How ‘Dateline’ Inspired a New Taylor Swift Song

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - MARCH 02: EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO BOOK COVERS Taylor Swift performs during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at the National Stadium on March 02, 2024 in Singapore. (Photo by Ashok Kumar/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Taylor Swift first introduced us to her penchant for true crime during the Evermore era, where her “obsession with true crime podcasts/documentaries” inspired the track "No Body, No Crime" (and then, of course, there's "Vigilante Shit" from Midnights), and the intrigue has continued into her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.

In a new lyric commentary series available exclusively on Amazon Music, the singer-songwriter divulged how Dateline provided the inspiration for "Florida!!!" a song about escaping your past and finding solace somewhere new.

Swift recalled working on the idea of "what happens when your life doesn’t fit or your choices you’ve made catch up to you,” per Today, and started thinking about where a person could run to, to escape from “harsh consequences and judgment and circumstances.”

Dateline came to mind, where "people have these crimes that they commit" and then do whatever they can to evade punishment. "Where do they immediately skip town and go to?" she asked. "They go to Florida.”

Related: Donna Kelce Gives Honest Opinion of Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets Department’

There, they "reinvent themselves" with "a new identity" and do anything they can to "blend in." It's a parallel she sees in heartbreak, where "a part of you...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.’”

Hence lyrics like, "I need to forget, so take me to Florida / I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida."

Amazon Music users can stream the commentary online or via the Amazon Music app. Alexa users can tell their smart devices, “Alexa, I’m a member of 'The Tortured Poets Department,'" to find the commentary.

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