Taylor Swift‘s collaboration with Florence and the Machine on her brand new album The Tortured Poets Department undeniably stands out among its 30 siblings (yes, there are that many songs in the album’s Anthology version).
Titled “Florida!!!,” the duet between Swift and Florence Welch, is an anthemic rock track with a powerful, drums-heavy chorus defined by what is one of the most interesting bits of production in an otherwise laid-back and simply-composed album.
What is “Florida!!!” (feat. Florence + the Machine) about?
The morning after Swift released her 11th studio album, the singer provided audio commentary for iHeartRadio as the station played all 16 tracks of the standard version front to back.
Speaking about “Florida!!!,” Swift said the Southern state was often mentioned in the show Dateline as the place people go to run away from the law and start over with new identities. “When you go through heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks ‘I want a new name, I want a new life, I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all’,” the musician explained.
That’s the perfect summary of the song, in which the two women sing about escaping a hometown riddled with gossip, the consequences of your actions, and a history you’re just desperate to forget. Swift and Welch sing about their best attempts to move on from their past relationships, confessing to daydreaming about their exes sinking into a swamp. There’s also a fun reference to the song “No Body, No Crime,” from Swift’s 2020 album Evermore where the Florence and the Machine lead singer talks about someone’s “cheating husband” disappearing.
“I need to forget, so take me to Florida / I’ve got some regrets, I’ll bury them in Florida,” Swift and Welch sing in the bridge of the song. When the title of the track was announced, fans immediately pointed out that Florida was also the setting for Swift’s first concert on the Eras Tour after the news broke that Joe Alwyn and her had broken up. While the primarily fictionalized song does not literally reference the topic, the idea of going to Florida to escape from a heartbreak still fits this factual moment in Swift’s life.