Taylor Swift Explains the Story Behind the Lyrics to "no body, no crime"

Everyone's holiday season was made brighter when Taylor Swift surprised fans by releasing her ninth album, "Evermore." No one knew that she was working on something or that she was going to drop it while we're all bored in quarantine.  

But, it was the perfect timing because it gave everyone something to do. Since her music is often rife with personal information and Easter eggs, fans want details on the "no body, no crime" meaning, and thankfully she explained. 

Taylor Swift brought happiness to her fans after a surprise album drop titled "Evermore," which is the sister record to her eighth studio album "Folklore." The album dropped on Dec. 10, 2020, with the song "Willow" and its accompanying music video. 

Taylor has always had a way with words, and it's in part one of the reasons she's become so successful. Of course, she can sing and play instruments, but with writing her own songs, fans of the star feel like they know her on a more personal level. She's known for taking real-life moments that we've seen play out in tabloids and putting them into her music. 

Taylor is notorious for putting her love life — the good, bad, and drama-filled — into her music, so when fans heard the sixth track off her second album of this year titled "no body, no crime," fans were left searching for answers. The song, which has dropped with its official lyric video already, collaborates with HAIM. It's about a character named Este.

The lyrics are about a woman who suspects her husband of cheating. From there, it talks about not letting up finding the truth until the truth is revealed, and when she confronts her husband, she was killed for it. The song follows "tolerate it" on the album, which tells the first half of the story, in which the woman plays the role of the dutiful wife, only to be mistreated and cheated upon.

It's a song that feels more like her country roots, which she first hit the scenes and climbed the charts with. But, given she's been so open about putting real life in her songs' lyrics in the past, fans wanted to know what this song was about — and who died.  

And it turns out this one is more fiction than fact. Taylor Swift spoke to Entertainment Weekly to clear up what the song is about, where it came from, and how sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim were involved. 

"Working with the Haim sisters on 'no body, no crime' was pretty hilarious because it came about after I wrote a pretty dark murder mystery song and had named the character Este because she's the friend I have who would be stoked to be in a song like that," Taylor explained.

"I had finished the song and was nailing down some lyric details and texted her, 'You're not going to understand this text for a few days but ... which chain restaurant do you like best?' and I named a few."

She continued, "She chose Olive Garden, and a few days later, I sent her the song and asked if they would sing on it. It was an immediate 'YES.'"  

Just like "Folklore," this album is a mix of fact and fiction too. According to Hollywood Life, Taylor calls this album an "'unhappily ever after' anthology of marriages gone bad that includes infidelity, ambivalent toleration, and even murder."

Glad there's no real body in this story.