Taylor Swift delivered four gifts to fans on the eve of her first show on The Eras tour, dropping four new songs: three Taylor’s Versions of previously released tracks and a never-before-heard one, “All of the Girls You Loved Before,” a vault track from her Lover album.
The title seems to be a riff off of the famous YA book and Netflix film series To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; the screen adaptation first came out in 2018 when Swift was making Lover.
And lyrically, it seems to be Swift’s musing on a romantic partner’s past, seemingly boyfriend Joe Alwyn’s, before her and her thanking her predecessors for making her partner the man he is now.
Swift’s lyrics, such as “Every woman that you knew brought you here / I wanna teach you how forever feels like” and “All of the girls you’ve loved before (Ooh) / Made you the one I’ve fallen for / Every dead-end street led you straight to me,” denote how serious she is about him and how she sees their love as serious, endgame, and fated.
Many love songs on Lover were actually about Swift’s current boyfriend Alwyn, whom she has dated since fall 2016. The album even sparked fan speculation that they may have secretly gotten married. Of course, in the years since, neither Swift nor Alwyn have even confirmed this or even the other rumor they’re secretly engaged. Alwyn told WSJ magazine last April of engagement talk, “If I had a pound for every time I think I’ve been told I’ve been engaged, then I’d have a lot of pound coins. I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn’t say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn’t say.”
Still, back when Lover was released in August 2019, Alwyn and Swift were about three years into their romance and were seriously dating. Another love song exploring their relationship and the history leading up to them finding each other doesn’t seem out of place at all—especially one with lyrics that reference other Swift songs about Alwyn.
Here, the lyrics via Genius to take in and dissect, with some notes on references. You can listen to the track below:
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When you think of all the late nights
Late fights over the phone
Wake up in the mornin’
With someone, but feeling alonePre-Chorus
A heart is drawn ’round your name
In someone’s handwriting, not mine
We’re sneakin’ out into town
Holdin’ hands, just killing time
Your past and mine are parallel lines
Stars all aligned, they intertwined
And taught you the way you call me “baby”
Treat me like a lady, all that I can say is
It’s worth noting that in 2018, E! reported how Swift and Alwyn literally snuck around the U.K. to keep their privacy while dating (“we’re sneakin’ out into town / holdin’ hands”), and The Sun reported they wore disguises while out. “Unless you’re part of her inner circle, you wouldn’t know when she is or isn’t here,” a source told E!. “[Taylor] barely leaves a trace.” Lyrically, Genius users noted that Swift had similar lines about stars being aligned in Midnights‘ “Mastermind” (also believed to be abut Alwyn; “Once upon a time, the planets and the fates / And all the stars aligned / You and I ended up in the same room / At the same time) and their paths and past aligning in folklore’s “Invisible String” (“And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?”)
Chorus
All of the girls you’ve loved before (Ooh)
Made you the one I’ve fallen for
Every dead-end street led you straight to me
Now, you’re all I need, I’m so thankful for
All of the girls you’ve loved before
And I love you moreVerse 2
When I think of all the makeup
Fake love out on the town (Ooh)
Cryin’ in the bathroom for some dude
Whose name I cannot remember now
Fans on Genius suggested this “dude” was likely Jake Gyllenhaal, as Swift sang about crying in the bathroom in two Red songs seemingly about him, “The Moment I Knew” (“And there in the bathroom / I try not to fall apart / And the sinking feeling starts / As I say hopelessly / “He said he’d be here”) and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” (“Not weeping in a party bathroom / Some actress asking me what happened, you, that’s what happened, you.”)
Pre-Chorus
Secret jokes all alone
No one’s home, sixteen and wild (Ooh)
We’re breakin’ up, makin’ up
Leave without saying goodbye (Ooh)
Just know that it’s everything that made me
Now, I call you “baby,” that’s why you’re so amazingChorus
All of the girls you’ve loved before (Ooh)
Made you the one I’ve fallen for
Every dead-end street led you straight to me
Now, you’re all I need, I’m so thankful for
All of the girls you’ve loved before
And I love you moreBridge
Your mother brought you up loyal and kind
Teenage love taught you there’s good in goodbye
Every woman that you knew brought you here
I wanna teach you how forever feels likeChorus
The girls you’ve loved before (Ooh)
Made you the one I’ve fallen for
Every dead-end street (Every dead-end street) led you straight to me (Straight to me)
Now, you’re all I need (All I need), I’m so thankful for
All of the girls you’ve loved before
But I love you more
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
