Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” has been released overnight, and in typical Swift fashion, she dropped at a surprise additional 15 songs — confirming what her fans called the “two theory” with the release of a double album.
Among those 15 additional songs on the second part of “Tortured Poets” is a track called “Robin,” a piano ballad in which Swift draws imagery of animals and alludes to adolescence.
Revisit our live coverage of the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
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This is a song that could be interpreted in a few ways: It may seem Swift is taking a mental snapshot of a child, wishing that child can hold on to the freeness of their youth before its tainted by strains of adulthood — “You have a favorite spot on the swing set/ You have no room in your dreams for regret/ You have no idea/ The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean.” Swift has written a few songs with themes like this, such as “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “Never Grow Up” and “The Best Day.”
But this could also be a song about an adult person overtaken by childish tendencies and refusing to grow up. Think about lyrics like this: “You’re a just ruler/ Covered in mud, you look ridiculous/ And you have no idea.”
Read the full lyrics here:
Long may you reign
You're an animal
You are bloodthirsty
Out windows panes talking utter nonsense
You have no idea
Strings tied to levers
Slowed-down clocks tethers
All this showmanship
To keep it for you
In sweetness
Way to go, tiger
Higher and higher
Wilder and lighter
For you
Long may you roar
At your dinosaurs
You're a just ruler
Covered in mud, you look ridiculous
And you have no idea
Buried down deep and out of your reach
The secret we all vowed
To keep it from you
In sweetness
Way to go, tiger
Higher and higher
Wilder and lighter
For you
You get the dragonflies above your bed
You have a favorite spot on the swing set
You have no room in your dreams for regret
You have no idea
The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean
You'll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline
But now we'll curtail your curiosity
In sweetness
Way to go, tiger
Way to go, tiger
Higher and higher
Higher and higher
Wilder and lighter
For you
