Песня Taylor Swift «Babylon» показывает цену выбора статуса вместо любви

Три из четырех новых треков Taylor Swift из The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore кажутся вдохновленными ее романтическим прошлым («Patient Zero», «Pink Clouding») и настоящим («Cleveland!»). Но тема финальной песни, «Babylon», менее очевидна. В ней рассказывается история мужчины, который стремится вверх по социальной лестнице и пытается осмыслить то, что оставил позади: родной город, хорошего партнера и семью, пока гнался за богатством и более материальной жизнью.

В некоторых куплетах Swift намекает на его сожаление:

“You ran with all the wild things / A liberated libertine who then longed for home”

“You’re using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself / But darling, you end up hurting everybody else / The self-harm of never being where you are / It’s bedtime, but you’re sitting in your car / You’re missin’ all the best parts.”

В финальном припеве она показывает, как герой понимает, что его Babylon — термин, который обозначает «город, преданный материализму и чувственным удовольствиям», — стоил ему самых близких людей в жизни, хотя теперь у него есть шанс это изменить.

Swift поет:

“But you love this song / You wake up on the train and you’re all alone / Then that memory is all you want / You never knew that it was Babylon / ’Til it was gone.”

Песня как портрет героя

«Babylon» — яркое исследование характера героя песни. Хотя вполне возможно, что она вдохновлена реальными людьми, которых знает Swift, певица пока не раскрывает предысторию трека. При этом исполнительница не впервые использует повествование, чтобы смешивать правду и вымысел в своих песнях. Именно так было сделано на альбомах Folklore и Evermore.

В апреле она говорила с The New York Times об эволюции своего авторского стиля и о том, как ушла от автобиографических песен.

“I can only speak to me but as I’ve grown up, the intensity of the sort of no-pun-intended ‘message in a bottle’ nature of my songwriting has shifted and changed into something else,”

“It used to be like, ‘I can’t tell a person how I feel so I’ll write it in this song.’ And that was really important for me at the time that it was important for me. It’s also important when you’re in your early 20s, and there’s someone you shouldn’t talk to and you don’t want to call them because they’re bad for you and it’s toxic. So you just—you write it in the song, and that’s where it lives, like almost as a method of self-control or self-preservation or something. But for the Folklore album and everything like that…it wasn’t as a response to having a public life and the intrusions that come with that. It was really more of just wanting to challenge myself as a writer.”

«Babylon» напоминает о том, как дорого может обойтись погоня за неправильными вещами. Песня и ее текст приведены ниже.

Verse 1
The casino doesn’t like when you run the tables
And though the box is wrapped up nice, it’s just a cage to you
Those electric fences buzz
The stallion flees the stable
And that small town’s even smaller now in your rear view
You ran with all the wild things
A liberated libertine who then longed for home

Pre-Chorus
’Cause it’s where you’re from
Aunt Virginia with a church dress on
No elbows on the table
And the neighbor’s lawn always looked better
Your hand-me-down sweater should’ve been from the mall

Chorus
And you hate this song
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone
Then that melody is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
’Til it was gone

Verse 2
Give the people what they want, then you keep it movin’
Make your plans and friends, a stranger’s makeup on your tie
Twenty watches in the safe ’cause your time is money
Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb
She captured your attention, so free of all pretension
It stopped you cold

Pre-Chorus
Because she loved you so
Pretty as a picture that you didn’t post
Lookin’ at you like you’re made of solid gold
Never official
You mention you’re single to the girls at the bar

Chorus
You hate this song
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone
And then that melody is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
’Til it was gone

Bridge
You’re using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself
But darling, you end up hurting everybody else
The self-harm of never being where you are
It’s bedtime, but you’re sitting in your car
You’re missin’ all the best parts

Pre-Chorus
And they’re all at home
She’s hangin’ Christmas lights with your son
Sneak into the bathroom to call her mom
And say, “It’s not workin’
It’s just not worth it if we’re not what he wants”

Chorus
But you love this song
You wake up on the train with your headphones gone
Then that melody is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
And now, it’s almost gone

Pre-Chorus
Aunt Virginia with a church dress on
No elbows on the table and it’s almost gone (It’s almost gone)
And the neighbor’s lawn always looked better
Your hand-me-down sweater should’ve been from the mall

Chorus
But you love this song
You wake up on the train and you’re all alone
Then that memory is all you want
You never knew that it was Babylon
’Til it was gone