“Cardigan” by Taylor Swift

If you had a ‘surprise album by Taylor Swift’ on your quarantine bucket list, you can check it off, because seemingly out of nowhere July 23 singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announced her album “Folklore” was being released at midnight July 24. Part two of this surprise came December 11 at midnight when she released another album, “Evermore.” “Cardigan” was amongst her top hits from these albums and climbed its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with 34 million streams.

My family and I have gone on a lot of road trips and, more often than not, we are taking long drives to and from Potosi, Mo. Being in the car as the fourth kid with two parents, two dogs and a cat can be a little overwhelming. Music is the best way for me to tune the craziness out and just focus on the long twisting, turning roads while trying not to get carsick. Personally, I have spent a lot of time in the car during quarantine, which means I have had a countless amount of hours to listen to music, specifically Swift’s song ‘Cardigan’ which is often on repeat.

Listening to “Cardigan” helps you realize a journey through the happy and through the hard that Swift has persevered through fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, fighting for her personal rights in a sexual assault trial and fighting her way through the numberous amounts of hating celebrities, like Katy Perry, Kayne West and many of her ex-lovers. A journey through the happy and the hard is a journey that everyone will have to go through.

“Be that strong girl that everyone knew would make it through the worst, be that fearless girl, the one who would dare to do anything, be that independent girl who didn’t need a man; be that girl who never backed down,” Swift said on TaylorSwift.com

In the music video that premiered July 23, Swift travels through a magical piano from an old brown room to an enchanted forest, and from the forest to an ocean in a terrible storm. After finding her way through the storm to her piano – her source of music and happiness – she is relieved to travel back to her room where there is a cardigan waiting for her to warm and comfort her.

“Real Love still happens sometimes. It’s not just something we make up when we’re nine. I have to believe that. You do too,” Swift said in a Tweet to Selena Gomez April 13, 2009

While Easter may come once a year, Swift has mastered the skill of embedding Easter eggs in her music. Since the release of one of her newer albums, Folklore, fans have tried to figure out if the lyrics in her new songs were clues regarding her relationship with actor Joe Alwyn. Conspiracies about whether ‘“Cardigan” is written to represent the beginning or the end of their relationship have dominated fan’s thoughts since late July.

“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite,” Swift sings. “A friend to all is a friend to none; chase two girls, lose the one. When you are young, they assume you know nothing.”

Having a mystery enclosed in her songs is so intriguing. Whether it’s about either a fictional universe or Swift’s personal life, fans continue trying to unravel the mystery as she keeps dropping hints. Then another whole album drops and fans dig deeper. “Cardigan” especially makes fans think and research and gather information they know about ‘Swifty.’ Could this be just the tip of the iceberg? In an interview with StyleCaster writer Jenzia Burgos, Swift revealed her motivations for the song “Cardigan.”

“The song is about a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories. Why it leaves such an indelible mark,” Swift said.