"Bigger Than the Whole Sky" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriterTaylor Swift as a bonus track for the3am Edition of her tenth original studio album,Midnights (2022). Produced by Swift andJack Antonoff, "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" is acountry-influencedambientballad with ambiguous lyrics expressing grief and heartache over a person the narrator has never met.
Music critics praised Swift's songwriting and some interpreted the song to be aboutmiscarriage. "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" charted in the top 30 of singles charts in Canada, the Philippines, and the United States. On November 19, 2023, Swift performed the song live atthe Eras Tour concert inRio de Janeiro, following thedeath of Ana Clara Benevides.
Taylor Swift's tenth original studio album,Midnights, was released October 21, 2022, byRepublic Records. Three hours after the 13-track standard edition was released, a3am Edition containing seven bonus tracks wassurprise-released.[1] Swift described those bonus tracks as a byproduct of her creative process while conceivingMidnights.[2] "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" is one of the seven3am songs, and it is track number 15 out of 20 on the listing. Swift wrote it by herself and co-produced the track withJack Antonoff, with whom she produced the entirety of the album's standard edition.[3]
After Swift embarked on her sixth headlining concert tour,the Eras Tour, on May 26, 2023, she released two other editions ofMidnights that both feature "Bigger Than the Whole Sky":Til Dawn onstreaming anddownload, andLate Night on concert-exclusive CDs and limited-time download.[4][5] On November 19, 2023, Swift performed the song live for the first time at the Eras Tour stop in Rio de Janeiro, following thedeath of Ana Clara Benevides.[6]
"Bigger Than the Whole Sky" is anambientballad.[15]Insider's Callie Ahlgrim and Courteney Larocca described the production as "country-tinged",[16] andRolling Stone'sRob Sheffield said it was a "twangy grief ballad", demonstrated by Antonoff'sslide guitar, that resembled the sound of "Sad Beautiful Tragic", a song from Swift's 2012 albumRed.[17]
The lyrics are about heartache after a significant event.[18] According toVulture's Nate Jones, the title is a probable allusion to the writerEmily Dickinson.[19] The song is ambiguous and does not reference what exactly was lost.[20][21] The openingverse depicts the narrator in grievance, "No words appear before me in the aftermath/ Salt streams out my eyes and into my ears."[22] In the second verse, the narrator tries to find reason for the loss and expresses her guilt, alluding to religion: "Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia?/ Did some force take you because I didn't pray?"[18][20][22] Thechorus is dedicated to someone the narrator has not met: "And I've got a lot to pine about/ I've got a lot to live without/I'm never gonna meet/ What could've been, would've been/ What should've been you."[20][21] Swift uses her breathy vocals in anupper register to sing the word "goodbye" in the chorus: "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye/You were bigger than the whole sky/You were more than just a short time."[21][22][23]
Upon release, many listeners shared on social media that felt a connection to the song in relation tomiscarriages that they experienced.[21][24][25] After Swift performed it live in November 2023, Chris Willman ofVariety commented that the track had become "an anthem over the last 13 months for fans who are grieving a loved one".[26] According toPeople's Kelsie Gibson, some listeners felt that "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" was a continuation of Swift's 2012charity single, "Ronan", which was dedicated to a 4-year-old boy who died because of cancer.[27] Sheffield andThe Atlantic's Shirley Li described the song's tone aselegiac.[23] The former ranked the song in the top 50 among Swift's 274 songs in her entire discography and lauded it for being "powerfully understated".[17] Ahlgrim and Larocca commended the lyrics for portraying heartbreak with vague yet emotionally resonant lyrics that could apply to a wide range of emotional experiences by different people.[16]
American comedian and musicianMarc Maron covered the song in his 2025stand-up comedy specialPanicked. According to Maron, he first came across the song while grieving over the death of his partnerLynn Shelton, who died in May 2020.[28]
