“The Lakes” by Taylor Swift

The lyrics of “The Lakes” find Taylor Swift seemingly speaking about her career and the rumors that surround her.

She begins by mentioning the fact that most of her songs are elegies of a broken relationship. She then goes on to state that she is not comfortable with the cycle of controversies and rumors that accompany her career. As a result of these feelings of not fitting in, she tries to escape to the lakes. This is a likely reference to a popular national park in the United Kingdom called the Lake District – a place Taylor visited prior to writing this song. Here, she believes she can express her creativity better like the great English poets of the Romantic movement. She believes that even though people will no longer get to hear from her, it is a place where she will feel at peace to be herself.

The second verse continues to speak about how certain people try to badmouth her and mar her reputation. She even cites ‘tweeting’ as a reference to the trend #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty which went viral after her bout with Kanye West. This led to her staying out of the public eye for almost a year.

According to the singer, the noise that comes with the expression of her creativity through music often makes her feel somewhat unappreciated, hence her desire to be in solitude.

“Take me to the lakes, where all the poets went to die”

Summary

Taylor Swift uses “The Lakes” to illustrate her desire to hide her creativity from the world due to a fear that she doesn’t belong.

Did Taylor Swift write “The Lakes” exclusively?

She collaborated with The Lakes‘ producer (Jack Antonoff) to compose it.

Album and Release

“The Lakes” can be found in the deluxe version of Swift’s hit 2020 album titled “Folklore”. It was released in August 2020 alongside its album. And the album in question produced a ton of hits, including the following:

• “Cardigan“
• “August“
• “My Tears Ricochet“
• “The 1“
• “The Last Great American Dynasty“