You're on Your Own, Kid

[1][2] On September 21, 2022, Swift announced a thirteen-episode series called Midnights Mayhem with Me on the social media platform TikTok, and thereafter revealed the title of one album track each episode.

[6] Swift wrote and produced "You're on Your Own, Kid" with Jack Antonoff, who programmed the track and played instruments including percussion, Juno 6, Mellotron, Moog, electric guitars, and bass.

[17] The Rolling Stone critic Rob Sheffield, in a ranking of Swift's songs, called "You're on Your Own, Kid" a synth-pop track reminiscent of the music by rock band New Order.

[18] The first verse has her recalling an unrequited love in the past: "Summer went away / Still the yearning stays / I play it cool with the best of them / I wait patiently / He's gonna notice me / It's ok, we're the best of friends.

"[22] Time's Shannon Carlin found this to be in line with the theme of unrequited love in Swift's previous songs including "You Belong with Me" and "Hey Stephen" from Fearless (2008).

[23][26][27] In Vulture, Craig Jenkins thought Swift's "lilting" vocals and references to her early-career days harken back to her 2008 album Fearless, both stylistically and thematically.

[28] PopMatters's Matthew Dwyer considered the song Swift's contemplation about her legacy in the music industry, citing the lyric, "I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this.

[30] The lines, "I hosted parties and starved my body / Like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss", were deciphered as her mentioning her eating disorder, which is also documented in Miss Americana (2020).

[32] Attard considered "You're on Your Own, Kid" one of the Midnights tracks that best display the "matured temperament and the stark intimacy of Swift's songwriting",[14] and Petridis selected it among the songs that are "filled with subtle, brilliant touches".

[36] Following the release of Midnights, tracks of the album occupied the entire top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100; "You're on Your Own, Kid" opened at number eight on the chart, with 34.1 million streams, 1,500 downloads, and 498,000 airplay impressions.

[38][39] In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 65 on the UK Singles Chart and received a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

[40][41] Elsewhere, "You're on Your Own, Kid" debuted on numerous territories, and peaked within the top 40 of Australia (6),[42] Ireland (6),[43] the Philippines (6),[44] Singapore (6),[45] Malaysia (7),[46] Iceland (13),[47] Portugal (13),[48] Vietnam (13),[49] Croatia (18),[50] India (19),[51] South Africa (19),[52] New Zealand (20),[53] Luxembourg (22),[54] Lithuania (24),[55] the Czech Republic (26),[56] Sweden (27),[57] Switzerland (27),[58] Slovakia (32),[59] Norway (34),[60] Hungary (36),[61] Spain (39),[62] and Denmark (40),[63] and further reaching Italy (82),[64] Argentina (98),[65] and France (107).