Taylor Swift's Most Heartbreaking Lyrics From Each Song On 'Red'

By Emily Lee

November 11, 2021

Photo: Getty Images

As Taylor Swift prepares to release Red (Taylor's Version), fans are reminiscing about just how devastating some of the songs are from this era. For Swifties, there is nothing better than a truly heartbreaking song written by Swift.

Even Swift herself thinks of Red as her heartbreak era. When announcing she'd be re-recording her fourth studio album, she recalled how she moved through the land of heartbreak to create this album.

“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken. It moves on a different axis, at a different speed. Time skips backward and forwards fleetingly," Swift said. "The heartbroken might go through thousands of micro-emotions a day trying to figure out how to get through it without picking up the phone to hear that old familiar voice."

“In the land of heartbreak, moments of strength, independence, and devil-may-care rebellion are intricately woven together with grief, paralyzing vulnerability, and hopelessness," she continued. "Imagining your future might always take you on a detour back to the past. And this is all to say, that the next album I’ll be releasing is my version of Red.”

In honor of Red (Taylor's Version), let's look back at some of the most heartbreaking lyrics from Red:

State of Grace: “We fall in love 'til it hurts or bleeds, or fades in time"

Red: “Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you've never met, but loving him was red"

Treacherous: “I'd be smart to walk away, but you're quicksand"

I Knew You Were Trouble: “I guess you didn't care and I guess I liked that"

All Too Well: “I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to”

22: “You look like bad news, I gotta have you”

I Almost Do: “I can't say "Hello" to you and risk another goodbye"

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: “Then you come around again and say / Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change, trust me/ Remember how that lasted for a day?"

Stay Stay Stay: “Before you, I'd only dated self-indulgent takers, who took all of their problems out on me"

The Last Time: “You wear your best apology / But I was there to watch you leave / And all the times I let you in / Just for you to go again"

Holy Ground: Tonight, I'm gonna dance / For all that we've been through / But I don't wanna dance / If I'm not dancing with you"

Sad Beautiful Tragic: “We both wake in lonely beds, in different cities / And time is taking its sweet time erasing you"

The Lucky One: “they tell you that you're lucky, but you're so confused, / 'Cause you don't feel pretty, you just feel used"

Everything Has Changed: “Come back and tell me why / I'm feelin' like I've missed you all this time"

Starlight: “We were seventeen and crazy, running wild, wild.”

Begin Again: “I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny ‘cause he never did.”

The Moment I Knew: “I try not to fall apart, and the sinking feeling starts as I say hopelessly, ‘He said he’d be here.’”

Come Back... Be Here: “This is falling in love in the cruelest way / This is falling for you and you are worlds away"

Girl At Home: “You're the kind of man who makes me sad / While she waits up / You chase down the newest thing and take for granted what you have"

What's your favorite Red lyric?

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