"So Long, London" is a song by the American singer-songwriterTaylor Swift from her eleventh studio album,The Tortured Poets Department (2024). She wrote and produced the track withAaron Dessner. Adowntempochamber pop andsynth-pop tune, "So Long, London" is set over to4/4house beats and has a piano andsynthesizer instrumentation. Its lyrical content concerns a failed romance and explores a narrator processing the fallout and its aftermath.
In reviews ofThe Tortured Poets Department, a number of critics picked "So Long, London" as a highlight and applauded the heartbreaking lyrics and Swift's songwriting, but a few others found it lyrically uninventive. The track peaked at number four on theBillboard Global 200 and charted within the top 10 in many countries. It also received a platinumcertification in Australia and a silver certification in the United Kingdom.
Taylor Swift started working onThe Tortured Poets Department immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album,Midnights, toRepublic Records for release in 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg ofthe Eras Tour in 2023.[1] The album's conception took place around the time the media reported that Swift's six-year relationship with the English actorJoe Alwyn had ended.[2] She described it as her "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make.[3] Republic Records releasedThe Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024;[4] it was her ninth album release within the last five years.[5] Track five on the album, "So Long, London", received particular fan interest prior to the album's release, because Swift had said that each of her albums' track five was its most vulnerable and emotionally intense.[2][6][7] On August 20, 2024, Swift performed an acoustic version of "So Long, London" at the final London show ofthe Eras Tour.[8]
The song is then instrumented by tremblingsynths and soft piano[15] against a mutedelectronic soundscape.[13] Olson thought that the beat has a "heartbeat feel" that evokes Swift's past songs "Wildest Dreams" (2014) and "You're Losing Me" (2023),[14] while Sinéad O'Sullivan ofThe New Yorker wrote that the production exhibited some elements from "Call It What You Want" or "Dress", songs from Swift's 2017 albumReputation.[16] Jason Lipshutz ofBillboard wrote that the "elastic synths sound like a shaking tightrope", while there are occasional "understated" piano and "ghostly"harmonies.[17]Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian wrote that the production builds up to a "climax that never actually comes".[12]
In the lyrics, the narrator details a love gone wrong. The ex-partner is portrayed as cold and disinterested ("Every breath feels like rarest air when you're not sure if he wants to be there"),[18][19] and the narrator laments, "You left me at the house by the Heath" / "You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days", referencing the London area ofHampstead Heath.[20] They portray Swift's character carrying "the weight of the rift", her "white-knuckle dying grip holding to your quiet resentment",[15] and her resentment ("I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free").[21] She tries to save the relationship to no avail.[22] After processing the aftermath of a breakup, she bids goodbye to a partner and a community she once considered home.[23] Theverses, although set to a 4/4time signature, contain continuous triplets that slice each measure into a feel of a 12/8 time signature ("I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe"/ "And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free/ For so long, London").[24]
The narrator eventually abandons the relationship with the lyric, "I stopped CPR, after all it's no use/ The spirit was gone, we would never come to"; Alyssa Bailey ofElle[25] and Mehera Bonner ofCosmopolitan contended that it was a reference to "You're Losing Me".[26] By the song's conclusion, Swift accepts her reality: "So long, London/ Had good run/ A moment of warm sun/ But I'm not the one"[27] Bailey and Elena Nicolaou ofToday.com, thought that the lyrics alluded to Swift's breakup with Alwyn.[25][22] Olson andPitchfork's Shaad D'Souza described the track as an antithesis to "London Boy" (2019), a track about Swift's infatuation for an Englishman.[11][14]
Some critics contended that the track was emotionally heartbreaking[28][29] and picked it as one of the best tracks onThe Tortured Poets Department.[30][31]Will Hodgkinson ofThe Times gave the song a five-star rating and wrote: "Heartfelt, tender and poetic, this is a real tearjerker."[20]Neil McCormick fromThe Daily Telegraph described the track as a "sumptuously sad and gorgeous, lyrically forensic dissection of a fading romance".[32] Hunter-Tilney and theBBC's Mark Savage acclaimed the track as one of the best songs Swift had released; the former praised how Swift recounts a doomed love affair "with sorrow and coiled anger",[13] and the latter deemed it as being "up there with the best things [Swift has] ever written".[33] Lipshutz ranked "So Long, London" fourth out of the 31 tracks on thedouble album edition, describing the lyrics as "raw honesty".[17]
Other critics commented on the production. Hunter-Tilney found it to be a "beautifully chilly electronic landscape",[13] andThe Irish Times's Finn McRedmond praised Swift's vocals for having "an irresistible buttery quality" and thought they were best utilized in a lowervocal register.[34] Mesfin Fekadu fromThe Hollywood Reporter highlighted the "soft, electropop beat".[30] Olson picked "So Long, London" among the five best album tracks, highlighting both the heartbreaking lyrics and the relenting production.[14] Josh Kurp fromUproxx said it was a "chilling addition to the track five canon".[35]
Less enthusiastic reviews opined that "So Long, London" was lyrically uninventive.The Scotsman's Fiona Shepherd praised the "tasteful beats" but said that the song "succumbed to same old tame old business as usual".[36] Mary Kate fromThe A. V. Club opined that the "CPR" imagery was repetitive from "You're Losing Me", but arguing that "this wouldn't be a detriment" had Swift allowed for more time between her "hyperproductivity" with successive album releases.[37]Pitchfork's Olivia Horn thought that the lyrics used ineffective metaphors such as the "five different causes of death".[38] Grace Byron ofPaste said the song's chorus lacked the emotions Swift normally showcases but thought that it was one of the better-produced song on the album.[39]
When the album was released, nine of its tracks occupied the top 10 of theBillboard Global 200; "So Long, London" debuted and peaked at number four on the chart, where it extended Swift's top-10 entries to 33.[40][41] In the United States, the track opened at its peak of number five on theBillboard Hot 100. The song alongside 13 tracks from the album made Swift the first artist to monopolize the top 14 of the Hot 100.[42][43] In Australia, "So Long, London" reached number four on theARIA Singles Chart and made her the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29.[44][45]
Elsewhere, "So Long, London" reached the top 10 in several countries: number five in New Zealand[46] and Canada,[47] number seven in Ireland,[48] number eight in Luxembourg,[49] the Philippines,[50] Portugal,[51] Singapore,[52] Sweden,[53] and the United Arab Emirates,[54] and number 10 in Malaysia.[55] In theMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the track peaked at number 10.[56] The song also charted within the top 20 in Denmark (11),[57] Switzerland (11),[58] Norway (12),[59] Latvia (14),[60] South Africa (15),[61] Iceland (16),[62] and Croatia (17).[63] It received a platinumcertification from theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[64]
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 17. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 17. týden 2024 in the date selector. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
