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Maroon

Midnights (2022)

“Maroon” is track two on Taylor’s tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). Written and produced by her and Jack Antonoff, it was released on October 21, 2022, through Republic Records. In the past, Taylor has often used different colors to express her emotions. Red specifically has been one of her trademarks, from her red lips to the album RED (2012) and its re-recording.

Background and Release

On August 28, 2022, Taylor announced her tenth studio album, Midnights, set for release on October 21, 2022. One month later, she began unveiling the track-list in a randomized order through a video series on TikTok, called Midnights Mayhem With Me. It consisted of 13 episodes, with one song revealed in per episode. In the fifth edition on September 30, 2022, Taylor announced the title of the second track as “Maroon.”

Lyrical Theme

With the Midnights album, Taylor is taking a deep dive into the thoughts that keep her awake in the middle of the night. In “Maroon”, she reminisces about a past relationship and remembers the first days and nights she spent with this person:

«Midnights is about all of these nights throughout my life, like things that kept me up, memories you keep going back to. So this one was a memory, just something I wrote about from a long time ago, but it took place in New York.»

Taylor Swift

All in all, “Maroon” captures what happened when the intense, passionate, burning red of a relationship’s beginning slowly burned out and turned into maroon. Now, the only thing that’s left of this relationship is the memories. They might not hurt Taylor as much as they used to, but much like wine stains, they are hard to get rid of and have turned maroon – a faint memory of what once was.

Live Performances

Taylor first performed “Maroon” during her sixth headlining concert tour, “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). It was the second surprise song during her show on May 26, 2023, in East Rutherford. She sang the song again on August 3, 2023, in Los Angeles, on August 27, 2023, in Mexico City, and on May 11, 2024, in Paris. On February 26, 2024, Taylor performed the song on piano as a mashup with “Forever & Always” (2008) during her “Eras Tour” show in Sydney, and on June 13, 2024, in Liverpool, together with “Cornelia Street” (2019). In London on June 21, 2024, she mashed it up with “The Black Dog” (2024) and “Come Back…Be Here” (2012). On August 2, 2024, she paired it with “Red” (2012) in Warsaw. In Indianapolis on November 2, 2024, she played it with “cowboy like me” (2020) on piano. During the tour’s final weekend on December 7, 2024, Taylor performed a mashup of “Maroon” with “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024).

Commercial Performance

In the United States, songs from Midnights occupied the entire Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; a historic feat. “Maroon” debuted at No. 3 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]
When the morning came we
Were cleaning incense off your vinyl shelf ’cause we lost track of time again
Laughing with my feet in your lap
Like you were my closest friend
“How’d we end up on the floor anyway?”
You say
“Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw top rosé,
That’s how.”
I see you every day now

[Chorus]
And I chose you
The one I was dancing with in New York
No shoes
Looked up at the sky and it was
The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine into me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet it was
The mark you saw on my collarbonе, the rust that grew between tеlephones
The lips I used to call home
So scarlet, it was maroon

[Verse 2]
When the silence came
We were shaking blind and hazy
How the hell did we lose sight of us again?
Sobbing with your head in your hands
Ain’t that the way shit always ends?
You were standing hollow-eyed in the hallway
Carnations you had thought were roses
That’s us
I feel you no matter what
The rubies that I gave up

[Chorus]
And I chose you
The one I was dancing with in New York
No shoes
Looked up at the sky and it was (Maroon)
The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine into me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet it was (Maroon)
The mark you saw on my collarbonе, the rust that grew between tеlephones
The lips I used to call home
So scarlet, it was maroon

[Bridge]
And I wake with your memory over me
That’s a real fuckin’ legacy, legacy (It was maroon)
And I wake with your memory over me
That’s a real fuckin’ legacy,…to leave

[Chorus Variation]
The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine into me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (Maroon)
The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones
The lips I used to call home
So scarlet, it was maroon

[Outro]
It was maroon
It was maroon