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Loml

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This article is about the Taylor Swift song. For the definition of the phrase, see wikt:LOML. For other uses, see Love of My Life (disambiguation).

"Loml"
Song by Taylor Swift
from the album The Tortured Poets Department
ReleasedApril 19, 2024 (2024-04-19)
Studio
Length4:37
LabelRepublic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Taylor Swift
  • Aaron Dessner
Lyric video
"Loml" on YouTube

"Loml" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Written and produced by Swift and Aaron Dessner, it is a soft piano ballad. The song's lyrics mourn the loss of a short-lived relationship that leaves a long-lasting mark. Whereas "Loml" is a popular colloquialism for "love of my life", the song denotes it as "loss of my life".

Music critics generally acclaimed the heartbreaking lyrics, emotional storytelling, and simple piano production of "Loml". The track peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached the top 10 on charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the US. Swift performed the song live at the first Paris show of the Eras Tour on May 9, 2024.

Background and release

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Swift announced her eleventh original studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024. The following day, she shared its track listing, which includes "Loml" with its title in all lowercase as track number 12. According to Swift, she developed the album "for about two years" after finishing her previous album, Midnights (2022).[1] Conceived amidst publicized reports on Swift's personal life, including a breakup with the English actor Joe Alwyn and a brief romantic linking with the English musician Matty Healy,[2] The Tortured Poets Department was described by her as a "lifeline" album which she "really needed" to make.[3] Republic Records released it on April 19, 2024.[4]

Swift performed "Loml" live for the first time on May 9, 2024, during the first Paris show of the Eras Tour.[5] A digital variant of The Tortured Poets Department containing a recorded version of this performance was released on May 24, 2024.[6]

Music and lyrics

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"Loml" is a piano ballad with minimal production; featuring Swift's vocals accompanied by piano keys. Paste described its sound as tracing back to Swift's artistic roots from a decade ago.[7] Laura Snapes of The Guardian viewed the lyrical style of "Loml" as "digressive [and] detailed", reminiscent of "All Too Well" from Red (2012).[8] The piano melody evokes the title track of her 2020 album Evermore.[9]

Writing for Billboard, Jason Lipshuz said the lyrics describes the re-evaluation of a premature romance with its faults and Swift dreaming up a happy conclusion that strays away from the truth.[10] In the track, a heartbroken Swift sings about being betrayed and conned by a man who told her she was the love of his life.[11] Although the acronym "Loml" commonly means "love of my life",[12][13] the phrase is not explicitly clarified, leading to fans speculating a different phrase.[14] Swift alludes to the romance being her greatest loves in the lyric, "loss of my life," at song's conclusion.[15]

Swift observes as she slowly loses the person she loves: "You shit-talked me under the table, talking rings and talking cradles, I wish I could unrecall, How we almost had it all," Its lyrics, "Still alive, killing time at the cemetery, Never quite buried" draws parallel with the opener track of Folklore (2020), "The 1": "digging up the grave another time".[16] Alex Hopper of American Songwriter opined the track as a relationship "post-mortem" and drew lyrical parallels to "Invisible String" and "Hits Different". Swift describes the romantic subject in "Loml" as one she believes she would marry: "talking rings and talking cradles," only to realise she had been lied to.[17]

Reception

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"Loml" received acclaim from critics, with many calling it a standout track,[7][16][18] with some saying it contained some of the best lyrics from the record.[19] Ryan Fish of The Hollywood Reporter called "Loml" the most emotional track from the album.[15] A similar sentiment is shared with Business Insider's Callie Ahlgrim who said it was the only song on the album that made her cry, writing "a love that burns, crackles, and explodes is much easier to obsess over than a love that decays, resurrects, and dies again." That's what makes the painful precision of "Loml" even more impressive."[16] Variety's Chris Willman said the song contained "one gut punch after another" and one of Swift's best lyrics.[20]

Despite a scathing review of the parent album by Paste, "Loml" was highlighted as a standout track that "strips away all of Antonoff's worst pop sonics and leaves nothing but her voice and a lone piano".[7] Ranking 274 songs, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stones placed "Loml" at 33rd place, adding that its reaches its climax at the "hushed moment where she gives the perfectly simple epitaph: 'It was legendary/It was momentary.'"[9] In a less enthusiastic review by Olivia Horn of Pitchfork, sentimental tracks such as "So Long, London" and "Loml" fail to live up to their expectations as each lyric carries the same emotional weight. Horn writes; "There's no hierarchy of tragic detail; these songs fail to distill an overarching emotional truth, tending to smother rather than sting."[21]

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department.[22]

  • Taylor Swift – lead vocals, songwriter, producer
  • Aaron Dessner – producer, songwriter, bass synthesizer, keyboard, piano, synth
  • Bella Blasko – recording, drums, percussion
  • Bryce Bordone – mix engineer
  • Serban Ghenea – mixing
  • Glenn Kotche – drums, percussion
  • Jonathan Low – recording
  • Christopher Rowe – lead vocals recording
  • Laura Sisk – lead vocals recording

Charts

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Chart performance for "Loml"
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[23] 15
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[24] 17
France (SNEP)[25] 120
Global 200 (Billboard)[26] 16
Greece International (IFPI)[27] 31
Ireland (Billboard)[28] 22
Malaysia International (RIM)[29] 19
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[30] 16
Philippines (Billboard)[31] 19
Portugal (AFP)[32] 30
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[33] 97
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[34] 55
Swiss Streaming (Schweizer Hitparade)[35] 37
UK Streaming (OCC)[36] 20
US Billboard Hot 100[37] 12

Certifications

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Certifications for "Loml"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[38] Gold 35,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[39] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Dailey, Hannah (April 16, 2024). "Everything We Know About Taylor Swift's New Album The Tortured Poets Department So Far". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  2. ^ Sisario, Ben (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Arrives With a Promotional Blitz". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  3. ^ Bonner, Mehera (February 16, 2024). "Taylor Swift Reveals Bonus Track Title and New Album Cover for The Tortured Poets Department". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  4. ^ "As The Tortured Poets Department drops, here's all Taylor Swift's albums ranked by sales". Music Week. April 19, 2024. Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  5. ^ Iasimone, Ashley (August 3, 2024). "All the Surprise Songs Taylor Swift Has Performed on The Eras Tour (So Far)". Billboard. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  6. ^ "Taylor Swift Is Selling Live Versions of 3 'Tortured Poets Department' Surprise Songs for a Very Limited Time". Peoplemag. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "Taylor Swift Strikes Out Looking on The Tortured Poets Department". Paste. April 19, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  8. ^ Snapes, Laura (April 19, 2024). "Breakups, fantasies and her most cutting lyrics: inside Taylor's Swift's The Tortured Poets Department". The Guardian. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (April 26, 2024). "All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  10. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department': All 31 Tracks Ranked". Billboard. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  11. ^ McRedmond, Finn (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department track by track review – A manifesto for all the believers who will try at love one more time". The Irish Times. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  12. ^ Schwedel, Heather (April 20, 2024). "Every Proper Noun on Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department, Charted and Annotated". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  13. ^ Eley, Amy (April 19, 2024). "Everything Taylor Swift has revealed about her new album track list". Today. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  14. ^ Bonner, Mehera (April 11, 2024). "Taylor Swift's New Song "loml" Has a More Complicated Meaning Than Everyone Initially Thought". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Fish, Ryan (April 22, 2024). "Every Song on Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, Ranked". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  16. ^ a b c Ahlgrim, Callie (April 19, 2024). "Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department is the messiest, horniest, and funniest album she's ever made". Business Insider. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  17. ^ Hopper, Alex (May 29, 2024). "Behind the Meaning of Taylor Swift's Post-Mortem of a Relationship, "loml"". American Songwriter. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  18. ^ Jayswal, Palak (May 5, 2024). "Review: Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department". SLUG. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  19. ^ Wohlmacher, John (April 23, 2024). "Album review: Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  20. ^ Willman, Chris (April 29, 2024). "Taylor Swift's 75 Best Songs, Ranked". Variety. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  21. ^ Horn, Olivia (April 22, 2024). "The Tortured Poets Department / The Anthology". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  22. ^ Swift, Taylor (2024). The Tortured Poets Department (The Manuscript edition vinyl liner notes). Republic Records. 602458933314.
  23. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  24. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  25. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  26. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Global 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  27. ^ "Digital Singles Chart (International)". www.ifpi.gr. Archived from the original on May 1, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  28. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Ireland Songs)". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  29. ^ "TOP 20 Most Streamed International Singles In Malaysia Week 17 (19/04/2024-25/04/2024)". RIM. May 4, 2024. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2024 – via Facebook.
  30. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  31. ^ "Philippines Songs - Week of May 4, 2024". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  32. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  33. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  34. ^ "Taylor Swift – loml". Singles Top 100. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  35. ^ "Streaming Top 100". Schweizer Hitparade. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  36. ^ "Official Streaming Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  37. ^ "Taylor Swift Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  38. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2024 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  39. ^ "British single certifications – Taylor Swift – Loml". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
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