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What Each Lyric Means In “Gorgeous” — & Who They’re About

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Photo: Jim Smeal/REX/Shutterstock.
She's done it again. Less than a month before the release of her first album since 1989, Reputation, Taylor Swift has dropped another single. Fans were given barely any warning when the "Look What You Made Me Do" singer took to Instagram Thursday afternoon to announce that her new single, "Gorgeous," would be available everywhere at midnight. Now that it's here, we can't stop analysing it.
Already, "Gorgeous" sounds a little bit more like the Taylor we knew a few years ago — but it's also totally different. The lyrics reference things the star has never before talked about in her music, like getting drunk, and her cats, Meredith and Olivia. It also is somewhat of a departure from her last two singles, particularly "Look What You Made Me Do." While Taylor made her triumphant return to music by directly referencing the controversies she's been involved in over the past year and calling out her feuds, this song doesn't mention that at all. Instead, it kind of is like the old Taylor in the way that it's just a fun song about a boy, but she's definitely grown up.
Which boy, do you ask? Well, according to a fan on Tumblr, Taylor flat-out told the 300 or so fans who attended her Reputation secret listening sessions that "Gorgeous" is about "her angel boyfriend of one year." AKA, Joe Alwyn.
But, it's important to remember this is just another piece in the puzzle. Sources have claimed that the album tells a bigger story.
"It will be across multiple songs, somewhat cryptically," a source told Us Weekly. "But also obvious."
Whatever it is, Taylor isn't going to tell us herself. She's done very little press for this album, both in person and online. Her last tweet addressed the Vegas shooting, reading, "There are no words to express the helplessness and sorrow my broken heart feels for the victims in Vegas and their families." Earlier this month she spoke to Rolling Stone about Tom Petty's death, saying the singer "represented a kind of songwriting I idolised."
But other than that, we only have her songs to figure out what's going on inside her head. With that in mind, we've broken down the most important lines from "Gorgeous" ahead.
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