Taylor Swift has released “Babylon,” a new song from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, the deluxe version of her album from last year. According to the source, the track explores themes of lost love and regret.
The song appears to be about an ex-boyfriend rather than Swift’s current relationship, and centers on the idea of appreciating what you have while it’s present, since you never know when it will be gone. The core concept, according to the source, examines how two people can pour everything into creating something extraordinary, only to watch it transform into something unrecognizable.
In the chorus, Swift sings: “You hate this song, but you wake up on the train with your headphones gone / Then that melody is all you want / You never knew that it was Babylon ’til it was gone.” The lyrics suggest a theme of only recognizing the value of something after it has disappeared.
The bridge includes introspective lines addressing self-sabotage and missed moments: “You’re using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself / But darling, you end up hurting everybody else / The self-harm of never being where you are.” Later verses reference specific scenes of domestic life falling apart, including someone “hanging Christmas lights with your son” while another person calls her mother saying “it’s not working, it’s just not worth it if we’re not what he wants.”
Fans have noted that “Babylon” connects to Swift’s earlier uses of the reference. She first mentioned the Gardens of Babylon in “cowboy like me” from her 2020 album evermore, describing “an elusive romance.” She later co-wrote and appeared on Gracie Abrams’ 2024 song “us.,” which also invokes Babylon while describing “lovers and a relationship destined to fall apart.”
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, though historians have debated whether they actually existed. This uncertainty has made Swift’s use of the metaphor particularly resonant with fans, who have interpreted it as representing either a romance that was never real or a love whose existence is impossible to prove.
Key facts
- ‘Babylon’ is from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore deluxe album
- The song appears to be about an ex-boyfriend, not Swift’s current relationship
- Swift previously referenced Babylon in ‘cowboy like me’ (2020) and Gracie Abrams’ ‘us.’ (2024)
- The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World