"Forever Winter"^[a] is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Originally written for her fourth studio album Red (2012), Swift ultimately left it out from the original and deluxe tracklist and later re-recorded the song for her second re-recorded album, Red (Taylor's Version) (2021) as a "From the Vault" track.^[b] Co-written and co-produced with American musicians Mark Foster and Jack Antonoff respectively, "Forever Winter" is a power pop song about a friend's mental health issues.

After ending her 13-year contract with Big Machine Records and signing a new deal with Republic Records in 2018, Swift began re-recording her first six studio albums in November 2020.^[1] The decision followed a public 2019 dispute between Swift and the talent manager Scooter Braun, who had acquired Big Machine, including the masters of her albums which the label had released.^[2][3] By re-recording the albums, Swift had full ownership of the new masters, which enabled her to encourage licensing of her re-recorded songs for commercial use in hopes of substituting the Big Machine-owned masters.^[4]

In April 2021, Swift released her first re-recorded album: the re-recording of her 2008 studio album Fearless, subtitled Taylor's Version. In addition to the re-recorded tracks, it contained several unreleased "From the Vault" tracks that she had written but left out of the original album.^[5] On November 12, 2021, she released her second re-recorded album: the re-recorded version of her 2012 studio album Red, also subtitled Taylor's Version.^[6] As with its predecessor, Red (Taylor's Version) also includes "From the Vault" tracks that Swift had intended for but left out of the original Red.^[7]

Around the release of Swift’s third studio album, Speak Now (2010), a troubled high-school friend of hers died from a drug overdose.^[8]

"Forever Winter" is a power pop song opening with energetic brass^[9] before proceeding to the chorus that features Swift's dynamic vocals and incorporates horns, flutes, and guitars.^[10] The song is four minutes and 23 seconds long.^[11] Lyrically, "Forever Winter" is about Swift trying to help a friend through his mental health struggles.^[12][13] Swift worries about the dark path her friend is taking because of them, even though what he says through their phone calls seem less suicidal that it actually is.^[8]

Chris Willman, writing for Variety, praised the "breezing lilt" of "Forever Winter" in his ranking of 25 of Swift’s bonus tracks, placing it in 19th place.^[8] In a Billboard ranking of every vault track in Red (Taylor’s Version), Jason Lipshutz ranked it at 8th, praising its "intricate" production and Swift’s "nuanced" vocal range in the song.^[10] Uproxx's Josh Kurx ranked "Forever Winter" at 15th out of 25 vault tracks, noting a "voice crack" he found around the chorus but later praising it as giving the song "texture".^[14] In a ranking of every song on Swift’s discography by Vulture's Nate Jones, "Forever Winter" is ranked at 120th place. Jones praises the truth in Swift’s emotions in the song.^[15] In another ranking by Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield ranked it at 168th place, praising its "empathetic look" to its subject, connecting it her 2021 single, "Renegade".^[16]

Red (Taylor’s Version) was released on November 21, 2021; "Forever Winter" is track 27.^[11] "Forever Winter" charted in Canada (64),^[17] Australia (64),^[18] and the Billboard Hot 100 (79)^[19] and Global 200 (87).^[20]