#Gaylor fandom x eras tour

[jennyboom21]

👀

*forwards to Yinzer dad in the family group chat*

The topic is bridges: those that criss-cross Pittsburgh's rivers, and those that serve as a passageway between parts of a song. Taylor Swift, the unofficial queen of bangin' bridges, is set to hit the City of Bridges on June 16 and 17 when her Eras Tour stops in Pittsburgh. At every show, Swift performs two surprise songs, some of which are catered in some way to the setting. It would make sense, then, if she sets aside a few selections from her discography with especially celebrated bridges for her Pittsburgh shows.

"Ooo, maybe we'll get 'Hits Different,'" MP tells Pittsburgh City Paper, her eyes suddenly lighting up, a sly smile crossing her face.

We probably won't, since, after this conversation, Swift scratched that one off the list in Chicago, and she doesn't do repeats. (Unless she messes up on the first try, which she did! So who knows?)

It would be fitting in so many ways, specifically for MP, 22, who's attending night one in Pittsburgh. "Hits Different" is a buried B-side from Swift's latest album, Midnights, that contains a pretty much irrefutable queer lyric, with Swift addressing her muse as an "argumentative, antithetical dream girl" at the end of the bridge. MP used this part of the song underneath a TikTok video in which she tries on a haul of Midnights merch. It received a highly-coveted "Taylor like," meaning that Taylor Swift herself (or at least Taylor Swift's account) gave it a "heart."

"Cool, Taylor Swift saw me in my boxers," MP quipped in a response video. "Definitely wasn't on my 2023 bingo card but, can't say that I'm complaining."

MP is a gaylor, so that "Taylor like" was kind of a big deal. Some see it as one of many signals Swift has sent out that she's aware of the gaylor subculture, and doesn't mind it.

Gaylor refers both to a theory and an online community of people who believe Taylor Swift is queer in some form, and that she's been intentionally — and increasingly loudly

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flagging that in her lyrics, music videos, and performances. The gaylor community is made up of predominantly queer folks, and within that, it's majority sapphic people. Viewing Swift's art through a queer lens, gaylors have identified queer themes as well as queer references in her work. And via TikTok, Twitter, and various other online forums, they have traded ideas, decoded messages, and shared interpretations. In doing so, this group has gone far beyond simple analysis of Swift's artistry; they've taught each other the history of queer coding and lesbian culture, and fostered a sense of queer, feminist pride.

MP is one of a handful of leaders in this sphere, frequently hosting Twitter Spaces for the gaylor community, and increasingly meeting up with other gaylors in real life. She's attending six Eras Tour performances this year (maybe more), frequently bringing gaylors together along the way.

That connection is, in MP's words, the most important part.

"People think that gaylorism is about us proving that Taylor Swift is queer — that's actually the last thing on our agenda," she tells City Paper. Instead, she says, Swift is merely a vehicle to a greater understanding of queer culture, and potentially a stepping stone to changing how the concept of "coming out" is viewed.

"We're not trying to get Taylor Swift to come out, or out her, or anything," MP says. "It's saying, 'We have a person who hasn't verbally said that they're queer, but they've done all this [flagging], and why can't we accept this as a statement of queerness?' Why does it always have to be 'I'm gay' or 'I'm queer' or 'I'm lesbian' to be able to recognize queerness?"

So, what are some of these queer flags gaylors observe Swift waving? The list is extensive, fascinating, sometimes a little unhinged, but largely compelling.

Gaylors have documented countless moments in which Swift has insinuated her queerness, from screenshots of Swift's mid-aughts Myspace page, to the infamous "eye theory," to the predominance of lesbian and bi Pride colors seen throughout her Eras Tour performance.

Probably the most frequently cited piece of standalone gaylor evidence is Swift's manipulating turns of phrase to include the word "hairpin" where it otherwise wouldn't appear. Evermore's bonus track "Right Where You Left Me" includes the line, "I swear, you could hear a hairpin drop," instead of "pin drop," which is significant because the phrase "hairpin drop" historically means to drop hints that you're gay. Swift doubled down on this in a Midnights bonus track, "The Great War," in which she sings, "Your finger on my hairpin triggers," instead of "hair triggers." It's hard to see this word play as accidental, especially when "Mastermind" Swift has told us explicitly that none of it is accidental.

The popularity of gaylorism has risen sharply in recent months, when the rollout of the Midnights album began late last summer. But it's been a theory since almost the beginning of her career, picking up significant steam during her 1989 era. Shortly after that album's release in 2014, Swift was allegedly caught kissing her then-best friend Karlie Kloss during a performance by The 1975 in New York City. The incident became known as "Kissgate," and fueled rumors that the two were dating.

It's a pivotal piece of gaylor lore that led to an unexpected encounter for MP.

At an Eras Tour show she attended last month in Philadelphia, "two very brave girls," she says, threw caution to the wind.

"Behind me, I hear someone go, 'Kissgate? Kissgate?'" MP tells City Paper. She wanted to respond, "but part of me hesitated," she says. "This sounds so dramatic, but I thought, 'What if I'm being baited?'"

Some gaylors have been covert at Swift's concerts for fear of homophobia and harassment.

MP took a chance, though, turned around, and said "Yeah, Kissgate!" back, and one of the girls responded, "Oh my God, want to trade bracelets?"

Trading friendship bracelets is a big thing at the Eras Tour, and it's yet another way gaylors find each other, albeit carefully.

One of the "Kissgate" girls pulled out a stashed-away bag of bracelets and said, "Here are all my gay ones."

MP has traded plenty of gay ones, too, including one that says, "Me Out Now," a reference to the way Swift announced her lead single from the Lover album via Instagram in 2019 with a caption stating, "Me! Out now!" It just so happened to be posted on Lesbian Visibility Day.

"ME!" is MP's favorite Taylor Swift song — one of her six Taylor Swift tattoos is an ode to it — which is odd only because it's pretty much no one else's. It's a universally panned single, but "I love bubble gum pop that sounds like it's written for 5-year-olds," she says.

MP channeled her dedication to "ME!" into a one-woman campaign for Swift to play it as a surprise song at the Pittsburgh show.

"I had this genius parasocial idea to convince Taylor Swift to play 'ME!' on June 16th, and it's so perfect: It's Pride month, no one else is asking for this song ... This has been my number one surprise song since I found out she was doing surprise songs. I'm 100 percent serious about it."

When "ME!" premiered, MP hadn't fully come out yet. As time went on and she listened to it more, "I feel like the song has been there for me in my journey of queerness," she says, "and so every time I listen to it at a different time in my life, I have a new understanding of that song ... When I found queer community and found my identity, I was like, 'I am the only one of me! This song is so good!' And the music video is obviously rainbows and sunshine, so it is really just a queer bop, whether she intended it to be or not."

Ultimately, MP reiterates, gaylorism isn't actually about whether or not Taylor Swift is gay, at least anymore. "It started that way," she says, "but it's grown to so much past that." She's been told by people she's met, both online and in person, some of whom aren't out in their personal lives, that the gaylor circle is one of the few places in which they can express themselves freely.

"Gaylor gives them this opportunity to exist in a space where they can be themselves — that's what it's really about," MP says. "It's about showing the world that we can come out however we please."

[sparkliingdust]

I don't understand why we're not supporting more real LGBTQ+ artists instead of Taylor Swift

I'm just shouting into the void at this point, but like - I've never been a die-hard Gaylor. I'm just queer and heard her lyrics through that lens, and gave a hard side-eye to the countless references she's made to Karlie Kloss through her wardrobes, which to me on some level is not healthy on Taylor's part.

I get that a lot of Gaylors, like many straight Taylor fans, take things too far (it's okay to AI Taylor and Travis with a wedding and babies, the constant wedding rumors with every boyfriend, etc. but not to think about Taylor as remotely queer but I digress)...but for most of us, we're just "normal" people who like Taylor's storytelling through her songwriting and there are legitimate analytical conclusions we can make about queer-coding.

After a year of articles hitting out about the ~~~~LGBTQ+'s obsession with Taylor's sexuality~~~~, Taylor's hollow allyship with our community since Lover, telling us not to think about Betty being gay/queer in our own interpretations, and the recent backlash about the NYT article...I could write a long bullet point list of things that we all should've questioned and side-eyed this whole time but whatevs.

I just wander when is the Gaylor part of the community going to take our energy and put towards real LGBTQ+ artists who are taking huge risks and need support celebrating all of us. Sam Smith? Girl in Red? Janelle Moane? Kim Petras? Lil Nas X? King Princess? etc.

I was a major Swiftie - went to the eras tour, saw the movie, and I won't regret how much I love her music. But I'm tired of listening to her music without inevitably and inadvertently thinking about the global impact of how it effects Taylor Swift ™ and her whole universe...when we're the part of the community that is used as a shield for other distractions (the Golden Globes gossip, her hiding the Mahomes family from the lawsuit being dropped, etc). I'm taking a big step back from the pyramid scheme that is her brand and just enjoy her music for what it is (again, even though most of us were already doing that), and put more energy into other artists, and for fucks' sakes, my own life.

Why do we - as a world - constantly feel like she is a victim who needs to be saved, defended, safeguarded? Why can't we say we don't like one of her songs without a million people jumping in to vindicate her or we have to prepare why we don't like something with a novel about how much we are actually a real fan? Like this is not normal parasocial attitude even if you are the most casual fan of Taylor Swift, we have to recognize even this kind of behavior is rampant in our fandom whether you are LGBTQ+ or straight.

She is a 34 year old billionaire, and we need to stop thinking of her as the young girl who was wronged during the VMAs or the country girl "who just got lucky" with her songwriting and her dad just "happened to invest" in a music label. And, let her make mistakes and live life and maybe be an artist with some real risks to take and not constantly give her all our attention, energy, money.

[bisluthq]

What’s your origin story, James? How did you come into the Taylor fandom? What brought you to Gaylor? What’re your fav official and unofficial ships? Have you ever seen Tay live? What era is your favourite? And what re-recording are you most excited for? 😊 ly tysm for stepping in for Nat and plz give her all our love! So happy for you two!

So as I said before I was a bit of a Taylor anti during 1989 era. There was a gal who worked in my office at the time who would just play the cd nonstop, and it just wasn’t for me at all. I thought Taylor was corny and she smiled too much, but that didn’t stop me from listening to Ryan Adams 1989 cover album for a whole year after it was released (yay misogyny). But listening to that album gave me huge respect for her songwriting. So Reputation rolls around and I miss it (minus LWYMMD which I thoroughly enjoyed) because I only use Spotify and without all the press/not working with that girl anymore I miss that there is an album release entirely. Truly my biggest regret because I would have immediately become a fan and gone to the tour and everything and the show I could have attended ended up being a rain show 😭

Fast forward to 2019 when I hear about the Taydar podcast through a Facebook group and am immediately intrigued. Shoutout to Sarah and Hattie for being my introduction to Gaylor. I binged all the episodes they had made at that point which was like three and start listening to Tay obsessively. When quarantine hit like a lot of other people I stumbled to tumblr, and got obsessed with a reading certain blog for entertainment, and made an account and jumped right into fandom. Consequently I’ve made some amazing friends and met the girl of my dreams. Like I’ve said before I just ship Taylor x happiness, but I have a huge soft spot for Tily after doing the masterpost. It makes me 🥺 to think that no matter what went on in their relationship, Lily was with Taylor at a time when a lot of people put distance between them, and she wanted people to know they were inseparable. I am so excited to relive all the eras through the re-recording process. Fearless TV was so fun, it was like being there at the beginning. Rep is my all time favorite era, musically and stylistically, so I am looking forward to it the most I think. I’m just thrilled for her to be doing this. I’m so pumped for Red and the vault tracks and Better Man 🤞 All I wanted this year was the covid shot and the 10 minute rendition of All Too Well and it’s actually going to happen!

[jennyboom21]

Yes Twin Flames have a high chance of reuniting but they also have a low chance of success as a healthy relationship. Spiritually Twin Flames are exact mirrors of the what the other suppresses, and call Twins into healing their deepest wounds. The healing they require in order to transform into a healthy relationship is far too much for most Twins. Most Twin Flame relationships fail to move past the abusive/toxic stage, making separation the healthier option. Pair that with the public eye? No.

Hoo boy/girl, WHERE to START?!

Yes Twin Flames have a high chance of reuniting but they also have a low chance of success as a healthy relationship. — I’m not sure who’s resigned to the theory that they’re getting back together, or that them being soul mates/Twin Flames is strictly “romantic”. Their similarities and shared likes gets ignored by that part of the fandom, but anyone who’s followed them has known this. They started out as BFFs most likely due to their shared interests, in addition to being drawn, then attracted to each other, allegedly.

Spiritually Twin Flames are exact mirrors of the what the other suppresses, and call Twins into healing their deepest wounds. The healing they require in order to transform into a healthy relationship is far too much for most Twins. — Their reconciliation was going on in the latter half of 2017, but probably started much earlier than that (Taylor went underground, Karlie was reminding her followers that she’s dating Josh, and Dianna was with Molly). We also got a bunch of Swiftgron songs during the Rep Tour (Wonderland? Toronto?), the “Babe” song release and music video that resembled Sam Smith’s “I’m Not The Only One”, which I have my own Hot Taeks about.

Most Twin Flame relationships fail to move past the abusive/toxic stage, making separation the healthier option. — Good thing for whatever is going on with Taylor x Dianna, they weren’t allegedly toxic, nor was Dianna abusive (and shame on anyone who perpetuates these lies). They were reportedly a complex, complicated, passionate, bonkers, on-off-and on again relationship, the kind that many wlw/lesbians have known or experienced. My Hot Taek is that their alleged reconciliation period was when they dealt with their issues, especially when you read Taylor’s Elle Essay, or her comment about not having anyone to celebrate her Grammy win with during Peak!Tayvin, when Kaylor were still “fine”, but almost a month to the day after Dianna’s engagement was announced (and the emo Taylor “Likes”), in early 2016.

Pair that with the public eye? No. — During 1989’s (the album largely attributed to Dianna) promo in autumn 2014, Taylor commented how her next relationship would be “private”. Her and Karlie were VERY public, so were her and Calvin, and Tom. I’ve mentioned this several times before, but if Taylor is casually dating? She’s going to keep that private, same for if she’s exclusively dating a new girl. The toothpaste was already out with Kaylor in 2014, and despite Taylor’s best efforts to “Kopy Kaylor” throughout the Tayvin Stuntery, they reignited Kaylor in the 2nd half of 2016, to the point where I really thought Kaylor would rise to 2014 Era levels. That didn’t happen. If Taylor has a new GF (because I think Kaylor broke up a couple of years ago, despite what appeared to be a Hail Mary attempt in 2016 to reintroduce Karlie and the concept of Kaylor to the masses), she’s going to keep her private.

TL;DR: it’s pretty obvious that Gaylor discussion about Swiftgron in the present isn’t received well by OKKs/Kaylors because “reasons”, so that would explain the angry and negative anon messages.

Since your message is the polar opposite of optimistic, I googled “Twin Flames Reunion”, and came across this gem of a website!

[jennyboom21]

Can I ask you about Swiftgron? I came into Gaylor later (during Kaylor) and I don't know the details about Di/Tay. Do you think they ended on a bad note and Di still holds a grudge or something? I mean even if they ended on a bad note, it's been years and I saw your post/reblog about Dianna's Call me post. I was just wondering. Have a great day X

Sure! Although, I do have some prophetic Hot Taeks that not many in the fandom agree with, so i’ll provide some links for contextual research:

https://kaylorevidence.com/taylor-dianna/

https://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/175716679349/why-do-you-think-da-keeps-subtweeting-ts-i-dont

https://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/184138717144/everything-has-changed-is-about-dianna-agron

Do you think they ended on a bad note and Di still holds a grudge or something?

The consensus appears to be that it was a very traumatic break up, either happening in London after the 2013 VSFS, or at a later date (Taylor was on tour).  Even if they haven’t been “together” for years, the nature of their relationship was extremely intense, passionate, and off-and-on, but they were trying to make it work despite a bad break up following their failed engagement.  Then the relationship was abruptly ended, with Taylor hopping on over to Karlie, and Dianna’s now deleted IG posts alluding to her being blind-sided/dumped/cheated on, allegedly.

I don’t think she holds a grudge, since it appears that she and Taylor have been infrequently in contact, and Taylor is still singing about her, both good and bad times, as well as regrets.

During the heady days of Swiftgron, Dianna and Taylor were often interacting on social media, with Dianna posting lyrics to songs, at odd times when it was assumed she would be with Taylor, etc.  Back during the Rep Era, I noticed several of Di’s IG posts were going up at coincidental times, during song releases and/or mv premieres.  

Then prior to that, we got some depressing Tumblr likes from Taylor in 2016 when Di’s “engagement”, then “wedding” occurred, followed by Taylor performing once, and using the “…she never loved me” lyrics at the F1 Race performance, before finally stepping out with Karlie right after the wedding. 

And before that, we got Dianna’s oddly worded Birthday post with a flamingo, discussing Alice in Wonderland, and capitalzing Wonderland, months after Taylor uploaded a pic of her and her dad with a flamingo. It was cute.  And then RIGHT AFTER KissGate (early January, 15th i believe?), Taylor “liked” a Swiftie’s post where she used a GIF of Dianna answering a question about what would she do if acting Or if you strike out and you’re crawling home didn’t work out, that she would ‘go on the road with Taylor and carry her bags.’.  Which reinforces the rumor on the Bops and Flops podcast that not only was the engagement real, but Dianna had asked several times (there’s also the theory that they were secretly engaged for a while, and Taylor’s team let it leak as a threat to drop Di, as she was seen as a liability to Taylor’s image.).

Please feel free to ask follow up questions!