#if you take out iftye the man maathp london boy yntcd and me! -- then it's a great album

[petruchio]

not to beat a dead horse but honestly the most annoying thing about lover is that there really is a great album in there if you look for it.

like first there’s the progression of light in the album. how we move from artificial with the “glow of the vending machine” and “the christmas lights (in) january” until all the light disappears while “i wake in the night/i pace like a ghost" and "i whisper in the dark." but somehow, light still manages to creep in even during the night: “the moon is high/like your friends were the night that we first met," until “the morning comes and you’re not my baby." still, the speaker holds out hope that the morning can bring the lover back, saying that “this ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight” so we end up in the daylight. in some ways, the whole album is an expansion of the single line "starry eyes sparking up my darkest night" from reputation. we see that line spiral out in real time as lover progresses.

and then there's everything that happens in cars (im drunk in the back of the car/we were in the backseat drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar/we can follow the sparks i’ll drive/cut the headlights, summers a knife/i want to drive away with you/show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride) which in itself is revisiting something that occupies of so much of taylor's early work. so much of debut and fearless take place in cars (just a boy in a chevy truck/i was riding shotgun with my hair undone/in the passenger seat you put your eyes on me) because cars are one of the few places where a teenager can be afforded privacy. in some ways, extreme and isolating fame is a form of ongoing childhood (i never grew up, it's getting so old) (there's this thing people say about celebrities, that they get frozen at the age they got famous) and it's against this background that cars again take on that same significance as they did in adolescence.

and then there's all the repeated imagery of city streets and traffic lights (i’d never walk cornelia street again/i ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright/he got my heartbeat skipping down sixteenth avenue/i'm new york city/you're the west village/as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home) because lover is a story about a person becoming a city and a city becoming a lover. welcome to new york -- but we are no longer talking about the city itself, because new york has become one with the object of lover's affection. so it's no wonder that the dead center of the album is cornelia street and dbatc. side a ends with cornelia street and side b begins with dbatc, because they're two sides of the same coin: it's the story of a physical place becoming so wrapped up with another person that the speaker realizes that if that person were to leave them, they could never experience in that place the same way again. "windows flung right open" turn into "i look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up." "we were a fresh page on the desk" turns into "if the story's over, why am i still writing pages?" the streetlights that once "pointed us home" now cannot even tell us if it's going to be alright anymore. while the speaker can "get mystified by how this city screams your name," they could just as easily "see you everywhere" because if it ends, "the only thing we share is this small town." if the lover leaves, the entire city will be ruined.

and that's the fear on which the whole album is centered. lover is not an album on love, but on anxiety. what do you do after you've realized that one person has the power to truly break you? that if they ever left you, the very city that once welcomed you, waited for you, and taught you "a new soundtrack" would be ruined forever by the mere memory of them? that's where we begin to understand lover: that anxiety. we start with so many questions: "i love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?" "who could ever leave me darling? but who could stay?" in this context, "can i go where you go? can we always be this close?" is not just romantic, it's an indication of this same terror. the speaker isn't confident enough to know that they can be together -- they still feel the need to ask. lover being placed so early on the tracklist indicates that it's a song that still comes from a place of anxiety.

at some point, we find a false confidence: i think he knows and paper rings lay out a vision of love that sounds almost simplistic again. we don't need anyone but each other, "i ain't gotta tell him i think he knows" and "i like shiny things but i'd marry you with paper rings." the speaker tries to let go of the anxieties of cruel summer and the archer, but too soon, that cornelia street fear creeps in again. and so the speaker decides that the love must hold something false in it: "we might just get away with it" but "it's a false god." and eventually, inevitably, everything falls apart. and the speaker, so angry with themself for letting it happen again, returns to the questions we found earlier on the album: "why'd i have to break what i love so much?" there's an apology, and an acceptance that there has to be a stable friendship in order to make this work: "it's nice to have a friend" to have someone to "call my bluff," to admit that "you've been stressed out lately, yeah, me too." the lovers are able to be honest with each other here, to apologize, because they've built up a foundation of friendship underneath all the drama and anxiety and intensity of feeling we saw earlier in the album.

so after all this, when we finally reach the end, the realization is not that the love or the lover themselves is grand or beautiful or anything really. the realization is that the anxiety itself is what will ruin things: that's why the album ends with the lines "you gotta step into the daylight and let it go. just let it go." because after all this anxiety and stress and questioning, the only answer is to simply let it go. for the speaker to accept that the love is more important than the fear: "i want to be defined by the things that i love, not the things that i'm afraid of." and so the album ends, not with a statement of love for another person, but with a declaration about the self: i just think that you are what you love.

[likeadevils]

rank Lover for Lover anniversary?

ooooh boy alright let’s go

cruel summer: (this will be a long personal tangent btw) i remember when loverfest was going to happen and i didn’t have a car or money or anything so i didn’t even try for tickets and i was like. well it’s not a single so this might be the only tour she every plays it on and i was just kinda resolved to never listen to it live. and then eras tour rolls around and everyone is getting tickets to opening night and the biggest part of fomo for me is like. i just want to scream this song with my friends and i was like idk i hope at least a few of them think of me when they scream my url and then i luck into basically face value tickets the week before and im prayyyyyying its on the setlist AND THEN BOOM ITS ONE OF THE FIRST SONGS. NAD AFTER FIVE YEARS I GET TO BE AMONG THE FIRST PEOPLE TO HEAR THE SONG LIVE. and i was CRYINGGGGGGGG

the archer: genuinely made me the person i am today for reasons i can not express without getting way to personal. you might be going, claire, if it’s so important to you, why is it #2? and look man. taylor screaming out he looks up grinning like a devil is just that satisfying

lover: i love this song i listen to it all the time it restored my faith in taylor swift etc etc. now if i can rant about track listing for a minute. this should’ve gone after the archer like the archer leaves you with this note of unfulfillment and uncertainty and the beat never drops and then what does lover start with? this deep reassuring thrum of a bass. it allows the archer to have its artistic integrity and make its point about anxiety never fully dissipating and then BOOM they’re choosing to build a life with each other and she’s being vulnerable and the transition between the two enhances both songs

cornelia street: LIKE THATS HOW YOU TAKE A SPECIFIC AND MAKE IT UNIVERSAL LIKE!!! that one interview where’s she’s explaining the concept of the song and the interviewer goes “oh, that’s me with this bar. if my wife left me i’d never be able to go into that bar again” LIKE HELLO. ALSO THE CITY OF LOVER VERSION?????

daylight: like cmon now LIKE CMON NOW

soon you’ll get better: its a really good song it means a lot to me i think its expertly described

paper rings: on my first listen i could not stand this song and i can not tell you why it’s so fun and well made. apologies to paper rings 2019 claire wasn’t ready for you

inthaf: no because the speaker loses both of her gloves so the lover gives her one so they’re both a little cold and a little warm and neither of them are alone. like shut the fuck up

afterglow: THOSE DRUMS

ithk: so when lover came out i would take the bus everywhere and to get from one bus to the other i would have to walk through this big empty field with an abandoned parking lot in it and like no one was around so i would strut and dance and sing along to music and ithk was a favorite for my empty field time.

maathp: one of my first listen favorites! it’s fallen over the years but i still think the core of it— americas sweetheart falling from grace alongside america’s self mythology— is a really cool concept

false god: over the course of my first and second listens i ate half a jar of peanut butter with a spoon and i don’t remember exactly what point i started but i think it was this song

dbatc: i used to HATE the production of this song and over the years it’s risen but i must admit i’m still avoidant of it

london boy: it’s a bop but i am irish. american but still

yntcd: the step up of the oh-oh Oh-Oh- OH-OH OH-OH ᴼᴴ⁻ᴼᴴ is solidddd. also it’s cheesy and all and it’s not like i thought she was homophobic but it did mean a lot to me to hear taylor swift be so publicly okay with gay people

iftye: i listened to this while driving with the windows down to the beach once and you know what. song of all time in that moment

me: it’s fun! i don’t hate it! not my favorite though. obviously

the man: so to be fair this song was never going to live up to the killers song with the same title that i was Obsessed with in 2019 BUT it’s also just like. like it has some amazing lines and i connect with some of the sentiment but i like. idk i just don’t dream of being the oppressor yknow

[certifiedmirrorball]

HAPPY ONE YEAR OF LOVER!!! 💗🦋💌🌈

to celebrate i’m going to share my favorite lyric from each song on the album!🥳

iftye: “i just forget what they were, it’s all just a blur”

cruel summer: “he looks up grinning like a devil”

lover: “and you’ll save all your dirtiest jokes for me, and at every table i’ll save you a seat, lover”

the man: “they paint me out to be bad, so it’s okay that i’m mad”

the archer: “all of my enemies started out friends, help me hold onto you”

ithk: “he’s so obsessed with me and boy i understand” *THE SASSINESS WE STAN

maathp: “it’s you and me, that’s my whole world”

paper rings: “kiss me once cause i waited my whole life”

cornelia street: “memorize the creaks in the floor”

dbatc: “my heart my hips my body my love tryna find a part of me that you didn’t touch gave up on me like i was a bad drug now i’m searching for signs in a haunted club our songs our films united we stand our country guess it was a law list land quiet my fears at the touch of my hand paper cut stings from my paper thin plans my time my wine my spirit my trust tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up gave you too much but it wasn’t enough but i’ll be alright it’s just a thousand cuts”

london boy: “darling, i fancy you”

sygb: “what am i supposed to do, if there’s no you?”

false god: “we were stupid to jump in the ocean separating us”

yntcd: “CAUSE SHADE NEVER MADE ANYBODY LESS GAY”🌈

afterglow: “tell me that your still mine tell me that we’ll be just fine even when i lose my mind”

ME!: “hey kids! spelling is fun!”

inthaf: “light pink skies up on the roof sun sinks down no curfew”

daylight: “you gotta step into the daylight and let it go”

🌸💌🦋🌈💞🌞🍄💍

@taylorswift , thank you SO much for this album, it means the world to me! one year ago today, the world was blessed with 18 new bops💓 i love that this album shows how happy you are and that makes me even happier. ily, tay! 💌

[thesaxaphoneintroinfalsegod]

fav lyrics from Lover the album

IFTYE: “..sssooooo yeah”

CRUEL SUMMER: “I LOVE YOU, AINT THAT THE WORST THING YOU EVER HEARD??? HE LOOKS UP GRINNING LIKE A DEVIL!”

LOVER💖: “With every guitar string scar on my hand, I take this magnetic force of a man to be my...LOVERRRRR”

THE MAN: “When everyone believes ya...what’s that like?” And also “what’s it like to brag about raking in dollars and getting bitches and models...?”

THE ARCHER: “I see right through me! I see right through me!” And “who could ever leave me darlin..but who could stay?”

ITHK: “Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh we can follow the sparks, I’ll drive”

MAATHP: “and I’ll never let you GO! cause I know this is a FIGHT! that someday we’re gonna WIN!”

PAPER RINGS: “kiss me once cause you know I had a long night, kiss me twice cause it’s gonna be alright, THREE TIMES cause I waited my whole life!”

CORNELIA STREET: “I rent a place on Cornelia Street, I say casually in the car”

DBATC: “My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust, tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up”

LONDON BOY: “Took me back to highGATE met all of his best MATES so I guess all the rumors are true!”

SYGB: 😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭this song is a heartbreaking masterpiece that I won’t defile by isolating a single lyric tbh

FALSE GOD: does the sax intro count? Lmao also “But we can patch it up good, make confessions and we’re beggin for forgiveness, got the wine for you”

YNTCD: “SHADE NEVER MADE ANYBODY LESS GAY!!!!”

AFTERGLOW: “This ultraviolet morning light below, tells me this love is worth the fight, oh”

ME!: “I know that I’m a handful baby UH!”

INTHAF: “School bell rings, walk me home, sidewalk chalk, covered in snow” but specifically mirrored with “Church bells ring, carry me home, rice on the ground, looks like snow”

DAYLIGHT: “Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down, maybe I’ve stormed out of every single room in this town, threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it’s morning now...it’s brighter now” and also “I once believed love would be burning red...but its golden...like daylight.”

[saltandvinegardreamteen]

Answering the Lover ask

Iftye: my so called best friend called me a pedophile, I'm kinda sorta not over it I just cut her off, and I wouldn't change a thing about how I dealt with it. True, I lost my "best friend" who was deeply in love with me and I loved her too but in the end I was getting rid of someone toxic

Cruel summer: oof having to choose between my "best friend" and the guy I was with, simply because I didn't want to choose, he was fine with my decision and supported me 100% but she wouldn't have me unless I made her my only commitment, in the end I chose him bc he was obviously more accepting of me and I do think it was worth it, it hurt but it was better for me emotionally and mentally

Lover: yes, we don't fight that much and usually it's bc of my BPD, and we usually make-up just by talking through it and coming to an agreement, haven't been on any dates yet 😉

The man: honestly I have a tendency to self-harm when I feel 100% powerless but I'm working on not doing that, and tbh I feel like 85% powerless most of the time especially with everyone trying to convince me to go to college and all that

The Archer: I'm most insecure about my weight especially when people comment on it even if they're saying something positive like I carry it well or that I look really good, I'm insecure but also proud of my intelligence bc I'm really smart but that makes me feel really stupid when I can't understand something, with my weight, I make myself feel better by wearing things tht I'm comfortable in obv and with my smarts I tend to stick to things I know well

Ithk: I guess yeah, I kinda just act the same as I would if we were just friends unless they say something to let me know that there's something else going on, idrk what makes me like someone it just kinda happens but sometimes there is something that will make me realize how much I like them *cough cough*

Maathp: oof my image of myself fading a long long time ago and honestly I couldn't pinpoint when, and yes I would 100% ditch this life if I could

Paper rings: um I'd kinda prefer something sweet and simple though it'd prob be very unconventional, I don't really have a favorite memory, true some are better than others but I don't know

Cornelia street: oof angel with a shotgun by the cab. I really liked how he was so sweet and innocent but it would've never worked out

Dbatc: oof leaving my baby boy (ex bf, also I say leaving bc I never got to tell him goodbye) my biggest regret is that I didn't meet him sooner, and obv I love him to death but chances are we'll never see each other again

London boy: I kinda like no accent (like when people talk really properly to hide their accent) but I'll have to admit there's something about a southern drawl, I'm probably most fascinated by German culture (maybe bc I'm learning German in school) and I've never been outside of the US but Georgia is absolutely gorgeous

Sygb: I'm really worried about college bc I kinda don't want to go but everyone is pressuring me about it and also ugghhhhh y'know life, honestly I spend the most time taking care of my fish which says a lot considering I only feed him like twice a week, um, most painful memory would definitely be the first time I fell in love

False god: I guess I was religious at some point but not anymore, don't really have any superstitions, and Satanism really fascinates me

Yntcd: people criticize me a lot about my attitude and how I talk to people bc i talk to everyone just about the same, and tbh idgaf so I just do me they do them and hopefully we don't do each other, pansexual boi😜😜😜

Afterglow: I tend to avoid confrontation but yeah I've driven people away by fighting with them over stupid stuff, I honestly forgive way too easily, someone has to do so so much to get me to the point where I won't forgive them

Me!: Most proud of my intelligence, most people probably like my humor the best and I'd have to agree that it's pretty great

Inthaf: my best friend hayven for all of those, fav memory is when we went skating and on the way home we stopped at a gas station/laundromat and we were doing all kinds of crazy stuff

Daylight: Patrick Stump, listening to music, music

…………........…...…..........……………………………

It took me like 3 hours to finish this lol mainly bc I can't focus for shit. But here you go lovely