New Year's Day
Single (US Country Radio) | reputation (2017)
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
«Two New Year’s Eve’s ago, I found myself in the midst of a very incredible 3 a.m. moment where you feel like you’re invincible and you end up like jumping in a pool in the winter. And you feel super untouchable in that moment. And then the next morning you feel very fragile. And you’re like, 'This is love! This is what love really is.' We all wanna find someone to kiss at midnight, that’s cool or whatever, but who’s gonna want to hang out with you the next day when you’re like ‘ADVIL OR NOTHING.’ So this is a song about real love and finding someone to hang out with on New Year’s Day.»
According to Taylor, there are two lines in this song that she had been saving for a long time, for the right moment. The first one is, “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.” And the other one is, “Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you.”
Hits Daily Double wrote that “New Year’s Day” was originally only going to appear on the deluxe edition of reputation, but after that was scrapped, it was added to the standard edition.
Composition
«It was the quickest [song to record]. If you listen to the piano on that record, you can hear me moving around. You hear things clicking. Those are the ‘scratch takes’ — we did that very quickly. It came out in that sort of goofy Hollywood version of how music is written, where it comes out of moments of inspiration. Part of the process is you do that [scratch take], and then you do it for real. But we just sat there: That’s the song. You want a song to sound like itself. You don’t want to get the perfect tune. You don’t want to get the absolute perfect vocal take or the perfect panning or compression. You just want it to sound like itself. You want to feel like you’re home within the song. […] I don’t know what we would be thinking if we tried to fuck with it. I’m so proud of it because, personally, I think it’s some sort of hint at the future.»
Release
Prior to the album’s release, Taylor premiered a recorded live performance of the song on the ABC series “Scandal,” broadcast on November 9, 2017. The performance had taken place at her Holiday House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island in October 2017, as part of the fan-exclusive “reputation Secret Sessions.” On November 13, 2017, Taylor performed “New Year’s Day” during an episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in tribute to host Jimmy Fallon’s recently passed mother.
Big Machine Records promoted “New Year’s Day” to US country radio on November 15, 2017, as a promotional single. The label then officially released the song to US country radio stations on November 27, 2017, after positive feedback from several country radio stations regarding Taylor’s performance on the “Tonight Show.” Reaction to the song’s country airplay was mixed, given Taylor’s announcement that she had abandoned her country roots to embrace mainstream pop in 2014. Radio stations including Chicago’s WUSN and Houston’s KKBQ, who lobbied to get the song played at their station, were receptive of “New Year’s Day”. Other country stations were more reserved; a representative of Massachusetts’s WBWL commented: “Essentially, I believe that [Swift] has moved on from the country genre…As she has moved on, our core country listeners have moved on from [Swift], so I’ll lay off of it for now…and it’s not fair to add a pop song when great artists are waiting their turn.”
Live Performances
Critical Reception
Commercial Performance
Interpolation
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
There’s glitter on the floor after the party
Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby
Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor
You and me from the night before, but
[Chorus]
Don’t read the last page
But I stay when you’re lost, and I’m scared
And you’re turning away
I want your midnights
But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day
[Verse 2]
You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi
I can tell that it’s gonna be a long road
I’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town, babe
Or if you strike out and you’re crawling home
[Chorus]
Don’t read the last page
But I stay when it’s hard, or it’s wrong
Or we’re making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day
[Post-Chorus]
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
And I will hold on to you
[Bridge]
Please don’t ever become a stranger
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Please don’t ever become a stranger
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
[Verse 3]
There’s glitter on the floor after the party
Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby
Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor
You and me forevermore
[Chorus]
Don’t read the last page
But I stay when it’s hard, or it’s wrong
Or we’re making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day
[Post-Chorus]
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you
And I will hold on to you
[Outro]
Please don’t ever become a stranger (To the memories, they will hold on to you)
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere (Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you)
Please don’t ever become a stranger (Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you)
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere (I will hold on to you)
Album | reputation | ||
---|---|---|---|
Released | November 9, 2017 | ||
Recorded | 2017 | ||
Studio | Rough Customer (Brooklyn) | ||
Genre | Singer-Songwriter | ||
Length | 3:55 | ||
Label | Big Machine Records | ||
Songwriters | Taylor Swift Jack Antonoff | ||
Producers | Jack Antonoff Taylor Swift | ||
REPUTATION CHRONOLOGY | |||
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