What does "Lover" by Taylor Swift mean?

“Lover” Lyrics Meaning

(The following blog post is a transcript created by Xalma of the below video.)

Taylor Swift's new single "Lover" is here; and it seems to be reference to Joe Alwyn in there; and she has been really excited to show the bridge to people; and there is a lot of really interesting things in there as well; and the music seems to be like something that you could have got out of Speak Now, or maybe even Red; but we'll talk about this more later on, as we'll be explaining the lyrics now.

Verse One

We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January
This is our place, we make the rules
And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear
Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?

and this is basically her saying "we're building a life together"; as for "this is our place, we make the rules", I don't think it's that big of a deal, to leave the Christmas lights up till January; I personally have left them up well past January into February; but I think the dazzling haze is a reference to them living a dream together, loving life, and loving each other so much; whoever this person is; who seems to be mysterious to us; and "have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?" means that it feels like they've spent a lifetime together; even though if he is who we think it is, it probably hasn't been that long.

Chorus

Can I go where you go?
Can we always be this close forever and ever?
And ah, take me out, and take me home
You're my, my, my, my lover

she's basically saying that he's her lover; it's quite a clear chorus really; it's mostly sweet nothings; it's very sweet, very loving, and it leads us to the second verse, where she sings,

Verse Two

We could let our friends crash in the living room
This is our place, we make the call

going back to this idea of "this is our life, and we make the rules of our life"; feeling happy and empowered, being with him, and again; building a life together, and being surrounded by friends.

And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I don't think that she means it in a jealous way necessarily; I think she means it as "you're incredible; why wouldn't everybody want you?"

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

and this basically shows how short the relationship been so far; only three years, which feel like twenty, yeah?

Bridge

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?
With every guitar string scar on my hand
I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

so this is like a scene of a mock wedding; and she's not saying that she is taking him as a husband; we don't know what this actually means for the relationship, or what Taylor Swift's views on marriage; but that's not the point of the song; the point is to talk about... you guessed it; her lover.

My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

and that's a reference to past relationships, where she didn't feel that she was treated right; and his heart was blue too; which means that he was sad about things in the past, probably about relationships as well.

All's well that ends well to end up with you
Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover
And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me
And at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover

this is where she talks about how life will be like together moving forward; "swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover", which is something that we expect from Taylor Swift; especially if you watch the music video for the song "ME!" with Brendon Urie.

"and you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me; and at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover"; she is describing the mood that they're in, and the lifestyle they'll have together. On the surface level, there is not a lot about this relationship that is necessarily super ground-shaking or anything like that; obviously she had a lot of experience from the relationships that didn't work out; and I am not trying to get to that celebrity gossip side of things; but I think that what this song goes to show is that she has found a happy place with this relationship that she's currently in; there is less drama, even though she promises to be overdramatic; but there is this comfortable calmness that comes out of this relationship; and I think that best exemplified -if I'm correct- by the music, which yes, it does have this Speak Now era vibes; but it's got a little bit of reverb; which I think is giving this sort of a flavour of this haze that she describes in the first verse; and it makes the whole thing peaceful, dream-like, reflective, and contemplative; and it goes to show that this relationship is a quiet, calm, and happy place, where they have their rules and their space; but at the same time, they are not going to be stuck with rules all the time; as you can see in the lines "we could let our friends crash in the living room", and "you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me"; they also won't be doing what everybody wants them to do; and that is shown in lines like "leave the Christmas lights up 'til January", and all of those "this is our place, and we make the rule" type of lines; but not only that, because if you remember, the start of the bridge was like this scene of a wedding, right? it sounds like the beginning of a marriage vow; and the ladies and gentlemen were asked to stand up; and marriage is probably what a lot of people want for Taylor Swift; but then she says "I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover"; and that leads me to think that there is two possible meanings here; one, she is kind of using that romantic wedding imagery to say that they're in love, and that everything is going on great; or two, it could be a subversion, and her basically saying that they don't need marriage to be happy; like they want to be first of all lovers, and marriage is not really a concern of theirs; so mush so,they've taken the construct, the idea of marriage, and just applied it to being in love, and not going further than that.

In that small way, it makes me wonder whether the song is almost like a message to her family, fans, and whoever else, saying like "you shouldn't be expecting a wedding". And that guys is my best attempt at explaining and diving deeper into the lyrics of "Lover" by Taylor Swift; I hope that you enjoyed this explanation; if you did, you'll probably like this explanation of "Archer" right here —> "Archer" explanation; and this one of "You Need To Calm Down", right here —> "You Need To Calm Down" explanation