Taylor Swift’s ‘Peter’: The Broken Promises and the Peter Within You

These days, it’s hard for us to accept how easily people make promises they can’t keep. We might make that mistake too, but we try hard to uphold our promise. Speaking about the promise, it reminds me of “Peter”, one of my favorite songs in Taylor Swift’s recent album, “Fortnight”.

Peter talks about someone who repeatedly fails to keep their promises. Taylor portrays this person as Peter Pan. This is not the first time Taylor has used Peter Pan and Wendy in her songs, she mentioned them before in “Cardigan”.

As we know, Peter Pan always represents someone who refuses to face the reality of growing up. In the story, Peter promises Wendy that he will return and take her to Neverland once a year in spring, but he forgets about her and never comes back.

What I love about this song is its relatability and the multiple interpretations it gives. I can easily relate it to various conditions and interpret it in various ways. Every time I listen to it, I experience a range of emotions.

Peter could be your old friend who has grown apart. Peter could be your childhood crush who forgets their promises. Peter could be your parents who promised there will be a great life. Peter could be your sibling who grew up too fast and never picked you up from childhood memories. For your younger self, Peter could be you who can’t embrace them.

I mostly interpret Peter as a confession of my younger self to my current self. I feel like she is always waiting for me to keep my promise to make a better life, come back to her, and bring her with me into adulthood. Do you ever feel the same? It feels like there’s a part of you being trapped in past trauma while you are busy navigating adulthood.

Being an adult is never easy for us. We avoid reality by sleeping during the day and staying awake at night, hoping time will slow down. We torture ourselves to meet others’ standards and compromise our ideals to fit into society. We stand up for ourselves because no one else will.

Whether you are living your dream or someone else’s, your younger self feels left behind. She sits in a corner, lost in a maze of unseen trauma, hoping her older self will come to find her. She has high hopes for the person she always dreamed of becoming, the person who helped her survive with the belief that things would get better. But, the Peter within you can’t keep the promises you made to her.

Said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me

Words come from the mouths of babes

Promises, ocean deeps

But never to keep

She relies on you, but you never come. She waits for you to tell her what she has become at your age. Has her dreams come true, or have you found a better path? Since you’re not coming, she thinks all her dreams have become fantasies. She believes in you, believing you will grow wiser than her and return to pick her up after your 25th birthday. But you’re too busy with your current life or too busy pitying yourself. She feels forgotten.

You might be afraid of disappointing her, facing her, or dealing with the trauma you’ll encounter when you meet her. She might be disappointed or mad at you, but eventually, she will understand. Because she stands in the same shoes as you.

So, if you experience those feelings, take your time. It takes courage to meet your younger self. It’s indeed a difficult journey to get there. As you meet them, embrace them and tell them about your journey. Tell them the truth, and connect the dots that you learn. Assure them it’s not their fault. Validate their feelings, and hold their hand, because they deserve to be found.