loml
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024)
Table of Contents
Background
«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.»
Taylor Swift
Lyrical Theme
Upon rekindling their romance, Matty promised Taylor dreams of marriage, and even children; a lifetime together. However, he abruptly ended the relationship without warning shortly after, effectively ghosting her. Taylor comes to terms with the betrayal, describing herself as a “fool” and him as a “con-man” who sold her “a get-love-quick scheme.” The broken promises leave her heartbroken and depressed, questioning her choices, as she laments, “Dancing phantoms on the terrace/ Are they second-hand embarrassed/ That I can’t get out of bed/ ‘Cause something counterfeit’s dead.”
By the end, Taylor is consumed by profound disappointment, summing up her feelings with devastating clarity: “It was legendary / It was momentary / It was unnecessary / Should’ve let it stay buried.”
Production
Live Performances
Critical Reception
“loml” has appeared on some rankings of Taylor’s entire catalog. Placing the song at No. 21 on his list of 75 best songs by her, Variety‘s Chris Willman said that it contained some of her best lyrics by stacking “one gut punch after another”. Ranking all of her 274 songs up until April 2024, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone placed “loml” at the 33rd place; he said that the song “hits home” because of its ordinary and “unmelodramatic” qualities and that it peaked with a “perfectly simple epitaph”; “It was legendary/ It was momentary.”
Commercial Performance
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Who’s gonna stop us from waltzing
Back into rekindled flames
If we know the steps anyway
We embroidered the memories
Of the time I was away
Stitching “We were just kids, babe”
I said, “I don’t mind. It takes time.”
I thought I was better safe than starry-eyed
I felt aglow like this
Never before and never since
[Chorus 1]
If you know it in one glimpse, it’s legendary
You and I go from one kiss to getting married
Still alivе killing time at the cemеtery
Never quite buried
In your suit and tie, in the nick of time
You lowdown boy, you standup guy
You Holy Ghost, you told me I’m
The love of your life
[Post-Chorus 1]
You said I’m the love of your life
About a million times
[Verse 2]
Who’s gonna tell me the truth
When you blew in with the winds of fate
And told me I reformed you?
When your impressionist paintings of heaven
Turned out to be fakes
Well, you took me to hell, too
And all at once, the ink bleeds
A con man sells a fool a get-love-quick scheme
But I felt a hole like this
Never before, and ever since
[Chorus 2]
If you know it in one glimpse
It’s legendary
What we thought was for all time
Was momentary
Still alive killing time at the cemetery
Never quite buried
You cinephile in black and white
All those plot twists and dynamite
Mr. Steal Your Girl, then make her cry
You said I’m the love of your life
[Bridge]
You shit-talked me under the table
Talking rings and talking cradles
I wish I could un-recall
How we almost had it all
Dancing phantoms on the terrace
Are they second-hand embarrassed
That I can’t get out of bed
Cause something counterfeit’s dead
It was legendary
It was momentary
It was unnecessary
Should’ve let it stay buried
[Final Chorus]
Oh, what a valiant roar
What a bland goodbye
The coward claimed he was a lion
I’m combing through the braids of lies
“I’ll never leave”…
“Never mind”
Our field of dreams, engulfed in fire
Your arson’s match, your somber eyes
And I’ll still see it until I die
You’re the loss of my life.
Artist | Taylor Swift | |||
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Album | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT | |||
Released | April 19, 2024 | |||
Recorded | 2023 | |||
Studios | Long Pond (Hudson Valley) Narwhal Studios (Chicago) Electric Lady (New York City) Prime Recording (Nashville) Sterling Sound (Edgewater) | |||
Genre | Alternative | |||
Length | 4:36 | |||
Label | Republic Records | |||
Songwriters | Taylor Swift Aaron Dessner | |||
Producers | Aaron Dessner Taylor Swift | |||
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT CHRONOLOGY | ||||
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