#hope you’re a gaylor now

[pinkorchidsinspring]

Ivy is so so gay, to explain let us lyric analyze:

How's one to know? I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones, In a faith forgotten land

Hoax: “your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in”

A complicated relationship with religion is not something lacking throughout gay culture.

Taylor is more than likely referencing her own struggle with her relationship to a religion not approving of her sexuality.

Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, Tarnished but so grand

The lovers touch while beautiful, was a sin, and wrong in the view of most but to Taylor this touch was amazing despite being tainted with those ideas.

Oh, goddamn, My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand, Taking mine, but it's been promised to another

This is probably a reference to the "adultery" being committed here, because the narrator has a fiancé/beard.

Oh, I can't, Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

She can’t control this love.

Her dreamland of “Folklore” is based in her real, honest, raw emotions.

She can’t stop this lover from being the reason for this dreamland.

I wish to know, The fatal flaw that makes you long to be, Magnificently cursed

Being gay has never been easy, and early on makes everyone who is gay in any way, wonder why they can’t just be straight. Taylor has most likely dealt with her own version of internalized homophobia shown in the original version of “Picture to Burn”: “Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay”.

Clover blooms in the fields, Spring breaks loose, the time is near, What would he do if he found us out?

This whole paragraph just gives forbidden gay love, and screams I don't want to care what other people think in this moment.

Crescent moon, coast is clear

Again with the hiding in “coast is clear”

Associated with feminine energy??? Combined with the coast is clear??? Yep, screams hetero.

Spring breaks loose, but so does fear

So very gay. Very gay. Come on. Sound like recent political events in America? With the turn of a new season, fear, specifically fear of being caught together, or the media finding out becomes more relevant than normal.

He's gonna burn this house to the ground

This male partner/beard is going to ruin their relationship, completely out of fear of what would happen if the truth of who she loved came out.

I'd live and die for moments that we stole, On begged and borrowed time

Even though this love was kept a secret, it was still Taylor’s whole life at the time.

These moments were "on begged and borrowed time" due to outside pressure. Possibly the pressure to be straight, and to appear straight, and not have longing looks directed at your "best friend".

So yeah, it's a fire, It's a goddamn blaze in the dark, And you started it, You started it, So yeah, it's a war

You Are In Love: “You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars”

The Great War -so LGBTQIA

She finally understands that she has to fight through societies pressures to keep the love of her life.

It's the goddamn fight of my life

What would be so hard about being straight and in love with Joe Alwyn? Especially when you’re only known for writing break up songs about “men”…

Most recently while introducing “Dear, John” Taylor told swifties that : we should not “feel the need to defend [her] on the internet against someone [we] think [she] might have written a song about 14 billion years ago."

There are many things that don’t allow this song to have a hetero explanation. These are the things. <3

My other song analysis’ if you’re interested <3

[pinkorchidsinspring]

Ivy is so so gay, to explain let us lyric analyze:

How's one to know? I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones, In a faith forgotten land

Hoax: “your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in”

A complicated relationship with religion is not something lacking throughout gay culture.

Taylor is more than likely referencing her own struggle with her relationship to a religion not approving of her sexuality.

Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, Tarnished but so grand

The lovers touch while beautiful, was a sin, and wrong in the view of most but to Taylor this touch was amazing despite being tainted with those ideas.

Oh, goddamn, My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand, Taking mine, but it's been promised to another

This is probably a reference to the adultery being committed here, because the narrator has a fiancé.

Oh, I can't, Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

She can’t control this love.

Her dreamland of “Folklore” is based in her real, honest, raw emotions. She can’t stop this lover from being the reason for this dreamland.

I wish to know, The fatal flaw that makes you long to be, Magnificently cursed

Being gay has never been easy, and early on makes everyone wonder why they can’t just be straight. Taylor has most likely dealt with her own version of internalized homophobia shown in the original version of “Picture to Burn”: “Go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay”.

Clover blooms in the fields, Spring breaks loose, the time is near, What would he do if he found us out?

This whole paragraph just give forbidden gay love so idec what other people think

Crescent moon, coast is clear

Again with the hiding in “coast is clear”

Associated with feminine energy??? Combined with the coast is clear??? Yep, screams hetero.

Spring breaks loose, but so does fear

So very gay. Very gay. Come on. Sound like recent political events??

He's gonna burn this house to the ground

This male partner/beard is going to ruin their relationship, completely out of fear of what would happen if the truth of who she loved came out.

I'd live and die for moments that we stole, On begged and borrowed time

Even though this love was kept a secret, it was still Taylor’s whole life at the time.

So yeah, it's a fire, It's a goddamn blaze in the dark, And you started it, You started it, So yeah, it's a war

You Are In Love: “You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars”

The Great War -so LGBTQIA

She finally understands that she has to fight to keep the love of her life

It's the goddamn fight of my life

What would be so hard about being straight with Joe Alwyn. Especially when you’re only “known” for writing break up songs about “men”…

Most recently while introducing “Dear, John” Taylor told swifties that : we should not “feel the need to defend [her] on the internet against someone [we] think [she] might have written a song about 14 billion years ago.”

Something doesn’t allow this song to have a hetero explanation.

i don't know how to explain it but ivy sounds so gay. it's just so, so gay

[9w1ft]

Hi! I am a news Gaylor/Kaylor and to me- you’re like Wikipedia! I love your analysis and posts and it feels like I will need like 5 years to catch up.

So I wanted to ask you if you could tell me your favourite Karlie coded song of each album and why do you like it that much. English is not my first language and it feels like I miss a lot because of that.

Thank you! Have a lovely day

hi! welcome to my blog and i’m so sorry things are hard to navigate and research, but i hope you have fun!

your question is a fun question! and SO HARD to pick just one from each. SO HARD! (update: its so super hard!! wow!) i truly have multiple favorites for most albums. ultimately i tried to mix it up a little bit and not always just the classics or if i like the beat of the song. it was still so hard! because the last time i counted, for me, there are over 50 kaylor songs now, in my opinion🫶

ok, i will try to write more short explanations but let me know if something doesn’t make sense!

Fearless: Love Story because karlie has said in an interview that it’s her favorite song and because a long long time ago karlie was in a photoshoot that matches the love story mv aesthetic

Speak Now: Enchanted because, whether or not it was written about karlie, taylor went on to mash it up during 1989 era with wildest dreams while wearing a sequin bodysuit with background visuals just like the lover mv fish bowl scene, and i think these visuals are incredibly moving

RED: The Very First Night because i like to imagine it’s about karlie, specifically taylor thinking about all the times in the past that they crossed paths and wishing she could go back in time and confess her feelings to karlie earlier. it’s a sweet song but there is also a quiet sadness that i think matches some of the timing issues they’ve had as soulmates

1989: Style because, after it was recorded in february 2014, it continued on to only become more and more of a kaylor anthem. from taylor walking down the runway at vsfs 2014 hand in hand with karlie to this song, to taylor including it in one of the medleys on rep tour that was so karlie coded (style/love story/you belong with me),

reputation: call it what you want because the song truly sounds like taylor and the background singers and singing “karlie what you want” and “call it what you want, karlie” and i happen to believe that karlie is the one filming taylor in the making of video

Lover: Afterglow because it’s one of the first times we hear taylor apologizing to karlie in her lyrics (i tied your hands behind your back, oh, thought i had reason to attack, but no) and i think it’s one of the key songs to understanding a recurring theme in their relationship and the fact that taylor recognizes it. which i think was powerful to know at the time. made every next album easier to think about.

folklore: the lakes because it is the first time taylor used the word muse to describe karlie. also it was released a little bit after the album came out and a lot of people at the time were saying kaylor had broken up because the album ended on the song hoax, which is a sad song. taylor released the lakes and it re-contextualized the whole album and reset a lot of the conversation that had been going on.

evermore: gold rush because gold was a consistent metaphor we had all ascribed to karlie up until then so it was incredibly wild to have this song happen in the first place, and the song matches up with the beat of runway walking, even the vsfs 2014 opening runway where karlie is a golden angel

(Big Red Machine special mention): Renegade because i see it as a song from karlie’s perspective, about when karlie was there for taylor during her “darkest night” and i find that very touching

Midnights: Karma because it embodies karlie as this unstoppable force that is on taylor’s side and i love that depiction. also, the song name sounds like karlie, taylor arguably sings “karma is my girlfriend” and that was so amazing to pick up on upon the first listen

The Tortured Poets Department: imgonnagetyouback because it ties together so many kaylor themes related to karlie attending eras tour, in particular the bridge (the criminality of “even if it’s handcuffed im leaving here with you” the forgiveness theming of “push the reset button we’re becoming something new” and “bygones will be bygone”the board game theming of “we lost all the pieces but still wanna play the game” the reveal of the truth “told my friends i hate you but i love you just the same” etc) and it gives me an adrenaline kick to listen to it, and gets me nostalgic for attending the 8/3 show, so close to when she attended.

if anyone reading has another favorite to add please add in the comments! i truly have so many that i didn’t cover and i bet you all do too 🫶🫶

[tyyjaimiee]

“You hung me on your wall, stabbed me with your push pins”

— Taylor Alison Swift, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024)

And with that quote, I say: welcome to my new blog! I hope you’re having a good day, and I hope you’ll have a nice stay here <33

My name is Jaimiee! You can give me nicknames, I don’t mind at all ^-^

I am a teen under the age of 18, so be aware of that when you interact, please! 🙏

You can use the pronouns 💙she/they💙 for me, but I prefer🩵she/her🩵! This might change over time, I will make sure to update any followers I might have in that case :3

I am a demigirl <3 I’m also a polyamorous bi-lesbian + a lot of other stuff that aren’t as important to know!

. • Things I will post about:

— Taylor Swift

— Sexuality, identity and questioning (sometimes positively and happily, sometimes I’ll scream from the top of my lungs because wtaf I’m so exhausted)

— WOLFSTARRR 🌌💫🐾

— Prongsfoot, Sunrose, Sunkiller, Sunrosekiller, occasional Partivan, Pandalily, Narlily and other minor ships in the Marauders fandom

— Ships with Hermione, Cho, Ginny and Pansy x each other (lol)

— Gaylor (especially Kaylor and Florence Welch x Taylor)

— Lunarry, Ronarry

— I’ll reblog lots and lots of Drarry fanart, sometimes sapphic!

— Shitposting

— Chappell Roannn

— Sabrina Carpenter

— Girlblogging core 🎀🤙

— Music in general

— Random memes and stuff

This is a safe place for everyone! As long as you’re not a shitty person.

. • Shitty person list:

— Queerphobes/Exclusionists

— Pedophiles (“MAPs”)

— Zoophiles

— Trump supporters

— Rapists

— Cheaters

— Alpha males, like wtf

— Racists

— Zionists

— Jkr

— etc.

Be kind, always be kind! People of all ages and genders are welcome to follow me, but be a decent person. Respect me and others :))

[heda-heather]

:nervously off anon: So I watched the Anti-Hero video for the first time yesterday (I know, I know...SO behind the times), and I'm so curious how Swifties are interpreting the very clear symbolism. Like, Taylor is two selves. One of them (the "villain") is her exact presentation out in the world right now. Taylor's lyrics match up with her real self. Her public persona doesn't match up with her lyrics. Swifties don't acknowledge this contrast?

Also, what do they make of the bottle she's drinking from? The one with the Lover video's family crest. Do they not wonder WHY that crest is in a video that is otherwise not about romance? Like, I feel like with close attention to lyrics + close attention to videos + an ounce of attention to how her persona changes from album to album + THE ENTIRE LOVER Era = AT THE VERY LEAST that she is not who she seems (and is most certainly under the queer umbrella).

An even deeper dive will lead you to "she is with Karlie; that crest is signaling Karlie; her songs signal Karlie; Taylor is likely identifying as a lesbian now." Yet somehow they don't see any of it that way, and I wonder how. Maybe willful ignorance. Maybe selection of detail to support their own thesis. Maybe it's the English major in me that makes me pore over this stuff.

My assumption is that many Swifties center their listening experience on how they relate to what Taylor's talking about, so it's more about their own experience and projection than what is actually being written. I know they'd say the same about gaylors, but there are CLEAR motifs in this discography. It's all fascinating but also driving me mad. LOL

Anyway, sorry for the novel. I am still a whole n00b to this fandom and mostly choose to engage with Taylor's world via this corner of Tumblr and through her lyrics. The wider fandom seems like actual hell. LOL

Whew ok I needed a minute to read and process before responding 😂

1. Swifties see the anti-hero more as her battle with fame I think, kinda missing the deeper meaning of her being a completely different person underneath that fame.

2. I doubt they think about the crest at all. I never noticed it until a Kaylor blog pointed it out and showed all the times it’s been displayed. They probably assume it’s just a random design.

3. Her persona changing from album to album actually gives them fuel to say she’s NOT part of the queer community because “the lover era was her activist era, just showing her support, then she moved on from it”

4. They’re NOT looking for signals to Karlie. And they take what she shows them (hanging all over football guy) at face value

5. Projection is a big piece of it. “Loving in secret” to us, is such an obvious flag to the experience of realizing you’re queer in a heteronormative society. I think a lot of them romanticize this instead. They see it as finding a love so special, you want to keep it to yourself. I think a lot of them are obsessed with her work because she describes this intense, earth-shattering love. It gives them hope to find it… but they don’t realize it’s a queer love. And the fact is… 2 women loving one another do share a different experience than a man and woman, because of how women express themselves and understand the universal female experience. Add that to the experience of being queer in anyway. So… they’re kinda holding onto false hope they’ll find a love like she describes. But also there is no other Karlie Kloss in this world 😍🥰

Anyway, my thoughts. Thanks for being brave enough to come off anon! Always love a good chat.

[spade-riddles]

Spade, thank you for being here for us and for not giving up when even the strongest soldiers would stop standing. when i saw the news i cheered and remembered all the hints and support those who came here and you gave us. i’ve been waiting for this break up since it was announced that they are dating. i still cant believe it’s happening right now and i jumped like a baby when i started to realize it’s real

taylor if you’re somehow reading it and you’re ready this time - know you have our support and you have people who won’t give up on you. wish you luck girl, i know it’s a big step

to all the gaylors and especially kaylors reading it - i love you. thank you for being my community all these years. i’m going through the literal hell mentally rn but i know i have a safe space here and i’m very happy about the news. hope you’re good and happy as well and sending you all my love

[chosetherose]

Wow what a way to look like you’re walking back into the closet and bolting it and chaining it shut. Thanks T for giving the swifties more ammo to rip the gaylors and kaylors. We appreciate it. We know it’s not about money, because you have more than you know what to do with. So hope it was a good reason for you. First the prologue, which I felt you went out of your way to say those things for no good reason that got us ripped by the swifties. And now all of this. For some reason I feel betrayed. How do you feel?

Hi Anon, I empathize with how you’re feeling. It can be difficult to digest stunts like this. Sometimes I’m here shaking my head in disappointment. But I think it’s important we try to step back from taking things personally.

I think Taylor leaves us eggs because it’s about the only way she can get the truth in the world. Ultimately, sharing her truth through breadcrumbs is for her not for us. We aren’t owed anything and she’s always going to play the other side, leave the GP/Swifties surface level crumbs, for as long as she is closeted.

I’m 🙄 about last night. Annoyed and taking a break from streaming Taylor until the annoyance fades.

When it feels too much, or it feels like betrayal, I’d suggest taking a break. There’s no sense in subjecting yourself to feeling that way. Breathe in some fresh air, take care of a house plant, look at a mountain lol, whatever gives you good energy.

💕CTR

[tayloralisonswift]

hi cutie 💜 ik it’s random and i’m about to sleep but first i needed to leave this here. i just want you to know that this site wasn’t the same without you, many people felt your absence and you don’t know how happy it makes me to be able to read your blog again as my daily newspaper ! it doesn’t matter if it’s a week, a month or a year and i totally understand you doing what you need for your own well being, but i do hope you always remember (esp when you feel low and lonely) that there are people somewhere who genuinely admire you. and personally, idgaf if you’re a kaylor now or a gaylor or ex gaylor or the neighbor’s dog across the street. because (getting cheesy rn, hold my beer) you’ll always be kathryn and that’s what counts. i love you soooo much, goodnight!!!

🥹🥹🥹

[margaetyrell]

hi luvs! how are you?? i hope everything’s great 😊 i’m not fully back yet bc i’m on vacation atm, just came to save a long queue to keep my blog active bc it’s pretty much dead. so i’m gonna put all the boring details bellow in case you wonder about the future content of this blog and my general thoughts (if you’re up to read, follow the cut!) please drink water, protect yourselves from this insane weather and take care!! see you all soon 💜

okay so. i’m obviously still disappointed on taylor, but after everything i’ve realised it’s not worth it anymore. i’m still a fan and i cannot deny that. altho it’s true that i’ve distanced myself from her, she is and will always be a big part of my life! and i’d be lying if i said i’m not excited for 1989, bc i bloody am!! it’s one of my fave albums of all time and i really don’t have the strength anymore to let anything else ruin that for me (unless there’s a mh collab on it, then i’ll explode lmao) but the truth is that i’m just an art consumer as we all are, and she is pure art. so i’ll just keep doing my thing while she does hers. end!

that doesn’t mean i’ve erased everything from my brain or that it won’t upset me if she messes up again. but i’m choosing to stay away from drama, not just hers but fandom drama in general. the past year has been a roller coaster of emotions and i’m just tired of it. and the funny thing is that it doesn’t really matter! it doesn’t matter AT ALL. its only point is to make me bitter and out of patience, and i’m just another random person with random thoughts that won’t have any impact on her or anybody, whether i’m right or wrong, so!

in conclusion: i’m a swiftie who is not a swiftie who is a swiftie who is not part of the fandom who is a gaylor who is not an unhinged gaylor who is no one at all. hope this helps!

which brings us to the point: stfu sarah what are we going to see here. ofc taylor, but! i’m not gonna stress anymore over not missing a single post. i’ll just vibe with it and save whatever’s relevant to me from now on (i’ve saved a lot already) which are mostly graphics, fanart, lyrics and tagged posts (you can keep tagging me on everything btw, and thanks again to the few who still do lols love ya!!!) but the main content can be found on the celeb blog i run with my bestie (candyshapes), which not only focuses on taylor but she’s like 70% of it, and where my dear @jdschecter has made sure not to miss any details of the tour (thanks ems, i’d be lost without you <3) so i really recommend you follow us there !! the rest, as usual, will be a multifandom blog with special dedication to taylor and GoT.

that’s all ! if you’ve read everything, thank you SO much. i know it wasn’t necessary, but i wanted to clear that up nevertheless. first, bc i’m pretty true to my opinions and i’ve spent a great deal of time trying to figure this out. and second, bc i’ve lost many of you in the process and that’s understandable. but if i’m going to be back, i need to make sure i enjoy it here and curate my experience once and for all, as you all should! also thanks again to all the people that has understood my situation and showed me support in the past. love you and miss you to bits, mwah!!

[keepingsecretstokeepyoutk]

So I am a relatively* new Taylor fan (relative to my age and her age and the length of her career) - I feel down the gaylor rabbit hole 4 years ago and have been following her very closely since February 2019. I also was a big 1989 fan after seeing the blank space mv and immediately loving her sass in creating the character she had always been painted as. I had the cd and knew the words back to front. But I didn’t follow her career closely until 2019. So the nostalgia of the re-records is somewhat lost on me even if I enjoy it and appreciate the details that others point out.

But recently I saw Michelle Branch in concert, and went to the show not knowing what to expect but hoping she’d at least play a couple old songs (from her first two albums) because those were some of my first cds and they absolutely shaped me. It was the first time I had been to a concert of an artist I love when I was younger but had lost touch with…and it was the craziest experience I’ve ever had. Literally the first cord of the first throwback song she played I let out the most feral sound I’ve ever heard myself make and I lost my damn mind and had a surreal, spiritual experience for the rest of the set. The experience fundamentally changed me, permanently altered my brain structure, etc.

I can’t even imagine the kind of meltdown I would be having if I had that kind of relationship to Speak Now and then watched the video I just watched of Taylor in the purple gown, singing Long Live on the koi guitar.

Basically I’m just checking in on all of you who have real nostalgia tied to this album. Are you all a puddle on the floor? High on life? Having a full on life in review moment?

You’re in my prayers 😅

[whatiwillsay]

okay so there a weird sub gaylor communities with scary ass people like Spade and now something called White Flower Detectives? Sincerely hope Twitter doesn't go down and the government doesn't block tiktok, shits a little too weird over here for me I'm afraid 😭

as if there’s not freaks everywhere. babe you’re safe with me here don’t be afraid!! 💙💙

[bisluthq]

how that video has over 30k likes......

😭😭

it’s not even a proper video lol like it’s literally just random shit lmao. If the creator at least talked us through her thought process I’d be more likely to respect the delusion lol like how I sometimes see Gaylor or Maylor or cupcake content and I’m like “I mean you’re almost definitely completely wrong but I understand how you came to this very bizarre conclusion” but then you get this Haylor shit and I’m just??? At a loss.

and there are reasonable takes for Haylor (that anon who wrote about why Question is for Harry recently - babes I hope you see now you were wrong but your logic was solid) but like they are SO few and far between idk.

[awesamcozy]

do you think gaylors would say all their speculation about taylor is celebrity gossip because all they talk about is public information and taylor hasn’t ever said she doesn’t want people thinking she’s gay? just asking because i know you dislike gaylors. i’m not even a gaylor i hope they all fucking die i’m trying to figure out what the difference here is considering you’re both talking about celebrities sexualities in a strange and prying manner as if it’s fact and not speculation. like you’re jumping around right now between “it’s just celebrity gossip i don’t mean any of this” and “that man is gay literally what straight person would do this” at a rapid pace it’s almost laughable

My "problem" with gaylors is nothing i jsut think theyre fun to make fun of because i dont think taylor swift is gay im not offended on her behalf or wanting to protect her honor. Its just an opinion one can make when looking at her extremely public appearance as an a-list celebrity. If someone disagreed with me without being weirdly aggressive then id be like 'well i think ur wrong but its ok' because its truly not that srs

Also man i think ur putting words in my mouth bc some of this shit i just did not say

[9w1ft]

I don’t get why would anyone think Taylor might be coming out this year? like it doesn’t really make sense

from what i can tell i think it’s mostly a mix of taylor wearing lesbian and bi flag colors in her tour outfits (so combos of orange and pink, or purple pink and blue, over outfits close together), along with a higher frequency of surprise songs that feel like ���a goodbye to her fans’ or that she has played a lot of the same songs in succession/timing that she did before breaking things off with matty, which might point toward breaking up with travis soon, and so this all happening now before june makes it feel like it’s stuff that’s ramping up for june, which is pride month

i’m sure there’s other stuff and that it’s not a perfect explanation but this is just what i’ve absorbed through osmosis.

i think another part of it is that with eras tour and her sudden bump in popularity in general, statistically speaking, there are going to be a historically large number of new people coming into the gaylor community. and when you’re new things feel like they have more weight or that they’re leading to something, i don’t know if there’s a term for it.. arriver’s bias?? where like the rush of realizing things for the first time and the excitement to be a part of it makes the potential for a conclusion feel more evident or fated?

and i’m not saying that only new people think she’s coming out next month. just that historically, this is probably the biggest tidal wave of new people having rolled in and i think this added interest contributes to some of the hype, when you feel more people agreeing with you.

anyways i just hope people allow taylor to express herself during pride month in whatever way she does without interpreting that expression as a promise for something more, and then getting disappointed or even upset if that something more that they put on her does not happen. if that makes sense.

[iwanthermidnightz]

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/gaylor-taylor-swift-gay-rumor-midnights-1234585574/

Queer narrative/gay rumors from an official publication has started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROLLING STONES

OH MY GOD??

AUGUST HAS OFFICIALLY slipped away, which means Taylor Swift fans are now counting down the days until the release of her 10th studio album, Midnights — but stans are already using the time, and subsequent new content, to re-earth some of their most beloved conspiracy theories.

From what Swift has released, the album concept is focused on music written at night that grapples with fears, worries, and other things that keep you from peaceful sleep. Swift called the album the “stories of 13 sleepless nights” throughout her life, and encouraged her fans to meet her at midnight — which immediately sent fans scurrying to see all the clues leading up to the announcement they had missed.

One stan that remains year after year is #Gaylor. An ever-growing contingent of fans believe that Taylor Alison Swift is secretly gay. And after seeing the concept for Midnights, they’re convinced this might be the album where she finally admits it to the world.

#Gaylor has remained a steadfast theory since Swift gained her international level of stardom. A long-standing theory is the pop star’s rumored relationship and subsequent breakup with Glee alum Diana Agron. Agron and Swift were spotted together on outings and at birthday parties, making the gossip so mainstream that Jimmy Kimmel asked Agron if she was dating Swift during a 2012 appearance on his late-night show. She replied “No, but wouldn’t that be juicy,” before saying “Hi, Taylor” and blowing the pop star a kiss into the camera. Following the release of 1989, fans linked lyrics from the song “Wonderland” to Agron’s Alice in Wonderland themed tattoo.

The theory gained an even bigger foothold during the pop star’s 2015 “Girl Squad” era, when she was often surrounded by a plethora of leggy, mostly-blonde, famous best friends like Cara Delevigne, Gigi Hadid, Hailee Steinfeld, and Karlie Kloss. In 2015, a Vogue spread of Kloss and Swift gave fans a decidedly not best friends vibe which sparked rumors of a whirlwind but secret love story. Around 2017’s Reputation, the most prevalent theory was that a collaged photos of eyes used in promotional material and on the album’s physical CD contained a singular photo of Kloss’ eye instead of Swift’s. After Swift debuted Folklore‘s Betty, fans went wild over the song’s premise, which is a love song full of hope sung to a girl named Betty — an energy that couldn’t be dissuaded even after Swift said it was written from the perspective of a male narrator.

Now it’s Midnights’ turn. The prevailing theory is linked to clips of Swift singing her 2017 track “New Year’s Day.” The song includes the lyrics, “But I stay when you’re lost and I’m scared and you’re turning away/I want your midnights.” Besides the heavily implied clock references in the song, which depicts lovers who stay together even after the party ends when the clock strikes midnight, fans are focusing on live clips of the song’s performance, where they claim Swift is using the words “I want her midnights.”

Pronoun game aside, fans have also pointed out that this song matches the vibe of recent promotional material, in which Taylor speaks about self imprisonment and mistakes that could have the possibility to either end her fate or help her find herself.

“We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears,” she wrote in her album announcement. “We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren’t — right in this minute — about to make some fate altering mistake.”

For any other artists, such specific theories might seem a little far-fetched, but T-Swift is notorious for indulging her fans’ most intense detective urges. In past projects, easter eggs have been as large as placing her album title and next single in the music video for “ME”! and as small as including a 1989 Mercedes-Benz S-Class in All Too Well: The Short Film, as a reference to her 1989 album.

Given that Swift’s career has been marked by public reaction to her relationships with very famous men, Swift fans who believe she’s straight discount the theory with interviews of her with male partners, or lyrics they believe are dedicated to Swift’s longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn. Some even say it’s rude to equate Gaylor theories to the good fun of finding references and hidden secrets in Swift’s body of work.

But underneath the fan edits, compilations, and conspiracy theories is the genuine desire Swift fans have to understand her music as thoroughly as possible. The defining factor of Gaylor — which allows fans who believe it to remain so attached to the pop star year after year, project after project — is that the pop star has been there for them.

Swift engages with her fandom in a way that is extremely unusual — and borderline terrifying — for her level of fame. She still hosts meet-and-greets, she’s hand-delivered merch to fans’ houses, and she even threw away a years long strategy of being apolitical when her fans asked her to speak out on what she believed in. So even if Midnights isn’t the gay album of their dreams, they won’t give up the theory. They’ll play it, then pick out small bits and references they think Swift is giving them, all to let her know that when, or if, she ever decides to come out, she knows they’re there to listen.

[jonathantaylorthomas]

OK, Swifties. You liked the fairytale fictions and indie-cred boast of Taylor Swift’s pandemic alt-folk records. But you’ve been yearning for the intimacy you felt when she knocked out those confessional bangers, haven’t you? Well, the wait is over. Playing Midnights will make you feel as though you’re sleeping over at her house while she spills secrets and settles scores into the night. Over a series of murky electronic grooves (mostly co-written with Jack Antonoff), the pop star unpacks her darkest dreams, deepest doubts and cruellest thoughts. All the while she keeps things just cryptic enough to keep the tension crackling and the speculation buzzing.

That said, she’s already stopped speculation about the opening track, “Lavender Haze”. “Gaylor” fans who’ve stuck (rather doggedly) to a queer reading of Swift had hoped that the song might be a coming-out track because of the colour’s long association with gay culture. But in an Instagram post, Swift explained that she had happened upon the phrase while watching Mad Men and found it was vintage slang for a dreamy love glow. Against the throb of a synth bass, she appears to be addressing the misogynistic media obsession with whether or not she’s marrying actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, with whom she’s been settled since 2016. “All they keep asking me / Is if I’m gonna be your bride / The only kinda girl they see / Is a one night or a bride” she notes (you can hear the eye-roll). But as the vocal layers build, she shakes off the judgement effortlessly: “Talk your talk and go viral / I just need this love to spiral.”

The slower, grimier texture of “Maroon” is a dive back into a past relationship (place your bets). Describing the affair, Swift sings of it decaying from the initial pink of cheap rosé to the “rust that grew between telephones”.

She’s on her best, self-scrutinising storytelling form on the excellent “Anti-Hero”, which lyrically sends zinger after zinger bubbling up through the fuzz of distortion. She unpicks the unwieldiness of her stardom with terrific, surreal imagery. “Sometimes I feel like everyone is a sexy baby / And I’m the monster on the hill / Too big to hang out / Slowly lurching towards your city / Pierced through the heart but never killed.” She skewers her acts of public kindness, too: “Did you hear my covert narcissism / I disguise as altruism / Like some kind of congressman?”

Things get funnier as the singer, whose fortune is estimated at around $750m, slur-growls: “I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money / She thinks I left them in the will / The family gathers round and reads it / And then someone screams out ‘She’s laughing up at us from hell!’” Swift lays into her “niceness” again on the poppier swell of “Bejewelled”, on which she warns a guy that she has the capacity to light up rooms (and all the boys in the band) if he doesn’t pay more attention.

“You’re on Your Own, Kid” digs into a catchy-cute guitar melody – flecked with pretty pings that echo her early pop – as Swift looks back on the days when she sang her songs in the parking lot. Lines about starving her body, hoping for the perfect kiss, are a nod to her Romeo and Juliet teen dreams. This sweetness is balanced by the vocal distortions and rhythmic lurches of “Midnight Rain”, on which Swift revels in her role as a heartbreaker. By the time she gets to noirish rap “Vigilante S**t”, she’s relishing her shadow-self, ripping into a cheating lover. “I don’t dress for women / I don’t dress for men,” goes her predatory purr. “Lately, I’ve been dressing for revenge.” As ever, Swift drops just enough filmic detail to conjure a scene: an envelope handed to a wife who’s now driving her ex’s Benz. And there’s some classy-sharp wordplay about the guy who was “doing lines/ and crossing all of mine”. Through it all, the low vibration of the synth is stalked by the treble rattle of a snare drum. The effect is of a woman in stilettos hunting a shadow.

There’s been some excitement online about the teased track “Karma”. Many thought it would address her spat with Kanye West, and that it might have been taken from an album lost during that time. But the swipes at a “spiderboy, king of thieves” waving a “web of opacity” would suggest it’s about her ex, Spider-Man star Jake Gyllenhaal (who famously dumped her by text, breaking her heart and inspiring the album Red which she recently re-recorded). The album ends with “Mastermind”, which seems to be about Alwyn again – and includes a confession that, like “all wise women”, she engineered some aspects of their romance. “I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian because I care…” Ha.

The subtle melodies of Midnights take time to sink their claws in. But Swift’s feline vocal stealth and assured lyrical control ensures she keeps your attention. Turn the lights off and let these songs prowl around you. Just don’t expect their meanings to settle too biddably into your lap. Swift’s always as elusive as she is allusive.