Ah, Midnight Rain. This song has so much speculation about it but I do honestly believe in my soul that it is the sequel to Back to December. There are so many overlaps from these two songs that I do think its a more mature and grown up view of the same situation. So while I will be discussing lyrics, I also will show some crossover of these two songs.

Lyrical Interpretation

Rain, he wanted it comfortable
I wanted that pain
He wanted a bride

You gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye – Back to December

I was making my own name
Chasing that fame
He stayed the same
All of me changed like midnight

I’ve actually thought about this line a lot. There isn’t too much to dive into during this first verse – it’s pretty straight forward. But I have been thinking about changing, like midnight. Maybe because that’s the start of a new day? A shift from one day to another? Or the exact opposite of noon and the light that provides.

My town was a wasteland
Full of cages, full of fences
Pageant queens and big pretenders
But for some, it was paradise

I was thinking that the first two lines were metaphor, and they definitely could also stand in for that – but I think this verse is probably pretty literal. The full of cages, full of fences however I relate to – being from a small town. If you don’t get out the town sucks you in and makes you feel trapped. There is an aspect to it being paradise for some – some love the small town, know everybody, do the same thing every day type of life. I know many of those people. Other of us have to leave and when we do we never look back.

My boy was a montage

A montage: the process or technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole.

Pieces of different aspects to make a whole – for her? or for him?

A slow-motion, love potion
Jumping off things in the ocean

My guess is the montage is of these things – of slow and attentive, of love and care, yet adventure –
I am a little confused of why she says jumping off things in the ocean. Dropping off things in the ocean would be to let things go, jumping off cliffs into the ocean would be peak adventure, but jumping off things in the ocean has me kind of wondering.

I broke his heart ’cause he was nice

typical. we push the people away who are good for us.

It came like a postcard
Picture perfect, shiny family
Holiday, peppermint candy

So this is me swallowin’ my pride
Standin’ in front of you sayin’ I’m sorry for that night
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain’t nothin’ but missin’ you
–Back to December

But for him it’s every day

“it” being the life she saw or could have had. It came like a perfect family portrait, on a postcard for the holidays. The one you get in the mail and think about how perfect the life may be. Everyday his life paints this secure family portrait – whether because of his actual life at home, or the one he could provide.

So I peered through a window
A deep portal, time travel

I kind of see this as the current her looking back at her past. Seeing what could have been there. Although she would be lacking the fame and career, she would get rid of this speculation and other issues that have come up from her chosen path.

All the love we unravel
And the life I gave away

Wishin’ I’d realized what I had when you were mine
I’d go back to December, turn around and make it alright

I guess sometimes we all get
Just what we wanted, just what we wanted

She did get what she want in terms of a career and fame, but it did come with a cost.

And he never thinks of me
Except when I’m on TV

Taylor, be real this is a lot lol

I guess sometimes we all get
Some kind of haunted, some kind of haunted

Haunted by past actions and choices, hey anti-hero.

And I never think of him
Except on midnights like this (midnights like this)

Photo Representation

It’s currently super snowy in Michigan so I couldn’t do my original idea. However I thought about the lines, “peppermint candy” and “I never think of him, except like midnights like this.”
This self reflective moment that happens when we are alone.

These moments come and go. It doesn’t necessarily mean we wish we were in the past or that we had these moments or people back in our lives, but its valid to think about the what ifs. Constantly when thinking about my future I am terrified of decisions that will lead me to avenues that are not what I want at all.

I am a romantic and someone who hopes for the best – so what if I choose something that completely alters my life, and then the fantasized version of my life that I thought of, ruins both of the destinations I was contemplating on from the beginning?

apaige photography lyrical breakdown midnight rain taylor swift