Taylor Swift’s “Lavender Haze” Lyrics Meaning
“Lavender Haze” is one song in which Taylor Swift has given a very clear explanation as to its meaning. The title is some mid-20th century slang that she picked up via Mad Men, a very popular 21st century television series, though one which is set in that era.
What the term means, according to Taylor’s understanding, is a person being caught up in “that all-encompassing love glow” – or, as we may say in this blog, being thoroughly smitten.
But more to the point as far as being in love is concerned, the song itself speaks to Swift’s relationship with Joe Alwyn, the guy she is known to have been dating for over five years now. Alwyn is a professional actor. But, all things considered, it can be said that most of the current popularity he enjoys is attributable to being romantically involved with Taylor. In other words, he isn’t nearly as famous as she is.
Also, there isn’t any clear indication as to when or if they will ever marry. But since the songstress is about as successful as a musician can be, their relationship is still under constant surveillance and scrutiny.
Yet it has survived, as in her above explanation, Swift has revealed that she and Alwyn have a tendency to ‘ignore that stuff and protect the real stuff’.
The Pressure
In the second verse, Taylor does imply that at times, she does feel as if she’s being pressured into marrying Joe. Or as she puts forth, the tabloid media is such they only expect two types of relationships from celebrities, either one-night stands or marriage. But their relationship doesn’t fall into either of those categories.
The Thesis Sentiment of “Lavender Haze”
As far as the thesis sentiment goes, this is indeed a love song. It is a love-themed song which finds the vocalist celebrating the fact that the addressee is able to put her under the aforementioned “lavender haze”.
And what it is the former admires about the latter the most, as expressed in this song, is his internal fortitude to resist getting caught in all of the bullsh*t. So it reads like at times, the things the media says about their romance does get into Taylor’s head. But then she is able to go to Joe – who is not as affected by such – and find relief in addition to true love.
So perhaps we too can conclude by saying that Alwyn is the perfect partner for a hardcore career woman, if you will, like Swift. And why? This is because not only is it implied that he’s the relaxed type, but also he hasn’t let the associated celebrity intimidate him nor corrupt their romance.
And contrast that disposition with that of Jake Gyllenhaal for instance, who reportedly dumped Taylor because he couldn’t handle all of the attention that came along with doing so.
Facts about “Lavender Haze”
“Lavender Haze” serves as the opening track on “Midnights”, i.e. Taylor Swift’s album which Republic Records put out on 21 October 2022.
Artists who are credited with both writing and producing this song are as follows:
- Taylor Swift
- Sounwave
- Jack Antonoff
- Jahaan Sweet
Braxton Cook acted as an additional producer, and the other co-writers are Sam Dew and Zoe Kravitz, the latter of course being a well-known Hollywood actress, who also happens to be a personal friend of Swift.
“Lavender Haze” was not issued as a single as of the release date of “Midnights”. However, upon the issuance of “Midnights”, it did set a Spotify record for garnering the second-most views of any song in its first day on said platform.
And the track that concurrently held the record for most single-day streams on Spotify upon release was “Anti-Hero“, another song from the same album.
Taylor Swift first revealed the name of this track on 7 October 2022.
Note:
“Lavender Haze” has received many positive reviews from fans worldwide. The track has been deemed as healing, along with the rest of the album, to those that have suffered depression. Others have expressed that this is one of TayTay’s best songs of her career as the execution is simply perfection.
It has even converted non-Swifties to fall in love with the album on the whole, suggesting it to be the album of the year.
