What Are Taylor Swift’s ‘Florida!!!’ Lyrics About? From Joe Alwyn to Joe Jonas, The Meaning Explained

22 April 2024, 12:45 | Updated: 29 August 2024, 16:13

After Taylor Swift dropped two albums within two hours of one another, fans desperately want to know who the track ‘Florida’ is about from 'The Tortured Poets Department'. From the full lyrics to what it’s about. Here’s what we know.

Taylor Swift may have had the biggest weekend of her career in April when she dropped ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, only to release ‘The Tortured Poets Department Anthology’ just two hours later.

With 31 new songs to devour, fans have rabidly tried to decode the meaning behind all the songs in the albums. From Joe Alwyn’s connection to ‘So Long London’ and Matt Healy’s references in ‘but daddy i love him,’ everything Taylor sang had a double meaning.

• Read more: Matty Healy 'Not Shocked' By Taylor Swift Songs Believed To Be About Him, His Family Insists
• Read more: Are Taylor Swift's 'Clara Bow' Lyrics About Olivia Rodrigo?

So when she teamed up with Florence Welsh from Florence + The Machine for her track ‘Florida!!!’, naturally fans investigated. From the full lyrics to what and who the song is about. Here’s what we know.

What is Taylor Swift's ‘Florida!!!’ about?

Whilst it’s widely known now that Florence helped write the track ‘Florida!!!’ some of you may not be aware that actress and close friend to Taylor, Emma Stone has also been credited with the creation of the track.

The song used the state of Florida as a place to run away from problems and forget. Taylor sang, “I need to forget, so take me to Florida/ I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida.”

But what was Taylor running from? Fans have made the connection that directly after her breakup of six years with Joe, which coincided with the beginning of her Eras Tour in 2023, Taylor's first live show was in Tampa, Florida.

Now that’s too much of a coincidence for any of us to completely disregard, isn’t it? Could Taylor have been referencing the time she spent in Florida trying to forget her heartbreak?

After all, in the lyrics, she sang, “I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away/ Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine.”

“Love left me like this and I don't want to exist/ So take me to Florida”

It started to add up when fans realised that after three nights touring in Tampa, Taylor took Eras to Houston, Texas and in the track she sings, “So you pack your life away just to wait out the shit storm back in Texas.”

But some fans made the leap that the track isn’t about Joe and Taylor at all. In an outlandish theory, some Swifties have decided that ‘Florida!!!’ could be about Taylor’s friend and actress Sophie Turner and her highly publicised divorce from husband Joe Jonas.

Why? Because the musician filed for separation in Florida in 2023. Page Six reported that Sophie and her children were residing in Taylor’s Tribeca home during the legal proceedings.

As we said, it’s a bit of a stretch, but not impossible as Taylor’s written songs about her friends before.

But recently the artist explained to iHeart as reported by People, what was in her mind when she wrote ‘Florida!!’

“‘Florida!!!’ is a song that I wrote with Florence and the Machine, and I think I was coming up with this idea of like, What happens when your life doesn’t fit or your choices you’ve made catch up to you and these harsh consequences and judgment surround you, and circumstances did not lead you to where you want to be and you just want to escape from everything you’ve ever known. Is there a place you could go?”

“I’m always watching like Dateline—people, you know, have these crimes that they commit. Where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida, you know? They like try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in.”

“And I think when you go through a heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks, I want a new name, I want a new life, I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all. And so that was the jumping-off point behind, Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida.”

Full lyrics to Taylor Swift's ‘Florida!!!’

[Verse 1]

You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too

They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true

And my friends all smell like weed or little babies

And this city reeks of driving myself crazy

[Pre-Chorus]

Little did you know your home's really only

A town you're just a guest in

So you work your life away just to pay

For a time-share down in Destin

[Chorus]

Florida

Is one hell of a drug

Florida

Can I use you up?

[Verse 2]

The hurricane with my name when it came

I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away

Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine

Well, me and my ghosts, wе had a hell of a time

Yes, I'm hauntеd, but I'm feeling just fine

All my girls got their lace and their crimes

And your cheating husband disappeared, well

No one asks any questions here

[Verse 3]

So I did my best to lay to rest

All of the bodies that have ever been on my body

And in my mind, they sink into the swamp

Is that a bad thing to say in a song?

[Pre-Chorus]

Little did you know your home's really only

The town you'll get arrested

So you pack your life away just to wait out

The shitstorm back in Texas

[Chorus]

Florida

Is one hell of a drug

Florida

Can I use you up?

[Bridge]

I need to forget, so take me to Florida

I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida

Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable

At least the dolls are beautiful, f*** me up, Florida

I need to forget, so take me to Florida

I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida

Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable

What a crash, what a rush, f*** me up, Florida

It's one hell of a drug

It's one hell of a drug

Love left me like this and I don't want to exist

So take me to Florida

[Pre-Chorus]

Little did you know your home's really only

A town you're just a guest in (Florida)

So you work your life away just to pay

For a time-share down in Destin (Take me to Florida)

Little did you know your home's really only

The town you'll get arrested (Florida)

So you pack your life away just to wait out

The shitstorm back in Texas

[Chorus]

Florida

Is one hell of a drug

(Take me to) Florida

Can I use you up?

Florida

Is one hell of a drug

Florida

Go on, f*** me up