#Clara Bow TS
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Well, we've finally reached it. The song that made me first start crying on my initial TTPD listen.
There's so much to this song, so much about how we use up and discard the women who make culture. Clara Bow is about the women who get held up as touchstones posthumously / very late into their careers. Swift has stated that she pulled from actual examples used about her, but I can think of so many more that could've been pulled in board rooms.
You look like Gwen Stefani, you look like Brittney Spears, you look like a Spice Girl. I can think of so, so many examples, beyond the ones who are listed in Clara Bow. We, as in the public consciousness, forget the women who shaped the imagery we love. Billie Holiday shaped jazz and pop, Anna May Wong as a pivotal film actress in Hollywood's earliest days, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe for rock and roll. For a very long time, any plus size woman trying to get into music was compared to Adele, and now it's Lizzo.
Young women, especially those in the media industry, are constantly, constantly inundated with women we are supposed to be like, but not entirely. We're supposed to be the better version of them, damned with faint praise. A line that has, in hindsight, stuck out to me was "You look like Stevie Nicks in '75, the hair and lips," because... Why '75?
Obviously, part of it is for the rhyme scheme. But the song is told entirely in quotes, something someone said. Swift looks like Stevie Nicks in '75, because she looks like Stevie when she was young, when she was "new," when she was dazzling.
That's not to say that Stevie Nicks isn't a powerhouse now. She still performs, still writes. She performed this year! In 2024! And yet, she will forever be frozen in '75, when she was with Fleetwood Mac and was releasing their self-titled album, in the throes of writing Rumorus. ( side note: please read the history of Rumours writing process. )
It's an endless cycle: women's ideas are taken, consumed by the public, and when only the bones remain, they're used to compare.
"Promise to be dazzling" is the ending line of the chorus - and it's both a beautiful, poignant reminder that the women listed in the song have captured audience's hearts and minds, and a threat. Promise us that you'll be dazzling, you'll forever be sixteen, forever hold up these ideals and stay the exact same.
I think Swift said it best herself, "There's this thing people say about celebrities, that they're frozen at the age they got famous." The demand is: promise to remain the newest thing, and we will always love you.
The truth is that, well, it's not possible. The promise is designed to not be kept. When public opinion turns on these women, it's to detract from their legacy of art.
Getting older is not a curse, it's a gift. We have so many public figures who didn't get that gift, who are frozen at 18, at 22, at 27. And yet, the societal demand is that women stay young, women can only be beautiful, can only be successful if they are young.
A couple of other songwriting notes.
"Did you know you'd be picked, like a rose?" Another question from imaginary men in meetings; did you know, you would be picked to be the new great thing? Did you know, that you too will begin to wilt under the pressure?
I love the repeats of "I'm not trying to exaggerate, but I think I might die if it happened to me / I might die if I made it." Because it relates back to that idea of how caustic fame is. How everyone around the Narrator (very much Swift, in this case) can see how she's being affected by it, and are indirectly praising her for being so strong. Neverminding that this entire album is a statement, a saying of "fame has drained me so, please let me off this pedestal."
But, didn't you know? "[You're] flesh and blood amongst war machines / You're the new god we're worshiping."
That final verse - You look like Taylor Swift, in this light, we're loving it. You've got edge, she never did. The future's bright, dazzling. Her delivery of the lines is soft, but the intent is clear. It doesn't actually matter who the imaginary board director is addressing - it doesn't matter which of the new generation of pop artists look, sound, act, are like Taylor Swift.
What matters, I think, is the warning. Don't let them do this to you. Do not let them tell you that youth is all you have, do not let them make you follow the mold of women before you, that you may only ever be bejeweled right now.
The future, too, is dazzling.
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crowd goes wild at her fingertips
#taylorswift#taylor swift#dailytayloredits#the tortured poets department#tsedit#tseditors#tswiftedit#tsediting#tscreators#tswiftlyrics#tswiftdaily#taylorswiftedit#clara bow#dailymusicedit#dailywomen#ts ttpd#taylor swift edit#editing#taylor swift eras
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what's so clever about Clara Bow is that when she references her own name at the end, she's not talking about the present but the future, quoting the inevitable way people are going to one day talk about her, imagining it will only be in regards to the woma(e)n who surpass her. because there will be someone who surpasses her, eventually. that's the cycle of fame, isn't it? we're simultaneously captivated by the alluring trick of the past while looking for the next big thing. we compare current stars to the lights that shined before them, "you look like taylor swift." but we're also constantly waiting for someone new and greater to take the crown and captivate us anew, "you've got edge she never did." And half the song is about acknowledging that being revered is hell on earth for the people who are in it, because you're always trapped between what came before and what will come after. you're only safe insofar as you remain shiny. But the real beauty of the song is that it never succumbs to this dichotomy, but embraces it. It's Taylor acknowledging she wouldn't be who she is were it not for the women who came before her, who shared the same dreams, and recognizing her place in the chain of the women who will come after. The future's bright, dazzling.
#it's about appreciating and finding comfort in the people they want you to be intimidated by#and hoping she can be a source of comfort for the girls to come#it’s about knowing you’re not alone even when they’ve made you’ve out to be Singular. and how fucking IMPORTANT that is.#ttpd#clara bow#taylor swift#i love this song so SO much. wow#ts
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promise to be dazzling.
#taylor swift#candy swift#ttpd#clara bow#tswiftedit#taylorswiftedit#*c#*c:edits#ts ttpd#the tortured poets department#<3
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you look like Clara Bow
you look like Stevie Nicks
you look like Taylor Swift
#ttpd#ts ttpd#taylor swift#ttpd era#the tortured poets department#clara bow#stevie nicks#taylornation#taylor swift quotes#poets and writers#Taylor Swift is a music industry#the tortured poets society#ts11#ts11 aesthetic
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Taylor referencing herself in Clara Bow is like when you read the book's title in the middle of a chapter
#it makes me so giddy#taylor swift#taylornation#swifties#the tortured poets department#clara bow#ts ttpd#ttpd era#ttpd#mine#taylorswift#taylor swift lyrics
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the nothing new 🤝the lucky one 🤝 clara bow
#crying this is my fav genre of taylor#taylor swift#swifties#nothing new#clara bow#the lucky one#ttpd release#ttpd without context#ts ttpd#ttpd#the tortured poets department#taylors version
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clara bow being described by one of her directors as “pitifully eager to please everyone” and taylor calling herself a “pathological people pleaser” in you’re losing me. clara bow being a very famous 20s star, a personification of the roaring 20s, and taylor who’s arguably the artist of our generation… oh my heart. MY HEART, TAYLOR.
#taylor swift#the tortured poets department#clara bow#ts ttpd#ttpd#ts11#that hurts… just a little…#taylor i love you#so much#taylor swift analysis
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this town is fake, but you’re the real thing
#collage#art#collage art#artist#mixed media#taylor swift#collage artist#paper collage#clara bow#ts ttpd#ttpd#taylor swift fan art
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Taylor swift mention in a taylor swift song!!!
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THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
5 stages of grief
#taylor swift#taylor swift ttpd#taylornation#the tortured poets department#ts ttpd#ttpd era#ttpd#ttpd the anthology#taylor swift 1989#taylor swift the tortured poets department#lover taylor swift#clara bow#the black dog#the eras tour#the manuscript#the albatross#the alchemy#the prophecy#the bolter#taylor swift eras#taylor swift lover#i can fix him#no really i can#the smallest man who ever lived#down bad#peter taylor swift
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The Eras Tour surprise songs parallels
June 30, 2024—Dublin, Ireland: Clara Bow / The Lucky One (mashup) & You're on Your Own, Kid
#taylor swift#taylurking#my edit#tswiftedit#candy swift#ts edit#tswiftlyrics#ts lyrics#lyric edit#the eras tour#eras tour surprise songs#clara bow#the tortured poets department#the lucky one#red (taylor’s version)#you're on your own kid#midnights
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“Who’s Taylor Swift anyway, ew”
“You look like Taylor Swift.”
I’m fine, I’m fine
#tay#tswift#taylorswift#taylor swift#the tortured poets department#midnights#clara bow#the eras tour#taytay#swifties#ts ttpd#ttpd#taylor swift ttpd
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taylor swift + fame — the lucky one & the tortured poets department: the anthology parallels
“Well, thanks, guys! This is a little one that I re-fell in love with while re-recording. It’s about how horrible being famous is.” — TAYLOR BEFORE PLAYING THE LUCKY ONE (PIANO) IN ARLINGTON, TX, ON APRIL 2nd
#tsedit#tswiftedit#candy swift#ts: parallels#the tortured poets department#the lucky one#icdiwabh#clara bow#mbobhft#waolom#fots#hdie#bdilh#cassandra#the albatross#ihih#themes: fame#themes: mirrorball#themes: loneliness#this is all a result of going through old eras speeches to process the ttpd album#and being stricken by the lucky one#and how it was the last song taylor sang on the last show before joever news broke#***
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Invisible String // Clara Bow
#my edit#lyrics parallels#the tortured poets department#songs parallels#taylor swift#lyric edit#edit#lyric parallels#taylornation#taylorswiftedit#tsedit#candy swift#lover taylor swift#taylor's era#ts ttpd#the eras tour#songs#so long london#you're losing me#midnights#taylor swift eras#swifties#the tourtured poets department#folklore#invisible string#clara bow
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