So Long, London
In reviews of The Tortured Poets Department, a number of critics picked "So Long, London" as a highlight and applauded the heartbreaking lyrics and Swift's songwriting, but a few others found it lyrically uninventive. The track peaked at number four on the Billboard Global 200 and charted within the top 10 in many countries. It also received a gold certification in Australia.
Background and release
Taylor Swift started working on The Tortured Poets Department immediately after she submitted her tenth studio album, Midnights, to Republic Records for release in 2022. She continued working on it in secrecy throughout the US leg of the Eras Tour in 2023. The album's conception took place around the time the media reported that Swift's six-year relationship with the English actor Joe Alwyn had ended. She described it as her "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make. Republic Records released The Tortured Poets Department on April 19, 2024; it was her ninth album release within the last five years. Track five on the album, "So Long, London", received particular fan interest prior to the album's release, because Swift had said that each of her albums' track five was its most vulnerable and emotionally intense.
Music and lyrics
Swift wrote and produced "So Long, London" with Aaron Dessner. It is a downtempo chamber pop and synth-pop song that is set to 4/4 house beats. The track opens with Swift's multitracked vocals singing the title that, according to the Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, evoke "the ringing bells of London"; Cosmopolitan's Samantha Olson commented that they were reminiscent of a church choir.
The song is then instrumented by trembling synths and soft piano against a muted electronic soundscape. Olson thought that the beat has a "heartbeat feel" that evokes Swift's past songs "Wildest Dreams" (2014) and "You're Losing Me" (2023), while Sinéad O'Sullivan of The New Yorker wrote that the production exhibited some elements from "Call It What You Want" or "Dress", songs from Swift's 2017 album Reputation. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard wrote that the "elastic synths sound like a shaking tightrope", while there are occasional "understated" piano and "ghostly" harmonies. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian wrote that the production builds up to a "climax that never actually comes".
In the lyrics, the narrator details a love gone wrong. The ex-partner is portrayed as cold and disinterested, and the narrator laments, "You left me at the house by the Heath" / "You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days", referencing the London area of Hampstead Heath. They portray Swift's character carrying "the weight of the rift", her "white-knuckle dying grip holding to your quiet resentment", and her resentment ("I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free"). She tries to save the relationship to no avail. After processing the aftermath of a breakup, she bids goodbye to a partner and a community she once considered home. The narrator eventually abandons the relationship with the lyric, "I stopped CPR, after all it's no use/ The spirit was gone, we would never come to"; Alyssa Bailey of Elle and Mehera Bonner of Cosmopolitan contended that it was a reference to "You're Losing Me". By the song's conclusion, Swift accepts her reality: "So long, London/ Had good run/ A moment of warm sun/ But I'm not the one" Bailey and Elena Nicolaou of Today.com, thought that the lyrics alluded to Swift's breakup with Alwyn. Olson and Pitchfork's Shaad D'Souza described the track as an antithesis to "London Boy" (2019), a track about Swift's infatuation for an Englishman.
Critical reception
Some critics contended that the track was an emotionally heartbreaking one and picked it as one of the best tracks on The Tortured Poets Department. Will Hodgkinson of The Times gave the song a five-star rating and wrote: "Heartfelt, tender and poetic, this is a real tearjerker." Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph described the track as a "sumptuously sad and gorgeous, lyrically forensic dissection of a fading romance". Hunter-Tilney and the BBC's Mark Savage acclaimed the track as one of the best songs Swift had released; the former praised how Swift recounts a doomed love affair "with sorrow and coiled anger", and the latter deemed it as being "up there with the best things [Swift has] ever written". Lipshutz ranked "So Long, London" fourth out of the 31 tracks on the double album edition, describing the lyrics as "raw honesty".
Other critics commented on the production. Hunter-Tilney found it to be a "beautifully chilly electronic landscape", and The Irish Times's Finn McRedmond praised Swift's vocals for having "an irresistible buttery quality" and thought they were best utilized in a lower vocal register. Mesfin Fekadu from The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the "soft, electropop beat". Olson picked "So Long, London" among the five best album tracks, highlighting both the heartbreaking lyrics and the relenting production. Josh Kurp from Uproxx said it was a "chilling addition to the track five canon".
Less enthusiastic reviews opined that "So Long, London" was lyrically uninventive. The Scotsman's Fiona Shepherd praised the "tasteful beats" but said that the song "succumbed to same old tame old business as usual". Mary Kate from The A. V. Club opined that the "CPR" imagery was repetitive from "You're Losing Me", but arguing that "this wouldn't be a detriment" had Swift allowed for more time between her "hyperproductivity" with successive album releases. Pitchfork's Olivia Horn thought that the lyrics used ineffective metaphors such as the "five different causes of death". Grace Byron of Paste said the song's chorus lacked the emotions Swift normally showcases but thought that it was one of the better-produced song on the album.
Commercial performance
When the album was released, nine of its tracks occupied the top 10 of the Billboard Global 200; "So Long, London" debuted and peaked at number four on the chart, where it extended Swift's top-10 entries to 33. In the United States, the track opened at its peak of number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The song alongside 13 tracks from the album made Swift the first artist to monopolize the top 14 of the Hot 100. In Australia, "So Long, London" reached number four on the ARIA Singles Chart and made her the artist with the most entries in a single week with 29.
Elsewhere, "So Long, London" reached the top 10 in several countries: number five in New Zealand and Canada, number seven in Ireland, number eight in Luxembourg, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates, and number 10 in Malaysia. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the track peaked at number 10. The song also charted within the top 20 in Denmark (11), Switzerland (11), Norway (12), Latvia (14), South Africa (15), Iceland (16), and Croatia (17). It received a gold certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
Personnel
- Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer
- Aaron Dessner – producer, songwriter, recording engineer, drum programming, electric guitar, piano, synth
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- Bryce Bordone – mix engineer
- Jonathan Low – recording engineer
- Bella Blasko – recording engineer
- Benjamin Lanz – synth, synth recording
- Randy Merrill – mastering
Charts
| Chart (2024) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina (Argentina Hot 100) | 52 |
| Australia (ARIA) | 4 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) | 40 |
| Brazil (Brasil Hot 100) | 51 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) | 5 |
| Croatia (Billboard) | 17 |
| Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100) | 30 |
| Denmark (Tracklisten) | 11 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) | 39 |
| France (SNEP) | 51 |
| Global 200 (Billboard) | 4 |
| Greece International (IFPI) | 9 |
| Hong Kong (Billboard) | 21 |
| Iceland (Plötutíðindi) | 16 |
| India (IMI) | 8 |
| Indonesia (Billboard) | 25 |
| Ireland (Billboard) | 7 |
| Italy (FIMI) | 83 |
| Latvia (LAIPA) | 14 |
| Lithuania (AGATA) | 28 |
| Luxembourg (Billboard) | 8 |
| Malaysia (Billboard) | 13 |
| Malaysia International (RIM) | 10 |
| MENA (IFPI) | 10 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) | 34 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) | 5 |
| Norway (VG-lista) | 12 |
| Philippines (Billboard) | 8 |
| Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100) | 41 |
| Portugal (AFP) | 8 |
| Singapore (RIAS) | 8 |
| Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100) | 32 |
| South Africa (TOSAC) | 15 |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | 45 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) | 8 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) | 11 |
| UAE (IFPI) | 8 |
| UK Singles Sales (OCC) | 79 |
| UK Streaming (OCC) | 7 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
Certification
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | Gold | 35,000 |
|
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||