Taylor Swift’s New Breakup Song “You’re Losing Me” Mourns A Dying Relationship

Like clockwork, Midnights (The Late Night Edition) brought Taylor Swift’s first breakup song since her split from longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn. A “from the vault” track, “You’re Losing Me” might be the closest Swifties will get to a relationship post-mortem from the singer. Swift famously writes about her exes without explicitly confirming their identities, and, true to form, she hasn’t said anything about a connection between “You’re Losing Me” and Alwyn. Fans, on the other hand, certainly have thoughts about the heartbreaking lyrics that mourn a slowly-dying love.

Swift announced the song in a social media message that also unveiled her “Karma” remix featuring Ice Spice and new version of “Snow on the Beach” with more Lana Del Rey. After sharing details about the two remixes, she spilled the rest: “But wait there’s more… for those of you going to the East Rutherford shows - we will have a new special edition CD available ONLY on site starting at 12:30pm ET on Friday!” she wrote. “This CD will have a never before heard Midnights vault track called ‘You’re Losing Me’!”

The singer’s plans to only sell the CD at MetLife Stadium came as a disappointment to many fans, and they begged her to make it available to stream. Before another solution arrived — a chance to purchase a digital copy of Midnights (The Late Night Edition) from the Taylor Swift store before 8 p.m. ET on May 27 — Swifties were there for one another. Those who managed to get their hands on the CD helped the rest of the fandom out by sharing the lyrics online.

It became clear that the song was about a relationship going from critically wounded to fatally damaged. “You say, ‘I don’t understand’ and I say, ‘I know you don’t,’” Swift sings in the opening verse. “We thought a cure would come through in time, now, I fear it won’t. Remember lookin’ at this room, we loved it ’cause of the light. Now, I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time.”

The song goes deeper into the doomed relationship, including how she struggled to “throw out everything [they] built” before becoming ready to let go. Part of her progression, the lyrics share, is that she was alone in the fight and her partner wouldn’t acknowledge they were in trouble. “My face was gray, but you wouldn’t admit that we were sick,” she sings. Eventually, she’s done: “Stop, you’re losing me,” she sings, repeatedly. “I can’t find a pulse. My heart won’t start anymore for you, ’Cause you’re losing me.”

With what fans heard, many were sure it was about the end of Swift and Alwyn’s love story and some laid the blame at his feet. One person encouraged others not to see the two parties as “a villain and a hero,” saying, “it just shows that the relationship ended up falling apart as some relationships do.” Others, meanwhile, joked about it being the first song the actor and Swift collaborator didn’t get to hear first and him being the latest ex for fans to side-eye.

Read the full lyrics of “You’re Losing Me” below, as transcribed by Genius.

Taylor Swift’s “You’re Losing Me” Lyrics

You say, “I don’t understand” and I say, “I know you don’t”

We thought a cure would come through in time, now, I fear it won’t

Remember lookin’ at this room, we loved it ’cause of the light

Now, I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time

Do I throw out everything we built or keep it?

I’m getting tired even for a phoenix

Always risin’ from the ashes

Mendin’ all her gashes

You might just have dealt the final blow

Stop, you’re losing me

Stop, you’re losing me

Stop, you’re losing me

I can’t find a pulse

My heart won’t start anymore for you

’Cause you’re losing me

Every mornin’, I glared at you with storms in my eyes

How can you say that you love someone you can’t tell is dyin’?

I sent you signals and bit my nails down to the quick

My face was gray, but you wouldn’t admit that we were sick

And the air is thick with loss and indecision

I know my pain is such an imposition

Now, you’re running down the hallway

And you know what they all say

“You don’t know what you got until it’s gone”

Stop, you’re losing me

Stop, you’re losing me

Stop, you’re losing me

I can’t find a pulse

My heart won’t start anymore for you

’Cause you’re losing me

’Cause you’re losing me

Stop (Stop) ’cause you’re losing me

My heart won’t start anymore

(Stop ’cause you’re losing me)

My heart won’t start anymore

(Stop ’cause you’re losing me)

How long could we be a sad song

’Til we were too far gone to bring back to life?

I gave you all my best me’s, my endless empathy

And all I did was bleed as I tried to be the bravest soldier

Fighting in only your army, frontlines, don’t you ignore me

I’m the best thing at this party (You’re losing me)

And I wouldn’t marry me either

A pathological people pleaser

Who only wanted you to see her

And I’m fading, thinkin’

“Do something, babe, say something” (Say something)

“Lose something, babe, risk something” (You’re losing me)

“Choose something, babe, I got nothing” (I got nothing)

“To believe, unless you’re choosing me”

You’re losing me

Stop (Stop, stop), you’re losing me

Stop (Stop, stop), you’re losing me

I can’t find a pulse

My heart won’t start anymore