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The Lakes (song)

"The Lakes" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from the deluxe edition of her eighth studio album, Folklore (2020). Written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff, "The Lakes" is a midtempo indie ballad, set to acoustic guitar and strings, with themes of introspection and escapism that reflect on Swift's semi-retirement in Windermere, the largest natural lake in England.

"The Lakes"

July 24, 2021 (2021-07-24)

2020

3:31

Republic

  • Taylor Swift
  • Jack Antonoff

An orchestral version of "The Lakes", which is the original demo, was released as a promotional single by Republic Records on July 24, 2021, to commemorate the first anniversary of Folklore. 7-inch singles of "The Lakes" were exclusively sold in independent record shops on April 23, 2022, as part of the 2022 Record Store Day limited-edition vinyl releases.


Upon release, "The Lakes" received universal acclaim from music critics, with compliments on its sophisticated, poetic lyrics, and melancholic instrumentals; many named it a highlight on Folklore and one of the best songs of Swift's discography. The song debuted in the top 10 of the Canadian Digital Song Sales and US Digital Song Sales charts; elsewhere, it peaked at number 21 in Scotland and on the UK Singles Downloads Chart and at number 27 in Hungary.

Commercial performance[edit]

After the release of the deluxe edition of Folklore, "The Lakes" debuted at number five on the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart[24] and at number 18 on Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart[25] with three days of tracking. It also reached the top 20 on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles[26] and Canadian Digital Song Sales charts,[27] and the top 30 on Hungarian Singles,[28] Scottish Singles[29] and the UK Singles Downloads Chart charts.[30] Following its vinyl release in April 2022, "The Lakes" debuted at number 88 in the United Kingdom[31] and number 52 in Ireland.[32]

Critical reception[edit]

The song received universal critical acclaim. NME critic Hannah Mylrea opined that "The Lakes" is more poetic and romantic than any song on the standard edition of Folklore, and praised the song as "allusive".[33] Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos wrote that the song channels Romantic-era poetry, by depicting unconditional love "within a controversial life and painful experiences".[34] In agreement, Wren Graves, writing for Consequence of Sound, also found the song to be Romantic, inspired by "one of the great periods in English literature".[35] Tom Breihan, writing for Stereogum, called it a "soft, small-scale" love song about avoiding the public eye and "finding escape in some secluded enclave".[36]


Billboard writer Gil Kaufman found "The Lakes" delightful, and complimented the sparse instrumentals,[4] while Josiah Hughes of Exclaim! commended its "lush and elaborately produced" indie sound.[5] Sarah Carson, reviewing for i, lauded Swift's "smart" wordplay and "dazzlingly novel" vocals, which she described as "soft, distinct, imperfect, and never so assured".[37] Idolator's Mike Wass labelled it a "dreamy anthem".[38] Complimenting Swift's vulnerability and honesty, Sputnikmusic praised "The Lakes" as "an ideal product of its time", naming it one of the best songs Swift has ever written, and asserted it as the perfect closing track to Folklore.[39] Gary Dinges of USA Today deemed the song a "serenade", mimicking a bittersweet version of Swift's 2017 song "Call It What You Want".[40] Also comparing to "Call It What You Want", Glamour commentator Emily Tannenbaum defined the song as a melancholic love letter, and highlighted its macabre.[14]