Music
Taylor Swift’s “The Albatross” Lyrics Are Going Viral On TikTok
The singer is, in fact, not here to destroy you.
The Tortured Poets Department is full of investigators. Since Taylor Swift released her new album on April 19, Swifties have been digging into every lyric, especially after the singer revealed that Tortured Poets is a double album with a second part titled The Anthology.
The meaning of “The Albatross” is currently going viral on TikTok, with fans connecting the seemingly ancient tale to her relationship with Travis Kelce. Swift starts the track by singing in the third person, quoting advice from “wise men” and warning about a scandalous woman. However, an albatross is one of the largest flying birds, making it clear that Swift is using it as a metaphor.
“She's the albatross, she is here to destroy you,” Swift sings in the first hook. In the second chorus, she adds, “Devils that you know raise worse hell than a stranger / She's the death you chose, you’re in terrible danger.”
But by the end of the song, Swift switches to the first person, calling herself the albatross. Several TikTokers have speculated that the song is a message of support and reassurance to her boyfriend Kelce, stating that in the first two verses, she sings from the perspective of critics warning her current lover about the dangers of being with her.
When she switches the song’s point of view to herself in the bridge, Swift dismisses their concerns (“Wise men once read fake news, and they believed it”) and promises she’ll be there no matter what comes their way, even rolling her eyes at the assumptions that she’s devious and dangerous.
“So I crossed my thoughtless heart, spread my wings like a parachute,” she sings in the final chorus. “I’m the albatross, I swept in at the rescue / The devil that you know looks now more like an angel / I’m the life you chose, and all this terrible danger.”
TikToker @taylorsizzle pointed out that “The Albatross” references a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge entitled The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in which a sailor shoots an albatross thinking it was bad luck but then becomes cursed for not leaving the bird alone.
Some fans think it’s an analogy that refers to both her critics and exes. “If they had respected her and treated her well, they would have been fine, they would’ve been Taylor Lautner,” the TikToker said, nodding to Swift’s ex-boyfriend who remains friends with her.
“The Albatross” Lyrics
Read the song’s full lyrics below.
Wise men once said, "Wild winds are death to the candle"
A rose by any other name is a scandal
Cautions issued, he stood shooting the messengers
They tried to warn him about her
Cross your thoughtless heart, only liquor anoints you
She’s the albatross, she is here to destroy you
Wise men once said, “One bad seed kills the garden”
“One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen”
Locked me up in towers, but I’d visit in your dreams
And they tried to warn you about me
Cross your thoughtless heart, only liquor anoints you
She’s the albatross, she is here to destroy you
Devils that you know raise worse hell than a stranger
She’s the death you chose, you’re in terrible danger
And when that sky rains fire on you
And you’re persona non grata
I’ll tell you how I've been there too
And that none of it matters
Wise men once read fake news and they believed it
Jackals raised their hackles, you couldn't conceive it
You were sleeping soundly when they dragged you from your bed
And I tried to warn you about them
So I crossed my thoughtless heart
Spread my wings like a parachute
I’m the albatross, I swept in at the rescue
The devil that you know looks now more like an angel
I’m the life you chose and all this terrible danger
So cross your thoughtless heart
She's the albatross, she is here to destroy you
