Rain or shine, pandemic or riot, you better believe Taylor Swift is gonna release her new songs. The pop star, who seemingly hasn’t taken a break all year, gave us two more tracks from her folklore companion album evermore Wednesday night with the release of the deluxe edition on streaming platforms. The expanded album was previously only available in physical formats, making it the first time songs “right where you left me†and “it’s time to go†are available online. On “right where you left me,†above an old Taylor-reminiscent guitar twang, Swift sings about a relationship that has her dwelling on the past. “Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen? / Time went on for everybody else / She won’t know it / She’s still 23 inside her fantasy / How it was supposed to be,†she sings while we frantically Google who Taylor Swift was dating at 23.
Over on “it’s time to go,†her words will be familiar to women who’ve had to walk out of relationships to save themselves. A few lyrics are so specific, however, fans see it as an aching response to losing her music rights to her former longtime label head Scott Borchetta of Big Machine and music manager Scooter Braun, who bought and sold her catalogue for over $300 million. “Fifteen years, 15 million tears / Begging ’til my knees bled / I gave it my all, he gave me nothing at all / Then wondered why I left / Now he sits on his throne in his palace of bones / Praying to his greed / He’s got my past frozen behind glass / But I’ve got me,†she declares. Taylor Swift spent the second half of 2020 creating two albums and rerecording her first five. These men are lucky they may have gotten away with a line in a bonus track, not a whole concept album fantasizing about their mysterious disappearances. No body, no crime.