So this 1989 sleeper is definitely about all the attention Taylor and Harry’s relationship received from the public and, more specifically, the paparazzi. The liner note for this was “And everyone was watching,” because, well, we were! (A key lyric: “They are the hunters, we are the foxes.” A key wardrobe moment: Taylor wore a sweater with a fox on it during their infamous Central Park date.)
“I had this idea of when you’re in love, along the lines of ‘Out of the Woods,’ it’s very precious, it’s fragile,” Taylor explained to Billboard. “As soon as the world gets ahold of it, whether it’s your friends or people around town hear about it…it’s kind of like the first thing people want to do when they hear that people are in love is just kind of try to ruin it, if they’re not the greatest human beings.”
Taylor admitted the media frenzy around the relationship caused her to believe, “No one is gonna sign up for this. There are just too many cameras pointed at me. There are too many ridiculous elaborations on my life. It’s just not ever gonna work.”
But, she continued, “I decided to write a love song, just kind of like, ‘What would I say if I met someone really awesome and they were like, hey, I’m worried about all this attention you get?'”
The result of that was “I Know Places,” which is about, “‘Hey, I know places we can hide. We could outrun them,'” Taylor said. “I’m so happy that it sounds like the urgency that it sings about.”
