Renegade
Written By Taylor Swift & Aaron Dessner
Produced By Aaron Dessner
By Big Red Machine
Featuring Taylor Swift
About
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This song is a ✨Single✨.
“Renegade” describes being with someone who deals with mental health issues, while expressing both sympathy and frustration for how it affects the relationship. Fans believe it may take inspiration from Swift's relationship with Joe Alwyn, who stayed by her side through the mental health battles she describes on songs like “The Archer.”
“Renegade” is one of two Taylor Swift collaborations on How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?, along with “Birch,” both of which she helped co-write. As reported by Secretly Store, Swift recorded her vocals while quarantining with Aaron Dessner ahead of the 2021 Grammys, where Swift and Dessner won the Album of the Year accolade for folklore.
This isn't the first time Taylor and Justin Vernon have vocals on the same track, with them both also featuring on four of Swift's 2020 Dessner produced tracks (They duetted on exile and evermore whilst Vernon also provided backing vocals for her tracks ivy and marjorie).
Lyrics
[Verse 1: Taylor Swift]
I tapped on your window on your darkest night
The shape of you was jagged and weak
There was nowhere for me to stay, but I stayed anyway
And if I would've known
How many pieces you had crumbled into
I might have let them lay
[Chorus: Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon]
Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?
And let all your damage damage me
And carry your baggage up my street
And make me your future history, it's time
You've come a long way, open the blinds, let me see your face
You wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
[Post-Chorus: Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon]
Is it insensitive for me to say
"Get your shit together so I can love you"?
Is it really your anxiety that stops you
From giving me everything?
Or do you just not want to?
[Verse 2: Taylor Swift]
I tapped on your window on your darkest night
The shape of you was jagged and weak
There was nowhere for me to stay, but I stayed anyway
You fire off missiles 'cause you hate yourself
But do you know you're demolishing me?
And then you squeeze my hand as I'm about to leave
[Chorus: Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon]
Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?
And let all your damage damage me
And carry your baggage up my street
And make me your future history, it's time
You've come a long way, open the blinds, let me see your face
You wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
[Post-Chorus: Taylor Swift with Justin Vernon]
Is it insensitive for me to say
"Get your shit together so I can love you"?
Is it really your anxiety that stops you
From giving me everything?
Or do you just not want to?
[Bridge: Taylor Swift]
And if I would've known
How sharp the pieces were you'd crumbled into
I might've let them lay
[Chorus: Taylor Swift]
Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?
And let all your damage damage me
And carry your baggage up my street
And make me your future history, it's time
You've come a long way, open the blinds, let me see your face
You wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
[Outro: Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon]
To need somebody, to need somebody
To need somebody, to need
Are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these?
And let all your damage damage me
And carry your baggage up my street
And make me your future history, it's time
Is it insensitive for me to say
"Get your shit together so I can love you"?
You've come a long way, open the blinds, let me see your face
You wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
Is it really your anxiety that stops you
From giving me everything?
Or do you just not want to?