Typically, when one thinks of a Taylor Swift song, they think of a boyfriend, a lover, a romance that makes you feel either a sad or happy emotion. With her new song “Carolina” it makes you think of a setting, an eery, dark one in that matter. Working with producer Aaron Dessner, she favors acoustic instruments and minor chords that conure the same haunted, naturalistic imagery of what she sings in the song.
It makes sense for Swift to test out a new sound with a film, as it doesn’t 100% change her sound and genre completely since it’s for a movie that is different from her music completely. Her proper albums have a theme of autobiographical interpretation, where as this movie as a mind of it’s own, allowing her to have to write a theme that fits the movie. In the song, it builds off of her dark corners, following her 2020 releases, folklore and evermore. It’s a much more American folk sounding song for her, using instruments that were made in 1953.
Listen to “Carolina” now.