Taylor Swift unveils latest instant smash ‘Out of the Woods’

Taylor Swift might have ushered in her “official” pop album with a cheerful, sugary confection that told us all to “Shake It Off,” but her latest tune is a bit more in line with classic Swift. It’s a song about a boy.

Around midnight on Tuesday the singer gifted fans who pre-ordered her highly anticipated pop offering “1989” with a new tune, “Out of the Woods.”

Co-written and produced by with Fun.’s Jack Antonoff -- and strikingly close to the ‘80s synth-heavy, pop-rock of his solo project, Bleachers -- the song has all the ingredients of an instant Swift smash: There’s a catchy, simple hook (“Are we out of the woods yet?” and “Are we in the clear yet?” on repeat), a masterful arrangement and lyrics that are both sweetly relatable and riddled with clues for gossip-seekers.

Those lyrics already have fans buzzing about the male lover in the song’s doomed relationship (most folks are looking squarely at One Direction’s Harry Styles as the inspiration, as the lyrics reference the necklaces the two were famously spotted wearing).

But there is definite evidence the song is based in reality. “Remember when you hit the brakes too soon,” Swift sings, “Twenty stitches in a hospital room.”

The song, and those lyrics, were discussed in Swift’s recent Rolling Stone cover. Although she didn’t offer many details about the incident that inspired those stiches (it was impressively never reported), she admitted the ER trip was quite real. “You know what I’ve found works even better than an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)?” she said. “Looking someone in the eye and saying, ‘Please don’t tell anyone about this.’”

“Out of the Woods” isn’t an official single, Swift said, but she wanted to release the tune to give fans “the greatest example of the sound” of “1989.” In typical Swift fashion the song is No. 1 on iTunes.

Listen to the song here.

Twitter: @GerrickKennedy