New to town with a made-up name
In the angel's city, chasing fortune and fame
And the camera flashes make it look like a dream
You had it figured out since you were in school
Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool
So overnight, you look like a sixties queen
[Pre-Chorus 1]
Another name goes up in lights
Like diamonds in the sky
[Chorus 1]
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
But can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one?
Oh, oh, oh
[Verse 2]
Now, it’s big black cars and Riviera views
And your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you
And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page
And they tell you that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused
'Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used
And all the young things line up to take your place
Another name goes up in lights
You wonder if you’ll make it out alive
[Chorus 1]
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
But can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one?
Oh, oh, oh
[Verse 3]
It was a few years later, I showed up here
And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared
How you took the money and your dignity and got the hell out
They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere
Chose the rose garden over Madison Square
And it took some time, but I understand it now
[Pre-Chorus 3]
'Cause now, my name is up in lights
But I think you got it right
[Chorus 2]
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one
Let me tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one
And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh
Oh, whoa, oh, oh
About
The song is about a star who had it all- and who was also exposed to all, the tabloids, lights, and cameras. After her secrets were being leaked all over the world she was done, she moved away to a life of solitude and nobody knew where she had gone.
Swift reportedly wrote this song in Australia, and although she doesn’t say who the song is about (she set a rule against this herself), the song is rumored to be about Joni Mitchell and Kim Wilde, the lyrics: “They say you bought a bunch of land somewhere, chose the rose garden over Madison Square.” could possibly be referencing how Wilde left her career to become a landscape gardener. The main melody is also sampled from Wilde’s “Four Letter Word”
The song ends with Taylor understanding why the star chose that path, and how Taylor feels that she’s becoming the “The Lucky One”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
The ‘Lucky One’ is a song I wrote while I was in Australia. It kind of talks about some of my fears through telling the story of other people that I was inspired by. More than their stories being told, I’m pretty much singing about what I’m scared of in that song, ending up kind of caught up in this whole thing and lonely and feeling misunderstood and feeling like when people think you’re lucky that you’re really not. It kind of expresses my greatest fear of having this not end up being fun anymore, having it end up being a scary place. Some people get there, some people end up there. It’s a story song and it’s something I’m really proud of because it kind of goes to a place that I’m terrified of.
Being famous can be fun at first, but people have ended up in a scary place over time. Everybody’s got their way of dealing with it. And for me, sometimes it’s surrounding myself with my friends and venting, sometimes it’s staying up at the piano until four o'clock in the morning, sometimes it’s watching TV and forgetting about all of it, sometimes it’s calling my mother up and crying. Sometimes you have a really bad day.
Your life is constantly also analyzed. There’s a lot of trade-offs. There’s the microscope that’s always on you. The camera flashes, the fear that something you say will be taken the wrong way and you’ll let your fans down. There’s the fear that you’ll be walking down the street and your skirt will blow up and you’ll be in the news for three months.
You’re scared of a lot of things for a lot of the time, but the trade-off of being able to get on a big stage and sing your songs — it’s worth it."
- 2.Red
- 3.Treacherous
- 5.All Too Well
- 6.22
- 7.I Almost Do
- 10.The Last Time
- 11.Holy Ground
- 13.The Lucky One
- 15.Starlight
- 16.Begin Again
- 19.Girl at Home