This Close Forever And Ever

Taylor Swift “Lover”

I’m not surprised that Taylor Swift would sound so good in a song that spends about a third of its running time sounding quite a lot like Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” but I am a little surprised that it actually happened. “Lover” is Swift at her most tender and romantic. It’s a full-hearted love song with only minor levels of Swift celebrity meta-narrative to get in the way of being a perfect track for wedding playlists for years to come. As usual her lyrics thrive in specificity of details (“we could leave the Christmas lights up til January,” “with every guitar string scar on my hand”) and pithy aphorisms that nail extremely relatable feelings (“I’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you”). But aside from those Mazzy-ish verses and the ultra-swoony chorus, the peak of this song comes in a perfectly structured bridge in which Swift shifts from a low-key vibe to high-key Swift-iness in both melody and sentiment. The line about taking “this magnetic-force-of-a-man” to be her lover is delightfully extra, and when she swears to be “overdramatic and true” for him, she’s simultaneously winking to the audience and being extremely earnest. This is not someone who’d ever be chill about this sort of thing and bless her for it.

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