Reckless Romance: Analyzing Taylor’s ‘New Romantics’ Lyrics Meaning

New Romantics (Taylor’s Version) is a peppy, danceable track from her 1989 album. But do the lyrics have an upbeat message, too?

Not exactly. The major metaphor is the ‘New Romantic’ movement of pop music in the 1970s and 80s, where Taylor draws her inspiration.

Let’s explore the central metaphor and dissect the lyrics to see what this song is really about.

Here’s my complete guide to the New Romantics lyrics meaning, line by line.

New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)

• Title: New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)
• Written by: Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback
• Track: 16, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
• Pen: Glitter gel pen
• Lyrics from Genius

New Romantics Analysis: Narrative Synopsis

• Setting: Wild and crazy youth. 
• Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (her friends or audience, “you” and “we”), “they” (people who ‘threw bricks’ at Taylor – likely the media). 
• Mood: Satirical upbeat. 
• Conflict: Tired of the same old narrative. 
• Inciting Incident: Boredom. 
• Quest: Have fun and don’t take life too seriously. 
• Symbols & Metaphors: “New Romantics”, “trains”, “scarlet letters,” “road to ruin”, castles & bricks, battles, “heartbreak is the national anthem,” card games/love as a game, dancing, freedom. 
• Theme: Enjoy your time being young and reckless. 
• Imagery: “show off our different scarlet letters,” “cry tears of mascara in the bathroom,” “ I could build a castle / Out of all the bricks they threw at me,” “ lights and noise are blinding,” “switch sides like a record changer.” 
• Lesson: You’re only young once and heartbreak is part of playing the game of love. 

New Romantics (Taylor’s Version) Lyric Video

What is New Romantics About? 

Taylor has said that she was inspired to write the song about something she wished would happen in her life. 

She explained, “I started thinking about all the people I have in my life who I love and I care about and I want to keep them close, and I realized that the lines that you write, they don’t have to be real. They don’t have to be ‘what happened last week.’ They could be what you wish would happen.”

She takes inspiration from the “New Romantic” movement in 70s and 80s pop, which was characterized by over-the-top dress and flamboyant style (Boy George, David Bowie, et al). 

The New Romantic movement rejected the current punk culture, so Taylor’s metaphor likely means that she’s rejecting the “traditional” idea of romance, and embracing heartbreak as a natural part of the narrative. 

Much of the song is satire, though, so it’s unclear what she “wish[ed] would happen.” Maybe it’s what she wished would not happen. 

Who is New Romantics About? 

It’s likely not about Taylor’s real life or real romances; it’s a track about what she hoped and wished for at the time of writing the song. 

The song takes inspiration from the New Romantic movement, which was a subculture of the music scene that spawned as a rejection of the punk scene. They used outrageous synth beats and fashion to distance themselves from the current dark and gloomy punk scene. 

For the New Romantics, it was about seeing and being seen, outward appearances, and everything was extra and over the top. The goal was joy and enjoyment, which was another rejection of the punk scene: they wanted to have fun with music, fashion and each other.  

That’s exactly what this song reflects: having fun, not being too serious, being young, and having your heart broken. 

New Romantics Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

Verse one opens in third person: “we’re all bored, we’re all so tired of everything.” They’re going stir-crazy. 

“We wait for trains that just aren’t comin’” means that they’re waiting for something that will never arrive. But what this makes me think of is the iconic O’Jays song “Love Train”. Are they waiting for a love that’s not coming? 

It could also mean that the train has left the metaphorical station; that ship of romance has sailed, and all that’s left is your friends.

“We show off our different scarlet letters” refers to a scarlet ‘a’ for adulterers (originally from the classic novel A Scarlet Letter). This refers to slut-shaming, which Taylor has always been a victim of. But here, she “shows it off” satirically. 

“Trust me, mine is better” she says, meaning the slut-shaming she receives is worse than anyone else. 

“We’re so young, but we’re on the road to ruin,” is also an exaggeration and satirical take on her treatment from the media, like in Blank Space and Shake it Off. 

“We play dumb, but we know exactly what we’re doin’’ references the theme of “got nothin’ in my brain” from Shake it Off. Here, she’s saying she’s portrayed as dumb, but she’s not: this is calculated, and she knows where it’s all going. 

“We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom” likely references songs All Too Well and The Moment I Knew from Red, in which Taylor cries in the bathroom.

But “tears of mascara” plays into the common tv and film imagery of the dumb blonde crying with black streaks running down their faces. She’s making fun of both herself and the common trope. 

“Honey, life is just a classroom” uses the common proverb “all of life is a classroom,” which means you learn from everything you do. So what has Taylor learned from all this? 

Chorus: “I Could Build a Castle, Out of All the Bricks They Threw at Me”

“’Cause, baby, I could build a castle / Out of all the bricks they threw at me” uses a fairytale or kingdom reference to represent the amount of “bricks” thrown at her.

The bricks are media grenades of slut-shaming. She could build her “kingdom” out of the sheer amount that are thrown (her career as her kingdom is a common metaphor, like in Look What You Made Me Do). 

“Every day is like a battle” likely refers to her media portrayal, “but every night with us is like a dream.” “Every night” could represent going out with her friends, or it could represent lovers in bed. 

Why is it “like a dream”? Because “baby, we’re the new romantics.” The New Romantic movement of the 70s and 80s emphasized excess and drama in pop music. 

Taylor portraying herself and her generation as the “New Romantics” means they’re all about over-the-top drama (like “tears of mascara” and ‘playing dumb’). But it’s all an act; it’s all an illusion. 

“Heartbreak is the national anthem, we sing it proudly” represents her new generation of ‘drama queens’ as saluting their heartbreak. But it’s also self-referential. 

Taylor was heavily criticized in her previous Red era for only writing breakup songs, and this is her response: a satirical take on that criticism.

She’s saying ‘all we do is cry and write breakup songs and make out with different guys every night, right?’ It’s sarcasm and satire. 

“We’re too busy dancin’ to get knocked off our feet” means she just ignores what’s said about her, which is probably partially satire and partially true. 

But what’s the message then, and what has she learned from the ‘classroom of life’? That “the best people in life are free.” 

No, she’s not talking about paying for friendship or love. She’s talking about emotional and social freedom; not being caged in by stereotypes and gossip. 

This also references a New Romantic movement song directly: Money, by the Flying Lizards. The most well-known lyric from that song is the common proverb “the best things in life are free.” Taylor has simply changed it to “people.”

This is her message to the media: “don’t fence me in.” She wants freedom.

🩵🩵 Can you pass the 1989 TV Lyrics Quiz? 🩵🩵

Second Verse: “We Need Love, But All We Want is Danger”

The second verse also leans in heavily to satire. 

“We’re all here, the lights and noise are blinding,” she says. This paints a portrait of a nightclub, but I think it’s more likely that she’s using metaphor to convey the lights and blinding flashbulbs of the paparazzi (like in the previous song I Know Places).  

So where is “here”? The land of fame and celebrity. The land where the media decides what kind of person you are before you even get to show them. 

“We hang back” means they wait for the game of love/lust to start. 

“It’s poker, he can’t see it in my face” means she keeps a poker face. He doesn’t know what’s coming. 

“But I’m about to play my Ace,” she says. She has the trump card – whatever that is – and is about to annihilate him in the game of love. This furthers her satirical portrayal of herself as a ‘maneater’ like in Blank Space. 

“We need love, but all we want is danger” means they only want love if it’s exciting. This is a common theme on the album, where love and tumult go hand in hand. 

“We team up,” means they couple up (or hook up), “then switch sides like a record changer.” This combines the game metaphor with a record player metaphor. They hook up, then quickly change their minds. 

“The rumors are terrible and cruel, but honey, most of them are true” is only 50% satire. The rumors are “terrible and cruel,” but “most of them are true” is satire, just like in Blank Space. 

Bridge: “Please Leave Me Stranded, It’s So Romantic”

The bridge plays with the themes of romance with more satire.

She asks someone – maybe a boy, maybe men in general – to take her hand (like in Blank Space), take her dancing (a metaphor for the ‘dance’ of love and romance), and then to “please leave me stranded.” 

“It’s so romantic,” she exaggerates. It’s not romantic at all, but it’s likely what she’s found in her personal life based on the themes in this album.

Final Chorus & Outro: “The Best People in Life Are Free”

The final chorus repeats. By this point, we’re fairly sure that the “new romantics” are not romantic at all: they’re pessimists. What Taylor has found of romance is that it leaves her high and dry, and gets her slut-shamed in the media. 

Is she really the new “anti-romantic”? In this era, she was. She was single, going out with her friends all the time, and writing incredible commentary on the tabloid’s treatment of her in her songs. 

It ends with “the best people in life are free.” The best people in life don’t come with any strings attached, like the ones without ‘invisible strings’, maybe? 

Are the best people in life her friends, and not her lovers? 

It’s pretty likely that’s what she’s saying, and it’s a bit sad that in the entire “classroom of life,” she’s concluded that romance is dead, and relationships mean cages. 

🩵🩵 Can you pass the 1989 TV Lyrics Quiz? 🩵🩵

New Romantics Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts 

This track is confusing, but it’s very danceable. So what is Taylor saying with a thumping, upbeat-sounding track that is pessimistic in every way? 

That sometimes life gets you down, so you should be “too busy dancing” to get “knocked off your feet.” 

Make some lemonade out of those lemons, or build a castle with your large collection of bricks.

More Songs From 1989 (Taylor’s Version) 

• Welcome to New York
• Blank Space
• Style
• Out of the Woods
• All You Had to Do Was Stay
• Shake it Off
• I Wish You Would
• Bad Blood
• Wildest Dreams
• How You Get the Girl
• This Love
• I Know Places
• Clean
• Wonderland
• You Are in Love
• Slut! [From the Vault]
• Say Don’t Go [From the Vault]
• Now That We Don’t Talk [From the Vault]
• Suburban Legends [From the Vault]
• Is it Over Now? [From the Vault]