Taylor Swift’s song: On the day before her first show on The Eras tour, Taylor Swift surprised her fans by putting out four new songs: three Taylor’s Versions of songs that had already been released, and “All of the Ladies You Loved Before,” a previously unreleased song from her Lover album.
The title seems to be a play on the popular book and movie series For All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which is now on Netflix. The movie version came out for the first time in 2018, the same year Swift made Lover.
Lyrically, it sounds like Swift is thinking about a past love partner, probably boyfriend Joe Alwyn, and thanking the people who came before her for making him the man he is now. It looks like Joe Alwyn is the person being talked about here.
Swift’s lyrics like “Every woman you knew brought you here/I want to teach you what forever feels like” and “All the girls you’ve loved before (Ooh)/Made you the one I’ve fallen for/Every dead-end street led you straight to me” show how serious she is about him and how she sees their love as important, the endgame, and fated.
Since the fall of 2016, Swift has been with her current boyfriend, Alwyn. Several of the love songs on her album Lover are actually about him. Fans have even thought that the album may have led to the two of them getting married in secret. In the years since then, Swift and Alwyn haven’t even confirmed this story, and they haven’t said anything about the other myth that says they are secretly engaged. In an interview with WSJ magazine that came out in April of last year, Alwyn talked about engagement rumours. He said, “If I had a pound for every time I think I’ve been told I’m engaged, I’d have a lot of pound coins.” I mean, the truth is that I wouldn’t say anything whether the answer was yes or no. I would just keep quiet.
Still, by the time Lover came out in August 2019, Alwyn and Swift had been dating for about three years and were in a serious relationship. It doesn’t seem out of place at all to have another love song about their relationship and how they met. In particular, it doesn’t seem out of place to have a song with lyrics that refer to other Swift songs about Alwyn.
Here, courtesy of Genius, are the lyrics for you to read and think about, along with some notes about allusions. If you click on the link below, you can hear the song:
When you think about how many late nights and late phone fights there were, you realise that there were a lot.
Even though you woke up with someone else, you don’t feel like you’re alone.
Chorus A heart has been drawn around your name before it.
Not mine, but someone else’s handwriting
We are trying to get into the town without being seen.
Holdin’ hands, just killing time
Your past and mine are parallel lines
When the stars met, they became linked together.
And taught you to call me “baby” when you talked to me.
I only ask that you treat me with the respect that a lady deserves.
It is important to remember that in 2018, E! reported that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn literally sneaked around the United Kingdom to keep their privacy while dating (“we’re sneaking out into town/holding hands”), and The Sun reported that they wore disguises while they were out. These are both interesting stories. A source told E!, “Unless you’re in her inner circle, you wouldn’t know when she’s here or when she’s not here.” “[Taylor] doesn’t leave much behind,” the reporter said. Genius users pointed out that Taylor Swift had similar lines about the stars aligning in Midnights’ “Mastermind” (also thought to be about Alwyn; “Once upon a time, the planets and the fates / And all the stars aligned / You and I ended up in the same room / At the same time”) and folklore’s “Invisible String” (“And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some Chorus”).
Every dead-end street led you right to me, which is why I’m in love with you. Oh, every woman you’ve ever loved before led me to fall for you.
Now, I only want you, and I’m so thankful for all the other women you’ve been with in the past.
Still, I love you more than ever.
Verse 2
When I think about all the makeup, fake love that’s been out on the town (oh), and crying in the toilet for some guy, I want to throw away all my makeup.
Whose name I can’t think of right now Fans on Genius thought this “dude” was probably Jake Gyllenhaal because Swift sang about crying in the bathroom in two Red songs that seemed to be about him: “The Moment I Knew” (“And there in the bathroom / I try not to fall apart / And the sinking feeling starts / As I say hopelessly, “He said he’d be here”) and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version”) (“And the sinking feeling starts / As (“Not weeping in a party toilet
The Pre-Chorus Secret jokes are funny on their own.
We are breaking up and going our separate ways. No one is home, I’m sixteen, and I’m a wild child.
You can leave without saying goodbye (Oh) Just know that it all made me the person I am today.
I will now call you “baby” because of this. This is why you are so amazing.
Chorus
Every dead-end street led you right to me, which is why I’m in love with you. Oh, every woman you’ve ever loved before led me to fall for you.
Now, I only want you. I’m glad you’ve dated other women in the past, but I love you more.
Bridge
Your mother taught you to have a strong sense of duty and care for other people.
When you were a teenager, love taught you that saying goodbye can be good in some ways.
Every woman you know brought you here, and I’m going to show you what it’s like to live here forever.
Chorus
Every dead-end street led you straight to me. Now, you’re all I need. I’m so grateful for all the girls you’ve loved before, but I love you more. I love you more than any of the other girls you’ve loved. Every dead-end street led you straight to me (Every dead-end street) (Straight to me).