Once again, Taylor Swift said, meet me at midnight and released the re-recordings of three songs we loved before (Taylor’s Version) and also a brand new Lover track, hours before “The Eras Tour” kicks off in Glendale– temporarily renamed to Swift City by Glendale mayor Jerry P. Weiers.
Today is finally the day for Swifties from all over the country to meet in State Farm Stadium with their Eras-inspired outfits and handmade friendship bracelets for a long-awaited reunion with Taylor Swift. To celebrate Eras Tour Eve, on March 16, Swift broke her silence on social media to announce the release of four songs at midnight and even shared some BTS content from tour rehearsals.
Swifties were already on edge with constant thrill ever since The Eras Tour was announced in November, and now it’s hard to believe the time has come for Swift to take the stage and begin yet another record-breaking stadium tour again.
The new releases include Taylor’s Versions of “Eyes Open,” “Safe & Sound(feat. The Civil Wars),” and “If This Was A Movie.” Lastly, the fourth and arguably the most awaited one was the never-before-released ballad “All Of The Girls You Loved Before,” initially recorded for the Lover album.
“All Of The Girls You Loved Before” was recently leaked and almost instantly went viral on TikTok. The love for even the leaked version and the fans pleading for the song’s official release likely caught Swift’s attention and led her to release it on her terms.
The best way to describe “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” is, to say the least, it is the opposite of Swift’s lyrics, “I pictured you with other girls in love / Then threw up on the street” from the Midnights bonus track, “Hits Different.”The new addition to Lover, with dreamy and mature lyrics, shows Swift in love and at peace with how every dead-end street led her to love, and she is thankful for all of the girls that came before her for leading him to her.
Two of the “Red Era” songs from this surprise release, “Eyes Open” (with a new amplified rock feel to its sound) and “Safe & Sound,” were first released as part of the Hunger Games soundtrack in 2012. With the re-recording of “Safe & Sound (Taylor’s Version),” Swift temporarily reunited The Civil Wars after the band’s fragile split in 2014.
“If This Was A Movie” was originally released as a bonus song in Speak Now (Deluxe Edition) in 2010, and so, at first, the announcement of the song’s re-recording raised hopes for the highly anticipated drop of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). However, Swift did a plot twist and surprised her fans by re-releasing the song as part of Fearless (Taylor’s Version) with no mentions of Speak Now— Swifties truly never heard silence quite this loud.
The combination of songs in this recent drop feels nostalgic and delicately crafted in celebration of The Eras Tour– a journey through the ten musical eras of Swift’s career– with various songs from the Red Era, Speak Now Era (though Swift wants us to pretend it is the Fearless Era), and Lover Era.
Favorite Lyrics From Taylor Swift’s 4 New Songs:
- ‘‘All Of the Girls You Loved Before
Your mother brought you up loyal and kind / Teenage love taught you there’s good in goodbye /
Every woman that you knew brought you here.
- ‘‘Eyes Open’’
So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard / Every lesson forms a new scar / They never thought you’d make it this far.
- ‘‘Safe Sound’’
Hold on to this lullaby / Even when the music’s gone.
- ‘‘If This Was A Movie’’
Come back, come back to me like / You would, you would if this was a movie / Stand in the rain outside until I came out.