Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was officially released on April 19, 2024, and as expected, it took the internet by storm. Swift’s lyrical prose and emotional vulnerability really shines through in this album, and fans immediately began sharing the songs and lyrics they loved the most — or more accurately, sobbed over the most — online. Despite the heavy subject matter of some of these songs, Swift wasn’t afraid to include a few jokes in her lyrics, and fans responded in kind. Perhaps the song that had the funniest reactions was “I Look In People’s Windows,” from the Anthology part of the double album.
“I Look In People’s Windows,” track 25 of The Tortured Poets Department, was written and produced by Jack Antonoff, Patrik Berger, and Taylor Swift. In the song, Swift describes herself looking through people’s windows to try to reconnect with someone she’s been yearning for. The community annotations on Genius read, “Swift captures the ache of longing for lost connections and the quiet desperation of seeking closure,” and fans have already begun speculating what the song could mean.
But while the song itself is full of lamenting, fans were quick to start making memes of the titular lyric, “I look in people’s windows” with their favorite fictional characters.
One user posted on X, “RIP Edward Cullen you would have loved I Look In People’s Windows.” The “RIP so-and-so” trend was used for several other fictional characters as well, as fans guessed which of their favorite characters from books or TV would relate to the song. One of the best was a reference to A from Pretty Little Liars, relating to spying on people through their windows; another called out Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s You.
Other users were posting the lyrics alongside a gif of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City knocking on a window. The lyrics from the chorus, “I look through people’s windows / in case you’re at the table / what if your eyes looked up and met mine one more time” were shared widely alongside photos of fictional pairs like Loki and Sylvie, as well.
Big corporations got in on the fun too: NBC joined the meme-making with a photo of Dwight from The Office staring creepily through the office’s meeting room blinds.
Even the famous hamster from recent TikTok and X memes made an appearance with the lyrics.
Although the memes were funny, Swifties were quick to notice something else about the song. “Did yall notice that ‘I look in people’s windows’ sounds almost exactly like ‘I look through the windows of this love’?” X user aubstaysversion shared, referencing “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from Swift’s seventh album, Lover. Whether the musical parallel was intended or not, one thing is for sure: “I Look Through People’s Windows” is set to become a new fan-favorite Taylor Swift song… and meme.