#red (taylor's version) stans it's important to remember that except for all the times we have lost we literally never lose

[coldasyou]

Nothing New // Anti-Hero

[chriswiftie]

My Reputation Story Guess

This could get messy, y’all, but I’m going to attempt to see if I can piece together a narrative if the right to left “15 Taylor’s” theory is true. I’m looking forward to looking back at this in November and seeing if I was totally off or not. 

I stand by the idea that each of these songs are likely character perspectives, but I do think they will tell some sort of overarching story. 

1. Ready For It 

If this theory is correct, RFI would be the first Taylor on the right. It makes sense, as some have already noted because the lyrics play on many themes of jail. He can be my “jailer”, “knew he was a killer”, “knew I was a robber”. 

The interesting thing about the song is that if we take the narrative in the video literally, she’s being trapped by the man in the song. Him being the “jailer” and her being locked up means she’s ready to, well, break out of there. 

2. Snake Taylor breaks out 

Once her character is defamed and she’s called a snake, she comes out to attack those who have wronged her. She’s ready to get revenge, hiss, bite and take back the narrative. 

Snake Taylor makes sense here, as the second song on many albums are generally pretty up-tempo.

3. Shake it off Taylor tries and misses 

I think it’s pretty telling that “Shake It Off” Taylor is right next to Snake Taylor because a lot of people expected her to “shake off” the Kimye situation or any of the other manufactured drama the press has created. 

Shake It Off Taylor also has a nasty attitude in the music video, making me think she tried to move forward but didn’t. Which ultimately...

4. Killed her. She couldn’t handle it. 

 I don’t think it’s coincidental that OOTW is the 4th track of 1989 and the 4th Taylor from the right. I’m going to take this one step further than “she never made it out of the woods” though, I genuinely think she kinda killed her own reputation. 

In her attempt to correct her mistakes and move forward, everything only blew up in her face and now she’s totally lost herself ( a contrast from her “finding herself�� in OOTW). She got lost and dragged herself down in the process. 

5. You Belong With...Friendship?

This is one of the most hopeful Taylor’s. In this song, She’s trying so hard to get a man but he won’t notice her. To me, it seems like friendship is an important theme, as the “Junior Jewels” shirt has all the names of her more modern friends. 

Maybe she is relying on friends to help her find herself again. So she can become the Taylor we all know and love. 

But, when that doesn’t work and some of her friends betray her...

6. Someone makes her do..er...something?

The interesting about LWYMMD is that Taylor doesn’t tell us who she’s talking about, which is both strange for Taylor and weird in general. Why keep a statement like this so open-ended?

Well, I think it’s a response to those she felt were on her side and really weren’t. Lashing out at the media, those who hurt her and the evil person people made her out to be. She’s had enough and she’s coming for blood. Reborn and ready to get revenge. 

But like I’ve said in the past, this is almost certainly a character.

7. Glamorous Ditz 

This really threw me for a loop, but I think the way she portrayed Met Gala Taylor in the music video is really telling.

She plays her as an overdramatic airhead. Which I think means she’s now acting innocent but knows exactly what she’s doing. She’s playing dumb but is ready to carry out her mission of getting back at people. 

Although then we have...

8. Reflective VMA Taylor

A lot of the drama around Taylor Swift began with Kanye’s interruption of her. It seems pretty interesting to me that this comes right in the middle of the album and after LWYMMD Taylor. Could this be a song about how Taylor never wanted any of this, but she’s had to deal with it anyway? 

In this narrative-arc (that I’ve completely guessed about), this seems like a good point of self-reflection upon the past. Maybe she is re-thinking how she handled things at VMA’s.

Or maybe, just maybe, she’s mad that she didn’t stand up for herself more. Because, as we know, her “I’d like to be excluded from this narrative” note on Twitter was one of the first times she’s had to publicly defend herself. 

And this Taylor says that same line in the music video. Suspicious.

9. Gossip Girl Taylor

I say “gossip” because this Taylor is central to all of her feuds. It almost seems like this is the version of her people believe purposefully gets into these feuds for attention and album sales. 

Story-wise, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here, but I think it’s going to be a fascinating song. 

10. Fearless again?

Ah-ha! Remember how innocent and fearless she was? This Taylor is emotional, happy and bubbly about everything. I’d expect to hear another country song here and maybe a reflection on a time where there was no drama in her life and she could be her happy, country-loving self. 

What a time. 

11. We Are Never Ever...Going back to our old selves? 

I think it’s fascinating that “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” Taylor would be the last Taylor from any past Taylor look. Which says to me that tracks 12-15 are new Taylor personas. Parts of her persona that we haven’t quite had a good look at yet, but we’ll get to investigate further. 

But first, she’s gotta say goodbye to her old selves. 

12. Reputation Taylor, the one who comes out on top

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Rep Taylor is the Queen of The Mountain? Did you ever play that game as a kid? Here it almost seems like she’s saying that she’s coming out on top of her past lives. 

She is in control of her reputation because she let the others go. Rep Taylor seems a little nasty to me, but maybe she’s just headstrong and misunderstood.

13. “Blind For Love” Taylor can see perfectly well

I’ve written before about genuinely believing this will be a Kesha collab. Why? The tiger on her shirt looks exactly like Kesha’s tattoo on her old Instagram post. 

I thought it was far too coincidental to see “roses” right above the Tiger on that shirt since Kesha’s last name is “rose”. That’s a huge coincidence if true. 

And further, look at the font! That looks just like the reputation font. 

As far as story, I’d guess after “Rep” Taylor made it out on top, she’s now having fun with her newfound power. She could also be single during this time, meaning she can say “Blind For Love” because it doesn’t hurt her anymore. 

14. Stay with me here...Taylor goes full feminist bad*ass

I honestly stan Biker Taylor and I haven’t even heard the song. I love the look and the way she portrays aggressive sexuality with the slit in her dress. I’d also like to highlight what she says in the music video:

“There she goes, playing the victim again” 

This is quite telling, as many people these days like to argue that she’s always playing the victim. This makes me think she’s not only on the offensive, she’s taken that victim identity and completely shoved it to the side. And once she’s dealt with that...

15. She shows us exactly who she is now.

Stronger, more powerful and confident in herself, this Taylor reminds me so much of a phoenix rising from the ashes from the short glimpse we’ve seen so far. She’s dressed in red (an important color in Swiftie-land) and the dress seems to have flowers or feathers all over her costume. 

Taylor is well known for closing out albums with a sense of hope and positivity. Long Live, Change, Begin Again and Clean were all very forward thinking. 

I expect this to fall along the lines of “Clean”, except this time she’s not cleansed of her exes. Now it’s all about moving on from the past. 

And honestly, that’s probably why she’s not saying a word until the album comes out. She wants the story of Reputation to speak for itself. A story of losing yourself in the personas people portray of you only to realize you are so much more than that. You are a complex, beautiful human being. 

 Look no further than the 1989 “Clean speech”:

But, you know, this is all just a fun, educated guess!