Maroon

Album

Midnights

Label

Republic Records

Genre

Dream pop

Composer(s)

Jack Michael Antonoff;Taylor Alison Swift

Entered Chart

Nov 5, 2022

Peak Date

Nov 5, 2022

Released

October 21, 2022

Recorded

Studio Rough Customer (Brooklyn) Electric Lady (New York)

B-Side

N/A

Here, Taylor Swift uses various shades of red to invoke memories of a past romance. The mark they saw on my collarbone The rust that grew between telephones The lips I used to call home So scarlet, it was maroon "Maroon" is a track from Swift's 10th album, Midnights. Swift released the album on October 21, 2022, almost exactly 10 years after she dropped Red on October 22, 2012. That album details the intense "red" emotions Swift felt over several relationships during its conception. The pop star does something similar on this synth-pop ballad. Swifties spent hours going through Red's lyrics, trying to work out which ex-boyfriend each song was about. "Maroon" has fans playing the same guessing game. There are a few candidates for the subject of this song. 1. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whom Swift dated for three months in 2010. Much of Red centers on the singer's breakup with Gyllenhaal, and there are a couple of potential clues the actor is the subject of this song too. When the morning came We were cleaning incense off your vinyl shelf On "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" Swift recalls Gyllenhaal's love of hipster indie records that are "much cooler than mine." The burgundy on my T-shirt When you splashed your wine into me Swift's Folklore track "The 1" is about a lost romance that some fans believe to be about Gyllenhaal. Both songs reference wine. (On "The 1" she sings, "Rosé flowing with your chosen family"). 2. English pop star Harry Styles, with whom Swift had a much-documented romance during the winter of 2012-13. Again we reference the "burgundy on my T-shirt" lyric. On the 1989 track "Clean," which is widely thought to be about Styles, Swift mentions a "wine-stained dress." The "rust that grew between telephones" lyric in the chorus implies it was a long-distance relationship. Styles, of course, hails from England. 3. Singer-songwriter John Mayer, with whom Taylor had a brief relationship after they recorded a duet, "Half of My Heart," in 2009. There aren't any specific hints in the lyrics, but Mayer has synaesthesia, which means he sees music as colors. 4. Though Midnights features Swift's usual first-person narratives, her previous two albums, Folklore and Evermore, focus on fictional narratives. Does this song continue along those lines? Swift co-wrote and co-produced "Maroon" with her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. Antonoff and his Bleachers' bandmate Evan Smith played all the instruments between them. Antonoff: Bass, electric guitar, piano, synthesizer and percussion Smith: Clarinet, flute, saxophone and organ

When the morning came we were cleaning incense off your vinyl shelf
'Cause we lost track of time again
Laughing with my feet in your lap, like you were my closest friend
How'd we end up on the floor anyway?
You say, "Your roommate's cheapest screw top Rosé", that's how
I see you every day now

And I chose you
The one I was dancin' with in New York
No shoes, looked up
At the sky and it was

The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine onto me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was
The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones
The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon

When the silence came, we were shaking blind and hazy
How the hell did we lose sight of us again?
Sobbin' with your head in your hands
Ain't that the way it always ends?
You were standing hollow-eyed in the hallway
Carnations you had thought were roses, that's us
I feel you no matter what, the rubies that I gave up

When I lost you
The one I was dancin' with in New York
No shoes, looked up
At the sky and it was maroon

The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine onto me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was (maroon)
The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones
The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was (maroon)

And I wake with your memory over me
That's a real lasting legacy, legacy (it was maroon)
And I wake with your memory over me
That's a real lasting legacy to leave

The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine onto me
And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was maroon
The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones
The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon

It was maroon
It was maroon