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2024 song by Taylor Swift From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Loml" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Written and produced by Swift and Aaron Dessner, it is a soft piano ballad. The song's lyrics mourn the loss of a short-lived relationship that leaves a long-lasting mark. Whereas "Loml" is a popular colloquialism for "love of my life", the song denotes it as "loss of my life".
"Loml" | |
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Song by Taylor Swift | |
from the album The Tortured Poets Department | |
Released | April 19, 2024 |
Studio |
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Length | 4:37 |
Label | Republic |
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Lyric video | |
"Loml" on YouTube |
Music critics generally acclaimed the heartbreaking lyrics, emotional storytelling, and simple piano production of "Loml". The track peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 10 on charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the US. Swift performed the song live at the first Paris show of the Eras Tour on May 9, 2024.
Swift announced her eleventh original studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024. The following day, she shared its track listing, which includes "Loml" with its title in all lowercase as track number 12. According to Swift, she developed the album "for about two years" after finishing her previous album, Midnights (2022).[1] Conceived amidst publicized reports on Swift's personal life, including a breakup with the English actor Joe Alwyn and a brief romantic linking with the English musician Matty Healy,[2] The Tortured Poets Department was described by her as a "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make.[3] Republic Records released it on April 19, 2024.[4]
Swift performed "Loml" live for the first time on May 9, 2024, during the first Paris show of the Eras Tour.[5] A digital variant of The Tortured Poets Department containing a recorded version of this performance was released on May 24, 2024.[6]
"Loml" is a piano ballad with minimal production; featuring Swift's vocals accompanied by piano keys. Paste described its sound as tracing back to Swift's artistic roots from a decade ago.[7] Laura Snapes of The Guardian viewed the lyrical style of "Loml" as "digressive [and] detailed", reminiscent of "All Too Well" from Red (2012).[8] The piano melody evokes the title track of her 2020 album Evermore.[9]
Writing for Billboard, Jason Lipshuz said the lyrics describes the re-evaluation of a premature romance with its faults and Swift dreaming up a happy conclusion that strays away from the truth.[10] In the track, a heartbroken Swift sings about being betrayed and conned by a man who told her she was the love of his life.[11] Although the acronym "Loml" commonly means "love of my life",[12][13] the phrase is not explicitly clarified, leading to fans speculating a different phrase.[14] Swift alludes to the romance being her greatest loves in the lyric, "loss of my life," at song's conclusion.[15]
Swift observes as she slowly loses the person she loves: "You shit-talked me under the table, talking rings and talking cradles, I wish I could unrecall, How we almost had it all," Its lyrics, "Still alive, killing time at the cemetery, Never quite buried" draws parallel with the opener track of Folklore (2020), "The 1": "digging up the grave another time".[16] Alex Hopper of American Songwriter opined the track as a relationship "post-mortem" and drew lyrical parallels to "Invisible String" and "Hits Different". Swift describes the romantic subject in "Loml" as one she believes she would marry: "talking rings and talking cradles," only to realise she had been lied to.[17]
"Loml" received acclaim from critics, with many calling it a standout track,[7][16][18] with some saying it contained some of the best lyrics from the record.[19] Ryan Fish of The Hollywood Reporter called "Loml" the most emotional track from the album.[15] A similar sentiment is shared with Business Insider's Callie Ahlgrim who said it was the only song on the album that made her cry, writing "a love that burns, crackles, and explodes is much easier to obsess over than a love that decays, resurrects, and dies again." That's what makes the painful precision of "Loml" even more impressive."[16] Variety's Chris Willman said the song contained "one gut punch after another" and one of Swift's best lyrics.[20]
Despite a scathing review of the parent album by Paste, "Loml" was highlighted as a standout track that "strips away all of Antonoff's worst pop sonics and leaves nothing but her voice and a lone piano".[7] Ranking 274 songs, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stones placed "Loml" at 33rd place, adding that its reaches its climax at the "hushed moment where she gives the perfectly simple epitaph: 'It was legendary/It was momentary.'"[9] In a less enthusiastic review by Olivia Horn of Pitchfork, sentimental tracks such as "So Long, London" and "Loml" fail to live up to their expectations as each lyric carries the same emotional weight. Horn writes; "There's no hierarchy of tragic detail; these songs fail to distill an overarching emotional truth, tending to smother rather than sting."[21]
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department.[22]
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA)[23] | 15 |
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[24] | 17 |
France (SNEP)[25] | 120 |
Global 200 (Billboard)[26] | 16 |
Greece International (IFPI)[27] | 31 |
Ireland (Billboard)[28] | 22 |
Malaysia International (RIM)[29] | 19 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[30] | 16 |
Philippines (Billboard)[31] | 19 |
Portugal (AFP)[32] | 30 |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[33] | 97 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[34] | 55 |
Swiss Streaming (Schweizer Hitparade)[35] | 37 |
UK Streaming (OCC)[36] | 20 |
US Billboard Hot 100[37] | 12 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA)[38] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
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