Taylor released “High Infidelity” on her 3 am edition of the Midnights album in 2022, this song describes cheating and leaving a loveless relationship. The Midnights album is one of my favorites by her, and always one of Taylor’s newest music releases.
The song itself is one of the more meaningful or “sappy” songs on the album, due to the idea of being in a loveless relationship can be rather hopeless and meaningless. The song itself parallels the plot in The Great Gatsby because Daisy Buchannan is in a loveless relationship with Tom. I imagine Taylor’s lyrics in this song would have resonated with her- This is another blog post about a song I imagine would have been on Daisy Buchanan’s playlist if her character had gotten the chance to listen.
The verse that I think resonates with Daisy most states,
“Dragged my feet right down the aisle
At the house lonely, good money
I’d pay if you’d just know me
Seemed like the right thing at the time”
Daisy’s marriage in the novel is based around money and reputation, She was with Tom to maintain the wealthy lifestyle she had grown up with, resonating with the lyric “seemed like the right idea at the time”, while throughout the narrative of The Great Gatsby, we learn she also resonates with the lyric, “at the house lonely, good money”. This is because Tom takes care of Daisy financially, but he constantly cheats on her and she knows about it. The big empty house is something that is so saddening- and truly shows money cannot buy happiness, which is also a major theme of Fitzgerald’s novel.
Another lyric that relates to The Great Gatsby is,
“Your picket fence is sharp as knives”
The term picket fence is often associated with the American Dream. Having a nuclear family, and living in a house with a picket fence- putting a twist on this by saying the fence is “sharp as knives” parallels Fitzgerald, as he also used his narrative to criticize the American Dream.