exile (feat. Bon Iver)

"Exile" is a heavy-hearted duet between Taylor Swift and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. They portray former lovers who have a chance meeting during which they exchange differing points of view. The woman (Swift) is now seeing another man and the guy (Vernon) expresses his dismay at how quickly his she has moved on. The woman tells the guy she gave him numerous warning signs to change his behavior, which he didn't latch onto. Having stumbled across each other again, both of them feel sad that their union didn't work out and now are in "exile" from one another.

Swift recorded her singing for "Exile" in Los Angeles, while Vernon laid down his gruff vocals at his April Base Studios in rural Fall Creek, Wisconsin. The geographical divide between the two singers is appropriate.

Justin Vernon also co-wrote the delicate ballad with Swift and an unknown person named William Bowery. Swift later revealed in her Disney+ concert film Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. William Bowery is none other than her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. She explained that Alwyn wrote the "entire piano part" on "Exile" and originally sung the part of the duet that was eventually recorded by Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. "He was just singing it, the way that the whole first verse is," she said. "So I was entranced and asked if we could keep writing that one. It was pretty obvious that it should be a duet because he's got such a low voice and it sounded really good sung down there in that register." Swift has form for using pseudonyms (she was credited for her work on Calvin Harris' "This Is What You Came For" under the name Nils Sjöberg). A possible clue for Alwyn's moniker is he attended a Kings of Leon after-party at New York's Bowery Hotel during the early days of their romance. Also, Joe is the great-grandson of composer, conductor, and music teacher William Alwyn.