Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

What is Babylon? Experts explain historical reference at heart of new Taylor Swift song

nbcdfw.com · 11hShare

Taylor Swift’s new song “Babylon” brings a big historical symbol to describe the arc of one relationship that ends before a person realizes how good it was. It’s part of four new songs Swift dropped as part of her “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” album on Sept. 25. “Babylon” is told in the second person, with Swift singing to directly to “you.” That “you” is described as a man who left home — a “small town,” to be specific. He’s said to be an ambitious “libertine” who later “longs for home.” When he meets a girl who loves him, it “stopped you cold.” He kept her at arm’s length, though, and kept things “never official.” But in a flash forward during the bridge, Swift sings that “you” seemingly went on to start a family, but he misses the most important parts. She sings about a vignette of a woman hanging Christmas lights with the subject of the song’s son and later calling her mom to say, “It’s not working/ It’s just not worth it if we’re not what he wants.” That all culminates in a

First report: From Taylor Swift to Bob Marley: How Babylon became one of music's great metaphors — thenationalnews.com, 2d