It is a real story, actually. Taylor wrote this about a close friend of hers, Jeff Lang, who overdosed and died at age 21. Very sad.

The line about “disarming the bomb” for me conveys the urgency of suicidal thoughts. A ticking bomb can go off at any moment, unless it is disarmed by someone. In the same way, a person alone in their apartment is at greater risk for suicide, but if there was a person physical with them, that person has a greater chance to “disarm the bomb” so to speak.

That “please don’t go” line seriously hurts knowing the story behind the song. To know she cared for someone so much just to see them taken from mental illness and addiction is just..man.

The vulnerability you show in this reaction is the vulnerability we all felt. It is a heavy song that she tries to make hopeful. Thank you for reacting to it. Have a Swift day.

I'm a very suicidal person, these thoughts occupy my mind even when I'm laughing and this song has quite literally saved me with the line "too young to know it gets better". I'm only 19 so that line gives me hope that it'll get better and maybe someday, I'll feel worthy of living. Crazy how this blonde lady's insane writing skills have sort of saved me. Thank you for the reaction and for getting vulnerable with us

This song saved my life last year. Taylor has no idea the impact she has and the help she provides.

I still remember the first time I heard this song because for the first half I thought it was about a failed relationship and Taylor talking about that pain with a friend and trying to help them over the break up. Then the bridge hit and the lightbulb went on and I realized what it was about. The upbeat production really had me fooled, and it's still probably the most uptempo song to make me cry. I really like that she uses the second person in the chorus and bridge because it almost sounds like she's reaching out to her listeners trying to comfort them. A beautiful song.

The lyric “He spends most of his flights getting pulled down by gravity” some fans interrupted as when he did drugs and got high he would feel down and even worse about what’s going on, others interpret it as when he’s “soaring” and doing well, things are good but he still feels depressed

The part that always gets me is… she says “i”ll be summer sun for you forever …forever winter if you go…” and she names the song “forever winter” because he ended up passing. 😭 Beautiful song and I cry every time. I love your reaction 🩷

I cried alongside with you. I’ve know childhood friends who’ve ended their lives and it’s heartbreaking now that I’m in my 30’s and you realize all the life they had left to live. Thank you for the vulnerability, it’s needed in today’s world.

I lost a dear friend of mine to suicide a few years ago. When RED TV was released I bought the cd immediately to listen in my car. I heard this song and had to pull over because I couldn't stop sobbing.

I have a special place in my heart for the Taylor Swift songs which aren't about romantic relationships. Romantic relationships are her main interest, but she writes beautifully about all different kinds of relationships, and we don't get all that many mainstream songs about familial relationships or friendships, compared to the avalanche of songs about romance and breakups and whatnot. What I love about this song in particular is how well it conveys not just the suffering of the mentally ill person, which is rare enough in pop music, but also the suffering of the person trying to be a supportive friend, which I don't think I've ever heard a song about. You can hear the stress and pain and desperation of the narrator all throughout.

As a dude who has many friends but has been in a dark place a long time, i'm glad you understood the gravity and importance of this song. It's one of my favorites and it prompted me to reach out and seek real help for fear of harming people who love me. The first time that I heard it, I knew I didn't want anyone to feel this way about me. I had just never heard it put like this before.

Crying along with you like it was the first time listening. I don’t know how she gets the lyrics so right

When you said ‘oh I actually haven’t heard this one before’ I was like oh damn this is going to be heavy

I am so glad you reacted to Forever Winter, this song is so special to me and the way she expresses her feelings and the story truly amazes me. And the way she converted one of her saddest songs to be more upbeat and still have the same if not even more impact, truly blows my mind. Thank you for the reaction❤

I'm a survivor of a couple of attempts on my own life (this Christmas will be 9 years since my last attempt). And even though I've fought like heck to get to a much better place, there's always that whisper of something in my head when things get really bad. This song hits really hard. But, I'm still fighting! Still surviving! Still growing and healing and battling my demons! I hope all of you keep fighting, too! Things truly do get better!

This song is super emotional for me because I was severely suicidal at a young age for years. I’ve looked into my loved ones eyes and seen that desperation for me to see the light but I didn’t know how to give it to them. Thankfully I’m still here almost 10 years later thanks to those people fighting for me.

Thanks for being so vulnerable. You're right, being vulnerable is contagious, thanks for helping it catch.

Thank you for letting us see your vulnerability as you realized the impact of the song. I appreciate it and cried with you. 💜

This song just helped me in ways I could never explain

I love it every time you say that "Crying is okay." Thank you for this reaction. Sending you lots of love and virtual power hugs!! 🥺❤️💕

My theory for forever winter is that has a happy sound because a lot of depressed people seem happy most of the time she even address it in the song

Thank you for this reaction and your vulnerability. This song is so heartbreaking. I would be interested in your reaction to Tied Together With a Smile from her debut which she wrote as a young teenager (16 or younger) when she found out her friend had an eating disorder. It’s a sad one, though, so maybe something like Afterglow or even Long Story Short which are about maturing emotionally and navigating healthy relationships after a history of struggling might be good to break things up, too!

I literally cried with you. I mean, i had a aunt n i lost her to suicide. I was a little kid, but i already knew what happened and this marked me 4ever. Seriously. I remember someone telling my parents what happened, and I didn't understand very well, but then I managed to understand that she wouldn't come back to play with me. She had depression, and due to medical errors she ended up doing this, that is, they medicated her with the wrong medicines for her and it ended up like this. This was the first grief I experienced, like, it's really hard. I only recovered 100% years later, like, 2 years ago... Yesterday was the first time I painted my hand with nail polish and didn't take it off, and that was because the last person who painted my hand with nail polish was her, and she's not here anymore, and... Every time someone wanted to put some nail polish on my hand, I always took it off in the shower, because the only person I agreed to paint my hand with was my aunt. You know... It's difficult even if it's small details. It's difficult to say that I lost a family member because of this, because it's difficult to deal with the phrase like "I lost that person to suicide", and the worst thing is having to really remember the memories and trying to remember the voice and the laugh and not being able to. Is cruel. But it's part of life, unfortunately. I'm a teenager girl now, and i have probs to deal with, but, I feel like Taylor's friend sometimes, and my friends help me deal with it and it's okay now.

I was someone’s last call after they tried to OD, someone over 10yrs younger than me and i spent HOURS in a completely opposite timezone(USA & AUSTRALIA) convincing them to to purge the meds, while knowing they had an eating disorder, and then convincing them to tell their parents and get help. They are still alive because I was lucky enough that they trusted and listened to me that night over 5 years ago, and I cannot hear this song without thinking about my other friends who have tried to suicide… This song destroys me and hearing a counsellor/psychologist react to this means so much. So far, despite the amount of unhealthy friends I have of all ages, i’ve been SO LUCKY to not lose any from suicide. Thank you.

loved that you cried on the video, i have so many walls that is really hard for me to cry even alone but seeing someone crying gives permission in my mind or something to cry myself, maybe like you said is contagious, so thank you so much for helping me feel things. loving your videos ♡ ♡ ♡

I was really worried when I saw you were reacting to this song. I said to myself..."no, no, no, this is not going to end well, wait till she finds out what this song is about"

Well, I bawled my way through this. I'd like to add that, as a queer person, I personally read lines "It's not just a phase I'm in" and "Too young to know it gets better" through a queer lens (which would also make sense considering the high rates of mental illness and suicides in the lgbtq community).

THANK U FOR SHARING YOUR REAL AND GENUINE REACTION

I love this video. I know it's hard to not hide emotions (especially on video, on the internet) but being your true self in this captured my attention so much. I'm not crying you are 😭

I'd been playing this song in my car on repeat with the rest of the vault tracks and loved the melody and instrumentation without paying proper attention to the lyrics. Hits different once you realise the subject matter. I'm glad people like you exist to help others weather the storm that is life, thank you ❤

I'm so glad someone else gets as emotional over this song as I do, even though I am sorry to see the pain. I lost one of my best friends less than two months ago to an overdose. We'd been best friends since I was 10, he was 8. I'm 30 now. This song hits me hard now because I didn't realize it was so bad for him until it was too late and I woke up to that phone call. His mental demons finally claimed him. It wrecks me to know that he didn't make it to 30 to see that things get better and that he was stronger than he gave himself credit for. Taylor gets a lot of crap, but she is an amazing artist.

Taylor has so many amazing songs about all kinds of things in life. She has a way of putting complex emotions into songs and touching something really deep inside. A suggestion for future videos, since you are so moved by young people’s mental health: The Best Day. If’s about her relationship with her mom. I cried one time when I *really* listened to it. (They seem to have a beautiful relationship)

I was going back through your reactions and found this one… It’s actually my favorite song ever. Having been on both sides of this, that bridge makes me feel like she’s cracked open my ribs to expose my beating heart…and then instead of crushing it, she gently cradles it in her hands. Seeing what feels like the worst of me and asking me to stay. I’ve never felt like someone saw straight through me without even meeting me before I heard this song. I find it really healing? I mean… When I’m struggling, I can listen to this, and it feels like she IS ‘standing there in [my] apartment’ taking ‘the bomb in [my] head and disarm[ing] it’. Somehow. Just such an incredible song.

Your cry is so beautiful and crying is literally the POINT of healing.

I love this video so much, cried with you too!! I'm studying psychology and also going to a lot of suicide prevention and postvention seminars, because people around me and myself suffered and are suffering for it, and I understood every tear you shed and every word you said as well as the thought of the importance of mental health. Thank u so much!! Is heartwarming to see therapists out there who like Taylor Swift too

You should react to The Archer or Afterglow by TS!! And I feel like you'd love Phoebe Bridgers and her lyricism

I'm glad you mentioned that Taylor writes about more than breakups - Tied Together with a Smile was released all the way back on her debut album!

I see the summer sun lyric as a double reference to depression’s dark seasons and the “light” that gets you out of that dark. I have MDD and don’t vary much in the winter, but my mom has seasonal and she gets so much worse in the dark winters to the point of being prescribed a sun lamp and recommended to leave the state entirely(in winter). I see Taylor offering herself to be his sun as a reference to both the physical sun’s effects on depression as well as the metaphorical sunlight that our loved ones can represent. Funnily enough I’ve often referred to my partner and my cat as the sunshine to my darkness because they are what keep me living. I also love how she turns it around with referring to it being forever winter for Her too if he left.

Love seeing a therapist getting melt down by Taylor Swift song 😭🤚🏻

one of my ult ts songs and my favourite from red (tv), and hearing it from a therapist's perspective just makes me so emotional. 🥺

I could relate to your reaction. That's how I reacted the first time. I'd love to hear your takes on some of Taylor's mindful songs. Such as The Archer, Afterglow, Evermore, Mirrorball, This is Me Trying!

I couldn't help but cry with you. It's been a minute since I cried and this song really hurts because I had so many friends and loved ones lost their lives... You're such a beautiful soul and also bittersweet symphony is on my top five

i lost my best friend to suicide 4 months ago and this song perfectly describes how everything felt before he went away and how it feels after he left

Thank you for your authenticity and vulnerability

Hey, don't worry about crying and being vulnerable at this level on video! It's just like you said, it is important to talk about and also be a real human with feelings talking about it, its totally understandable P.s. btw, I've watched ur three reactions and I loved it, so keep going!

This song is so beautiful.. I used to have these thoughts daily when I was young (now 36 and happy!) I was harming myself and not near happy. I had a friend back then who went through the same. This song reminds me of her.. how I got the help I needed and it worked and she got help. Period. It didn’t help her as it helped me and she couldn’t live on anymore.. 😢 we hadn’t been in contact for many years, but when I heard the news through a mutual friend I broke.. 😢

Your reaction is so good and vulnerable

Vulnerability is contagious! At least for me it is as an empath that wanted to be a therapist

This song and Castle Crumblings, have been my solace, just hearing someone say that they are willing to stay... just because they love me...reminded me that I have worth during times where thats a struggle to believe.

Thanks for this reaction! 'Vulnerability' is a word and trait with which I have had a rocky relationship hehe but since going to therapy and now also watch this video, I do really appreciate you decided to share it with us because it made me fully realize that vulnerability allows empathy too. In another note, the upbeat music for this song has definitely distracted me from understanding the lyrics before, so thank you also for that :)

a little late on this comment, but please never be hesitant to take a moment or stop a song if it's triggering or you need to feel your emotions. as much as vulnerability is important, boundaries are important too!!! love your videos and sending you love

Thank you for this video 🥺 this song expresses alot of my anxiety in life. I'm 25. Lost my dad due to a drug overdose- it caused him to have a stroke which paralysed him head to toe before passing. My older brother struggled with a methamphetamine addiction, it went to the point where it wasn't safe for us to live with him. And now his 18yr old son who is my nephew, is living with me. so scared of losing him. Worried about him and my younger brother. Pray all the time they don't follow the wrong path, trying my best to be like Taylor says, a summer sun- to just be present, a light and source of love for them.

is it bad that i recognize what this song is about but still feel like the song has notes of happiness to it? because of course we know what happened in real life, but in the song, it ends with her saying that she wouldn’t go away, and that she’ll stay forever. when i first listened to this song, i thought it was about helping someone through their troubles because of that part. i’ve never been one to listen that much to music and it’s my favorite song on the album for the tune and melodie’s, but i feel bad that knowing what it means for people

I really thought this was about someone coming out and ultimately dying by suicide afterwards. "Not just a phase I'm in" gave me the impression that he was coming out or had came out recently. I can't tell you how many people told me that I was "just in a phase" after I came out. Especially when the substance came into the picture - it was a break from the reality and wishing things could go back to the way it was. "Why fall in love just so it can go away" gave me references to coming out, too, as a way of seeing friends/family leave you after you tell them your truth.

I lost two sisters to suicide and most recently my brother to alcoholism. He was 34. We tried so hard to help him. One of my other brothers is on the same path and God it breaks my heart. I do have chronic SI so I get that those thoughts can be there constantly. Crying so hard for all of us who have been through this kind of loss and those of us who struggle with these thoughts.

I’ve been bingeing your videos and I love how in depth you go with your reactions. Forever winter is one of my favorite songs. beautiful upbeat melody with such a sad story. I just love this song

This is my "prequel" to "Bigger Than The Whole Sky," both about a dear friend who took his life at only 20 in his apartment. The hardest lyrics for me, as a friend who forever wonders if I could have helped even a little if I'd recognized what a cry for help felt like so young: "Too young to know it gets better. I'll be summer sun for you forever. Forever winter if you go," and, "I've got a lot to pine about, I've got a lot to live without: I'm never gonna meet what would've been, could've been, what should've been you."

One of the things we find very hard in life, is to realise you can’t fix what you didn’t break 🤷🏻‍♀️ being there as his friend was all you could do. Obviously he was living his own horror and couldn’t get past it. My best friends son committed suicide at age 25 we were devastated, the week before we had caught up with him and was telling him how good he was looking and was returning to the same guy we loved 🤦🏻‍♀️😢 you can’t stop them 😭😭 it took a long time to forgive ourselves for not seeing the truth and move on BUT we eventually did 🙂 this song is awesome

I cried too. Thank you Mere for this video. I really appreciate your Taylor reaction videos. ♥️

Thank you for sharing your vulnerability with us. I came across your channel today, and I'm crying with you. Sending hugs your way ❤️

I just listened to this song for the first time today. I didn't even know it was about suicide. I was preoccupied and wasn't paying attention to some of the lyrics, but I just assumed it was a love song. Him going, being him leaving her, not him committing suicide. So sad. It's obvious now listening to it again. For anyone feeling this way, even if you are alone, I hope you can find some meaning to live for yourself because you matter so much. Things won't always be the way that they are now. 🖤

You saying “it’s important because people are important” hit me hard for some reason

People are so important, I see alot of things in my friends and I start to get worried😢

It is amazing when for normal people sounds like a love song, but for people with suicidal thoughts like me or for ppl who lived with suicidal people instantly get what this song truly meant. It sucks that I have suicidal thought after i get older tho instead of when I Was younger

Thanks I needed it💜💗

This song really is a masterpiece and is criminally underrated. Wish more people knew this side of Taylor Swift. She doesn't just write songs about her exes.

Mere - you are such a hero 🦸‍♀️ for being ing human in this video. Xoxo 😘 😓😓😓😓😓❤️❤️❤️🙌🙏😘😘😘😘

I could barely catch my breath when I realized she said “his laugh is a symphony.” My dear friend was a fellow violinist who I met and invited to play in our local orchestra with me. He was super joyful and inspiring, always giving us his best. He even became Concert Master. I pulled back from the Orchestra and went to practice sporadically but we kept in contact over text. However, when my family and I were on a trip in Texas for Thanksgiving I received a text from someone at work asking for prayers for a friend of hers who just discovered her fiancée had died the night before. It was him. I later found out that it was suicide, at the young age of 25. I then had to notify the other members of the Orchestra and process all of this at the age of seventeen. Thank God I have the family and friends that I do. This was one of the hardest experiences I have ever been through. Forever Winter is beautiful because she had a chance to help him. However, sometimes they hide behind their walls so well that no one knows till they are gone. If you are struggling with these thought and darknesses of depression please know that even though you may not believe it, taking your life will not end your sadness, but shatter it into a million shards of glass which penetrate those who you didn’t know loved you. You are loved. I promise.

this song makes me SO sad in so many ways

I genuinely feel so safe around you and this is the first video I’ve ever watched of you. you are so comfortable. God bless and Jesus loves y’all

LOVE YOU, thank you for this. You're amazing.

This song really hits hard. My dad passed April 9, 2021 of a drug overdose as well. They said it was a suicide but there was no note or anything and it was very sudden. But they had found fentanyl in my dads system the night that he died. And knowing this song came out later in 2021 in November, I really just felt super connected to this song immediately, and with having those mental health struggles with suicidal thoughts and ideation, it just really hit my bones. She is such an amazing songwriter and as hard as this so g is to listen to, its also the song that really helped me to cope with my dads death.

It doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship you can be hurt by losing a friend or a family member

I've always suffered from depression and anxiety and can relate to feeling like those you love will be better if you were no longer alive to burden them. It was when I was much younger and with each day that passes and I have grown closer to those I love in my life I realize just how wrong my feelings were back then. Having been in that position I can relate to both individuals points of view in the song.

I was not prepared for this at all

I moved to the US from Ireland in 2016 and started school there April 13th 2019 my friend in Ireland hung himself he was only 17 when he took his own life nobody knows why he did it everyone saw him as happy nobody knew he was breaking down until the day he took his own life. This song does relate because of what happened to my friend i couldn't go to his funeral in person because i was in the U.S and the flight would be expensive and my passport expired i live streamed it from the church the song is relatable because if I could go back in time and be summer sun for him i would

I reached out to a friend one night asking to hang out and the next morning got a call from my sister crying, telling me he took his life. He was a mutual friend of ours. Only 18. I had no idea he was feeling that way and wished I had reached out sooner. So many songs of hers resonate with me, but this one is so devastating and made me an emotional mess.

Really hoping youd do LAST KISS by Mother Taylor

@mend with mere You should do Tied Together With a Smile

When this album/song came out it was only a few weeks after a shocking and violent s*ic*de in my community. They were the first person I knew from my peer group to die in that way and it absolutely wrecked me (I had the misfortune of being one of the few who was exposed to some of the horrific details which definitely made it worse for me) It's been nearly a year and I've only just allowed myself to think about this song in the context of that person, at the time it was simply too painful. He was a wonderful person - probably the best person I knew - it still doesn't make sense. Taylor expressed a lot of the things I wish I could've said to him in this song - and I know I'm not the only one.

4:48 when I'm sad, I try to make a joke or something but at this moment In the video is definitely meme material

Taylor wrote that song for a friend that took his life sadly.....

React the song called "Soon you'll get better" from the album lover, i really hope that you react to that, cause i really love the song and the meaning, and i really love your video ❤

Don't mess with Taylor. She won't start it but she'll ride the road that takes her to the end.

omg please react to funeral by phoebe bridgers

I don’t want to talk about them because then they might come true 🥺

Thank you for listening to this song, this song means a lot to me ):

Taylor has this habit of making bop music with dark meaning. You will be confused whether you’re about to cry or what.

can you react to Ronan by Taylor Swift?

I'm 26. Not really young and I don't really have hope for things to get better 😕

This song reminds me of me and my best friend. She always says "oh god we're literally forever winter" and tbh she's right. Fuck.

React to long live please. It's a very emotional song too.

You should react to Villain In Me by Tenille Townes!

Who is this song about?

Hi. Can you do a reaction for Sara Bareilles song? specially the "She Used to be Mine" "Gravity" and "Someone Who Loves Me"

I can't even listen to this song. 💔

I just discovered your channel, you seem like a very good person, this song is beautiful and painful, you should react to everything I wanted videoclip by billie eilish is a song dedicated to her brother very beautiful.🤍💗🦋