Taylor Swift has released 1989 (Taylor’s Version), and fans are speculating about which of the album’s previously-unreleased vault tracks are about ex Harry Styles.
Swifties have long believed many songs from 1989, which was originally released in October 2014, are about the “Sign of the Times” singer, including “Out of the Woods,” “I Wish You Would,” and, of course, “Style.”
Now, fans are adding several new vault tracks, including “Is It Over Now?” and “Now That We Don’t Talk,” to the list of songs they believe Taylor wrote about former flame Harry.
Here’s a breakdown of Taylor’s five new songs from the vault, and why fans think they’re about the former One Direction member.
‘Is It Over Now?’
Perhaps the most talked about new song on the rerecorded album is its fifth and final vault track, “Is It Over Now?” Fans believe the song includes the most obvious references to the “Watermelon Sugar” singer.
The lyrics, “Blue dress on a boat / Your new girl is my clone,” seemingly mention a famous photo of the “Wildest Dreams” singer sitting alone on a boat in the Virgin Islands wearing a blue dress after her split from Harry.
The reference to the mystery woman may be about Kimberly Stewart, a Taylor lookalike who was rumored to be Harry’s next girlfriend after the “Shake It Off” singer. Later in the song Taylor sings, “If she’s got blue eyes, I will surmise you’ll probably date her,” further hinting at Kimberly, 44, who also has blue eyes.
Another “Is It Over Now?” lyric, “You search in every model’s bed for something greater, baby,” seems to point to Harry again. Following his split from Taylor, Harry was romantically linked to several models, including Kendall Jenner, Sara Sampaio, Georgia Fowler, Camille Rowe, Kiko Mizuhara and Candice Swanepoel.
Fans also theorize the lyric “When you lost control / Red blood, white snow” references Taylor and Harry’s famous snowmobile accident, which Taylor spoke about in a September 2014 interview with Rolling Stone. In the interview, Taylor admitted the lyric “Remember when you hit the brakes too soon / Twenty stitches in a hospital room,” from her 1989 song “Out of the Woods,” was inspired by the accident she was in with an unnamed ex.
Fans believe the incident, which sent both Taylor and her mystery man to the hospital, happened on a trip Taylor and Harry took a few days before Christmas 2012. That Christmas Eve, Harry was seen in an Instagram photo with a bandage on his chin.
‘Now That We Don’t Talk’
The album’s third track from the vault, “Now That We Don’t Talk,” may also be about the “What Makes You Beautiful” singer. Fans point to the lyric, “You grew your hair long / You got new icons,” which seems to mention Harry’s hair. He notably began growing his hair out in 2012 after he called it quits with Taylor, and then it grew longer every year until he started wearing it shorter in 2017 – a style the “As It Was” singer has kept to this day.
‘Slut!’
The first vault song on the album, “Slut!,” seems to be the sister song to “Blank Space,” one of Taylor’s most popular singles from 1989. In “Blank Space,” Taylor sings “Rose garden filled with thorns,” and in “Slut!,” she sings she has “love thorns all over this rose.”
The biggest clue that “Slut!” may be about Harry, aside from it likely being written shortly after his and Taylor’s breakup, is that the lyrics seem to mention his fame and hordes of fans at the time.
“Everyone wants him, that was my crime / The wrong place at the right time,” she sings in the newly-released song.
‘Suburban Legends’
Taylor’s fourth vault track, “Suburban Legends,” is about two star-crossed lovers who have found great success in life, but who are doomed as a couple.
In the song, Taylor imagines the lovebirds showing up to their high school reunion, and their class being shocked to see the couple together.
“Would surprise the whole school / When I ended up back at our class reunion / Walkin’ in with you,” Taylor sings. “You’d be more than a chapter in my old diaries / With the pages ripped out / I am standin’ in a 1950s gymnasium / And I can still see you now.”
These lyrics may be another reference to Harry’s international fame, and the millions of teen and tween girls pining after him at the time. After all, if any high school student showed up to class with Harry Styles in 2012, it would have surely turned heads.
‘Say Don’t Go’
Although the lyrics to Taylor’s second vault track are a bit more vague, fans still wonder if it may also be about the “Night Changes” singer.
The song opens with the lyric, “I’ve known it from the very start / We’re a shot in the darkest dark,” potentially in reference to their short fling.
References to being led on also seem to point to a more short-lived relationship, and Taylor’s and Harry’s famously only lasted a few months.
“Why’d you have to lead me on? / Why’d you have to twist the knife? / Walk away and leave me bleeding,” Taylor sings. “Why’d you whisper in the dark? / Just to leave me in the night? / Now your silence has me screamin’, screamin’.”
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