The song “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” was released by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in October 2022. The song was included in the studio album “Midnights”. The release of the track did not take place immediately, but three hours later as part of the extended version of the album. The song was co-written and co-produced by musician Jack Antonoff. Together they created a track that broke more than one music record.
It is symbolic that the release was published at three hours after midnight – the early morning hours of the night are considered the most difficult for emotionally unstable people who are in a state of crisis. During these hours, most suicides are committed. This is, without exaggeration, the hour of psycho-emotional tragedies.
“Bigger Than the Whole Sky” sings about loss, about something that didn’t happen, and claims that the song is dedicated to Taylor Swift’s unborn child who died in a miscarriage.
“No words appear before me in the aftermath, salt streams out my eyes and into my ears”, — from the very first lines it is clear how voluminous and heavy the loss of the heroine of the song is. This is such a loss when any words completely lose their meaning and are melted into tears that cannot be stopped.
“Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness, cause it’s all over now, all out to sea.” The heroine herself considers herself so poisoned by this loss that her one touch can destroy anything with the power of longing.
The longing is huge, the loss is so voluminous that it fills the whole world for the heroine, it’s not for nothing that every line and thought of the song tells the listener about the scale of the event: “more than the whole sky”, “the ocean where everything was washed away”, “collapses from longing”. This is a great grief.
“Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, you were bigger than the whole sky, you were more than just a short time”, – on these lines the thought arises, how can a person fill such an endless void? What can save him? And, unfortunately, it is impossible to find the answer. The heroine says goodbye to someone who was more than the whole sky for her, who previously occupied a huge part of her soul and life, and now he is gone, only hopelessness and pain remain.
“And I’ve got a lot to pine about, I’ve got a lot to live without”, the chorus lines reinforce the feeling of loss and emptiness, it’s really scary for the heroine. From such emotions one step to something irreparable, for example, to the decision to commit suicide. It’s about how much the one she lost meant.
“I’m never gonna meet, what could’ve been, would’ve been, what should’ve been you”, – the heroine realizes that she will never know who her unborn child could become, and what would be his fate no waiting, it is already cut off forever. These lines give rise to the sharpest sense of impotence and injustice. They make you think about what people do not pay attention to in the daily whirlwind – where and why do unhappy lives go?
“What could’ve been, would’ve been you”, – the heroine grieves about what could and should have happened, and her longing is woven into every word. After all, it could and should have, how did it happen that everything disappeared in one moment?
“Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia? Did some force take you because I didn’t pray?” – here is an attempt to find the cause, as always happens in the case of a loss – why did this happen, why with me? Maybe it’s a punishment for something, like not praying.
“Every single thing to come has turned into ashes, cause it’s all over, it’s not meant to be,” over and over again she repeats the words about collapse, catastrophe, the end of everything. The long-awaited joy turned into ashes, what was to come disappeared, broke off, as if it had never happened. Bitterness, resentment, pain. And the realization of the irreparable tragedy, before which the words lose their power: “So I’ll say words I don’t believe”. She no longer believes in anything and it is not known if she can be healed by time.
Then the dramatic chorus sounds again several times, from which tears boil – farewell, hopelessness, dust, longing for what did not happen.
“Bigger Than the Whole Sky” makes the outside listener think about what he usually does not think about in everyday life, if he does not encounter it himself. The heroine was waiting for the joy that was to follow the birth of a child, but fate took everything from her without explanation, and at such moments it really seems that life is over.
From the song itself comes the feeling of a bleeding wound that was inflicted just a minute ago and causes unbearable pain. Perhaps later the pain will begin to subside along with the healing of the wound, but who knows, because it is hard to lose those who were “more than just the sky”, and the instantaneous transformation of life into ashes does not pass without a trace. Is there an end and edge of pain, which itself is comparable in size to the sky, and if we continue this analogy, then there is no end and edge of such pain.
Perhaps this song will be able to help those who have experienced a similar loss and cause more understanding and sympathy for them in people who have never experienced such a thing.
