#idk this kinda boils down to the age old conflict of the line between portrayal and romanticism

[coldasyou]

Hi! I'm a different anon but I've been kinda curious about your thoughts on this..since you've shared some of your struggles with depression. I've also been suicidal now and especially in the past but I don't feel like she talks about it genuinely in this album compared to past albums. Like there isn't one song about it..it's more like things that happened that made her "crazy" which relates to the asylum imagery. But to me it's all exaggerated I guess and idk how she could dismiss her partners feelings experience with it either. That makes me kinda uncomfortable. Of course songs like Antihero and I Can Do It are allowed to be cuz we have all been there but I don't get the sense she actually wanted to kill herself like she's talked about with some lyrics like about crashing into the rocks everyone is saying...compared to in This is Me Trying, Hoax or Evermore. Idk..we don't get a song here that describes how she actually felt or how bad the depression actually was.Maybe The Black Dog, I Can Do it and I Hate it Here show it the most..and the fame songs. Of course I think she struggles with it generally and definitely with fame. I also think it's a different kind than me,that I don't relate to so maybe it's just me and everyone is different. She also had someone falling in love with her at the worst time of her life lol which is not my experience at all and now that is happening again. So it's hard to believe it most of the time and part of why I have a hard time with this album I think and it's been hard to figure out why. Sorry this is so long..I hope it's okay I sent this.

you're totally fine, I think it's important to have these conversations.

it's just all kind of hard to talk about bc on one hand I don't want to assume things about taylor's mental state that I do not know, but I also want to listen to and discuss what she's portrayed and said in her art. like where does interpretation end and speculation begin? especially with a topic as sensitive as this, so I guess what I would say is I think taylor's made it clear she's struggled with her mental health and I think a lot of it has to do with fame. and like you said it's kinda hard for us to relate to that bc well, we're not famous, and it sometimes feels like "why would you complain about having all this money and success other people would kill for." idk I'm kinda rambling at this point, I wish I had a concise reply but I think at the end of the day I'd rather give taylor the benefit of the doubt that she is using this terms and portraying herself in this way bc it's how she genuinely feels. i'd rather be wrong than say someone can't talk about their own mental health in a way I don't like. we are in an era of people using stuff like intrusive thoughts as a joke so I get why everyone is a bit wary of stuff like this but that's personally how I feel.