"All of the Girls You Loved Before" is a song by the American singer-songwriter

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

and an outtake from her seventh studio album, ''

Lover Lover or lovers may refer to a person having a sexual or romantic relationship with someone outside marriage. In this context see: * Sexual partner * Mistress (lover) * Extramarital sex * Premarital sex Lover or Lovers may also refer to: Geogr ...

'' (2019). After its demo version was leaked online and went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, "All of the Girls You Loved Before" was surprise-released on March 17, 2023, ahead of Swift's sixth concert tour,

the Eras Tour The Eras Tour (stylized as Taylor Swift The Eras Tour) is the upcoming sixth headlining concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Having not toured for her studio albums '' Lover'' (2019), ''Folklore'' (2020), and '' Evermore'' ...

. Swift wrote and produced the song with

Frank Dukes Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...

and

Louis Bell Louis Russell Bell (born May 27, 1982) is an American record producer, vocal producer, songwriter, and mixing engineer. Bell's work includes production for Post Malone, Camila Cabello, Halsey, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, 5 Seconds of Summer, T ...

. A

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

, "All of the Girls You Loved Before" has lyrics about a narrator's gratitude to the women in her boyfriend's life, including his former girlfriends, for shaping his experiences which led him to her. Music critics complimented the song for its affectionate lyrics and dreamy production. The track charted within the top 25 in several countries and peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200. It received

certifications Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Background and release

released her seventh studio album, ''

'', on August 23, 2019. The album received positive critical reviews and was the global best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019. Swift planned to embark on a concert tour to support ''Lover'' in summer 2020 but canceled the plan due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. During the

lockdowns A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

in 2020, she released the

indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...

albums ''

Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

'' and '' Evermore''. After that, she released two re-recorded albums, ''

Fearless (Taylor's Version) ''Fearless (Taylor's Version)'' is the first re-recorded album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on April 9, 2021, through Republic Records. It is a re-recording of Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'' (2008), and the f ...

'' and ''

Red (Taylor's Version) ''Red (Taylor's Version)'' is the second re-recorded album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Released via Republic Records on November 12, 2021, as a part of Swift's countermeasure against the purchase of the masters of her back cata ...

'', in 2021, and another studio album, ''

Midnights ''Midnights'' is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 21, 2022, via Republic Records. Announced at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, the album marks Swift's first body of new work since her 2020 ...

'', in 2022. To support ''Midnights'' and all of her discography up until that point, Swift embarked on her sixth headlining concert tour and her first in five years,

, on March 17, 2023. The day The Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, AZ she released four songs: three re-recordings of previously-released songs ("

Eyes Open (Taylor's Version) "Eyes Open" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for ''The Hunger Games'' movie soundtrack, '' The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond'', though the song is not included in the film itself. Produc ...

", "

Safe & Sound (Taylor's Version) "Safe & Sound" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift featuring American duo the Civil Wars, taken from '' The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond'', the official soundtrack to the 2012 film ''The Hunger Games''. Swif ...

", and "If This Was a Movie (Taylor's Version)") and a previously-unreleased track ("All of the Girls You Loved Before"). "All of the Girls You Loved Before" is a song Swift had written and intended to include on ''Lover'' but did not make the final tracklist. Prior to the song's release, a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

titled "All of the Girls" was leaked online and went viral on

in February 2023. "All of the Girls You Loved Before" was also included on ''The More Lover Chapter'', a

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

-exclusive compilation that also includes select ''Lover'' tracks. On July 29, Swift performed the track as a "surprise song" at the Eras Tour show in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. She sang it again as part of a mashup with her song " Crazier" (2009) at the tour's

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

stop on June 8.

Composition

"All of the Girls You Loved Before" was written and produced by Swift,

, and

. Dukes is credited under his birthname, Adam King Feeney, as writer. Musicians who played instruments on the track include Dukes (

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

and guitar) and Matthew Tavares (guitar). Bell and Dukes programmed the song, which was mixed by

Serban Ghenea Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer. Early life and education Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...

and

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

. "All of the Girls You Loved Before" is a

song that incorporates a doo-wop progression and soft

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, which bring forth a soundscape that critics described as "dreamy" and "ethereal". The track is a

and media publications interpreted it as a message to her then-boyfriend, English actor

Joe Alwyn Joseph Matthew Alwyn (born 21 February 1991) is an English actor. He made his feature film debut as the titular character in Ang Lee's 2016 war drama, '' Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk,'' and has since played supporting roles in films such as ...

, although Swift did not confirm the inspiration. In the lyrics, a female narrator reflects on her past loves before meeting her current lover ("Crying in the bathroom for some dude whose name I cannot remember now"); some critics interpreted this lyric as a reference to the events described in Swift's song "

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) "All Too Well" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Its five-minute version is part of her fourth studio album, ''Red'' (2012), whereas its re-recording and uncut 10-minute version is part of her second re-recorded album, ''R ...

". She discusses her romantic partner's past love life and expresses gratitude to his ex-girlfriends for making him the righteous man he is now. In the bridge, she appreciates his mother ("Your mother brought you up loyal and kind") and all the women in his life and promises to love him forever.

Reception

In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''. Jake Viswanath of ''Bustle'' opined that "All of the Girls You Loved Before" would have "fit perfectly" on ''Lover'' and lauded it as a "spellbound yet self-assured" love song. ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...

'' described it as a catchy tune that has all of the characteristics of a "Swift bop": a memorable, catchy melody and lyrical storytelling. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' Annabel Nugent complimented the production as "dreamy and ethereal pop gold" and the lyrics as "breezy", and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

Will Hodgkinson Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London (born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England. He is the chief rock and pop critic for ''The Times'' newspaper and contributes to ''Mojo'' magazine. He has written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Indepen ...

picked the track as an example of "what Taylor Swift does best: to feel things deeply, then present those feelings in a way that anyone, whatever their situation, can relate to". Writing for the Philippine newspaper ''The Freeman'', Januar Junior Aguja lauded the song as both refreshing and familiar, and he wrote that it could have been included as a bonus track on ''Lover''. "All of the Girls You Loved Before" debuted at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200 and was Swift's 14th top-10 entry on the chart, a record among women. In the United States, the song opened at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It extended three of Swift's all-time records: the song marked the 189th Hot 100 entry of her career (the most among women), her 80th top-10 entry on the

Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally sta ...

chart (the most for any act), and her first new Hot 100 entry in 2023 (Swift holds the longest streak on the Hot 100 as the first artist with an uninterrupted 18-year run on the chart, having charted a song every year since her debut with "

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

" in 2006). Elsewhere, "All of the Girls You Loved Before" debuted on the charts of several countries: it peaked within the top 25 in the Philippines (6), Ireland (9), the United Kingdom (11), Canada (12), New Zealand (13), Singapore (13), Australia (15), Malaysia (17), and Hungary (22). The

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA) gave the song a platinum

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

, which denotes 70,000 units based on sales and streaming figures.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * Tidal (album), ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * ...

* Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer *

– producer, songwriter, recording

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, programming *

– producer, songwriter, programming,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, guitar * Matthew Tavares – guitar *

– mixer * Bryce Bordone – mix engineer *

– mastering

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2023 songs Taylor Swift songs Songs written by Taylor Swift Songs written by Frank Dukes Songs written by Louis Bell Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift Song recordings produced by Frank Dukes Song recordings produced by Louis Bell American synth-pop songs