“Question…?” by Taylor Swift

Analyses of Taylor Swift songs can be painfully detailed at times, with Swifties combing over every lyric in an attempt to find as many possible connections to the songstress’s known personal and public life. 

This is most often done in the name of trying to determine which of Taylor’s lovers her respective tracks could be about. And sometimes, such efforts come back conclusive.

But in other instances, maybe certain commonalities interconnect, and no one can definitively tell who, if anyone in real life, the song may be about. 

Such seems to be the case with this piece (“Question…?”), as those who have studied this song have concluded that it may most likely be about Swift’s past fling with Harry Styles, though Karlie Kloss’ name has been reasonably thrown in the mix also. 

It also wouldn’t be out of the way to speculate that Taylor introduced this confusion intentionally.

Karlie Kloss

Considering that this is a song of lost romantic love, it may seem strange to hear Karlie Kloss mentioned as a potential subject, since she and Taylor are both females. Furthermore, based on their dating histories, neither are particularly known as being lesbians. 

But interestingly, there is an enduring rumor circulating that the two besties may have been, at one point, lovers. This is something that Taylor Swift has denied. But still, the internet being what it is, said rumor is now enshrined in the annals of time. 

And with that in mind, the chorus especially implies that the featured relationship(s) was indeed a fleeting one. It was one in which the participants could have taken it to the next level but ultimately decided not to.

Now it should be pointed out that as far as the first verse is concerned, the two lovers are respectively female and male, as one is referred to as “good girl” and the other “sad boy”. Taking for granted that Taylor is the “good girl”, she goes on to imply that she very much enjoyed her relationship with this other individual. 

However, “situations, circumstances [and] miscommunication” led to the deterioration of their union. But as illustrated in the chorus that follows, the titular “question” Tay Tay is putting forth basically revolves around whether or not he has missed her, as much as presumably vice versa.

Which Relationship are we dealing with?

In the second verse, there are no gender pronouns used in terms of revealing the participants in the romance that is harped upon. 

Logic would probably dictate that we are dealing with the same relationship as in the first verse. This is because it is revealed that the other party besides Taylor got jealous when their other romance interest, who is identified as a female, hooked up “with some d–khead guy”. This thus implies that the said party is a male.

But what is also mentioned in terms of gender in the second verse is Taylor and this other person “f–kin’ politics and gender roles” upon getting thoroughly inebriated and then ‘getting swept away in the grey’. 

That would imply that the two of them proceeded to do something against said norms. What it appears they may have done relatedly is an act that would be deemed romantically scandalous, like a one-night stand.

But it can be further argued that, all things considered, maybe a one-night stand wouldn’t be controversial enough to warrant such a shoutout. Moreover, if it were say Harry and Taylor getting drunk and making out or what have you, that would then beg the question of how exactly they ‘f–ked gender roles’ in the process.

So it is understandable how maybe in the case of the second verse a listener will think that Swift is referring to Kloss, even if the subsequent chorus is the same as the first. For instance, in the verse, the vocalist refers to the featured relationship(s) as one in which the participants ‘kissed in a crowded room’. 

Note

Well Taylor is on record as having done so with Harry during a New Year’s Eve event in 2013. But then, around the same time the following year, she was also caught smooching on Karlie Kloss. And further in tune with the narrative of the second verse, it is also known that at the time, she and Karlie were drinking.

Final Thoughts

So yes, it can’t be ruled out that this song, in part though not in its entirety, may be based on something unexpected that ended up happening between two female besties in which “politics and gender roles” were somehow traversed. 

But again, the more reasonable assumption would be that this track is speaking to the same relationship throughout. And whereas all parties involved did apparently enjoy this romance(s) while it was active, alas, it did not last. 

So now in the aftermath, in terms of what’s being put forth in the chorus/title, Taylor is basically imagining that the other party has regrets in terms of it failing. This therefore implies that she too feels that way.

Credits for “Question…?”

This is a song that Taylor Swift wrote with Jack Antonoff, with the two of them also producing the track. 

Release of “Question…?”

This is featured on the Taylor’s 10^th studio album, a project titled “Midnights”, which Republic Records officially made commercially available on 21 October 2022.