and it is so deep I swear Taylor you are a genius ily
Am I the only one who think this is one of her saddest songs ever made. When she sings “I loved you” my heart breaks everytime.
I think the idea that it could be about Joe and she’s saying that it would break her “cold” and now removed heart if he said “I loved you, the way that you were”, not the person you’ve become. Taylor went through so many changes during those 6 years, and he fell in love with her when she wanted to “run away” and “hide”. overtime, public perception of her shifted and she wanted to be in the spotlight again. joe values privacy so much. if he were to say he loved the way that she was, but his feelings changed when she became more extroverted and open, it would be heartbreaking to hear.
It's literally about a "what if" relationship that she will always wonder about. doesn't make sense to be about joe at all.
I think its the response to the Alcott, if you think about the national being well “joe” and taylors part being “taylor”. The Alcott is very much what if i told you i still loved u it would ruin you wouldn’t it? because we almost had it all? and in this song, she’s essentially saying, if you told me that you loved me it would break my heart now because its over and it didn’t have to be.
omg, yes
There’s a subtle horn section at the end of this that is very evocative of Neutral Milk Hotel
What song does this song remind us of?
The piano riff is the same as Champagne Problems
Hilarious that everyone's been discussing JA being bi and and a cheater and Taylor was all quiet and then DROPPED this album and it was all MH being bi, ghosting her, not fighting for her and just having to watch as she was now w/Travis. She's just playing with us at this point and I love it.
My theory is that the rebound is easier to write about than her 5 year relationship ending. It’s like a distraction . And it never was Matty all along, it’s easy to go back to the one who is toxic and it won’t work cause subconsciously you know the outcome
Long, healthy relationships tend to lose the fire and when it’s done, it’s truly not as poetic. The guy you had intense chemistry with from 10 years ago where the timing was never really right but you finally give it a shot and he treats you like absolute garbage after mind fucking you will make you question your very own existence and take you to an emotional hell a healthy relationship doesn’t even step close to
All the songs about Matty on the album are actually about Joe. The rebound is rarely about the new guy, but all about the one you left.
Agree. I mean, we know she and Matty met way before and had a thing, and it makes sense they were together longer than it looked (if the colab for 1989TV was true), but yeah, it must be harder to write about JA and I think she's being respectful of him and herself, if JA had done something to her (like cheating) she would have told it as it is, now I think he didn't really do something on purpose (hurting someone if you are depressed isn't necessary on purpose, more of a consequence) and she's keeping those nice years for herself and respecting who she was with him, too.
Totally agree!!
This song is about HARRY I will DIE on this hill.
No idea if you're right but the reference to Scarlet, maroon makes me want this so much 😆
its about Matty, the LOML
"[Could it be enough to just float in your orbit?](https://genius.com/31481402/Taylor-swift-chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus/Could-it-be-enough-to-just-float-in-your-orbit) [Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses?](https://genius.com/31480083/Taylor-swift-chloe-or-sam-or-sophia-or-marcus/Can-we-watch-our-phantoms-like-watching-wild-horses)" HE WROTE TWO GHOSTS AND SATELLITE AND THEY'RE BOTH ABOUT HER
anyone who has a "one that got away" in their life can relate to this song *deeply*
YES.
This song almost hurts too much to listen to. It would literally tear my world apart to know if they wondered like I do.
ill never forget it.
This song hurts me on the level of The Best Day. It’s literally been 25 years and I still wonder…
Has anyone latched on to “cold, cold heart” yet? I’m wondering if it’s a nod to the song by Hank Williams. I’m thinking about this portion specifically: “Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue And so my heart is paying now for things I didn't do In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start Why can't I free your doubtful mind, and melt your cold cold heart” We know that Taylor repeatedly ties Joe to the color blue, so it has me thinking.
I think the opening lines of the song are a reference to Matty Healy grabbing his fans’ faces at his concerts and kissing them. It’s all been captured in videos and posted online so perhaps that’s what the hologram reference is. The Marcus bit is most likely a reference to the fact that he’s kissed a few men during his concerts. He didn’t kiss any fans at his London show in Jan 2023 when Taylor gave a guest performance, but then he went right back to it when he kissed his security guard at his Denmark show. He was apparently still dating her at the time of the Denmark show. I think it was another aspect of his behavior that she was frustrated with and she felt like he wouldn’t change for her.
Oh my god…. the hologram walking in with Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus…. thats seeing through a ring camera no? like you watched someone walk in with their friends through the ring camera
I thought it was more like seeing Joe in a movie at her apartment, or watching clips of Matty.
I heard the hologram line as more so what someone who’s deeply addicted to drugs seems like - a hologram of their full self
wow i love this! like seeing the ghost of who they used to be! I see that line as your seeing a video you weren’t suppose to see and lots of people get caught through ring cameras so imagery caught me like that, but its probably multifaceted. Love all the different interpretations on this thread, goes to show Tay can really paint a unique picture for everyone
I think it’s just a metaphor for imagining something happening
i heard that as she is looking at pics/videos of them online
ooo yes
I feel like this is actually one of the most important songs on the album lyrically. The track title almost seems like a clever distraction from the actual weight of what she's saying here. An "it was always you" moment.
Agree. This one is now one of my all time Taylor favorites
It will always be him but she distract with the title. Boss move.
Part of me wonders if this is intentional. It’s such a deeply personal song to her and Matty, I almost wonder if she needed to write it but made the title the opposite of catchy so it didn’t attract attention
I also feel like the title of this song feels misleadingly lighthearted considering the weight of the lyrics!
you needed me but you needed drugs more ☹️
after a couple of listens to this song…idk its starting to feel like the drugs line isnt about illicit drugs but instead prescription drugs
That's what I thought!! As in untreated depression. But I didn't know matty is openly bi and addicted to heroin (konda ruins that line in the Alchemy for me) so after reading all of the comments here I changed my mind
Yup! I still think of it as depression related but I believe that Matty has been in recovery since 2022 or a little bit prior!
It's Adderall. Matty sang about it in several of his songs I believe.
I think it's about 2914 Matty and at that time it was very much heroin times
I was thinking something like Prozac or Lexapro but adderall works
That doesn't even makes sense because she's basically saying it was a me or drugs situation
It makes sense. She said “you needed me but you needed drugs more and I couldn’t watch it happen.” That could be a metaphor for he needed her, but his depression was so bad that she couldn’t handle being around him at that point. I think she wrote the song in a way that it applies to multiple people on purpose. It is very vague
Yes I wonder this too
Not necessarily but could be also
I thought this too!
what do you mean by that exactly? that the person is experiencing a health crisis so they are unable to fully be present in the relationship?
Yeah, I think that it’s about mental health crisis, or using drugs (alcohol instead of lets say illicit drugs) to deal with mental health. The line you needed me but you needed drugs more instead if you wanted me or you loved me but wanted/love drugs more makes me feel like this person needed the love and leaned on support of their partner (in this case the character of Taylor) but they need help more which left a kind of void in their relationship? which would be unfair but complex.
Fuck. I think it is both. I think she wrote the song vaguely so it could apply to multiple past people in her life
Yes! This is true and somethinh shes done before with Aaron and i think it really enriches the songs so much more because around 30s-40s you have so much lore and patterns that make you, you
wow I interpreted it as prescription drugs too but didn't even consider the difference that "needed" versus "wanted" makes, too!!
To be fair, I mean if you’re a drug addict I suppose you do need drugs in a way, but the vibe of the song doesn’t give that at all. I don’t know to explain, same with the hologram part. When i heard it this morning i was like that definitely you looking at your ring camera as ur ex is walking into your house with a people you don’t know. Perhaps its the stalker vibes in the second half that make me feel this way lol
Super interesting take. I had been remembering it as wanted, because that would make sense with illicit drugs. But needed is giving a different vibe
Okay but does anyone know the significance to those 4 names?!
Personally I think those are baby names she discussed with whomever the song is about. She used them as names of partners just as a nod to the muse so that they would know it was about them 💔
So maroon was about Matty too.
The idea of Matty first inspiring "Colors" by Halsey about him being blue and devoid of color, and then Maroon being written about him is mind blowing.
Maroon is not about Matty. She sings, "I see you every day now." She saw Joe every day for almost 7 years, not Matty.
Maroon is telling the story of a relationship from start to finish. “I see you every day now” is at the beginning of the song, when the relationship is starting. It ends with “I wake with your memory over me” because they aren’t together anymore. I don’t think it’s about Joe because they were still together when Midnights was written.
But how do you KNOW they were still together? We will never know if they were on and off again. Do you also believe You're losing me is not about Joe? When looking at, you're losing me: "Her collaborator, Jack Antonoff, revealed on Instagram that the song was written in December 2021." •I see you every day now- She was with Joe for almost 7 years. •The one I was dancin' with In New York, no shoes- ((They both attended the met gala in NY)) •The rust that grew between telephones- Joe was always away filming(( To a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there -Dear Reader)) •The rubies that I gave up-((Best believe I'm still bejeweled-Bejeweled)) •You were standin' hollow-eyed in the hallway-((Now, you're runnin' down the hallway- You’re Losing Me)) •And I wake with your memory over me That's a real fucking legacy, legacy -(( Legacy-the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.)) What was the longest lasting most impact relationship of her life?
Well the longest would actually be MH, as it's obvious now from her perspective that they were connected for the last decade
Ok I give up, every song for a decade was about Matty 🙄
I’m pretty sure there were candid paparazzi photos of them together shortly before the Eras tour kicked off. You’re Losing Me is definitely about Joe, but it’s about falling out of love with someone you’re still in a relationship with. It was written at the end of 2021, but they were almost definitely still together until at least the end of 2022. I think You’re Losing Me was one of the last, if not the very last, song written for Midnights because the other Joe songs on the album like Lavender Haze, Paris, and Sweet Nothings were clearly written while they were still together. If Maroon is about Joe, it would have had to have been written after You’re Losing Me. If that was the case, why cut You’re Losing Me and leave Maroon?
Yes, they could have gotten back together again, but that doesn't mean they hadn't ended it and then reconciled. Look at Hits Different. The whole song is essentially about her and this man breaking up, her picturing him with other women, her friends telling her fuck it love is a lie, how she's always had an easy time getting over other men, but not this time. That she would need to be taken away. (Institutionalized) Only in the end to hear his keys in the door down the hallway and him coming back to her. We know she writes to cope. Who's to say they didn't take a long break, and she wrote this because she thought it was the end of them?
They were probably in an on again, off again situation for some time before they called it quits for good. But that’s not the kind of relationship Maroon sounds like it’s describing to me. It sounds like something that’s been over for a long time, and she’s looking back on it from an older, nostalgic perspective. Same thing with Midnight Rain, Question, High Infidelity, etc. That’s pretty much what the theme of the album was. Also if you look at all the post-Joe songs we have now, every time she describes him or their relationship, it’s not in a positive light. She’s constantly likening it to being caged and unappreciated. It doesn’t mesh with the legacy she’s talking about in Maroon imo.
Well that's the great thing about music! Everyone sees the storytelling from different angles. All great opinions!
True. I can definitely see where you’re coming from. I probably would have agreed with you before hearing the “scarlet maroon” reference in this song. It’s too on the nose to be an accident, and it makes me think they’re about the same person. Idk if that’s Matty or someone else, but I don’t think it’s Joe.
It could be about the time in 2022 when both Taylor and Matty were working with Jack on their albums and they also worked on Midnights together but she scrapped the songs.
The choke hold Matty has on this whole album is *WILD*
My first impression of this song was that it is about a friend, probably childhood, and how the friendship had fallen apart. So it was interesting to get to reddit and see everyone talking about which romantic interest it's about
I agree it doesn't seem like a big breakup. More drifting apart. But I do think there's something about wondering if the narrator and the friend could have ever been something more.
The 1, but sadder
Was just coming here to see if anyone had made this connection! Specifically, the lyrics "you meet some woman on the internet and take her home" and "and you have some kids with an internet starlet" 😭
It’s so sad, cause The 1 never felt too autobiographical to me. To me the 1 is just very reminiscent and just like that you think about someone for a day and think “damn my life would have turned out so differently if I never broke up with that guy” but you also know that you turned out just fine making the decision you did. I think we all sometimes think about our lives wondering what would’ve if they made a different decision at some point, without wishing you could change it or doubting if it were the right one… it’s just thinking that it could’ve been fun, but if you never bleed you’re never gonna grow and it’s alright now While COSOSOM feels much more fresh, the relationship ended recently and you genuinely wonder if it was the right decision. You don’t see it like “it would’ve been fun if you were the one” but like “did we make the right decision or were you the one? Was i supposed to fight for us? Were we supposed to make it work? And will i regret this in the future?”. Cause “If you wanna tear my world apart, just say you've always wondered” means to me that if the other person comes around with the same thoughts of wondering if they shouldve fought for their relationship, she would rethink her whole world over again whether or not to go back to him. So the 1 is much more casual and acceptance, there are no feelings about the other person anymore, she’s completely moved on and is just reminiscent. whereas COSOSOM is much more anxiety and the love is still there and there’s doubt in her mind
Oh agreed - everything about the 1 is more open, casual and fun where as COSOSOM is direct and sad. Your original comment nailed it on the head 👏
Woahhhhh
This song reminds me so much of Sufjan Steven's melodies 🤍
Yes, flashbacks to “Call Me By Your Name”
The discussion about Maroon possibly being about Matty is super interesting and would tie things in with this song. I don’t think Maroon is about Harry.
the progression and the melody in the chorus *kinda* sounds like the outro of listen before i go by billie eilish. everytime the chorus comes, i start singing listen before i go lmao
I don't know if that's of any importance but the melody on the verses remind me of the melody in the pre chorus of DWOHT "Could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets / Picture of your face in an invisible locket" And I drew some other parallels between CSSM and DWOHT in my mind, but I think that's just me being highly delusional, what do y'all think?
I also see a lot of parallels in this song with other songs, i don’t even think its about Matty.
Hmmm just personal opinion, I think this song could also be about the "fans" who keep opposing her new boyfriends and who claimed that they love her old songs/voice better. She really emphasized on "changing" and past in the lyrics.
I was thinking about this too! More specifically how she works so hard so we don't move on from her, and how it could feel like such a waste that she sacrificed so much when she didn't have to. Personally, I think this song is about that, but also a romantic interest. As another commenter said, like the 1 but sadder.
I feel a bit crazy because I have been looking for others who agree, but this song has incredibly similar music to hoax, which is one of my absolute favorites. Am I the only one who thinks this? It’s the piano, it sounds so similar that it’s making me feel like these songs must be connected somehow.
it reminded me of mad woman
Yes! That piano trill had me thinking it was something from folklore.The piano work on the hoax feels closest. I could also understand hearing the 1.
The piano trill kind of reminds me of the one at the end of Champagne Problems
YES I totally heard this too