The Real Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's Closure Lyrics
As her followers did after the surprise July 2020 release of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's eighth studio album Folklore, millions of those same fans scrambled to parse the meaning behind the songs on Swift's second bombshell release of the year, evermore, which dropped Dec. 11, 2020. Fans immediately began on an Easter egg hunt for subtextual commentary on Swift's past romantic relationships and high publicized rivalries throughout the album's 15 tracks, including on the penultimate song on the record.
The single, stylized as "closure," at first glance appears to be a song about a person rebuffing their ex's attempts at offering a false sense of closure for a failed relationship. But according to a number of media outlets and posts made by fans on forums like the online music resource Genius, there could be multiple meanings to this single. More specifically, the song seems to contain references to Swift's adversarial relationship with a particular music mogul. So what's the real meaning behind Taylor Swift's evermore single "closure?" Read on after the jump to find out.
Taylor Swift's song 'closure' is more than meets the eye
Besides face-value interpretation of "closure," many have pointed out that the single might allude to Taylor Swift's ongoing feud with producer Scooter Braun. The feud itself was first reported in June 2019, after Braun acquired Swift's former label, Big Machine, along with the rights to her old music catalog recorded under their management. According to Swift, the deal, which Braun made with her former producer Scott Borchetta, was allegedly done without her knowledge — and, considering Braun's ties to rapper Kanye West, who Swift has also famously feuded with throughout the years — she didn't take too kindly to it.
As Variety reported in November 2020, Braun's company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, sold the masters rights for Taylor's first six albums to an unnamed company at an estimated $300 million, though others have speculated the figure could be as high as $450 million.
Others on the resource site Genius pointed out the chorus for "closure" might reference Swift's beef with Braun, especially considering the ways in which Swift has openly spoken about it. In an August 2019 interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Swift described it in ways that seem to overtly match the song's themes.
"You know, people go on and on about, like, you have to forgive and forget to move past something," said Swift at the time. "No, you don't. You don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget to move on." As she sings, she doesn't need your closure to gain her own.