11. Honey

1. Musical Style: Mariah Carey

2. Literary References: none

3. Key Lyric: "You can call me 'Honey" if you want because I'm the one you want"

4. Favorite Lyric: "Buy the paint in the color of your eyes / And graffiti my whole damn life / Honey"

5. Taylor's Callback: none specifically

6. TL/DR: Travis is my Honey!

7. Previous Track 11s: Our Song, Forever & Always, Innocent, Holy Ground, This Love, Dancing with Our Hands Tied, London Boy, invisible string, cowboy like me, Karma, I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

"Honey" is the pretty girl at the dance who sits alone at a table, overlooked, hoping the right person will come along and ask her to dance. It's the most overlooked track on the album while also being a favorite on social media lists, usually in the form of, "Who else loves 'Honey'?"

Unlike most of the rest of the songs on the album, this one needs no deep analysis. There are no literary references to speak of, and no direct callbacks except for a thematic association with the Eras Tour-created lyric addition to "Karma": "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me."

The first time I listened to this album, my initial reaction was, "This is her Travis Kelce album." Multiple listens haven't changed my mind any; in fact, it's deepened that conviction. Sure, not every track relates directly to Travis, but if most of her past albums were about heartbreak and longing, this one is about happiness and fulfillment.

"Honey" juxtaposes both those ideas, the before and the after, the bitches at the bar telling her to back off, the white-teethed girls mocking her skirt, the guys who called her up and night and forgot about her in the morning...

Travis is the after—playing house as her "forever night stand"; calling her "lovely" because he's in awe of her (look at his face at the Eras Tour); his love "redefines all of those blues" of her past, her insecurities and disappointments.

She uses three pet names in particular: honey, sweetheart, and lovely, and contrasts their past usage in a negative and condescending sense with his use of them in love and sincerity. In her past, hearing those words was always associated with someone putting her down. When Travis uses them, they lift her up.

The music is straight out of a classic Mariah Carey love song in every way—instrumentation, rhythm, beat, tone...everything except Taylor trying to sing way too high out of her register. But her vocal tone here is sweet and innocent, much as Carey's was at the beginning of her career.

This song won't blow you away with complex lyrics or innovative musicality. It's as familiar and comfortable as your favorite pair of slippers and sweatpants. But like that girl at the dance, if you take her for a spin, she'll stick in your mind long afterward.