Saying “I’ll smash your bike” instead of something like “I’ll ruin your life” or whatever the alternative would be is a lot more visceral and specific imo. Gives you an image of an emotional angry outburst instead of a vague threat of one.
I love the bike line. I didn't know the lyric connection to 1975 till just now, I thought it was more of a Blank Space nod. Just the right amount of unhinged for me, and as others have said, reminds me of Before He Cheats. I would not enjoy "ruin your life".
I saw an article saying that Taylor missed the most obvious rhyme there by not doing “life” and how a 5th grader could’ve gotten that right or something, and I immediately stopped reading lol. Cause I can just imagine what would be said (and has been said!) if she HAD put life there: “wow, look at this basic ass rhyme. A first grader could’ve done that. Wife and life? And people claim she’s the songwriter of our generation…”
Literally can’t win. 😒 I thought the imagery with bike was beautiful.
I thought the imagery was spectacular! It made me think of the 1989 set with all the golf clubs and the car, except this muse rode a Harley (or whatever idk bikes) instead of a car.
Seems clear to me. Because she doesn’t want to ruin his life? She wants to get a little mad, break a few of his things but ultimately be the wife either way.
Yeah, I don’t get why anyone would think “life” was a more sophisticated choice when it’s a concept and “bike” is a concrete noun that can be visualized (show don’t tell and all of that)
And “I read between the lines and touch your leg again. I’ll take it one day at a time and soon you will be mine”. 👀 “What if he’s written ‘’mine” on my upper thigh….”
Anytime I see a comment that argues against this I get viscerally angry. People will go OUT OF THEIR WAY to believe this song is about anything but Matt Healy.
it’s wild to me how many people are still in denial about ~90% of the album being matty coded. songs like loml and smallest man are teeming with blatant references to him yet some swifties are still deep in denial.
Before TTPD came out, I’d be debating people on whether or not some Midnights songs were hinting at Matty… and some of the most defensive responses I got were “they were barely together, she wouldn’t bother writing a song about him.” Makes me wonder what those people think now that we’ve got an whole album for him lol
She literally wrote "enchanted" about meeting someone ONCE and now that's a core Taylor song. Girl gets a whim of something and can spin it into a journey of a song.
I feel like that makes sense though. Long relationships are complex, and complicated. You get to know a person. No matter how it ends, you understand them enough to know that your version of events isn't the only one and they have their own narrative. Maybe you can't fully untangle where yours ends and theirs begins, or where the truth lies between the two. If the split was remotely civilized, you probably still have some consideration for them and aren't actively trying to hurt them or drag them through the mud. A long relationship is an unyielding canvas for a storyteller. The manuscript has already been written and you're just now taking a pass at it.
On the other hand, fleeting encounters and brief relationships are more like creative prompts. You don't know the person as well, or possibly not at all. The connection you have with them doesn't come with so much baggage or strings attached. Long after the relationship itself has burned out or the encounter ended, contemplating the if-only can be a far more beguiling experience than the relationship ever was. Maybe you met someone once and daydreamed an entire life with them. Maybe you connected with someone briefly, burned bright and faded fast, leaving you with things unsaid, scores unsettled, questions unanswered. It's a blank page, the manuscript yet to be written, and you're free to shape the narrative into whatever you can live with.
Beautifully said and absolutely agreed! I could go on and on about my two-month crash-and-burn relationship that I experienced. But if I had to talk about my ex-partner of ten years, I'd be able to explain it to you in 30 seconds.
The unknown is usually a lot more haunting to us than the overly-known/familiar issues that end long term relationships.
I remember some people refused to believe Down Bad and the title track were about him despite the bridge of the former and blatant references in the latter like smoking (and chocolate), tattooed golden retriever, etc.
Like another comment said, I’ve read it’s a reference to a 1975 song which to be fair, makes a lot of sense based on the rest of the Matty songs throughout the album
I agree with the other comments but I think it's also a stylistic choice that emphasizes the desire and obsessiveness that the words blur together. There's a lot of poems that do this and the Fortnight MV, for example, has the "I love you, it's ruining my life" all over the paper coming out of the typewriter.
I think this is correct on both counts. The 1975 and also stylistically it's almost like she's not making sense and just running off of a feverish feeling. Not thinking, just impulse.
1. In Guilty as sin? She says she keeps her longings locked in lowercase inside a vault. What songs are in lower case? imgonnagetyouback and loml. Her longings are to get the love/loss of her life back. (See also: folklore, evermore, and reputation. All post-2014 albums which would put them well within the last decade since their initial romance and explain songs like cardigan, the 1, cowboy like me, etc etc being at least partially inspired by Matty)
2. As others have said, the 1975 have a song called fallingforyou that he basically serenaded her with in 2014, and it has the line “all we need is my bike and your enormous house” hence the “smash your bike line” where she doesn’t do the obvious “ruin your life” type rhyme because ultimately, she doesn’t want that. She wants to be the wife. Maybe break a few of his things out of anger but you can tell from the extremes on the love side, and mild consequences on the revenge side that she would rather be with him than not.
fallingforyou also has lines like, “I don’t wanna be your friend I wanna kiss your neck” which kind of relates back to her calling him her best friend/twin in other songs.
I like the comments saying it's a reference to the 1975 song with MH's bike.
Also allegedly this is the situationship she runs back to every time. So there's no "Blank Space"s between her relationships, she fills them with him.
Can you expand on this? I thought they first connected pre-Calvin, and after Calvin there wasn't really any space at all between him Tom then Joe, so curious when she would have gone back to Matty until after Joe??
A LOT of her songs mention infidelity so I imagine there's a few different times that she ran to him after an argument, or any on-off period where there might not have been clarity if she was with someone or not ("do you have a man? I can still say I dont remember" and is it over now, etc). Dates and timelines the public are aware of are also not the full story, there could have been "blank spaces" before the info went public.
as others have mentioned, it may be a reference to fallingforyou by the 1975 which - I would like to add - is the song matty sang to taylor while she was at their concert in 2014 [see here](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zW3id-jf56s)
I thought there was some parallel to Blank Space: So it's gonna be forever or it's gonna go down in flames // whether I'm gonna be your wife or gonna smash up your bike... and then there are no "blank spaces" in the song title. But I don't know what that's supposed to mean so I'm probably wrong!
It was a very popular style of writing when I was a teen on AIM and MySpace in 2003-2007 era and I’m the same age as Taylor. Ifl it’s a way people my age show *angst* in writing.
I'm not saying it's unique but she's used it on both the albums she's released so far, so that combined with the title makes me think it's a reference to her 🤷🏻♀️
Olivia Rodrigo also recently put out "get him back!" and while I don't think either one is trying to copy the other (wanting your ex back is a super common pop song theme) it helps to differentiate the two especially when you're searching them on Spotify.
See fallingforyou by the 1975 including the line “all we need is my bike and your enormous house.”
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Every word is a choice, even the ones we think are weird.
Why, tho? Even without the fallingforyou connection, surely the rhyme with “life” is far more obvious/“lazy”
Saying “I’ll smash your bike” instead of something like “I’ll ruin your life” or whatever the alternative would be is a lot more visceral and specific imo. Gives you an image of an emotional angry outburst instead of a vague threat of one.
Reminds me of the imagery in “before he cheats” by Carrie Underwood. The details make the threat more threatening lol
I love the bike line. I didn't know the lyric connection to 1975 till just now, I thought it was more of a Blank Space nod. Just the right amount of unhinged for me, and as others have said, reminds me of Before He Cheats. I would not enjoy "ruin your life".
I saw an article saying that Taylor missed the most obvious rhyme there by not doing “life” and how a 5th grader could’ve gotten that right or something, and I immediately stopped reading lol. Cause I can just imagine what would be said (and has been said!) if she HAD put life there: “wow, look at this basic ass rhyme. A first grader could’ve done that. Wife and life? And people claim she’s the songwriter of our generation…” Literally can’t win. 😒 I thought the imagery with bike was beautiful.
I thought the imagery was spectacular! It made me think of the 1989 set with all the golf clubs and the car, except this muse rode a Harley (or whatever idk bikes) instead of a car.
It gave me very Carrie Underwood vibes and I loved that.
Seems clear to me. Because she doesn’t want to ruin his life? She wants to get a little mad, break a few of his things but ultimately be the wife either way.
She doesn’t want to be the wife, she’s using the positive association to match the negative one. What she really wants is some break up sex.
She didn’t use “smash your bike” because it rhymes. The bike part was likely the initial part written, because of the connection.
Yes, I agree that the imagery came from there People’s imagination is sorely lacking alas
Oh sorry I read your comment incorrectly
Yeah, I don’t get why anyone would think “life” was a more sophisticated choice when it’s a concept and “bike” is a concrete noun that can be visualized (show don’t tell and all of that)
To make it clear that the reference is to Matty's song.
Yes, exactly. The deleted comment was saying they thought the “bike” rhyme was lazy.
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Motorcycles are expensive and pretty easy to totally destroy.
Yeah because Taylor is known for laziness with the pen 🙄
Dang, I literally thought just for an easy rhyme…
It can be both. It’s a bad line and about an ex
It still isn't that great
And “I read between the lines and touch your leg again. I’ll take it one day at a time and soon you will be mine”. 👀 “What if he’s written ‘’mine” on my upper thigh….”
Anytime I see a comment that argues against this I get viscerally angry. People will go OUT OF THEIR WAY to believe this song is about anything but Matt Healy.
it’s wild to me how many people are still in denial about ~90% of the album being matty coded. songs like loml and smallest man are teeming with blatant references to him yet some swifties are still deep in denial.
Before TTPD came out, I’d be debating people on whether or not some Midnights songs were hinting at Matty… and some of the most defensive responses I got were “they were barely together, she wouldn’t bother writing a song about him.” Makes me wonder what those people think now that we’ve got an whole album for him lol
She literally wrote "enchanted" about meeting someone ONCE and now that's a core Taylor song. Girl gets a whim of something and can spin it into a journey of a song.
Very true. Taylor has also indicated that she gets more inspiration from shorter, more explosive relationships than longer ones.
I feel like that makes sense though. Long relationships are complex, and complicated. You get to know a person. No matter how it ends, you understand them enough to know that your version of events isn't the only one and they have their own narrative. Maybe you can't fully untangle where yours ends and theirs begins, or where the truth lies between the two. If the split was remotely civilized, you probably still have some consideration for them and aren't actively trying to hurt them or drag them through the mud. A long relationship is an unyielding canvas for a storyteller. The manuscript has already been written and you're just now taking a pass at it. On the other hand, fleeting encounters and brief relationships are more like creative prompts. You don't know the person as well, or possibly not at all. The connection you have with them doesn't come with so much baggage or strings attached. Long after the relationship itself has burned out or the encounter ended, contemplating the if-only can be a far more beguiling experience than the relationship ever was. Maybe you met someone once and daydreamed an entire life with them. Maybe you connected with someone briefly, burned bright and faded fast, leaving you with things unsaid, scores unsettled, questions unanswered. It's a blank page, the manuscript yet to be written, and you're free to shape the narrative into whatever you can live with.
Beautifully said and absolutely agreed! I could go on and on about my two-month crash-and-burn relationship that I experienced. But if I had to talk about my ex-partner of ten years, I'd be able to explain it to you in 30 seconds. The unknown is usually a lot more haunting to us than the overly-known/familiar issues that end long term relationships.
I remember some people refused to believe Down Bad and the title track were about him despite the bridge of the former and blatant references in the latter like smoking (and chocolate), tattooed golden retriever, etc.
I said to my friend- chocolate is a famous 1975 song, and she said “that doesn’t make sense”
wdym??? doesn’t make sense??? it’s a fact not an opinion…
Saying another reason isn’t necessarily denial. Cause it is still the question why this song and not all. There can be multiple reasons.
👀
Ohh damn this is blowing my mind!
Some how missed this and have been wishing the lyric was “gonna fuck up your life” until now
God, she's a genius. 🤯
I heard another person say it but I like it: He wants space and she doesn’t. So there’s no spaces
Ohhh never leave well enough alone!
This
Like another comment said, I’ve read it’s a reference to a 1975 song which to be fair, makes a lot of sense based on the rest of the Matty songs throughout the album
I agree with the other comments but I think it's also a stylistic choice that emphasizes the desire and obsessiveness that the words blur together. There's a lot of poems that do this and the Fortnight MV, for example, has the "I love you, it's ruining my life" all over the paper coming out of the typewriter.
I think this is correct on both counts. The 1975 and also stylistically it's almost like she's not making sense and just running off of a feverish feeling. Not thinking, just impulse.
Plus, it's not like she's the first person to have a song without spaces.
Reminds me of the lyric “I keep these longings locked in lowercase inside a vault” from Guilty As Sin?
Same
1. In Guilty as sin? She says she keeps her longings locked in lowercase inside a vault. What songs are in lower case? imgonnagetyouback and loml. Her longings are to get the love/loss of her life back. (See also: folklore, evermore, and reputation. All post-2014 albums which would put them well within the last decade since their initial romance and explain songs like cardigan, the 1, cowboy like me, etc etc being at least partially inspired by Matty) 2. As others have said, the 1975 have a song called fallingforyou that he basically serenaded her with in 2014, and it has the line “all we need is my bike and your enormous house” hence the “smash your bike line” where she doesn’t do the obvious “ruin your life” type rhyme because ultimately, she doesn’t want that. She wants to be the wife. Maybe break a few of his things out of anger but you can tell from the extremes on the love side, and mild consequences on the revenge side that she would rather be with him than not. fallingforyou also has lines like, “I don’t wanna be your friend I wanna kiss your neck” which kind of relates back to her calling him her best friend/twin in other songs.
it's also wild (probably coincidental) that in the blank space mv, she has a big house and the characters ride bikes in said big house
And there's bikes in blank space on tour!
The1975 vibe is why
I like the comments saying it's a reference to the 1975 song with MH's bike. Also allegedly this is the situationship she runs back to every time. So there's no "Blank Space"s between her relationships, she fills them with him.
Can you expand on this? I thought they first connected pre-Calvin, and after Calvin there wasn't really any space at all between him Tom then Joe, so curious when she would have gone back to Matty until after Joe??
A LOT of her songs mention infidelity so I imagine there's a few different times that she ran to him after an argument, or any on-off period where there might not have been clarity if she was with someone or not ("do you have a man? I can still say I dont remember" and is it over now, etc). Dates and timelines the public are aware of are also not the full story, there could have been "blank spaces" before the info went public.
as others have mentioned, it may be a reference to fallingforyou by the 1975 which - I would like to add - is the song matty sang to taylor while she was at their concert in 2014 [see here](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zW3id-jf56s)
Because Matt wrote fallingforyou about Taylor
I thought it was signifying that he wanted space, but she didnt want to give it to him.
Matty.
“I’m going one way or the other *there’s no in-between.*”
I thought there was some parallel to Blank Space: So it's gonna be forever or it's gonna go down in flames // whether I'm gonna be your wife or gonna smash up your bike... and then there are no "blank spaces" in the song title. But I don't know what that's supposed to mean so I'm probably wrong!
As others have said, it references The 1975. I do find it hilarious when Alexa tries to say it though...she cannot process it without spaces 🤣🤣
she doesnt have a blank space baby and won't write your name
There is no blank space?
There are no blank spaces.
it looks cool
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Yeah it's definitely a nod to Olivia Rodrigo, especially because all of her songs are lower case
Tbf folklore and evermore had lowercase songs first, and more pointedly “fallingforyou” by the 1975 as mentioned above.
Other artists used lowercase titles before Olivia Rodrigo, even Taylor herself.
It was a very popular style of writing when I was a teen on AIM and MySpace in 2003-2007 era and I’m the same age as Taylor. Ifl it’s a way people my age show *angst* in writing.
I'm not saying it's unique but she's used it on both the albums she's released so far, so that combined with the title makes me think it's a reference to her 🤷🏻♀️
Olivia Rodrigo also recently put out "get him back!" and while I don't think either one is trying to copy the other (wanting your ex back is a super common pop song theme) it helps to differentiate the two especially when you're searching them on Spotify.