Trigger Warning: Mention of eating disorders!
Like so many of us, Taylor Swift has had a lifelong effect on me.
I recall tearing through the CD insert of ‘Fearless’ when I was eight or nine years old, sitting on the living room floor, unpicking my favourite lyrics. I remember my (at the time) Twilight-obsessed sister and I comparing ‘Haunted’ and the New Moon storyline. And as I grew up, Taylor’s lyrics grew up with me. During lockdown, I went through my first breakup and played ‘The 1’ on repeat. I remember moving abroad and the closest friend I made there and I bonded over our love for Taylor. The ‘Midnights’ album was released only a month or so after we met, and we looked over the city, listening to each track chronologically.
When we said goodbye at Christmas, we listened to ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’ and had a little cry. When I fell in love again, I listened to ‘When Emma Falls in Love’ and felt akin to the lyrics. Taylor has been with her fans through dramatic life experiences. I don’t believe there will ever be a day where Taylor Swift is not a massive part of my life. But what I didn’t expect on the morning of 27th October 2023 – hungover and in last night’s Harley Quinn Halloween costume, clown makeup running down my face – was to discover my new all-time favourite Taylor Swift song.
‘Is It Over Now?’ I am certain that 99% of Taylor fans mutually agree that this is one of her best vault tracks today. So instead of me focussing on my English Literature dissertation, let’s do a deep-dive analysis of my new favourite Taylor song! So let’s start off in the pre-chorus. Let’s fast forward to three hundred takeout coffees later. Instantly, this places the song in a modern setting. Our brains are flooded with images of Starbucks and may even recall the dozens of paparazzi photos taken of Harry Styles with a takeout coffee.
Considering this song is featured on 1989 (with other tracks like ‘Out of the Woods’ and ‘Style’ being linked to the popstar), Harry Styles is an obvious reference throughout this song. Other references we will point out later associate this song even more closely to the 29-year-old English singer. The modernity in this song allows it to be relatable to a greater extent, which is difficult to do in a song based on the relationship between two of the most prolific singers of our generation. I see your profile and your smile on unsuspecting waiters. No matter where the singer is, she cannot erase the images of her past love from her mind. This indicates that regardless of how much he hurt her, she does not resent him for these decisions and still displaces him onto strangers.
The fact that she’s thinking of him in somewhere as ordinary as a café implies that even in the most mundane settings, he remains on her mind. In her day-to-day life, her past love haunts her. In particular, the adjective “unsuspecting” suggests that she is aware it is not the waiters’ fault and that there may not even be any real similarity between the waiter and her past love – she takes accountability for placing images of her love onto other men. This is perhaps an unwitting coping mechanism to deal with heartbreak.
I thought this lyric was an interesting one to pick out: You search in every maiden’s bed for something greater, baby. Now why does this lyric stand out to me and why – at least in my opinion – does it stick out a little? The noun “maiden” is not commonly used in everyday lingo. I highly doubt most people nowadays refer to women as “maidens”. If we look at the dictionary definition of “maiden”, it is an unmarried girl or young woman. The dictionary example given is “two knights fought to win the hand of a fair maiden”. Undeniably, the noun “maiden” holds connotations of Medieval times. This historical reference sets this modern love / heartbreak story into a wider context and provides us with the essence of a great love story. This juxtaposition between modernity (e.g. “takeout coffees”) and this Medieval reference solidifies that betrayal is a symptom of human nature throughout history. Taylor enforces this dramatic breakup in a greater context.
Additionally, the fact that this term refers to an unmarried woman is significant. Drawing attention to the fact that a woman is unmarried may seem dated in contemporary times, particularly from a self-proclaimed feminist like Taylor Swift. However, much talk that occurs regarding Taylor is based around her relationship or marital status. This is referred to in ‘Lavender Haze’ – a track from her Midnights album – where she sings “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride. The only kind of girl that they see is a one-night or a wife”. Therefore, Taylor would not be singing this “maiden” line in a judgemental way, per say. Instead, I believe she is singing this to draw the line closer between what the paparazzi referred to Taylor and the other women her exes dated. Much of the time, the paparazzi only considered the romantic status of a woman relevant to their news reports. In addition, this draws Taylor and the other girls closer, linking to the line “your new girl is my clone”. She feels heavily linked to these women. This directly contrasts the later lyric “you search in every model’s bed for something greater, baby”, which suggests her ex believes he can replicate their special connection through intimacy with widely considered beautiful women.
Pointing this out suggests that Taylor was concerned with how her ex acted as though another woman’s beauty could lead to a connection as special as theirs. This reminds me of the famous “a new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be” lyric in ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’. Beautiful women are treated like trophies in this sense. Now comes the chorus… The lexis of intimacy (“Was it over when she laid down on your couch? Was it over when he unbuttoned my blouse?”) reveals deeper levels of their relationship and its demise. Perhaps they were never exclusive. Perhaps they betrayed one another in their agreement of fidelity. We will never truly understand the complexities of their breakup, but Taylor takes accountability here for her part in their breakup. Other people were clearly involved in their breakup, and these lyrics suggest there was some level of tit-for-tat throughout the relationship. It is not clear who started the infidelity, but it was continued by both parties.
The second verse links the lyrics even more closely to Harry Styles. There is a reference to hers and Harry’s ski accident (“When you lost control / red blood, white snow”) which links to the lyrics in ‘Out of the Woods’: “Remember when you hit the brakes too soon. Twenty stitches in the hospital room”. Taylor has confessed on a Tumblr recording that she did not release ‘Is It Over Now?’ on the original 1989 album as it was a sister song to ‘Out of the Woods’. This clarifies that both songs refer to this incident and the effects it had on their relationship. In both songs, she pleads to find a resolution to their relationship and whether the flaws can be mended. The following lyric “blue dress on a boat” refers to a photo taken of Swift while she was on a boat in the British Virgin Islands wearing a blue dress and sunglasses. This was the same day The Daily Mail reported hers and Harry’s split. This blue dress has similarly been referenced in the ‘Out of the Woods’ music video, drawing the two songs even closer together.
Finally, we have my favourite part of the whole song: the bridge. Let’s split this bridge in half. “Did you think I didn’t see you? There were flashing lights. At least I had the decency to keep my nights out of sight, only rumours about my hips and thighs and my whispered sighs, oh Lord”. In the first part of the bridge, Taylor rejects taking accountability for the toxic behaviour after one’s breakup. She was made aware of her ex’s indiscretions – the “flashing lights” denoting the cameras of a paparazzi – yet suggests that she was more delicate with her ex’s feelings, ensuring that her new partners or outings were kept more private. This desire for privacy has been featured throughout many of Taylor’s songs, such as ‘Call It What You Want’, ‘Delicate’ and her absence from the media after the release of 1989, such as the deletion of her tweets in September 2015.
Her former partner could not relate to this need for privacy and instead unabashedly showed off his moving on process for the majority of the world to see. During this time, Taylor’s weight was a significant focus of the media surrounding her. In her ‘Miss Americana’ documentary, she has discussed her eating disorder. News outlets made cruel comments on her body, describing her as either looking “too skinny” or “pregnant” in various photos. Her eating disorder was prevalent during the recording and release of 1989 therefore this is a key reference to this era. It is refreshing hearing this after watching ‘Miss Americana’, recalling how she has overcome the difficult press and disorder she coped with.
The second half of the bridge is just as interesting: “Oh, Lord, I think about jumping off of very tall somethings just to see you come running and say the one thing I’ve been wanting, but no”. Firstly, the idiom “oh, Lord” mirrors the lyrics in ‘Don’t Blame Me’: “Oh, Lord, save me, my drug is my baby I’ll be using for the rest of my life”. The hint towards this lyric suggests the feeling after the breakup evokes the feeling of addiction, hence the drastic measures she is willing to take to regain his attention. The vagueness of “very tall somethings” allows us to imagine her dark fantasies, as she considers every possible venture in which she can gain his attention.
Once again, there is a vagueness in the lyrics of “say the one thing I’ve been wanting”. Is what she wants to hear that he wants to get back together? That he still loves her? Or that he is sorry? We’ll never know, and I think that is the beauty of it. All in all, that is my deep-dive into my favourite Taylor song.
I hope you love this song just as much as I do, and I would love to hear your thoughts. Follow us on insta @hercampusexeter to see more content like this and get involved! For similar content, check out our other Taylor-based article, Taylor Swift Songs for a Gray November. Thank you so much for reading and if you haven’t heard this beautiful song, I hope I have convinced you to go and take a listen <3