Guilty as Sin?

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024)

“Guilty as Sin?” is track nine on Taylor’s eleventh studio double album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). She wrote and produced the song with Jack Antonoff. It describes her desperate feelings of wanting to be with someone that is not her partner, and wrestling with the guilt of it.
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Background

Taylor developed her eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, “for about two years” after finishing her previous album Midnights (2022). She reflected on the creation of the album as a “lifeline” for her, as it took place amidst media reports on her personal life and her relationships with Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy, and Travis Kelce:

«TORTURED POETS is an album that I think, more than any of my albums that I’ve ever made, I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me, just the things I was going through, and the things I was writing about. It kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life. And I’ve never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I’d needed it on TORTURED POETS

The album’s tracklist, including “Guilty as Sin?”, was revealed shortly after.

Lyrical Theme

Lyrically, “Guilty As Sin?” is a song about desire where Taylor, while still in a relationship, longs for intimacy with another man. The relationship in question has her feeling trapped and bored. Thus, she questions whether or not she should be feeling guilty about wanting to be with someone else, even though that has never physically happened. Hence the question mark in the song’s title.

Taylor has not said who inspired the song. However, as is the case with most of the songs on the album, there are links between the lyrics and British singer Matty Healy. In the first verse, Taylor makes a reference to the Scottish band The Blue Nile and their single “The Downtown Lights” (1989): “Drowning in the Blue Nile/ He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’/ I hadn’t heard it in a while”. In an interview with Vulture in 2016, Matty called The Blue Nile his “favourite band of all time.”

The track notably incorporates rich Christian religious imagery, a recurring motif throughout THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. Taylor reflects on public perception with the poignant lyrics, “What if I roll the stone away? / They’re gonna crucify me anyway,” showcasing her awareness of how others perceive her.

Production

Taylor produced “Guilty as Sin?” with Jack Antonoff, who programmed the song and played drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and Juno. It is a 1990s-tinged soft rock track combining stylings of rock, country, and folk, accentuated by guitar and live drums.

Live Performances

“Guilty as Sin?” received its first live performance acoustically on piano on May 18, 2024, in Stockholm during one of Taylor’s shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). Before playing the song, she said:

«Thank you for being this kind of a crowd! You know, it just makes me want to play one of my favorite songs from TORTURED POETS that I’ve never played live before.»

On July 4, 2024, she played an acoustic mashup of “Guilty as Sin?” with “Untouchable” (2009) on guitar in Amsterdam. In Miami on October 20, 2024, she performed the song on piano together with “mirrorball” (2020).

Critical Reception

“Guilty as Sin?” received highly positive reviews by music critics. Ken Tucker of NPR appreciated the song for showcasing Taylor’s vulnerable and weak sides compared to contemporary pop culture’s saturation of “kick-butt, tough, perfect, independent women” and found the track to have “a cleverly retrograde image”. Reviewing the album for Vanity Fair, Erin Vanderhoff described the song as “charming and beguiling” and considered it the album’s “emotional apex”. Similarly, Ross Horton off MusicOMH attributed its success to the ambivalent lyrical sentiments and saying that the track “would be a highlight on any of her records”. The production and Taylor’s vocals also received praise. In the Irish Independent, John Meagher complimented the lyrics and Taylor’s singing for featuring “one of the loveliest vocals Swift has ever committed to tape”.

Commercial Performance

When THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT was released, tracks from the album occupied the Top 14 of the US Billboard Hot 100, making Taylor the first artist to monopolize the Top 14; “Guilty as Sin?” opened at its peak of No. 10 on the chart. In Australia, the song also reached No. 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and made her the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29. Elsewhere, “Guilty as Sin?” peaked at No. 8 in Singapore and charted within the Top 20 on the Billboard Global 200 (11), New Zealand (11), the Philippines (12), Canada (13), Malaysia (17), and Ireland (18).

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Drowning in the Blue Nile
He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’
I hadn’t heard it in a while
My boredom’s bone-deep
This cage was once just fine
Am I allowed to cry?
I dream of cracking locks
Throwing my life to the wolves
Or the ocean rocks
Crashing into him tonight
He’s a paradox
I’m seeing visions, am I bad?
Or mad? Or wise?

[Chorus 1]
What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh
Only in my mind?
One slip and falling back into the hedge maze
Oh what a way to die
I keep recalling things we never did
Messy top lip kiss
How I long for our trysts
Without ever touching his skin,
How can I be guilty as sin?

[Verse 2]
I keep these longings lockеd
In lowercase inside a vault
Somеone told me
There’s no such thing as bad thoughts
Only your actions talk
These fatal fantasies
Giving way to labored breath
Taking all of me
We’ve already done it in my head
If it’s make believe
Why does it feel like a vow
We’ll both uphold somehow?

[Chorus 2]
What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh
Only in my mind?
One slip and falling back into the hedge maze
Oh what a way to die
My bed sheets are ablaze
I’ve screamed his name
Building up like waves
Crashing over my grave
Without ever touching his skin
How can I be guilty as sin?

[Bridge]
What if I roll the stone away?
They’re gonna crucify me anyway
What if the way you hold me
Is actually what’s holy?
If long suffering propriety
Is what they want from me
They don’t know how you’ve haunted me
So stunningly
I choose you and me
…Religiously

[Final Chorus]
What if he’s written ‘mine’ on my upper thigh
Only in my mind?
One slip and falling back into the hedge maze
Oh what a way to die
I keep recalling things we never did
Messy top lip kiss
How I long for our trysts
Without ever touching his skin,
How can I be guilty as sin?

[Outro]
He sent me ‘Downtown Lights’
I hadn’t heard it in a while
Am I allowed to cry?

General Information
ArtistTaylor Swift
AlbumTHE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
ReleasedApril 19, 2024
Recorded2022–2023
StudiosConway (Los Angeles)
Electric Lady (New York City)
Prime Recording (Nashville)
Sterling Sound (Edgewater)
GenrePop
Length4:14
LabelRepublic Records
SongwritersTaylor Swift
Jack Antonoff
ProducersJack Antonoff
Taylor Swift
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT CHRONOLOGY
Florida!!!Guilty as Sin?Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
Song Artwork
Live Performance
Lyric Video
Official Audio
Official Live Audio