Do any of y’all remember when Taylor Swift dropped Midnights and then, at 3 a.m., she decided to drop seven more surprise tracks? How could anyone forget? IMHO, the entire Midnights release should be in history books one day. At the very least, Swift should teach an entire seminar on how to drop the perfect surprise album, re-record, or song, because she didn’t stop with Midnights: ICYMI, Swift released three new re-records, one new song, and a Pandora’s Box of theories surrounding an unreleased track, “Need.”
On March 17, Taylor Swift released some new (ish) music just in time for her Eras Tour: “Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version),” “Safe & Sound (Taylor’s Version),” “If This Was A Movie (Taylor’s Version),” “All Of The Girls You Loved Before.” While the new Taylor’s Versions are coming out just in time for the Hunger Games resurgence on TikTok, fans are stuck on her new track, “All Of The Girls You Loved Before,” and how the lyrics allude to another unreleased Lover track, “Need.”
“Need” is sort of like an urban legend at this point. Originally intended for Swift’s album Lover, “Need” is an album reject much like “All Of The Girls You Loved Before.” So, since Swift released one secret Lover track, fans believe this is grounds for her to release the other — especially since the lyrics of these tracks go hand in hand. Well, kind of.
In the chorus of “All Of The Girls You Loved Before,” Swift sings, “Every dead-end street led you straight to me/ Now you’re all I need, I’m so thankful for / All of the girls you loved before”. Since the song referenced a “need” in the chorus, fans think that this could be an extremely subtle allusion to the unreleased track. However, for the most part, Twitter is taking the release of “All Of The Girls You Loved Before” as a sign that “Need” is coming soon.
There are some Swifties that are (understandably) sad that “Need” wasn’t released alongside the new drop.
A message for my fellow Swifties: Let’s just enjoy the drop as it is — who knows when we’ll get another?
Now, if you need me, I’ll be listening to all of these tracks on repeat.