OMG: It Turns Out Taylor Swift Secretly Dropped “Midnights” Lyrics in Her Iconic NYU Graduation Speech
Content warning: The article below features mentions of eating disorders, which may be triggering to some. If you or a loved one are struggling, please contact the National Eating Disorders Hotline at (800) 931-2237 or visit online. Reader discretion is advised.
Taylor Swift just dropped her 10th album, Midnights, and it's chock-full of songs that are poised to be some of her most beloved, devastatingly honest tracks yet. This latest album release comes two years since Taylor released her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, and since then the singer has completed two re-recordings: Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version).
Now, Taylor Swift enters a new musical era marked by '70s retro aesthetics (see her music video for "Anti-Hero") and a return to her pop sound with a 13-track album about 13 separate nights — 20, if you count her "chaotic surprise" 3am Edition that included seven additional songs. "Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows, and ebbs and flows. Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights. Which is out now," Taylor wrote on Twitter.
Taylor is known for putting some of her most heart-wrenching songs as Track 5 on her albums — think “Dear John,” “White Horse,” “my tears ricochet,” and of course, “All Too Well.” Track 5 of Midnights has been quickly singled out as a fan-favorite in the short time that Taylor’s 10th album has been out, a vulnerable song entitled "You're on Your Own, Kid."
Don't let the gentle, deceptively optimistic introduction fool you. Although Taylor sings "Summer went away / Still the yearning stays / I play it cool with the best of them," this isn't the start of another optimistic number like "Me!" or "Cruel Summer." Instead, the intro verses bloom into a soft, yearning pop melody as Taylor paints a picture of herself hoping, wishing, and waiting for her unrequited love to be returned.
In a heartbreaking song that balances self-reflection and narrative, Taylor sings about searching for friendship and affection while grasping onto social capital ("I hosted parties") and societal beauty standards ("of better bodies") before concluding, "You're on your own, kid / You always have been."
Listen to the full track as we break down the song lyrics below.
[Verse 1]
Summer went away / Still the yearning stays
I play it cool with the best of them
I wait patiently / He's gonna notice me
It's okay, we're the best of friends
Anyway
Taylor sings about a summertime crush that lingers as the season changes, one that she secretly harbors yet doesn't reveal as she waits for this person to notice her. "We're the best of friends," she sings in a lyric that parallels a line from her 1989 song "You Are In Love."
Taylor once spoke to Tavi Gevinson for Elle about the "You Are In Love" lyric that goes, "you're my best friend," explaining back in 2015 that she had "never had that" but thought that it "sounds like it would just be so beautiful."
[Verse 2]
I hear it in your voice / You're smoking with your boys
I touch my phone as if it's your face
I didn't choose this town / I dream of getting out
There's just one who could make me stay
All my days
Taylor expresses a longing for greater connection and more time with the person she loves, recalling a time when she touched her phone as if she could touch the person on the other end of the line. The second half of this verse is a confession as Taylor admits that she would choose to stay in the town she dreamt of leaving just to be with the person she loves.
[Chorus]
From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes
I waited ages to see you there
I search the party of better bodies
Just to learn that you never cared
You're on your own, kid
You always have been
Taylor cuts off the hope of returned love that she expresses in the first two verses, realizing that the person she has been patiently waiting to receive affection from never cared for her. Plagued by comparison and the pressure to live up to everyone else's physical standards, Taylor sings "I search the party of better bodies" and alludes to the body image struggles that she mentioned in her documentary Miss Americana.
[Verse 3]
I see the great escape / So long, Daisy May
I picked the petals, he loves me not
Something different bloomed / Writing in my room
I play my songs in the parking lot
I'll run away
Who is "Daisy May?" The name could be referring to Daisy May Cooper, a British actress known for This Country (2017), Avenue 5 (2020), and Am I Being Unreasonable? (2022). But some savvy fans think that the singer just revealed the unannounced name of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' unborn fourth child.
Taylor has referenced Blake and Ryan's children in her songs before, referring to characters named James, Inez, and Betty in her folklore song "betty," so it's not out of the question that Taylor's reference to a person named Daisy May would be a subtle hint that Blake and Ryan decided on a name for their fourth baby.
[Chorus x2]
From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes
I called a taxi to take me there
I search the party of better bodies
Just to learn that my dreams aren't rare
You're on your own, kid
You always have been
From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes
I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this
I hosted parties and starved my body
Like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss
In the second and third choruses, slightly lyrically different than the first, Taylor drops another allusion to an eating disorder that she has struggled with. In Miss Americana, Taylor explained, "[I'd see] a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or…someone said that I looked pregnant…and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit—just stop eating." The singer explained that it's only happened a few times, but that she is "not in any way proud of it."
[Bridge]
The jokes weren't funny, I took the money
My friends from home don't know what to say
I looked around in a blood-soaked gown
And I saw something they can't take away
'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned
Everything you lose is a step you take
So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it
You've got no reason to be afraid
Taylor sings about losing common ground with and growing distant from friends from another phase of her life. She learns to accept their changing relationship as a necessary thing to grow, singing, "everything you lose is a step you take."
[Outro]
You're on your own, kid / Yeah, you can face this
You're on your own, kid / You always have been
Taylor sings about embracing lost friendships and budding new ones without fear, as both have shaped her even though she sings "you're on your own, kid." But wait — Taylor revealed those repeated lyrics months before we even knew she was releasing Midnights, and nobody caught it! Ever the "Mastermind" when it comes to Easter eggs, Taylor incorporated the song title into her commencement speech for the NYU Class of 2022.
After receiving her honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, the singer posed a question to the class: “How do I give advice to this many people about their life choices? “I won’t,” she answered. “Scary news is: You’re on your own now. Cool news is: You’re on your own now."
Lyrics provided by AZ Lyrics
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