Cheating Hearts: “High Infidelity” Meaning, Explained
Taylor Swift’s scathing and scandalous High Infidelity describes a less-than wholesome relationship between the narrator and the subject.
She’s been cheated on, disparaged, and let down in several crimes of “high infidelity,” but what does the central metaphor mean? Who or what could this song be about, and how does it tie into the other narratives on Midnights?
Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of the High Infidelity meaning, line by line and crime by crime.
High Infidelity by Taylor Swift
- Title: High Infidelity
- Written by: Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner
- Track: 17, Midnights 3am Edition
- Pen: Fountain
- Lyrics from Genius
High Infidelity Song Meaning: Narrative Summary
- Setting: In the present, looking back on a past failed relationship.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (ex-lover, “you”), “affair” partner (“he”)
- Mood: Regretful, angry, justified.
- Conflict: They weren’t playing on the same team. They were opponents instead of partners.
- Inciting Incident: “Lock broken, slur spoken” : A fight or breakup.
- Quest: Tell him exactly why she did what she did.
- Symbols & Metaphors: “high infidelity,” “lock broken, slur spoken,” “wound open, game token,” “keeping count,” “rain soaking, blind hoping,” “freeloading,” “records,” “regret me,” “bent the truth,” “dancing around it,” “headphones,” “burn my city,” “picket fence is sharp as knives,” “April 29th,” “constellations in his eyes,” “storm coming,” “good husband,” “bad omen,” “down the aisle,” “know me,” “right thing at the time,” “kill the one you love,” “brought me back to life,” “never enough.”
- Lesson: Love can be a game, but it shouldn’t be a war.
What is High Infidelity About?
High Infidelity is about a past relationship that ended badly. Taylor creates an intricate musical metaphor by combining “high fidelity” (the quality of recorded sound) with “infidelity” (cheating) and “high treason” (a crime of betrayal).
An ex-lover betrayed her in an act of “high infidelity,” and she returned the crime with a crime of her own.
Who is High Infidelity About?
Taylor has never explicitly revealed who High Infidelity is about.
Most fans point to DJ Calvin Harris as the ex-lover portrayed in the lyrics, pointing to the musical metaphors of high fidelity, records, and headphones as clues to his identity.
Swifties think the reference to April 29th allude to an interview Calvin Harris gave on that date, in which he seemingly disparaged his then-girlfriend.
This was a few days before the Met Gala “bleacherella” moment, and Swift would soon date Tom Hiddleston then Joe Alwyn.
The person she seemingly leaves the subject of the song for could be either of these men, but this is all speculation.
High Infidelity Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line
The first verse describes the slow downfall of a relationship.
“Lock broken, slur spoken” means that the chains that bound Taylor to her partner were unlocked, and she was set free. She was set free by the “slur spoken”: an offensive and disparaging remark.
“Wound open, game token” describes how painful this slur was: it left an open wound. “Game token” describes this relationship as a game that’s “pay to play.” She thought they were on equal footing in the game of love, but he wasn’t playing fair.
“I didn’t know you were keeping count,” she says. She thought they were on the same team, but all the while he was keeping a list of her offenses against him.
“Rain soaking, blind hoping” describes a storm rolling in, and she blindly hopes that it won’t wreck them.
“You said I was freeloading,” she says, “I didn’t know you were keeping count.” In this “pay to play game,” he thinks she wasn’t holding up her side of the bargain. She didn’t know there was a running tally – she thought love should be given freely.
But all the while, he was secretly keeping a tab, and payment is coming due.
Chorus: “Your Picket Fence is Sharp as Knives”
“High infidelity” is the central metaphor, and it’s a complex one.
“High Fidelity” is the title of a Nick Hornby novel (and later a cult-classic film, then a TV series) about a record store owner who tries to figure out why all his past relationships went wrong.
But “high fidelity” is also the quality of recorded sound, and how true it sounds to the original performance.
Combined with “high crimes and misdemeanors” – a phrase stemming from the US Constitution with a lax criteria of determining guilt – it means Taylor is convicting her lover of a grave offense.
But he’s also convicting her of the same crime: cheating in their “game of love.” He’s keeping count of every mis-step she takes, but he’s taken severe mis-steps, too.
“Put on your records and regret me” ties in with the central recording metaphor, and also means to show the evidence. ‘Show me what I did to offend you,’ Taylor says.
“I bent the truth too far tonight,” she says, leaning on white lies to skate around the issue. “I was dancing around, dancing around it.” She’s both avoiding the issue, and “dancing” to distract herself. She’s trying to have fun in a very un-fun situation.
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“Put on your headphones and burn my city,” she says to him. He can block out the chatter of the rest of the world (or sit down for that infamous interview?) and disparage her. Here, “my city” means where she lives: her life, her career, her reputation. He wants to burn it all to the ground.
“Your picket fence is sharp as knives” means that he’s two-faced. He portrays himself as wholesome and good, like a picket fence, but that image allows him to disguise his true nature. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“I was dancing around, dancing around it” this time means she’s avoiding his daggers. She’s trying to dodge being wounded by him.
Refrain & Verse 2: “Do You Really Wanna Know Where I Was April 29th?”
“Do you really wanna know where I was April 29th?” she asks him. Does he really want to know the truth about what happened? It’ll cause him more pain.
She was with someone else. “Do I really have to chart the constellations in his eyes?” she asks. Does she really have to say the name, and show him how this new person’s navigational stars guided her ship into calmer waters?
Both “starry eyes” and maritime navigation are common Taylor metaphors, like in Call it What You Want (“starry eyes sparkin’ up my darkest night”), willow (“I’m like the water when your ship rolled in that night”), gold rush, long story short and evermore.
Here, this new lover’s eyes light her path home, leading her ship to shore where it’s safe and calm. But the storm is still rolling in – she’s not safe yet.
“Storm coming, good husband / bad omen” means that the danger is coming closer. He seems like a “good husband” on paper with his picket fences. But in reality, he’s a “bad omen” of things to come.
He “dragged my feet right down the aisle,” meaning he forced her to settle down when she wasn’t ready.
She ended up “At the house lonely” – she didn’t want to get “married” to this person, despite the “good money.”
She’d “pay if you just know me,” meaning she’d give all the money up if he could just see her for who she really is. Instead, he just “tolerates it,” leaving her lonely and bereft.
“Seemed like the right thing at the time” means either that it seemed like the right thing to get “married” at the time, or it seemed like a good idea to cheat because she was so unhappy.
Refrain: “The Slowest Way is Never Loving Them Enough”
“You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love,” she says. There’s a myriad of ways you can break the heart of the person you supposedly love. He’s tried all of them with her.
This lyric alludes to a Paul Simon song 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. That song is also about suffering inside a relationship, and suggests ways to get out.
But “the slowest way,” she says, “is never loving them enough.” He’s metaphorically killed her by tolerating it, slowly withdrawing, keeping score, and disparaging her reputation.
Then she comes in with her own kill shot to him: “do you really want to know where I was April 29th?” she asks. If she told him, he would die his own metaphorical death.
“Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?” she asks. This new person – who she committed “high infidelity” with – brought her back from a deadly heartbreak. He renewed her mind, body and spirit after her ex tried to bury her.
Final Chorus & Outro: “But, Oh, You Were Keeping Count”
The post-chorus repeats, “there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love.” But then instead of “the slowest way is never loving them enough,” she says, “it’s never enough, it’s never enough.”
There are never enough ways to kill your lover – she wants more revenge, more pain inflicted on him. She wants to obliterate him the way he obliterated her.
The outro repeats the first verse: “lock broken, slur spoken.” She’s breaking out of the metaphorical locks and chains of this relationship, and the key – the final means to break away – was the “slur spoken.” It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“You said I was freeloading,” she says again, “I didn’t know you were keeping count.” She didn’t know that every minor slight was being tallied against her. This game of love was rigged, and it was rigged for her to lose.
Why? They were never playing on the same team.
“But, oh, you were keeping count,” she says, emphasizing the many ways he tried to cheat the game. He was keeping count of each minor slight, and keeping count of all the ways he could kill her.
But she was keeping count, too. And now she lines up each bullet – each piece of evidence of the wrongs he committed – and puts them in a song to release to the world.
Game, set, match. Your move.
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High Infidelity Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
This track is a metaphor-heavy song, with complex lyrics involving games, death, ships in the night, and rebirth.
What does it all mean? ‘You hurt me, but I can hurt you, too. You weren’t exactly perfect yourself.’
What I love most about these lyrics is that “infidelity” doesn’t necessarily mean cheating or having an affair. It means not being true to the one you love: not knowing them, appreciating them, or valuing them.
You should not be keeping score against them, you should be playing on the same team.
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