If youâre a longtime Taylor Swift fan like I am, youâve already listened to her new album, Lover, a thousand times every day since August 23. (If not, time to get on itââyouâre missing out). With this album, Taylor graced us with immediate new faves. We got bops like âI Forgot That You Existedâ and âPaper Rings,â and we cannot even try to forget the ballads, such as âLoverâ and âDaylight.â Lover, overall, is an amalgamation of power anthems, songs you canât get out of your head, sad boi tunes, and songs so romantic you want them to be played at your wedding.
All my fellow âSwiftiesâ have been arguing over which songs are skips and which song should get a single (Iâm a big proponent of âThe Manâ getting its time in the spotlight). Yet, one song, in particular, gets hidden in the shadows of the singles, âME!â and âYou Need To Calm Down,â and precludes the final tune of the album. That song is âItâs Nice To Have A Friend.â
I canât come up with one perfect word to describe this song. As the shortest song sheâs ever released and the 17th track on an 18-song album, it can easily go unnoticed. When I listen to this song, Iâm transported to a whimsical world of cotton candy clouds and butterflies-in-your-stomach love. Listening to the song feels like a dream. I know this is a big statement, but âItâs Nice To Have A Friendâ might be my most favorite song ever.
The song goes through the three main stages of lifeââchildhood, adolescence, and adulthoodââand applies a story of love to each stage. I view the song in two ways. The first is that Taylor is telling the story of one personââgrowing up with a childhood crush who becomes your boyfriend and eventually your spouse. My other idea is that Taylor is simply going through what friendship looks like in each stage of life. During childhood, friendship means play dates;Â when youâre a teenager, you start looking for companionship through romance; and as an adult, you wish to marry your best friend.
I highly suggest not only listening to the song âtil your heartâs content but also taking a peek at the lyrics. Taylor strays from the standard pop song format of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. The song has three short verses, one for each stage, with a rhyming pattern, and each is concluded with âIt’s nice to have a friend.â
The first verse puts you in a childlike mindset with lyrics, such as, âSchool bell rings, walk me home / Sidewalk chalk covered in snow / Lost my gloves, you give me one / âWanna hang out?â Yeah, sounds like fun.â
The second verse indicates the leap in time periods. Lyrics like, â20 questions, we tell the truth / You’ve been stressed out lately, yeah, me too,â reflect the feeling of adolescent romance. The song ends after the third verse of marriage-related lyrics, such as âChurch bells ring, carry me home / Rice on the ground looks like snow.â
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The lyrics are beautifully crafted and well structured, but the music is what makes the song so enchanting. The plucking of a harp and the sounds of horns make the song feel romantic. âItâs Nice To Have A Friendâ also features recorded choral vocals from students at Regent Park School of Music, a community school for underprivileged kids in Toronto, Canada, according to producer Frank Dukes in an Instagram post. The royalties from the sample actually go back to fund the school.
From the music to the lyrics, this magical song deserves more attention. Listening to it will make you daydream.
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