Taylor Swift performs 'I Hate It Here' live for the first time, paired with 'The Lakes'

Department of Tormented Poets met Folklorein which Taylor Swift sings wistfully about “the lakes where all the poets went to die,” at the star's Eras tour stop in Cardiff, Wales on Tuesday night (June 18).

Swift's surprise set of songs, the acoustic portion of the show, at the Principality Stadium made its live debut The Anthology edition of Tormented poets“I Hate It Here” combined with a melancholy piano Folklore bonus track “The Lakes”.

At her piano Tuesday night, Swift checked to make sure her microphone was working, then playfully commented, “This is a song I've never played live before. Wish me good luck!”

“Quick, quick, tell me something awful/ Like you're a poet trapped inside a financial man's body,” he sang. “Tell me all your secrets, all you'll be/ My eternal comfort prize/ See, I was a debutante in another life, but/ Now I seem afraid to come out/ If comfort is a construct, I don't believe in good luck/ Now that I know what's what'.

Followed by the chorus of “I Hate It Here”: “I hate it here, so I'll go to secret gardens in my mind/ People need a key to get there, mine's the only one/ I read about it in a book when I was a precocious kid/ No middle-sized city hopes and small-town fears/ I'm there most of the time, 'cause I hate it here/ I hate it here.”

Instead of singing the song's second verse, though, he segued into “The Lakes”: “Is it romantic how all my elegies praise me?/ I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones/ These hunters with cell phones/ Take I in the lakes, where all the poets went to die/ I don't belong, and my love, neither do you/ Those Windermere peaks seem a perfect place to weep/ I begin, but not without my muse. “

Later in the show, she again pleaded: “I hate it here, so take me to the lakes/ Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die/ I don't belong, and my darling, and neither do you.”

As she has done several times on the floor-only, general-admission European leg of the tour, Swift stopped mid-set to point out the safety of a fan in the crowd who needed help.

“I won't sing until they get help,” she said, “but you guys are so awesome and above that.”

Before her piano number, Swift played an acoustic mashup of it Lover“I forgot you existed” me Reputation“This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things”, which ended with laughter amplified by the audience as he tried to sing, “And here's to you, because forgiveness is a nice thing you can do” and finished with “I can't even say that with a straight face”.The fans pointed out the timing of Swift's song choice is June 18, which happens to be Scooter Braun's birthday.)

Watch Swift's acoustic set in Cardiff below. The clip on the left features “I Forgot That You Existed” featuring “This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things,” while the video on the right features “I Hate It Here” featuring “The Lakes.”