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Getaway Car

Single (Australia & New Zealand) | reputation (2017)

“Getaway Car” is track nine on Taylor’s sixth studio album, reputation (2017). She uses a Bonnie and Clyde-esqe image of two criminals attempting to flee the cops in a getaway car to illustrate a doomed relationship.

Background

Taylor released her fifth studio album, 1989, in October 2014. Its synth-pop production transformed her sound and image from country-oriented to mainstream pop. The album was a massive commercial success, selling over five million copies in the U.S. within one year, and spawning three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles. The BBC asserted that the success of 1989 solidified Taylor’s status as a global pop star.

In 2016, when Taylor was at the peak of overexposure, some of her rivals in the industry (including Scooter Braun, Kanye West and Justin Bieber) succeded in launching a worldwide hate campaign against her. As a result, Taylor disappeared from public view for an entire year and thought about quitting music for good. She became increasingly reticent on social media, having previously maintained an active presence with a large following, and avoided interactions with the press. She conceived her sixth studio album, reputation, as an answer to the media commotion surrounding her celebrity.

Lyrical Theme

There’s a lot of imagery that’s consistent throughout reputation, and one of these components is the idea of thieves and heists. “Getaway Car” is a prime example for this theme. The song talks about a relationship that didn’t work and seems to be referencing Taylor’s 2016 summer romance with actor Tom Hiddleston, which occurred after her split with Calvin Harris. The couple received a ton of attention from the press, watching their every move.

Taylor and her co-writer and producer Jack Antonoff came up with the idea for the Bonny and Clyde metaphor really quickly. In the “Making of” episode for the song there is a moment where they write the bridge for “Getaway Car” in roughly 30 seconds. Jack told Rolling Stone in 2021:

«It's the only time in my life that a lightning-in-a-bottle moment, a pure moment of crazy writing, was caught on film. It's rare that you just, like, blurt out a whole song. But there's pieces, like that bridge, where we're just going back and forth and yelling things. It's sort of like, 'Whoa! Oh, my God, what happened? It can happen like that?' That's when it feels like a movie.»

Jack Antonoff

Live Performances

“Getaway Car” was included on the regular set list of Taylor’s “reputation Stadium Tour” (2018), as part of the inofficial encore. Five years later, Taylor acoustically performed the song on guitar on May 26, 2023, in East Rutherford, during one of her shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). Jack Antonoff was the surprise guest and accompanied her on a second guitar. She performed “Getaway Car” again on February 17, 2024, during her second “Eras Tour” show in Melbourne. It was part of the tour’s first triple-mashup, together with “august” (2020) and “The Other Side Of The Door” (2009). Before playing the songs, she said:

«When I’m picking these songs, I try to match the moment. Like, you have done something so extraordinary by deciding that 96,000 of you wanted to come and hang out and dance and sing, so I was just like, ‘I’ve got to pick one that they really want to hear.’ And I think I might have achieved it, you have to let me know.»

Taylor Swift

On June 8, 2024, she sang the song again, this time in Edinburgh, mashing it up with “The Bolter” (2024). On July 14, 2024, she sang the song together with “Out of the Woods” (2014) in Milan. On August 20, 2024, Taylor paired “Getaway Car” with “Death By A Thousand Cuts” (2019) in London. Jack Antonoff once again joined her for the performance.

Critical Reception

“Getaway Car” received critical acclaim. Zack Schonfeld of Newsweek called the song an “excellent, radiant song” and wrote that the hook is “massive, in both catchiness and energy”. In a review of reputation, Louis Bruton from The Irish Times praised “Getaway Car” for showcasing “clever and insightful songwriting, finding tenderness and beauty in tiny details”. Eleanor Graham from The Line of Best Fit, Sarah Murphy from Exclaim! and John Murphy from musicOMH similarly lauded the track as one of reputation‘s strongest moments, highliting the song’s intriguing lyrics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic lauded the song as a high mark on the “monochromatic production” of the album for combining “vulnerability, melody, and confidence, but they are deeply felt and complex”, which signified Taylor’s maturity as a singer-songwriter. Retrospectively, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone compared her songwriting on “Getaway Car” to Paul McCartney because of “the way she goes overboard with her latest enthusiasm and starts Tay-splaining it as her personal discovery”, and lauded the cinematic quality of the lyrics.

Commercial Performance

“Getaway Car” quickly became a fan favorite song, many of them hoping for it to become a single from the album. And it did! On September 7, 2018, Universal Music Australia announced that “Getaway Car” would serve as a single exclusively in Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly enough, the day marked the two-year anniversary of People Magazine announcing the Hiddleswift split. The song was released to Australian and New Zealand contemporary hit radio stations by Universal and Big Machine Records. The release was a means of support for the then-upcoming Australian shows of Taylor’s “reputation Stadium Tour.”

“Getaway Car” peaked at No. 26 on the Australian Digital Tracks, and No. 6 on the TMN Hot 100. The song was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for exeeding 70,000 units. In New Zealand, it peaked at No. 9 on the New Zealand Hot Singles, a chart compiled by Recorded Music NZ.

Lyrics

[Intro]
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car…

[Verse 1]
It was the best of times
The worst of crimes
I struck a match
And blew your mind
But I didn’t mean it
And you didn’t see it
The ties were black
The lies were white
In shades of gray
And candlelight
I wanted to leave him
I needed a reason

[Pre-Chorus 1]
X marks the spot
Where we fell apart
He poisoned the well
I was lying to myself
I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed
We never had a shotgun shot in the dark

[Chorus]
You were driving the getaway car
We were flying
But we’d never get far
Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery
Think about the place where you first met me
Riding in a getaway car
There were sirens
In the beat of your heart
Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave
Think about the place where you first met me
In a getaway car (Oh-oh-oh)
No, they never get far (Oh-oh-oh)
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car

[Verse 2]
It was the great escape
The prison break
The light of freedom on my face
But you weren’t thinking
And I was just drinking
While he was running after us
I was screaming, “Go go go!”
But with three of us, honey
It’s a sideshow
And a circus ain’t a love story
And now we’re both sorry (We’re both sorry)

[Pre-Chorus 2]
X marks the spot
Where we fell apart
He poisoned the well
Eevery man for himself
I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed
It hit you like a shotgun shot to the heart

[Chorus]
You were driving the getaway car
We were flying
But we’d never get far
Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery
Think about the place where you first met me
Riding in a getaway car
There were sirens
In the beat of your heart
Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave
Think about the place where you first met me
In a getaway car (Oh-oh-oh)
No, they never get far (Oh-oh-ah)
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car

[Bridge]
We were jet set Bonnie and Clyde (Oh-oh)
Until I switched to the other side (To the other side)
It’s no surprise, I turned you in (Oh-oh)
‘Cause us traitors never win
I’m in a getaway car
I left you in the motel bar
Put the money in a bag
And I stole the keys
That was the last time you ever saw me

[Final Chorus]
Driving the getaway car
We were flying
But we’d never get far (Don’t pretend)
Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery
Think about the place where you first met me
Riding in a getaway car
There were sirens
In the beat of your heart (Should’ve known)
Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave
Think about the place where you first met me
In a getaway car (Oh-oh-oh)
No, they never get far (Oh-oh-ah)
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car

[Outro]
I was riding in a getaway car
I was crying in a getaway car
I was dying in a getaway car
Said “goodbye” in a getaway car
Riding in a getaway car
I was crying in a getaway car
I was dying in a getaway car
Said “goodbye” in a getaway car