"Breathe" Song Meaning

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Breathe" from her "Fearless" album.

Taylor collaborated with Colbie Caillat on this song. Colbie's voice blends perfectly with Taylor's and adds a lot to the song.

Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat

Who is this song about?

Album art for "Breathe", photo courtesy of taylorswift.com

From the lyrics it would seem like it was a break up song about a boy, but it is not about a boy.

"And we know it's never simple/Never easy./Never a clean break, noone here to save me./You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand/And I can't/Breathe/Without you/But I have to."

It is about a good friend of Taylor's, Emily Poe, "It's two a.m./Feelin' like I just lost a friend./Hope you know it's not easy/Easy for me".   Emily toured with Taylor for two years as her fiddle player.  It is not exactly known why she left the band, but she left it in 2008 and went to law school at the University of Tennessee.  It was hard for Taylor to see her go.

Taylor and Emily Poe

In a conversation with Colbie Caillat in the "Making of Breathe" video Taylor says:

Taylor: "It was total therapy because I came in and I was like look you know one of my best friends, I'm going to not have to see anymore and is not going to be part of what I do and it's like the hardest thing to go through.  It's crazy listening to the song because you'd think it'd be about a relationship, but it's really about losing a friend and having a fallout, just the loss."

Colbie: "It can relate to anyone, anything."

Taylor: "It does, it's never specific as to why, that's my favorite thing about it, it doesn't talk about why or who's fault it was because sometimes the hardest time of when you say goodbye it's nobodies fault. It just has to stop."

While Taylor never says exactly why it didn't work out she says it couldn't be helped, there were too many obstacles. "Never wanted this, never wanna see you hurt./Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve./But people are people/And sometimes it doesn't work out."

I can relate to Taylor. It's a subject I've thought about, but not much is written on, how best friendships are really relationships at times.  When you date a boy you can just break up, but when things don't work out with a best girlfriend, you don't just end it in the same way. I've had some friendships that just turned toxic after a while and you just have to take a breather.  No one is right or wrong, the friendship just needs to "breathe" for a minute to work out the problems. Sometimes you can be friends with the person again and sometimes it just wouldn't work out if you tried again. You just have to say goodbye.

She apologizes at the end of the song in a string of "Sorry's" which also happens to be the hidden message in the song, IM SORRY IM SORRY IM SORRY.  It is hard to say goodbye to a best friend, but sometimes it is the best thing for everyone even though it's no one's fault.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Breathe".