What's The Real Meaning Of Glitch By Taylor Swift? Here's What We Think

Ever since, well, midnight, on October 21, Taylor Swift fans have been desperately trying to decode her every cryptic lyric on "Midnights" to decide what, or more likely who, the superstar is singing about now. The star has always played a little coy when it comes to her songs, rarely, if ever, explicitly confirming exactly what or who her hits are about, though she did give us a little more of an insight into her state of mind before dropping "Midnights," which contains songs including "Mastermind".

Swift teased her new music in a series of videos shared on the Spotify pre-sale page of the album, revealing that the songs on "Midnights" were inspired by five things in particular. Those subjects? According to Swift herself, fantasizing about getting revenge on people, hating herself, considering what could have been had things gone differently, breaking down, and, that old chestnut (of course!) falling in love, per Billboard.

But as fans went wild over all the new music, even more good news came when Swift revealed on Instagram a few hours after the album's release that she'd be dropping an extra seven songs for a special 3am edition. One of those bonus tracks? "Glitch." But which one of her five inspiration categories does "Glitch" fall under? Well, we have our thoughts, and so does social media.

The mid-tempo "Glitch" appears to tell the story of what was supposed to be a hook-up turning into a full-blown relationship. Taylor Swift sets the scene right at the beginning of the song when she laments with the very first verse (via AZ Lyrics), "We were supposed to be just friends/You don't live in that part of town but maybe I'll see you out some weekend/Depending on what kind of mood and situationship I'm in." With the chorus, she then suggests that there may have been a glitch in her system as she began to catch feelings, before she later reveals it's been "two-thousand one-hundred and ninety days of our love blackout."

So, who is Swift singing about? Well, it certainly seems like the song could be directly linked to her romance with Joe Alwyn. The two started dating in 2016 (which would explain the equivalent of six years' worth of days of being in love) and Swift has previously hinted on tracks like "Cornelia Street" (which fans have also speculated is about Alwyn) that they started off casual before getting very serious.

As for what fans have been saying on social media? One pointed out that Swift could have written the song in April and may be referring to the day she met Alwyn at the 2016 Met Gala. There were a few curveballs too, though, including one person reigniting speculation about Swift and former friend Karlie Kloss.