I just may like to have a conversation....about the next song in our #MidnightsTS lyrical analysis series: Question...! We will discuss the MANY parallels to 1989, as well as how this song perfectly encapsulates the core Midnights theme of "wondering what might have been." A 🧵: 
1) The song begins, not with new lyrics, but rather a direct callback to Out of The Woods: an echo of "I remember." Not only does this place this song firmly in the 1989 era, but it also creates an immediate parallel with that relationship and asks the question: what if?
2) Before we even begin, we are given rich context. She will be reflecting on a high-stress, high-profile relationship which meant a huge amount to her, but which she lost due to the high-stakes anxiety associated with it, leaving her only with unanswered questions and regret.
3) We are immediately justified in this context with the opening lines: "Good girl, sad boy, big city, wrong choices." We have been welcomed back to the New York of the 1989 era, where public perception meant everything and her relationships became eternal fodder for criticism.
4) This is the Taylor with "that good girl faith and a tight little skirt." This is the relationship that she could "see the end as it begins," but she decided to continue anyway. This song is a midnight of wondering "what might have been" in a relationship that ended abruptly.
5) "We had one thing goin' on, I swear that it was somethin'." This feels like a justification of the importance of the relationship, either to herself or her old partner. It WAS something--perhaps something that was never really labelled, but it was very meaningful nevertheless.
6) Perhaps they were never able to "call it what it was" to each other, which is why she refers to it as "one thing" as opposed to more solid terms (love, etc). In retrospect, she knows that it was not just "one thing" of many, but in fact, a very important "SOMEthing" to her.
7) This also reminds me of "the 1," a song which many have related to 1989: "we were something, don't you think so?" This (also questioning!) parallel adds another layer to the unresolved nature of this relationship, which left many important things unsaid and unanswered.
8) "'Cause I don't remember who I was before you painted all my nights a color I've searched for since." The parallels abound, but the one that jumped to mind at first was the already-referenced OOTW: "the rest of the world was black and white but we were in screaming color."
9) This line also calls back to "illicit affairs:" "you showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else." Both parallels convey that this relationship was one that forever colored her perception and changed her as a person, heightening our sense of its significance.
10) The addition of "searched for since" implies that she still has regrets about the loss of this relationship, and that this person occupied a very unique place in her life. This is what gives this song more of a flavor of "what could have been" rather than simple remembrance.
11) "But one thing after another, fucking situations, circumstances, miscommunications." She lists all of the obstacles to their relationship which eventually drove them apart. I find it interesting that she uses "thing" to describe these barriers.
12) By calling these barriers "one thing after another," she is contrasting them to the relationship itself, which she swears was not just "one thing," but "SOMEthing." She is implying that this valuable relationship should have overcome these comparatively meaningless barriers.
13) There is also no shortage of lyrical examples in 1989 to further relate that relationship to these interpersonal miscommunications: "the monsters turned out to be just trees," the entirety of I Wish You Would (e.g., "cause you still don't know what I never said,") etc.
14) "And I have to say, by the way, I just may like some explanations." Here is the reason for the entire song. As has been set up, this was an intense relationship whose abrupt ending left her without closure, and she has spent years ruminating over her lingering questions.
15) And now we get to the chorus of her questions to her old lover. I must admit I found these questions incredibly random on first listen, but I now think that they were chosen specifically to represent the areas of their tumultuous relationship she most wants closure about.
16) "Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room, and every single one of your friends was makin' fun of you, but fifteen seconds later, thеy were clappin' too?" Of course, there are parallels to specific instances that literally represent this moment (eg, the NYE kiss).
17) But I think this lyric was chosen for its secondary meaning: Do you remember the publicity of our relationship? Do you remember how I was alternately shamed and applauded for it? Do you remember how that complex publicity ruined what should have been intimate and only ours?
18) The same holds true for the later questions, where she seems to be asking what he did to handle this intense publicity, and why he did it: "then what did you do?" Each question, written in third person, represents a larger theme of what went wrong with their relationship.
19) "Did you lеave her house in the middle of the night?" Once again, this references countless lines in 1989 describing how they tried to keep their relationship shielded from the public eye. The entirety of "I Know Places" describes this ominous, constant invasion of privacy.
20) The public/media are described as "vultures circling, dark clouds;" "they are the hunters" threatening their relationship. So to compensate, at midnight, he would "come and pick me up, no headlights," trying to avoid this disturbing presence and preserve their connection.
21) "Did you wish you'd put up more of a fight, when she said it was too much?" This also references many (MANY) lines in 1989 in which Taylor describes how she ended the relationship after being overwhelmed by the constant publicity and subsequent miscommunications.
22) Beginning with a direct reference in OOTW: "remember when we couldn't take the heat? I walked out, I said "'I'm setting you free.'" But other songs reinforce that while she ended it, Taylor still wished that her partner had done more to win her back when she was overwhelmed.
23) The entirety of AYHTDWS reflects this sentiment: "now you say you want it back, now that it's just too late;" "you were all I wanted, but not like this." While she ultimately had to end their on-off relationship, she wonders if he also wishes that he tried harder to keep her.
24) "Do you wish you could still touch her? It's just a question." Once again, she asks if he has the same regrets she does--if he also feels that their relationship could have been "something" had they been able to overcome the "circumstances and miscommunications" in their way.
25) "Half-moon eyes, bad surprise." Taylor now transitions into a set of lyrics describing the aftermath of their relationship, likely representing the bad surprise her previous partner encountered when he found that she had moved on. The use of "half-moon eyes" is very telling.
26) While this could physically represent the shape of his eyes, this expression is frequently used to describe a worried or stressed expression in dogs, which further (hilariously) underscores how upset and blindsided her ex-partner was at finding her with someone new.
27) "Did you realize out of time? She was on your mind with some dickhead guy that you saw that night." Taylor wonders whether seeing her with someone new made her ex-partner jealous, whether it finally made him realize how much he truly valued her and their relationship.
28) This also reminds me of "exile," in which the ex-partner angrily sings: "I can see you standing, honey, with his arms around your body, laughin', but the joke's not funny at all." A similar disdain for the new partner is expressed: a "dickhead," someone decidedly not funny.
29) "But you were on somethin', it was one drink after another." The parallel of "it was something" to "you were ON something" indicates that her ex was trying to distract himself from his pain, but these distractions were hollow compared to the REAL something they had together.
30) "Fuckin' politics and gender roles and you're not sure and I don't know." Taylor continues to list the obstacles that not only separated them to begin with, but also prevented them from opening up and seeking each other out again after they had realized their own mistakes.
31) The optics of the public end to their relationship ("politics"), constant misogyny surrounding her dating life ("gender roles"), as well as their own inability to be truly honest with each other ("you're not sure and I don't know") all conspired together to keep them apart.
32) "Got swept away in the gray, I just may like to have a conversation." Now that the dust has settled, now that the high emotions surrounding the controversial "gray areas" of their relationship have cooled, she wishes they could have a genuine discussion of what went wrong.
33) An alternate interpretation relates back to OOTW: "the rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color." When they lost each other, they lost the color that grew from their connection--they both got swept away into the gray of the rest of the world.
34) After she repeats the questions, the bridge is a much more direct assault on her ex-partner's regrets. "Does it feel like everything's just like second-best after that meteor strike?" This feels like an ATW10 "just between us" moment: can you admit just how special we were?
35) Do you also miss the meteoric power of our connection, before we got overwhelmed by the external forces dividing us? This reminds me of "This Love," where she describes how she "struggled through the night with someone new." Has he also struggled this much since he lost her?
36) "And what's that that I heard? That you're still with her? That's nice, I'm sure that's what's suitable." Taylor has own "dickhead guy" moment with his new partner: she ironically remarks that this new relationship is "suitable," a stark contrast from their own meteor strike.
37) "And right, but tonight, can I ask you a question?" But despite the fact that his new relationship feels only second-best to the depth of their own connection, she admits that it is still "right" that he has moved on. They were probably never really meant to be together.
38) But this song, this midnight of wondering, is not about what is right and wrong. The break-up was probably right, "but tonight" is about the what ifs. The questions she wishes she could have answers to. The honesty she will constantly crave, the closure she will never get.
39) "Question...?" will always be a one-sided, eternally-recycled set of "what ifs" about someone who "could have been the one," but just wasn't. "Question...?" represents the uncertainty we all must struggle with in life, and the answers we invent for ourselves to cope with it.
Thank you for reading!! Here is a link to my #MidnightsTS megathread for further lyrical analysis 😊😊
https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1592155831004721152?s=20&t=LK00EKkYjz389J8f4WFJuA
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