“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” by Taylor Swift, Thursday, May 18, 2023

If "midnights become [Taylor Swift's] afternoons," then the 3 a. m. edition of Swift's latest album Midnights are the hours the singer starts winding down for the morning. Today's song, "Would've, Could've, Should've" comes from the Aaron Dessner-produced fan edition of Midnights, which tonally bring the singer back to her evermore era. In the promotion for Midnights, Taylor released a statement regarding the album's concept. She wrote in an Instagram post: "Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21."

BUT, LORD, YOU MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT.  Taylor Swift scheduled three nights in Nashville for this run of the Eras Tour. Playing in stadiums, Swift's shows have had be delayed or canceled due to weather; however, the last night of her Nashville show was delayed for four hours when a lightning storm hit the Nashville area and a shelter-in-place warning was issued. Rather than cancelling or shortening her set, Swift took to the stage at 10 p.m. and performed her epic 45-song set, though opening acts Gracie Abrams' and Phoebe Bridgers' sets were cut. The final Nashville show ended well after Midnight at 1:30 a.m. The reviews of the show applauded Swift for soldiering through the costume changes, choreography, and guitar-picking in the rain, which the singer refused to use as an excuse for lessening the production value of her live shows. One of the features that makes the Eras tour special is the fact that Swift plays songs from every album she has released, and every show contains a few songs she rarely plays in concert. Each show contains a few exclusive songs only performed at that show. One of the songs performed on the final night in Nashville called Aaron Dessner to the stage for a rock-style performance of "Would've, Could've, Should've."

AND I'M DAMNED SURE NEVER WOULD'VE DANCED WITH THE DEVIL AT NINETEEN.
The sleepless night that "Would've, Could've, Should've" takes Taylor Swift back to seems to around 2010 when the 19-year-old star broke up with the much older singer-songwriter and guitarist John Mayer. Swift dealt with this break up on her third studio record, Speak Now, which not-so-coincidently Swift announced on Instagram just prior to her mini-Nashville residency as the next in her series of "Taylor's Version" releases. Meyer has been criticized for his relationship with the much younger singer. While Swift initially defended Meyer during the relationship, the song "Dear John" on Speak Now was pretty damning. "Would've, Could've, Should've" is a mature look back at a time when the singer thought she knew better than the critics, but now she sees that the relationship was an imbalance of power. And while, John Mayer has never been explicitly named in Taylor's work, fans wonder if there's going to be more "red scarf" moments in her "From the Vault" bonus tracks when the album is released on July 6th. 



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