#can you tell we love the invisible string imagery

[toppamplemousse]

there you'll stand (next to me)

ch 11 | epilogue: all at once, the rest is history

what is there to say. except, we love lestappen. we may not have gotten a podium today, but we WILL this season. (also, in this fic max wins bahrain 2024 so we're still on track for charles 2025 wdc)

thanks and enjoy!

read from beginning here

charles leclerc/max verstappen, 97k, complete, on ao3

[tutuandscoot]

Things I love about VM: Post Skates

3. They always hold hands throughout their bows.

VM:

Others:

This was the subject of the VERY first post I did on here. I love the way they bow, specifically that they never let go of hands. I said in the initial post about this that in a male/female partnership- on ice being a skating couple or where I come from the dance world- specifically ballet, it is customary for the man to gesture his woman forward to curtesy, then they will turn to face each other and bow, then a final one, sometimes holding hands in dance hold, to the audience again. Now obviously with skaters they have 4 (but sometimes they only do two) sides to bow to. I don’t love when they let go, especially as far as the two above examples do. You literally get the separation in the two skaters, it’s like they are each taking in the applause individually.. like ‘thank you yes I was amazing’, TS’s visual gives you ‘thank you for watching US, we did this together’. As I’ve said this is something you see with stage dancers- separation and the man gesturing to the woman, but this is a sport, you’re on a team, there are no ‘solo’ sections, everything you do, are judged for is together. The way skaters often do this kind of bow, the man’s gesture to the woman feels insincere, I don’t get from the way they do it they are actually thinking ‘look how amazing my partner is’. With TS you know neither of them is accepting more praise then the other, in fact even as they stay connected throughout their bows, you feel they are feeling their success for each other, or if their was a mistake from one of them, they are taking that responsibility together. There is no sense of two separate individuals with TS, just one team. Scott would sometimes.. I’m not even sure if it was on purpose, but some photos of them bowing from behind when he puts his hand behind him, shows he is casually pointing to Tessa from behind his back.. so in his own subtle way.. he does give all his praise to her.

TS have a very simple curtesy/bow routine that they have done since.. the earliest known competition footage (I’ve seen) is their lil junior rock and roll no. Then from there through international juniors and all the way through seniors they would take hands in dance hold, bow, then he would spin her to the back, then sides- never letting go of hands. The only variation was Tessa would sometimes curtesy with her knee to the ground, other times a shallow curtsy and sometimes just a head bow with her hand to her heart. The way they bow is another thing that shows the leadership dynamic in their on ice partnership- Scott is still the leader and is in control of her. He decides where they will stand for their bows, how many sides they will do, etc.. in this instance here:

After this second one there was a slight hesitation from her, not sure if they will bow to all sides. There is a very brief look between them, a slight nod from him then he proceeds to spin her to the next side seamlessly.

This once again comes back to leadership and trust in their partnership. I’m the most mutually respectful way, she does what he tells her to without question.

You can see in the way he spins her how he initiated it, even though she knows the bows are coming and what to do. I love how they do it because they stay literally physically connected the whole time, and this just, again extends on from their actual programs. Even though there are always a few moments in their programs where they aren’t physically touching, they are always connected- there’s that invisible string holding them together, and they never get more they need to be away from each other- it’s as if they really don’t like being far apart from each other and they always want to be as close as possible. So it’s like their bows are part of that, ‘no please don’t let go I want to stay close to you’. Also there’s this huge imagery of ‘we are a team’. They loved being on a team- the team of just the two of them, their larger support team, their country’s team. But the visual of the two of them taking in the applause together, connected, like they can’t be separated, says so much about the strength they feel together, and any minor/brief separation not only ruins that image, but they can feel, even centimetres way from each other is too far, and they would never stand and accept glory and praise without feeling the other there taking it in with them.

[legiopraesagio]

I love how I can listen to a song in a strongly gendered language with no gender-neutral pronouns in the past tense, and for an entire first verse, I’m convinced that it’s just an ordinary love song with compelling metaphors and evocative imagery. Then the 12th line hits, and I realize that it’s a gay love song. Suddenly, the song becomes about 4 times more intense and dramatic for me, and I can’t help but listen to it on repeat (and it brings a few tears, too).

I've made a translation.

You rained down like a midnight thunders­torm

You came to pass like a bad omen

I, like a shadow, and you, like a sound, we were fusing toge­ther

Ignoring society’s prejudices

You wrapped yourself around me, like a grapevine

Watering me with your blood

You fell exhausted, didn’t ask me

Maybe I’m not worth it

But your glares burn­ed through me

Preceding the alread­y-known final

All the words we gra­bbed into our fists like gold

I didn’t hear them, you didn’t tell me

Our souls grappled with each other like hungry animals

But for our bodies, it was not enough

And in the morning, my insane heart

With a groan died for the whole day

To resurrect for a scream of tightened strings

To become your harp at night

Nerves tingling like a steel, but the most painful thing

Is what if I couldn’t finish my part?

My thoughts and feelings dove deep into the fog

My reason retired from practice

My confessions turned into deception

I didn’t see that; you didn’t look at all

We’ll perish in this invisible war

And it seems to happen sooner rather than later

If you or I happened to survive

We’d be happy to tears, but

We’d swallow this slow venom again

Which so often burned us both without a trace

You didn’t manage to escape, so God help us

To pull back from the precipice of breakdown

I’m throwing myself into your embrace

Fingers sliding past the shoulder again

Is it possible to tackle the root of your poisoned love?

You cannot, and I don’t want to.

[chickawah23]

Taylor literally told you everything in the bridge of this song three years ago and y’all just let it slide.

“With every guitar string scar on my hand I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover. My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue. All's well that ends well to end up with you.” - Lover

She starts out

“With every guitar string scar on my hand I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover.”

She’s saying she’s choosing to take this person with every bit of baggage they have because she knows this person has done the same for her.

Then she says one of the best yet simplest word plays:

“My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue. All's well that ends well to end up with you.”

Why is it the best? Because you gift something borrowed and something blue to brides. So her heart is this person. And “yours” is her describing her heart which her person has. She’s literally saying my heart (my person) has been borrowed by someone else and it makes me blue. Said differently they have each others’ heart. So the possession describes the person.

We can also look at Cruel Summer where she again tells you she is the blue where she says “it’s blue this feeling I got”

To flesh it out further think of Paper Rings: “I’m with you even if it makes me blue.” Taylor’s the one who is blue.

She even says it in invisible string “Time, wondrous time gave me the blues and then purple pink skies.”

We can look at hoax drawing the same distinction with the following lyric: “You have beaten my heart. Don't want no other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in the world would do.” She is describing that she’s okay with this blue feeling because she loves this person who’s borrowed unconditionally.

We can even jump to evermore (the song) where she touches on this gray sky imagery that she uses to describe hoax in the Long pond studio sessions. She says “Gray November I've been down since July.” This is literally the follow up to Cruel Summer where as stated above she describes her feeling as blue. But she ends evermore with hope. She is enduring this and holding on to the feeling (the faith) that this won’t last forever.

Conclusion

I just love the Lover bridge.

[septembersghost]

Do you have a list of songs Taylor has written about she and Joe 😍

the easiest answer is any love song from reputation forward, but that's a little simplistic too, so! (hopefully this is everything, and also LOOK AT THIS?! she has been so creatively prolific, and it makes me so happy she found that while being loved and fulfilled and in a good place! the harmful idea that art and inspiration can only come from hurt and misery is not ever true. proof positive that being loved and supported and having joy in your life never excludes creativity, and actually causes it to flourish, and gives you the safety to explore the darker aspects without them causing you undue harm, while simultaneously celebrating the light!)

a really beautiful and fun/captivating thing in this is following the way she tells the stories so consistently even as they transform and grow, and the specific imagery and metaphors she relies on (which i could write an essay about) <3 we have such a clear and emotional picture because she's chosen to share it.

💙reputation: ...ready for it?, end game, don't blame me, delicate, so it goes..., gorgeous, king of my heart, dancing with our hands tied, dress, call it what you want, new year's day, (and in this is why we can't have nice things: here's to my baby, he ain't reading what they call me lately)

💛lover: cruel summer, lover, i think he knows, miss americana and the heartbreak prince, paper rings, cornelia street, london boy, false god, afterglow, daylight. there are also little pieces in me! and it's nice to have a friend, and the archer exists in a category that is about taylor herself, but specifically addresses/references him (help me hold on to you)

💙folklore: invisible string, peace, the lakes, parts of hoax, and mirrorball lives in the same category as the archer (shining just for you)

💛evermore: willow, gold rush, cowboy like me, long story short, and evermore joins the archer/mirrorball (in the cracks of light, i dreamed of you)

💙midnights: lavender haze, snow on the beach, labyrinth, karma, sweet nothing, mastermind, the great war, glitch, paris, hits different, high infidelity mentions him (do i really have to chart the constellations in his eyes? do i really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?), and in our archer/mirrorball/evermore category goes anti-hero (i wake up screaming from dreaming one day i'll watch as you're leaving 'cause you got tired of my scheming/and life will lose all its meaning for the last time)

and, separate from her albums, renegade and christmas tree farm ✨

[path-of-my-childhood]

Aaron Dessner on How His Collaborative Chemistry With Taylor Swift Led to “Evermore”

By: Claire Shaffer for Rolling Stone Date: December 18th 2020

Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner didn’t expect to make another record so soon after Folklore. As they were putting the final touches on Swift’s album this past summer, the two artists had been collaborating remotely on possible songs for Big Red Machine, Dessner’s music project with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (who also dueted with Swift on the Folklore track “Exile”). Dessner recalls:

“I think I’d written around 30 of those instrumentals in total. So when I started sharing them with Taylor over the months that we were working on Folklore, she got really into it, and she wrote two songs to some of that music.”

One was “Closure,” an experimental electronic track in 5/4 time signature that was built over a staccato drum kit. The other song was “Dorothea,” a rollicking, Americana piano tune. The more Dessner listened to them, the more he realized that they were continuations of Folklore‘s characters and stories. But the real turning point came soon after Folklore‘s surprise release in late July, when Dessner wrote a musical sketch and named it “Westerly,” after the town in Rhode Island where Swift owns the house previously occupied by Rebekah Harkness.

“I didn’t really think she would write something to it — sometimes I’ll name songs after my friends’ hometowns or their babies, just because I write a lot of music and you have to call it something, and then I’ll send it to them. But, anyway, I sent it to her, and not long after she wrote ‘Willow’ to that song and sent it back.”

It was a moment not unlike when Swift first sent him the song “Cardigan” back in the spring, where both she and Dessner felt an instant creative spark — and then just kept writing. Before long, they were creating even more songs with Vernon, Jack Antonoff, Dessner’s brother Bryce, and “William Bowery” (the pseudonym of Swift’s boyfriend Joe Alwyn) for what would eventually lead to Folklore‘s wintry sister record, Evermore.

Even more spontaneous than the album that preceded it, Evermore features more eclectic production alongside Swift’s continued project of character-driven songwriting, and includes an even wider group of collaborators, like Haim and Dessner’s own band the National. Dessner spoke to Rolling Stone about the album’s experimentation, how it was recorded during the making of the doc The Long Pond Studio Sessions, and how he sees his collaboration with Swift continuing in the future.

When did you realize this was going to end up being another album?

It was after we’d written several songs, seven or eight or nine. Each one would happen, and we would both be in this sort of disbelief of this weird alchemy that we had unleashed. The ideas were coming fast and furiously and were just as compelling as anything on Folklore, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. At some point, Taylor wrote “Evermore” with William Bowery, and then we sent it to Justin, who wrote the bridge, and all of a sudden, that’s when it started to become clear that there was a sister record. Historically, there are examples of this, of records which came in close succession that I love — certain Dylan records, Kid A and Amnesiac. I secretly fell in love with the idea that this was part of the same current, and that these were two manifestations that were interrelated. And with Taylor, I think it just became clear to her what was happening. It really picked up steam, and at some point, there were 17 songs — because there are two bonus tracks, which I love just as much.

Evermore definitely sounds more experimental than Folklore, and has more variety — you have these electronic songs that sound like Bon Iver or Big Red Machine, but you also have the closest thing Taylor has written to country songs in the last decade. Was there a conscious effort on her part to branch out more with this album?

Sonically, the ideas were coming from me more. But I remember when I wrote the piano track to “Tolerate It,” right before I sent it to her, I thought, This song is intense. It’s in 10/8, which is an odd time signature. And I did think for a second, “Maybe I shouldn’t send it to her, she won’t be into it.” But I sent it to her, and it conjured a scene in her mind, and she wrote this crushingly beautiful song to it and sent it back. I think I cried when I first heard it. But it just felt like the most natural thing, you know? There weren’t limitations to the process. And in these places where we were pushing into more experimental sounds or odd time signatures, that just felt like part of the work.

It was really impressive to me that she could tell these stories as easily in something like “Closure” as she could in a country song like “Cowboy Like Me.” Obviously, “Cowboy Like Me” is much more familiar, musically. But to me, she’s just as sharp and just as masterful in her craft in either of those situations. And also, just in terms of what we were interested in, there is a wintry nostalgia to a lot of the music that was intentional on my part. I was leaning into the idea that this was fall and winter, and she’s talked about that as well, that Folklore feels like spring and summer to her and Evermore is fall and winter. So that’s why you hear sleigh bells on “Ivy,” or why some of the imagery in the songs is wintery.

I can hear that in the guitar on “‘Tis the Damn Season,” too. It almost sounds like the National with that very icy guitar line.

I mean, that is literally like, me in my most natural state. [laughs] If you hand me a guitar, that’s what it sounds like when I start playing it. People associate that sound with the National, but that���s just because I finger-pick an electric guitar like that a lot — if you solo the guitar on “Mr. November,” it’s not unlike that.

That song, to me, has always felt nostalgic or like some sort of longing. And the song that Taylor wrote is so instantly relatable, you know, “There’s an ache in you put there by the ache in me.” I remember when she sang that to me in my kitchen — she had written it overnight during The Long Pond Studio Sessions, actually.

Did she record all her Evermore vocals at Long Pond while you were filming the Studio Sessions documentary?

Not all of them, but most of them. She stayed after we were done filming and then we recorded a lot. It was crazy because we were getting ready to make that film, but at the same time, these songs were accumulating. And so we thought, “Hmm, I guess we should just stay and work.”

On “Closure,” there are parts where Taylor’s vocals are filtered through the Messina, which is this vocal modifier that Justin Vernon uses a lot in his work with Bon Iver. How were you able to modify her vocals with it, if she was never in the same room as Justin?

I went to see Justin at one point — that’s the one trip I’ve made — and we worked together at his place on stuff. He plays the drums on “Cowboy Like Me” and “Closure,” and he plays guitar and banjo and sings on “Ivy,” and sings on “Marjorie” and “Evermore.” And then we processed Taylor’s vocals through his Messina chain together. He was really deeply involved in this record, even more so than the last record. He’s always been such a huge help to me, and not just by getting him to play stuff or sing stuff — I can also send him things and get his feedback. We’ve done a ton of work together, but we have different perspectives and different harmonic brains. He obviously has his own studio set up at home, but it was nice to be able to see him and work on this stuff.

“No Body, No Crime” is also really interesting, just because I don’t think I’ve ever heard you produce a song like that. How did this country murder ballad featuring Haim end up on the record?

Taylor wrote that one alone and sent me a voice memo of her playing guitar — she wrote it on this rubber-bridge guitar that I got for her. It’s the same kind I play on “Invisible String.” So she wrote “No Body, No Crime” and sent me a voice memo of it, and then I started building on that. It’s funny, because the music I’ve listened to the most in my life are things that are more like that — roots music, folk music, country music, old-school rock & roll, the Grateful Dead. It’s not really the sound of the National or other things I’ve done, but it feels like a warm blanket.

That song also had a lot of my friends on it — Josh Kaufman, who played harmonica on “Betty,” also plays harmonica on this one and some guitar. JT Bates plays the drums on that song — he’s an amazing jazz guitarist, but he also has an incredible feel [for rhythm] when it comes to a song like that. He also played the drums on “Dorothea.” And then Taylor had specific ideas from the beginning about references and how she wanted it to feel, and that she wanted the Haim sisters to sing on it. We had them record the song with Ariel Reichshaid, they sent that from L.A., and then we put it together when Taylor was here [at Long Pond]. They’re an incredible band, and it was another situation where we were like, “Well, this happened.” It felt like this weird little rock & roll history anecdote.

You also brought on the National to record “Coney Island.” What was that process like, where you’re recording a song with your band that’s for a different artist?

I had been working on a bunch of music with my brother [Bryce Dessner], some of which we were sending to Taylor also. At that stage, “Coney Island” was all the music except the drums. And as I was writing it, I don’t think I was ever thinking, “This sounds like the National or this sounds like Big Red Machine or this sounds like something totally different.” But Taylor and William Bowery wrote this incredible song, and we first recorded it with just her vocals. It has this really beautiful arc to the story, and I think it’s one of the strongest, lyrically and musically. But listening to the words, we all collectively realized that this does feel like the most related to the National — it almost feels like a story Matt [Berninger] might tell, or I could hear Bryan [Devendorf] playing the drum part.

So we started talking about how it would be cool to get the band, and I called Matt and he was excited for it. We got Bryan to play drums and we got Scott [Devendorf] to play bass and a pocket piano, and Bryce helped produce it. It’s weird, because it does really feel like Taylor, obviously, since she and William Bowery wrote all the words, but it also feels like a National song in a good way. I love how Matt and Taylor sound together. And it was nice because we haven’t played a show in a year, and I don’t know when we will again. You kind of lose track of each other, so in a way, it was nice to reconnect.

When working on Folklore, you had to keep most of your collaborators in the dark about who you were working with. What was the process like this time around, now that everyone knew it was Taylor? How did you keep it a secret?

It was hard. We had to be secretive because of how much people are consuming every shred of information they can find about her, and that’s been an oppressive reality she’s had to deal with. But the fact that no one in the public knew allowed for more freedom of enjoying the process. A lot of the same musicians that played on Folklore played on Evermore. Again, it was a situation where I didn’t tell them what it was, and they couldn’t hear her vocals, but I think a lot of them assumed, especially because of the level of secrecy. [laughs] But as funny as this is, I think everyone who’s been involved has been grateful for these records to play on this year and is proud of them. It kind of just doesn’t happen, to make two great records in such a short period of time. Everyone’s a little bit like, “How did this happen?” and nobody takes it for granted.

Taylor has mentioned that you recorded “Happiness” just a week before the album was released. Was that something you guys wrote, recorded, and produced all at the last minute, or was it something you’d been sitting on for a while before you finally cracked the code?

There were two songs like that. One is a bonus track called “Right Where You Left Me,” and the other one was “Happiness,” which she wrote literally days before we were supposed to master. That’s similar to what happened with Folklore, with “The 1” and “Hoax,” which she wrote days before. We mixed all the tracks here, and it’s a lot to mix 17 songs, it’s like a Herculean task. And it was funny, because I walked into the studio and Jon Low, our engineer here, was mixing and had been working the whole time toward this. And I came in and he’s in the middle of mixing and I was like, “There are two more songs.” And he looked at me like, “…We’re not gonna make it.” Because it does take a lot of time to work out how to finish them.

But she sang those remotely. And the music for “Happiness” is something that I had been working on since last year. I had sang a little bit on it, too — I thought it was a Big Red Machine song, but then she loved the instrumental and ended up writing to it. Same with the other one, “Right Where You Left Me” — it was something I had written right before I went to visit Justin, because I thought, “Maybe we’ll make something when we’re together there.” And Taylor had heard that and wrote this amazing song to it. That is a little bit how she works — she writes a lot of songs, and then at the very end she sometimes writes one or two more, and they often are important ones.

My favorite song on the album is “Marjorie,” and I feel like, for most artists, the instinct would be to present a song like that as a somber piano ballad. But “Marjorie” has this lively electronic beat that runs through it — it literally sounds alive. How did you come up with that?

It’s interesting, because with “Marjorie,” that’s a track that actually existed for a while, and you can hear elements of it behind the song “Peace.” This weird drone that you hear on “Peace,” if you pay attention to the bridge of “Marjorie,” you’ll hear a little bit of that in the distance. Some of what you hear is from my friend Jason Treuting playing percussion, playing these chord sticks, that he actually made for a piece that my brother wrote called “Music for Wooden Strings.” They’re playing these chord sticks, and you can hear those same chord sticks on the National song “Quiet Light.”

I collect a lot of rhythmic elements like that, and all kinds of other sounds, and I give them to my friend Ryan Olson, who’s a producer from Minnesota and has been developing this crazy software called Allovers Hi-Hat Generator. It can take sounds, any sounds, and split them into identifiable sound samples, and then regenerate them in randomized patterns that are weirdly very musical. There’s a lot of new Big Red Machine songs that use those elements. But I’ll go through it and find little parts that I like and loop them. That’s how I made the backing rhythm of “Marjorie.” Then I wrote a song to it, and Taylor wrote to that. In a weird way, it’s one of the most experimental songs on the album — it doesn’t sound that way, but when you pick apart the layers underneath it, it’s pretty interesting.

I do have to ask: How did you come to find out about William Bowery’s real identity as Joe Alwyn? Or did you know all along?

I guess I can say now that I’ve sort of known all along — I was just being careful. Although we never really explicitly talked about it. But I do think it’s been really special to see a number of songs on these albums that they wrote together. William plays the piano on “Evermore,” actually. We recorded that remotely. That was really important to me and to them, to do that, because he also wrote the piano part of “Exile,” but on the record, it’s me playing it because we couldn’t record him easily. But this time, we could. I just think it’s an important and special part of the story.

Do you have a personal favorite song or a moment that you’re proudest of?

“‘Tis the Damn Season” is a really special song to me for a number of reasons. When I wrote the music to it, which was a long time ago, I remember thinking that this is one of my favorite things I’ve ever made, even though it’s an incredibly simple musical sketch. But it has this arc to it, and there’s this simplicity in the minimalism of it and the kind of drum programming in there, and I always loved the tone of that guitar. When Taylor played the track and sang it to me in my kitchen, that was a highlight of this whole time. That track felt like something I have always loved and could have just stayed music, but instead, someone of her incredible storytelling ability and musical ability took it and made something much greater. And it’s something that we can all relate to. It was a really special moment, not unlike how it felt when she wrote “Peace,” but even more so.

Do you see this collaboration with Taylor continuing onward, to more albums or Big Red Machine projects?

It’s kind of the thing where I have so many musicians in my life that I’ve grown close to, and make things with, and are just part of my life. And I’ve rarely had this kind of chemistry with anyone in my life — to be able to write together, to make so many beautiful songs together in such a short period of time. Inevitably, I think we will continue to be in each other’s artistic and personal lives. I don’t know exactly what the next form that will take, but certainly, it will continue.

I do think this story, this era, has concluded, and I think in such a beautiful way with these sister records — it does kind of feel like there’s closure to that. But she’s definitely been very helpful and engaged with Big Red Machine, and just in general. She feels like another incredible musician that I’ve gotten to know and am lucky to have in my life. It’s this whole community that moves forward and takes risks and, hopefully, there will be other records that appear in the future.

[theprologues]

SUBMISSION - Grammys performance symbolism, part two

So, with those reservations safely out of the way, and a warning to readers NOT to hurt themselves by getting their hopes up again … 

What aspects of Taylor’s Grammy’s performance made me think there might be light at the end of the tunnel for Kaylor? 

First, Taylor’s blue and gold performance dress. “Deep blue but you painted me golden” is a line from Dancing With Our Hands Tied, a song that is widely assumed to be about the night of Kissgate. It’s a song where Taylor talks about how miserable (“deep blue”) she was after the collapse of her relationship with Diana and her public reputation in 2013. She describes how her new lover, Karlie, brought her back to life and lit her up with the glow of a new, true love. She painted her golden. But then they were caught in an intimate moment at Kissgate, and Taylor panicked. Her fears and anxieties threatened to drown her, and though she and her new lover tried to dance through the catastrophe, they eventually came to realize they were doing so with their hands tied. They had no hope of swimming to the surface together and breaking free. They could only have done so if Taylor had stood firm and owned their love in the moment, instead of setting in motion the bearding contracts that would change everything. (This is what she means when she says that “if I could dance with you again”, she would “kiss” and “hold” her lover, instead of presumably backing away. If she could do the moment over, she would claim Karlie as her lover, and hold her hand for the world to see, through hell or high water.) 

Though it’s a depressing motif in DWOHT, Taylor has, interestingly, returned to this imagery of a golden tie several times in other songs, painting it in a much more positive light. Most recently, the Willow music video explores this, visually representing the “single thread of gold that tied me to you” which Taylor sings about in Invisible String. Both IS and Willow are happy songs, which describe their lovers as being tied together by fate. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow,” Taylor sings in Willow. In DWOHT, the lovers followed each other to a place of deepest blue. The bottom of the ocean, under the waves, where they couldn’t breathe. In Willow they follow each other to freedom.

That freedom is represented in the Willow music video by the open cabin door the lovers step through at the end of the video. Taylor incorporates this door into the Willow section of her Grammy’s performance, performing first in the open doorway and then stepping through it to perform with her band out in the open. 

But returning to the blue and gold dress. This is not only a very Karlie motif which keeps recurring in her art (often to postitve effect). It’s also a representation of Taylor finding happiness WITHIN the closet. It’s talking about how her partner’s love helps her to bear the depression being in the closet, and fearing exposure, causes her. The fact that Taylor chooses to wear this dress throughout her performance, with no costume changes, suggests a) she is still in the closet, and b) she is still with Karlie, and still considers her love to be such a lifeline. 

If Toe was real and Taylor was happy with him, she could have chosen to wear an all-gold dress for the occasion. If Kaylor was over and she had decided to return to the closet, she could have communicated that by wearing all blue. If Kaylor was over and so far in the past she had moved on with someone new, there was no need to evoke the motif at all. She could simply have laid claim to another color, or worn another prairie type dress to fit the aesthetic. And yet, she didn’t. Why not, if not to communicate what I said above? 

What else is worth considering, in Taylor’s medley? Well, there’s the cabin setting. Taylor and Karlie famously took a trip to Big Sur forest and stayed in a cabin together in 2014, where Karlie was the first person to hear 1989 in full. They took many photos on the trip, including one captioned with “on the way home” (a lyric from You Are In Love, which talks about hearing love in the silence) and one of the two of them looking up at a fallen tree. A VERY similar looking tree appears in the Cardigan music video, and the slanted, moss-covered roof Taylor opens the medley lying on also looks a lot like this tree. Again, curious that she would call back to this if she and Karlie have separated.

Moving on. Taylor opens the medley singing on the roof, looking straight up into the camera. When we pull back we see the stage around set to that of a starry night. Taylor is thus cast as the romantic, the star-gazer. She also calls back to another lyric Kaylors have previously tied to Karlie - “up on the roof with a schoolgirl crush”. It’s been repeatedly tied to Karlie and Taylor’s attendance at the Victoria Secret show after-party. Again, why evoke imagery so tied to the early, happy days of this relationship? 

We then move through a progression of events that sees her hiding inside with friends, before eventually stepping out into the light. That all reads like a visual interpretation of her relationship with Karlie, from her early loneliness and lovestruck dreaming, to the happiness she finds within her little hideaway, to her eventual decision to step out of it and claim her lover. The medley ends on a repetition of “that’s my man”, seemingly hinting that Taylor’s freedom is tied up in her ability to finally say those words. 

What else? Well, there are the Ivy allusions. Taylor’s cabin covered in greenery can’t help but evoke the lyrics of Ivy - “my house of stone, your ivy grows, and now I’m covered in you”. Ivy is widely interpreted as a sapphic song about two women finding love despite their commitments to men. Another line in the song “he’s in the room, your opal eyes are all I wish to see, he wants what’s only yours” is alluded to in Taylor’s choice of opal jewelry on the night. What a weird thing to draw attention to, if you’re not secretly in love with a woman while parading a beard around in public. We’re also told in the song that “he” (possibly the same man, possibly another) wants to burn the house of the Ivy lovers down. Jerk just so happened to announce the baby’s birth on this night, in what felt like an attempt to undermine Taylor’s joy. Hmm. Curious. 

You know what else is curious? Taylor’s choice of outfit for the Grammys red carpet. Not only is the floral dress very reminiscent of a floral ensemble Karlie wore to cover a June (pride month) issue of Spanish Vogue. (Cover subtitled, “flowers of change”.) It’s also by the designer Oscar de la Renta. Taylor and Karlie famously attended one of his shows together early on in their relationship. They sat in the front row looking very cozy, while Taylor refused to answer questions about why she was there and reportedly giggled “my publicist will be mad at me”. Hmm.

Taylor has also worn Oscar de la Renta on numerous occasions while out with Karlie, including most famously at the Met Gala. That iconic pale pink gown that she was buried in the Look What You Made Me Do music video? That was an Oscar de la Renta. There are many interpretations of the scene in the video, but it’s worth noting that Taylor is buried alive in it (which could be interpreted as a metaphor for being closeted) and that in a video all about her various revenge fantasies, she depicts herself crawling back up out of this grave. She views coming back to life and walking away from the flaming wreckage of her past with Big Machine as the ultimate revenge. At the end of the video she clips her own wings while all the past iterations of her argue amongst themselves. This would seem to suggest that she can defeat her enemies but she can’t defeat herself, because she can’t outrun her past, and until then she will always be doomed to self-sabotage. Nevertheless, this Taylor (lurking in the background bedecked in peaced-out palm tree print) is in a much better position than the Taylor who opened the video as a zombie corpse. She’s on the surface and has some hope of freedome, at last. This is a theme we see carried through in the following video, where Taylor goes one-on-one against herself and eventually breaks free.

Long story short? Taylor wearing such a floral, literally blooming dress from THIS designer, of all people, suggests she may finally be about to rise again. The aborted coming out apparently planned for the Lover era (and thus seeded during the Rep era) may finally be a go? 

Again, I’m very reluctant to get people’s hopes up here. But it’s hard to look at this dress and not think of that June (Pride month) floral magazine cover. Or of the Spade riddle, “Why worry? She blooms in June.” Or of the fact that Taylor’s stunts are often loudest before the end. She acknowledged Calvin and hugged him at an awards show before he was booted out of the narrative and Tom H appeared to replace him. (Something like ten days or so after the “split”, if I remember right?) And the inconsistencies of the Toe timeline speak for themselves. There was speculation - unpopular though it was - among Kaylors in the Rep era that guessed Taylor wouldn’t come out until 2021 / 2022. It seemed a world away at the time but who knows? Maybe this was always the plan. Maybe this is all “part of the fucking story”, even the parts that seem ugly or counterproductive. A lot can change in a couple of months in Hollywood, and with Taylor in particular. By June, it’s possible we COULD be looking at a vastly different landscape. Maybe this was one last hurrah for the Toes. Many of them are just harmless fans taking Taylor at her word, after all. 

Only time will tell, and I don’t blame Kaylors for checking out. This isn’t healthy, especially for those of us who are gay ourselves, and can’t help but feel a personal connection to Taylor’s journey out of the closet. We know what a big deal it would be. But for those who still want to hope … It’s just possible Taylor has a plan, and this is the dark night before the dawn. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro: I added the photos and the bolded parts. Love symbolism. This was truly a spectacular performance. Awesome submission anon!!

[oceanspray5]

I agreeeeee I agreee I agreee with all your interpretations, especially You Are In Love, I forgot about how well that one fits! And Renegade is another great one with 'are you really gonna talk about timing in times like these,' because timing is such a big thing with them. Ultimately they both need to throw out the idea of 'right' timing to accept the present they are in.

But love Delicate for them because I think it perfectly captures the slightly precarious and uncertain nature of their relationship at first, when they don't really want to get in deep but it's already halfway to happening: 'We can't make any promises now can we babe? But you can make me a drink'. The reasons you mentioned for This Love are exactly mine, I also love how that song sounds like the tide coming in and out given the significance of the water motif to both Spike and Faye.

The line in Daylight I really love is, 'Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down, maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town, threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now, it's brighter now,' and that relates to a lot of the other themes you mentioned. Like in willow yes, and it's also in The Archer with, 'I see right through me... you see right through me,' and Cowboy Like Me with, 'I had some tricks up my sleeve, takes one to know one', and End Game with 'You've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks, so here's the truth from my red lips' - how they can see through each other's disguises, and how they can be cruel and play games but they ultimately see and understand themselves through eachother and allow each other to tell the truth. You're right that neither of them expecting it or saw it coming ('if it was an open-shut case I never would have known from the look on your face'!) but that's what makes it beautiful.

Oooh and I love long story short for them too. For all the above reasons and for, 'he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky, and he feels like home, if the shoe fits walk it everywhere you go' - Faye learning to trust in belonging because it's too precious to let it pass her by. I love the invisible string-ness of their meeting, like what were the chances, but 'life was a willow and it bent right to your wind'. Haha honestly I could talk about this for hours!

All of this! I agree with everything you just said and love your interpretation especially about Delicate. For me the part of the song about wondering if it's okay to be in each other's heads and then wishing the other person was theirs definitely fits them too. They wanna make a move but can't and won't cuz the situation is delicate like the song implies.

I love how you matched the feeling of tide coming in and out in This Love to the water imagery Spike and Faye are connected to! And the lyrics you quoted from Daylight are exactly how interpret them too.

The unexpectedness and the way they see through each other in The Archer and Cowboy Like Me and Willow are all spot on too.

I also really like this part in Cowboy Like Me for them:

Never thought I'd meet you here / It could be love / We could be the way forward / And I know I'll pay for it

Like you said, they had such an invisible string-ness to their meeting! They didn't expect to meet each other at a casino. Spike just happened to sit at her table (I mean he def thought she was hot that's why he chose it) but she happened to be looking for someone of a similar description too. They both pay for the love they find in each other in different ways too. Spike by leaving to protect her and Faye by letting him go.

That's sort of why I love And the skeletons in both our closets / Plotted hard to mess this up cuz it's exactly what they have to face before they can be together. Their past catches up to them and they need to sort it out and they do!

In The Archer I absolutely love this bit cuz it's so very much Faye:

Easy they come, easy they go / I jump from the train, I ride off alone / I never grew up, it's getting so old / Help me hold onto you

Faye's searching for stability and she wants help holding on and she wants Spike to be that person but also I love how the chorus is both of them cuz they've both been hunter and hunted and are both so insecure about whether they deserve companionship and love and get scared of vulnerability so easily but can see that about each other and find a kindred spirit.

I went and listened to Long Story Short again (It's actually one of my favorite songs from Evermore) and while I love your interpretation from Faye's perspective I can't help but see it mostly from Spike's.

Fatefully / I tried to pick my battles 'til the battle picked me / Misery / Like the war of words I shouted in my sleep

These lyrics are very much Spike choosing his battles and running from the syndicate until Vicious comes for him by himself and then the second verse

When I dropped my sword / I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door / And we live in peace / But if someone comes at us / This time, I'm ready

It just gives me the vibes of Spike and Faye and the rest of the crew living on the Bebop in peace until Vicious comes for him cuz we know Spike had tried to distance himself but the moment he knew Vicious was coming for his found family he picked up his gun to fight for them even at the cost of his life.

And then the bridge has this part: And my waves meet your shore / Ever and evermore which is the water imagery again but this time Spike is finally home to stay after winning that battle. And the part in the chorus about "long story short it was the wrong guy (girl)" can fit Julia cuz she was what Spike thought he needed amidst a bad time but he wasn't really who was right for him in the end and falling from a pedestal is obvious cuz Spike was basically Mao's right hand at the syndicate but all alone he's lost a lot of his power and had to find himself people to trust in again.

I also wanted to talk about two more of songs that I feel absolutely fit Spike and Faye.

Haunted is a song I feel is very much Faye's perspective cuz she never thought she'd have to say goodbye or that Spike would be the one leaving until he does:

You and I walk a fragile line / I have known it all this time / But I never thought I'd live to see it break / It's getting dark and it's all too quiet / And I can't trust anything now

Like Faye never expected Spike to be the one to leave first. The Bebop was the first place she had that was reliable to return to and after Spike leaves its too quiet and Faye doesn't know who and what to trust anymore cuz everyone except Jet is gone.

And there's the chorus of course cuz it was the only time we see Faye so desperately holding Spike back from leaving. She thought she understood him but she doesn't understand why he won't stay and it tears her apart.

Come on, come on, don't leave me like this / I thought I had you figured out / Can't breathe whenever you're gone / Can't turn back now, I'm haunted

She finally let someone in and now she's haunted by the loss. And there's even a few lines about watching someone go and that fits Faye watching Spike leave to a T. (Stood there and watched you walk away / From everything we had / But I still mean every word I said to you). Faye may not have used so many words but she was basically telling Spike he was her home and she meant it even if he broke her heart by leaving.

And the second song I wanted to talk about was:

Wonderland I see from Spike's POV, not only cuz of the tons of lyrical imagery that makes sense from his perspective:

Didn't you flash your green eyes at me? / Didn't you calm my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?

The second lyric especially cuz I love to think of Faye's antics and especially her smile as a sense of peace for Spike. The game they play teasing each other is something that means a lot to him.

The chorus makes me think of the time aboard the Bebop where they all pretended everything was fine and they'd all gotten rid of their pasts but actually had yet to get over them.

Oh, darling, we found Wonderland / You and I got lost in it / And we pretended it could last forever, eh, eh / We found Wonderland / You and I got lost in it /And life was never worse but never better, 

The pretending it could last forever part and the never worse but never better lyric fits especially well cuz the situation wasn't ideal but it was something they were content with especially with each other. But the final kick is in the bridge cuz:

I reached for you / But you were gone / I knew I had to go back home / You search the world for something else / To make you feel like what we had / And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad

Basically summary of the last 3 episodes cuz Faye leaves and Spike realizes he has to confront his past to move past it. And Faye's gone to find home in the world but she's already found it in the Bebop and with Spike. I also like the lowkey pun about sleeping with one eye open at night cuz Spike does have the one eye but even if he did stay on his guard he wouldn't have been able to fend off his feelings for Faye xD

New Years Day is a song that sorta fits them in terms of overall message even tho not necessarily each lyric. (Don't read the last page / But I stay when it's hard, or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes / I want your midnight) and (Hold on to the memories / They will hold on to you / And I will hold on to you) about Spike needing to let go of the past altho not necessarily the memories in it cuz he has a present with Faye waiting and he can't get to it if he keeps rereading the past over and over again and ending his story before it begins.

This got super long again but I'd love to hear from you further! Also sorry for the late reply. I have exams coming up and came down with the flu as well as got some sudden motivation to work on some new and old Spaye fic wips (motivation can be so fleeting sometimes so had to get on that 😅) but I wanted to answer fully and in detail and I can't wait for your thoughts!

[gaylorlyrics]

Folklore Songs - what are they about??

This is a developing thread, but I’ve been listening all day so I’m taking a stab at it.

1."The 1"  

Common consensus is that this is about Dianna Agron and what they could have been. Telling lyrics are the general idea that the relationship wasn’t truly given a chance (”it would've been sweet, If it could've been me”) and “Roaring Twenties”, referring to the below circus themed party pics with Diana dressed like a flapper

tbh im not totally sold on this - most because it seems more recent with lyrics like, “In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” sounds like a reference to ME! and “Roaring twenties” sounds like a reference to something that happened this year (2020). Also “throwing pennies in the pool” could be a reference to throwing Penni (Karlie’s agent) in the pool. Finally, Route 1 is the road along California’s coast, where Tay & Karlie drove on their legendary road trip...this makes my lil Kaylor heart worry. 

2. Cardigan

This is the first installment in the Teenage Trio, which also includes August and Betty, and is told from the perspective of Betty. It’s about feeling so loved by someone but then being betrayed by them (”Chase two girls [Betty + August’s narrator] lose one”). The line ”And you'd be standin' in my front porch light” foreshadows to James professing love in “Betty”. Potentially Taylor is Betty - but I’m still thinking about that theory.

3."The Last Great American Dynasty"  

We <3 a Rhode Island throwback. Here Taylor tells the story of her house in Rhode Island that Rebekah “Betty” (??!?!??!! more on that later) Harkness used to live in. Rebekah married an heir to Standard Oil which made her one of the wealthiest women in the USA at the time. She was also known for making a scene (”She had a marvelous time ruining everything”). Additionally, she founded the Harkness Ballet (”And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet”). After Rebekah’s death Taylor purchased the house and it is now best known as the place of many epic 4th of July parties.

4. Exile

Such a sad song! This is a duet between Taylor and Bon Iver, telling the story of a failed relationship that they have tried to mend many many times. Interestingly, this is also about a love triangle (like the teenage trio) -  "I can see you starin' honey/Like he's just your understudy." This line specifically feels like it could be about bearding, and seeing someone else with the person you love, but feeling like - or knowing - it’s fake. “You were my town Now I'm in exile seein' you out” references and end to the relationship Taylor discussed in False God “Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town I'm New York City”. To me this indicates that it is about Karlie and them breaking up or going through a rough patch - continually trying to fix things - and eventually being unsure that it could ever be repaired.

5."My Tears Ricochet"

This is pretty clearly about Scott & Scooter - “And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed” and “You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” seem to be a reference to them trying to exploit her work and how her leaving Big Machine really ruined the business - plus there’s some LWYMMD imagery. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” also seems to be a clear reference for trying to use Taylor’s own work against her, taking the profits, and pushing her out of the deal. As if we needed more evidence “You hear my stolen lullabies” clearly references her stolen masters.

6."Mirrorball"  

Big 80s prom vibes from this song. Mirrorball is about being famous and all of her work - her most personal thoughts and dreams - just becoming different ways for other people to see themselves once she releases her music into the world. Part of being an artist is knowing that your work will reflect more of who the viewer is than who you are yourself. Here she uses the metaphor of a disco ball to explore that idea, and worries that she is losing her own identity through it “I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. She also alludes to her fears that she will age out of relevancy “I know they said the end is near”, something she discussed in her documentary Miss Americana. Obviously this is internalized misogyny because we love Taylor and will listen to her music always and do not subscribe to the belief that women need to be young to be relevant because if they were a man then they'd be the man, and tay’s the man <3 

7. “Seven”

Personally, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s so sweet and pure and lovely. This is about young love, with imagery of summer, toys, and child’s dreams to runaway together. Many people have speculated that it is about the same girl that the two unreleased Taylor songs “Sweet Tea and Gods Graces” and “Me & Britney” are about. 

[Side note: initially I wondered if Me & Britney was about Britany Maack, Taylor’s long time friend who recently got married, but the names are spelled differently. Also the line in Seven “I can’t recall your face” indicates that this is about someone who Taylor is not currently in touch with.] 

Both M&B and STAAG seem to be about the Seven relationship because there are general parallels with outdoor scenery, childlike wonder, and ( in the case of STAGG) sweet tea. Also all three songs indicate a gay relationship: STAGG - “And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner”, M&B - “That boy she went ran off with, well, I thought he was crazy. Maybe I was just jealous that he'd come between me and Britney”, and Seven - “You won't have to cry or hide in the closet And just like a folk song our love will be passed on”.

8. “August”

This is the second installment in the Teenage Trio, told from the perspective of the “other woman” who James meets while on summer vacation. The other woman (she doesn’t seem to have a name...unless it is August...which it could be? idk) is in love, but realizes that James isn’t in love with her - “Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinkin' I had you”. The line “Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car" references the same incident which is retold in Betty, but this time with James telling Betty it was just a summer fling that didn’t mean anything.

9. This Is Me Trying

Here we have a break up song, about Taylor trying to win her lover back and feeling completely lost without them, unable to concentrate or be around people, and turning to self sabotage. It’s about the general loneliness that one feels when they’ve lost someone they truly love, and the miscommunication that can happen in a relationship when you’re not understanding each other or receiving love in the same way (hence the song’s title). I think this could be about Karlie, it seems clear that their relationship has not been smooth and that they have had many on-and-off times. It could also be serving a purpose of building the Joe break up narrative, but only time will tell for that.

10. “Illicit Affairs”

Taylor loves her secret love - this song reads like a sad version of “I Know Places”. It seems clear that this is about Karlie Kloss. “Tell your friends you're out for a run” is one of my favorite lines because Karlie started Klossy run club, where you commit to running a certain distance in a month - and she posts about it on instagram CONSTANTLY. But overall, the song details a relationship of a woman being with someone she doesn’t love (kushnerd) and sneaking around to meet up with the person she does love (tay!). The line “Tell yourself you can always stop” is so sad to me, the idea that Karlie got into this and keeps telling herself that it will only be a little longer and she can leave when she wants, but staying in her fake marriage anyway.

11. Invisible String

This is pretty much the only pure love song on the album - about feeling connected to someone throughout your whole life, knowing that that somebody is out there, and then finally finding them. Taylor talks about being in Centennial Park in Nashville as a teen, and then eventually showing her lover around. The song is really self referential, with lots of easter eggs for her past work, including Bad Blood and Delicate. She also references Joe Jonas with the line “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind For the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents”.

Some people have pointed out that there is a similar idea presented in Jane Eyre - when the protagonist says to her love interest “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you."

12."Mad Woman"  

Another Scooter one - “It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together”. “The master of spin” is word play referencing the masters records scandal. “Watching you climb over people like me” points out that agents and labels are making money off the performers they find and pushing them around. There’s also a reference to Scooter’s wife Yael and how he cheats all the time, but she doesn’t do anything likely because of her own internalized misogyny - “has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me”.

13. “Epiphany”

The first verse of this touching ballad is about Taylor’s grandfather in WW2, storming the beaches at Normandy - “Crawling up the beaches now "Sir, I think he's bleeding out"”. The second verse is about a nurse helping patients with Covid-19 - “Holds your hand through plastic now "Doc, I think she's crashing out"”. The bridge here talks about wishing there was some great epiphany, some magical solution for the suffering in the world. The chorus refers to experiencing trauma with others and staying loyal even in the hardest times, even if it means literally dying. Although this seems like a departure from the themes of rest of the album, the whole album examines loyalty and considering what you would do for the people you love - so I really don’t think it’s a departure at all.

14. “Betty”

Obviously this is the gayest song on the album and an early fan favorite. It is the final song in the teenage trio, told from the point of view of James, going to win Betty back after betraying her and sleeping with someone else (August!?) over the summer. The line "Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?”, a line that is very clearly about wanting to kiss a woman, is especially striking (& gay!) when sung by Taylor. The clearest version of this plot is someone begging for forgiveness after betraying the person they love.

There is also a bit of a nod to a line in “Picture to Burn”, a break up song off Taylor’s first album. In PTB Taylor says “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy that's fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay”. This lyric has since been changed in versions available online, but on the original album that's what it was. This is interesting because she’s calling attention to knowing that someone is gay and hasn’t told their friends...which you would definitely know if you had dated them.

The names “James” and “Inez” are both mentioned in the song, which are the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughters. James was already featured on a Taylor Swift album, as the lil baby voice at the beginning of “Gorgeous”. Worth noting that “James” is traditional a male name, but that this character is named after a female.

ALSO I have this theory I’m working on that Taylor is Betty and this whole album is in the same world with the same people, but WILL POST MORE ON THIS LATER.

15."Peace"  

Ok - this is Archer 2.0 for me, about how she is worried about how no one will ever love her or stay with her because its too much work - “the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me” and “No, I could never give you peace” are pretty telling lines about her concerns that people will think it is not worth it to be friends with or in a relationship with her due to all of the baggage that comes with it. 

The opening lines - “Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly this summer, it's clear” feed into my emerging theory that all of these songs exist in the same universe and are about the same three characters...but I’m still figuring that one out. The line “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches” reference Seven and Epiphany, respectively - further supporting that all of these songs are in the same world.

16. “Hoax”

Out of all of the songs that make my little Kaylor heart ache - this is the most heartbreaking. Specifically the line “My eclipsed sun” refers to Karlie, who Taylor has called “sunshine” on multiple occasions, and her light being covered up by her contract with Kushnerd and Scooter. The line “Don't want no other shade of blue But you” makes it clear that this song is in reference to the muse for the album “Lover” - aka Karlie. 

However, this is a song about betrayal and completely trusting someone, only to find that they stabbed you in the back, as is clear by the line ”Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in”.

Additionally, the line“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars” seems to again feed into the idea that all of the songs on the album involve the same characters. This one is a bit more clear, it seems that - if this theory is correct - Betty is the narrator of this song, as she referenced her scars before “Drew stars around my scars” in Cardigan.

OK- I'm going to go deep into song by song later, but I just wanted to get something out there!!! Also def interested in hearing what everyone else thinks!

EDIT: I just found some lyrics from The Lakes in an article from Billboard. I wanted to add them in even though we don’t have the full song because I felt like we really ended on a sad note with hoax and then when I saw these I was like there is hope!!

SO the lyric Billboard included in their review was “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it” which is a continuation from the line from “Hoax” - “ This has frozen my ground”. What I’m taking from this is that in the final song Taylor finds hope <3

[sheikah]

Folklore is a literally perfect album and I love it for a million reasons. But here is a compilation of my thoughts on my favorite lyrics that make it a Darklina anthem </3

I wouldn’t call myself a Swiftie and I don’t really blog about Taylor but I love this album so much. Bon Iver is one of my favorite artists of all time and I always listen to his music while writing. To me folklore has big Bon Iver energy haha (obviously, he collaborated on “exile”). Maybe it’s because I was finishing up my Darklina fic when folklore dropped but I just connected so many of Taylor’s lyrics and stories with them. I feel a lot of bitterness in this album that’s balanced, precariously, with hope. I’d say the same thing about canon!Darklina. You know, until Alina killed him :X

Anyway, here are my favorite bits!

If my wishes came true, it would’ve been you.

You know the greatest loves of all time are over now.

-”the 1″

This is textbook Alina to me. It reminds me of, “ Why don't you just admit that you wanted to belong to him? Why don't you admit that part of you still does?” The lyrics are like her bitter admission, an acceptance of her own feelings, but too late.

You drew stars around my scars, but now I’m bleeding.

-”cardigan”

I often see the fanon version of Aleksander as pure seduction and arrogance. I see those parts of him and they’re a huge part of his appeal, but I’m more interested in his vulnerability. We only get glimpses, but it’s definitely there. His long life has included a lot of misery, and he tells Alina in S&B that she’s “the first glimmer of hope that [he’s] had in a long time.” I think their relationship was helping to heal him, that he was starting to let go of some of his anger and bitterness. But when she left that all fell apart. Also, there’s so much star imagery in descriptions of and about Aleksander. 

You didn’t even hear me out. 

You never gave a warning sign. 

All this time, I never learned to read your mind.

-”exile”

“Exile” is a duet so it’s fitting that I feel like these lines apply equally to both Alina and Aleksander :( So much of the central conflict of the trilogy could have been avoided if they’d actually had a candid conversation about Aleksander’s plans and intentions. But Alina (understandably) leaves immediately after Baghra’s warning, and for most of the trilogy they’re just trading out who is deceiving who. Tbh this whole song works so well for them. There’s a lot of jealousy and betrayal laced through the words but I just picked my favorite bit.

Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe

All the hell you gave me?

'Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you

'Til my dying day

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace

And you're the hero flying around, saving face

And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?

Cursing my name, wishing I stayed

Look at how my tears ricochet

We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean

Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring

You know I didn't want to have to haunt you

But what a ghostly scene

You wear the same jewels that I gave you

As you bury me

And I can go anywhere I want

Anywhere I want, just not home

And you can aim for my heart, go for blood

But you would still miss me in your bones

And I still talk to you (When I'm screaming at the sky)

And when you can't sleep at night (You hear my stolen lullabies)

And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves

You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same

Cursing my name, wishing I stayed

You turned into your worst fears

And you're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain

Crossing out the good years

And you're cursing my name, wishing I stayed

Look at how my tears ricochet

-”my tears ricochet”

I’m pretty sure the whole fandom already connected this song to Aleksander. It’s just too easy, and too heartbreaking. I can’t even... It’s just so fitting? The bit about wearing the jewels (amplifiers???), cursing his name (”no one knew his name to curse or extol”). The whole thing, really. I’m in PAIN.

Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me

You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else

Look at this idiotic fool that you made me

You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else

And you know damn well

For you, I would ruin myself

-”illicit affairs”

Alina and Aleksander’s connection was something unique that she always remarked upon every time they reunited, and it wasn’t something that could be replicated (not even when Leigh randomly made Mal an amplifier too :|). Alina also constantly blames herself for not seeing through Aleksander sooner in S&B, like he made a fool of her. The “ruin myself” line is so similar to the, “You could make me a better man,” “And you could make me a monster,” exchange. Alina can see the darkness that would come with loving him. In S&S she willingly faces death with him just to stop him, thinking they’ll die together. THE ANGST OF IT IS JUST *chef’s kiss* 

Time, curious time

Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs

Were there clues I didn't see?

And isn't it just so pretty to think

All along there was some

Invisible string

Tying you to me?

Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire

Chains around my demons

Wool to brave the seasons

One single thread of gold

Tied me to you

-”invisible string”

This just screams Aleksander and his belief that he and Alina were destined to meet, that his long life was going to turn around when she came around :(

It's obvious that wanting me dead

Has really brought you two together

-”mad woman”

If this isn’t scorned Aleksander after finding Mal and Alina kissing in the forest near the stag in S&B then I don’t know what is.

But I’m a fire and I’ll keep your brittle heart warm

All these people think love's for show

But I would die for you in secret

I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best

But the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me

Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

-”peace”

Alina knowing deep down she loves Aleksander but that it would never really work between them :(

My only one

My smoking gun

My eclipsed sun

This has broken me down

My twisted knife

My sleepless night

My winless fight

This has frozen my ground

Stood on the cliffside screaming, "Give me a reason"

Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in

Don't want no other shade of blue but you

No other sadness in the world would do

My best laid plan

Your sleight of hand

My barren land

I am ash from your fire

My only one

My kingdom come undone

My broken drum

You have beaten my heart

-”hoax”

This one seriously just speaks for itself. I mean, “eclipsed sun?!” Taylor is a Darklina stan CONFIRMED.

Anyway absolutely no one asked for this and I’ve made myself sad typing it up but damn if I don’t absolutely love this pairing and love this album. I love pain D:

[asteracaea]

“long story short” pronouns: who is YOU?

One of my favorite things about TS songs is how multi-layered they are and how they can be interpreted in so many different ways that can speak to such a variety of experiences.

I wanted to play with different interpretations of “long story short” based on different “You”s - how does the meaning of the song change if we imagine it is being sung to NOT her current lover (the obvious, surface-level interpretation) but perhaps entirely to her self (not just the bridge), or even her fans?

“I’m all about you” and “I... knocked on your door/Now we live in peace” are the strongest implications that this song is being sung to a lover, but the first verse has lines that kept nagging at me that this might not be the case, or at least the only case.

And you passed right by I was in the alley, surrounded on all sides

The imagery of this metaphor is that she was being assaulted in an alley, and the person who we are to understand is now her lover(??) was walking by, took no notice and did not help. Is that the kind of person you want for a lover...? “You passed right by” feels like an attempt to show an “invisible string”-type of coincidence, but the line that immediately follows just makes “You” sound like a heartless selfish jerk to me...

So now let’s play with the idea that this song is directed to her fans (which is how I like to hear “The Archer”).

“You passed right by” could mean that fans did not see or pay attention to what she was going through at that time, and did not stand by and defend her. Perhaps it felt like everyone was turning a blind eye to the battle she was in. This betrayal was part of why she decided to completely shut up her life from the public eye, as she clearly stated in the prologue to reputation: “...we only know the version of [a person] they have chosen to show us.” (Also, “this is why we can’t have nice things”!)

Now I'm all about you I'm all about you I'm all about you

These lines, instead of meaning “I’m really into you” and “all my attention is focused on you,” could now be heard as saying, “Now I, MY STORY, MY ART is all about YOU, YOUR story, YOUR interpretation.” As she said in the prologue to 1989, the songs were once about her experiences, but now they are out in the world and they can (and will) become about the experience of the listener. Each listener will hear the songs in a completely unique way based on their own life experiences. And now this is extended to the narrative of her life: we can never know her full truth (not even those closest to her can - see again rep prologue). The snippets we get of her life are pieced together, colored, rearranged and interpreted by our OWN experiences, preferences, desires. “Taylor Swift” becomes, in our minds, whoever we want her to be. These lines could be an acknowledgment of that - that she can control her public image only to a certain extent; there comes a point where her story becomes OUR story, which is ultimately ABOUT US.

Now I just keep you warm

^ reminds me of the Emily Dickinson poem “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers”:

And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -

Hope keeps people warm, motivated, alive. “Buil[ding] a fire just to keep me warm” is an image that recurs often in TS’s songs. If the fire is the warmth of hope, is she saying here that now her focus is on being a light of hope for others, instead of putting energy into feuds and “keeping score” with her “nemeses"? Now she “know[s] there’s more” to life than “these petty things.”

This interpretation gets frazzled when trying to fit it to the lines:

When I dropped my sword I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door And we live in peace But if someone comes at us, this time, I'm ready

These sound a bit to specifically about a lover, but maybe not...! Knocking on the door of fans... how about an LGBT interpretation? Her reaching out to queer fans through super-obvious imagery? I definitely have not observed her “living in peace” with queer fans, though... (see lpss, stunting). So yeah, here’s where this reaching hits a dead-end...

So how about if she is singing to herself?

The bridge is undeniably directed to her past self: “Past me, I want to tell you...” If we extend this to the entire song, the chorus would then be saying that instead of putting her energy into other people and what they think of her, she has turned inward, taking care of herself and focusing on what truly matters. She has made “peace” with her self and now she knows how to defend herself from outside forces that would try to undermine and attack that. (Second verse.)

This also doesn’t fit neatly with “My waves meet your shore” and the ever-difficult “And you passed right by.” The waves of her ever-evolving identity will always come back to the stability of knowing her True Self? Her Self/future self/the self she would become after being forged in battle... passed by because she was not ready to embody that self yet...? Reeeeeeeeeaching.

What about the “he”?

I’ve played mind games with this one, but I haven’t come up with any satisfactory alternatives to the “he” in the bridge except as being a current lover. It’s fun to consider some personifications of abstract concepts (Love? Self Love? Internal Peace?) but they’re all pretty weak.

Alright, that’s all I can come up with for now! Happy reinterpreting!

[thenighttrain]

folklore first listen

pls feel free to ignore this, i just wanted to record my screaming on my blog so that i can refer back to it and laugh at myself someday x

The 1

THE PIANO OMG I LOVE IT AND I LOVE THE BEAT I looooove THIS SONG IT’S SO NOSTALGIC WHO THE FUCK IS IT ABOUT OH MY OGD IM SCREAMING also the swearing I’m living… ok seriously who is this about I am losing my mind. This is so bittersweet I’m ?!!!!!!!!!!!! I REALLY LOVE THIS

CARDIGAN

I ALSO LOVE THIS WHAT ITS’ SO NOSTALGIC and the music video is so pretty wit the green and she looks like an actual forest nymph with the piano and the water and it’s all incredible. YOU DREW STARS AROUND MY SCARS BUT NOW I’M BLEEDING???????? BITCH. THE LYRICS IN THIS ARE FUCKING INCREDIBLE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK OH MY DISJFASLDFNSADF OH MY GDO I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss??????? MAAM?

The last great American dynasty

SO INTRIGUING HOW SHE WROTE THIS??? WHAT IS IT ABOUT? IDK BUT I LOVE IT

Exile

BON IVERRRRRR I LOVE THE WAY HIS VOICE SOUNDS IN THIS AND THE CHORUS IS HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL and the background vocals… omg. This album his the most unique thing she’s ever written I????? I LOVE HOW HER VOICE SOUNDS N THE CHORUS. ‘You were my crown now I’m in exile seeing you out’? YOU KNOW LIKE I CAN IMAGINE THESE SONGS AS THE SOUNDTRACK TO SO MANY OF MY FAVOURITE FANTASY BOOKS IM LOSING MY MIND. ALSO OH MY GOD BON IVERS VOICE AT THE END HOLY FUCK!!!! THIS IS SO GOOD THIS IS ONE OF HER BEST DUETS IM LOSING MY SHIT this song is incredible I am in LOVE

My tears ricochet

TRACK 5 TRACK 5 TRACK 5 AHH I LOVE HOW DEEP HER VOICE GOES AND THE BACKGROUND VOCALS OMG. Oh my god the chorus I am in love, I love her voice sounds so raw on this album, we haven’t heard that in years IF I’M DEAD TO YOU WHY ARE YOU AT THE WAKE CURSING MY NAME?? OMG. This is fully giving me like fae woodland imagery I just love it, the vibes of it all!  AS YOU BURY ME? OH MY GOD IS SHE A GHOST IM SCREAMING I LOVE THIS PERSPECTIVE. HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK THE BRIDGE!!!!!!!! THE LINES ABOUT SCREAMING. THE BRIDGE IS UNBELIEVABLE AND THE WAY IT JUST FADES OUT I?

Mirrorball

Omg I love the vocal effects! This is full indie pop vibes I AM DIGGING IT. OH MY GOD THE CHORUS BROOO OK I OFFICIALLY LOVE THIS SONG IT’S EXACTLY THE KIND OF MUSIC I LIKE LISTENING TO. ‘Drunk as they watch my shadow, edges glisten’ oh wow the lyrics in this album are fucking otherworldly. Oh fuck this is  agood bridge. I really cannot wait for all the analysis of this album by smarter people because I am not understanding BUT I AM LOVING IT. ALSO IDK WHAT A MIRRORBALL IS BUT I LOVE IT ANYWAY. How does she know such fancy words, I want her brain

Seven

‘I ht my peak at seven’ ok but same? HEYY SHE MENTIONED MOON AND SATURN I AM LIVINGGGGG. It’s so soft and wistful, those are the vibes of this album so far and I am really LOVING IT. PLEASE PICTURE ME IN THE WEEDS BEFORE I LEARNED CIVILITIY I USED TO SCREAM FEROCIOUSLY ANY TIME I WANTED?? IM YELLING I LOVEEEEE THESE LYRICS OH MY GOODNESS

August

ONCE AGAIN I LOVE THE VOCAL EFFECTS, I LOVE THE WAY HER VOICE SOUNDS.  Omg the chorus is catchy! I love the way she sings ‘I can see’! OK THSI SONG IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITES I MEAN JUST LISTEN TO IT? I HAVE BEEN IN A STATE OF SHOCK SINCE LAST NIGHT BUT THIS IS MAGICAL ETHEREAL GROUNDBREAKING NEVER BEFORE SEEN INCREDIBLE PERFECT. OHH GOD THE BRIDGE IS COMNIG UP- YES IT’S AJFDSNAFKJSDFAF SHE WROTE THIS SONG IITS’ SO GOOD MISDFN JASDNFLJK SO MUCH FOR SUMMER LOVE AND SAYING US CAUSE U WERENT MINE TO LOSE!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAYLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one fo her best songs ever EVER OMG AND THE BACKING VOCALS AT THE END AHH AND THE BEAT DROP TAYLOR WHAT THE FUCK YOU’VE OUTDONE YOURSELF A G A I N ??? IM NEVER GONNA RECOVER FROM THIS FUCK

This is me trying

Firstly, this song title is such a mood, especially this year. The beat in this song s so good - THIS SICK BEAT. AHH THERE IS THS COOL INSTRUMENT IS IT A VIOLIN IDK BUT I LOVE IT OMG. ‘THEY TOLD ME ALL OF MY CAGES WERE MENTAL SO I GOT WASTED LIKE ALL MY POTENTIAL AND MY WORDS SHOOT TO KILL WHEN I’M BAD I HAVE A LOT OF REGRETS ABOUT THAT II WAS SO AHEAD OF THE CURVE THAT THE CURVE BECAME A SPHERE I FELL BEHIND ON MY CLASS LATE UNTIL I ENDED UP HERE POURING OUT MY HEART TO A STRANGER BUT I DIDNT POUR THE WHISKEY! Oh god the ‘AT LEAST IM TRYING’ MAAAAM. THAT LAST VERSE FUCK FUCK FUF ASJDO FUCK THE BUILD UP. Listen I don’t know what the fuck this song is about but I do know that I love it I ADORE IT I FEEL LIKE EVERY SONG IS BETTER THAN THE LAST WHAT THE FUCK

Illicit affairs

I’m so intrigued by the title of this song! I LOVE the guitar in this song omg it’s so soft and wistful? IT DIES A MIIIILLIOON LITTLE TIMES……….. I love the little falsettos, that you picked out just for HIM! Take the words for what they are, a dwindling mercurial HIGH a drug that only worked the first few hundred times AND THAT’S THE THING ABOUT ILLICIT AFFAIRS AND CLANDESTINE MEETINGS AND STOLEN STARES they show their truth one single time BUT THEY LIE AND THEY LIE AND THEY LIE A MIILION LITTLE TIMES. LOOK AT THIS IDIOTIC FOOL THAT YOU MADE ME YOU TAUGHT ME A SECRET LANGUAGE I CAN’T SPEAK WITH ANYONE ELSE and you know damn well for you I would ruin myself a million little times. Holy fuck I have 0 words this is. Unbelievable it’s sunning I LOVE the bridge? I?

Invisible string

Oh lord I am not ready for this one. I love the way she sings the pre chorus! Were the CLUUUES I didn’t see—ee-ee. Omg this song is actually so cute. CHAINS AROUND MY DEMONS? WOOL TO BRAVE THE SEASONS? HOW THE FUCK DID SHE WRITE THIS IT’S SO GOOD IM SPEECHLESS also I LOVE the strings in this song, I love the production of this entire album tbh. It’s so chill and stripped back and it makes you focus on her vocals which sound soooo good.

Mad woman

TAYLOR SAID FUCK TAYLOR SAID FUCK TAYLOR SAID FUCK IM LIVINNGGGGG. ANYYWAY I LOOOVE THIS IM DIGGING ITTT I LOVE THE CHORUS EEEEK. the second verse omg I love the anger, the bitterness, you can HEAR it in her voice! It’s obvious that wanting me dead has already brought you two together??? EEK THE BRIDGE a spinster? What a shame she went mad… YOU MADE HER LIKE THAT OMG BITCH

Epiphany

Omg the intro build up - I love it. This sounds like a church choir? Is this about a soldier in war? What? It reminds me of Dunkirk or something omg. This is again so haunting, very slow and the piano only adds to the somber tone

Betty

WHO? IS? BETTY??????? Oh hey this is a gentle intro with this instrument that sounds familiar but idk what it is but I love it. I love the melody in this omg!  SHE SAID FUCK AGAIN SHE SAID FUCK AGAI NOGAS JDFHLDSDKFLD TAYLORRRRRR WOULD YOU TELL ME TO GO FUCK MYSELF??? IM ONLY 17 I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING BUT I KNNOW MISS YOU! BITCH!!!!!!!! This is about like a lost first love! Anyway I really looove how her voice sounds in this and the melody…. I DREAMT OF YOU ALL SUMMER LONG OMG THE BRIDGE IS INCREDIBLE!!!!! Omg awww the only thing I wanna do is make it up to you so I showed up at your party?? AHH THE KEY CHANGE INI THE LAST CHORUS EEEEKKKKKK OMGGGGG WILL IT PATCH YOUR BROKEN WINGS I’M ONLY 17 IDK ANYTHING BUT I KNOW I MISS YOU OMG THE REFERENCE TO A CARDIGAN AGAIN!!!!!!!! AND THE STREETLIGHT! IM YELLING I LOVE THE PARALLELS AND THE MOTIFS and you can just hear the childish innocence int his song, I love it

Peace

This intro is SO COOL AND I AM VIBING HARD TO IT, I LOVE THE GUITAR IN THE BACKGROUND? Ok oh god I really like this one. The devil’s in the details but you got a friend in me I— THIS CHORUS IS AMAZING I ADORE IT. Omg this might be one of my favourites. Holy fuck I cannot get over how good the lyrics in this album are!!!!!!! I TALK SHIT WITH MY FRIENDS IT’S LIKE I’M WASTING YOUR HONOUR! Sit with you in the TRENCHES? Omg! WHAT IS THIS ABOUT I AM YELLING!!!!!!!!! ‘Clowns to the west’ oh hey that’s me. EEK THE SOFT KEYBOARD IN THE BACKGROUND - YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoax

Last song? Ma’am I am not ready!!!!!!!!! THE PIANO IN THIS OMG. The chorus….. it’s beautiful……….. YOUR FAITHLESS LOVE’S THE ONLY HOAX I BELIEVE IN OH MY GODDDD. I’m yelling I love this so much. I loooove the angst of the chorus, the resignation that this is the one love she wants, even if it’s faithless!  ‘You know I left a part of me back in New York’… THE LOUIS TOMLINSON PARALLEL DAFJKHASFKADS (I know you left a part of you in New York). ‘What you didd was just as hard’ omg what did he doooo?? MY KINGDOM COME UNDONE AHHHHH YOU HAVE BEATEN MY HEART! WHY IS THIS SONG SO BITTERSWEET IM ???????

[songwritingswift]

folklore First Impressions

1.      the 1

I instantly loved the nostalgic feel, created by the warm and gentle production. It had gorgeous lyrics with beautiful imagery and the melody felt easy and natural; I was singing along by the end of my first listen. It was instantly a favourite.

You know the greatest films of all time were never made // You know the greatest loves of all time are over now

2.      cardigan

This one felt darker and a little more jaded with slightly more chaotic production. But it still had a warmth to it; it reminded me of a fire on a winter evening. The lyrics were detailed with more beautiful imagery.

I knew I’d curse you for the longest time

Chasing shadows in the grocery line

3.      the last great american dynasty

This one has such an expansive, detailed story and I just loved the idea of this truly shameless woman but I didn’t personally connect to the song until it flipped and the story turned personal and then I was grinning like an idiot. The production felt very fitting with the story being told and again, the detail (and wide vocabulary) made for a great song.

Who knows, if I never showed up what could’ve been

There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen

I had a marvellous time ruining everything

I had a marvellous time

Ruining everything

4.      exile feat. Bon Iver

This is the collaboration I never knew to hope for. Bon Iver has a gorgeous voice and I just loved the two opposite sides, telling their story both in concert and over each other in a way that only intensified an already incredibly emotive song. It was an instant favourite and had me sobbing on the first listen. The lyrics were absolutely stunning and while I loved pretty much all of them, I really loved the first and final lines of the main chorus. There was just something about it that hit me square in the chest.

I think I’ve seen this film before

And I didn’t like the ending

I’m not your problem anymore

So who am I offending now?

You were my crown

Now I’m in exile seeing you out

I think I’ve seen this film before

5.      my tears ricochet

The vocals in this one were particularly gorgeous and the lyrics were gorgeous and rich, kind of reminding me of velvet and stately rooms. The story is a mystery but beautifully detailed and I’m looking forward to listening over and over again until I understand it better.

I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace

‘Cause when I’d fight, you used to tell me I was brave

And if I’m dead to you why are you at the wake?

Cursing my name

Wishing I’d stayed

Look at how my tears ricochet

6.      mirrorball

I instantly loved the guitar sound and I just loved the lyrics, how fragile they were but still so full of hope for love. It had some really beautiful lyrics and somehow, the whole song – lyrics, melody, and production – sounded just like a mirror ball.

Hush

I know they said the end is near

But I’m still on my tallest tiptoes

Spinning in my highest heels, love

Shining just for you

7.      seven

I found this one a bit hard to follow but it had real character and some beautiful lyrics. I also really loved the relationship between the characters in the song.

Please picture me

In the weeds

Before I learned civility

I used to scream

Ferociously

Any time I wanted

8.      august

This one just sounded like a hazy summer day to me and the story was just so clear. The production was full and glorious and again, I loved the relationship between the two characters and the obvious complexity of their relationship, even though we don’t know who they really are or if they’re real at all.

And I can see us twisted in bedsheets

August sipped away

Like a bottle of wine

‘Cause you were never mine

9.      this is me trying

I was instantly struck by the production: thick and stunning and emotional. And I loved the reverb on the vocal and how it added to the emotion of the song. It was a favourite straight away, with gorgeous lyrics and imagery, and it was so honest and vulnerable in its simplicity. I just wanted to close my eyes and live in it. I found the rhythm of the bridge a little bit jarring but I’m sure I’ll get used to that with more listening. It seemed more real than some of the others. I’m not sure why but some of them just seemed more real.

I just wanted you to know

That this is me trying

I just wanted you to know

That this is me trying

At least I’m trying

10.    illicit affairs

It took me a while to get into this one – I found the verses lyrically beautifully but the rhythms tripped me up a little – but I loved the stripped back-ness of it. I loved the chorus lyrics and I adored the bridge: the pain and the fury in it were just so real, so brutally honest and vulnerable.

And you wanna scream

Don’t call me kid

Don’t call me baby

Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me

You showed me colours you know I can’t see with anyone else

Don’t call me kid

Don’t call me baby

Look at this idiotic fool that you made me

You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone one else

And you know damn well

For you I would ruin myself

A million little times

11.    invisible string

I thought this one told a really lovely story with both tongue-in-cheek lyrics and beautifully sincere ones. But I didn’t like something about the production of the vocal, something that made it a little uncomfortable to listen to.

A string that pulled me

Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar

Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire

Chains around my demons

Wool to brave the seasons

One single thread of gold tied me to you

12.    mad woman

Definitely the biggest oh-my-god of the album. I kind of wanted it to be a huge, relentless wall of sound but I think the calm, beautifully honed steel approach is probably more effective, given the subject matter (whether you believe it’s about Scott Borchetta, Scooter Braun, or Kanye West). I loved it and loved her refusal to be shamed for being angry. The lyrics were truly awesome and I loved how she went straight for the jugular, all in in an incredibly gratifying demotion.

Does she smile?

Or does she mouth, “fuck you forever?”

13.    epiphany

I found this one hard to listen to because the emotions were so raw but it was beautifully written, a stunning tribute to the people described and their stories. I cried from the first verse until long after the song finished.

With you, I serve

With you, I fall down

Down

Watch you breathe in

Watch you breathing out

Out

14.    betty

I thought this big, busy story was told really well but I didn’t really connect with the characters. I just ended up getting distracted wondering who the characters were, who the songs were about. The production also wasn’t really a style I love but the key change did make me smile.

But if I showed up at your party

Would you have me?

Would you want me?

Would tell me to go fuck myself

Or lead me to the garden?

15.    peace

This is, I think, one of the most beautiful, vulnerable, honest love songs I’ve ever heard. It reminds me of wedding vows, of all of the promises she’s willing to make but then asking him if they’re enough to outweigh the hard times. She lays everything bare and I think that’s part of what makes the song so special. The production is also simply gorgeous (even though I would’ve loved a big, glittering bridge but I get that that’s not how this genre or style seems to work). It was another real favourite and I was a puddle of tears by the end.

Our coming of age has come and gone

Suddenly this summer it’s clear

I had the courage of my convictions

As long as danger is near

And it’s just around the corner, darlin’

‘Cause it lives in me

No, I could never give you peace

16.    hoax

This one feels intricately connected to ‘peace’ somehow: a darker but still painfully honest, vulnerable love song. Having said that, I could be completely wrong. I don’t feel like I fully understand it with just one listen because there are just so many lyrics and metaphors and emotions to unpack but I’m looking forward to listening to it over and over again and sharing theories with other fans until I understand it better. But back to the song, the beautiful lyrics are only accentuated by the simple production. It ends the album on a very complex note, which isn’t something she traditionally does.

You know I left a part of me back in New York

You knew the hero died, so what’s the movie for

You knew it still hurts underneath my scars

From when they pulled me apart

[redantsunderneath]

folklore

fokalore is Taylor Swift’s Darkness on the Edge of Town – the first thing you notice about this record is the point of view(s).  The usual approach to any Swift song is to assume the subjective orientation is all her’s and then to ask, situationally, who/what/where is she singing about. Lover took this to its natural conclusion – a cultivated megalomania where her relationship to her partners and fans expand to cover the nature of America itself.  Here, however, even on a first listen, it is obvious that a number of the songs can’t be her, and on a second you start to doubt that any are.  The jump here is most analogous to the jump between Springsteen’s early career magnum opus Born to Run, which brought his epic street folk tales of his life lived in and around The City to full flower, and the southern literature infused “stories of other lives lived” of Darkness on the Edge of Town that carves out a broader American mythology from the third person and the suggestion that these are things that have resonance to his life, that none of the songs are about him but all of them together are, somehow.  The album seems tied together like something between Everything that Rises Must Converge and Visit from the Goon Squad.  

Wait, no... folklore is Taylor Swift’s Inland Empire – structure is all important in a serious TS effort, which this is.  1989’s cosine wave of relationship’s downhill slope and Kubler-Ross recovery (Fire Walk with Me’s horrific fall and redemption) and Lover’s 1st 2/3 exploration of the symbolic order ending in a crash with the last 1/3 a negotiation with the real (Mulholland Drive) give way to something rhizomal (more specifically fractal) with meaning derived from connections like a box of photos from multiple people whose stories connect in variable ways, forming a vortex of a story no individual part of which is entirely consistent with any other.  The central story, that keeps echoing around and out is of a love triangle with an infidelity that acquires a folk tale resonance and haunts everything.   This would also describe Inland Empire.

There is no dearth of online commentary on connections to her life.  She bought a mansion in Rhode Island, and last great american dynasty is about the history of the house, with its Jazz age parties and imagery, and the mad woman at the center living her party forever lifestyle. epiphany is about her grandfather’s war experiences as related to current heathcare work in the time of COVID.  Inez, James and Betty (the named characters in the central story) are the names of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s daughters.  invisible string, the only definitive song from her non-hoax POV is full of allusions to her relationship with Joe Alwyn. The opening track, the 1, has been shouted from the rooftop by the Swift camp as being about “a friend” not her, which you would be hard pressed to know is you weren’t putting in the extranoematic effort.  But the core trio of songs, the most “character” based are cardigan, august, and betty, which tell the core of a story about three teenagers from each POV (the cheated on, the cheated with, and the cheater respectively), two of which have been in love for a while, who threaten to fall apart after one has a fling with a third party, and who may make it work after all. It is significantly unspecified what gender James is.

Around this swarm another group of songs that seem to apply, whether they are strictly about the same people or not.  seven seems like backstory for the triangle with some Swift specificity.  this is me trying seems like a version of an apology in the story, but with whiskey that suggests it’s happening to someone older.  illicit affairs is about the fling, but it began in expensive rooms (though it ended ended up in the mall parking lots of the core songs). mad woman serves to connect last great american dynasty to my tears ricochet (which is pointedly from the POV of the tormentor of a Swift-like figure, but she’s identifying with both) which also feels like the unnamed other woman of the main triangle’s ultimate fate. Again, no genders.

The unities are created with a few tidy motifs, threads through the work that sometimes reach back to other works.  The roaring 20s/Great Gatsby (remember This is Why We Can’t have nice things and the 4th of July parties), how “they” think the young know nothing, the hero being gone (from “the film”) so what’s the story now, parking lots, cobblestones, streetlamps, summer as a liminal frame, axes and knives, warmth for the ex that has a family now, kingdoms, cliffsides, the idea of an agitating presence being a feature-not-bug, blue referring to her boyfriend and sadness both… It’s a nice web.

What about the remaining tracks?  exile is a biblical abstraction of the broken relationship; it connects to everything (it’s the rabbit scenes from Inland Empire). mirrorball is an example of one of my favorite TS things, the song about how her “self” may not exist since she only exists as a reflective, fragmented surface (this directly contrasts to the project of the rest of the album). Epiphany is a parallel drawing of a line from the early 20th century to today, a nod to real death as a contrast to emotional death. Invisible string is the only “true” song on the album.  Peace is an attempt to put the set of ideas to bed, however uncomfortably.

But the bracketing (first and last) songs are interesting.  The album was complete, the story goes, and she wrote the two in an evening to put a parenthesis around the whole project.  On a first listen, you can’t help but ask “is this a breakup album? Are her and Joe done?”  The last song would seem to underscore this.  Seemingly written as her, she existentially wails about “your” faithless love being the only hoax she believes in. But, as is the case so often here, the identity is unclear. Is it him?  Her audience? Herself?  But the title of the song is hoax. It’s just vague enough that you can suspect it’s about the search for meaning through the process of songwriting, and that everything you’ve just heard is a lie but is still oh so true. You are prepared for this after the first song, the 1, which seems to be about her, and would act to unify the album under the umbrella of her attempt at distancing from an event at a 4thof July party (her summer parties at her RI house were legendary), but we have been repeatedly told in the press that it is in fact not about her but about a friend (Selena Gomez?).  The framing of opening with a bait and switch and ending with “hoax” calls into question the reality of everything.

Moments snap together like magnets lego.  The album is deeply retropseudonostalgic, accent on the algos. She’s sorting through other people’s stories that speak to her (that feel like a piece of her), putting on her theory of mind hat and trying to compassionately inhabit them,  and building an elaborate fantasy of heartbreak and healing that she knows people will project onto her. The gender is left fluid, and the album doesn't have lesbian overtones as much as is completely identity agnostic.  The line through mirrorball and hoax is the axis the album rotates around, producing an inversion of her obsession – instead of her subjectivity dominating to the extent that she doesn’t exist except as a conscious hologram implied by the event horizon of her public image, being cut off from the feedback loop has forced her to inhabit the perspectives of others that occupy all points in a large story in which she can see a sketch of herself from the outside.  

[lovenliterature]

My thoughts on folklore

(all my personal stuff will be crossed out so u can skip if you want)

the 1

Giving me strong first love vibes

Highly vibe with thinking you’ve seen your ex when you haven’t, such a frequent experience

V much reminds me of Stan and like, its nice to imagine what could have been without disliking how things are

Like the line about how you should show if you want someone, prevents complacency and I like that, love is work and when you forget that inevitably it falls apart

It’s also kinda nice to realise how many things lead you to where you are - if one thing was different it would all change

Comfy reminiscence

Favourite lyric: in my defense, i have none/for digging up the grave another time

cardigan

feels quite a mature outlook on a relationship

V pragmatic

the first notes, straight into lyrics that just fill me with nostalgia

also like its not denying your feelings, you still feel like an old cardigan but you feel special AS that without changing

Peter losing Wendy is such a good line 10/10

Music vid gets points too tbh

Oof chasing shadows in the grocery line is high key relatable (literally being at uni with my ex anyone)

Stars around my scars now i’m bleeding feels like he’s distracting from the hurt he’s causing, he heals wounds while causing others god this is a mess

Favourite lyric: chase two girls, lose the one/when you are young, they assume you know nothing

the last great american dynasty

Probably one of the closest things to a bop on the album?

the font and background in the lyric vid are perfect

love the juxtaposition with the wedding was charming/if a little gauche and the parties were tasteful/if a little loud - it’s like she’s so close to being accepted but it’s always tinged with disapproval

Favourite lyric: either she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green or free of women with madness/their men and bad habits (the bridge is just stunning)

exile

god what do i even say about exile?? 

Made me fucking bawl my eyes out the first time I heard it

the two perspectives are just so relatable and heartbreaking 

Choosing Bon Iver to collab with?? Perfect, the voices mesh so well and its just gorgeous

the opening verse is very relatable and its so well articulated and Justin Vernon’s voice just really hits home 

the I gave so many signs is high key relatable and i really really feel that

Also just the concept of both of them being left with no home - 10/10, no breakup is seamless

Favourite lyric: like he’s just your understudy - it feels like you’re gonna jump right back in but you’re not, you’ve been recast

my tears ricochet

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace/And you're the hero flying around, saving face - big oooooof, such a good way of showing how victims are expected to be the bigger person and be grateful idk

‘Cause when I’d fight you used to tell me I was brave - This is so relatable, like whenever you cut ties/fall out with someone you love this is such a strong feeling, they’re usually the ones backing you up and now its them you’re fighting with and that’s hard to reconcile

the bridge!!! OMG!!

Favourite lyric: and I can go anywhere I want/Anywhere I want, just not home

mirrorball

Also one that’s close to a bop

And I’m still a believer and I don’t know why - I know its not about disillusionment with politics/humanity but for me it’s very much, I want to believe in the goodness of people but fuck it’s hard

Favourite lyric: you’re not like the regulars/the masquerade revellers

seven 

My favourite song literally from the second I heard it

Like the whole vibe is so very me

and though I can’t recall your face/I still got love for you

Very much reminds me of Sam, I can’t remember that much about him but I can remember how close we were and how important he was to me and I wish nothing but good for him 

Love you to the Moon and to Saturn - sounds like it was written for me at about 7, Saturn was my favourite planet and this was the kind of music I listened to at that age, just v nostalgic

Verse 2 is just my favourite part of the whole song, the melody, hiding in the closet, everything. That youthful naivety really makes me think of my friends when i was little. Even when i had problems with my own dad i desperately wanted to rationalise my friend’s dad’s anger to protect her and she practically did come live with us.

Favourite lyric: And we can be pirates/Then you won’t have to cry/Or hide in the closet

august

Wow this one has about a million and one different meanings for me

Summer fling, being used, reminds me of a CERTAIN SOMEONE, took place either side of August especially with the alcohol imagery

Whispers of are you sure? - first relationship, so good at making me comfortable, let me take the lead

Will you call when you’re back at school? - first relationship, long distance

I remember thinkin’ I had you, both situations, the non-relationship thinking it could be more and the relationship thinking I wasn’t gonna lose him

And I can see us twisted in bedsheets - first relationship, the first time we had sex and just the first times we were able to relax and be open with each other, really nice innocent memory

Favourite lyric: August sipped away like a bottle of wine

this is me trying

Back to December vibes

Also sad vibes, no fixing what you’ve fucked up but you’ve gotta try

I don’t wanna relate too hard because relating to it means thinking about things I can't fix

Favourite lyric: They told me all of my cages were mental/So I got wasted like all my potential

illicit affairs

Make sure nobody sees you leave/hood over your head, keep your eyes down 

Feeling of hiding and being hidden, not sustainable

You feel like you aren’t worth loving, aren’t worth people knowing you love them

A drug that only worked/the first few hundred times 

Hmmmm Patch who the fuck could this apply to????

Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me and For you, I would ruin myself

Value yourself higher boy but yes about a certain someone

Favourite lyric: And clandestine meetings and stolen stares/they show their truth one single time/but they lie and they lie and they lie

invisible string

Green was the colour of the grass/Where I used to read at Centennial Park juxtaposed with introducing him to Centennial Park - GORGEOUS, and highkey relatable

A string that pulled me/out of all the wrong arms, right into that dive bar - it’s always nice to see how relationships that didn’t work out can set you up for a better future

Favourite lyric: hell was the journey but it brought me heaven

mad woman

They strike to kill, and you know I will - yess bitch be angry

And there’s nothing like a mad woman - the notes and the delivery on woman give me CHILLS

The Pre-Chorus is gold, really relate to intensifying aspects of you that are criticised because yeah, fuck them

Favourite lyrics: No one likes a mad woman/what a shame she went mad/you made her like that

epiphany

Does this make me cry almost every time I hear it? Yes

The first verse being about war also makes me think about the mythologisation of healthcare workers as heroes, allowing governments to sacrifice them as martyrs

The melody of the whole song is gorgeous

Favourite lyric: Something med school did not cover/someone’s daughter, someone’s mother/holds your hand through plastic now

the medics are equipped to deal with the practicalities of treating people but not the emotions and not the feeling of not being able to help or even let someone die with their loved ones

betty

I am not sapphic but this gives me major sapphic vibes and I would die for betty 

Give betty all the rights

Such a nostalgic vibe, fearless/fifteen/white horse/love story sound and i am HERE FOR IT

Also lots of red references and i love that

Really like figment of my worst intentions, turns a usually somewhat positive image upside down

In front of all your stupid friends? - really dude?? You cheated on her and now you’re insulting her friends??? What the fuck

Will it patch your broken wings? is a pretty line though

Favourite lyric: Would you tell me to go fuck myself?

peace

Natural assumption is that it’s about finding peace with a partner, i really like that it’s the opposite, committing to a relationship despite the chaos, despite the lack of peace

But I would die for you in secret - in the age of social media knowing someone has your back whether or not others are watching is so important (yes this sounds very pretentious i just mean like knowing that you’ve got that person no matter what is so important)

Favourite lyrics: Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other/Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother

hoax

The vibe is just very calm and melancholy and i rate that

I am ash from your fire - this is such a good rep of toxic relationships, defined in relation to your partner, burnt by their bright flames, left behind

Favourite lyric: You knew it still hurts underneath my scars/from when they pulled me apart/but what you did was just as dark

[seblore]

do you have a favorite song off of the Folklore album? also could you pick a favorite lyric I'm curious. Also I hope you have a great day/night/afternoon/morning! <3

HEY ANON!!! hsbznms im honored you even felt the need to know my favorite folklore song <333 and a rant about folklore was a long time coming so this was the perfect opportunity tysm :D

my favorite song to listen to is 100% between cardigan & mirrorball.. they are just so... SO.... S O . . . . just. the entire ‘but i knew would linger like a tattoo kiss // you’d come back to me’.... THE SINKING FEELING I GET EVERYTIME... vile. and the ‘hush’ & the bridge in mirrorball... WORK OF ART <3 mirrorball was the first one that HIT after my first listen so yeah it is very dear to me

now emotionally? this is me trying takes the win & epiphany a very close second. i literally had a full breakdown while watching the this is me trying part of the long pond sessions. just the whole song hits so close to home justgrrgrrbarkbarkwoofwoofGRGRGRRGRG. ‘i was so ahead of the curve the curve became a sphere, fell behind all my class mates and i ended up here’ gurl bye <3 anyways moving on because im on the verge of tears L O L..... epiphany MAKES ME FEEL THINGS. not in the way of this is me trying rather a completely different feeling. it just leaves you hollow for a few moments doesnt it? and hearing taylor talk about the song really made it for me. ‘only twenty minutes to sleep but you dream of some epiphany.....’ [blanK STARE]

and favorite lyric??? singular??? NO <3 hehsjsks im gonna do one from each song 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

the 1: i thought i saw you at the bus stop, i didn’t though. WTF WTF WTF WTF?!?!? FELONIOUS.....

cardigan: literally the whole song bye

the last great american dynasty: they say she was seen on occasion pacing the rocks staring out at the midnight sea. . . the story telling the imagery the alliterations WHAT GOES ON INSIDE HER HEAD. MISS TAYLOR SWIFT IS NOT OK.

exile: those eyes add insult to injury. 👁 👁

my tears ricochet: and you can aim for my heart go for blood, but you would still miss me in your bones. i SCREAMED when i heard this for the first time.

mirrorball: the whole chorus whole bridge bye

seven: LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND TO SATURN and literally the whole song. THE BRIDGE??? m8 m8 m8.. ive been meaning to tell you i think your house is haunted....... .... ... no maam your mind IS haunted.... the complete innocence in the whole song i—

august: salt air and the rust on your door i never needed anything more. A SONG OPENS LIKE THIS WYD??? DO YOU CRY DO YOU LAUGH DO YOU GO FERAL WYD?????? and babe im not even gonna go on a tangent talking about the betty james august saga i just cant I CANNOT I CAN NOT

this is me trying: yeah like i said before... i dont wanna talk about this im gonna cry djsjsksk NEXT

illicit affairs: take the words for what they are, a dwindling mercurial high, a drug that only worked the first few hundred times. :SIGH: taylor allison swift you know damn well for you i would ruin myself a million little times

invisible strings: ✨💖✨💖✨💖 chains around my demons wool to brave the season.. one single thread of gold tied me to you. and then timee wondrous timeee give me the blues and the PURPLEPINKSKY ✨💖✨💖✨💖 honestly i cant believe she wrote a ao3 dot net certified soulmate au fic song

mad woman: WHEN YOU SAY I SEEM ANGRY I GET MORE ANGRY :D

epiphany: holds your hand through plastic now. how does she do this everytime i want to know........ the implications the accuracy the attention to detail... a perfect example of what makes a taylor swift song. this tiny little thing that happens in our everyday life that never jumps out to us, she takes that and makes it a whole moment... of course doctors touch us with a glove on... HOLDS OUR HAND THROUGH PLASTIC... PLEASE I AM .:;().(;):$;&.@.9

betty: :DDD WILL YOU KISS ME ON THE PORCH IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR STUPID FRIENDS?????

peace: the whole song really is a piece of art that is so under appreciated but if i have to choose a lyric it would have to be: give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other..... again,,,,,, we all know this feeling so very well we all could feel the rush of emotions upon hearing this but have we ever sat down and really thought about this??? how we want to give the one we love a silence that only comes when two people understand each other?? NO WE DIDNT. AND SHE DID. This whole song TJIS WHOLE SONG ARSGSHHSHAGAH

hoax: my best laid plan. your sleigh of land. my barren land. i am ash from your fire. and then... my only one. my kingdom come undone. my broken drum [SCREAM]. you have beaten my heart.

the lakes: is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN WTF I AM ILLITERATE. WHY WOULD YOU OPEN A SONG LIKE THIS VILEVILEVILEVILEVILEVILEEEEEE

I AM OUT I AM RUNNING AWAY 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️ why is she like this why why why why w—