Mother’s Love: Analyzing the Heartbreaking Soon You’ll Get Better Meaning

Soon You’ll Get Better is Taylor Swift’s ode to her mother Andrea, who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time she wrote the song. 

It’s a very sweet, sentimental, but also heartbreaking love letter to her mom, who she could not imagine her life without. 

What do the lyrics mean, and what can we tell about Taylor’s mindset during this difficult time? 

Here’s my complete analysis of the Soon You’ll Get Better meaning, line by line. 

Cover image for a blog post that analyzes Taylor Swift's lyrics to "Soon You'll Get Better." A soft pink and blue cloud background features neon pink title text. Part of the Swiftly Sung Stories collection of lyrical analysis essays.

Soon You’ll Get Better by Taylor Swift

  • Title: Soon You’ll Get Better, featuring The Chicks
  • Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff
  • Track: 12, Lover
  • Pen: Fountain 
  • Lyrics from Genius

Soon You’ll Get Better Lyrics Meaning: Narrative Summary

  • Setting: After her mother’s heartbreaking cancer diagnosis. 
  • Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (her mom Andrea Swift, “you”)
  • Mood: Hopeful and hopeless. 
  • Conflict: She might lose her mom to cancer. 
  • Inciting Incident: First doctor’s office visit. 
  • Quest: Stay strong, hold onto hope, stay delusional that it will all be fine. 
  • Symbols & Metaphors: doctor’s office, “Holy orange bottles,” 
  • Theme: Delusion and distraction. 
  • Imagery: “buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair”, “doctor’s office lighting,” “holy orange bottles,” “I know delusion when I see it in the mirror,” “I’ll paint the kitchen neon, I’ll brighten up the sky,” “delusion”, “I’ll paint the kitchen neon, I’ll brighten up the sky”.
  • Lesson: Just because you ignore something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. 

What is Soon You’ll Get Better About? 

Soon You’ll Get Better is Taylor’s very personal – and very heartbreaking – message to her mom, who was diagnosed with cancer. 

She said:

“This song is one that was hard to write, because it’s something that I’m going through right now. My dad got cancer when was 13 and he got better, and it wasn’t a very long process, but things with my mom have been very different”.

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Taylor enlisted The Chicks to join her on this track, whom she has admired her whole life. For this already emotional song, it makes it even more poignant. 

Her mom, thankfully, seems to be in the clear now as she’s been at most Eras Tour dates, cheering on her daughter. 

Who is Soon You’ll Get Better About? 

It’s about Taylor’s mom, Andrea Swift, while she was going through a difficult cancer battle. 

Soon You’ll Get Better Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

Selected lyrics from Taylor Swift's title track "Soon You'll Get Better" against a pink cloud-like background. The lyrics are annotated with notes in red, highlighting various literary devices such as metaphors and imagery.
The first verse reads: "The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair

In doctor's office lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared

That was the first time we were there

Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you

Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too

And I say to you

[Chorus: Taylor Swift & The Chicks]

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

You'll get better soon

'Cause you have toThe buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair

In doctor's office lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared

That was the first time we were there

Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you

Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too

And I say to you

[Chorus: Taylor Swift & The Chicks]

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

You'll get better soon

'Cause you have to"

Verse 1 & Chorus Synopsis: I never told you how scared I was when you were diagnosed. I pray to every god to let you survive.  

The first verse opens with a scene from the doctor’s office.

Taylor recalls of this frightening moment, “The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair.” This small moment of a seemingly insignificant detail reveals how traumatic this moment was for her. In times of great distress, your mind will always recall insignificant details. 

Her hair being pulled by the buttons symbolizes anxiety that won’t let go of her.

“In doctor’s office lighting,” she continues, “I didn’t tell you I was scared.” She didn’t want to reveal to her mom how frightened she was, likely in an attempt to appear strong.

Recalling the lighting in the office is also one of those trauma memories resurfacing; her brain pacing over this moment trying to grasp onto something solid. 

“That was the first time we were there,” she says, which likely means that it was when they received the diagnosis, or the first visit to determine a treatment plan after diagnosis. 

“Holy orange bottles,” Taylor says, “each night, I pray to you.” She prays to the chemotherapy drugs, housed in little plastic orange bottles, hoping that they’ll work. 

“Desperate people find faith,” she says,  “so now I pray to Jesus too.” She’s searching in a desperate attempt to clutch onto anything that will help her mom survive. 

What’s most interesting to me in this line is that it (almost) acknowledges how she lost her faith during her transition from country to popstar. Early in her career, she mentioned religion fairly frequently, even in big hits like Our Song and Tim McGraw

Whether this was a calculated transition away from more “red state” lyrics in her slow transition to a more global artist, we’ll never know. But any mention of “God” or “Jesus” was totally absent in Speak Now

Now, she says she’s going back to it, by “praying to Jesus, too.” It’s the first time that she’s mentioned praying to any type of religious god since Fearless. 

Then, the central message, directly to her mom: “And I say to you…Soon, you’ll get better.” She keeps assuring her “you’ll get better soon.” But then: “‘cause you have to.” 

This is her admission that her mom has to recover, because Taylor can’t live without her. 

Verse 2: “I Know Delusion When I See it in the Mirror”

Selected lyrics from Taylor Swift's title track "Soon You'll Get Better" against a pink cloud-like background. The lyrics are annotated with notes in red, highlighting various literary devices such as metaphors and imagery.
the second verse reads: 
"I know delusion when I see it in the mirror

You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal

I just pretend it isn't real

I'll paint the kitchen neon, I'll brighten up the sky

I know I'll never get it, there's not a day that I won't try

And I say to you

[Chorus: Taylor Swift & The Chicks]

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

Soon, you'll get better

Ooh-ah

You'll get better soon

'Cause you have to"

Verse 2 & Chorus Synopsis: I can’t deal with the reality of the situation, so I live in delusion. But I keep hoping. 

Verse two describes more of Taylor’s mindset during this cancer battle. “I know delusion when I see it in the mirror,” she says, possibly describing her mom’s delusion, but most likely her own. 

“You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal,” she says. Her mom keeps on the bright side, making the best of a terrible situation by being friendly.

 Taylor, on the other hand, says, “I just pretend it isn’t real.” She’s fully delusional. 

“I’ll paint the kitchen neon,” she says. It’s a small attempt at distraction, at doing anything that will make the situation brighter or less real. 

“I’ll brighten up the sky” means she would try to literally change the color of the sky if it would do anything to help her mom. She can’t, of course, and this is another delusion. 

“I know I’ll never get it,” she admits, but “there’s not a day that I won’t try.” She won’t ever understand what it feels like to be her mom at this moment. She doesn’t know what it’s like to face death. But she tries her best to sympathize and empathize. 

She repeats to her mom “soon you’ll get better” again, and emphasizes: “‘cause you have to.” Taylor won’t know what to do with herself if she loses her mom. 

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Bridge & Pre-Chorus: “What am I Supposed to do if There’s No You?”

Selected lyrics from Taylor Swift's title track "Soon You'll Get Better" against a pink cloud-like background. The lyrics are annotated with notes in red, highlighting various literary devices such as metaphors and imagery.
The bridge and final chorus read: "And I hate to make this all about me

But who am I supposed to talk to?

What am I supposed to do

If there's no you?

This won't go back to normal, if it ever was

It's been years of hoping and I keep saying it because

'Cause I have to"

Bridge & Final Chorus Synopsis: I can’t live without you, and I never want to live without you. 

The bridge takes us deeper into Taylor’s delusions. 

“And I hate to make this all about me,” she says, reflecting that it’s not the time or place to be self-centered. “But,” she explains, “who am I supposed to talk to?” 

Taylor has always said that her mom is her “person” – the one in her life that she talks to about everything. Her one person is sick, and possibly dying, so who can she talk to about it with? And if her mom does die, who will she talk to then? 

Then, she finally says the quiet part out loud: “What am I supposed to do if there’s no you?” If she dies, what will Taylor do without  her? 

“This won’t go back to normal,” Taylor reflects, “if it ever was.” She can no longer go back to a time where there wasn’t the risk of her mom dying. 

But she’s also reflecting on the deep abnormality of 1) her life, and all it entails, and 2) her relationship with her mom.

Most adult women are not best friends with their mothers, so to go “back to normal” is to not have the thought that you’ll lose your best friend. And in the situation Taylor is in, she really needs that one person to be by her side. 

“It’s been years of hoping,” she says, which means that she’s hoped for years that her mom will make it. “And I keep saying it because / ‘Cause I have to.” 

She has to just keep chanting “soon you’ll get better”, because there’s nothing else she can do. She’ll lose her mind if she gets into a negative mindset. 

She has to keep repeating: “soon you’ll get better…you’ll get better soon,” because it’s the only thing that keeps her from absolutely losing it. 

It might be a false hope, but it’s all she has to cling to. The person she’d normally cling to is the one she might lose. 

Soon You’ll Get Better Meaning: Final Thoughts

As a person who has been through this exact same situation, I can tell you that Taylor perfectly depicts all the conflicting emotions you go through when you nearly lose a parent. 

You feel selfish for worrying about yourself, you feel like you would pull down the sky if they could just survive, and you chant in your head over and over: “they’ll be fine. They’ll be fine.” 

It’s all you can do. The rest is praying to pill bottles, doctors, and your god, if you have one. 

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