ENTERTAINMENT
Taylor Swift Addresses Engagement Rumors on ‘Midnights’ : ‘The 1950s S— They Want from Me’
“All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride/ The only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife,” the Grammy winner sings on “Lavender Haze”
Taylor Swift isn’t here for the “weird rumors” about her six-year relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
On Midnights’ opening track, the Grammy winner, 32, sings about facing engagement buzz over the last several years with her actor beau, 31.
“I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say/ the 1950s s— they want from me/ I just wanna stay in that lavender haze,” sings Swift on the love song. “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride/ the only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife.”
Earlier this month, Swift teased the track on her Instagram, telling fans she first learned of the phrase “lavender haze” while watching the TV series Mad Men.
“I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool,” said Swift. “And it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the ’50s, where they would just describe being in love.”
The pop superstar shared that “Lavender Haze” was specifically inspired by her relationship with Alwyn. As a couple, “we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it,” she said. “And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
On several songs throughout Midnights, Swift gives peeks into her love story and life with Alwyn.
“Now I’m all for you like Janet/ Can this be a real thing/ Can it?” she asks on the tender love song “Snow on the Beach” (which features Lana Del Rey), referencing Janet Jackson’s 2001 hit “All for You.”
Later in the album, Swift seemingly gives insight into her emotional state during the early days of their romance.
“You know how scared I am of elevators/ Never trust it if it rises fast/ It can’t last,” she sings, adding in the chorus: “I thought the plane was going down/ How’d you turn it right around?”
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Swift also teamed up with Alwyn (aka William Bowery) for “Sweet Nothing,” a ballad about finding safety in their love bubble.
“They said the end is coming/ Everyone’s up to something/ I find myself running home to your sweet nothings,” sings Swift, who previously revealed that “William Bowery” — who co-wrote tracks on folklore and evermore — is Alwyn.
“I spy with my little tired eye/ Tiny as a firefly a pebble that we picked up last July/ Down deep inside your pocket we almost forgot it/ Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes?” she sings elsewhere on the track, seemingly referencing the time she and Alwyn spent in Belfast while he filmed Conversations with Friends last year.
And finally, the final track on Midnights sees Swift admitting to being a “Mastermind” in her relationship — a revelation that her lover fully embraces.
“So I told you none of it was accidental and the first night that you saw me nothing was gonna stop me/ I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk on your face/ You knew the entire time,” she sings at the album’s close.
Upon the album’s release, Swift shared a heartfelt post on Instagram celebrating her latest project.
“Midnights is a wild ride of an album and I couldn’t be happier that my co pilot on this adventure was @jackantonoff,” she wrote about her longtime friend and producer, who is engaged to actress Margaret Qualley. “We’d been toying with ideas and had written a few things we loved, but Midnights actually really coalesced and flowed out of us when our partners (both actors) did a film together in Panama. Jack and I found ourselves back in New York, alone, recording every night, staying up late and exploring old memories and midnights past.”
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