Cover art for Down Bad by Taylor Swift
Apr. 19, 20244 viewers2.5M views

[Verse 1]
Did you really beam me up
In a cloud of sparkling dust
Just to do experiments on?
Tell me I was the chosen one
Showed me that this world is bigger than us
Then sent me back where I came from

[Pre-Chorus]
For a moment, I knew cosmic love

[Chorus]
Now I'm down bad, cryin' at the gym
Everything comes out teenage petulance
"Fuck it if I can't have him"
"I might just die, it would make no difference"

Down bad, wakin' up in blood
Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up
Fuck it if I can't have us
I might just not get up, I might stay

[Post-Chorus]
Down bad
Fuck it if I can't have him
Down bad
Fuck it if I can't have him
[Verse 2]
Did you take all my old clothes
Just to leave me here, naked and alone
In a field in my same old town
That somehow seems so hollow now?
They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about
The existence of you


[Pre-Chorus]
For a moment, I was heavenstruck

[Chorus]
Now I'm down bad, cryin' at the gym (Cryin' at the gym)
Everything comes out teenage petulance
"Fuck it if I can't have him" (Fuck it if I can't have him)
"I might just die, it would make no difference"

Down bad, wakin' up in blood (Wakin' up in blood)
Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up
Fuck it if I can't have us
I might just not get up, I might stay

[Post-Chorus]
Down bad (Like I lost my twin)
Fuck it if I can't have him (Down bad)
Down bad (Wavin' at the ship)
Fuck it if I can't have him
[Outro]
Like I lost my twin
Fuck it if I can't have him
Down bad (Wavin' at the ship)
Fuck it if I can't have him

About

This song bio is unreviewed
Genius Annotation

Down Bad, the fourth track on Swift’s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. Its main character likens love to being abducted by an alien, experiencing the galaxy, only to be left back in her home town, wishing to go back to that feeling. In a iHeartRadio interview, Taylor said:

The metaphor in ‘Down Bad’ is that I was comparing sort of the idea of being love bombed. Where someone…rocks your world and dazzles you and then just kind of abandons you….This girl is abducted by aliens but she wanted to stay with them…And then when they drop her back off in her hometown, she’s like, ‘Wait, no, where are you going? I liked it there! It was weird but it was cool. Come back!’ And so…the girl in the character in the song felt like, ‘I’ve just been exposed to a whole different galaxy and universe and didn’t know it was possible, how could you just put me back where I was before?’

The song has fans confused, as at one point she seem to sing about Matty Healy’s public reputation.

I loved your hostile takeovers, Encounters closer and closer, All your indecent exposures, How dare you say that it’s – I’ll build you a fort on some planet.

The lyric “I’ll build you a fort on some planet,”. Can either be a direct easter egg towards the first track, “Fortnight”, but as most know Swift as a “Mastermind”, and how she uses her words to tell a story. These wordings can lead to a whole other dimension, most likely being her “home planet”, as an alien who fell in love with a mortal who took over her planet just to experiment with her feelings.

Within the lyrics Swift depicts Healy more as a twin or a sibling rather than of a love interest.

Like I lost my twin

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

How did the song perform commercially?
Genius Answer

“Down Bad” debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week ending of May 4, 2024.

What did Taylor Swift say about "Down Bad"?
Genius Answer

So lot of the songs on TTPD deal with the idea of heartbreak or loss in a metaphor of something else. The metaphor in Down Bad is that I was comparing sort of the idea of being you know, like love bombed where someone rocks your world and dazzles you and then kind of abandons you as an alien abduction where you were abducted by aliens but you wanted [it], like this girl is abducted by aliens but she wanted to stay with them and then they drop her off back in her hometown. She’s like “Wait, no. Where are you going? I liked it there, it was weird but it was cool, come back.” And so the girl in the song just felt like “I’ve just been exposed to a whole different galaxy and universe and I didn’t know it’s possible. How can you just put me back where I was before?”

—iHeartRadio intro commentary via Twitter

What is the meaning of "Down Bad" by Taylor Swift?
Genius Answer

The meaning of “Down Bad” by Taylor Swift is an inability to move on and get over a lover. “Down Bad” is slang for feeling deeply in love with someone, so in love that it’s almost negative or embarrassing. In this song, Taylor sings that she knows she can’t have the one she loves, but that doesn’t stop her feelings.

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Release Date
April 19, 2024
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