Ronan (song)

Swift wrote the song after reading Maya Thompson's blog. Thompson is the mother of three-year-old Ronan Thompson, who died in 2011 of neuroblastoma.[5] He had been treated at Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Maya began writing in August 2010 when Ronan was diagnosed and she continued penning her entries in the blog Rockstar Ronan during the nine months that Ronan suffered from the illness before dying in May 2011, just three days before his fourth birthday. Maya worked through her grief by continuing the blog, writing letters to her late son whilst raising money and awareness for childhood cancer causes.[6]

The pair met in October 2011, when Swift invited Maya to her concert at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. She wrote about her reaction when Taylor told her that she'd penned the song inspired by her blog entries; addressing her late son, Thompson said that her calmness "...soon turned to complete and utter frozen shock when these words came out of her mouth: 'I wrote a song for Ronan.' The tears started pouring down my cheeks as soon as I heard her say those words. But her words didn't stop there. Not only did she write a song for you, but she wanted to know if it would be alright to perform it on the nationally televised Stand Up to Cancer show..."[7] Swift credits Thompson as the co-writer of the song. It was released to the US iTunes Store shortly after the Stand Up to Cancer telethon ended, and all proceeds of the single go towards cancer charities.[8]

Mark Hogan of Spin magazine describes "Ronan" as a soft rock ballad.[9] Swift wrote and produced the song based on the blog entries by co-writer Maya Thompson.[7]

"Ronan" received universal acclaim from critics. Rolling Stone called the song "heartbreaking".[10] Bill Dukes of Taste of Country wrote: "It was clear [Swift] was just the voice for Maya Thompson..."[11] Ed Masley of The Arizona Republic said that "'Ronan' may very well be [Swift's] finest hour as an artist."[12] Thompson herself, in a 2012 interview with MTV, recalled her experience listening to Swift's live rendition at Stand Up to Cancer: "Listening to it was very emotional and I was blown away by how she got it. She got it in a way that most people don't. She took the time to take the intimate parts of things I'd written and put them into the song."[13] Thompson's portion of the proceeds from her co-writing credit went to her Ronan Thompson Foundation.[13]

"Ronan" was downloaded 220,000 times in its first week, debuting at number 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart. The song was blocked by Swift's own song "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" from the top spot. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at number 16.[14] It also peaked at number 34 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

Swift first performed the song live for Stand Up to Cancer in September 2012,[15] and has only performed it publicly one other time, when Maya Thompson attended the Glendale, Arizona stop of The 1989 World Tour on August 17, 2015.[16]

Swift re-recorded "Ronan", subtitled "(Taylor's Version)", for her second re-recorded album, Red (Taylor's Version), released on November 12, 2021, through Republic Records.[20] Prior to the re-recording, Thompson confirmed she had granted Swift permission.[21] A lyric video for the track was confirmed through Thompson via Twitter on November 11, 2021, the day before the album was released.[22] The video contains images and home video footage of Ronan with Thompson, provided to Swift by Thompson herself.[23][24]

I've recently completed the re-recording of my 4th album, Red. It's really exceeded my expectations in so many ways, and one of those ways is that I thought it would be appropriate to add "Ronan" to this album. Red was an album of heartbreak and healing, of rage and rawness, of tragedy and trauma, and of the loss of an imagined future alongside someone. I wrote "Ronan" while I was making Red and discovered your story as you so honestly and devastatingly told it. My genuine hope is that you'll agree with me that this song should be included on this album. As my co-writer and the rightful owner of this story in its entirety, your opinion and approval of this idea really matters to me, and I'll honor your wishes here.

— An excerpt from Swift's letter to Thompson[25]

• "Soon You'll Get Better" – a 2019 song by Swift about her mother's health conditions

• Single at Taylor Swift official site
• Maya Thompson's blog