“Getaway Car”

“Getaway Car,” from Swift’s album reputation, is another song that showcases her ability to tell an engaging story through writing. On the surface, the song seems to be about a couple that commits crimes together and drives off in a getaway car until one of them ditches the other to get away from the police. However, in true Taylor Swift fashion, the entire storyline is a metaphor for a love triangle. She introduces us to this narrative with the line “I wanted to leave him; I needed a reason.” Swift explains how unhappy she was in a relationship and was looking for a way out. It turns out that her “way out” was a person, and she escapes her previous relationship in a “getaway car” driven by her new lover. Swift goes on to stress that she knew, and her new lover should have known, that the rebound relationship would never last; “No they never get far / No nothing good starts in a getaway car.” The ending of the story is the most brilliant because Swift changes the narrative in a way that makes sense and adds to the emotion of the song. Suddenly, she abandons her new lover (“Left you in the motel bar / Took the money in the bag and I stole the keys / That was the last time you ever saw me”) and drives the getaway car herself. The chorus leads to an incredible bridge that makes you feel lifted into the air all the way through the last verse.  

Best track aspect: the “ah-ah-ah-ah-ahhhhhh’s” that happen in the chorus 

Best lyrics: “Riding in a getaway car / There were sirens in the beat of your heart / Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave / Think about the place where you first met me”