ayearwithtaylor

[ayearwithtaylor]

I love you doesn't count after goodbye.

RED (October 22, 2012) by Taylor Swift

[ayearwithtaylor]

I am what I am cause you trained me...

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[ayearwithtaylor]

I know this is pointing out the obvious but goodness gracious the contrast between Taylor at the ihearts last year (exhausted/devastated/sore/not wanting to be perceived at all) vs. this year (glowing/smiling/tan etc) is just a brilliant reminder that the worst parts of our lives will eventually pass and we will know joy again even if only softly at first. Our broken hearts will mend and we will meet new people that make us feel alive and show us what we wanted was never too much. there will be new memories and chapters and you won’t be just sad now until the end of time. turns out the pain really wouldn’t be forevermore

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its just soooooo interesting to watch how, with every new project, her entire discography is recontextualized and seen in a new light not just by her fans but by HER too. different pieces of art are going to mean something different to you at different stages of your life, and its just really cool to see that is true for the artist herself as well. it doesnt discount what a song meant or what it was about when it was written: it can both transport you back to how you felt at the time AND give you clarity on how you ended up where you currently are and the challenges you were blind to then that seem obvious in hindsight. both can be, and are, true and completely valid. its just endlessly intriguing to watch her be in constant conversation with her younger selves, and by virtue of having grown up with her, doing so myself.

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the “i’m so in love that i might stop breathing” to “as she was leaving it felt like breathing” pipeline 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

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im sure lots of people will listen to TTPD and discount it because she talks about matty in it (and ofc people have their valid issues with him, but im not gonna go into that), but the whole lead up to the album has been “we’re investigating,” and imo a lot of us took that as her saying “we’re investigating why my relationship ended” whereas the album is actually about “we’re investigating this caricature of a girl who went through something life-changing, and she has apparently gone crazy” and she’s basically done a public autopsy of herself; something that the media/fans/public have done since the beginning, but this time around she was like “i’ll do it to myself.”

hence, the album aesthetic feels so sterile too imo. she’s trying to distance herself from the subject but!!!!!! she is the subject. and in conclusion, i think what she’s really putting down is “the summary of the investigation of this girl is that she went insane because of what happened to her, but it’s hopefully gonna be okay”

sidenote: i think what we need to take away from the album is to… let her live…

[ayearwithtaylor]

the beauty of this album is that it really fully encapsulates what it’s like going from the devastating loss of a long term relationship, to the rebound you think is gonna fix it all, only to ultimately realize that you were using the latter to process your feelings about the former. the songs are so muddled, and the lyrics are relevant to both muses because her feelings were muddled and she had no idea where to put them or what to do with them. the rebound promised her everything she couldn’t get from the ex-love and she fell for it because she was so desperate to be really seen.

[ayearwithtaylor]

‘and sometimes it gets me when crossing your jet stream, we both did the best we could do underneath the same moon in different galaxies’ is so fucking devastating bc not only does it allude to call it what you want, but also all of the references across her work implying that what they had was fate, sent to her by the universe, divine intervention. all the imagery of ‘starry eyes sparkling up my darkest night’ and ‘once upon a time the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned’ and ‘he’s passing by rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky’ come crashing down into the reality that they were always just outside of each other’s orbit

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[ayearwithtaylor]

Taylor writing the prologue for TTPD

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Swift said the track is “a commentary on what I’ve seen in the industry that I’ve been in over time". "I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you. I picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these architypes of greatness in the entertainment industry. Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music."

Taylor on Clara Bow for Variety

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"Without ever touching his skin, how can I be guilty as sin?"

It's called emotional cheating, Taylor 😅 (affectionately)

[ayearwithtaylor]

Aaron Dessner on 'THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT' and Taylor Swift:

'' We started working on these songs over two years ago and it feels like they have kept us company and evolved in beautiful and unexpected ways through so much life lived during this process. It's hard to believe Taylor and I have now recorded over 60 songs together (17 across this anthology!!) in the 4 years since we began working together on Folklore in 2020.  I am forever grateful to Taylor for sharing her insane talents with and trusting me with her music. I believe these songs are some of the most lyrically acute, intricate, vulnerable and cathartic Taylor has ever written and I am continually astonished by her skills as a songwriter and performer.''

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jackantonoff: TTPD is here

my favorite work we have made together / made in the most wild unhinged moment. all the pain distilled in this album and all the laughter that came out of it. will hold those days in the studio forever as the most inspiring of my life. i adore this album and the way it came together. ttpd FOREVER

1- the day we made down bad 2- fots day 3- florida 4- laura sisk forever 5- black dog 6- electric lady 7- i love you taylor!

from 1989 to TTPD

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Taylor Swift talking about 'Fortnight'

''It's the song that I think really exhibits a lot of common themes that run throughout this album. One of which being fatalism, um, longing, pining away lost dreams. You know, I think that, um, it's a very fatalistic album and that there are lots of very dramatic lines about life or death, and I love you it's ruining my life, like, these are very hyperbolic dramatic things to say but it's that kind of album. It's about a dramatic, artistic, tragic kind of take on love and loss, and Fortnight, I've always imagined that it took place in this American town where the American dream you thought would happen to you didn't. You ended up not with the person that you loved and now you have to just live with that everyday wondering what would have been, maybe seeing about and that's a pretty tragic concept, really. So I was just writing from that perspective.''

📸: Via shesjustlosingit on TikTok

[ayearwithtaylor]

Taylor Swift talking about her song 'My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys'

''My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys is a song that I wrote alone and it's a metaphor from the perspective of a child's toy being somebody's favorite toy until they break you and then don't play with you anymore, which is how a lot of us are in relationships where we are so valued by a person in the beginning and then all of a sudden, they break us or they devalue us in their mind and we're still clinging on to - So it's kind of like a song about denial, really. So that you can live in this world where there's still hope for a toxic, broken relationship.''

📸: Via shesjustlosingit on TikTok