Just when we thought we’d reached peak Taylor Swift (pfft, who are we kidding? Impossible) the 27-year-old pop star with the whole world watching dropped the second song off her new album Reputation.
It started with a tease – Swift released a minute-long snippet of Ready For It during the introduction to a college football game late on Saturday in the US.
Sunday morning hit and the full song was released with the lyric video.
It could not be further in tone from the dark and bitter and need-a-Phd-to-understand-all-the-conspiracy-theories track she released late in August – ‘Look What You Made Me Do’.
No, Ready For It is pop with a throbbing electro baseline and love-song lyrics. It most definitely harks back to her older style, but it’s certainly darker around the edges.
The opening is unapologetically Swift:
“Knew he was a killer / First time that I saw him / Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted / But if he’s a ghost then / I can be a phantom / Holdin’ him for ransom…
The lyrics throughout reference both Swift’s string of romances as well as the iconic relationship between actor Richard Burton and actress Elizabeth Taylor – who married each other twice in the 1960s and 70s.