Fans are enchanted by Taylor Swift's original song lyrics.
The pop star shared the first draft of the lyrics she wrote for the 1989 hits "New Romantics" and "Wonderland" by including photos of her handwriting on her new album 1989 (Taylor's Version), out Oct. 27.
In "New Romantics," following the line "The rumors are terrible and cruel / But, honey, most of them are true," Taylor originally wrote the bridge as: "So take my hand / we'll both stand / inside a burning building." (The final version of the bridge is "Please, take my hand and / Please, take me dancing and / Please, leave me stranded.")
From there, Taylor initially seemed to write, "Maybe I'm a s--t show / But I'm fun and kinda cute and willing affectionate," which she crossed out and wrote, "And if I could be your anti-hero / You could be my perfect villain / We'll go around chasing storms / Leave me cold then keep me warm / Fall in love then go to war / That's what new romance is for."
While these lyrics also didn't make it into "New Romantics," she'd later reuse the term "anti-hero" on her 2022 Midnights single.
And Taylor didn't stop there. She also posted the original lyrics to "Wonderland," which drew references from the classic Alice in Wonderland.
The first draft read, "We danced down hallways, too in love to think straight / Screaming you're the king and I'm the queen," but she later turned it into "So, we went on our way / Too in love to think straight / All alone, or so it seemed."
Another swap was replacing "Colors I'd never seen twisting around me" to "I felt your arms twistin' around me." And she changed "Didn't I tell you don't listen to them?" to "Didn't they tell us don't rush into things?"
Lastly, the original lyrics: "I turned around to find you and you were nowhere to be found / There was screaming and lightning / And I haven't been back since I had to leave you there..." appeared to be changed to "I reached for you, but you were gone / I knew I had to go back home / You searched the world for somethin' else."
Taylor also penned a lengthy prologue for 1989 (Taylor's Version), recalling how she "swore off hanging out with guys" to avoid the negativity surrounding her dating life while making the album in 2014.
"There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was," she wrote in part. "It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say, but they always will."
And when it comes to her five never-before-heard vault tracks, read on for the full breakdown of the references and Easter Eggs:
"Slut!"
Much like Taylor Swift's 1989 song "Blank Space," her vault track "Slut!" addresses public commentary on her love life. "But if I'm all dressed up / They might as well be lookin’ at us," she sings. "And if they call me a 'slut!' / You know it might be worth it for once."
When 1989 was originally released in 2014, a number of its songs—including "Style" and "Out of the Woods"—were rumored to be about Taylor's romance with Harry Styles. And in "Slut!" she offers another hint at her famous muse: "Everyone wants him, that was my crime / The wrong place at the right time / And I break down, then he's pullin' me in / In a world of boys, he's a gentleman."
In a voice memo she shared on Oct. 27, Taylor admitted that had to pick between "Blank Space" and "Slut!" on the original album, saying they both "cheekily play on the discussions at that time of my life around my dating life."
However, one reason she went with "Blank Space" was because it felt more New York to her.
"I always saw 1989 as a New York album but this song to me was always California," she said of the vault track. "I love this song because I think it's really dreamy."
"Say Don't Go"
Similar to how Taylor previously described the relationship that inspired "Out of the Woods"—noting the "number one feeling" she felt in the romance was anxiety—the lyrics to "Say Don't Go," co-written by Diane Warren, closely mirror that same scenario.
"I've known it from the very start / We’re a shot in the darkest dark," Taylor sings (she'd later use the "shot in the dark" lyrics in her song "Getaway Car" on 2017's reputation album). "Oh no, oh no, I'm unarmed / The waiting is a sadness / Fading into madness / Oh no, oh no, it won't stop."
"I’m standin' on a tightrope alone / I hold my breath a little bit longer," the lyrics continue. "Halfway out the door, but it won't close / I'm holdin' out hope for you to say, 'Don't go' / I would stay forever if you say, 'Don't go.'"
"Now That We Don't Talk"
In the lyrics to "Now That We Don't Talk," Taylor—who was linked to Harry from 2012 until early 2013—seemingly references the One Direction star's hair, which he grew out in 2014.
"You grew your hair long / You got new icons," Taylor sings on the track. "And from the outside / It looks like you're tryin' lives on / I miss the old ways / You didn't have to change / But I guess I don't have a say / Now that we don't talk."
In a voice memo, Taylor called this one of her "favorite" songs that was "left behind," noting they "couldn't get the production right" originally but she now feels her team aced it.
"Suburban Legends"
In "Suburban Legends," Taylor reflects on a past love that received a lot of attention, likely due to the fact that they were two people in the public eye.
"I didn't come here to make friends / We were born to be suburban legends," Taylor sings on this track. "When you hold me, it holds me together / And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever / I know that you still remember / We were born to be national treasures / When you told me we'd get back together / And you kissed me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever."
Over the years, celebrities have compared Hollywood to high school, places filled with whispers and gossip. Taylor even makes a reference to surprising the "whole school" with this specific relationship.
"I had the fantasy that maybe our mismatched star signs / Would surprise the whole school / When I ended up back at our class reunion / Walkin' in with you."
In addition to her relationship with Harry during this era of songs, Taylor also spent time in 2012 with Conor Kennedy, whose family is legendary.
"Is It Over Now?"
Taylor appears to make direct references to the end of her relationship with Harry in "Is It Over Now?"—which she called a "sister" song to "Out of the Woods" and "I Wish You Would."
"Whеn you lost control / Red blood, white snow," she sings in the second verse, which ties back to an accident Taylor mentioned in "Out of the Woods." (Remember when you hit the brakes too soon? Twenty stitches in the hospital room.)
"Blue dress on a boat," Taylor continues, a nod to a Jan. 2013 photo of her leaving a vacation with Harry after their rumored breakup. "Your new girl is my clone."
The Grammy winner also includes the bold lyric, "You search in every model's bed for somethin' greater, baby," in "Is It Over Now?" as an apparent reference to Harry's relationships that followed their breakup. (He's been linked to models Kendall Jenner, Nadine Leopold and Camille Rowe over the years.)
The lyrics also offer a connection to another beloved 1989 song, "Clean." In "Clean," Taylor details the aftermath of heartbreak and how she won't risk going back to a relationship after calling it quits with that person. "Ten months sober, I must admit," she sings on that track, "just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it."
In "Is It Over Now?," Taylor writes about a similar time period: "Let's fast forward to 300 takeout coffees later," which, if you had one coffee a day, would be nearly 10 months. So, as they say, the math is mathing.
1989 (Taylor's Version) is out now.