I Forgot That You Existed
I Forgot That You Existed is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her seventh studio album, Lover (2019).
Written and produced by Swift alongside Louis Bell and Frank Dukes, "I Forgot That You Existed" is a post-tropical house song with a minimalist production and lyrics that feature themes of moving on and feeling indifferent to past pain. The song peaked within the top 40 of single charts in Australia, Canada, Singapore and the US. It holds a platinum certification in Australia and a silver one in the UK.
| "I Forgot That You Existed" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Taylor Swift | |
| from the album Lover | |
| Released | August 23, 2019 |
| Studio |
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| Genre | Post-tropical house |
| Length | 2:51 |
| Label | Republic |
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Audio video | |
| "I Forgot That You Existed" on YouTube | |
Background and composition
"I Forgot That You Existed" was written during Taylor Swift's first writing session with Louis Bell and Frank Dukes. She wanted to work with them after hearing their work for her friend Camila Cabello. Swift came into the session with the idea of a simple song about feeling indifference to pain that has caused one in the past; she had some of the melody and lyrics with this idea. They wrote the song to be Lover's opening track as Swift wanted to complete the "grief cycle" explored in her previous album Reputation (2017) with the last stage being indifference. Swift wanted the production to be simple to match the feeling of indifference.
"I Forgot That You Existed" is a post-tropical house kiss-off anthem. It features a bouncy and minimalist production consisting of a light piano and finger snaps that form a pop-rap beat. The song features themes of letting go of the past, moving on and calming down, serving as a transition from Swifts Reputation era. The lyrics include a direct reference to Reputation. They also feature a reference to Canadian rapper Drake and his 2018 song "In My Feelings". Swift makes use of spoken word deliveries and performs a "diabolical" laugh in the final chorus. Media outlets theorized "I Forgot That You Existed" to about Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, American media personality Kim Kardashian, American model Karlie Kloss, New Zealand singer Lorde and American rapper Kanye West.
Release and promotion
"I Forgot That You Existed" was released as Lover's opening track on August 23, 2019. An audio memo from the song's songwriting session dubbed "piano/vocal" is included on the album's deluxe edition. Swift performed "I Forgot That You Existed" for the first time as a surprise song acoustically on guitar at her Eras Tour show in Mexico City on August 24, 2023.
Critical reception
Nate Jones of Vulture named "I Forgot That You Existed" Swift's 73rd best song, calling it one of Swift's "coldest kiss-off songs". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone ranked it as her 200th best song.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lover
- Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer
- Louis Bell – songwriter, producer, recorder, keyboards, programmer
- Frank Dukes – songwriter, producer, programmer, guitar
- Grant Strumwasser – assistant recording
- Serban Ghenea – mixer
- John Hanes – engineer for mix
- Randy Merrill – masterer
- Joe Harrison – guitar
- Serafin Aguilar – trumpet
- David Urquidi – saxophone
- Steve Hughes – trombone
Charts
| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | 24 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) | 29 |
| New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ) | 3 |
| Scotland (OCC) | 71 |
| Singapore (RIAS) | 17 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) | 50 |
| UK Audio Streaming (OCC) | 39 |
| UK Singles Downloads (OCC) | 82 |
| UK Single Sales (OCC) | 82 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 28 |
| US Rolling Stone Top 100 | 5 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Silver | 200,000‡ |
| ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Notes
References
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article I Forgot That You Existed, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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