Breaking Down Taylor Swift's Heartbreak-Inspired 'Florida!!!' Lyrics
Taylor Swift’s “Florida!!!” duet with Florence Welch already has Us spinning.
Swift, 34, collaborated with the Florence + The Machine singer, 37, for a song on The Tortured Poets Department, which dropped on Friday, April 19.
“You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too / They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true,” Swift begins in the song. “And my friends all smell like weed or little babies / And this city reeks of driving myself crazy / Little did you know your home’s really only / A town you’re just a guest in / So you work your life away just to pay / For a timeshare / Down in Destin.”
As Swift and Welch continue, it becomes evident that they are singing about a breakup and making plans to relocate to the Sunshine State to grieve the loss.
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“I need to forget, so take me to Florida,” Swift sings. “Tell me I’m despicable, say it’s unforgivable / At least the dolls are beautiful, f–k me up, Florida / I need to forget, so take me to Florida.”
She adds, “What a crash, what a rush, f–k me up, Florida / It’s one hell of a drug … Love loves me like this and I want to resist / So take me to Florida.”
After the album dropped on Friday, Swift appeared on iHeartRadio and discussed the inspiration for “Florida!!!”
“I think I was coming up with this idea of, ‘What happens if your life doesn’t fit or your choices you’ve made catch up to you and you’re surrounded by these harsh consequences and judgment and circumstances did not lead you to where you thought you would be and you just want to escape from everything you’ve ever known — is there a place you can go?’” Swift said. “I’m always watching Dateline and people, you know, have these crimes that they commit and they immediately escape town [and] go to Florida, try to reinvent themselves and have this new identity, blend in.”
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She continued, “And I think when you go through heartbreak, there’s part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name, I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’”
It has been presumed by Swift’s fans that “Florida!!!” is about her breakup with Joe Alwyn, whom she dated between 2016 and 2023. After Us Weekly confirmed the pair’s split in April 2023, Swift’s next Eras Tour concert took place in Tampa.
“Is it just me or do we have a lot of things to catch up on?” Swift said during the show in between Folklore tracks. “It’s been a really long time since I’ve been on tour. And to say that a lot has happened is an understatement.”
“Florida!!!” is not the only TTPD song that is seemingly about the end of Swift’s six-year relationship with Alywn, 33, as “So Long, London,” “Loml,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “The Black Dog” and “Fresh Out the Slammer” all feature allusions to the breakup. Matty Healy, whom Swift briefly dated in spring 2023, also inspired a handful of TTPD tracks.
Swift has since found love with NFL star Travis Kelce, which was apparently chronicled on new songs “The Alchemy” and “So High School.”
The Tortured Poets Department is now available.
