The wait is finally over for Taylor Swift‘s latest single!
On Friday, Swift released a haunting ballad titled “Carolina” from the upcoming film Where the Crawdads Sing — three months after previewing the song in the Daisy Edgar-Jones-starring film’s trailer.
Written solely by Swift, 32, and produced by frequent collaborator Aaron Dessner, “Carolina” features chilling vocals from the 11-time Grammy winner as she sings about sneakily moving through various locations without being seen, which is reminiscent of the film’s plot.
“Into the mist, into the clouds / No, you didn’t see me here,” croons Swift on the downtempo soundtrack cut. “They’ll make a fest, I’ll make it count / Carolina knows.”
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Based on Delia Owens‘ bestselling 2018 novel, Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya (Edgar-Jones, 23), who is abandoned by her family as a young girl living among the North Carolina marshes. She learns to fend for herself, refusing to go to school and instead teaching herself about nature and taking reading lessons from a local boy who becomes her first love. Kya’s deep understanding of the environment where she grew up helps her become a best-selling author of nature almanacs.
While Kya generally keeps to herself, she falls for the town’s golden boy (Harris Dickinson) — but their romance turns dark when she gets accused of killing him and goes on trial for his murder.
“Being isolated was one thing; being hunted, quite another,” Kya says in a voiceover near the middle of the trailer, which dropped in March.
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Upon the trailer’s release, Swift celebrated her new music in the film on Instagram, posting the trailer and revealing that she “got absolutely lost in” the book when she “read it years ago.”
“As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side,” she continued. “I wrote the song ‘Carolina’ alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it. I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story.”
“You’ll hear it fully soon, but for now check out the @crawdadsmovie trailer for a clip!” she teased at the time.
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“Carolina” marks the “All Too Well” singer-songwriter’s first release since “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” a re-recorded take on the 2014 ballad from her 1989 album, which she dropped on streaming services after it was featured in the trailer for Amazon Prime Video’s coming-of-age series The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Where the Crawdads Sing, directed by Olivia Newman and also starring Taylor John Smith and David Strathairn, hits theaters July 15.
