Hung Up: Analyzing The ‘Now That We Don’t Talk’ Meaning

Taylor’s incredibly catchy vault track Now That We Don’t Talk was all over social media the moment it released on 1989 (Taylor’s Version).

It’s a danceable tune that details missing your ex, and realizing you maybe never knew them at all.

But what else is this song about, and can we surmise who it’s about?

Here’s my complete analysis of the Now That We Don’t Talk meaning, line by line.

Cover image for the song analysis of Taylor Swift's 'Now that We Don't Talk' featuring the title in large, pale blue letters against a cloudy sky background. The phrase 'Taylor's version' is styled in cursive, indicating the specific version of the song. The logo 'Swiftly Sung Stories' is placed subtly at the bottom.

Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]

  • Title: Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version)[From the Vault]
  • Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff 
  • Track: 19, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
  • Pen: Glitter gel pen (with maybe some fountain). 
  • Lyrics from Genius

Now That We Don’t Talk Analysis: Narrative Summary

  • Setting: Looking back on an old lover or friend. 
  • Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“you”, ex-friend or partner)
  • Mood: Nostalgic, bitter, but resigned. 
  • Conflict: They didn’t work out, and Taylor lost something during the relationship. 
  • Inciting Incident: She hears this person went to a party (gossip). 
  • Quest: Rehash the past and trace her way back to sanity. 
  • Symbols & Metaphors: talking, “Red Sea,” long hair, “icons”, “tryin’ lives on,” change, prices and costs, friendship vs. lovers, dignity, pretending vs. reality. 
  • Theme: It was all for the best, but it still hurts. 
  • Imagery: “part the crowd like the Red Sea,” “You grew your hair long,” “ turn into a shrouded mystery.” 
  • Lesson: Everything happens for a reason. 

Now That We Don’t Talk Lyric Video

Who is Now That We Don’t Talk About?

Given it’s status as a 1989 vault track, many fans assume that it’s about who much of 1989 is supposedly be about: Harry Styles.

But Taylor has never revealed who it’s about, and we can only guess.

What is Now That We Don’t Talk About?

This track describes Taylor hearing gossip about her ex, and it affecting her in a deep way.

She knew this person intimately, and now watching them from afar, she feels like she doesn’t know them at all.

She reflects on whether she ever knew them, and whether she’ll ever get over them.

Now That We Don’t Talk Meaning: Line by Line

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The first verse reads: "You went to a party I heard from everybody You part the crowd like the Red Sea Don't even get me started Did you get anxious though On the way home? I guess I'll never, ever know Now that we don't talk"

Verse one opens with Taylor hearing some gossip about her ex. “You went to a party / I heard from everybody,” she says. 

At the party, he parted “the crowd like the Red Sea.” This is a reference to Moses in the bible, who parts the Red Sea with one movement. It’s a moment of magic and power, which alludes to her ex’s magical allure. 

“Don’t even get me started,” she says, referencing his aura and allure, which is magnetic. 

“Did you get anxious though / on the way home?” she asks him. This is an intimate moment: she knows him so well that she knows he probably has a bit of social anxiety. 

“I guess I’ll never, ever know,” she says, “now that we don’t talk.” She’s no longer in touch with this person.

But it’s more than that: they don’t know each other anymore. 

Verse 2: “You Grew Your Hair Long, You Got New Icons”

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The lyrics read: "You grew your hair long You got new icons And from the outside It looks like you're tryin' lives on I miss the old ways You didn't have to change But I guess I don't have a say Now that we don't talk"

Verse two describes how he’s changed. “You grew your hair long,” she notices.

This conjures up a rockstar vibe, which makes sense when most fans theorize the song is about Harry Styles, who did, in fact, grow his hair longer after they broke up. 

But who else has had long hair in the past? Matty Healy.

“You got new icons,” she says. This could mean he has new inspiration – musical or otherwise – or that he has new tattoos. 

“From the outside / it looks like you’re tryin’ lives on,” she says. He’s changed and changing so much that it looks like he’s pretending, just “trying on” different looks and personalities to see what sticks. 

“I miss the old ways,” she says. “You didn’t have to change.” This is her nostalgia, looking back at how he used to be, and how they used to be together. 

“But I guess I don’t have a say / now that we don’t talk.” Her opinion no longer matters to him. In the repeated use of “we don’t talk,” it comes to mean different forms of separation. 

They no longer speak, but they also no longer know each other, no longer matter to each other, and are no longer in each other’s orbit, all symbolized by talking. 

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

Chorus: “I Cannot Be Your Friend”

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The chorus reads: "I call my mom, she said that it was for the best Remind myself, the morе I gave, you'd want me less I cannot bе your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost And what it cost, now that we don't talk"

The chorus shows how much this gossip – hearing about her ex’s goings on – has affected her. 

“I call my mom, she said that it was for the best,” she says. She phones her mom – her closest confidant – to vent about the situation. Her mom reminds her that even though it ended, it worked out for the best. 

She then reminds herself “the more I gave, you’d want me less.” Did he only want the chase? Once he had her, was it over? 

“I cannot be your friend,” she proclaims. This likely means that she’s too attracted to him to ever be ‘just friends,’ or that any kind of relationship with him would be harmful for her. 

“So I pay the price of what I lost / and what it cost,” she says. What did she lose? Well, she lost him. But it feels like she lost a part of herself in the process. 

She’s still paying the price, whatever that is. 

Bridge: “What Do You Tell Your Friends”?

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The bridge reads: "What do you tell your friends we Shared dinners, long weekends with? Truth is, I can't pretend it's Platonic, it's just ended, so"

The bridge asks him how he explained their breakup to his friends, whom they shared intimate moments with (“shared dinners, long weekends”). 

“Truth is, I can’t pretend it’s / platonic,” she imagines he says. They were – in fact – a couple. They weren’t ‘just friends.’ 

“It’s just ended,” he says, shrugging it off to his pals. Or so she imagines. 

This bridge describes his  laissez faire attitude toward losing her. She wasn’t the “love of his life,” or his “girlfriend” – she was just “not platonic.” It’s a deeply hurtful characterization of their relationship that she images him describing. 

Chorus: “Remind Myself The Way You Faded ‘Til I Left”

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The chorus reads: "I call my mom, she said to get it off my chest (Off my chest) Remind myself the way you faded 'til I left (Until I left) I cannot be your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost (Of what I lost) And what it cost, now that we don't talk"

The chorus circles back around to Taylor’s looping thoughts of him in the present day. 

She vents to her mom again, but this time it’s to “get it off my chest.” This is a common description of venting your frustrations, but it also conjures an elephant on her chest: a painful weight that weighs her down. Was he that painful weight? 

“Remind myself the way you faded ‘til I left” describes how he dissolved into an apparition, until she finally gave up the ghost. 

But “faded” can also mean stoned and high. Was he a drug user?

Since she can’t be his friend, she continues to “pay the price.” But what was the price? 

The outro gives us more context. 

Outro: “I Don’t Have to Pretend I Like Acid Rock”

The image depicts a clear blue sky with soft, fluffy clouds, overlaid with text from Taylor Swift's song "Now that we don't talk" (Taylor's Version) from the vault. The writer annotates the lyrics for uses of lyrical devices. The outro reads: "I don't have to pretend I like acid rock Or that I'd like to be on a mega yacht With important men who think important thoughts Guess maybe I am better off now that we don't talk And the only way back to my dignity Was to turn into a shrouded mystery Just like I had been when you were chasing me Guess this is how it has to be now that we don't talk"

This outro is packed with info about what she lost and what “it cost.”

“I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock / Or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht,” she says. Since they’re not friends, she doesn’t have to pretend she’s someone she’s not. 

On the mega-yacht, there’s “important men who think important thoughts.” Does this allude to his friends, who have a bougie, misogynistic attitude? Possibly.

But the important part is that Taylor no longer has to be part of that ‘scene.’

Looking back on the posing and pretending she no longer has to do, she concludes “guess maybe I am better off.” 

So how did she find her way back after she lost herself to his world? “The only way back to my dignity,” she explains, “was to turn into a shrouded mystery.” 

This likely references her transformation between the Red and 1989 eras, where she said: 

“I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian Era.”

She turned herself into a “shrouded mystery” in her new home in New York, never spotted with men and only hanging out with her girlfriends. But that mysterious persona was the same “as I had been when you were chasing me.” 

She didn’t change internally, only outwardly. And now she’s commenting on his changing outward persona, but she doesn’t know him intimately – internally – anymore. 

They’ve both changed, but much has stayed the same: they still don’t know each other. They never did. 

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

Now That We Don’t Talk Analysis: Final Thoughts

NTWDT is an interesting peek into Taylor’s world of unreleased feelings in the 1989 era. She reflects on how she’s changed, how he’s changed, and what that means for both of them in the present day.

Did they ever have a chance? Will they ever have a chance again?

It’s unclear, but it seems like they’re both still hung up on one another, though the phone line between them has gone dead…for now.

More Songs From 1989 (Taylor’s Version) 

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