Rejoice Swifties and Where the Crawdads Sing-heads alike! Superstar musician Taylor Swift has released her new single "Carolina" which was written for the film. Initially teased in the film's first trailer back in March, the song is available to listen to in its entirety now on YouTube and just about every major music platform.
"Carolina," from its lyrics to the haunting melody, sounds like an old country folk song. Swift wrote the chilling tune entirely based on the themes and events of the book by Delia Owens's beloved 2018 novel, which she adored reading years back. From the very beginning, it all applies to the life of the book's main character Kya, portrayed in the film by Daisy Edgar-Jones, who has "Carolina creeks running through her veins." It acts as almost a loose re-telling of the events of the book, painting the picture of Kya as a social outcast in civilization despite finding freedom and self-sufficiency in the North Carolina marsh. Abandoned and alone, she found her way through fishing, gardening, and bartering. Fittingly, the lyric video stays mostly in the Carolina wilderness with Kya, only showing the town while Swift utters the line "and you didn't see me here, they never saw me here."
Near the end of the song, Swift also pays mention to the other, much darker side of Where the Crawdads Sing. In the book and the film, Kya gets involved with local golden boy Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson), though that relationship turns toxic, and it eventually leads to Kya being charged with his murder. Due to her standing in the community, pre-conceived notions of the town of Barkley Cove, and the limited evidence tying the crime to Kya, dictate that she's "guilty as sin." In reality, only "Carolina knows" whether she did it or not.
Where the Crawdads Sing hails from director Olivia Newman with Lucy Alibar adapting Owens's book for the film and Reese Witherspoon producing through her Hello Sunshine banner. 3000 Pictures also worked on the production. Taylor John Smith, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., and David Strathairn also star alongside Edgar-Jones and Dickinson.
Witherspoon was over the moon about the idea of Swift penning a song for the film, saying in a statement:
"Taylor Swift writing a song for the film based on these characters was the greatest gift that we could have received. We got a call from Taylor and her team to tell us she had written a song, ‘Carolina,’ that incorporates so many of the haunting elements of the movie. I’ve gotten to talk with her a couple of times about what inspired the song and how she wrote it. Obviously, she’s a beautiful songwriter who understands so much about folk and country music, and it’s her appreciation of those genres that made the song so perfect for this film. And who doesn’t love a gorgeous, haunting Taylor Swift song?"
Swift also released a statement about finally getting to share the song with her audience:
"About a year and half ago I wrote a song about an incredible story, the story of a girl who always lived on the outside, looking in. Figuratively and literally. The juxtaposition of her loneliness and independence. Her longing and her stillness. Her curiosity and fear, all tangled up. Her persisting gentleness… and the world’s betrayal of it. I wrote this one alone in the middle of the night and then Aaron Dessner and I meticulously worked on a sound that we felt would be authentic to the moment in time when this story takes place. I made a wish that one day you would hear it. ‘Carolina’ is out now."
Where the Crawdads Sing comes to theaters on July 15. Check out the lyric video for Swift's single "Carolina" below.