illicit affairs
Producers
illicit affairs Lyrics
Make sure nobody sees you leave
Hood over your head, keep your eyes down
Tell your friends you're out for a run
You’ll be flushed when you return
Take the road less traveled by
Tell yourself you can always stop
What started in beautiful rooms
Ends with meetings in parking lots
[Chorus]
And that's the thing about illicit affairs
And clandestine meetings and longing stares
It's born from just one single glance
But it dies and it dies and it dies
A million little times
[Verse 2]
Leave the perfume on the shelf
That you picked out just for him
So you leave no trace behind
Like you don’t even exist
Take the words for what they are
A dwindling, mercurial high
A drug that only worked
The first few hundred times
And that's the thing about illicit affairs
And clandestine meetings and stolen stares
They show their truth one single time
But they lie and they lie and they lie
A million little times
[Bridge]
And you wanna scream
Don't call me "kid," don't call me "baby"
Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me
You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else
Don't call me "kid," don't call me "baby"
Look at this idiotic fool that you made me
You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else
[Outro]
And you know damn well
For you, I would ruin myself
A million little times
About
“illicit affairs” tackles the idea of infidelity, which she first discussed on 2006’s “Should’ve Said No.” In the decade since she released “Should’ve Said No,” Swift’s conception of infidelity has changed from one of blanket condemnation to a significantly more nuanced and sympathetic take recognizing both “the dwindling, mercurial high” that infidelity can bring but also the heartbreak that it inevitably results in.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Swift seemingly described the song in a November 2020 piece for Rolling Stone:
When I was making folklore, I went lyrically in a total direction of escapism and romanticism. And I wrote songs imagining I was, like, a pioneer woman in a forbidden love affair [laughs].
The record’s most tender, saccharine love story plays out during “illicit affairs.”
On occasion, Swift can’t resist the pop-culture tropes embedded in her psyche: “illicit affairs” seems cribbed directly from a Sex and the City episode.
–Katie Moulton for Consequence of Sound
“Illicit Affairs” is the best cheating song since, well, “Reputation’s” hard-to-top “Getaway Car.” There’s less catharsis in this one, but just as much pungent wisdom, as Swift describes the more mundane details of maintaining an affair with the soul-destroying ones…
It’s been a minute since Swift delivered a painstakingly beautiful breakup ballad, and the fact that this album is littered with them is, simply, a gift. “Illicit Affairs” has growing power and will likely become one of those tracks that fans form a strong emotional attachment to over time.
“illicit affairs” debuted at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week of August 8, 2020.
