“Clean” by Taylor Swift is a song from her fifth studio album. While the album is often framed as a collection of party anthems, “Clean” complicates this narrative by suggesting that behind every ‘party girl’ is an honest story about what it means to be truly ‘clean.’

The song begins with Swift describing what a particularly bad day looks like for her. She sings, 

“The drought was the very worst.” 

In conveying the weight of a bad day and the accumulation of everyday stressors, Swift characterizes the situation as drought-like, dry, empty, and depleted as though there is nothing left to sustain her during this moment.

As the song progresses, Swift reflects more explicitly on what sobriety means and on the vulnerability of asking for help when it is needed. Despite reaching milestones such as sustained sobriety, the song emphasizes that healing from addiction is not linear. Swift sings about being 

“Ten months sober,” acknowledging that being clean does not erase longing or struggle, even as it marks progress. The repeated return to the image of the “drought” reinforces the emotional emptiness she seeks to avoid.

Swift ultimately emphasizes that although sobriety is neither easy nor consistently stable, the commitment to remaining clean and to never returning to that emotional drought—remains her highest priority.

You can listen to Taylor’s Swifts 1989 here

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