What does "New Year's Day" by Taylor Swift mean?
"New Year's Day" Lyrics Meaning
While the holiday that most people focus on during the new year is New Year's Eve, Swift entitles the final song on her album "New Year's Day" in order to highlight the fact that she doesn't want to just stick around for the party but for the aftermath as well: the clean up, the solitude, and even the bittersweetness of moments gone but memories made.
Although "New Year's Day" seems to be referencing one specific relationship, it could also apply to an entire era or time period in the singer's life with which she doesn't want to lose touch. The soft nostalgic feel of the music coupled with the message of the lyrics leaves listeners with the same bittersweet end to the album that many people feel on New Year's Day: it's the end, but it's also the chance for a new beginning.
"I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day"
In perhaps one of the most powerful lyrics of the song, Swift evokes a feeling of strong loyalty and connection that truly ties together the message of her album as a whole: some people stay just for the party for when times are good and media coverage is positive, but true friends and/or lovers will be with you to pick up the trash and the mess when the party inevitably comes to an end.
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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
Obviously, the New Year's Eve party was a success because the first verse of the song describes that "there's glitter on the floor" and there are "girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby." A glittered floor and barefooted girls means dancing and fun--a party that took place just a little while ago. The "candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor" are a nod not only to physical candle wax and Polaroids from the celebration, but also possibly to her previous album "1989," which prominently featured a Polaroid and a birthday cake with candles as the album cover.
This reference may indicate that "1989" was the party that everyone raved about, but the note of sadness comes with the realization that the party is now over, and many people have left. Swift may be referencing the fact that, following the negative media coverage and unwanted press after "1989," many friends and fans abandoned her, or she could just be saying that 1989 was a high for her, and now she was to deal with more painful realities in Reputation.
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
In the chorus, Swift pleads with the one person still by her side not to leave the party. She asks "don't read the last page," because she in turn will "stay when you're lost, and I'm scared." She notes that she's been there for him in the past, and now that she needs someone to rely on, she'd like him to reciprocate. As she feels him begin to pull away, she recognizes it but assures him of her loyalty: while she does indeed "want your midnights" and all of the fun that New Year's Eve entails, she will also "be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day." In other words, of course she wants to share the party and the good times with him, but in a mature move, she'll also be there with him through all of the messiness afterward.
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
In the second verse, it seems like the fellow Taylor was asking to stay has indeed decided to stick with her. He, now, is the one offering her assurance as she says, "You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi," we assume to let her know that she's not alone. She's realistic about the future because she "can tell that it's gonna be a long road," but she meant it when she said she wanted to stick with him through it all. When she tells him that she wants to be around "if you're the toast of the town" as much as she does "if you strike out and you're crawling home," she means that no matter what state he's in, she's going to be by his side.
[Side note: There's a chance too, based on the reference to 1989 in the first verse that this "guy" is a metaphor for Taylor's fans, and that "New Year's Day" is really a giant meta-reverie on her relationship with her fans.]
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
In perhaps one of the most nostalgia-inducing moments of the song, Taylor repeats, "Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you." The repetition drives home the importance of clinging to memories when times get hard. Memories of past fun and happiness can sometimes be a light in themselves, and Taylor assures her guy that when the memories themselves aren't enough, "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
The bridge of "New Year's Day" is about parting ways with someone one cares about. Taylor pleads, "Please don't ever become a stranger / Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere" because the thought of no longer intimately knowing this person is too much for her. Having to run into or interact with someone who used to know so much about her (and vice versa) who still has the same laugh, the same characteristics, and yet none of the intimacy, is too painful for her to think about.
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
The final verse of this song is an exact replica of the first verse except for the very final line. Here, Taylor instead sings, "You and me forevermore," solidifying the commitment that the two have made to stick together even after the party ends.
Outro
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
It seems strange that Taylor would end the song here rather than on the assuring note of "forevermore" with which the third verse ends, but, honestly, this outro is simply more realistic. By pleading once more, "Please don't ever become a stranger," Swift acknowledges the frailty of human relationships and that even after promising "forevermore," the future is still unknown.
Deeper Meaning of "New Years Day" by Taylor Swift: Risking Everything on Someone Else
Listening to "New Year's Day" at the end of this album felt like the best logical conclusion, both emotionally and chronologically, for "Reputation." Swift deals with heavy human emotion in this song even if it's not necessarily clear on the surface. And by using a party as the framework for loyalty and relational perseverance, she encapsulates both her career and the reality of human relationships in one song.
While the song is representative of the person/people who has/have stood by her side through the success of albums like "Red" and "1989" and through the drama of the subsequent tabloids and unsavory press, it is also representative of the way that people often feel in their own relationships. Everyone has someone in his or her life who has stuck it out through the good and the bad, and the thought of losing that person is frightening. Relationships are always a gamble even the ones that feel like a sure thing, but Swift suggests that it's better to have someone you're a afraid to lose than to have no one at all.
