Taylor Swift premiered her third single “Lover” on August 16, a week before her highly anticipated seventh album, Lover. The title track has been released after singles “Me!” featuring Brandon Urie of Panic! At the Disco and “You Need to Calm Down.”
“Lover” is the fourth track but third single that Swift has released. (Swift revealed an Instagram livestream that the third track, “The Archer,” which is slated to be the fifth song on Lover, was released as only a promotional single because fan favorites are usually track five on the album.) The title track and “The Archer” are completely different from other songs that Swift has released so far, allowing fans and listeners to get a taste of the different perspectives of the album.
Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?https://t.co/4grpRXSh7G pic.twitter.com/EBoZXIbORm
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 16, 2019
The song beings to sway against guitar strings and a hi-hat for thirteen seconds to capture delicate tempo that carries the rest of the song. Swift enters the song by revealing an Easter egg from the “Me!” music video with the lyrics, “We can leave the Christmas lights up until January.” The verse continues to a moment between Swift and her lover, Joe Alwyn. With their relationship, love is proven to be timeless.
The chorus dives into the 60s with a touch of lounge music. Swift explores places to go with her lover from a stranger’s world to their home. As long as they’re together and hold each other close, they are each other’s lover. Swift vocally expresses the lyrics “You’re my, my, my, lover” to place a label on their relationship as she has seen others glance at her lover in the second verse with “I’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you.”
Swift also mentions how she’s been in love with her lover for three summers and wanting more, which left fans calculating her relationship and others noticing the parallel between her debut single “Tim McGraw.” The chorus follows again with angelic background vocals that are easy to miss but align with the romantic words.
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The bridge of “Lover” was highly anticipated for fans to hear. Swift mentioned in her interview with Vogue, “This has one of my favorite bridges. I love a bridge, and I was really able to go to bridge city.” Taylor Swift certainly did not fail to go to bridge city. The bridge starts off as an imitation of a marriage officiant with “Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand.” The verse is a surprise, yet at the same time, it’s not. The song feels like a first dance song at a wedding. Swift then follows with her vows to her lover, “With every guitar string scar on my hand, I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.” The guitar string scars represent the heartbreak songs she’s written on her discography. After all, Swift now sees life through a romantic lens.
The bridge truly refines Swift’s relationship with Joe Alwyn as many fans believe Swift is either engaged or already married to him. Many have ideas the “Lover” music video will feature wedding footage as the video is set to premiere on August 22, accompanied with a live stream by Swift on YouTube. The rest of the song assures Swift’s lover that she’ll be with him forever and ever with pure 60s inspired instruments that overlap each other to express the feeling of love.
“Lover” simply became a timeless love song with its romantic tempo that pays homage to Swift’s past work such as Fearless and Speak Now, especially the title-track “Speak Now,” since both songs surround a wedding with opposite point of views.
The self-written track is honest and vulnerable with its down-to-earth lyrics. Swift gave lovebirds their dream wedding song that will leave them swaying the night away.
Swift released exclusive merchandise for the title-track. Until then, Lover the album comes out on August 23.
Featured Image via Valheria Rocha’s Official Instagram.
