"Cold as You" is the fifth track of Swift's debut album and details her experience with an emotionally unavailable guy. Unlike Shakespeare who compares his lover to a summer's day Swift compares her lover to a cold, rainy day. She told Rolling Stone that this is her favorite song on the album. In the interview, she said:
The hook is 'I've never been anywhere cold as you.' I love a line in a song where afterward you're just like 'burn.'
Swift penned this song with her frequent collaborator Liz Rose. She explained it in publicity materials:
I wrote this song with Liz, and I think the lyrics to this song are some of the best we've ever written. It's about that moment where you realize someone isn't at all who you thought they were, and that you've been trying to make excuses for someone who doesn't deserve them. And that some people are just never going to love you. We were halfway through writing this when I started singing 'And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through, I've never been anywhere cold as you'.
Notably, "Cold As You" is responsible for beginning Taylor's track record of the 5th song of each of her albums being "emotional vulnerable" ballads.
[Verse 1]
You have a way of coming easily to me
And when you take, you take the very best of me
So I start a fight 'cause I need to feel something
And you do what you want 'cause I'm not what you wanted
> Swift doesn't feel love, happiness, or even sadness toward her lover anymore, so she starts a fight so she can spark some type of emotion. Unfortunately, there are no sparks that fly.
Swift actually took the relationship seriously and actually liked this guy. However, while she wants to be in a positive relationship with this guy, he just does what he wants in it because he doesn't really want to date her. Basically, he can just pretend he does so he can get the benefits of being in a relationship. That's pretty cold.<
[Chorus]
Oh, what a shame, what a rainy ending
Given to a perfect day
Just walk away, ain't no use defending
Words that you will never say
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
> Swift compares their relationship to a perfect day. Unlike some of her relationships manifested as days, this one ended with rain. Rain gives the connotation of depression and sadness, so it's likely that's how the relationship ended—depressingly and sadly.
In fact, she just tells him to walk away, as he's going to defend something that he doesn't mean. Likely, he's faking smiles so she'll believe he loves her, but in reality, he's just causing her lots of emotional scars by being fake-in-love.
She juxtaposes the alternate meanings of "cold" to insult her former lover. Her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania has an average temperature of 52°F, or 11°C. That's pretty (physically) cold. However, this guy is colder emotionally. Ouch! <
[Verse 2]
You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away
And you come away with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you
> (1) This guy was very closed off and never really let Taylor get close to him.
Additionally, gray tends to be a color associated with confusion, the shades of gray between black and white – between simplicity. This guy confused Taylor a lot, and their relationship just wasn't simple.
Furthermore, gray also continues the recurring weather metaphor. Overcast days where the skies are grey are generally associated with sadness and gloom, and also foreshadow stormy times ahead – much like these walls foreshadow stormy times to come in the relationship.
Luckily for Swift though, things get better. In "Everything Has Changed" she meets a guy who also has walls, but the narrative changes as he says:
And all my walls stood tall painted blue
And I'll take them down
Take them down and open up the door for you
(2) Now that their relationship is over, the boy Taylor used to love will get to tell his friends the story about how in love she was with him. Taylor had high hopes for their relationship, but he's shattered those dreams and Taylor's heart. Her days of being a dreamer may even be over.<
[Chorus]
Oh, what a shame, what a rainy ending
Given to a perfect day
So just walk away, ain't no use defending
Words that you will never say
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
[Bridge]
You never did give a damn thing, honey
But I cried, cried for you
And I know you wouldn't have told nobody
If I died, died for you, died for you
>The saddest fear comes creeping in: he really never did care for her as much as she cared for him. This is perhaps the most poignant line in the song, which shows Taylor's raw vulnerability and the honesty in the simplistic lines. No matter what she did – even dying for him – it would never be enough to make him love her. This is a moment of hard-hitting realization – the cold, hard truth that he doesn't care and she has to let go.
These lyrics also parallel Swift's July 2020 song, "peace," on which she sings:
All these people think love's for show
But I would die for you in secret<
[Chorus]
Oh, what a shame, what a rainy ending
Given to a perfect day, oh
Every smile you fake is so condescending
Counting all the scars you made
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through
I've never been anywhere cold as you
Ooh-oh
Score: 9/10
(Lyrics: 9/10, bridge: 8/10, sonically: 9/10) Jo
My opinion:
I cannot believe how good she is at such a young age. This so well written. You can feel the emotions. Her first track five and it's a really good one. This in my top 5 in debut for sure. Not sure completely where it's stand. (I will let you know at the end of all the album review). I love the chorus at the end and the change in lyrics. She always does this and it's amazing to see that it's always has been right there. I love the last chorus where she changes the lyrics and also how it's flows.
