Taylor Swift Song Review
In this article, Amber talks about their favorite song from Taylor Swift's Midnights, giving a slightly in depth review of the lyrics, as well as the meaning behind them.
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"Would've, Could've, Should've" Review
"Would've, Could've, Should've" Review
By Amber Medina-Montoya
By Amber Medina-Montoya
It is officially February, which means that the start of the new semester is finally here! To many of us, this means that we finally get to take a breath of fresh air since finals are over, and all of our grades are now reset to a fresh start. This also means that Valentine’s Day is rolling around, and we have a couple of articles about that in this issue, so go take a look at those, as well! To kick off this new semester, I am going to be doing a review on Taylor Swift’s “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” from her album Midnights (and to nobody’s surprise, I am writing about her again.) Let’s dive into it!
“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” is my number-one favorite song from Midnights, hands down. This song is a reminder of Swift’s relationship with John Mayer, which is notably one of her worst relationships. Although she already has a song dedicated to their rocky relationship titled “Dear John," this song is another reflection of this past relationship, and the lyrics hurt even more than the aforementioned song. Getting into the song, these lyrics were all pulled from Genius Lyrics. The first verse starts by listing ways that she could have avoided the relationship in the first place, with the opening line: “If you would’ve blinked then I would’ve looked away at the first glance”, showing that, if she had never had the chance to talk to him in the first place, then she would not have been so pulled to him. She goes on to talk about how he had the chance to let go of her if he truly did not like her. The verse ends with Swift saying, “And if I was a child, did it matter if you got to wash your hands?” This line highlights one of the worst aspects of their relationship. Mayer was 32, while Swift was only 19 and, despite how the relationship was handled publicly, this line explains that he was able to just get away with it, while Swift would be left to process everything by herself. Going into the chorus, Swift explains that she never would have “danced with the Devil at nineteen” and that, during the start of the relationship, she was genuinely enjoying herself, and that “the pain was heaven”.
She then goes on to say that, even though she has grown up now, she is still haunted by memories of their relationship, and she wishes that she had just been left to wonder about the possibility of having a relationship with him instead of actually living it. The second chorus is very similar to the first in the sense that Swift is listing ways that she could have avoided the situation. What’s different in this verse, though, is the fact that she brings up the media for a line. She says, “If I never blushed, then they could’ve never whispered about this”. This shows that, if she never fell for him in the first place, then the media wouldn’t have had a reason to talk about them and their failed relationship so much.
The second verse is the same as the first, which brings us to the bridge, which is hands down my favorite part of the entire song. The chorus opens with the lyrics: “God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be/ The tomb won’t close/ Stained glass windows in my mind/ I regret you all the time”. These words show that she misses the person she was before being put through everything he did to her and that, even after years and years, she still struggles to fully get past it. She then asks: “If clarity’s in death, then why won’t this die?” meaning that, even though their relationship has died and has been over for years, she is still left with the remains and wonders why that pain has not died with the relationship. The bridge ends with the line: “Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts/ give me back my girlhood it was mine first”, which explains that she wishes she could hurt him back in the way that she did. She also begs for the chance to relive her last teenage years again because she was so young when all of this happened. The song ends with a repeat of the chorus and the bridge being repeated, as well.
I would recommend listening to this album in its entirety, as it covers a lot of topics of Swift’s life, and also has some of her best lyricism to date, as well. If you want to dive deeper into other reviews of this song and Midnights as a whole, you can visit Insider.com. Next month, I will definitely have more content to read and, hopefully, I’ll have more time to work on photography for The Scroll, as well, so keep an eye out for that! I hope you all have a great February, and I’ll see you all in the next issue!
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