“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” by Taylor Swift

Let’s say that so long as it proves profitable, Taylor Swift will keep dropping songs about her romantic history, or analysts of her tracks will continue to interpret them as such. 

After all, as far as the music industry goes, nothing quite generates clicks like putting forth that a song by an A list artist is about her romance with another celebrity, especially when the lyrics, such as in this piece, are borderline scandalous. 

But that said, it should also be noted that serious romantic relationships are such that even the defunct ones can easily end up affecting a person for life. So it is understandable on another level why Taylor may still feel a need to expound, as is being generally speculated in this case, on the amorous association she had over a decade ago with fellow musician John Mayer, who may have well been her first true love.

But of course as is also standard in these instances, it’s not like any names are dropped, nor has Swift specified that these lyrics speak to her personal history. 

Whereas this isn’t necessarily the easiest Tay Tay outing to comprehend, since the singer/songwriting goes out of her way to incorporate the titular words throughout this piece, it is clear that she is accusing a former lover who is older and wiser of negatively affecting her personal development. 

In other words, he didn’t have to seduce her, if you will, just to later turn around and ‘try to erase’ their romance. So these are basically the same accusations it has been deemed that Taylor made against John in at least one of her prior songs, that being 2010’s “Dear John“.

The Long and Short of “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”

So conclusively, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” reads like the case of a vocalist coming to the hard realization that a former romantic interest indeed stole her innocence or “girlhood”, as Swift puts it. 

Accordingly, it would seem that at the time this all transpired, she wasn’t fully appreciative of the risks involved when it comes to matters of the heart. But since then, with the vocalist now understanding that what was lost cannot be reclaimed, on top of still apparently reeling from the nature of her breakup with the addressee, it’s as if there is a part of her that will loathe him into perpetuity.

Release of “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”

This is a song that can be found on Taylor Swift’s “Midnights”, her LP which Republic Records released on 21 October 2022 and that proceeded to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. 

Or more specifically, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” is part of a seven-track add-on to the album known as its “3am Edition”, which is interesting since some have claimed that this is the best song on the entire project. Other fan favorites from this project include:

• “Lavender Haze”
• “Anti-Hero”
• “Maroon”
• “Bejeweled”
• “Vigilante Sh-t”
• “You’re on Your Own, Kid”
• “Snow on the Beach”
• “The Great War”

Credits

Unlike with most of “Midnights”, Taylor did not compose this piece with Jack Antonoff. Instead, the other writer/producer in this case is The National’s Aaron Dessner.

Fans’ Reaction to “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”

This track has opened up the door to many personal stories from fans. Mainly the ones who went through sexual abuse, manipulation and grooming. One Swiftie shared about how she was groomed at the age of 17 and was constantly taken advantage of by older men, and despite their different experiences, Taylor is one of her biggest heros. The main reason being she manages to use her pain to create beautiful artworks.

Further to that, Taylor’s vulnerability and ability to admit to regretting in this track (and many others) has given fans the strength to be real with themselves and embrace their regrets positively.

And of course, like every song, Swifties would also investigate who is the inspiration behind it. In this case, it was John Mayer who was 32 when he dated Taylor, then 19.

The “Midnights” Album

“Midnights” is a concept album released on the 21st of October, 2022 by multiple award winning American singer, Taylor Swift. It was officially released as her 10th studio album. According to Swift, she derived inspiration for the album from 13 sleepless nights of her life.

Swift featured American singer Lana Del Rey on the album’s 4th track, “Snow on the Beach”. This makes Lana the only artist featured on the album.

“Midnights” has the song, “Anti-hero” listed as its 3rd track and only single. According to the singer, the said song is one of her favorites on the album as well as one of her favorite songs she has ever written. 

Swift, being a record producer herself, collaborated with a number of renowned record producers in producing “Midnights”. The list of music producers Taylor worked with on this album include:

• Sounwave
• Jack Antonoff
• Keanu Beats
• Jahaan Sweet

The album was made available to the public through Republic Recordings, a New York based record label and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.

Success

Regarded as one of Swift’s most successful projects, “Midnights” became the most streamed album in a single day on music streaming platform, Spotify. With 186 million streams on day-one on the said platform, it broke the record of 155 million streams held by “Certified Lover Boy,” a 2021 album by Canadian rapper, Drake.

It achieved a similar feat on music streaming platform, Apple Music. Here, it broke the record for the most streamed pop album in one week. In the United States, it became the fastest selling album of 2022. In its first week alone, it sold over 1.5 million units.

“Midnights” earned the top spot on the Billboard 200. In doing so, it became the singer’s 11th album to achieve that. The album charted atop all major charts globally, including:

• United Kingdom
• France
• Germany
• New Zealand
• Italy
• Norway
• Canada
• Australia
• Belgium  

In 2022, “Midnights” broke the Guinness World Records in the following categories:

• Most First-Day Streams of an Album on Spotify
• Most Streamed Album on Spotify in 24 Hours