For a movie titled 50 Shades Darker, you'd think soundtrack producers might have commissioned a more provocative tune to be its title track. This is just stale bubblegum with a synth beat; it was just released and it already sounds tired. Both figuratively and literally: Swift and Malik sound a little like they need a nap. Or maybe they just need to give their co-singing a rest.

Most of the appeal of the track comes from the fact that you think you're going to get some insight into the psyche of a not-so-newly single Swift, who in the past has penned lyrics about former love interests that were easily decodable.

Not so in "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," though: I didn't get even a hint of Hiddleswift regret in this one. The closest the track gets to any authentic emotion is when Swift sings: "I'm sitting eyes wide open and I got one thing stuck in my mind / wondering if I dodged a bullet or just lost the love of my life." My ears perked up at that line — the only one that actually feels to have any meaning beneath it. That's at least a place many of us have been before.

But the refrain — "I don't want to live forever / but I don't want to live in vain"? What does that even mean? It's propositional logic that doesn't actually make sense. Are these lyrics implying that if the singer did live forever, then they would want to live in vain? Or if they are going to live forever, then let it not be in vain? I'm also not sure about the actual usage of "in vain" here: Is Zayn really singing "I don't want to live forever/ but I don't want to live without purpose?"

I sense a false equivalency — or at least a flawed construction. And while "Pillow Talk" wasn't exactly a song of the year contender, I expect better from Taylor Swift.