How Taylor Swift Created a National Anthem for Heartbreak

Taylor Swift said goodbye to the Eras Tour. Her final set included the familiar “surprise song” segment of the shows.

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But Swift’s “surprise” song became five songs: “A Place in This World,” “New Romantics,” “Long Live,” “New Year’s Day,” and “The Manuscript.”

Including “New Romantics” in the “surprise” portion of the program was a fitting way to say farewell to her gigantic career-spanning tour. Here’s an inside look at the song and how she created a national anthem for heartbreak on the 1989 deep cut.

Broken-Hearted Ballet

“New Romantics” differs from Swift’s other love songs. Here, she describes solidarity with the messy, young lovers. This is the moment when the fairytale collides with reality. But she sees this emotional hardship as a subculture of sorts—borrowing from the moping new wave “romantics” of the ’70s and ’80s.

We’re so young
But we’re on the road to ruin
We play dumb, but we know exactly what we’re doing
We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom
Honey, life is just a classroom

When you’re coming of age, you can count on heartbreak and despair arriving like clockwork. Swift turns these let-down feelings into a national anthem. It’s catharsis in togetherness, which may define the Eras Tour more than all the money it has grossed.

Baby, we’re the new romantics
Come on, come along with me
Heartbreak is the national anthem
We sing it proudly
We are too busy dancing
To get knocked off our feet
Baby, we’re the new romantics
The best people in life are free

I Ran (So Far Away)

Romanticism of the late 18th century inspired bands like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, and A Flock of Seagulls, among others. Swooping hairdos, synthesizers, dark drama, and traces of glam fashion outlined ’80s pop music.

But it was the moody theatrics these artists absorbed from the Romantic period. Moreover, Swift used the earnest synth-pop of her birth decade to reinvent her artistry. She moved away from pop country. And working with Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, Swift, once again, shifted pop winds. (Swift and Martin co-wrote the song with Shellback.)

Though “New Romantics” didn’t appear on the initial track listing, it acts like a mantra for 1989. If you need hope following a bitter breakup, this is your song. If the biggest pop star on the planet shares your feelings, you are not alone.

Enter a stadium with thousands of fans, and you have something like a movement.

Freedom

The superstar famously cultivated her devoted fan base—Swifties—through confessional songwriting and invited in her listeners more intimately than any pop star had previously done.

“New Romantics” remains an anthem for a generation who grew up online. Absorbing the pain from broken relationships isn’t easy. Doing so online seems like a cruel joke. But “New Romantics” is the antidote.

Also, look at how many times Swift sings “We” and “We’re” in the song. She uses battle metaphors like hopeful sparks and concludes with this empowering line: The best people in life are free.

Taylor’s Version

Keeping with her tradition of rerecording back-catalog masters, Swift issued “Taylor’s Version” of 1989 in 2023. She co-produced the rework with Christopher Rowe.

However, there’s a hazy glow to the original connecting it to the ’80s pop groups, threading its way back through the buzzing UK nightclubs that stirred the movement.  

“New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)” shakes off the gloomy cloud. It’s leaving the club as the sun’s rays break over and around tall buildings. And there stands Swift, squinting into the new horizon.

When the 1989 Tour ended, Swift said, “We’re all really sad that it’s ending, but we’re really happy because of what it was.” Then she offered a behind-the-scenes music video for “New Romantics” as a thank-you to fans.

Now the Eras Tour has ended and Swift helped bring it to a close with her own national anthem.

Oh, ’cause, baby, I could build a castle.

Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images