Marjorie (song)

Marjorie Finlay, Taylor Swift's maternal grandmother, in 1949

Prior to releasing the album, Swift mentioned that one of the songs was about her maternal grandmother.[1] The song and its lyric video were both released on December 11, 2020, as the thirteenth track on Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore.[2] The song is a tribute to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on October 5, 1928, and died on June 1, 2003 in Reading, Pennsylvania.[3] Finlay inspired Swift to pursue a musical career.[3]

The song's lyrics are structured like chants;[4] they are composed of life lessons Swift learned from Finlay, including: "Never be so kind, you forget to be clever/ Never be so clever, you forget to be kind",[2] and finds Swift dealing with grief and guilt.[5] The song's production is characterized by buzzing synths, strings,[6][7] drone, pulse, cello,[8] and pulsing keyboard arrangement[9] and ends with an elegant outro.[10] "Marjorie" also samples Finlay's soprano as backing vocals,[11][12] and is a sister song to "Epiphany", the thirteenth track on Swift's eighth studio album Folklore (2020), which is about Swift's paternal grandfather, Dean.[13]

The A.V. Club critic Annie Zaleski lauded "Marjorie" for its heart-wrenching lyricism and "anguished" production, and named it one of Swift's best songs to date.[8] NME writer Hannah Mylrea thought that the song effectively depicts grief and the complex guilt that is tied with it.[16] Madeline Crone of American Songwriter praised the sublime lyrics paying tribute to Finlay, and the vivid imagery it evokes. She found its outro ethereal, aided by Finlay's operatic vocals.[10] Maura Johnston, writing for Entertainment Weekly, opined that the song's whirring synthesizers, strings, and Finlay's "fluttery" soprano add life to Swift's emotional vocals.[7] Chris Willman of Variety claimed that "Marjorie" will "leave a dry eye only in houses that have never known death", and the faint audio samples of Finlay's vocals is the pièce de résistance of the song's poignancy.[17]

Paste's Ellen Johnson commended the song as one of Swift's all-time best songs, and wrote that her "hard-won wisdom" in the song makes it the most representating track of what Evermore is—"a peacefully intimate record".[18] In his review of Evermore, Patrick Ryan of USA Today highlighted "Marjorie" as a heart-rending tribute.[19] Rolling Stone writer Claire Shaffer dubbed "Marjorie" the centerpiece of Evermore—a "brilliant and devastating piece of songcraft, an instant classic in the Swift canon", and compared it to Swift's 2012 single "Ronan", acknowledging the singer's skills in writing a eulogy. Shaffer added that she could not think of another song that "so perfectly captures the delayed tragedy of losing a loved one when you're too young to see their full worth."[20]

Stephen Erlwine of AllMusic thought that Evermore reaches its crescendo on "Marjorie", where the "delicately shifting arrangement —more electronic than acoustic", underscores Swift's grief instead of heightening it.[21] Stereogum's Tom Breihan commented that Swift ruminates on "Marjorie" the type of loss and regret that "you can only really feel when someone dies", over a soft, thumping synthesizer.[22] Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the song's instrumentation—glistening electronic production enriched by subtle pizzicato strings.[23]

Punch Liwanag of the Manila Bulletin called the song a "beautifully emotional ballad."[24]

A lyric video was released alongside the song on December 11, 2020. The video includes photos and video clips of Finlay. In one scene, she is wearing a Jackie O-style dress while boarding a plane. She is also seen exploring ruins and playing the piano with Swift.[25]

Credits adapted from Pitchfork:[26]

• Taylor Swift − lead vocals, songwriter
• Aaron Dessner − producer, songwriter, recorder, drum machine programming, drone, synth bass, piano, acoustic guitar
• Justin Vernon – backing vocals, prophet-5
• Marjorie Finlay – backing vocals
• Jonathan Low − vocal recorder, mixer
• Bryce Dessner – orchestrator
• Greg Calbi – masterer
• Steve Fallone – masterer
• Bryan Devendorf – percussion, drum machine programmer
• Ryan Olson – Allovers Hi-Hat Generator, recorder
• Jason Treuting – chord stick, percussion
• Justin McAlister – vermona pulse
• Yuki Numata Resnick – violin
• Clarice Jensen – cello