She lost him but she found herself and somehow that was everything.
The 1989 era may be over but that doesn’t mean we can’t reminisce on some of the best songs from that era. This week, we’re reflecting on Swift’s single from that album “Out of the Woods”. Everything about the song is iconic from the lyrics to production to the music video (which aired on New Year’s Eve of 2015). Everything about “Out of the Woods” is what you want and more.
Swift explained in an interview that “Out of the Woods” is one of her favorite tracks from 1989 and one that best describes the album as a whole. The track is about the fragility of a relationship and how breakable it can be. She wanted to portray the sound of anxiety throughout, which is what she did effortlessly.
"“That line is in there because it’s not only the actual, literal narration of what happened in a particular relationship I was in, it’s also a metaphor. “Hit the brakes too soon” could mean the literal sense of, we got in an accident and we had to deal with the aftermath. But also, the relationship ended sooner than it should’ve because there was a lot of fear involved. And that song touches on a huge sense of anxiety that was, kind of, coursing through that particular relationship, because we really felt the heat of every single person in the media thinking they could draw up the narrative of what we were going through and debate and speculate. I don’t think it’s ever going to be easy for me to find love and block out all those screaming voices” – Taylor Swift"
Commercially, the song peaked at No.18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her 61st song to hit the charts. This also made Swift become the first female artist to have the second most charted song on the Hot 100, behind Aretha Franklin. It also debuted at No.1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart, selling 195,000 copies in its first week, dethroning her other song “Shake It Off”. In doing so, Swift became the first artist to simultaneously occupy the top two positions since 2012 when her songs “Ronan” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” occupied the top two spots.
But with incredible commercial comes an incredible music video to come with it. The music video wasn’t typical. It held meaning, displays Swift as she goes through a burning forest and torturous blizzard just to find herself in the end. “Out of the Woods” portrays strong emotion and anxiety, while telling a story of finding yourself in the midst of losing something fragile. The video was produced by Joseph Kahn, who is brilliant when it comes to displaying the kind of imagery that matches lyrical content in perfect form. Watch the music video for the song below: