Taylor Swift sets the mood for the new album with “Lavender Haze”.
Fall is the season of flavor and Taylor Swift fans eat. Or do they smoke?
Swift released her 10th album, Midnights, on October 21. An evocative, structured work that she spends mostly looking within, remembering lost loves, bad decisions and the agony of change. With production under the direction of Jack Antonoff, the album’s sonic quality is muted, even celebratory at times. In many ways, the album traces the deeply personal and inner monologues that result from a smoking session with oneself.
It’s only fitting, then, that Swift begins the entire album with a song title named after Lavender Haze, a cousin of the classic purp, well-suited to late-night rumination and known for evoking creativity and euphoria.
Roll up and release
“Lavender Haze” is a love song whose shadowy production belies the passion between the narrator and her lover. In interviews, Swift says the inspiration for the song came from Mad Men, the hit TV series set in the advertising world of 1950s Manhattan that explores, among other things, gender dynamics and how they affect relationships.
“Lavender Haze” per Swift was a phrase used on the show to convey that dizzying, dazed feeling of new love — essentially the honeymoon phase. We’d be remiss not to point out the similarities between Swift’s new song and psychedelic music king Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” hit.
Hendrix also likens the ecstasy and disorientation of love to puffing on his favorite brew and singing “purple haze all around / Don’t know if I’m getting up or down / Am I happy or miserable? / Whatever it is, this girl has me spellbound.” But could Taylor really compare their love to an intoxicating session?
What is Lavender Haze?
Haze is an umbrella term for a family of landrace cannabis strains that gravitate largely toward strong, cerebral effects that many say induce creativity, joy, and desire. Lavender Haze is an old-school hybrid that combines the relief of indica Lavender with the colorful sativa mind trip of G-13 Haze. It doesn’t exactly make the “Zaza” list and hasn’t made it into this generation’s rap songs – although Swedish metal villain Vildhjarta has a lyrical song of the same name.
But of all the strains Swift might have inadvertently given a name to, this one feels pretty on-brand. Lavender Haze has a whimsical quality, which Leafly reviewers call perfect “daydreaming” and “groovy.” One reviewer even wrote on Oct. 11 that he “predicts a surge in popularity following the Oct. 21 release of Taylor Swift’s Midnights.”
The soft focus reflects how we feel when ‘like’ becomes ‘love’, like perceiving the new status quo of our love life through lavender glasses.
A quality strain can sometimes inspire the same affection. In the song’s chorus, Swift sings “I feel the lavender haze creeping up on me/Surreal,” which speaks to the slow, “creeping” effects associated with some cannabis strains, such as:
- Lava Cake: A pungent hybrid of grape pie and thin mint that will make you giggle and transport you to a ‘magic cloud’.
- GDP: The king of purple weed will never let you see his next hit. Both your mind and body will tingle.
- Golden Goat: This strain will throw a golden hour on your heart.
Whether Swift is speaking from experience and alluding to the latent, slow-building effects of cannabis remains a bit hazy. And while the artist herself hasn’t spoken out about her own use so far, more rule of law means more Taylor Swift listeners with better access to cannabis for social use. So are we ready for the era of swifty stoners?
I think we can agree that most of Swift’s earlier, country-influenced albums weren’t ideal for a solo smoke: their mid-2010s pop era was more suited to a day at the gym than huff and pass. But at 32, Swift is a grown woman who isn’t afraid to contemplate and accept her shortcomings. After all, midnight smoke brings both good and bad insights without hiding.
Taylor Swift referenced alcohol for the first time on reputation. In Lover she refers to weed. I think by 2030 we can have a ketamine reference in a Taylor Swift song.
— My Beautiful Dark Twisted Grindset 💸 (@ldrinkh20) August 23, 2019
Not a musician/celebrity known for partying, Swift previously said (admittedly a decade ago) that she didn’t smoke because of the potential effects on her lungs. Her music is also mostly devoid of smoke and weed references: A line in 2019’s album Lover mentioned “The moon is high / like your friends were the / night that we first met,” but Swift rarely gets the high for her personal ones entanglements responsible.
Related
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So, sorry readers, there’s no sign of a Taylor spliff on the horizon, but that’s not a thing on the album. At 44 minutes (unless you prefer the deluxe version), your head, dab or puff of Lavender Haze will carry you through the entire album while Swift laments karma, heartbreak and avoids herself. We’ve all felt “the lavender mist creeping towards me,” but we need not fear it. As Swift implicitly notes in Midnights, every experience has something it can teach us.
Amelie Williams
New York-based freelance cannabis journalist Amelia Williams is a graduate of San Francisco State University’s journalism program and a former budtender. Williams has contributed to GreenState, MG Magazine, Culture Magazine and Cannabis Now, Kirkus Reviews and The Bold Italic of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Check out Amelia Williams’ articles
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