Sorry, the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now—because she’s back and better than ever! The singer dropped the music video for the song “Cardigan” from her surprise 8th studio album “Folklore,” and fans are already going wild dissecting every possible hidden meaning.
The video opens on a close-up shot of old piano keys before Taylor starts playing the chords. “Vintage tee, brand new phone / High heels on cobblestones / When you are young, they assume you know nothing / Sequined smile, black lipstick / Sensual politics / When you are young, they assume you know nothing,” the 30-year-old croons in the first verse. The music video shows Taylor dressed in a gauzy white dress playing the piano in what looks to be an old cabin.
READ MORE: Taylor Swift Announces Surprise Album That She Wrote Entirely In Quarantine
In the pre-chorus, Taylor opens the lid to the piano and is transported to a magical green forest.
“But I knew you / Dancin’ in your Levi’s / Drunk under a streetlight, I / I knew you / Hand under my sweatshirt / Baby, kiss it better, I,” Taylor sings as she plays a moss-covered piano before singing the chorus.
“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan / Under someone’s bed / You put me on and said I was your favorite.”
But Taylor wasn’t done there—the singer re-enters the piano only to be greeted by stormy seas.
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“But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss / I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs / The smell of smoke would hang around this long / ‘Cause I knew everything when I was young,” Taylor sings as she clutches a piano in the open ocean. Fortunately, Taylor makes it back to the cabin in time to wrap herself in an old cardigan.
“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan / Under someone’s bed / You put me on and said I was your favorite,” the song ends.
Minutes after the music video dropped on YouTube, Taylor released a statement on Twitter explaining her inspiration for the album.
In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result. I’ve told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve. Now it’s up to you to pass them down. folklore is out now: https://t.co/xdcEDfithq
📷: Beth Garrabrant pic.twitter.com/vSDo9Se0fp
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 24, 2020
“In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result. I’ve told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve,” she wrote in part.
The singer further clarified the meaning behind “Cardigan” in a response to a fan’s comment on the video.
📲 YT | Taylor Swift on ‘cardigan’ in the #cardiganMusicVideo premiere chat
“The song is about a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories. Why it leaves such an indelible mark.” pic.twitter.com/c2s72UK717
— Taylor Swift News (@TSwiftNZ) July 24, 2020
“The song is about a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories. Why it leaves such an indelible mark.”
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