“Need” by Taylor Swift

There’s a group of undisclosed individuals (presumably) out there who are known as Taylor’s Inner Circle and reportedly have the jump on all of the mega-popular songstress’s recordings. As such, they are also privy to those which haven’t been officially released. And so is the story behind “Need”, which Taylor’s Inner Circle made known to the public a few years back, early in 2020.

This wasn’t too long after the release of Swift’s 2019 LP “Lover”, upon which “Need” was originally conceptualized as being a part of. In any event it and another track Taylor’s Inner Circle leaked concurrently, “All of the Girls“, did eventually make it online, in full, on 1 March 2023 as unofficial releases.

WHAT IS THIS “NEED” THAT TAYLOR SWIFT IS REFERRING TO?

To make a long story short, the motif of this song revolves around the vocalist pointing out different types of emotions – such as “want”, “desire”, “lust” and even “fear” – which tend to define romantic relationships. 

But then, Taylor proceeds to verify that the way she feels about the addressee, her significant other, is rather genuine “need” – or let’s say, in context, the most-powerful type of emotional dependency that can exist between lovers. 

The vocalist therefore goes on to infer that without this person in her life, she would have a hard time breathing, in a poetic manner of speaking.

And, that’s pretty much it as far as this track goes from a lyrical perspective. “Need” is, simply put, a love song, though one which can be deemed relatively-simplistic as compared to those of Taylor’s we have come across that have actually been released. 

In fact it wouldn’t be out of the way to speculate that this song did not make it onto “Lover” for that very reason. 

“Oh, it’s a need, it’s a need
I would go anywhere that you lead
I am hopeless, breathless, burning slow
Touch me, hold me, tell me, ‘I won’t let you go’
I won’t leave, it’s a need”

CREDITS

“Need” was written by Taylor Swift. It was subsequently produced by a couple of her regular collaborators at the time, Ging and Louis Bell.