What’s up? It’s Emile Ennis Jr. back here with Clevver News and as if the 16 songs on
Taylor Swift’s Folklore album weren’t enough of a surprise for fans, Taylor also
included a bonus track on the physical copies and now that it’s out, people totally think
is a love letter to her boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
I still can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’re somehow already two weeks into
Taylor Swift’s Folklore era.
On July 23rd, Taylor nearly broke the internet when she revealed that she would be dropping
her surprise 8th studio album that night at midnight.
And when she announced the album, Taylor also wrote quote, “the physical deluxe editions
will include a bonus track called ‘the lakes.’”
So while we’ve all been completely consumed by the other tracks and trying to figure out
on earth what is going on in the love triangle involving Betty and James... Taylor had a
whole new song coming for us to decode.
Now that the physical copies of Folklore are being distrubed at Target and shipped in the
mail, fans have gotten their hands on the highly anticipated song ‘the lakes.’
Unfortunately ‘the lakes’ is not yet available on streaming services, though you can definitely
find it somewhere in the depths of Twitter.
But if you aren’t in the mood to do that sort of digging, we’ve heard ‘the lakes’
and we’ve got the lyrics to dive into for you, pun intended.
Let’s start with the song title.
In Taylor’s other Folklore track ‘invisible string,’ which fans also believe to be about
her boyfriend of three years, Joe Alwyn, Taylor sings about a trip to the lakes for their
three year anniversary.
So fans already thought this song could be about Joe before even hearing it.
And now that we’ve heard it, Taylor makes it very clear those other breakup songs on
the album were certainly not about her and Joe.
The lyrics of ‘the lakes’ may seem somewhat tragic at first glance, but the way we interpreted
it, it’s actually quite romantic.
Let’s talk about the first verse. In it, Taylor sings “Is it romantic how all of
my elegies eulogize me? I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones, These hunters with
cell phones.”
According to the lyric analyzer on the music site Genius, in this first verse, Taylor seems
to address her public persona from how others viewed her for writing so many breakup songs
earlier in her career to how the internet has affected her mental health.
Then Taylor gets into the chorus and the lyrics go “Take me to the lakes, where all the
poets went to die.”
According to Genius, this is supposedly a reference to the Lake District, which is one
of the most romantic spots in all of the United Kingdom.
The song also makes an allusion to these “Lake Poets”, which is a group of romantic English
poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, in the first half of the nineteenth
century.
And while all the British references are definitely pointing towards Joe Alywn who we all know
is British, don’t worry, that’s not all.
In the bridge of the song, Taylor sings “And I want you right here, A red rose grew up
out of ice frozen ground, With no one around to tweet it.”
As a pretty private couple, the lyric “with no one around to tweet it” pretty much points
directly at Taylor and Joe keeping their relationship off social media.
In case you didn’t know, these two have never posted a photo together in their three
years of dating.
And Genius also pointed out that Joe could be the red rose growing up out of the frozen
ground, with the frozen ground being Taylor’s tumultuous history of public criticism and
backlash.
We all lived through the Taylor, Kanye, and Kim Kardashian drama, as well as the Scooter
Braun, Scott Borchetta drama.
And Taylor even references her falling out with Scott Borchetta in the 2nd verse of the
song saying “I've come too far to watch some name dropping sleaze Tell me what are
my words worth.”
Harsh, I know, Taylor definitely wasn’t holding back.
But Joe has most certainly been a constant ‘red rose’ in Taylor’s life over these
past few years.
Some fans have even pointed out that Taylor actually made a similar reference to Joe in
her Reputation song “Call It What You Want,” when she sings “All my flowers grew back
as thorns, Windows boarded up after the storm, He built a fire just to keep me warm.”
All in all, in the song ‘the lakes’ Taylor seems to reflect about how she wants her life
to look now and how much she loves living a more private life with Joe.
We all remember that back in 2016 Taylor completely withdrew from the spotlight, but now she’s
found her way back in a way that seems healthier for her.
Unless she’s promoting her music or has something she wants to share with her fans,
she stays off social media for the most part.
In the end of her new song ‘the lakes’ Taylor sings “I'm setting off, but not without
my muse No, not without you.”
Which could definitely be about her looking forward to her future with Joe and living
a quiet private life together.
And fans have been taking to social media to share their thoughts on this new song.
One fan analyzed that last lyric we just spoke about saying quote, ““i’m setting off
but not without my muse” the lake poets drew inspiration from nature and the things
around them, but taylor is saying her muse is her love and she won’t live without him.”
Another fan shared their interpretation of the song writing quote, “The Lakes by Taylor
Swift aka “this world is scary as s**t but I’ll be okay as long as I can do what I
love while tucked away somewhere with my muse.”
This person chimed in with “The Lakes by Taylor Swift....yes.... crush my heart a little
bit more please.” And this excited person simply wrote quote,
“THE! LAKES! BY! TAYLOR! SWIFT! IS! EVERYTHING! #folklore”
So clearly fans are loving the song and if you haven’t heard it yet, I highly suggest
getting your hands on a physical copy of Folklore.
It’s definitely worth a listen!
And if you want more Folklore easter eggs, click right over here for another Clevver
News video.
Also, let us know down in the comments below what you think of Taylor’s new song ‘the
lakes’ and if you have any other interpretations of the lyrics! We love to hear all your theories.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys!