Taylor Swift’s Songs About Friendship
1. ‘Peace’
Starting with an up-to-date track by this exceptionally popular singer-songwriter called ‘Peace’. Taylor Swift has written and co-produced a generous quantity of music since the opening of her career.
For many fans and critics alike, this track has attracted considerable praise and popularity. Perhaps the intimate nature of this song is where its appeal comes from.
It came to light in July 2020 and is the fifteenth track on her eighth studio album ‘Folklore’. ‘Peace’ is not sophisticated, overproduced song; quite the reverse. It is a simple but alluring track laid down over a gentle electronic pulse that runs for the song’s duration.
There’s no fancy frippery here, just a soft piano, a rising guitar riff, a few sparse guitar chords, and Swift’s earnest vocals. The melodic line gives the impression of being simple, but when you pay close attention, you realise it not only has a broad range but rhythmically is quite complex.
It adds a certain urgency to the song, highlighting perhaps Swift’s anxiety about this relationship and how her public life will always impact it. The song is deeply personal to her, with passion and pain threading their way through the lyrics and the performance.
And it is in the lyrics where we find the friendship element in sharp relief. Even though Swift tells her lover that her public life will always rear its ugly head, she’s there for him.
“The devil’s in the details, But you’ve got a friend in me”. Sometimes at the heart of the strongest relationships is an enduring friendship that never dies.
2. ‘It’s Nice To Have A Friend’
Tracking back in time, this sweet little song comes from her album called ‘Love’ which was released in 2019. There’s a similar charm and elegance to this song as there was with ‘Peace’. What it doesn’t have is the slightly harder electronic aspect.
Instead, this is replaced with a light, child-like ukulele that sits gently on the off-beat. The subtle addition of steel drums brings an added dreamy quality to the song with a hint of the Caribbean, perhaps?
‘It’s Nice To Have A Friend’ has a naïve quality to it that mirrors the essence of the lyrics. Sounds softly blur with the wash of reverb, making the whole song seem like a dream.
How Swift performs the song is also simple and child-like. Short phrases, straightforward words, and rhymes are similar to playground songs. This is the friendship that’s sung about in the track.
The lyrics tell a short account of two people meeting at school when they were probably very young. What is delightful is that this is so often how people meet one another and, if you’re fortunate, how friendships last.
As the two grow older, they grow ever more together. Like all good romantic songs, the couple in question gets married, and we hope they lived happily until the end of their lives.
3. ‘I’m Only Me When I’m With You’
Friendship and friends have consistently featured in Swift’s song output since the outset of her career. This song comes from Taylor Swift’s debut album called ‘Taylor Swift’ which splashed into record stores in 2007.
The album itself was released in October 2006. We are firmly back in Swift’s home ground of Country music with a liberal sprinkling of pop. This track is uplifting and pacey with an appealing if slightly predictable chord pattern and structure.
Underneath the music is a pure and simple message of friendship and the importance of families. These motifs feature in many of Swift’s songs and have brought her huge popularity.
The honesty with which this song arrives is refreshing when faced with so many impersonal, manufactured tracks from today’s charts. Something that seems to emerge from Country songs effortlessly is a set of values and sentiments that ring true to many without being patronising or complacent.
Here in this song, you can pick up on this. Swift wrote the song for her close friend Abigail Anderson, and it has become synonymous with many songs that followed. If you have a close friend, isn’t it true that when you’re with them, it’s the best of times just to be yourself?
4. ‘Long Live’
In 2010 Taylor Swift released her third studio album titled ‘Speak Now’. Produced by Swift and the legendary Nathan Chapman, this song was described perhaps a little unfairly as a “ridiculously over-the-top prom anthem”[1].
This overlooks the growing maturity of Swift’s songwriting and the innovative lyric direction. It is, after all, a pop song written not only to express something Swift feels strongly about but to sell records, and its success is a testament to this.
As a gesture of friendship and admiration, Swift has dedicated this song to the members of her band and her adoring fans. It is unashamedly nostalgic taking a long hard look at her pathway to success and just how much she owes to her family and friends.
Despite the fame Swift has achieved, she is not above recognising and celebrating the people who made her what she is today. This open reflection is an alluring insight into Swift’s world and certainly negates any negative apparent generic qualities the song may have.
5. ‘Invisible String’
For this last track, I return to 2020 and Swift’s album titled ‘Folklore’. For me, there are distinct parallels with the songs of Suzanne Vega in this track.
The breathy vocal delivery accompanied by light (rubber-bridged) guitar, bass, and background rhythms makes this an attractive song that heralds the sonic palette for Swift in 2020.
Each time Swift re-invents herself, there is a reassuring resonance of her Country roots. This is present in this track, adding warmth to the more produced aspect of the song.
The track has been lauded by critics as one of Swift’s most “lovely” songs. Along with its folk-like instrumentation, the lyric content does not fail to delight. ‘Invisible String’ is a poignant reflection of life, love, and the things that bind people together.
Here, Swift sings with curiosity about how she now understands how bound she is to her past lovers and friends. It is as if, she suggests, these friendships and relationships are pre-determined and shape our lives in ways we cannot always perceive.
According to some sources, this song has a passing resemblance to an East Asian myth that is called the red thread of fate. This myth suggests that an invisible red chord is tied around the fingers of people destined to meet.
[1] Rolling Stone Magazine: September 2013