Where is Taylor Swift’s new song ‘Florida!!!’ really taking us?

From the primary line in her new track “Florida!!!,” you’ll be able to already inform that Taylor Swift has heard our state’s unofficial motto: A sunny place for shady individuals.

“You may beat the warmth in case you beat the fees too,” she sings. “They mentioned I used to be a cheat, I suppose it have to be true.”

In “Florida!!!,” Swift paints a portrait of an alluring state constructed on contradictions, incorporating each the gorgeous and the brutal. She leans into the weirdness of our crime and lore. Lots of people have one thing to say about Florida’s fame. If anybody will get that, it’s Swift.

The theories concerning the track started in February, as quickly because the singer launched the monitor listing for her eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Division.” Will she sing about her three-night run in Tampa, her solely Florida tour dates on the primary leg of the Eras Tour? These have been the primary live shows following the tabloids choosing up on her breakup with Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years. Gossip accounts speculated that he cheated on her in Orlando.

Would she point out her father, who has a spot in Pinellas County? Or would possibly she go even additional again — to the time she performed as a teen on the previous St. Pete Pier and on the Florida Strawberry Pageant?

Swift foreshadowed her journey down south within the first monitor on the album, “Fortnight,” singing with Put up Malone: “Transfer to Florida, purchase the automotive you need.” Once we truly get to “Florida!!!,” the eighth track, it’s clear Swift wants a break. “Florida!!!” is a blinding respite. By then, the pop star has already contemplated the lack of Alwyn in “So Lengthy, London.”

Bucking expectations, extra of the album appears to be about Swift’s fling final summer time with Matty Healy, singer of the English indie rock band The 1975. She heads, as individuals usually do after they’re working away from one thing, to the Sunshine State.

Little do you know your private home’s actually solely a city you’re only a visitor in

So you’re employed your life away simply to pay for a timeshare down in Destin

Panhandle illustration! Then the refrain smashes in, vivid and disorienting as stumbling exterior into the afternoon solar.

Florida, is one hell of a drug / Florida, can I take advantage of you?

I have to neglect, so take me to Florida / I’ve acquired some regrets, I’ll bury them in Florida

Florence Welch, of Florence + the Machine, delivers the haunting second verse. Her voice is deep and chilling because the scene unfolds.

The hurricane was my title when it got here

I acquired drunk and I dared it to scrub me away

Barricaded within the rest room with a bottle of wine

There was truly a hurricane named Florence that fashioned on Aug. 31, 2018 — the primary main hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic storm season. It killed 2 individuals in Florida earlier than devastating the Carolinas, the place 49 others perished. The World Meteorological Group has since retired the title.

For those who’re questioning, Taylor has by no means appeared on the storm listing for the Atlantic basin, and gained’t anytime quickly: The names for the subsequent six years are Tony, Tanya, Teddy, Teresa, Tobias and Tammy. These will rotate until a storm is catastrophic sufficient for a reputation to be retired.

Welch continues, leaning into the stereotypical picture of the state as a hotbed of crime with poetic aptitude:

All my women acquired their lace and their crimes and your dishonest husband disappeared / Nicely, nobody asks any questions right here.

So I did my greatest, to put to relaxation / All the our bodies which have ever been on my physique and in my thoughts

They sink into the swamp / Is {that a} dangerous factor to say in a track?

In a world of over-the-top Florida Man headlines, the track is one other caricature, albeit a enjoyable one. Swift and Welch promote this scandalous escape with a wink. Like sand sticking to you after the seashore, this one will linger for some time.

What a crash, what a rush

F–k me up, Florida