When I heard about Taylor Swift releasing her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” with a song called “Florida!!!” featuring the artist, Florence & The Machine,” obviously, I was intrigued. I waited patiently, speculating like so many others, what it could be about! As a Taylor Swift fan (not a complete Swiftie like my daughter) and as a lifelong resident of Florida, Florida explorer and writer, I was excited to see what the song would be.
Taylor’s Easter Eggs
The easter eggs (clues) Taylor left for her fans had them guessing it had something to do with the three !!! at the end of the name connecting it with her three tour stops in Florida. I even heard a rumor that it was going to be political having to do with the upcoming election. But the biggest buzz was that something happened in Florida that would be revealed in the song.
I hoped it would be a fun song! Everyone makes fun of Florida and even Floridians have fun with the jokes. Florida can be a crazy place with crazy people that hit headline news around the world! We also joke about hurricanes and gators, retirees and heat, Florida man and other stereotypes.
Florida!!! Doesn’t disappoint
Well, the song didn’t disappoint!!! The song poked fun, used stereotypes, included hurricanes, and had a hauntingly beautiful tone that made Florida the place to go when you need to escape life, regrets and judgements, using Florida as a Drug. “Florida! Is one hell of a drug. Florida! Can I use you up?”
Taylor herself talked about how the song idea on IHeartRadio. It started from her concept that Florida is the place to escape to when life isn’t going quite the way you want or your choices have led you to a place you did not think you’d be. She joked about how when she watches Dateline, people who commit crimes immediately go to Florida to hide or blend in! And she elaborates on the idea that when you have a breakup, there is a part of you that wants to escape to a new life where no one knows who you are.
“Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida!!!”
| Taylor on writing “Florida!!!” with Florence Welch via @iHeartRadio #TSTTPD
pic.twitter.com/236BVFEngW— Taylor Swift Updates (@TSwiftLA) April 19, 2024
The chorus of “Florida!!!” showcases Florida as being the place to go to get away
“Florida! Is one hell of a drug. Florida! Can I use you up?”
Then later in the song showcasing the “escape” she mentions:
“I need to forget, so take me to Florida.
I’ve got some regrets, I’ll bury them in Florida.”
“It’s one hell of a drug. It’s one hell of a drug
Love left me like this. And I don’t want to exist
So take me to Florida”
Then there are lines like this that clearly poke fun of the news stories from Florida while leaning into the propaganda
“You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too.
They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true.”
And a shoutout to Destin, Florida
“So you work your life away just to pay for a time-share down in Destin.” It is funny to me that every time Taylor Swift mentions something or some place in a song, everyone wants to find a correlation in her life. Taylor is a story-teller! She doesn’t have to go to Destin to include it in her story about a get-away in Florida in one of the most talked about vacation spots!
And what kind of Florida song would it be without a mention of hurricanes in a verse that most Floridians can relate to
“The hurricane with my name when it came
got drunk and I dared it to wash me away.
Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine.
Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a time.”
By the way, there hasn’t been a hurricane named Taylor, at least not in the Atlantic basin, and it is not on the current rotation of T names. There have been several hurricanes named Florence (co-writer), one in 1953 that made landfall in Florida’s panhandle, one in 1988 that downgraded to a tropical storm before making landfall in the Pensacola area of Florida, and one in 2018 that, while it made landfall in North Carolina, it skimmed the Florida coastline and killed 2 people in rip-currents in the state before devastating North Carolina. This name has been retired. Florence Welch sings the hurricane verse which references the most recent Hurricane Florence.
Wait, there’s more!!!
There is another Florida shoutout from Taylor is in her first song on the album “Fortnight,” featuring artist Post Malone, with the lyrics, “Move to Florida, buy the car you want.” I feel like she threw this in just to tease about the Florida!!! song! You know, another easter egg!
Florida!!!
Florida!!! includes an escapism ideal in Florida while touching on issues that Floridians relate to such as crime, contradictions, heat, hurricanes, swamps, as well as the good things such as vacations, letting go of problems and worries and just enjoying an escape from the “real” world. The concepts are intertwined in Taylor’s glorious way of story-telling that adds little hints and clues that make us all think deeper.
While we can pick apart every bit of the song, the most important thing in any song is what it means to you personally and how you connect to it. As a Floridian, I thought it was one hell of a song! I felt the dark and light sides, which are part of life, and connected with the aspects of Florida life and escapism!
Full Song Lyrics
“Florida!!!”
(feat. Florence + the Machine)
You can beat the heat
If you beat the charges too
They said I was a cheat
I guess it must be true
And my friends all smell like weed or little babies
And this city reeks of driving myself crazyLittle did you know, your home’s really only a town you’re just a guest in
So you work your life away just to pay for a timeshare down in DestinFlorida!
Is one hell of a drug
Florida!
Can I use you up?And the hurricane with my name, when it came
I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away
Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine
Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a timeYes, I’m haunted, but I’m feeling just fine
All my girls got their lace and their crimes
And your cheating husband disappeared, well
No one asks any questions hereSo I did my best to lay to rest
All of the bodies that have ever been on my body
And in my mind, they sink into the swamp
Is that a bad thing to say in a song?Little did you know, your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested
So you pack your life away just to wait out the shitstorm back in TexasFlorida!
Is one hell of a drug
Florida!
Can I use you up?I need to forget, so take me to Florida
I’ve got some regrets, I’ll bury them in Florida
Tell me I’m despicable, say it’s unforgivable
At least the dolls are beautiful, fuck me up, Florida!I need to forget, so take me to Florida
I’ve got some regrets, I’ll bury them in Florida
Tell me I’m despicable, say it’s unforgivable
What a crash, what a rush, fuck me up, Florida!It’s one hell of a drug
It’s one hell of a drug
Love left me like this
And I don’t want to exist
So take me to FloridaLittle did you know, your home’s really only a town you’re just a guest in
So you work your life away just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin (Take me to Florida)
Little did you know, your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested (Take me to Florida)
So you pack your life away just to wait out the shitstorm back in Texas (Take me to)Florida!
Is one hell of a drug
(Take me to) Florida!
Can I use you up?
Florida!
Is one hell of a drug
Florida!
Go on, fuck me up