Country star turned pop sensation Taylor Swift is well-known for lyrics that are informed by her personal experiences, a tradition often adhered to in the genre that the star first debuted. In the case of “You Are In Love”, the lyrics weren’t about her own experiences, but about someone else’s, a close friend of hers.
Taylor Swift’s song “You Are In Love” is about guitarist Jack Antonoff and actress Lena Dunham, and the relationship that they have. Swift was inspired by both the song that Jack had originally sent her and the relationship he has with his girlfriend.
The lyrics of the song revolve around this relationship between Antonoff and Dunham that she has heard about, but is not something that she has ever personally experienced. She wrote the song together with Antonoff, making it a mixture of both her perception of the relationship and his own experience of it.
It Started With an Instrumental
The inspiration for the track all began one fateful day when Swift’s long-time friend and talented guitarist Jack Antonoff sent her over an instrumental that he had been working on. Swift was immediately enamored by the instrumental, being struck by what she described as how beautiful and poignant the track was.
The interest that the track had piqued quickly evolved into Swift entering into songwriting mode, as she immediately put pen to paper, riding the emotions that the song was invoking in her. She describes the track as sounding like “true love”, which informs us exactly why the lyrics took shape in the way that they did.
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The Inspiration
Swift is friends with both the writer of the song, Jack Antonoff and the actress that he is in a relationship with, Lena Dunham. Having long been their friends, and witnessing their relationship, a track that embodied the theme of love, written by Antonoff, seemed like the perfect fit for lyrics that explored her perception of their relationship.
Swift has spoken about this in interviews, explaining that the kind of relationship she viewed them as having was one that not only involved romance and love but also how they also regarded each other as best friends.
It’s something that Swift claims that she’s never had, viewing is as potentially difficult or mundane, but ultimately a beautiful relationship. The song that she and Antonoff made certainly went down a hit with Antonoff’s other half, who enthused about the fact that the song will make an appearance at the wedding.
@taylorswift13 my someday wedding song, as you know
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) October 17, 2014
Expressing Love
Although Antonoff and Dunham are the muses for the lyrics of the song, there are also some overarching messages woven into the words of the song. In keeping with the theme, that message is an attempt to describe the feelings of love that can, at times, simply be indescribable.
Lyrics like “You can hear it in the silence,” and “You can see it with the lights out,” attempt to fully put into words how love can be an ever-present emotion that whilst intangible and unseen, is always there.
Addressing her perception of love existing within the mundanity of life, in the second verse of the song Swift rolls around the idea of what might be considered a boring Sunday. The couple that is the focus of the song goes through a usual day, the good and the bad, but ends with the message of how robust and strong the foundations of their love is.
You get one further hint that the song has been written as a sort of third-person perspective in the final bridge of the lyrics, showing a realization of why couples in a relationship go through what they go through, and how her music is something that has helped her to understand it.
Swift’s Own Experiences
“You Are In Love” is a very different interpretation of love than some of Swift’s other outings with the subject. This time, it’s not depicted as a whirlwind of an emotion that sweeps you away or threatens to disrupt your life.
The overall message of the song is one of happiness and hope, likely thanks to the way she views the relationship that is the subject of the song, and how close she is to both parties.
