On the record, I’m not a Taylor Swift fan. In fact, I don’t care for her music at all (although “Shake it Off” was a bop). Her career has spanned most of my adult life, from my early mid-twenties and now into my forties, and I do not own a single album or audio file of her work…until I saw the music video for this.

And damn, is this song catchy: “Keep it one hundred on the land / the sea / the sky / Pledge allegiance to your hands / your team / your vibes” ends up in my head every couple of days.

I think lyrically the song is weird, and if you think about what the song is saying, “And if you’d never come for me / I might’ve drowned in the melancholy,” it makes me think of Ophelia’s actual fate. Shakespeare’s Ophelia went mad and killed herself ultimately due to Hamlet rejecting her (although him killing her father had a big part to play in that, too).

At one point Swift says “You dug me out of my grave” to be saved from “the fate of Ophelia” so I’m thinking she means exactly that–insanity and suicide if she would be rejected/be alone. And the lyrics suggest she had already succumbed to an untimely end.

I don’t think this song should be considered romantic, because if the object of the song (“the pyro”) is supposed to be her paramour, damn is that a lot of pressure on him to save her. And I don’t like stories where women don’t save themselves.

But…guiltily, I admit, I like this song. Like, a lot. I think the music video’s aesthetic really helped draw me in:

They captured the vibe of the painting pretty well. Throughout the music video are recreated paintings, showgirls, 1930s swimmers, a stage play of a ship, etc. It’s got a little bit of everything, but it all looks really, really good.

I am mixed about how I feel about this earworm, but an earworm’s only goal is to remain stuck in your head, against your will. So, there you have it. My first Taylor Swift earworm, and hopefully the last.