“champagne problems” tells the story of a woman who shocks her would-be fiancé and their loved ones by turning down a marriage proposal right before Christmas. In an essay about evermore, Swift stated that the song depicts “longtime college sweethearts [who] had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring.”

The song implies that the protagonist has a history of mental illness, which the town subsequently stigmatizes in their gossip surrounding the failed proposal. Mental health is a topic especially personal to Swift, who has been transparent publicly about her own struggles. As quoted in an interview with the Zach Sang show:

I definitely don’t feel good all the time, and I don’t think anybody does…there have been times where I needed to take years off because I just felt exhausted, or I felt, like, really low or really bad.