The Real Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's Out Of The Woods

In the explanation video for "Out Of The Woods," Taylor Swift said she wanted the song to feel unstable, wild, beautiful, and exciting like the relationship itself. Through the chorus, Swift frantically repeats, "Are we out of the woods yet?" and "Are we in the clear yet?" to portray the ramblings of her anxious mind as she desperately clings to the love. Arguably the most notable part of the song comes in the bridge when Swift describes getting into an accident with her partner and breaking down in a hospital. 

It seems like the relationship is over as Swift swings, "Remember when you couldn't take the heat? I walked out, I said, 'I'm setting you free.'" But then she follows it up, "But the monsters turned out to be just trees," indicating that she didn't have anything to worry about. These memorable lyrics are perfectly complemented by the explosive production.

 Speaking to Billboard, Jack Antontoff explained the thought process behind the frenzied production, "It starts with a pretty big anthemic vocal sample that's me, and then there's a drum sample that kicks in that's kind of huge, and then you don't really know how you're going to get any bigger but then the chorus hits and it just explodes even larger. And then the bridge hits, and it gets even more huge." He added that it would've been more natural to have a quieter chorus, but they just wanted the song to grow bigger.