How Taylor Swift subtly addresses her iconic sad boat photo on “1989 (Taylor's Version)”
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You've heard of the Sad Keanu meme, but have you heard of Sad Taylor?
Longtime Swifties will recall a photo that made the rounds online in 2013 (below), featuring Taylor Swift sitting glumly by herself on a boat in the Virgin Islands wearing a blue dress and black sunglasses. According to reports at the time, Swift and Harry Styles had been vacationing together, got into a disagreement, and broke up, with said photo capturing her leaving the trip alone. (It all worked out for Swift, though, who would go on to create 1989, her second record to win the coveted Grammy for Album of the Year.)
Jake Hurley Taylor Swift on a boat in the Virgin Islands on Jan. 4, 2013
While the music video for the 1989 song "Out of the Woods" featured Swift in a blue dress, leading some to speculate if it was the dress or perhaps an allusion to it, she's never overtly addressed the "sad boat photo" moment in her music... until now.
On the just-released re-recording of the album, 1989 (Taylor's Version), the all-new vault track "Is It Over Now?" contains a fairly obvious nod to the alleged incident with the lyrics, "Blue dress / On a boat / Your new girl / Is my clone." (Fans have also pointed out that the latter half of the lyric seems like a companion or response to Styles' song "From the Dining Table," which includes the lyrics, "Woke up the girl who looked just like you / I almost said your name.")
"Is It Over Now?" is a breakup song from the perspective of a narrator wondering exactly when a doomed relationship ended (while also getting in a few good jabs at the ex, naturally). It seems to include several other references to Styles, including that infamous alleged snowmobile accident in 2012, lending credence to the theory that it could be about the former couple and their ill-fated trip to the Caribbean — and by extension, yes, that sadly hilarious photo.
If "Is It Over Now?" is a vault track new to most listeners' ears, it was technically written back around the time the rest of 1989 was. Swift and Styles have since moved on. They appeared to have no bad blood when they were seen chatting it up and applauding each other at the 2021 Grammys, and then fist-bumping at the 2023 ceremony, much to fans' delight. The two globe-conquering pop stars would probably laugh about it all today.
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