Swifties are no stranger to decoding and analyzing the lyrics of a heart-breaking track of an album, and Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us proved to be no exception.
Abrams released the album on June 21, which includes a feature with none other than Taylor Swift herself. Abrams and Swift collaborated on the track “us.” and fans have one question: what do the lyrics mean?
The track describes reflecting upon an ill-fated, but short-lasting relationship. In the song, Abrams and Swift question if they’re missed as much as they’ve found themselves missing their exes by reflecting on how passionate their connection was, and the discomfort of sitting in the dissonance between the two of them now that their story has come to a close.
In the first verse, Abrams sings, “I know you know / It felt just like a joke / I show, you don’t / And now we’re talkin’ / I know your ghost / I see her through the smoke / She’ll play her show / And you’ll be watchin.’” Abrams explains how she views herself as a ghost, haunting her ex, finding herself unable to let them go or have them escape her thoughts.
Abrams elaborates upon the belief that in a relationship, one will always end up hurt. She also describes how she often wears rose-colored glasses in relationships, realizing flaws and faults in hindsight. In the pre-chorus, she sings, “And if history’s clear, someone always ends up in ruins / And what seemed like fate becomes “What the hell was I doin’?” / Babylon lovers hangin’ lifetimes on a vine / Do you miss mine?” Abrams compares her love to the Gardens of Babylon, describing how her grand, but secretive love crumbled and left her with little to show for it.
Swift joins Abrams for the chorus as they sing, “Do you miss us, us? / I felt it, you held it, do you miss us, us?/ Wonder if you regret the secret of us, us?” The chorus shows Abrams and Swift reflecting on the intimate, sweet moments of love that make a relationship so beautiful, wondering if the feeling of longing is reciprocated, or if their love now has a negative connotation, given its ending.
The second verse features Abrams and Swift stating that they know the love was reciprocated and that what was felt was real. In spite of that, they were met with coldness as they were letting this person into their heart and life, though they expected better given the love interest’s age. Swift and Abrams sing, “I know you know / It felt like somethin’ old / It felt like somethin’ holy, like souls bleedin,’ so / It felt like what I’ve known / You’re twenty-nine years old / So how can you be cold when I open my home?”
Swift and Abrams reiterate the themes of the pre-chorus as Swift sings, “And if history’s clear, the flames always end up in ashes / And what seemed like fate, give it ten months and you’ll be past it / Babylon lovers hangin’ missed calls on the line / I gave you mine.”
In the iconic bridge of the song, Swift and Abrams sing, “That night, you were talkin’ false prophets and profits / They make in the margins of poetry sonnets / You never read up on it, shame, could’ve learned somethin’ / Robert Bly on my nightstand, gifts from you, how ironic / The curse or a miracle hearse or an oracle / You’re incomparable, f*ck, it was chemical / You plus me was.” The bridge describes how a book by Bly on the nightstand is ironic because many of his books detail how to be a good man, while the love interest is anything but. The love interest feigns having these values, while in actuality, doesn’t. Abrams and Swift seem to struggle with knowing if this connection was beautiful or terrible, and how the love interest oftentimes didn’t practice what was preached and performed a masquerade of sorts.
Many fans have even made TikToks attempting to decode these lyrics, showing their own interpretation (as well as confusion about what the bridge means).
The two singers repeat the chorus, adding the new lines: “Mistaken for strangers the way it was, was / The pain of, the reign of, the flame of us, us / The outline, well, sometimes, do you miss us, us? / The best kind, well, sometimes, do you miss us?”
The ending of the song details the two singers coming to terms with the fact that their love interest was idealized in their minds and their love would often fluctuate in powerful and differing ways.