Analysis: ‘”Slut!” (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]’ by Taylor Swift | Storytelling in Songs #3

This is the first track off of the ‘1989 TV’ album’s vault, released a few weeks ago now, in October 2023.

“Slut!” was presumably written around 2013/14, as the whole album was, by Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and Patrik Berger. Produced by the same. It’s categorized as 80’s-inspired synth-pop (also like the whole album btw) but I feel like this song really embodies the 80ies aspect in a way other songs on the album don’t.

Obviously, the title is very bold. People expected this to be a bit like ‘Blank Space’ off of the same album, a women empowering anthem. But, plot twist, it’s actually a sad love song. HAHAHHAH. Gotta love Taylor for that, she got us all with that title. It’s a great song either way. Slower than you might expect, very soft and gentle vocals. At it’s core, it’s about embracing romance despite public scrutiny.

It might be the only proper love song on the album. No, that’s a lie actually. HA. Sorry, forgot about some of the most superior songs for a second there, like ‘This love’. But it is the only song on this album that seems to be talking about the beginning of a relationship more than the ending / restarting of it. Thematically it still fits perfectly into this album, as I will outline extensively. But the sound is much more dreamy than the rest of it. It just sounds like she is totally in love.

I clicked so fast with the whole 1989 TV vault, I love it SO SO MUCH. But that being said, it also makes so much sense to me why these songs were not on the original standard or even the deluxe version. The original album is so sonically and also emotionally cohesive. She’s writing about a break up she went through, yes, but it’s all very nonchalant and cool and upbeat, she is fine and out in NYC with her girl friends having the time of her life. This vault is much more about the hurt of the break up, it’s much more vulnerable in that way. And since the original album was preceded by ‘Red’, a full-on heart break album, it made sense that she wanted 1989 to be different. It seems like a very deliberate choice, even more so now that we know some of the songs that got cut. With this album she also fully transitioned into Pop. ‘Red’ was still promoted as country, even thought the pop influence is already quite obviously there.

In case you didn’t know, Taylor was born in 1989. She’s said that as a concept, she’d always wanted to write an album called 1989. And it turned out to be this one because this was like a rebirth for her. A rebranding from country girl to pop star. This album was even more mainstream than the ones preceding it, and that is also why I think it was a great choice, that definitely impacted her career a lot, to keep this album a bit more lyrically vague and emotionally upbeat than the one that preceded it. But that is also why I love that we got this vault now, years later, when it has already been established that she is the music industry, and she is a pop goddess, and all of that doesn’t change her image that much anymore. And the vault definitely shows that this relationship impacted her more than she let on at the time. Which is SO relatable tbh.

Quick side note, don’t even get me started on people saying this relationship was way too short to inspire a whole album or that it was all a PR stunt. First of all, that is all irrelevant. She wrote a fantastic album. Period. Doesn’t matter what you think it is about or not about. No matter what it’s about, it’s a fucking top tier album. And art can be made from anyone and anything. Secondly, if you’ve ever been in a situationship or had a really intense crush even, you know that the length of the relationship isn’t in direct proportion to it’s impact on you. And thirdly, it’s none of your business anyway and you are indeed not Taylor Swift so there is no way for you to know what really happened alright? Just stop diminishing the quality of her art based on her dating life.

And another side note. I love that the way this vault is ordered because it tells a story, like the original 1989 did. And I don’t care that the songs might not have been experienced or written in this order, I think it’s a really cool artistic choice. And I honestly get really annoyed with some people that are so invested in who and what everything is about just because Taylor says that they are inspired by her own experiences. Because at the end of the day, she is an artist and an album is a constructed story. And yes, it might inspired by her life but that’s exactly it though, it’s inspiration and then she makes art out of it. And art is not necessarily a detailed retelling of what actually happened. It’s very subjective and as honest and vulnerable as Taylor’s writing and story telling is, it’s still experiences that got constructed into an album. Which is also illustrated by the fact that we know that ‘Clean’ was written before some quite a few other songs on the album. And she literally started out writing songs about things she had no idea of and had never actually experienced, and then she also wrote ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ and she wrote ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ and she wrote ‘You Are in Love’, what more do I have to say for certain people to understand? And 1989 TV was released years after the fact anyway so some of y’all need to seriously calm down.

Last side note I promise, but the whole thing Jack Antonoff slander that has been going on? Honey, he probably produced half of your favorite Taylor songs. Hating on him, especially for songs that he didn’t even produce, is stupidity at its prime. Stop it. Don’t embarrass yourself, do your research.

Alright. Had to get that out. Let’s get into the song now, shall we?

Essentially, ‘”Slut!”‘ is about wanting to be in a relationship with someone despite all the consequences. Like she says in ‘Wonderland’: “Life was never worse but never better”. That’s the crux of it, really. And in this song she delves into why, why it was never worse and why it was never better.

Flamingo pink
Sunrise Boulevard
Clink, clink
Being this young is art
Aquamarine
Moonlit swimming pool
What if all I need is you?

Verse One

Immediately the production comes in all dreamy and celestial. And then the reverbed out base, and the freaking twinkles. Ugh, so good.

Definite California vibes. Which she mentions in her voice note (love that she brought those back) as well. In case you haven’t listened to them, she says that the original album was supposed to give NYC vibes and this song to her sounded too Californian and that’s one of the reasons why it didn’t make the cut back then.

Lyrically, it starts with short words or phrases that paint a whole picture. She is so good at that.

Flamingo pink and sunrise boulevard, I’ve heard the theory that those could be two names of cocktails. And I love that theory because that would be so cool, I always picture it that way now. Because they really could pass as cocktail names, and it would also fit with the whole theme of this song. Maybe it just reminds me of ‘Whiskey on ice, Sunset and Vine’, which is a lyric from the song ‘Gorgeous’ on Reputation. Sunset and Vine is referring to the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, and that lyric gives me the same vibe of the rich and famous lifestyle haha.

Because the more obvious way to take this lyrcic is that she’s describing the scene of the sunset, which is flamingo pink, and the second part is a play on Sunset Boulevard and (I googled this just now ngl haha) a neighborhood in Long Beach, California, that’s called Sunrise. (There is also a Highway serving Central Broward County in Florida of the same name. So, might be a reference that but I don’t think so hahah.)

Alright, moving on. Can’t believe I just spent so many paragraphs on the first line. Which consists of four words. Never beating the crazy allegations (that’s a reference). At least I don’t try to predict when Taylor is gonna do what in the future and try to solve all her easter eggs. I focus on being crazy about the music. HA.

‘Clink clink’ is an onomatopoeia. Such a great word, that, isn’t it? It refers to words that represent sounds. I just had to point that out because I love that that is what it’s called in English, it’s so silly. And obviously it represents the clinking of glasses. Probably on a night out.

And before we move on the the prechorus, can I just say that ‘being this young is art’ and ‘what if all I need is you?’ are two of my favorite lyrics. Because they encapsulate a feeling that is so indescribable.

Got lovestruck, went straight to my head
Got lovesick, all over my bed
Love to think you’ll never forget
Handprints in wet cement
Adorned with smoke on my clothes
Lovelorn and nobody knows
Love thorns all over this rose
I’ll pay the price, you won’t

Pre-chorus One

The first line of the pre-chorus always reminds me of ‘we were in the backseat drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar’, which is a line from ‘Cornelia Street’ by Taylor. It’s such an effective way to describe the feeling of not even being able to think straight when your around someone. And it ties back in with the ‘clink clink’ quite nicely. Fits the theme of comparing the feeling of being a bit too intoxicated to being in love, which is continued throughout the whole song.

It also obviously reminds me of the following song off of Reputation:

Don’t blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn’t, you ain’t doin’ it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I’ll be usin’ for the rest of my life

Don’t Blame Me, Taylor Swift

Also somehow touches on the way the media has always painted Taylor as crazy for love, manic, insane. Which she made fun of very subtly and cleverly in ‘Blank Space’. Btw, I love love love that Taylor’s songs and her songwriting and choice of words create this web of different songs written in different stage of her life linking back together. One of the best things about her discography.

But let’s get back to ‘”Slut!”‘. Lovesick, such a visual choice of words. It’s too much all at once, she has fallen so deeply in love with this person so fast that she is physically ill about it. With one line she insinuates that it’s all going too fast. She WASs having fun with this person, and then suddenly she realizes she’s falling for them and it feels great ’till it doesn’t, and she is overwhelmed. This analogy is so effective, you immediately know what is going on. Being in love with this person was too much, too all encompassing for her own good.

Saying ‘over my bed’ also evokes the image of them being in bed together. Or her being in bed thinking about them and feeling sick with love.

‘Love to think you’ll never forget, hand prints in wet cement’: What a line. Really ties back into the theme of 1989, and even songs like ‘Question…?’ off of Midnights, where she reflects on the fact that this was something special and how they’ll both struggle to find something similar (actually that song generally has soo many call backs to 1989, with the short words and phrases and the questions and the subject matter. So fascinating.).

Some concrete examples of this:

• ‘Does it feel like everything’s just like second-best after that
  meteor strike?’ – Question…?
• ‘I can see the end as it begins, my one condition is say you’ll remember me’ – Wildest Dreams
• ‘This love left a permanent mark’ – This Love

This line could also be taken literally, as in they did actually put handprints in wet cement, which would tie back in with the fun night out theme, but I think even if it is, it’s still ambiguous. Because handprints ins cement are a ways of trying to achieve immortality and that cannot not be taken metaphorically.

Maybe she’s also comparing them to cement, how when they were in love the cement was soft and then once they fell apart the cement got hard and she can’t get through to him anymore because it’s fixed now. They had their moment in time and they can’t go back. I don’t know if that makes sense.

In my mind this has always been a … sexual reference. Or maybe sensual is better word choice. As in, the cement is their bodies and they are leaving hand prints on each other. Putty in each others hand. Does that make sense? Maybe it’s the way the vocals sound on this line, but it has always evoked that picture in my mind of two people intertwined and … slow hands 😉

Anyway. ‘Adorned with smoke on our clothes’ seems to be another reference to the Fun Night Out™. Other people smoking, one or both of them smoking, who knows. Orrrr, hear me out on this, maybe it’s a metaphor to this relationship burning up like fire that is getting a bit out of control and now there is smoke on them. But that might be taking it a bit too far hahahah. Either way, this lyric reminds me of the ‘wine-stained dress’ in ‘Clean’.

Also, adorn means ‘make more beautiful and attractive’ according to Oxford Languages. Which makes me think back to ‘being this young is art’. And lovelorn means ‘unhappy because of unrequited love’. Two highly interesting words.

And that is one part of why I think that this is a rather sad love song. Because while she is so in love, she is also already fathoming that the other person doesn’t give back love in the same way. And nobody knows because that’s what she tried to do, and succeeded in doing, with this whole album: be nonchalant about it. And just generally with things like heartbreak, people usually keep that private. And if you are famous, that’s probably doubly true.

She compares their relationship to a rose in the next line, and the ‘love thorns’ as side effects to the rose, and to the beauty of their love. There is a similar line in ‘Blank Space’, where she says ‘Rose garden filled with thorns’. And in ‘Clean’ she compares the relationship to flowers as well: ‘The drought was the very worst when the flowers that we’d grown together died of thirst’. And in ‘Is it over now?’ she talks about ‘the wilt of the rose’ as well. Lotsa comparisons to flowers and roses. I think the rose especially is such a good metaphor for every beautiful thing having a dark side. Or a dangerous side. Treacherous hehe.

I keep thinking about ‘Suburban legends’, another song off of the 1989 TV vault. I’ve always thought that ‘We were born to be suburban legends’ is such a fascinating lyric. Urban legends are ‘a humorous or horrific story or piece of information circulated as though true, especially one purporting to involve someone vaguely related or known to the teller.’ And so far I’ve taken this specific lyric as the narrator saying that they were always meant to have this magical moment in time where they would be together and she knew before it started that it was going to be legendary and that people would talk about it for a long time, but she also knew that it wouldn’t last. There is a sense of destiny in that, acknowledging that they were always meant for greatness, but they weren’t meant to stay there. She captured the complexity and the magnetic attraction of that in many songs on this album, talking about how she always knew this connection would impact her, and with her the whole world, profoundly. And to link this back to ‘”Slut!”‘, when she says lovelorn, she’s already projecting here, at the start, that it won’t be forever.

There are many references in other songs expressing excitedly that feeling of knowing it won’t last but wanting to fall anyway and I’ve assembled some examples because I keep talking about it:

• ‘I’m dying to see how this one ends […] You can tell me when it’s over if the high was worth the pain’ – Blank Space
• ‘We were built to fall apart’ – Out of the Woods
• ‘Nothing lasts forever’ – Wildest Dreams
• ‘I knew you were trouble when you walked in’ – I knew you were trouble
• ‘I’d be smart to walk away but you’re quicksand’ – Treacherous

Alright, time to move on to the last line of this pre-chorus. ‘I’ll pray the price you won’t’. There are two ways to take this and I think one is more obvious since the song is literally called “Slut!”. Because concerning the press and the public she knows from the beginning that she’ll be made the scapegoat and called a slut and a serial dater while he will get away unscathed. Double standards.

She talked about this in quite a famous interview, in 2014 on Australian Radio I believe, where she said: “You’re going to have people who are going to say, ‘Oh, she just writes songs about her ex-boyfriends’ and I think, frankly, that’s a very sexist angle to take. No one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says it about Bruno Mars. They’re all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life, and no one raises a red flag there.”

Another way to take this is if you relate it back to her being lovelorn. She’ll be heartbroken and he will move on. Either way, she knows this relationship will negatively impact her life and her reputation and she is saying it won’t impact him the same way. Alexa play ‘The Man’ by Taylor Swift.

But if I’m all dressed up
They might as well be looking at us
And if they call me a slut
You know it might be worth it for once
And if I’m gonna be drunk
Might as well be drunk in love

Chorus

The pre-chorus ends quite darkly and then on ‘but if I’m all dressed up’, there’s this explosion of sparkly sounds. Just as she decides that she’s not gonna care, that she’s gonna pull herself out of the fearfulness of where the relationship might lead and what people will have to say about it, that she will just enjoy it for what it is now. She’s choosing to live her life, with this person, no matter the consequences. She’s choosing to be confident instead of defensive.

‘They’ obviously refers to the media.

Also, loveee the falsetto. It’s such a beautiful chorus, and her vocals, chef’s kiss, go offf!!!

‘And if they call me a slut, you know it might be worth it for once’ OH. MY. GOD. The way everyone’s jaw was on. the. floor. when they first heard this line. It perfectly encapsulates this song. It’s kinda like the thesis statement. She is falling hard despite every awful consequence that she sadly knows comes with that.

Then, the analogy is also continued. The one that compares falling in love with getting drunk, in case you forgot. Which I doubt because I went on and on about it throughout this whole first part of the song. Also, everyone keeps saying that this is a reference to ‘drunk in love’ by Beyoncé, which probably makes a lot of sense, but I have to admit, I don’t think I know that song.

Naming this song slut, I’ve thought about this a lot, I think it was the right choice. And not only because people were gagged when they first heard that title or because now when you google ‘taylor swift slut’, this it what comes up instead of some horrible slut shaming articles. Which are both good reasons. But I personally think it was a great choice because it really highlights the message of this song. That line is this songs thesis statement, like I said.

Also, what else would it be called, drunk in love is already taken. And while it is about being intoxicated on love, I respect that the song focuses on the concerns of an affected image and an affected relationship with the media, because that is a horrible thing to have to consider. Imagine being in a position as a twenty-something year old with a rather regular love life where you are under scrutiny for everything. You’re whole life under a microscope, all the time. Torn to shreds on national television over something you wore or said or did. Constant target on you’re back. This song is much more vulnerable than ‘Blank Space’ or ‘Shake it off’, and I love those songs, especially ‘Blank Space’, what a masterpiece, but this song has a very very different quality about it, takes a very different angle.

Send the code, he’s waiting there
The sticks and stones they throw froze mid-air
Everyone wants him
That was my crime
The wrong place at the right time
And I break down, then he’s pullin’ me in
In a world of boys, he’s a gentleman

Verse Two

First of all, both verses have a different melody. In case you haven’t noticed, I had to point that out because I love it.

‘Send the code’, I’ve heard people speculate that this might be about them both being famous and if they want to keep their relationship under wraps they’ll have to sneak around. So, it might be a code to gain entry to some hospital room or something. There is a similar line in ‘willow’ that says ‘wait for the signal and I’ll meet you after dark’.

‘The sticks and stones they throw froze mid-air’: This lyric to me indicates a flip in the song’s storyline. Now the media has found out, and they are slutshaming her and they are criticizing her, but at this point in time it’s not getting through to her. It’s not penetrating, it’s not hurting her (yet) because she’s so wrapped up in the relationship. Which would tie in with it maybe being worth it for once. The relationship, or this person, are like a shield.

Also, this is some damn good imagery right there. The mental picture that creates is unreal. Like, immediate visuals. It’s so clever, the play on the saying ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’. She has other songs that twist this saying too, like in ‘You Need to Calm Down’ where she says ‘snakes and stones never broke my bones’.

So, she is talking about being under attack for being in this relationship and the following line immediately explains why: because it’s a high-profile relationship with a man whom everyone wants. I’m not gonna say much about this, I think everyone’s jaws were once again on the floor with this line. Go watch Ally Sheehan’s video breakdown of the vault on YouTube if you want to know more about the pop culture stuff that was going on at the time because the slut shaming and unwarranted hatred was actually batshit crazy and I’m not getting into it. The misogyny was going STRONG. Once again, alexa play ‘The Man’.

The way she says crime as well, the exasperation at being unjustifiably crucified once again is SO REAL.

Wrong place, right time, that is such an interesting lyric. I’ve thought about this one quite a bit.

I think she is once again talking about the fact that she felt like they were always gonna have this moment in time where they were THEM and it was magical and everything came together. There is a secret message for the song ‘This Love’ that says “timing is a funny thing”. It was the right time in their personal timelines of development where they aligned and everything fit.

But it was the wrong place because of the fame and the media and them always being in the spotlight. The wrong place was the pedestal they were on.

We immediately get a line following that up which shows her reeling from the consequences and him being the shield. The difference in their apparent reaction is interesting because it once again goes back to how it’s mainly her that is under attack. Ugh, imagine having to deal with everyone thinking it’s their place to weigh in on your relationship.

My sister loves this second verse especially. And according to her it’s a thing on tiktok. It was so funny when she googled what song it was because she liked it and she found out it was called “Slut¨” HAHHAHAH, she was so shocked lol. But the way vocals are layered on that last line are just *chef’s kiss*.

Got lovestruck, went straight to my head
Got lovesick, all over my bed
Love to think you’ll never forget
We’ll pay the price, I guess

Pre-Chorus Two

The only line that is different is the last one. Which is interesting.

Reminds me of ‘Out of the Woods’ when she says ‘Remember when we couldn’t take the heat? I walked out, I said, “I’m setting you free” but the monsters turned out to be just trees, when the sun came up you were looking at me’.

Half asleep
Taking your time
In the tangerine neon light
This is luxury
You’re not saying you’re in love with me
But you’re going to
Half awake
Taking your chance
It’s a big mistake
I said it might blow up in your pretty face
I’m not saying do it anyway
But you’re going to

Bridge

The bridge. We all know that Taylor is an architect drawing up the plans and she once again built a beautiful bridge. And the bridge itself really builds as well lol, the production and the lyrics, just building building building.

He’s not rushing is what the narrator is saying here. Which stands in rather stark contrast to her being too far gone and it going straight to her head and all.

We also get another color reference, tangerine this time. Personally, I tie the many many color references in this song back into ‘the rest of the world was black and white but we were in screaming color’, which is a lyric of ‘Out of the Woods’, and one of my favorite lyrics ever.

Also, this obviously is all quite sensual. ‘This is luxury’ always reminds me of how she says ‘being this young is art’ in the beginning.

In that moment she’s obviously feeling confident that he will fall in love with her. And in the next vault song, ‘Say Don’t Go’ has a lyric in the bridge where she screams ‘I said, “I love you” / You say nothing back’. And that is one of the things I love so much about Taylor’s music. Once again, I know people speculate, I’m not stupid, but ignoring all of that, it’s just generally so interesting to me the way she uses similar phrases in different songs and stuff. It builds such a universe, a web of stories that flow together. And also, just with looking at this one song, it seems like she knows he is not in love, not reciprocating it in the same way, so its like she’s trying to convince herself in the good moments. Rose colored glasses I guess. And I love how she captured that. That’s what I love about ‘Lavender Haze’ as well, but that’s another topic which needs its own post I’m afraid.

I like to ignore the way this song alludes to him not being fully comited and just pretend. Because that feeling when you’re falling and neither of you are saying anything but you KNOW it’s not one sided and the other person is feeling this as well; TOP NOTCH feeling. One of the best feelings in the world actually.

And lyrically adapt as Dr. Swift is, she contrasts ‘half asleep’ with ‘half awake’ for the second part of the bridge. Well, it’s not a contrast really, she’s saying the same thing. Complements. It changes the rhyme, which is very clever.

And then we are back to awareness lol. Awareness that them being together and really doing this is gonna blow up. “Could end in burning flames or paradise” – ‘Style’. I love the way she says pretty face haha, but yeah, this part really builds on the fact that there is no way to talk about “them” and where this is going, without taking the public scrutiny into consideration.

I just need to say again that this bridge is sooo good. I feel like it’s not appreciated enough. I love love love the confidence of it with the ‘you’re going to’. Just amazing. It’s almost tangible, the confidence. The bridge also once again really highlights how tumultuous the situation is and how their dynamic is not what she wants it to be but if this moment in time is all she’s gonna get, she’ll take it. Even with the consequences. She was so gone, she knew it’s a bad idea and just. didn’t. care. Or didn’t care enough to not do it. Very relatable to be honest. Too relatable. Way too relatable. Actually, I feel personally attacked.

“Oh!”

And if they call me a “Slut!”
You know it might be worth it for once

And if I’m gonna be “Drunk!”
Might as well be drunk in love

Outro

The last chorus with the yells, where it really is “Slut!” with an exclamation point. So fun. Also so … depressing. Because- How people can scream stuff like this at other people I’ll never understand. Horrible. Just brings me back to the times when there would be jokes about how many guys Taylor has dated on like TV shows and stuff. And how old was she when the original 1989 came out? About 25ish. And she’s been slutshamed since the beginning of her career, since she was a young teenager. Even now with Travis, I still see people commenting under photos of them talking about her body count. Like???? Just leave her alone. Grow up, get a life.

Sonically, this song is so 80ies. I don’t know why and you might disagree because I’ve really not got much of a clue about production, but this vault is much more 80ies than the whole rest of the album. The rest of the album is very synth pop though. But that is also why it makes sense to me that people are saying this vault reminds them of ‘midnights’. Also, Jack Antonoff produced both, so that makes sense as well.

Alright people. That’s the end of the song.

Final consensus: love this song. Like I said, my sister is a really big fan of this song as well, and no wonder. The vibes are SO dreamy but with a really persistent underlying sadness that really sneaks up on you. It sounds so soft and dreamy and, well, in love.

Writing these analyses is so fun. You know the trend of people talking about something very passionately and then saying. ‘In this essay I will discuss…’ as a joke. Well, I’ve taken that joke all the way and I can’t even begin to tell you HOW MUCH FUN it is. I always spend hours and hours on these, which might be obvious from the length of them. No one ever reads them but despite that, starting to do this was the best decision ever. Because I am enjoying myself immensely. And I will keep doing it, just for me. It’s a creative outlet and it’s fun and silly and doesn’t benefit me in any way other than me just enjoying myself and perusing my interests. Doing this pleases me. And isn’t that the best reason to do anything?