Taylor Swift’s ‘The Archer’ Lyrics Are a Raw Look at Her Struggles With Friends and Relationships
@Alyssa Bailey
Taylor Swift announced the release of a surprise new song during her livestream this afternoon: “The Archer”—one that really explores how her own vulnerability and difficulty trusting people. (“All the king’s horses, all the king’s men / Couldn’t put me together again / ‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold on to you.”)
Swift explained during her livestream that “‘The Archer’ is not the next single. It’s just a song I love on the album. I haven’t made a video for it or anything. This is just sort of a glimpse into another side of the album I wanted to show you.”
Swift and Jack Antonoff worked on the song together.
As Swift explained during her livestream, on Lover generally, “there’s a lot that’s covered emotionally, and I really wanted to give you track 5 before the album came out. So track 5 is kind of a tradition that really started with you guys because I didn’t realize I was doing this but…instinctually I was putting a very vulnerable, honest, emotional song as track 5. So because you noticed this, I started to put the songs that were honest, emotional, vulnerable, and personal as track 5.”
“The Archer” (which could be a nod to the fact that Swift is a Sagittarius, and the archer is literally part of her zodiac) goes there on Lover.Listen to it below and take in the lyrics, via Genius:
Verse 1:
Combat, I’m ready for combat
I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?
‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies
I’ve got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you
Pre-Chorus:
Easy they come, easy they go
I jump from the train, I ride off alone
I never grew up, it’s getting so old
Help me hold on to you
Chorus:
I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey
Who could ever leave me, darling
But who could stay?
Verse 2:
Dark side, I search for your dark side
But what if I’m alright, right, right, right here?
And I cut off my nose just to spite my face
Then I hate my reflection for years and years
Pre-Chorus:
I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost
The room is on fire, invisible smoke
And all of my heroes die all alone
Help me hold on to you
Chorus:
I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey
Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling
But who could stay?
(I see right through me, I see right through me)
Bridge:
‘Cause they see right through me
They see right through me
They see right through
Can you see right through me?
They see right through
They see right through me
I see right through me
I see right through me
Pre-Chorus:
All the king’s horses, all the king’s men
Couldn’t put me together again
‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends
Help me hold on to you
Chorus:
I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey
Who could ever leave me, darling
But who could stay?
(I see right through me, I see right through me)
Who could stay?
Who could stay?
Who could stay?
You could stay
You could stay
Outro:
Combat, I’m ready for combat
