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"Soon You'll Get Better" is a song by the American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
featuring the American
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
band the Dixie Chicks. Swift and Jack Antonoff wrote and produced the song for the former's seventh studio album, '' Lover'' (2019). "Soon You'll Get Better" is a country
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
featuring
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
,
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 in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
, and
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
alongside vocal harmonies. The lyrics were inspired by Swift's parents' cancer diagnoses. Music critics acclaimed the vulnerable songwriting of "Soon You'll Get Better" and deemed Swift's vocals emotional; they compared the tone of the song to prayers and lullabies. The track peaked at number 63 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and marked the Dixie Chicks' first
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
entry in 13 years. It also entered the singles charts of Australia, Canada, and Scotland. It was
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gold in Australia and Brazil. On April 18, 2020, Swift performed a solo piano rendition of the song as part of the '' One World: Together at Home'' livestream charity event.


Background and recording

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
conceived her seventh studio album, '' Lover'', as a "love letter to love" itself that explores the many feelings evoked by love. The album was influenced by the connections she felt with her fans on the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), which helped her recalibrate her personal life and artistic direction after the media controversies surrounding her celebrity at the time.
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released ''Lover'' on August 23, 2019. It was Swift's first album under Republic after her previous contract with Big Machine ended. "Soon You'll Get Better" is a song that Swift said was the album's hardest track to write. It was inspired by the
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
diagnoses that Swift's parents received: "My dad got cancer when I was 13 and he got better, and it wasn't a very long process, but things with my mom have been very different." In a live video broadcast on
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the day before the album's release, Swift said that she and her family had a discussion before deciding to publish and release "Soon You'll Get Better", because of how personal the song was. The country band Dixie Chicks featured on "Soon You'll Get Better". Swift asked the Dixie Chicks to collaborate with her around the time when Jack Antonoff, a producer for ''Lover'', was also working with them. She explained that the Dixie Chicks were "the band that made erwanna do this", saying that they taught her to have both a "strong female voice" and a "very feminine aesthetic". Because of the track's personal nature, Swift said having the Dixie Chicks on the song was because of how "they were such a big part of erlife". In a July 2020 interview with ''
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'', the band admitted that collaborating with Swift "felt like a lot of pressure" because they worried if they would dislike the track, but they ended up loving it and credited Swift with helping "so many girls for the future .. just showing that vulnerable place of figuring this stuff out for herself".


Composition

Swift wrote and produced "Soon You'll Get Better" with Antonoff, who recorded the track with Laura Sisk at
Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...
in New York City. "Soon You'll Get Better" is a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
with a stripped-down acoustic production instrumented by sparse, fingerpicked strings such as slide guitars,
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 in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
played by Emily Strayer, and
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
played by Martie Maguire. All members of the Dixie Chicks (Strayer, Maguire, Natalie Maines) sing vocal harmonies. ''Time'''s Dana Schwartz described the track as a "tilt back to wift'scountry roots" and ''
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'''s Meave McDermott said it had a "Nashville feel". Swift sings with understated vocals; Roisin O'Connor of ''
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'' described them as "half-whispers" and said that she sang the song as if she were "on the verge of tears". The lyrics detail Swift's emotions after learning about her mother's cancer diagnosis, starting with a scene where she and her mother are in a doctor's office ("The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair in doctor's office lighting") before proceeding with Swift's prayers to God ("Holy orange bottles, each night, I pray to you/ Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus too") but also expressing her doubts in religion. She is in denial of her mother's illness, but she admires how her mother stays positive ("You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal"). She tells herself of happy endings but realizes they are delusional ("I know delusion when I see it in the mirror ..This won't go back to normal"). In the
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, Swift details her thought spirals ("I hate to make this all about me/ But who am I supposed to talk to?/ What am I supposed to do/ If there's no you?"). ''
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'''s Louise Bruton thought that the track captured "the fear and the silence of a hospital room".


Critical reception

"Soon You'll Get Better" received acclaim from critics, who praised both the tender sound and emotional lyrics. Dermott, Raisa Bruner from ''Time'', and Mikael Wood from the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' compared the tone of the track to prayers, lullabies, and
hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
. Bruner said that the soft melody was contrasted by the "brutal stanzas" about the health conditions of Swift's mother, which elevated the song's emotional impact. Wood ranked the track as the second-best on ''Lover'', behind " Cruel Summer". ''Vulture'''s Jewly Height described the vocals as "hushed" and said that Swift's storytelling perspective was "like hat ofa cinematographer—first the focus on a tiny detail .. then a zoomed-out shot of the settings where the trouble's playing out". Height praised Swift's delivery for exhibiting "breathiness, crisp enunciation, and telegraphed sincerity", which he deemed a welcoming sign of a return to the country roots of her earlier music after the "various shades of rhythmic, electronic-based pop" on her past albums. ''
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'''s Natalia Barr picked "Soon You'll Get Better" as one of the album's "essential" tracks, highlighting its acoustic production and "the most heavenly harmonies of wift'scareer". Claire Shaffer of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' and
Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' praised the Dixie Chicks' harmony vocals for complementing the emotional impact; the former thought that the understated production highlighted Swift's lyrics, which the latter found to contain "jolting specificity". Sam Brooks of ''
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'' described those harmonies as "literal angels coming around Swift as she grieves her mother's cancer" and said that Swift's vocals had improved, as shown by "the way she's played around with her phrasing and the limitations of her voice". ''
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'''s
Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...
described the track as "gorgeous" and suitable for "those who think it all went wrong when she left Nashville" to "console themselves with". Anna Gaca of ''
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'' said that the position of "Soon You'll Get Better" in ''Lover'''s track list after the "relentlessly upbeat" " London Boy" brings forth a "mood swing
hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
will knock you sideways". ''
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'' named "Soon You'll Get Better" as one of the ten "most emotionally devastating" songs of the 2010s decade and stated that the "heartbreaking" lyrics showcase Swift's pain and worry effectively. They also labelled the bridge of the song as "the saddest" bridge in Swift's discography. Nate Jones of ''Vulture'' placed the song 65th on his ranking of Swift's 214 songs as of November 2022, calling it "simple, sincere, and affecting".


Commercial performance

Upon the release of ''Lover'', "Soon You'll Get Better" debuted at number 63 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was the Dixie Chicks' first entry on the Hot 100 since " Not Ready to Make Nice" (2007). The song reached number 10 on
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
, where it became Swift's 21st top-10 entry and her first since the collaboration with Sugarland on " Babe" (2018). For the Dixie Chicks, it was their first appearance on the chart since " Everybody Knows" (2006). Elsewhere, "Soon You'll Get Better" reached the singles charts of Canada (71) and Scotland (97). In Australia, the song peaked at number 54 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was
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gold by the
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(ARIA). In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 98 on the Audio Streaming Chart.


Live performance

On April 18, 2020, Swift performed a solo piano rendition of "Soon You'll Get Better" as part of the '' One World: Together At Home'' television special, a benefit event by Global Citizen to raise funds for the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. It was her first time performing this track, after she previously stated that she would not perform it because of how "difficult" it is for her to "emotionally deal" with its meaning. Media publications deemed the performance "moving". Jem Aswad of ''Variety'' thought that the track was suitable for "countless people praying for the recovery of loved ones affected by the coronavirus pandemic that the show is working to rally relief for". In
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, Trey Alston praised Swift's piano rendition for "bringing he songto life" and highlighted the simplicity of her performance: "There aren't any smiles, winks, or any other theatrics. It's just Swift and her instrument, working to immerse viewers in the moment with her." Many publications considered "Soon You'll Get Better" one of the best moments of the ''Together At Home'' special. ''Billboard'' commended that Swift "effectively ripped our hearts out and reminded us of the power of music to both reflect and ease our pain", describing the moment as "tough, lovely and cathartic". ''
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'' wrote that she "powered through the song .. having to keep her eyes clenched throughout". ''Variety'''s Chris Willman lauded Swift as "sober truth-teller at nearly the last minute" and said of the song: "there couldn't have been a more appropriate song for all the families of ICU patients sitting at home." "Soon You'll Get Better" was among the top three sellers from the show, along with
Maluma Juan Luis Londoño Arias (born 28 January 1994), known professionally as Maluma, is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Medellín, he developed an interest in music at a young age, recording songs since age sixteen. Arias released his debu ...
's " Carnaval" and Kacey Musgraves's "
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"; these three songs together accounted for 42% of the total song sales generated by the show. "Soon You'll Get Better" sold more than 1,000 downloads on April 18, 2020, compared to negligible sales the day before.


Personnel

*
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
 – vocals, songwriter, producer * Jack Antonoff – producer, songwriter, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, recording engineer * The Dixie Chicks – featured vocals, backing vocals * Emily Strayer –
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 in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
* Martie Maguire –
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
* Laura Sisk  – recording engineer * John Rooney – assistant recording engineer * John Hanes – mix engineer * Serban Ghenea – mixer


Charts


Certifications


Note


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soon You'll Get Better (song) 2019 songs 2010s ballads Taylor Swift songs The Chicks songs Songs written by Taylor Swift Songs written by Jack Antonoff Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift Song recordings produced by Jack Antonoff Country ballads Vocal collaborations American country music songs Songs about cancer Songs about mothers