“Don’t You” by Taylor Swift

On “Don’t You”, the vocalist (Taylor Swift) is addressing a former lover. And getting right down to the nitty-gritty, what she’s basically telling him is that she’s not interested in being friends in the aftermath of their relationship falling apart. And this is not due to her being stubborn or negative. Rather the implication is that he broke her heart. After all, he’s the one who has already moved on to a new partner, while she’s still struggling ‘to go on with her life’ after having her heart broken.

Character of Narrator’s Ex

Indeed whereas the wording of this narrative is terse, a lot can be gathered concerning the character of her ex. It would appear that he’s one of those types of dudes who sort of take relationships as if they are nothing – something who can simply walk away from with no regard for the person they’re leaving behind.

Perhaps it can even be ascertained that he’s a playa, considering how fast he has apparently jumped onto a new chick. And maybe it can also be accurately put forth that she misjudged his character. For we have to logically believe, on top of her being affected by him moving on, the termination of their romance came against her will. Or put more plainly it would appear that she has been done dirty, not vice versa, though that is just speculation.

Thesis Sentiment of “Don’t You”

So now it’s like she doesn’t want anything to do with dude. And all factors considered, this would be for two reasons. First of all she doesn’t want her ex, excuse our French, thinking sh*t is sweet when in reality he hurt her. But even more so, she is ‘still in love’ with him.

And such would actually be the thesis sentiment, not her being angry with him or anything like that, despite what character flaws he may possess as hypothesized above. So one way of looking at her internal feelings is that she cannot conceptualize being without him, especially when they’re standing face-to-face as “friends” as opposed to lovers.

So conclusively, it’s like the addressee is faced with an ultimatum. Either he’s going to take the vocalist back and love her the way she deserves or forget her altogether.

But on a bit of a more-positive note, Swift has explained that this is actually a seeing-your-happy-ex-for-the-first-after-you’ve-broken-up type of scenario.

So of course the vocalist is in her feelings, knowing that he’s living it up while she’s concurrently suffering. But there is also a good chance that as time progresses she will gradually get over him.

Release of “Don’t You”

This is one of six new tracks to grace the Taylor’s Version of Fearless, an album which Swift originally put out in 2008 and then re-released, with the Taylor’s Version subtitle, in 2021.

Well technically, “Don’t You” isn’t new in the truest sense of the word. And why? This is because Swift and fellow country songwriter Tommy Lee James authored it around the time the original Fearless came out. Swift also apparently cut a demo. However, it did not make it onto the original album. It was later re-recorded in the name of being featured on Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

Thus its official release date, via Republic Records, was on 9 April 2021.

According to Genius, the first time Taylor teased the forthcoming of this track would have been on 2 April 2021.

Credits

Taylor is the primary composer of “Don’t You”. The producer of the track is Jack Antonoff. Antonoff, a musician from New Jersey, is someone Swift first hooked up with in 2013. And as for his own career, having continued to work alongside Taylor as well as other acts such as Lana Del Rey and St. Vincent, he has proven to be one of the most-successful music producers of the 2010s.

But he has perhaps succeeded more so alongside Tay Tay than any of the numerous other artists he also worked with during that time frame. For instance, side-by-side they took home Album of the Year Grammy Awards twice, one in 2016 for 1989 (2014) and the other in 2021 for Folklore (2020). And by the looks of things, their relationship will continue into the future even beyond Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

Success of “Don’t You”

Despite not being released as a single, “Don’t You” still made it onto Billboard’s Hot Country Songs listing. In fact 18 different songs from Fearless (Taylors’s Version) populated that chart simultaneously. And in accomplishing that feat, Taylor broke the previous record she set with 12 simultaneous Hot Country hits via her album Red in 2012.

A song addressing Joe Jonas?

In terms of Taylor Swift’s real life, there has been speculation that this song may be related to the short-lived romance she had with fellow pop star Joe Jonas, where they dated for a few months in 2008. And he did in fact end up breaking her heart.