Pretend Paradise: Taylor’s “Paris” Song Meaning, Explained

Taylor Swift’s playful song Paris describes an intricate fantasy world, where she holes up with her lover in a “Lavender Haze.”

What does the central metaphor of Paris mean, and who might this song be about?

Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of the Paris song meaning, line by line.

Cover image for a lyrical analysis of Taylor Swift's "Paris." A blue/purple starry sky background features bold text overlaid, with author's logo Swiftly Sung Stories at the bottom.

Paris by Taylor Swift

  • Title: Paris
  • Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff
  • Track: 16, Midnights 3am Edition
  • Pen: Glitter Gel Pen
  • Lyrics from Genius

Paris Narrative Summary

  • Setting: Inside the lavender haze, hiding inside the glow of a new love. 
  • Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (love interest, “you”) 
  • Mood: Escapist, romantic. 
  • Conflict: The real world wants a piece of their love. 
  • Inciting Incident: Gossip: “Did you see the photos?” 
  • Quest: Keep their love private. 
  • Symbols & Metaphors: “Paris,” “ex-friend’s sister,” “2003 unbearable,” “see the photos,” “might stop breathing,” “drew a map on your bedroom ceiling,” “the news,” “somewhere else,” “pretend alleyways,” “champagne,” “the view,” “privacy sign,” “levitate above all the messes,” “the shade,” “tree has grown,” “brainwash,” “transport,” “culture’s clever,” “swooping, sloping, cursive letters,” “flashing lights,” “tower at midnight in my mind,” “In an alleyway, drinking champagne.” 
  • Lesson: “Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours.” 

Who is Paris About? 

Taylor has never revealed if any real people in her life inspired Paris. Since Midnights is a concept album about the sleepless nights of her life, it’s could potentially be about any of her past relationships.

What is Paris About? 

Paris describes the lavender haze of a love bubble, in which Taylor and her lover create a fantasy world. The central metaphor of the city of Paris – the “city of love” – represents this early phase of love and obsession, where the rest of the world fades away.

Paris Lyrics Analysis: Line by Line

Annotated lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Paris" song, dissecting hidden meanings, alternate interpretations, and analyzing her use of literary devices.
The first verse reads: ""Your ex-friend's sister

Met someone at a club and he kissed her

Turns out, it was that guy you hooked up with ages ago

Some wannabe Z-lister

And all the outfits were terrible

2003 unbearable

Did you see the photos?"

No, I didn't, but thanks, though"

The first verse sets the scene with some superfluous gossip swirling around Taylor’s friend group. 

“Your ex-friend’s sister,” a friend says to Taylor, “Met someone at a club and he kissed her / Turns out, it was that guy you hooked up with ages ago.” A friend is trying to tell Taylor the goings on in their group, but it’s not someone that’s important to her. 

It’s a guy from the past who was only “some wannabe Z-lister,” meaning he’s not important. He was just a mistake, and Taylor doesn’t care about him anymore. 

“All the outfits were terrible,” the friend says of their past mistakes, “2003 unbearable.” 2003 was the age before social media, when the only evidence would be physical photos, or terribly pixelated early camera phone pics. 

“Did you see the photos?” this friend asks Taylor. Does she want to be reminded of her past mistakes with men? 

“No, I didn’t, but thanks, though,” she replies, dismissing this attempt at looping her into the gossip and rehashing the past. She’s not interested – she’s singularly focused on her present. 

1st Pre-Chorus & Chorus: “Drew a Map on Your Bedroom Ceiling”

Annotated lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Paris" song, dissecting hidden meanings, alternate interpretations, and analyzing her use of literary devices.
The first pre-chorus and chorus read: "I'm so in love that I might stop breathing

Drew a map on your bedroom ceiling

No, I didn't see the news

'Cause we were somewhere else

Stumbled down pretend alleyways

Cheap wine, make believe it's champagne

I was taken by the view

Like we were in Paris

Like we were somewhere else

Like we were in Paris, oh

We were somewhere else"

The pre-chorus brings us to Taylor’s present: “I’m so in love that I might stop breathing,” she reveals. This romance has knocked the wind out of her: it’s powerful. 

She’s preoccupied by this love, and “drew a map on your bedroom ceiling.” She’s been spending so much time in bed with this person that she maps out their imaginary future on the walls. 

“No, I didn’t see the news,” she says, dismissing all the silly gossip of her friend group, “’Cause we were somewhere else.” She’s far, far away, inside a love bubble with her new partner. 

Together they “Stumbled down pretend alleyways,” wandering imaginary back streets of their lavender haze

They drink “Cheap wine, make believe it’s champagne,” meaning they imagine their wine is fancier than it is. Wine is a common symbol in Taylor’s lyrics when it comes to describing love. 

Like in August, their time together “sips away like a bottle of wine.” It goes down smooth, no matter what they’re drinking. They pretend they’re wandering the streets of Paris – something Taylor couldn’t do in real life – and sip expensive wine. 

“I was taken by the view,” she says, alluding to both the sights of Paris and the view of her lover. Like in Delicate, this person is a “mansion with a view”: pleasing to look at.  

But this metaphor is more complex, because the “view” is imaginary. They’re not really in Paris, they’re inside a love bubble and blocking out the real world. She doesn’t have a real perspective on this relationship, because it’s entirely private. 

🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌

She was “taken by the view / Like we were in Paris.” Paris is a metaphor for their lavender haze love bubble. It’s beautiful and romantic from the inside, but from the outside, they’re just hiding away. 

“Like we were somewhere else” describes this fantasy romance land. Where they physically are is the bedroom, hiding away from the real world. But in their imaginations, they’re inside a grand romance, walking the streets of Paris and making their relationship public. 

Paris is the “city of love,” and Taylor and her lover pretend they’re inside their own city of love. 

“We were somewhere else,” she says, describing their imaginary setting. 

Verse 2: “Romance is Not Dead if you Just Keep it Yours”

Annotated lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Paris" song, dissecting hidden meanings, alternate interpretations, and analyzing her use of literary devices.
The second verse reads: "Privacy sign on the door

And on my page and on the whole world

Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours

Levitate above all the messes made

Sit quiet by my side in the shade

And not the kind that's thrown

I mean, the kind under where a tree has grown"

Verse two continues describing this secret lavender haze. There’s a “Privacy sign on the door / And on my page and on the whole world.” She blocks out the noise and chatter of the world, keeping her romance secret. 

“On my page” alludes to social media, like a Facebook page. She’s not posting pics of them together. She won’t let the world in on this secret romance yet. 

“Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours,” she says. If you keep it to yourself, and don’t listen to outside voices, you can create the most romantic setting in the world. 

They’ll just “levitate above all the messes made.” The outside world keeps churning, and keeps voicing their opinions on others’ relationships. But they hover above all the noise, and don’t have to worry about their own messes. It’s not a mess, because no one knows about it. 

“Sit quiet by my side in the shade,” she beckons to her lover. Stay here with me, she asks, where the world is quiet and we’re hidden from view. There is no glare of flash bulbs in their metaphoric “shade.” 

Their shade is “not the kind that’s thrown”: it’s not gossip and slander. It’s “the kind under where a tree has grown.” 

Their love can blossom and grow strong in this protected area they’ve established. This plays with the idea of photosynthesis: plants need sunlight to grow. But in their imaginary world in the shade, they can grow stronger without sunlight: without the public knowing about them. 

Bridge: “I Wanna Brainwash You”

Annotated lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Paris" song, dissecting hidden meanings, alternate interpretations, and analyzing her use of literary devices.
The bridge reads: "I wanna brainwash you

Into loving me forever

I wanna transport you

To somewhere the culture's clever

Confess my truth

In swooping, sloping, cursive letters

Let the only flashing lights be the tower at midnight

In my mind"

The bridge lets us in on her mental state inside this love affair. “I wanna brainwash you,” she says, “Into loving me forever.” She wants to hold this person inside the bubble, and convince them that this can last. 

But can it? It’s not in the real world. It’s in a fake world that’s not sustainable. 

“I wanna transport you,” she says , “To somewhere the culture’s clever.” She wants to take this person away to a place where they could be public without any backlash. She imagines that in Paris they could show the world their love and not get any hate. It’s the city of love, after all. 

She wants to “Confess my truth / In swooping, sloping, cursive letters.” She wants to make it officially known that she loves this person. She imagines writing it down, as though in a wedding invitation. 

“Let the only flashing lights be the tower at midnight / In my mind,” she says. She compares paparazzi bulbs to the Eiffel Tower’s midnight light show. She only wants their imaginary Parisian world, and not the real world where the media intrudes on her life. 

Can she ever make this pretend world a reality? Is there a circumstance where it would work? 

Breakdown & Final Chorus: “In an Alleyway, Drinking Champagne”

Annotated lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Paris" song, dissecting hidden meanings, alternate interpretations, and analyzing her use of literary devices.
The breakdown and final chorus reads: "We drew a map on your bedroom ceiling

No, I didn't see the news

'Cause we were somewhere else

In an alleyway, drinking champagne

'Cause we were in Paris

Yes, we were somewhere else

My love, we were in Paris

Yes, we were somewhere else"

The breakdown and final chorus conclude her escapist fantasy. 

“We drew a map on your bedroom ceiling,” she says. This time, it’s not just her drawing out their imaginary future. They both do. 

They’re “in an alleyway, drinking champagne.” This time, it’s not “make believe champagne” – it’s real champagne. It’s a real alleyway. Why the switch? 

The fantasy world has become the only thing that’s real to her. “We were in Paris,” she says, reiterating the central metaphor. 

Paris is their lavender haze: their private love bubble. They were there. They were “somewhere else,” which means ‘anywhere but here.’

This fantasy is so enticing, and feels so real, that she’s jumped in with both feet. And in her mind, they walk the streets of Paris in public, without anyone gossiping or taking pictures. 

But if they enter the real world, they’ll become “the news” and gossip that the first verse describes. They would become the chatter that she desperately tries to avoid. 

It’s a beautiful fantasy. But it’s still a fantasy nonetheless. 

🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌

Paris Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

If Midnights is the story of sleepless nights throughout Taylor’s life, Paris is a single night of all-encompassing, all-consuming love and attraction. It feels so important and so tangible that she creates an entire imaginary world out of this single night. 

But when she wakes up and has to face the real world again, she can see that Paris was never going to actually happen. It was only contained inside that private bedroom, and the private bedroom is not real life. 

It’s sure a lovely fantasy so hold in your mind, and keeps hope alive that one day she can actually attain it.

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