#everyone has songs making them the bad guy and then here are dianna’s lovely songs

[whileyourebythesea]

i hope dianna feels like a smug bitch knowing she doesn’t have a single bad song written about her

[jazziehart]

Taylor Swift Albums Reviews

Hello my lovely blog readers,

I want to thank those of you who stick around through all my crazy rants and long Glee posts. You guys are the real MVPs and I will always appreciate you.

Anyway onto why we're here, in the wake of Taylor rereleasing her albums I found it fitting to take a look back at her discorgaphy so far! Thanks to my good friend Aly, I decided to relisten to all of her albums which the order was randomly decided. I will be talking about the deluxe editions so enjoy!

Let's start off with the first album that was drawn first which was Red.

One of my favorite albums right off the bat with probably her best album cover. I remember how excited I was for 22, mostly because my girl Dianna Agron's name was in the liner notes. Let's dive into what I thought now about 9 years later!

Favorite Track: Begin Again Least Favorite Track: The Last Time (featuring Gary Lightbody) Bonus Track I Wish was on the main album: All of them!!! Favorite Bonus Track: The Moment I Knew Album Ranking: 6th/9

Overall I adore this album so so much. The only track I didn't care for in the least was The Last Time. I think you'll find a trend with me that my least favorite Tayor tracks tend to be her duets (the exception being Everything Has Changed which is also on this album and is the purest of all). The album has held up and even moreso I love it than the first time I listened. Crazy. Anyway onto the rankings of each song. DISCLAIMER: These are just my opinions and you can disagree with them but please be respectful.

1) Begin Again 2) The Moment I Knew 3) State of Grace (Acoustic Version) 4) I Almost Do 5) Stay Stay Stay 6) All Too Well 7) Everything Has Changed (featuring Ed Sheeran) 8) 22 9) Come Back...Be Here 10) Red 11) I Knew You Were Trouble 12) The Lucky One 13) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together 14) Starlight 15) Girl at Home 16) Sad Beautiful Tragic 17) State of Grace 18) Holy Ground 19) Treacherous 20) The Last Time (featuring Gary Lightbody)

Honestly I adore this album so much as a whole and ranking every song was so hard. Holy Ground honestly had a lot of potiental I hated the arrangement but if I heard an acoustic version I would be sold, much like State of Grace which I wasn't huge on the original but the acoustic I'm obsessed with. Moving onto our second album which is one of Taylor's newest.

folklore! Funny enough on first listen I wasn't as into it as everyone else was but trust me, the relisten definitely helped me change my mind. I also heard the lakes for the first time which I loved. Since it's the only bonus track I'm going to say I definitely wished it had made the main album over some of the other songs on it. Let's dive into my thoughts and rankings.

Favorite Track: mad woman Least Favorite Track: invisible string Album Ranking: 9th/9

1) mad woman 2) the 1 3) the last great american dynasty 4) mirrorball 5) hoax 6) peace 7) seven 8) august 9) my tears richocet 10) the lakes 11) cardigan 12) betty 13) illicit affairs 14) epiphany 15) this is me trying 16) exile (featuring Bon Iver) 17) invisible string

Okay I know cardigan and betty being so low is going make people unhappy but honestly I just loved the other songs better listed above it. So many gorgeous songs and a great era for Taylor. It's not my favorite era and still falls in my lower half of her albums but I can appreciate the tracks on it more than I did before with the relisten.

Now onto Taylor's most recent album which came up next in our randomization in evermore

Unlike folklore on original listen I absolutely adored this album and had it in my top tier Taylor albums but will that opinion hold up? Let's find out.

Favorite Track: no body, no crime (featuring HAIM) Least Favorite Track: gold rush Favorite Bonus Track: it's time to go Album Ranking: 7th/9

1) no body, no crime (featuring HAIM) 2) happiness 3) champagne problems 4) willow 5) cowboy like me 6) dorothea 7) majorie 8) evermore (featuring Bon Iver) 9) closure 10) long story short 11) ‘tis the damn season 12) ivy 13) it’s time to go 14) coney island (featuring The National) 15) right where you left me 16) tolerate it 17) gold rush Okay let's talk about the relisten, it still held up but to me the one thing I didn't love about the album was the bonus tracks didn't add much to the original album so I kind of see why they were bonus tracks. I enjoyed the album none the less and I do think that most of my opinions are somewhat popular. I only see people being mad about 'tis the damn season being so low but honestly 1-11, I loved all the tracks so.

Up next is the rerelease that started it all, Fearless!

Now let's see after 13 years (hey Taylor's lucky number) if my opinion of this iconic album changed. Back in the day I was so obsessed with this album so let's see how I feel now!

Favorite Track: You're Not Sorry Least Favorite Track: The Way I Loved You Bonus Tracks I Wish was on the main album: Forever and Always (Piano Verison) and Come in with the Rain Favorite Bonus Track: Forever and Always (Piano Version) Album Ranking: 4th/9

1) You’re Not Sorry 2) White Horse 3) Love Story 4) You Belong with Me 5) Change 6) Forever and Always (Piano Version) 7) Fifteen 8) Hey Stephen 9) Come in with the Rain 10) Jump Then Fall 11) Fearless 12) Forever and Always 13) The Best Day 14) The Other Side of the Door 15) Breathe (featuring Colbie Cailaitt) 16) Untouchable 17) SuperStar 18) Tell Me Why 19) The Way I Loved You

I still remember when this album was first coming out how jazzed and excited I was for it. It was highly anticipated for me being that I had fallen in love with Taylor from her debut album and listening back it still holds up as one of my favorite albums. The only two tracks I wasn't into back then and still am not into are Tell Me Why and The Way I Loved You. Other than those two tracks the entire album is incredible to listen to. I'm so excited to hear Taylor's versions of all these songs and who knows maybe my mind will change on some of them.

Moving onto the next album to be randomly selected which is almost every Swiftie's favorite 1989.

Funny enough, originally this album isn't in my top favorites so who knows if my opinion will change on a relisten. Let's find out!

Favorite Track: Clean Least Favorite Track: I Wish You Would Bonus Tracks I Wish was on the main album: All of them?! Come on Taylor what's up with 1989 and Red having like some of their best tracks as bonus tracks. I'm mad haha. Favorite Bonus Track: Wonderland (gee I wonder why) Album Ranking: 5th/9

1) Clean 2) Wonderland 3) Wildest Dreams 4) This Love 5) You are in Love 6) Welcome to New York 7) Shake It Off 8) Blank Space 9) Bad Blood 10) Style 11) How You Get the Girl 12) Out of the Woods 13) New Romantics 14) I Know Places 15) All You Had to Do was Stay 16) I Wish You Would

Okay listening back. I now get the hype behind it. Listening to it with bonus tracks honestly makes all the difference. No joke. It's a much better album with the bonus tracks added. Honestly if Wonderland and You are in Love were on the main album it would've been top tier to me. Thank God for the deluxe version but team Taylor what is up with you hiding some of her best tracks and only releasing them on the bonus tracks? I'm mad. Also speaking on Wonderland, I adore the song even without the rumours of it being about my favorite celebrity Dianna Agron. Had the bonus tracks been on the main album it would higher but as a whole I love the album.

And now for our next album, which is reputation!

This is probably Taylor's most controversial albums, some love it and some hate it. I actually am somewhere in the middle. I love some of the tracks while others I could've done without. Let's see where it goes for me listening back.

Favorite Song: New Year's Day Least Favorite: Dancing with Our Hands Tied Album Ranking: 8th/9

1) New Year's Day 2) Gorgeous 3) Don’t Blame Me 4) This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things 5) I Did Something Bad 6) Dress 7) Delicate 8) Call It What You Want To 9) ...Ready for It? 10) Look What You Made Me Do 11) King of my Heart 12) Getaway Car 13) So It Goes... 14) End Game (featuring Ed Sheeran and Future) 15) Dancing with Our Hands Tied

Okay I feel like my choices here are controversal especially Getaway Car being pretty low on the album. Honestly I liked the song just wasn't into the hype that everyone else said about it, sorry you guys. Also Dancing with Our Hands Tied on the ALBUM is my least favorie song. I absolutely adored Taylor's acoustic version that was in the rep Tour. Had she released that on the album it would be after Look What You Made Me Do. The arrangement on the album I just didn't care for and I prefer acoustic Taylor which I think a lot of you gather from my top picks.

Anyway moving onto to our next album that was randomized which is...Taylor Swift!

Ah yes the album that started it all. 15 years ago I discovered Taylor Swift via this album thanks to CMT. I was a huge country music stan back in the day who knew how this one album would lead to a career I've been following for 15 years. Now how does this album hold up? Let's find out!

Favorite Song: Should've Said No Least Favorite Song: A Perfectly Good Heart Bonus Tracks I Wish was on the main album: Invisible and I'm Only Me When I'm with You Favorite Bonus Track: Invisible Album Ranking: 3rd/9

1) Should’ve Said No 2) Invisible 3) Cold as You 4) Picture to Burn 5) Our Song 6) The Outside 7) A Place in This World 8) Teardrops on My Guitar 9) Stay Beautiful 10) Tim McGraw 11) I’m Only Me When I’m with You 12) Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) 13) Tied Together with a Smile 14) A Perfectly Good Heart

This album still holds up 15 years later and made me so nostalgic. This had to be the hardest album for songs to rank thus far. Taylor hit it out of the park on her very first album crazy. She set the bar very high, funny enough it's the first album that a bonus track is my least favorite track but the entire album is a great listen, especially if you love country. It's very different from anything else Taylor did but that's what's so charming about it.

And now onto our second to last album which is another one of my favorites and the only album Taylor wrote fully on her own, Speak Now.

The album cover is up there with Red as my favorite and I'm excited to listen back to this album. I remember how much I enjoyed it when it was first released. Excited to see what I think 11 years later. Let's find out.

Favorite Track: Haunted (Acoustic Version) Least Favorite Track: Last Kiss Bonus Tracks I Wish was on the main album: All of them. Dang it Taylor they deserved to be on the main album. Favorite Bonus Track: Haunted (Acoustic Version) Album Ranking: 2nd/9

1) Haunted (Acoustic Version) 2) Long Live 3) Haunted 4) Better Than Revenge 5) Back to December (Acoustic Version) 6) Mine 7) Back to December 8) Mean 9) If This Was a Movie 10) Innocent 11) Dear John 12) Speak Now 13) Ours 14) Never Grow Up 15) The Story of Us 16) Superman 17) Enchanted 18) Sparks Fly 19) Last Kiss

One of Taylor's absolute best albms and it was incredibly hard to rank these songs. I know people are going to be mad about Enchanted being low but I just didn't love it as much as the other tracks on the album, this after all is one of the best albums she ever released so it's incredibly hard to make the call.

Moving onto our final album which I've called my absolute favorite, Lover.

It's only been an year since its release but will it hold up as my favorite album? Let's find out!

Favorite Track: Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince Least Favorite Track: It’s Nice to Have a Friend Album Ranking: 1st/9

1) Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince 2) Paper Rings 3) Lover 4) Soon You’ll Get Better (featuring The Chicks) 5) You Need to Calm Down 6) The Archer 7) The Man 8) Daylight 9) Afterglow 10) I Think He Knows 11) False God 12) Death by a Thousand Cuts 13) Cruel Summer 14) Cornelia Street 15) I Forgot That You Existed 16) ME! (featuring Brendan Urie from Panic! at the Disco) 17) London Boy 18) It’s Nice to Have a Friend

Yep it held up. This album is my favorite thing Taylor ever released. It was a tough call because I loved all of her top albums so much. Miss Americana still is my favorite performance which is no surprise, I was obsessed when this song came out 2 years ago. It's Nice to Have a Friend is the weakest track on the album but by no means is it a bad track. The entire album is a great listen all the way through, the only song that's hard to listen to especially if you have a sick parent "Soon You'll Get Better" I literally bawled after I finished it. So if you don't want an emotional song that might make you sad, it's best to skip it even though it's one of favorite tracks.

And that does it for us here. Hope you enjoyed my album reviews! Just to recap here's the rankings of all of Taylor's Albums:

1) Lover 2) Speak Now 3) Taylor Swift 4) Fearless 5) 1989 6) Red 7) evermore 8) reputation 9) folklore

Excited to see what's to come with the rerelease of Fearless and to hear the songs released from the vault. I've heard a few of her unreleased songs and honestly there are quite a few that I'm hoping are released. Thanks for enjoying us on this journey as always be kind and always spread love <3

[that-curly-haired-lesbian]

Queer Analysis - I Don’t Wanna Live Forever

Hi guys! 😊

I’m back with another queer analysis and this time it’s one that was requested a long time ago. We’re taking a queer-eyed look at the song I Don’t wanna Live Forever that Taylor did with One Direction’s Zayn Malik for the second Fifty Shades movie, Fifty Shades Darker.

Now, I’m going to be candid for a moment, I’m not a big fan of the Fifty Shades franchise, I think it’s a glorified, problematic, hot mess that gives BDSM a bad name.

Therefore I don’t pay much attention to the series, but when I heard Taylor was doing a song I of course listened... Sorry guys, don’t come for me if you love this song or Fifty Shades, but I’m not a big fan and thus I have only listened to the song a handful of times, which when I was asked who in Taylor’s life this could be about caused me to suggest Karlie, simply because she was most likely who Taylor was with when she wrote the song.

After giving it another listen for this analysis though, I have to admit I’m reconsidering…

Do I think this is just a kind of soulless song that Tay wrote in like, 20 minutes for a movie and to lowkey ease us into the “edgier” Taylor of the Reputation era? Yes, 100%, but that of course doesn’t mean she can’t have drawn from her own life when writing.

Living in a post-Babe/Better Man society has made me realize that the lyrics scream Dianna…So in other words, Taylor pulled from her experience of being in a passionate but unhealthy relationship in order to write about a fictional passionate but unhealthy relationship…Let’s be clear here though, I am not saying I know what went on in Taylor and Dianna’s relationship and I am not trying to accuse Dianna of anything, obviously, I’m sure she is a lovely girl who at one point in time loved Taylor very much.

Listening to songs like Babe, Better Man and most of RED however, has helped me form an idea of what their relationship can have been like and let’s just say, YIKES™ doesn’t cover it…I’m not saying that my reading rings true to reality and if you disagree with my idea of the Swiftgron narrative or my readings of songs that is perfectly alright!

As always, this is just an interpretation of the song and in no way is it meant to be put forward as some sort of final word on what or who the song could be about, everyone is free to have their own theories and opnions, in fact it’s way more fun that way!

Lyrics credit to AZLyrics as always, thank gods for them!

Oh, also, despite this being a duet I am going to read it solely from Taylor’s perspective as that is the one I am interested in here.

Now that I have confessed to my distastes for Fifty Shades and given my usual disclaimers I am hoping we can jump into the analysis portion of this!

--

Been sittin' eyes wide open behind these four walls, hopin' you'll call

It's just a cruel existence like it's no point hopin' at all

--

Having recently been cheated on has left our singer with trouble sleeping, doesn’t sleep and doesn’t leave the house for fear she will miss an attempt by Dianna to reach out to apologize.

It’s a cruel and unhealthy situation though, because likely, if Dianna were to actually call much like in Babe, Taylor would ignore the call as there is no point hoping they may work this out anymore and deep down Taylor knows this, Dianna has crossed a line they can’t come back from.

--

Baby, baby, I feel crazy

Up all night, all night and every day

Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin'

What is happenin' to me?

--

Despite having given up hope on their relationship Taylor still finds herself behaving erratically in the hope that Dianna will come crawling back to her to apologize.  Dianna keeps quiet though and Taylor starts to question if she has a right to be upset? Maybe she’s just crazy and her girlfriend did nothing wrong?

She knows this is an unhealthy way to cope with the situation, but does it anyway, causing her to question her mental state or “feel crazy”, wondering “what is happening to her” as in her salinity and rational thinking, I assume. In unhealthy situations it’s common that the victim feels as if they are the one that is crazy and that the abuser is the rational one and therefore the victim must be wrong or delusional in questioning the abuser’s actions…

--

I don't wanna live forever

'Cause I know I'll be livin' in vain

And I don't wanna fit wherever

I just wanna keep callin' your name

Until you come back home

I just wanna keep callin' your name

Until you come back home

I just wanna keep callin' your name

Until you come back home

--

From the chorus I think that Taylor had assumed this relationship would last forever and then it just, didn’t… 💔

I don’t think the “I don’t wanna live”-lines are meant to be taken literally, as in the narrator being suicidal, instead I think she’s saying she doesn’t want forever as a romantic concept anymore, because if she can’t have it with Dianna she isn’t interested in having it at all.

While with Dianna she was hoping to live forever in the sense that they’d be together (their relationship would be “alive”) for as long as they lived, but now she doesn’t want forever anymore and so the romantic hopefulness she still feels despite everything may as well just die because there is no use keeping it alive if it has to be alive with someone other than Dianna…

(Psst: Taylor, it gets better after you get Clean of all your unhealthy coping mechanisms and heartbreak! 💖💖)

In previous analyses I have pointed out that Taylor having someone’s name echoing in her head usually means she’s very in love or at least very infatuated with them. Here the line I just wanna keep callin' your name repeats over and over like an echo. This means that Taylor will keep thinking about and obsessing over Dianna and her relationship with her constantly until the moment they’re back together, her name will never leave Taylor’s mind.

--

I'm sittin' eyes wide open and I got one thing stuck in my mind

Wondering if I dodged a bullet or just lost the love of my life

--

Eyes being wide open is once again showing us Taylor’s lack of sleep but I also think it’s meant to show anxiety, her eyes are open in fear as she overthinks and analyzes absolutely everything.

Maybe I am crazy? Maybe we weren’t meant to be? Maybe she was the one and I will never know love again??

To me this is the crux of the song, Taylor is wondering if this was the right decision, was she justified in breaking it off with Dianna once and for all as staying in the relationship would only lead to more abuse and unhealthiness OR has she just dumped her one and only chance at true love?

(Spoiler alert, Tay: you really haven’t! 💓🌈🌈)

--

(Chorus)

--

I gave you something, but you gave me nothing

--

So despite the chorus being quite repetitive there is one line that’s slightly different this time around and it is the one above. Here I think Taylor is saying she gave Dianna her heart and essentially Dianna stomped on it, Taylor gave every aspect of herself in this relationship but got little to nothing back.

--

I've been looking sad in all the nicest places

(Baby, baby, I feel crazy)

--

Taylor might have spent most of her time indoors (“behind these four walls”) to deal with this heartbreak, but sometimes she does go out to cheer herself up and she’s rich and so she can go to nice places to do that…But money, luxuries and expensive exclusive spaces mean nothing if you’re just gonna mope around while you are there, then you might as well just stay crying on your couch, you know?

Taylor feels crazy for not appreciating what she can afford to do and where she can afford to hang out as much as she ordinarily would, but it’s just that this broken heart takes up all her time and mental energy…

These lines are basically saying: “Dammit Di, you ruin EVERYTHING!”

--

I see you around in all these empty faces

(Up all night, all night and every day)

I've been looking sad in all the nicest places

(Give me somethin', oh, but you say nothin')

--

When Taylor does venture out of the house and cry somewhere even nicer than her own apartment she thinks she sees her ex everywhere and it’s quite literally starting to drive her crazy with depression, anxiety and heartbreak. She can’t sleep so she goes out instead but is met with her own sadness in public instead which is much, much worse than just crying on your couch, besides she should be home…What if Dianna calls or comes visiting to try and get her back, not that that’s gonna happen, but still, what if?

--

Now I'm in a cab, I tell him where your place is

--

The last unique line in the song is Taylor getting in a cab (or more likely a black SUV) and asking to be taken to Dianna’s place preassembly to try and get her back herself since the actress won’t make the move…Despite being the one that should be apologized to Taylor decides to be the one that apologizes in order to get her girl back and end the heart ache thus continuing the unhealthy cycle of abusive situations…I’m really glad she eventually got out, man!!

--

(Chorus)

--

Thanks so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed! My ask box is always open for analysis requests or fic prompts or anything else, really! 😊

Next on the list to be analyzed is: Jump Then Fall 😊

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Reputation (almost) one month thoughts

So when this album came out, I decided as almost an experiment that I wanted to keep a frequent enough collection of my thoughts of how I feel about the album as time passes. This is mostly due to how quickly I started being real with myself about how I felt about 1989 and fears it would happen here too. Either way, this was meant to come out on the 11th as that would be exactly a month after I felt heard the album, but as I’m going to be interstate, I’m writing them out now. I will warn now that this will have opinions and talk about Taylor’s relationships and how quite frankly I don’t see all the love songs as purely being about Joe nor Karlie, so if you can’t handle that, it’s probably best you skip past now. With that in mind, lets get started.

Ready For It: So I didn’t say this in my first post, but along with being a borderline satire portrayal of her relationship with the media (the main reason I adore it still tbh), this song has always given me, someone who never shipped them, Haylor vibes. Honestly, if I had to guess, I would say that before the concept of 1989 came about, Taylor was going to write the album we guessed about, the satirical one calling out the media. And while aspects of this did show up on 1989 through Blank Space and I Know Places, I do honestly believe Ready For It was also started in this time, maybe even starting as a joke song about how the media saw the two, but didn’t fit on the album so was scrapped until Reputation when it found its place. All speculation of course, but that’s honestly the feeling I get.

End Game: So I’m holding my breath as I can already hear you guys pulling out the pitchforks for what I’m about to say... a song too early in the album for that line? :P Anyway I honestly believe that despite all of our celebrations about Calvin getting nothing on this album that this song started off about him. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the song to be about him and I don’t think the end result is about him, but just as I believe Better Man started off about Jake but was modified to fit Taylor’s relationship with Calvin, I believe this song started in the early days of Tayvin and were later modified to fit her relationship with Joe. Once again, speculation at best, but it’s just the vibe I get with some of the lyrics and its placing on a so called linear album. I’ve also come to realise that in many ways, this is the last holding piece of the 1989 era. And by that I mean it’s the last (or at least only on this album imho) song that was written for outsiders as opposed to fans. That’s not to say that fans don’t like it, but at least in my experience, every non fan I have shown this song to adores it, especially the Future verse that most fans hate. And I know people will bring up Look What You Made Me Do, but tbh that seemed pretty split across the board in my experience. Like whether you loved or hated it didn’t seem to be correlated with whether you’re a fan or not.

I Did Something Bad: The more I listen to this, the more I realise this has absolutely nothing to do with Kanye. Like the first listen, I 100% thought it was just about everything, the media, her haters, Kanye, Calvin, you name it. But the more I listen to it, the more I realise that really, it’s only about Calvin. It’s about how he was so willing to stand next to her for fame but ‘dropped’ her name and hence any credit she deserved off the project they did together. It’s about how he believed he had full control over her and manipulated situations (For every lie I tell them, they tell me 3 anyone?). And ultimately, it’s about how he played everyone to the point that Taylor doing the right thing came off as doing something bad. All up, it’s definitely the song that’s grown on me the most. I reckon there’s a high chance for this to be mixed with Bad Blood on tour which, even with Bad Blood being my least favourite Taylor Swift song ever, I wouldn’t mind because I could see it being awesome.

Don’t Blame Me: Another song I reckon was at least started long before most the others. To me at least, while I have my issues with the tracklisting which I’ll talk about later, this definitely feels as if it should be on the same album theme wise as Ready For It, so while they may not have been written at the same time (it wouldn’t surprise me if they were though), I definitely think Taylor had the same vision of “This is what the media sees me as” in mind for the two songs. And while that seemed to be the aim for the whole album, which once again, I will talk about later, these two show it the best for me personally.

Delicate: To be honest, I don’t have much more to say about this song specifically than last time. I still love it and still love the mix of love and anxiety she uses in it.

Look What You Made Me Do: I still give or take feel the same about this song. Amazing production, okay lyrics. I’m sad for Jack’s sake that this wasn’t nominated for a grammy because he deserved it.

So It Goes: I don’t know what the fandom has against this damn song. Like I’m not saying it’s in my top 5, but some of you act like it’s the next coming of the apocalypse and most the rest of you ignore it. It’s a jam and would be amazing for tour... but then again, so was the production of Wonderland and we all know how that went despite it being loved. But yeah, tbh, with how much people are sleeping on this song, I can see it being the only Reputation song not played on tour.

Gorgeous: So a story I never told the first time around; the first time I heard this song, I was going into with the satire mind that Look What You Made Me Do and Ready For It had and flat out spent the first verse thinking it was making fun of Kim and that lifestyle that Taylor pretended to be like to fit into. Like Kim was this alluring figure who Taylor felt she couldn’t talk to/against because she was one of the pretty popular girls, you know, kinda like that scene in Mean Girls where Cady talks about how she can’t stop bitching about Regina but still wanted her to like her. That quickly died off with “You should think about the consequence of touching my hand in the darkened room” but still. Not much else to say outside what I’ve already said about it.

Getaway Car: Someone pointed out not too long after the release that this song has major RED vibes and I’m starting to think that’s why I love it so much. It also kinda gives me I Knew You Were Trouble from the other side vibes so I’d love to see a mashup of the two on tour, but I doubt that’s happening.

King Of My Heart: To be honest, this is the only song I will 100% say I think is about Joe and no one else. The bridge of the song is my favourite on the album and like I said originally, it grew on me quite a bit with time.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied: Honestly, I do get Kaylor Met Gala vibes from this song. However, I don’t think it’s purely about her nor do I think that it is all romantic in meaning. I think the song is about every time Taylor went out and had relationship rumours, true or not, created whether it be with Harry, Dianna, Ed, Karlie, Joe and whoever else. I think it’s about the fact she felt she couldn’t even have friends let alone a lover without anxiety. And most of all, it’s about the regret of letting that anxiety hold her like it did, which is partially why it’s the more grown up and better version of I Know Places. Still reckon that the two will be mixed for tour and even though I get the concept, my dislike for I Know Places is getting in the way of me looking forward to that.

Dress: Honestly? I really like this song but I don’t seem to love it as much as everyone else. I mean nearly everyone I know has this in their top five, see it as the sex song (which it’s not, it’s the intimacy song, So It Goes is the sex song) and label it as a must have on tour. Meanwhile, while like I said, I think only So It Goes is at risk of not being a nightly play at this point, I’d be okay with Dress being a b side acoustic song played once or twice on tour. Maybe part of that is my want for an acoustic version for this song, but yeah, as much as I like it and play it often, I don’t need it on tour like I do other songs.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: What I find the most interesting about this song is despite having wanted an satire based album since RED that this would have fit on perfectly, this is the one song that I feel fits that on this album that couldn’t have happened without the 1989 era. And by that I don’t just mean Kanye, because the beauty of this song is that while yes, it takes its swings at him, when you really sit down and listen to it, that’s only a small fraction of what this song is. This song is basically tearing down everything to do with the 1989 era; the fake media, Kanye, Taylor’s fake friends and Taylor herself. For those of you who got through high school without reading The Great Gatsby, Taylor identifying with Gatsby is not a compliment. It’s basically calling herself out for fakeness among other things. None of this stuff could have happened, hence the song not being able to be written had Taylor not been pushed up to the point of everyone, herself included, thinking she was untouchable. And that’s just so interesting to me and honestly, makes the 1989 era which I felt so disconnected to a little easier to accept because at least for this song, it was necessary. So in short, this was kinda what I thought Gorgeous was going to be after the first verse on the first listen given I went in with that satire mind. While I don’t see it being the case, I kinda hope this is the closer for the tour. Like imagine all the confetti and fireworks and big balloons stuff they could do with it. But to be honest, I still reckon Look What You Made Me Do will be the closer and this will be one of the first songs played.

Call It What You Want: Now about half way through this post when I spoke about how I think King Of My Heart is the only definite Joe song, I can image a lot of you were asking yourselves about these final two songs. I definitely think Joe strongly influenced them both, but I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Taylor came out and said that there were other influences too. In terms of Call It What You Want, to be honest, I kinda think a little about Harry and Tom. Now before you all shoot me saying how Harry was a kid with commitment issues and Tom was a rebound, I know, trust me I do. What I mean by them being present for me is that I think that moments of criticisms and the fact that while it may not have been for long, they both stayed with Taylor despite those criticisms is playing a role here. Like 100% the same can be said about Joe and that is going to be the main source of the content, but it wouldn’t surprise me if thoughts about how Taylor was still the one Harry was walking to in that zoo or Tom wearing that top despite criticisms helped pushed that line of “I’m the one he’s walking to” because even if it all became too much in Haylor’s case, there was a time when what they felt for each other overpowered any media or criticism. Once again only speculation, but yeah, wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was one of those songs that took moments from several sources. In terms of personal relation to this song, literally I wrote a 2000+ word post about my feelings on this song and why it means the world to me, nothing has changed. I still 100% adore it and while my top three (this, New Year’s Day and Delicate) cycle from day to day, it will always be one of my favourite Taylor Swift songs ever and most days is my favourite from this album. There’s just nothing more to say.

New Year’s Day: Like Call It What You Want, I imagine that this song has several sources. Clearly a large one is her relationship with Joe, but I kinda also feel like this is just about love in general. I mean in one way, it comes off as a Long Live part 2 which implies a love to her fandom, but also there were moments in it where I actually thought about her family. Like the part about being there even if the person strikes out and has to go back home could clearly be about Joe considering he’s an up and coming actor, but to be honest, my first thought when hearing the line was Austin and the fact he too started his acting career in this time. I mean the ‘babe’ part would be kinda weird to be about Austin, but yeah, either way, that was my first thought. Likewise, it’s kinda ironic that Jimmy Fallon said about his mother on his show because my first thought when hearing the first two lines of the second verse was actually surrounding Andrea’s cancer battle as opposed to Taylor’s media one. Once again, all speculation, but yeah, this song just comes off to me as being about love generally as opposed to TayJoe. Either way though, this is the most “old” Taylor Swift sounding song on this album and I highkey really hope that this is the tour video tbh, but I imagine that that will be Getaway Car or This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.

General tracklist order thoughts: The tracklist order for this album was all wrong and that made the album seem like a bunch of brilliant songs all just randomly chucked in together until it was pointed out what was wrong to me. Honestly, the first time I listened to it, I only felt like half the songs belonged and the rest, while brilliant in their own right, didn’t fit and were only chucked in to finish the album and should have been on the next album. The issue is that unless Taylor had said that this album was linear to her, I would have never even attempted to feel that at all because I never would have thought of it. I think a better way to achieve that, especially on a sonically diverse album like this where she didn’t have to worry about the songs bleeding into each other, would have been to place the angry, mocking and media based songs first, then go to Delicate and slowly work her way through to New Year’s Day. This would have shown the split between what the media perception of her and the real her better and honestly, I feel like people would have enjoyed Delicate and End Game more. Because if you notice, doing it the way I suggest would mean that a lot of the back end of the album stays the same, and honestly, while there’s no way to prove it, I think that’s why a lot of people’s favourites come from the back end, because they feel like they’re in the right place for this story. Going from Delicate to Look What You Made Me Do feels rough and kinda weird. Don’t get me wrong, I get that Taylor did it to push the idea that Joe stayed with her through thick and thin, and that’s also why This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is so late in the tracklist, but it just doesn’t work for me personally and I know others who have said the same. I’ve started listening to it in an order I think works more towards this more, and honestly, it’s made me appreciate the album as a body of work more than I did upon first listen. RED still 100% owns my heart and probably won’t be beat any time soon if at all, but Reputation is coming in strong fighting my nostalgic heart to take the second place away from Fearless.

[tslyricx]

6. 22

The sixth track on Red finds Taylor Swift celebrating her early twenties by having a some reckless fun, as well as many other fans bopping to this song around the world. 

The song was written when Swift celebrated her 22nd birthday. The hidden message in the album booklet is “Ashley, Dianna, Claire, Selena”. These are the four names of some of her friends: Ashley Avignone, stylist, Dianna Agron, actor known for playing Quinn on Glee, Claire Kislinger, jewelry designer, and Selena Gomez, singer / former Disney star, who celebrated her 22nd birthday with her. In fact, Swift tweeted photos of them dressed as hipsters, and they appear in the music video for this track.

The song is however not only about the birthday celebrations but tells the coming-of-age story where she is changing from a teen to an adult. It tells of the confusing times of being in your 20s, where you are “happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time”.

In addition, the first verse starts by saying: “It feels like a perfect night To dress up like hipsters” Here Taylor is saying how tonight is the perfect night to pretend to be someone else: reality is too hard to face, so they will party to take away the stress.  The reason she said they should dress up like hipsters is that hipsters do things before it becomes popular; Taylor is tired of the same old things and being confined in a box.

Also, it is no secret that Taylor made fun of (particulary) one of her exes in the record. In We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, she says: “You would hide away and find your peace of mind / with some indie record that’s much cooler than mine.” Having that in mind, we can assume that the third lyric in this verse: “And make fun of our exes”, may be a reference to the same guy. BUT, who knows. 

The first verse ends by saying: “It feels like a perfect night For breakfast at midnight To fall in love with strangers” Midnight breakfasts are communal meals served at night, consisting of traditional breakfast items. They are popular in American colleges, organized usually with the aim of alleviating the stress of finals from students. In these type of settings, socializing is common in these settings. The general idea is for students to have fun. Also it is common for young people to grab a late night breakfast after partying all night. Big cities all around the world with a throbbing nightlife like Las Vegas, Moscow and Bangkok have midnight breakfast spots, frequented by clubbers.

In the pre-chorus, Taylor explores the reality of being 22, a time of tumultuousness and coming of age. As she states, she’s even unsure of what’s considered Maslow’s third layer, love and belonging: “Yeah We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time It's miserable and magical, oh, yeah Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines It's time, oh-oh” It’s clear that in the fourth and fifth layers of the pyramid can only be fulfilled at more advanced ages. However, as she mentions, it’s “in the best way”, as everyone undergoes this period in order to blossom into a well adjusted person. During her interview with Daily Beast, she expressed: “I feel like I get my heart broken more than break hearts. I just kind of, I think that’s been more the case, for sure.” Obviously, she’s conveying the mix of emotions that come with being a young adult into an optimistic brew that culminates in her deciding to break out of her daily schedule and just PARTY.  

Taylor uses the age of 22 as a feeling of youthful exuberance and freedom, a time in life when your worries are few and your possibilities are endless. This all makes for nights full of unexpected fun, but the only way for her to fully enjoy the night is to be with somebody: “I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22 Everything will be alright (ooh) if you keep me next to you You don't know about me, but I'll bet you want to Everything will be alright if (alright) We just keep dancing like we're 22 (oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) 22 (I don't know about you) 22, 22″ She explained her maturity over the years to Daily Beast: Having written a song called “Fifteen,” about how much I learned at age 15, and how that was a really heavy year for me. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way and it was a vulnerable age. And 22 is a vulnerable age, but you’re a little more brave. You’re a little more ready to take risks and live with the consequences. To me, the song “22” has a more carefree background to it. Because the age of 22 is much more carefree for me than 15 was.”

Well, let’s be clear about something, Taylor, being a top-40 darling, is clearly not an admitted favorite among hipsters, or anybody trying to be “too cool” for mainstream music, thereby posing the hypothetical question of who she is in the background. It is clear, however, that her success has made her popular to the point that everybody knows who she is: “It seems like one of those nights This place is too crowded Too many cool kids, uh-uh, uh-uh (Who's Taylor Swift, anyway? Ew)” This question also subtly references back to her younger days at school, a time that she has admitted to feeling outcast, as she talks about in “The Outside.” Some of these feelings of loneliness have clearly stayed with her years later, even though she is being very lighthearted about it now. She used to feel like nobody wanted her, and felt invisible to other girls her age. This background voice of a teenage-sounding girl saying “Who’s Taylor Swift, anyway? Ew,” exhibits that prior feeling of aloneness in her life, in a more playful manner.

What Swift said about the song?: “For me, being 22 has been my favorite year of my life. I like all the possibilities of how you’re still learning, but you know enough. You still know nothing, but you know that you know nothing. You’re old enough to start planning your life, but you’re young enough to know there are so many unanswered questions. That brings about a carefree feeling that is sort of based on in-decision and fear and at the same time letting loose. Being 22 has taught me so much.”

She also told Ryan Seacrest: “I wrote that about my friends, like finally I’ve got this amazing group of girlfriends and we tell each other everything, we’re together all the time. And I think that was kind of the marker of me being 22, like having all these friends and there’s all these question marks in your life, but the one thing that you have is that you have each other.”

Finally, in addition to “it feels like a perfect night” originally being “it seems like a perfect night,” a photo has surfaced of the page on which Taylor wrote the song, with these different lyrics written: “Sometimes it hits me We’re moving quickly Toward something hazy A future I can’t see Let’s break the old rules While we’re still 22 You look like bad news I gotta have you”. These lyrics were likely part of the original bridge, since the final two lyrics carried over into the studio version.

Favorite lyrics: “We ditch the whole scene and end up dreaming instead of sleeping / we’re happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way”.

Album: Red released on October 22, 2012.

Witten by: Taylor Swift, Shellback & Max Martin.

Hidden message:  Ashley, Dianna, Claire, Selena.

Picture: Photo from the Red booklet.

Source: https://genius.com/1821363.

[jennyboom21]

i hope dianna feels like a smug bitch knowing she doesn’t have a single bad song written about her