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Dear Reader

Bonus Track | Midnights (3am Edition) [2022]

“Dear Reader” is track twenty on Taylor’s tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). It is also the seventh and final bonus track on the 3am Edition of the album. Written and produced by Taylor and Jack Antonoff, the song hesitantly attempts to give the listener (or reader) advice on life.

Background and Release

On August 28, 2022, Taylor announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, set for release on October 21, 2022. On October 16, she posted a short video on her social media that presented a schedule of the days leading up to the album release, entitled “Midnight Manifest”. On it, Taylor also teased a “Special very chaotic surprise” happening 3 hours after the albums release. This materialized into a digital and streaming only version of the album titled Midnights (3am Edition), containing an additional seven songs that according to Taylor were written but removed to keep the album at 13 songs. One of those songs is “Dear Reader.” Taylor said:

«I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour. However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13. I’m calling them 3am tracks. Lately I’ve been loving the feeling of sharing more of our creative process with you, like we do with 'From The Vault' tracks. So it’s 3am and I’m giving them to you now.»

Taylor Swift

Lyrical Theme

In “Dear Reader,” Taylor advises the listener to, among other things, be wary, reinvent themselves, bend when they can but not to bend over for others completely. However, she doesn’t want the reader to listen to her words because, according to herself, she can’t be trusted. She feels like she is in a very isolated, desperate place in life, plagued by self-doubt, mistrust, and pain. It is a thought provoking closing to an album full of dark storylines.

Taylor included “Dear Reader” as the first track in her Apple Music playlist named “Old Habits Die Screaming”, which she introduced by saying:

«We're going to be exploring feelings of depression that often lace their way through my songs. In times like these, I'll write a song because I feel lonely and hopeless, and writing a song feels like the only way to process that intensity of an emotion. And while these things are really, really hard to go through, I often feel like when I'm either listening to songs or writing songs that deal with this intensity of loss and hopelessness...usually that's in the phase where I'm close to getting past that feeling.»

Taylor Swift

Live Performances

Taylor first performed “Dear Reader” during her sixth headlining concert tour, “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). It was the first surprise song during her show on February 7, 2024, in Tokyo and played acoustically on guitar. It was Taylor’s first show after she’d won “Album of the Year” at the Grammys for Midnights. Before playing the song, she said:

«So, I really wanted to just overdo the Thank Yous for everything you’ve done for the Midnights album, and how much you’ve cared about this album to the point where obviously what happened a couple days ago happened. It’s only because of you and how much you supported it. And it wasn’t just Midnights that came out, there was a 3am Edition of that album that came out. And there’s a song on that that I’ve never played live before. It’s called 'Dear Reader.'»

Taylor Swift

She slightly changed the lyrics in the bridge, singing, “These restless tears of a cursed man” instead of, “These desperate prayers of a cursed man.” On July 24, 2024, Taylor played a mashup of “Dear Reader” with “Nothing New” (2021) in Hamburg.

Commercial Performance

In the United States, songs from Midnights occupied the entire Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; a historic feat. “Dear Reader” debuted at No. 45 on the chart. Taylor became the first artist to simultaneously occupy the Top 10 spots of the Hot 100; the female artist with the most Top 10 songs (40); and the first act to occupy the entire Top 10 of the Hot 100, Streaming Songs, and Digital Songs charts simultaneously. Midnights also became the first album in history to contain ten Top 10 songs.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Dear reader
If it feels like a trap
You’re already in one
Dear reader
Get out your map
Pick somewhere and just run
Dear reader
Burn all the files, desert all your past lives
And if you don’t recognize yourself
That means you did it right

[Chorus]
Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart
Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart

[Verse 2]
Dear reader
Bend when you can
Snap when you have to
Dear reader
You don’t have to answer
Just ’cause they asked you (You should find another)
Dear reader
The greatest of luxuries is your secrets
Dear reader
When you aim at the devil
Make sure you don’t miss

[Chorus]
Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart
Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart

[Bridge]
So I wander through these nights
I prefer hiding in plain sight
My fourth drink in my hand
These desperate prayers are the cursed man
Spilling out to you for free
But darling, darling, please
You wouldn’t take my word for it
If you knew who was talking
If you knew where I was walking
To a house, not a home, all alone, ’cause nobody’s there
Where I pace in my pen and my friends found friends who care
No one sees when you lose when you’re playing solitaire

[Outro]
You should find another guiding light
Guiding light, but I shine so bright
You should find another guiding light
Guiding light, but I shine so bright
You should find another
You should find another (Guiding light)
Find another
You should find another