Taylor Swift’s new tenth studio album, Midnights, opens with the track “Lavender Haze” — which she had teased as an important song, prior to the full record’s release. “I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say / The 1950s sh*t they want from me / I just wanna stay in that lavender haze,” she sings. “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride / The only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife.”
Seemingly alluding to her longtime partner Joe Alwyn, Swift pulled inspiration from the 1950s, particularly a phrase used about Don Draper being in love on an episode of Mad Men.
“I happened upon the phrase ‘Lavender Haze’ when I was watching Mad Men and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it was a common phrase that was used in the ’50s where they would just describe being in love,” Swift said in a teaser social media video last month.
“And I think a lot of people have to deal with this now — not just, like, quote-unquote public figures — because we live in the era of social media and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody, they’re gonna weigh in on it,” she continued.
The answer is, we don’t know. In “Lavender Haze,” Swift seems to be poking at the constant engagement and marriage rumors surrounding them, to be a “no we’re not,” but only the two of them truly know about their official relationship status.
Midnights is out now via Republic. Buy/stream it here.