Getaway Car (Taylor Swift song)

"Getaway Car" was written and produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff.[1] It was recorded by Swift for her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017).[1] It is a synth-pop song that critics—including Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone—felt reminiscent of the production of Swift's 2014 studio album 1989.[2][3][4] Pitchfork's Jamieson Cox said that the song specifically resembles "Out of the Woods", a song on 1989 that was also produced by Antonoff.[5] The song features pulsing synthesizers, programmed drums, and manipulated vocals.[6] The beginning of the song uses a vocoder for Swift's vocals.[7] The song's lyrics are about Swift's efforts to run away from a relationship to be with someone else, only to realize that this new relationship will also end.[3][8]

"Getaway Car" references the criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde in its lyrics.

In the first verse, she admits: "The ties were black, the lies were white / In shades of gray in candlelight / I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason."[9][10] The production builds up for the refrain, in which Swift reflects on her treachery: "Should've known I'd be the first to leave / Think about the place where you first met me / Nothing good starts in a getaway car."[11][2] The lyrics, "He was running after us / I was screaming 'Go, go, go!' / But with three of us, honey, it's a sideshow," implies a love triangle that stems from Swift's affairs.[12] She ponders on how she had left her lover abruptly: "I'm in a getaway car / I left you in a motel bar / Put the money in the bag and I stole the keys / That was the last time you ever saw me."[13] Swift recalls that the couple were "jet-set, Bonnie and Clyde," until she abandons him for a new man, referencing the criminal couple Bonnie and Clyde.[13] Uppy Chatterjee from the Australian magazine The Music also pointed out the song's references to rock band Bon Jovi's song "You Give Love a Bad Name" (1986).[14] NME's Hannah Mylrea also noticed references to writer Charles Dickens and the epic war film The Great Escape (1963).[15]

"Getaway Car" received critical acclaim. Zack Schonfeld of Newsweek called the song as an "excellent, radiant song" and claimed that the hook is "massive, in both catchiness and energy".[16] In a review of Reputation, Louis Bruton from The Irish Times praised "Getaway Car" for showcasing "clever and insightful songwriting, finding tenderness and beauty in tiny details".[17] Consequence of Sound was not impressed with the album's production, but considered "Getaway Car" one of its strongest moments, writing: "the song's hook hits but doesn't punish".[4] Eleanor Graham from The Line of Best Fit,[18] Sarah Murphy from Exclaim![19] and John Murphy from musicOMH similarly lauded the track as one of Reputation's strongest moments, highliting the song's intriguing lyrics.[20]

The Atlantic's Spencer Kornharber described "Getaway Car" as Reputation's "savior: the one true tune to hum misty-eyed after the movies".[9] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic lauded the song as a high mark on the "monochromatic production" of Reputation for combining "vulnerability, melody, and confidence, but they are deeply felt and complex", which signified Swift's maturity as a singer-songwriter.[1] Retrospectively, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone compared Swift's songwriting on "Getaway Car" to Paul McCartney because of "the way she goes overboard with her latest enthusiasm and starts Tay-splaining it as her personal discovery", and lauded the cinematic quality of the lyrics.[21]

On September 7, 2018, Universal Music Australia announced that "Getaway Car" would serve as a single exclusively in Australia and New Zealand.[22] The song was released to Australian and New Zealand contemporary hit radio stations by Universal and Big Machine Records.[23] This promotional release was a means of support for the then-upcoming Australian shows of Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), which she launched in support of the album Reputation.[23] "Getaway Car" was included on the regular set list of the Reputation Stadium Tour, as part of the encore.[24]

"Getaway Car" did not chart on the official singles chart of Australia and New Zealand.[25] It peaked at number 26 on the Australian Digital Tracks, a songs chart based on digital sales,[26] and number six on the TMN Hot 100, an airplay-focused chart powered by Australian magazine The Music Network.[27] The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for exeeding 70,000 units.[28] In New Zealand, it peaked at number nine on the New Zealand Hot Singles, a chart compiled by the Recorded Music NZ.[29]

Credits are adapted from the booklet of Reputation.[30]

Studio

• Engineered at Rough Customer Studio (Brooklyn Heights)
• Mixed at Mixstar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
• Mastered at Sterling Sound Studios (New York)

Personnel