Where The Crawdads Sing is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by American author Delia Owens. The story follows the life and adventures of a young girl named Kya as she grows up isolated in the marshes of North Carolina.
Regarding the song Taylor shared in her post on June 24, 2022, on Instagram:
"𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 & ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛. 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 & 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑥𝑡𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 & 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 & 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝. 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 & 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑’𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡. 𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡..."
Carolina opens with mellifluous lyrics akin to a fairy tale:
"𝑂ℎ, 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑠𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛, 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦"
Kya has Carolina coursing through her veins. She was born and raised in the misty, marshy wetlands, her first taste of solitude coming at the age of six when Kya's mother left her after enduring beatings from her alcoholic abusive husband.
At ten, siblings and even her alcoholic father departed, leaving the girl deserted amidst the desolate marshland, befriending the small creatures within it. That's why only Carolina understands all the loneliness, pain, abandonment, vulnerability, and longing for love and freedom of the little girl.
"Carolina knows why, for years, I roamFree as these birds, light as whispersCarolina knows"
Kya is like a drop of water in the vast and gloomy swampland of North Carolina. No one truly acknowledges her presence, and her mother occasionally appears in fleeting dreams.
"And you didn't see me here
No, they never did see me here
And she's in my dreams"
Kya grew up and threw her heart away twice.
The first time was for Tate Walker - a boy with a warm heart. Every day, Tate brought her beautiful feathers and taught her to read, write, and do math, opening up a beautiful world beyond Carolina for her. But then Tate left her to go to his own world.
At the age of 19, another boy, Chase, rich and polite, came, pulling the "marsh girl" closer in hopes of integration and becoming "normal" like everyone else, cared for, conversed with, and loved. And then Chase got engaged when Kya was 21, but the fiancée was another woman.
Her heart, though incredibly fragile, was truly courageous. It shattered completely.
"𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠
𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒
𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡"
She still prays for the boys who shattered her heart for the wonderful things in the world outside, the futile longing. The bitterness when she couldn't step into their world in the end, and only Carolina embraced and comforted the little girl.
"𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑜
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤"
Ultimately, the girl's pain from those years past, now a young woman in the marsh, remains unhealed, still cracked, fragmented, and lonely. The longing for love, the desire for reassurance for a life abandoned. The dirty dress, scars that cannot be erased, traces lasting forever, as bleak as the very life her mother left behind.
"𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡
𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑝𝑖𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑠
𝐵𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑑"
Chase departed in a veil of mystery death, with Kya becoming the prime suspect.
"𝑂ℎ, 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑑"
Only Carolina knows why, after all these years, they still label me as the culprit, lying on a bed full of deceit.
"𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑛𝑜 𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎
𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠"
Yet only Carolina knows how quickly sleep comes to me, without any demons disturbing. Surrounded by white sand and blue sea.
The song ends ambiguously here, a hint just enough for Where The Crawdads Sing. Where will Kya's story go from the marshes of Carolina? Perhaps this journey won't end there. The final secret behind, who is the liar? How much of the truth we know is true? But there's so much each of us can feel profoundly clear listening to Taylor sing a four-and-a-half-minute song.
The tug-of-war between what seems like boundless natural freedom and endless constraints. All the curiosity and fear, Kya's enduring gentleness, and the world's betrayal towards it. The shattered, the doubt, the weakness, and the bitterness. Those feelings no one else could fathom, ultimately returning to her in the marsh. In the end, it's only Carolina who truly knows...