Song: New Year’s Day
Year: 2017
Artist: Taylor Swift
Album: Reputation
Language Focus: Idioms/Figurative Language
Episode Description
It’s a new year, and a new beginning. For the first episode of 2025, we have chosen Taylor Swift’s 2017 song, “New Year’s Day” from her album, Reputation. It’s important to have people in your life that you can count on. It’s easy to find friends to celebrate and have fun with. The people who are truly your friends, however, will be there to clean up the mess after the party. That’s the message of this song. There are also useful vocabulary words and some interesting idioms, too! Join us for a new song in the new year! And it’s a Taylor Swift song!
Episode Transcript
<intro>
H: Hi! I’m Heather.
E: And I’m Ece!
H: Welcome to the first episode of English as a Singing Language in 2025!
E: I can’t believe it’s 2025 already!
H: I know! Time really flies.
E: Especially when you’re having fun making a podcast!
H: So, Ece, any idea what song we’re going to focus on in this episode?
E: Well, I know you’ve been wanting to do a song by Taylor Swift for a long time.
H: I have! The very first episode of the podcast, back in 2022, was Taylor Swift’s song, “I Knew You Were Trouble.”
E: That’s a great episode, and it focuses on verb tenses.
H: And we have another Taylor Swift song for this episode.
E: Oh yeah? What is the focus of this song?
H: There are lots of great idioms and vocabulary words in this song.
E: Hmmmmm…and is it a New Year’s song, too?
H: It might be…
E: I can’t wait to find out!
H: Me neither!
E: Let’s get started!
<end intro>
H: <Humming T Swift “New Year’s Day”> Hi Ece! Happy New Year!
E: Happy New Year, Heather! It’s good to see you! How is your new year so far?
H: Not bad! I’m busy with the start of the new semester, but the beginning of a new year is always exciting.
E: It’s full of hope.
H: And it feels like anything is possible!
E: It really seems like you’re happy about the new year, Heather!
H: I am!
E: You were humming Taylor Swift’s 2017 song, “New Year’s Day” just now, weren’t you?
H: I was! I guess I really am excited about 2025.
E: What do we know about this song, Heather?
H: Well, the song is a ballad from Taylor Swift’s 2017 album, “Reputation.”
E: And what is a “ballad”?
H: A ballad is a slow, sentimental love song.
E: That sounds lovely.
H: It is a really lovely song. In fact, Taylor Swift said she was inspired to write the song after a New Year’s Eve party that she hosted. She said <quote> “ "I was thinking about how everybody talks and thinks about who you kiss at midnight [...] But I think there's something even more romantic about who's gonna deal with you on New Year's Day. Who's willing to give you Advil and clean up the house? I think that states more of a permanence.”1
E: Wow! What a great song for the first episode of this year!
H: Agree. And, there are lots of useful idioms in this song, so let’s take a look at the lyrics. She starts by describing the situation after the New Year’s party is over. “There's glitter on the floor after the party. Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby.”
E: Oh my gosh! Can you imagine having a party where people throw glitter?
H: There’s no way I would host a party where people throw glitter!
E: Me neither. I do not want to clean up tiny pieces of shiny glitter. And I don’t wear high heels when I go to a party either.
H: Ha ha! Me neither. I’m usually at home with my family playing games and eating snacks - wearing comfortable slippers.
E: How about the next lines, “Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor. You and me from the night before.”
H: Polaroids are those instant photos, right?
E: Yes! You take the photo and it develops right away. And they have pictures of the two of them.
H: That’s so sweet! And then she sings, “but don’t read the last page.”
E: Hmmmmm…. so she means that her partner shouldn’t jump ahead to the end of the story.
H: They should enjoy every step of their life and their relationship.
E: Right. She sings, “But I stay when you're lost, and I'm scared, and you're turning away.”
H: So, she’s very devoted to her partner.
E: And she sings, “I want your midnights.”
H: She will be there for the exciting times. She’ll be there at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
E: The next line is, “But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day.”
H: Not just the happy, exciting times, but the difficult, challenging times, too.
E: It’s easy and fun to go to a party.
H: But nobody wants to clean up the mess afterward.
E: You’re right. I hate cleaning up after a party. Then she goes on to say, “I can tell that it’s gonna be a long road.”
H: What does “it is a “long road” mean, Ece?
E: If something is a “long road,” it means it’s been difficult or taken a long time.
H: So, when we first started the podcast, and we were facing many challenges, we could have said, “We have a long road ahead of us.”
E: It really felt that way, but now that we have made so many episodes, it’s really a lot of fun! The long road is behind us!
H: Ok, in the next line, she sings, “I'll be there if you're the toast of the town, babe.”
E: When you make a toast, you are raising your glass and making a wish for someone, right?
H: Right! Like I could be at a wedding and make a toast to the couple who is getting married and say, “Here’s to a long and happy life together.”
E: That’s a nice toast. And so if someone is “the toast of the town,” it means that they are very popular. Everyone in the town is making a toast to them and wishing them well.
H: But then the next line is, “Or if you strike out and you're crawling home.”
E: Oh! A baseball idiom. There are certainly a lot of those in American English!
H: There sure are. In the game of baseball, the batter gets three chances to hit the ball. If the batter misses three times or gets three “strikes,” they are out. No more chances.
E: Basically, if you “strike out,” you lose. For example, I could say, “I had a job interview last week, but unfortunately, I struck out.”
H: You were unsuccessful. You didn’t get the job.
E: And in the song, not only did he “strike out” but he is not even walking, he’s so defeated that he’s crawling home.
H: Ouch. That’s terrible.
E: It is. But Taylor Swift sings, “But I stay when it's hard, or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes.”
H: It sounds like she is completely dedicated to their relationship.
E: I think in any relationship, you enjoy the good times and the happy events, right?
H: Of course, but sometimes relationships can be difficult, and it’s important to try to work through that, if possible.
E: The next line is really lovely, “Hold on to the memories. They will hold on to you.”
H: Oh! I like that. That’s a great way to express that idea.
E: I agree! I feel that way about memories. You hold on to them, but they also hold on to you.”
H: That’s true of both good memories and bad memories, I think.
E: There’s one last really interesting line in the song.
H: What is it?
E: “Please don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.”
H: Oh! I really like that line.
E: She hopes that she doesn’t lose the person she is so close to.
H: Sometimes you lose touch with a person,
E: Or a relationship ends for whatever reason,
H: But you would still recognize that person’s voice or laugh if you heard it.
E: So, she hopes that she will never lose this person she is so close to.
H: Wow! This is a great song to start the new year with.
E: I agree. It’s a song about holding on to the people who are important to you.
H: It’s about supporting the people who are important to you in good times,
E: And in bad times.
H: I feel like that describes us and all of the wonderful people we have in our lives.
E: Definitely. And, you know what?
H: Is it time to sing?
E: I think it is!! Listeners, there’s a link to Taylor Swift’s 2017 song, “New Year’s Day,” in the episode notes.
H: Don’t forget to sing out loud as you listen.
E: And you should pay attention to all of the idioms and useful vocabulary in the song.
H + E: “I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day.”
<outtro>
E: Well, I feel like the new year is off to a good start.
H: Me too! I’m so happy we are finally doing another Taylor Swift song.
E: We haven’t done an episode about a Taylor Swift song since the very first episode of the podcast back in 2022.
H: That’s right! Listeners, if you like grammar and you like Taylor Swift, you’ll enjoy Season 1, Episode 1, Taylor Swift’s, “I Knew You Were Trouble.”
E: What a way to start our whole podcast adventure!
H: And here we are at the start of a brand new year!
E: We hope you are enjoying the podcast.
H: Make sure to tell your friends and family about, “English as a Singing Language.”
E: Like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen!
H: Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram @singinglanguages.
E: Wherever you are in the world, we wish you a wonderful 2025.
H: May your new year be full of good health,
E: happiness,
H: success,
E: and many songs to sing!
H: Until next time, have fun and, …
H + E: …just keep singing!
Tingle, Lauren (November 16, 2018). "The Inspiration Behind Taylor Swift's 'New Year's Day'". CMT News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
Official YouTube Video
Complete Lyrics
There's glitter on the floor after the party
Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby
Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor
You and me from the night before, but
Don't read the last page
But I stay when you're lost, and I'm scared, and you're turning away
I want your midnights
But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day
You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi
I can tell that it's gonna be a long road
I'll be there if you're the toast of the town, babe
Or if you strike out and you're crawling home
Don't read the last page
But I stay when it's hard, or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
And I will hold on to you
Please don't ever become a stranger
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
Please don't ever become a stranger
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere
There's glitter on the floor after the party
Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby
Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor
You and me, forevermore
Don't read the last page
But I stay when it's hard, or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes
I want your midnights
But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
Hold on to the memories
They will hold on to you
And I will hold on to you
Please don't ever become a stranger (hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you)
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere (hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you)
Please don't ever become a stranger (hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you)
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere (I will hold on to you)
Songwriters: Taylor Swift / Jack Michael Antonoff
New Year’s Day lyrics © Sony/atv Songs Llc, Taylor Swift Music, Ducky Donath Music, Songs Of Universal Inc.
Коментарі