During an interview with The New Yorker, Swift said she recently decided that life is "about achieving contentment ... you're not always going to be ridiculously happy" — and that newly discovered viewpoint is leaking into her new music.
Her new songs certainly fit into the progression. "They're sad, if I'm being honest," she said of the 10 songs she's written so far, adding that a recent track she wrote "is about moving on."
she explained. "Now, the way that I would say that and the way that I would feel that kind of pain is a lot different."