London bridge was falling down, and Taylor Swift felt every minute. The Tortured Poets Department is here and, much like fans anticipated, part of the new album is dedicated to Taylor’s split from Joe Alwyn in spring 2023. In fact, the 34-year-old has penned a heartbreaking tribute to the end of their six years together in “So Long, London,” a poignant part two to Taylor’s 2019 Lover track “London Boy.”
In addition to the songs’ titles, Taylor has drawn a clear parallel between the two tracks by placing each as the fifth song on their respective albums. But whereas “London Boy” tells the uplifting story of a burgeoning romance—and where Midnights’ “You’re Losing Me” covers the beginning of the end—”So Long, London” brings the journey home by chronicling the relationship’s painful demise.
In the moving track, not only does Taylor say goodbye to England’s capital—Joe’s hometown and where the two spent much time during their six years together—but she also describes trying to keep the relationship together even as she could see it coming apart.
“I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist / I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift,” she sings in the first chorus, alluding to still seeing hope in their relationship despite the growing distance. “Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away / My spine split from carrying us up the hill.” But as her “weary bones caught the chill,” she began to give up her efforts: “I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe.”
And whereas “London Boy” describes a joyous jaunt through London, a kind of getting-to-know the city, “So Long, London” instead shows Taylor’s feelings of growing isolation—especially in a city that is not her own. “I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out,” she sings. “I founded the club she’s heard great things about / I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath.”
The Grammy winner goes on to chronicle the relationship’s “death,” of a sort, in an echo of “You’re Losing Me.” Where Taylor sings “I can’t find a pulse / My heart won’t start anymore” on Midnights, now she sings, “I stoppеd CPR, after all, it’s no use / The spirit was gonе, we would never come to.” Taylor also appears to allude to the time she spent with Joe—six years from when she was 27 to 33—throughout the song.
“And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free,” she sings in verse two, later adding in the bridge, “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof.”
And while Taylor sang in “You’re Losing Me” that her face had gone gray, she again alludes to color on TTPD with, “You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days / And I’m just getting color back into my face.”
But despite her efforts to “go down with the ship”—or as she puts it, “My white-knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment”—”So Long, London” comes to a close with the acknowledgement that the pair weren’t right for each other. “So long, London / Had a good run,” she sings, “A moment of warm sun / But I’m not the one.”
And though she describes the end of the relationship with a dramatic, “Two graves, one gun,” Taylor—who has since moved on with boyfriend Travis Kelce—also promises, “You’ll find someone.”
For more on the many easter eggs and allusions in The Tortured Poets Department, keep reading for a full breakdown of the new album.
“Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone): In the first track of TTPD, Taylor Swift and Post Malone team up to sing about a “temporary” romance that lasted for a fortnight (two weeks). “And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” the lyrics tease. “I touched you, for only a fortnight.”
It appears the song is a reference to Taylor’s rekindled romance with The 1975’s Matty Healy, which first began in 2014 and revived a decade later in the spring of 2023 following her breakup with Joe Alwyn.
And although the revival of Taylor and Matty’s relationship was brief, it was jam-packed with emotion, according to these lyrics. She told iHeartRadio the opening number is “fatalistic” just like the rest of the “tragic” album.
