For the past week or so, I have been listening to one album and one album alone... and that album is Taylor Swift's Evermore.
(Seriously, I can't stop listening to it... In fact, it's playing in the background while I'm writing this post.)
Released in December 2020, Evermore is Taylor Swift's 9th studio album. The second of her COVID-era releases, it's also the sister album of July 2020's Folklore. And while many people say Evermore is the winter to Folklore's fall (*cough* Time Magazine), I whole-heartedly disagree. Both album gives serious fall energy and make for fantastic fall listening. But between the two, I fully believe Evermore takes the title of "Taylor's Fall Masterpiece."
So in this post, I am going track by track and breaking down what makes Evermore the fall masterpiece that it is. And if Evermore isn't already a staple piece in your fall soundtrack, I bet you'll be downloading it to your preferred music streaming app by the time you finish reading.
related Reading: Let’s Break Down Taylor Swift’s New Album Evermore
A Song-By-Song Breakdown of Taylor Swift's Evermore (An Autumnal Masterpiece)
willow
Premise: The narrator's lover is giving major "will he, won't he?" energy. All of his back-and-forth and "baiting and switching" reminds the narrator of a willow swaying in the wind.
Relevance to Fall: If this song doesn't give you "witchy, dancing around a fiery pentagon while summoning Satan vibes," I don't know what song will.
Best Fall Lyric: "Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark / Show me the places where the others gave you scars"
champagne problems
Premise: The narrator ended her relationship because she wasn't ready for marriage, and this shattered her ex's heart. He returns home, where everyone claims she broke up with him because she has a "champagne" problem (which left her "fucked in the head").
Relevance to Fall: The song directly mentions November and mentions they'll soon be "deck[ing] the halls."
Best Fall Lyric: "And soon they'll have the nerve to deck the halls / That we once walked through"
gold rush
Premise: The narrator is fantasizing over being in a relationship a guy that everyone seems to have a crush on.
Relevance to Fall: At one point, the narrator talks about her Philadelphia Eagles jersey hanging on the back of a door, so it's probably football season. Also, the song is point-blank called "gold rush" – and gold is pretty standard "fall" color.
Best Fall Lyric: "I see me padding 'cross your wooden floors / With my Eagles t-shirt hanging from the door"
'tis the damn season
Premise: The narrator is visiting her hometown for the holidays and thinking an ex-lover she hurt when she left him behind to pursue things in LA. She considers calling him up and spending some time together, while also wondering what life would've been like had she never left.
Relevance to Fall: This one's pretty on the nose, in that the title is a clear reference to the Christmas season – which most people agree begins around Thanksgiving.
Best Fall Lyric: "The holidays linger like bad perfume / You can run, but only so far."
tolerate it
Premise: The narrator feels unappreciated by her older partner, who only "tolerates" her (at best).
Relevance to Fall: Admittedly, there aren't a ton of fall references in "tolerate it." However, she does mention setting the table with "fancy shit" twice, which is typically something people do for the holidays.
Best Fall Lyric: "Lay the table with the fancy shit / And watch you tolerate it"
no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)
Premise: The narrator's friend, Este, thinks her husband is cheating on her but can't prove it. When Este suddenly goes missing, the narrator thinks the cheating husband has something to do with it... So she kills him.
Relevance to Fall: A murder mystery track like this one fits perfectly with the season of everything spooky.
Best Fall Lyric: "Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen / And I've cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene."
happiness
Premise: While packing up her house post-breakup, the narrator thinks about the happier times in the relationship – while also reminder herself there will be new happiness in the future.
Relevance to Fall: Throughout the song, there are several references "spooky" words, such as terror, haunting, and curses, to name a few.
Best Fall Lyric: "There is happiness / Past the blood and bruise / Past the curses and cries / Beyond the terror in the nightfall / Haunted by the look in my eyes / That would've loved you for a lifetime"
dorothea
Premise: The narrator wonders if Dorothea – a girl from his hometown, with whom he shared a teenage romance and has since made it big in Hollywood – ever thinks about him like he thinks about her.
Relevance to Fall: This song is all about high school romance, and at one point, the narrator mentions "meeting under bleachers." In many shows/movies set in high school, these "meetings under bleachers" typically take place during football games, a fall sport.
Best Fall Lyric: "And damn, Dorothea / They all wanna be ya / But are you still the same soul / I met under the bleachers?"
coney island (feat. The National)
Premise: The narrator is sitting on a bench in Coney Island, thinking about her failed relationship. She believes she ruined things because she treated her partner poorly – and eventually, her partner became too apathetic to fix things.
Relevance to Fall: The song mentions days passing and getting colder and colder (but it's not yet "cold") as the sun goes down, which happens during the fall months.
Best Fall Lyric: "And it gets colder and colder / When the sun goes down"
ivy
Premise: The narrator is trapped in a loveless marriage and begins having an affair. This affair is like ivy, "growing over" her "house of stone."
Relevance to Fall: While "ivy" definitely gives some later fall/early winter energy (in that the lyrics mention "coming in from the snow"), there are tons of witchy references throughout the song (spirits, bones, curses, crescent moons), giving it spooky, Halloween-y vibe.
Best Fall Lyric: "How's one to know? / I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones"
cowboy like me
Premise: The narrator is a workaholic who's never wanted or looked for love... That is, until she finds (and then falls for) another workaholic who's also anti-love. But in the end, they fall in love.
Relevance to Fall: It's the banjo here for me that gives this song most of its fall energy. But there are also some spooky references in the lyrics, such as "the dark" and "skeletons."
Best Fall Lyric: "And the skeletons in both our closets / Plotted hard to fuck this up"
long story short
Premise: After previously falling for the wrong guy, the narrator has now fallen for the right guy.
Relevance to Fall: While not particularly dripping in fall energy, "long story short" makes plenty of outdoorsy references, such as rabbit holes, bushes, comets, and hiking ("climbing cliffs").
Best Fall Lyric: "No more keepin' score now / I just keep you warm (keep you warm)"
marjorie
Premise: The narrator shares memories of and lessons from her late grandmother.
Relevance to Fall: Dying is often symbolized by the fall months, and "marjorie" is all about the death of a loved one. Additionally, the lyrics explicitly mention the "the autumn chill" and "amber skies" at one point.
Best Fall Lyric: "The autumn chill that wakes me up / You loved the amber skies so much"
closure
Premise: The narrator tells an ex-lover she doesn't need his weak attempts to give her closure.
Relevance to Fall: In the chorus, the lyrics mention "bones," giving some nice Halloween energy. And in one of the verses, the lyrics mention beer and candles, which are two things I personally attribute to the fall. (Beer = Breweries = Oktoberfest. And candles = Bath and Body Works.)
Best Fall Lyric: "I'm fine with my spite / And my tears / And my beers and my candles"
evermore (feat. Bon Iver)
Premise: After suffering a loss, the narrative feels like she'll be in pain forever. However, she eventually realizes her pain isn't permanent, and she'll be okay.
Relevance to Fall: This song explicitly mentions both November and December. And more specifically, the lyrics state, "Hey, December" – i.e. "Hello, December" – i.e. "It's December 1" – i.e. "This song takes place in the fall."
Best Fall Lyric: "Gray November / I've been down since July"