“Forever Winter” is the twenty-seventh track on Tayor Swift’s re-recorded ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ album from 2021. This brand new track From The Vault talks about a disconnected relationship between the singer and her lover who is struggling with mental issues.
Taylor Swift re-recorded and released her 2012 album ‘Red’ after a fallout with her then-record label Big Machine. However painful has this been to Taylor, it gives us a few brand new tracks that she wrote for ‘Red’ album but never included in it. In the 2021 re-release of ‘Red (Taylor’s Version),’ we are blessed with some of these gems from the past. “Just a friendly reminder that I would never have thought it was possible to go back and remake my previous work, uncovering lost art and forgotten gems along the way, if you hadn’t emboldened me. Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours. Tonight we begin again,” wrote Taylor Swift, announcing the album.
The season winter is often associated with emotions such as loneliness, sadness, quietness, and overall darkness. In this song, Taylor associates these emotions with a distraught relationship she has with a guy who suffers from mental health issues. The worst part is that Taylor did not know about his struggles and how he hid them for the longest time. This is often a severe problem with people suffering from mental issues — not voicing the issues and even not being taken seriously when they do voice it.
Listen to “Forever Winter” by Taylor Swift
Buy ‘Red (Taylor’s Version) Album on Apple Music and Amazon
Taylor Swift “Forever Winter” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
In the first verse of the song, Taylor Swift talks about how her partner has started seeing things turn white from color. He has started sounding broken and given up.
I call just checking up on him
He’s up, 3am pacing
He says, “It’s not just a phase I’m in”
Taylor Swift instinctively calls up to check on him and she finds himself awake at 3 am and pacing around his room. This is a dead giveaway that they are struggling with something.
All this time I didn’t know
You were breaking down
It hurts Taylor Swift to see him in this condition. It hurts her more to realize that he has been struggling for a while and that she was not able to see it through. She realizes that he has been there for her through some of her darkest days, and she has not been able to return the favor.
I’ll be summer sun for you forever
Forever winter if you go…
Summer sun and winter are polar opposites. Summer washes away the gloom off the winter. Taylor wishes she could be his sunshine, but she is afraid that he is gone too far.
Verse 2
When she checks up on him at 5 am, he is still up. Nothing has turned for the better. Days pass by and he seems to distance himself from everyone around him. He has no control over the parasites in his mind. And these parasites are taking over. The voices of his loved ones seem to fall into deaf ears.
He smiles and nudges others off when they ask him if everything is okay. But inside he is being eaten away — withered like the leaves falling in the winter times.
Verse 3
In the third verse of the song, Taylor Swift promises to help him see through his dark times. But he can only be helped if he is willing to receive help. Cracking this layer would likely prove to be the hardest part. Maybe a single “i love you” could get through to him. Maybe nothing will. It’s a constant struggle for everyone around him until he lets them in.
Let us hear what you think about this song in the comments below. Check out the complete lyrics in the comments below.