Ok, it is a long read, written half drunk (excellent Monbazillac straight outta Dorgogne) not gonna edit the train of thoughts, so here you go:
When Taylor talked about this song, she said she found the “inspiration” in new years eve parties and how the day after you stay with the one you share your life with to clean the mess and spend the day in peace, in private which is a huge contrast with the partying.Here is how I read it. This song wraps up the album. But imo, in taylor private life it describes her transition from NYE its glitter and polaroid aka the 1989 era with the social media and media overexposure, the girls squad, the friends, the parties, the outings. “you and me from the night before”: everything they lived during this phase in life that she is about to put behind her.She is scared because she doesn’t know what the reaction of the person she’s singing for would be if they get to the last page of the book she is about to close, will that person stay for the next one?This is almost the only song in which she talks about doubts coming from the other person because they are both scared. She says she wants the celebrations but she’d also stick to do life’s mundane tasks when the lights are out, and by that I think it means the beginning of her blackout phase.Verse 2 is where they start putting this plan en route, their taxi ride. It is a very interesting non verbal exchange, the other person squeezing her hand is a sign of reassurance, one that is done by someone who doesn’t need words to say what you need to hear, your long term SO, your BFF or a close family member. She replies that even if this trip is long, she is not going anywhere and will be there for the worst and for better times alike.In the post chorus and the bridge, I think she is preparing her love interest for a difficult part. A part where they will probably be physically separated from each other for longer periods than they are used to before. Thus asking the person to hold on to the memories they shared together (3 times. you can stretch and reach and say it corresponds to 3 years relationship before the blackout if you feel like it, I don’t make the rules). And then she tells her love interest that if they hold on to these memories she will hold on to them as a pair. She is not leaving, she is just retreating.She is asking them not to forget her and this relationship she is trying to keep during this new phase of life, where their separate lives would probably be less in sync than before. She knows her lover like the back of her hand and could not stand the idea of them becoming strangers.Overall, at first I did not pay attention to the depth of it I really just thought she was describing the aftermath of a party. But she is not. Wouldn’t you expect a mention of alcohol here (in Taylor’s most alcohol-drenched album)? well surprise, there is none. Because it is not describing an actual party, but her transition from the 1989 to the Rep era and wanting her partner to cross that bridge with her. Some sort of “through thick-and-thin promise” in a form of a soft ballad. It also strikes me as a narrative of a long term relationship where two people are settled in a certain lifestyle and they are about to make a drastic change due to what life throws at them and they are maybe hesitantly walking to their destination but holding hands firmly.So that’s my meta-analysis and very liberally done interpretation of this song. It was a head-scratcher for me, she wrote it and recorded it quite fast and felt that THIS is the song that should wrap up an album she called reputation with and that she is releasing after she completely turned her public life around. And this is how it made sense to me.
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