"So Long, London" is a song by the American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). She wrote and produced the track with
Aaron Dessner. A
chamber pop and
synth-pop tune, "So Long, London" is set over to
4/4house beats and has a piano and
synthesizer instrumentation. Its lyrical content concerns a failed romance and explores a narrator processing the fallout and its aftermath. Some critics applauded the heartbreaking lyrics and Swift's songwriting in "So Long, London", while a few others found it lacking in depth.
Background and release
Taylor Swift started working on
The Tortured Poets Department immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album, Midnights, to
Republic Records for release in 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of
the Eras Tour in 2023.[1] The album's conception took place around the time the media reported that Swift's six-year relationship with the English actor
Joe Alwyn had ended.[2] She described it as her "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make.[3] Republic Records released The Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024.[4] Track five on the album, "So Long, London", received particular fan interest prior to the album's release, because Swift had said that each of her albums' track five was its most vulnerable and emotionally intense.[2][5][6]
Music and lyrics
Swift wrote and produced "So Long, London" with
Aaron Dessner.[7] It is a
chamber pop[8] and
synth-pop song[9] that is set to
4/4house beats.[10] The track opens with Swift's
multitracked vocals singing the title that, according to the
Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, evoke "the ringing bells of London";[11]Cosmopolitan's Samantha Olson commented that they were reminiscent of a church
choir.[12] The song is then instrumented by trembling
synths and soft piano[13] against a muted
electronic soundscape.[11] Olson thought that the beat has a "heartbeat feel" that evokes Swift's past songs "
Wildest Dreams" (2014) and "
You're Losing Me" (2023).[12] Jason Lipshutz of
Billboard wrote that the "elastic synths sound like a shaking tightrope", while there are occasional "understated" piano and "ghostly"
harmonies.[14]Alexis Petridis of
The Guardian wrote that the production builds up to a "climax that never actually comes".[10]
In the lyrics, the narrator details a love gone wrong. The ex-partner is portrayed as cold and disinterested,[15] and the narrator laments, "You left me at the house by the Heath" / "You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days."[16] They portray Swift's character carrying "the weight of the rift", her "white-knuckle dying grip holding to your quiet resentment",[13] and her resentment ("I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free").[17] She tries to save the relationship to no avail.[18] After processing the aftermath of a breakup, she bids goodbye to a partner and a community she once considered home.[19] The narrator eventually abandons the relationship with the lyric, "I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use / The spirit was gone, we would never come to"; Alyssa Bailey of
Elle[20] and Cosmopolitan's Mehera Bonner contended that it was a reference to "You're Losing Me".[21] By the song's conclusion, Swift accepts her reality: "So long, London / Had good run / A moment of warm sun / But I'm not the one"[22] Bailey and Elena Nicolaou of Today.com, thought that the lyrics alluded to Swift's breakup with Alwyn.[20][18] Olson and Pitchfork's Shaad D'Souza described the track as an antithesis to "
London Boy" (2019), a track about Swift's infatuation for an Englishman.[9][12]
Critical reception
Hunter-Tilney considered "So Long, London" a career highlight for Swift, praising how she recounts a doomed love affair "with sorrow and coiled anger" and the "beautifully chilly electronic landscape".[11] The song ranked fourth among the eighteen tracks, including the bonus songs in an album ranking by Lipshutz. He said the lyrics were "raw honesty".[14] The track is also ranked fourth in an album ranking by Olson, saying it "holds up to its track five predecessors."[12] Josh Kurp from Uproxx said it was a "chilling addition to the track five canon."[23]USA Today's Bryant West called the song a "heartbreak letter" to London, which Swift once resided in.[19]
Will Hodgkinson of
The Times gave the song a five-star rating and wrote: "Heartfelt, tender and poetic, this is a real tearjerker."[16] Writing for Vogue Australia, Nina Miyashita called it "emotionally devastating."[24] Similarly, Rachel Martin of Notion said the track was the "most painful one yet."[25]Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph described the track as a "sumptuously sad and gorgeous, lyrically forensic dissection of a fading romance".[26] In the
BBC, Mark Savage acclaimed the song as being "up there with the best things [Swift has] ever written".[27]
Writing for The Irish Times, Finn McRedmond praised Swift's vocals, saying it had "an irresistible buttery quality" and thought they were best utilized in a lower
vocal register.[28] Mesfin Fekadu from The Hollywood Reporter considered it one of the best songs from the album.[29] In a less enthusiastic review,
The Scotsman's Fiona Shepherd thought that despite the "tasteful beats" of "So Long, London", it was one of the album's tracks that "succumbed to same old tame old business as usual".[30] Mary Kate from The A. V. Club stated that "it’s easy, to point to an analog, musically or lyrically, from a previous album", comparing the track negatively to Midnights's "
You're Losing Me", saying that "perhaps this wouldn’t be a detriment if we had time away from these repetitive themes".[31]
In a negative response, Pitchfork's Olivia Horn called Swift’s vocals "dirge", and pointed that the writing is, "at best, playfully unbridled and, at worst, conspicuously wanting for an editor. Swift piles the metaphors on thick, throws stuff at the wall even after something has stuck, picks up the things that didn’t stick and uses them anyway".[32] Grace Byron of Paste said the song's chorus lacked emotions Swift normally showcases. However, added that the song offered improved production from the album.[33]
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ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 202417 into search. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
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ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 202417 into search. Retrieved April 29, 2024.