Closure

By Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

Best Listened To: On an intoxicated late night, harboring your grudges.

The echoes of a breakdown reverberate in my memory. Somewhere in the past, I’m bashing and breaking. But please, don’t worry about it. 

I was fine before you so rudely interrupted me getting over you. 

And here you are again. With your fistful of flesh. Why are you telling yourself this is mercy? It hurt. It still hurts.

You say you coddled me. You tried to rescue me. But that would have required you to put in some goddamn effort. What you’re doing is trying to rewrite history. I’m sure it would make you feel better. And her. But this last-ditch attempt to look like the good guy isn’t working. I remember everything. I remember the nothing. And I have the pen. I’m the judge, you’re the defendant. 

This song hit my ear extremely weird when I first heard it, and that’s what keeps me coming back. The weird British accent in the chorus. The lyrics coming in fits and starts. The 5/4 time emulates stumbling, like the speaker keeps failing to complete something. She doesn’t have closure, and she doesn’t want it. She’s not ready. The repetition in the chorus reads like the other person is treating her like a child, and she’s falling back into a familiarly toxic dynamic:

Yes, I’ll be home by 10. Yes, I’ll be fine. Why do I have to keep explaining? Just let me be!

When we’re young, we hurt each other so frequently without realizing it. These memories last to the victim but not always the perpetrator. You have no idea what version of you is cast in amber. 

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P.S. Taylor pleeeease be in a band with Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon!