#i knew taylor in 2014-16 and became a fan in 2017 and I COUNT AS A NEW FAN! not you! you guys are toddlers!

[evermoredeluxe]

the way red/1989 swifties feel about me is the way i feel about folkmore/rerecording swifties

[taylizmasterpost]

Reconciliation and Late-Stage Tayliz (September 2014 - Present)

Despite not seeing each other for a while, Taylor and Liz clearly still hold a soft spot in each other’s hearts.

During the Secret Sessions for 1989 in Nashville, fans took pictures in Taylor’s home, and you can clearly see she has photos from Charleston displayed:

When it came time to mend the fences between Taylor and Liz, Claire Callaway was the one who ended up doing it:

2 October 2014 - Claire tweets a TBT to the Charleston trip. Liz responds to it:

That seems to get the ball rolling, because when Taylor drops Out of the Woods as a single, this happens:

14 October 2014 - Taylor and Liz tweet about how much they miss each other:

Then, when Taylor walks the runaway with Karlie at the VSFS, this happens:

Taylor is with Karlie at the time, and obviously nothing romantic is happening on Liz’s end either, because...

20 December 2014 - Liz gets engaged to Bryan Brown and has dinner with friends:

16 February 2015 - Liz tweets that Taylor is badass

8 April 2016 - Liz makes this gay post on Facebook that I’d like to think is a response to Style, since the MV had come out a few months before:

And Liz seems to have found a group of gay friends...

Although, that could just be a typo.

15 July 2015 - Liz posts on Facebook that “Thanks to some really talented friends, I got to record something beautiful today. Can’t wait to share this one.” The picture she attaches definitely looks like Taylor:

Liz also tweets this:

We do NOT know where Taylor was that day. However, she performed in DC on the 1989 tour on the 14th and was papped in NYC on the 16th so it’s not impossible she was in Nashville working on something with Liz. Unfortunately, whatever they worked on has yet to surface (unless you subscribe to the theory that Liz is WB...)

3 August 2015 - Shawn Brooks releases a song called Matter of Time that was written sometime in 2014 by Liz.

Notable lyrics include:

She’s got me lovestruck, crazy Going out of my mind She’s got me lovestruck, crazy But sooner or later, she’s gonna be mine It’s just a matter of time

Don’t know what this means for Liz or TayLiz, since Liz has been with Bryan since early 2013 at the latest, but this is very gay and fun.

27 August 2015 - Thirst tweet:

31 August 2015 - Liz calls Taylor sexy in response to the Wildest Dreams MV:

15 October 2015 - Liz tweets about Better Than Revenge:

28 October 2015 -  Liz quote tweets Taylor about OOTW acoustic:

11 November 2015 - Liz responds to Caitlin’s tweet tagging Taylor about nostalgia:

9 December 2015 - Liz congratulates Taylor on her Grammy noms:

13 December 2015 - Taylor’s birthday. Liz wishes her HBD:

29 January 2016 - Liz says her favorite song from 1989 is This Love:

15 February 2016 - Liz and Taylor both attend UMG’s Grammys afterparty at the Ace Hotel Theater :

26 February 2016 - Liz posts a TBT to Charleston:

16 April 2016 - Liz and Taylor both attend Coachella:

6 May 2016 - Liz tweets about This Love:

10 May 2016 - Liz possibly writes STFU and Hold Me (likely about Bryan, since he’s out on tour with the woman he’s going to leave Liz for, signaling to me that their relationship is on the fritz):

4 August 2016 - Liz posts a throwback to the Vogue photoshoot at the Bowery.

3 September 2016 - Liz and Bryan’s last interaction on Twitter:

(Bryan had been on tour with Jillian -- who he’d later marry -- and tweeting at her all summer, much more than he’d been tweeting with Liz). It’s important to note the way their relationship ended for when we start studying who Liz’s songs are about.

26 November 2016 - Liz tweets about Clean, possibly signaling her and Bryan have broken up by this point:

13 December 2016 - Liz wishes Taylor happy birthday with a post about Charleston (captions vary based on site). This also signals to me that her and Bryan are over, since she’s reminiscing on Taylor picking her up off the ground after her breakup with Jason:

11 July 2017 - Liz tells a fan that You Are In Love and All Too Well are her favorite songs from 1989 and Red (guess her favorite song is no longer This Love…):

11 August 2017 - Liz releases STFU and Hold Me:

This MV has a LOT of parallels to the IKYWT video. The lyrics talk about “staring with a bang” (”took off faster than a green light go”?), and reckless abandon (”this path is reckless”). MV parallels are as follows (thank you @mercuryonparklane​ for all the help finding this):

(notice the key necklace?)

So, either Liz is lowkey ripping off Taylor’s work or she’s trying to signal that she was the muse for IKYWT. However, considering Liz is deliberately trying to keep her image separate from Taylor, it doesn’t make any sense that she would try and rip her off. Of course, it could just be a big coincidence...

30 September 2017 - In an interview with The Young Folks, Liz says that STFU and Hold Me is about “getting to that point in a relationship where you’re sick of going around and around talking about the same issue with your partner and it’s time to wave the white flag,” Huett says. “We’ve all been there.”

Of the lyrics “I’m coming from a line of problems / I was born and I became a product” Liz says “I’m not exactly the most polished person. I’d rather be real than perfect and sometimes that means I say things that make people uncomfortable or act out in relationships and test limits, etc… I’m an honest mess but I believe I can and should be loved in light of that. :)”

I still think this song was written about the end of her relationship with Bryan, but it’s still interesting to see how Liz describes herself in relationships.

27 October 2017 - Liz releases H8U

This is another song that I think was written about Bryan. The lyrics reference taking another woman to a Tom Petty concert (Liz LOVES Tom Petty) and generally moving on quickly with another woman, which seems apt for the Bryan/Jillian situation going on.

HOWEVER, the lyrics also reference “our first date two years ago,” which doesn’t make any sense, since Liz and Bryan didn’t break up until 2016 and were together since early 2013. So it could maybe be lyrically about Taylor.

I do think the MV makes a deliberate Taylor reference, though, with the interrupting the wedding scene. Taylor famously had Liz dress as the Bridezilla on the Speak Now album art:

And, at the end of the H8U MV, Liz DOES kiss the blonde bride on the mouth after interrupting her wedding... which is... INTERESTING (especially since Liz is dressed in full RED the whole MV):

I don’t think it’s a stretch to presume Liz could’ve reversed their roles here. IDK.

9 November 2017 - Liz makes her “H8U, love these” playlist on Spotify, which features All Too Well.

1 November 2017 - Liz obsesses over Reputation:

15 November 2017 - Taylor posts an IG story with photos of her Liz and Caitlin in Australia in the background:

13 December 2017 - Liz wishes Taylor happy birthday:

20 December 2017 - In a now deleted tweet Liz obsesses over New Year’s Day

6 April 2018 - Liz releases Don’t LV U Anymore. Here are some interesting lyrics:

I don't steal your chapstick anymore / Don't wake up to your kiss anymore / And I don't have a washer and dryer full of guitar picks anymore / 'Cause you don't come over to my place anymore / Don't flirt with my roommate anymore / And I don't run to your friends / To get them on my side when we fight anymore / And I never say it / I keep it inside / But maybe I'm wasted / Or maybe it's time to get this off my chest, babe / ... / I don't love you anymore / But I don't love you any less / I don't play you my songs anymore / To see if they're good anymore / You don't tell me your secrets / 'Cause you don't know if I keep them to myself anymore / I don't go to church anymore / Don't know what to believe anymore / And I don't remember the beat of your heart / The smell of your car anymore / ... / Two years and counting / Still got all this weight on my chest / Two years and counting / And I can't remember what I can't forget

Based on the “two years and counting” line, as well as the line about a washer and dryer of guitar picks, I’m inclined to believe this is another song about Bryan. 

However, it is a really similar sentiment to that Civil Wars song Liz posted back when her and Taylor first ended things, and the line about running to get friends on a side when fighting is very similar to the “you go talk to your friends, talk to my friends talk to me” in WANEGBT and the image in Battle/Let’s Go of all their friends standing around watching them fight. Could go either way.

9 April 2018 - Liz reposts a Facebook post announcing Dammit that implies it was written a while ago. But we already knew that.

19 May 2018 - Reputation in Pasadena. Liz attends. Surprise Song: All Too Well. Camila Cabello is the opening act.  

27 May 2018 - Liz gives an interview at Bottlerock festival where she says that Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus is a song she used to get over someone (likely Bryan). She also says Havana was the song she last had stuck in her head -- probably because Camila performed it at Taylor’s show the previous week.

14 March 2019 - Liz makes a happy birthday post for Antoni (who’s dating her friend Trace):

27 April 2019 - Bryan and Jillian get married:

3 May 2019 - Liz releases Nothing Personal:

This feels like DIRECT BRYAN SHADE, since she released it right after his wedding. However, you definitely could also read it as being about being let go from The Agency.

Early May 2019 - Taylor shoots YNTCD. Her and Antoni bond over their love of The National (keep in mind Taylor would end up asking a member of the National to work on exile with her):

17 June 2019 - Liz likes Taylor’s post announcing YNTCD is out:

26 June 2019 - Liz posts on IG a video of unreleased song “One of These Days” with the caption “i’m emo” Lyrics:

One of these days I’ll rise above the blue / One of these days when I get sober too / I’ll be flying high you know / Gonna say I told you so / One of these days I’ll rise above the blue / The stars will align / My heart will come back to life / I won’t have to cry anymore / Someday soon, when I / When I get over you / One of these nights I’m gonna get some sleep / One of these nights you won’t be in my dreams / I will lay this love to rest / I will miss you in this bed / One of these nights I’m gonna get some sleep / The stars will align / My heart will come back to life / I won't have to cry anymore / Someday soon, someday / When I get over you

More evidence that Liz does, indeed, struggle with the things that Reddit post suggested.

14 August 2019 - Liz posts on IG a video of an unreleased song called “I Wanted It to Be You” with the caption “I really did” and a red rose emoji. Lyrics:

I’ll find someone else to take your place / In no time at all I’ll be okay / So you don’t have to say it babe / We don’t have to cry / ‘Cause I know you got shit to do / And baby so do I / I’ll find someone else to take your place, hey / I wanted it to be you I’m closing down the bar with / I wanted it to be you I’m fighting in the car with / Who I could push away / Come back and beg to stay / Ooh, I wanted it, I wanted it, I wanted it / I wanted it to be you

Likely for Bryan BUT maybe a red rose grew up out of frozen ground with no one around to tweet it (lol I’m joking the lakes is very likely not about Liz).

22 August 2019 - Taylor releases the Lover MV, featuring the “breakable heaven” board game:

In the bottom left corner, you can spot a blue 0527. May 27th is Liz’s birthday. What does this mean? I don’t know. I absolutely do not know, but whatever it is is driving me INSANE.

28 August 2019 - Liz posts on Twitter a screenshot of her listening to Cornelia Street:

16 October 2019 - Liz comments on a fan’s video of Taylor performing at the NPR Tiny Desk concert saying “she cute”:

19 November 2019 - Liz says on IG that her favorite songs from Lover are The Archer and Cornelia Street:

22 November 2019 - Liz releases That’s What You Get. This is the one late-stage Liz song that I FULLY BELIEVE is about TayLiz due to a few very specific lyric parallels:

“That’s what you get when you recklessly fall in love” >> “This path is reckless” from Treacherous

“That’s what you get for keeping your armor up” >> “You come around and the armor falls” from State of Grace >> “I would put my armor down if you said you’d rather love than fight” from Story of Us.

“And all your friends are lining up to hate me” >> “You go talk to your friends talk to my friends talk to me” from WANEGBT >> “First shot’s fired everybody’s gathered around” from Battle >> “I can't run to your friends anymore / To get them on my side when we fight anymore” from Don’t LV U Anymore.

It also, just from an outside perspective, doesn’t make any sense for Liz to write a breakup song about Bryan blaming herself when it seems very clear to me that they broke up because Bryan wanted to be with Jillian instead. That’s not her fault. So either this is about another breakup (I’d guess Taylor, based on the lyric parallels), or she’s just very very self-loathing and won’t let herself think it’s Bryan’s fault (which both H8U and Nothing Personal don’t suggest to me).

25 November 2016 - Liz posts a video on her IG story about Taylor at the VMAs.

6 December 2019 - Liz talks about That’s What You get with Earmilk and gives an interesting quote: 

Huett explains, “This song is about facing myself after a brutal season of running from it... I made a self-destructive choice that hurt someone I really value. The angle of the chorus is really sort of a letter to me after that first long look in the mirror. It SUCKED. However, in owning my shit (and sharing this song) my hope is that listeners might apply the sad lesson without having to learn the hard way, or, if they’ve ever found themselves in the regretful position I was once in, I hope this song can at least make them feel less alone."

This is SO DIFFERENT fro mhow her relationship with Bryan ended, but matches up so well with Liz getting help and owning her shit after spiraling in 2012.

24 July 2020 - Folklore drops. Two of the songs are written by the mysterious William Bowery. One of those songs is Betty -- a popular nickname for Elizabeth. Liz tweets at Taylor about the 1 because all of Taylor’s exes wanna think that song is about them.

So, IN CONCLUSION: Liz got help and worked through her shit and they’re on good terms now. They were possibly working on something together in 2015, although that never saw the light of day as far as we know. Liz seems to maybe be referencing Taylor in her music and MVs, but there’s no way to know for sure. Better Than Revenge on the Speak Now Tour was an iconic moment of sapphic energy, and maybe, just maybe, when Taylor re-records her masters, Liz will sing backup for her again.

Thanks for reading!

[chicagoredstars07]

Chicago Red Stars Season Preview: Living up to expectations

2016: 9-5-6, 33 pts. (3rd place) Playoffs: Semifinal loss in extra time to the Washington Spirit Head Coach: Rory Dames Home Ground: Toyota Park

The story of ’16

Since the inception of the National Women’s Soccer League, the Chicago Red Stars have made incremental progress each season. After finishing mid-table in 2013, they drafted well, added a few pieces and in 2014 only missed the playoffs on criteria. Then, in 2015, more adjustments and another solid draft earned them their first playoff berth—one that ended quickly with FC Kansas City scoring three times inside the first 25 minutes of play.

In 2016, Chicago took another step forward, qualifying for the playoffs again and performing much better than they had in the 2015 post-season. While the team still exited in the semifinal round, the Red Stars gave the Washington Spirit everything they could handle en route to a 2-1 loss in extra-time. They even had a chance to win the game in regulation when Christen Press rounded goalkeeper Kelsey Wys and put a left-footed shot off the crossbar with the score tied 1-1 in the 2nd minute of second half stoppage time.

What happened over the winter

The Red Stars didn’t make any major moves this winter, nor did they need to. Sticking to their formula of slow, calculated, piecemeal improvement, head coach Rory Dames and the Chicago front office have only tweaked their roster since last season.

Over the winter out went midfielder Amanda DaCosta and in came Morgan Proffitt, Michele Vasconcelos and Lauren Kaskie via the draft. Dames cited both Proffitt and Vasconcelos as potential Rookie of the Year candidates, but Vasconcelos will have to wait until 2018 to make her debut after announcing a pregnancy in February.

The Red Stars acquired Summer Green in a trade from Seattle in December, and the forward has scored two of the team’s three goals in preseason inter-squad scrimmages while also providing the game-winning assist in the team’s preseason match against Houston. Dames knew Green from his days coaching youth soccer against the Michigan native and told The Equalizer, “I’ve watched Summer play forever, going back to her [youth games]. She’s ruined my day on a number of occasions.”

Chicago also had eight players go abroad this winter, plying their trade in Australia’s W-League and picking up four months of valuable off-season training and games.

Player to Watch

Sofia Huerta had a strong campaign in 2016, picking up seven goals after notching six during her rookie season in 2015. She also put to bed the notion that she couldn’t score while playing with Press, scoring all but one of her goals last year with Press on the field.

In the off-season, Huerta played in Australia for Adelaide United and continued her scoring streak there, tallying eight times in 12 matches.

The Idaho native could be on the verge of a career season in 2017 and provide Chicago’s attack with the extra boost it needs to play for the title.

“I feel sharp, I feel fit and I feel ready,” said Huerta.

Final Outlook

Before Chicago gets down to business this year, Dames will have a series of difficult roster choices ahead of him. With 19 returners and seven newcomers still on the preseason roster (Julie Ertz (nee Johnston) doesn’t officially count right now because she is “out-of-market”), the head coach is full of praise for the players he has in camp.

“It’s the first year that we have 25 legitimate players of this level for 20 spots,” explained Dames. “I’ve never been in that situation—it’s going to be hard to make those decisions.”

He knows that Chicago’s schedule this year is going to require the depth of all 20 players on his roster and is excited to start seeing his youngsters develop. In some ways, he almost feels that the league’s roster rules punish the Red Stars for being too effective at developing their young talent.

Dames points out Katie Naughton as his most improved player from a year ago and won’t commit to starting the same back line he did in 2016. He has been using Taylor Comeau—who played exclusively as a midfielder last year—as an outside back in preseason and touts her athleticism and competitiveness while stressing she will one day be one of the league’s best defenders.

He was impressed with Courtney Raetzman’s performance against Portland in Chicago’s first preseason game and notes that Mary Luba has finally gotten serious about developing her game. “She does things that are special. She does things you don’t teach players to do,” Dames pointed out.

The coach has also been surprised by the quality of his newcomers in camp this year, specifically pointing to Simone Kolander. He knew she was fast and could get in behind defenses, but offered, “She’s got more tools in her kit than what was advertised. You don’t score a lot of goals in the Big Ten without having some special qualities.”

Considering the returning talent Chicago has and the team’s performance the last two years, getting the roster down to 20 may be one of the biggest challenges it faces this season.

Once the 2017 campaign kicks off, Chicago will likely rely on its tried and tested formula of a stingy defense, a high work-rate and Press golazos to grind out narrow wins. The biggest question heading into the season seems to be who will be the starting defenders and what formation Dames will use.

The coach has spent the preseason tinkering with a 3-5-2 and said, “We definitely have the personnel to do it, we have the athleticism to do it.”

He also insists that he decided to explore a three-back last fall, prior to it becoming en vogue after the United States national team made the change. Noticing that Chicago frequently scored goals late in matches when they became more aggressive going forward in 2016, he decided he needed to give a 3-5-2 a serious look this season.

Best Case Scenario

There’s a quiet confidence around the Red Stars this season, and everyone seems to know that this is a championship-caliber squad. Players like Julie Ertz, Vanessa DiBernardo, Danielle Colaprico, Arin Gilliland and Huerta, who have formed the backbone of the team over the past few seasons, are all now tested veterans—despite all being under 25 years old.

Add into that mix goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defender Casey Short and Press, and expectations for Chicago this season are high.

Even Dames, who describes himself as “more of a glass half-empty, than I am a glass half-full guy,” is excited and positive about what the team can accomplish this season.

Cause for Pause

The team hasn’t had Julie Ertz in camp this preseason due to her wedding and honeymoon and Dames said, “We’ve missed her leadership.”

She picked up a groin injury during the SheBelieves Cup and with everything else going on, the coach gave his defender the option of not coming in. That, he says, has limited a little of what Chicago has tried to introduce tactically, knowing that Ertz will be key to any strategic decisions they make this year. That fact could potentially slow the team down early in the season.

Dames’ teams have also benefited from a constancy in years’ past. It has usually been easy to predict his starting XI, his formation and even what substitutes would be made under what situations. And his players have always seemed to thrive under that consistency, knowing their coach has faith in them and knowing exactly what their roles are and how to execute them.

Counter-intuitively, the Red Stars’ success in developing players and drafting so well over the past few years may have inadvertently given their coach too many options heading into this season. With a possible switch in the formation on the horizon and the difficulty of finding playing time for so many talented players, Dames will have new challenges to contend with in 2017.

Another obstacle may be dealing with higher expectations. Since their inaugural NWSL season in 2013, the Red Stars have enjoyed a relative anonymity. With nearly everyone involved—from players, to the coaches, to the fans—expecting big things out of the team this year, there will more attention on the team than in past seasons and more pressure to win early and often, both from inside and outside the organization.

How the team responds to that pressure, especially if and when they hit bumps in the road, will be key to their success over the course of the 2017.