“The 1” by Taylor Swift

“The 1” finds Taylor taking a long journey through the world of nostalgia. And in the course of the journey, she remembers a lost romantic relationship. In one instance, she even wonders how life would have been today had her relationship with said former lover survived into the present. She’s apparently not in the happiest mood that said love didn’t work. However, she’s not going to let that cripple her. Actually the sad incident made her grow. And she explains that perfectly with the following line from the pre-chorus:

“If you never bleed, you’re never gonna grow”

At the end of the day, Swift is trying to let her listeners know that in life, not everything would go our way. We’ll bleed at some point. However, we need to shed that blood in order to grow. We simply can’t grow and become better versions of ourselves if we don’t go through certain hurtful episodes in life.

“The 1” is the first track on the track listing of Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” album.

Owing to the 2020 pandemic, Taylor worked on this song (writing and recording) in total isolation.

On Friday, the Twenty-Fourth of July, 2020 “The 1” was officially released by Republic Records. It was released along with Taylor’s entire “Folklore” project. This wasn’t a single, for “Folklore” was marketed with the release of three singles. And they are as follows:

• “Betty”
• “Exile”
• “Cardigan”

Swift composed “The 1” in collaboration with its sole producer, Aaron Dessner.