"Carolina" is a song written and recorded by 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 ...

for the soundtrack of 2022 murder mystery film ''

Where the Crawdads Sing ''Where the Crawdads Sing'' is a 2018 coming-of-age murder mystery novel by American author Delia Owens. The story follows two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first timeline describes the life and adventures of a young girl named Kya as ...

''. Released via

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

on June 24, 2022, the song is titled after the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

region in the United States, and sung from the perspective of the film's protagonist, Kya. Produced by Swift and

Aaron Dessner Aaron Brooking Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band the National, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums; a co-founder of the indie ...

, "Carolina" is a slow-paced, downtempo,

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

ballad, particularly in an Appalachian folk style, with

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

and bluegrass inflections. It is driven by acoustic instruments of the early 1950s, such as

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, and acoustic guitars. Upon release, "Carolina" was met with strong acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, most of whom felt the song's ambience matched the film's atmosphere, and is reminiscent of Swift's 2020

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.'' Reviews commended "Carolina" for Swift's vocals, songwriting style, and the overall "haunting" mood. "Carolina" charted in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. It has been nominated for a Critics' Choice Award, a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

, a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, and a

Satellite Award The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...

, amongst other accolades.

Background and release

''Where the Crawdads Sing'' is an American

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

thriller

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film starring

Daisy Edgar-Jones Daisy Jessica Edgar-Jones (born 24 May 1998) is a British actress. She began her career with the television series ''Cold Feet'' (2016–2020) and ''War of the Worlds'' (2019–2021). Edgar-Jones gained wider recognition for her starring role ...

in the lead role, directed by

Olivia Newman Olivia Newman is an American film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing '' First Match'' (2018) and '' Where the Crawdads Sing'' (2022). Life and career Newman was born in Hoboken, New Jersey and graduated from The Hudso ...

and produced by

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

. It is a

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the 2018 novel of the same name written by American author

Delia Owens Delia Owens (born c. 1949) is an American author, zoologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her 2018 novel ''Where the Crawdads Sing''. Owens was born and raised in Southern Georgia, where she spent most of her life in or near true ...

. The story is set in the 1950s, revolving around an abandoned girl named Kya, who grew up in a

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a man who once romantically pursued her. The first trailer for the film was released on March 22, 2022, and featured "Carolina" being played in the background. The trailer also revealed that the song was written and performed by American singer-songwriter

. Another snippet of the song was revealed through a longer trailer of the film on May 22, 2022. The release date of the song was teased by the film's official

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account, when they made a series of posts on June 22 with captions that had capitalized letters, spelling out "Carolina This Thursday" together. The next day, the song's release date was confirmed as June 24, 2022. A lyric video on YouTube accompanied the release.

Writing

"Carolina" was written solely by Swift and produced by her and

, with whom she collaborated on her 2020 studio albums ''

'' and '' Evermore''. She wrote the song well over a year and a half before the release date of June 24 2022''.'' According to Witherspoon, Swift wrote the song while working on ''Folklore'' but did not reveal that she had written "Carolina" until after she finished the song. Swift's eagerness to contribute to the film grew after she was aware that Witherspoon would be producing. Swift stated on

that she enjoyed the original novel by Owens, and as soon as she heard a film adaptation was "in the works", she wanted to be a part of its soundtrack. She said she aimed to create a "haunting and ethereal" song that captured the novel's "mesmerizing" story. "Carolina" plays over the ending credits, and Newman opined that it "reflects the tone of the story's ending".

Lyrics and composition

"Carolina" has been described as an

and Appalachian folk song, with

country folk Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradit ...

and bluegrass elements, on

minor chord In music theory, a minor chord is a chord that has a root, a minor third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a minor triad. For example, the minor triad built on C, called a C minor triad, has pit ...

s. It was recorded in one take and only features instruments available before 1953—around the time when ''Where the Crawdads Sing'' takes place—acoustic instruments such as

, gentlely strummed acoustic guitar and "sweeping" strings. The song begins with the sparse strums of the guitar and eventually expands into a "misty atmosphere" incorporating strings and

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

. The lyrics deal with how Kya, the narrator in the song and the lead character of the film, "roams the lonesome marshes, despairs over those who have left her and hints at the many secrets she's keeping". The lyrics are heavy with naturalistic imagery, such as creeks,

backroad A backroad is a secondary type of road usually found in rural areas. Safety Backroads are less safe than other roads, with much higher fatality rates. A 2015 study by TRIP (a national transportation research group) in the United States found ...

mist Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such a ...

, clouds, mud,

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

s, beaches and forests, inspired by the story's setting in coastal

. Swift's vocals in the song have been characterized as a "breathy" lower

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

Critical reception

"Carolina" received acclaim from music critics. ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' journalist Jack Irvin described "Carolina" as a downtempo, "haunting ballad" with lyrics about "sneakily moving through various locations without being seen". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' critic Chris Willman felt the song is stylistically reminiscent of the music in ''Folklore'' and ''Evermore'' "at their most folky and subdued." Emily Zemler and Kat Bouza reviewed the song for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', noting that the "haunting" song evokes the film's backwoods setting and the "elegiac" tone of Appalachian folk ballads and praising Swift's "otherworldly and

siren Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisc ...

-like" vocals. Will Lavin of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' described Swift's vocals as "eerie". In a glowing review for '' Clash'', Robin Murray called the song a timeless "grand achievement" and the greatest example of Swift's ability to "suggest inner movement, the passing of time and emotion in only a few words." He praised the "innate" instrumentation, Swift's "

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

yet potent" vocals, and the lyrics "somehow distilling Delia Owens' work—in all its breadth and depth—into a song of real brevity and power." ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...

''s Ryan O'Rourke called "Carolina" a "chilling" tune with a haunting melody and is "almost a loose re-telling of the events of the book." Emily Zemler of

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

said the song "perfectly captures the bittersweet conclusion" of ''Where the Crawdads Sing'', complementing the film's "palpable mood".

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

journalist Peter Travers wrote Swift captures "the haunting,

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 ...

quality" of the film's story in the song, via her music and lyrics that suggest an "abiding mystery". ''

British Vogue British ''Vogue'' is a British fashion magazine published based in London since autumn 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine ''Vogue'' and is owned and distributed by Condé Montrose Nast. British ''Vogue'' editor in 2012 c ...

'' journalist Radhika Seth described the song as a "sweeping earworm" with a "mournful, intensely atmospheric" composition tonally reminiscent of ''Evermore.'' Sam Sodomsky of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' said "Carolina" is an understated song, one that stems from the "darker corners" of ''Folklore'' and ''Evermore'', abandoning the "language and texture of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

in favor of old American folk songs". He further complemented the synergy between Swift's musical approaches in the song: the "ghost story-writing" of the lyrics, and the deep and slow vocals. Lindsay Zoladz of ''

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 ...

'' named "Carolina" one of the "spookiest" tracks in Swift's discography and "the closest wift hascome to writing an outright

murder ballad Murder ballads are a subgenre of the traditional ballad form dealing with a crime or a gruesome death. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath. The term refers to the content ...

" other than "

No Body, No Crime "No Body, No Crime" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, featuring guest vocals from American rock band Haim. It was released to US country radio by Republic and MCA Nashville ...

" (2020). Jonathan Broxton of ''Movie Music UK'' also described the song as a murder ballad; "not one of her usual chart topping efforts—instead this is a mournful, soulful piece". He praised "Carolina" as "a superb piece of traditional Americana, stripped down and carried by little more than a guitar, a banjo, and Swift’s unexpectedly dreamy voice, and has poetic lyrics that directly reference elements of the story." In a review of the film for ''

Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

'', Liz Shannon Miller wrote "Carolina" is a "perfect match for the content of the film as well as its mood." Pat Padua of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' said the song, making use of ominous lyrics, "bridges pop music with Americana".

Accolades

At the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2021, to September 30 ...

(2023), "Carolina" is contending for

Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Recipients * Each year is linked t ...

—Swift's fourth nomination in the category, following " Safe & Sound" (2011) from '' The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond'', " I Don't Wanna Live Forever" (2017) from ''

Fifty Shades Darker ''Fifty Shades Darker'' is a 2012 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It is the second installment in the ''Fifty Shades'' trilogy that traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a youn ...

'', and " Beautiful Ghosts" (2019) from '' Cats'', the first of which won. Swift also garnered her career's first-ever

Critics' Choice Movie Award The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writt ...

nomination with the song.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''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 * Tidal (servic ...

. *

– vocals, songwriting, production *

– production, engineering, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, synthesizer * Reid Jenkins – fiddle *

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 ...

– mastering * Jonathan Low – mixing, engineering

Charts

Release history

References

{{Taylor Swift songs 2020s ballads 2022 songs Folk ballads Taylor Swift songs Songs written by Taylor Swift Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift Song recordings produced by Aaron Dessner Appalachian folk songs Songs about North Carolina Music based on novels Songs about nature