Taylor Swift, ‘The Story of Us’ – Song Spotlight

Taylor Swift's new single, 'The Story of Us,' is set to drop on radio on April 19 -- just a month behind her anti-bullying song, 'Mean.'

Much like the last single, this one is upbeat and fun, and even a bit rock-y -- and we love the drums -- but the point behind her words is anything but peppy and enjoyable, and comes from a real moment in the pop-country icon's life.

In this sure-to-be hit (hey, aren't they all?), Swift describes the icky, awkward feeling you get when you're around an ex post breakup.

"How'd we end up this way? / See me nervously pulling at my clothes / And trying to look busy / And you're doing your best to avoid me."

Swift continues, poetically describing the roller coaster of emotions:

"Oh, we're scared to see the ending / Why are we pretending this is nothing? / I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how / I've never heard silence quite this loud."

When 'Speak Now' first hit stores, and people caught wind that Swift was actually writing about true life situations, she let it slip that both 'Dear John' and 'The Story of Us' are about the same person -- allegedly, John Mayer.

"'The Story of Us' is about running into someone I had been in a relationship with at an awards show, and we were seated a few seats away from each other," she told USA Today last fall. "I just wanted to say to him, 'Is this killing you? Because it's killing me.' But I didn't. Because I couldn't. Because we both had these silent shields up."

With an ache in her chest and nowhere else to turn, Swift went home and talked to someone who knows best: her mom. "I felt like I was standing alone in a crowded room," she'd told her mother. She continues, "Then I got up and ran into my bedroom, as she's seen me do many times. And she probably assumed I had come up with a line in the song. And I had. And that was actually the last song I wrote on the album, and after I finished that one, I knew I was done."

Listen to Taylor Swift, 'The Story of Us'