#I’m tagging this joever bc I think the themes here will feel very relevant in a few days but not necessarily bc it’s About YB

[please-picturemeintheweeds]

Is Bejeweled a break up song? or a bragging song? or something else?

I think bejeweled is a lot of things. To me, it is a self-empowerment song, in all its messy glory, and learning how to stand up for yourself. Stepping into your own power is way more complicated than #girlpower, so while I think overall it does really capture the experience of reclaiming power/self esteem, it also grapples with how to express that power/autonomy (and anger over the disempowerment - being put in the basement). She is valuable, she owns it, she can choose the path her life takes, and she is choosing to go out and feel good about herself!!! Hell yeah!! Which is not to say that it doesn’t come without implications/consequences/context in the relationship. It reminds me a lot of vigilante shit: ladies always rise above ladies know what people want someone sweet and kind and fun the lady simply had enough!!! There’s a moment where something snaps. 

I think it is a song that plays in your mind when you are arguing with someone who wronged you, in the shower, alone. There’s a lot of anger at herself in it, not just at the other person. How could I have let them make me feel this way? I gave them the tools to hurt me as a fucking present!! But then the first time she says she polishes up… there’s a pause, and she says it sort of defeatedly… “nice.” I had all these great points to make about how much you hurt me but when it comes down to it, I’m just… nice, and I let it slide. Which is Immediately followed by the second verse’s pouty and weirdly kinky!!! “baby love, I think I’ve been too good of a girl” and then like a slap across the face “it’s time to teach some lessons! I made you my world (uh) have you heard (uh) I can reclaim the land!!!!” Which is where it turns full empowerment mode, to me. I AM MY OWN WHOLE WORLD! It’s over the top, it’s exaggerated, it’s pop star glitz, it’s camp!

Swifties joke around that bejeweled is a threat, and I want to validate that reading!! The sass!! She’s saying; because of how you’ve made me feel, by the way, I could “forget” I am in a committed long term relationship, and cross some lines, too. She’s not being ~nice~ here with how she talks to the other person. This song captures the ways that power can go to our heads a bit. Like realizing that you’ve been taken advantage of because of how nice you were being really fucks with how you see the spectrum of nice -> mean (or at least, this is what always happens to me!). Her words are condescending, a tad humiliating, dismissive, and tbh a little belittling! And I appreciate so so so much that Taylor is unafraid to be honest in her work. It’s not always a flattering self portrait (because non of us actually have moral purity). Who among us has not ever thought that way about someone who has hurt us? Where is the line of honesty and cruelty when someone has hurt you? That tension is extremely relatable and human. But starting off with the descriptions of how she’s been hurt, walked all over, put in the basement, she put them first and wasn’t even in their top five, definitely justifies all that anger and resentment. We see where she’s coming from, and ultimately, I support women’s wrongs lol like I love that she’s super sassy here. It goes hard and is so fun! It’s music! I just also think it’s an important element of how she approaches the “I’m hot and fuck you for hurting me” pop banger- it’s authentic and directly chews on where self worth actually comes from/where we seek it.

So, to your question, I don’t think it’s exactly a break up song, though it describes a feeling that could absolutely precede a break up. I don’t think it’s exactly a “bragging song” though it portrays a genuine self confidence. It’s an emotionally intimate study of resentment showing up in a relationship where you feel your kindness/understanding/care has not been reciprocated. To use the greatest phrase ever uttered, it is, indeed, “saucy toxic dramatic tragic” and also extremely silly.