#song lyric is from: christmas tree farm

[theysaidspeaknoww]

Sweet dreams of holly and ribbon...

[foxes-that-run]

Two NYE ago means 2015 NYE right? Since Harry was with that girl, and she was pretty mad at that time, maybe she was reminiscing about their time together and hoping to find someone who'd stay and then after meeting Joe she repurposed it because she thought she found that love she was searching for with Joe. I think most of reputation is her repurposing songs/ideas that were about something/someone else. And Joe just fit but some songs definitely has part Joe in them too. So I guess she succeeded in that bait and switch thing

That video, (which Taylor Nation has cut at 24:38 from their version) is from Chicago 27 June 2018, so she is referring to NYE 2016/17. (side note: Harry was also in Chicago 30 June 2018. In his next show he changed the Lyrics to MMIH to 'running with thieves you'... a few weeks before Hamille ended due to cheating......)

We have been told a few things to tell us she was with Joe then:

In 2018 the Reputation magazines included photos from Stella McCartney's farm in Bishampton (on the pages adjacent to NYD) and in January 2016 Joe posted a photo of himself woods that also had trees... not the same trees, but OK... I guess.

In 2019 in promo for A Christmas Carol Joe told interviewers he swims in Hampstead Heath every christmas, which many linked to Paper Rings, along with a very natural photo of Taylor painting a literal wall. And maybe he does, just him, his family and (long time lcy swim enthusiast) Harry Styles and by chance no one ever photographed or spoke about it.

Then on 30 December 2020 Taylor was hacked and the only photos they got/leaked was 7 (rather odd) images of Taylor and Joe getting ready on that new years eve. Amazingly they had access to Taylor Swift's camera roll and only leaked 7 PG images that placed her with Joe the at the time of a story Taylor Nation edited out of one of their videos about an icy swim on NYE, almost on the anniversary of when they were taken. (The 7 Photos were in 2 drops, the proper (non-mirror) selfies leaked October 2021.)

So why do I doubt this? Any alternative version is pure speculation we don't know where Taylor was NYE 16/17. But the edited video is weird, and I find the above odd.

FIrstly New Year's Day seems like an 1989 outtake to me, the story also fits the NYE 2012/13 Haylor Kiss that did involve hardwood floors, a Taxi in which to squeeze hands, a lobby girls could carry shoes in and an insane crowd that did make it hard and probably made them feel lost. And she looked ready to cry performing it while she was dating Joe?

Where was Harry on New Years Eve 2016/17?

Well he was spotted with Taylor on 28 December 2016 in Liverpool. Within a few days, one of his friends signed a record for Taylor to gift Austin Swift. Austin thanked the band who replied "when someone asks you to sign a record for their "friends little brother' and the friend turns out to be Taylor Swift."

After being missing for a few days he was next seen taking photos with fans in Holmes Chapel (1.5 hours drive from Stella's farm) on New Years Eve.

But wait! Taylor said she and Joe had been together for 3 months in the Lover Journal? What she said was "we" maybe that was Joe and we didn't find out for another 5 months. Or maybe she was with someone else.... in this entry shaped like a butterfly.

Updated with more.. so I question adding this and need to cavet that haylorsecrets was an account that claimed to have inside info from Taylors PR office and lost the inside connection (in hindsight after Taylor fired her publicist before Tree in 2014) they then had a friend who fed them some info. It may have all been made up, but they were right about some things. Looking for another post I saw these where she posted in February 2017 that Harry and Taylor had been together at christmas. (x, x)

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Taylor’s use of 7 is Haylor, including seven: a thesis

Buckle up, friends. Ever since hearing the seven poem aloud on the Eras tour—with its explicit link to Wildest Dreams—it confirmed my long-held suspicion that *seven* is Haylor.

Some data:

- all track 7s post Red seem to be Haylor

- 7 is Harry’s number (added to hers you get 20, hence all the references to 20)

- seven is track 7 on folklore, the album Taylor released on 1D’s 10th anniversary. What? Harry had released Fine Line on her previous bday (#30, Dec 13/19) and she’d missed his Feb 1st day already.

But bestie, you might ask, how is it possible? Let me explain, drawing from details of the song.

We know that Anne and Des Styles divorce when Harry is 7. Anne has primary custody of H and Gemma in Holmes Chapel, but they remain close to Des whom they see on weekends.

But then, there is a period in their lives that no one knows much about and no one speaks about. Even this gem (which I am currently citing) - a 1D origin story has very little.

Harry has another stepdad whose last name is Cox (which was Anne’s name during 1D X factor time). His name was John. They family move to Great Budworth in the Cheshire countryside where Anne is landlady in a pub (and Harry talks fondly of ice cream runs and first girlfriends).

But then when H is around 12, Anne and the kids are back in Holmes Chapel. Anne eventually dates and gets serious with Harry’s beloved, now late stepdad Robin Twist. And Harry sometimes mentions his overwhelming desire to protect his Mom and Gemma at all costs.

No one ever mentions this guy. Ever.

Fast forward a few years to the magical December of 2012. After work commitments, Harry and Taylor spent 4 or 5 days in the north of England. They stay with Anne, and they Christmas bake and go on double dates with Gemma and her then boyfriend, and grocery shop and hang out with his friends. He takes her to the Lakes, where she’s dreamed of going.

It’s her 23rd birthday and be showers her with surprises and 23 thoughtful gifts (she’s not writing The Moment I Knew on his watch!). He gets her food from his childhood fave Chinese place and the bakery where he worked! He is showing her his life. It’s documented here…

Including their visit to a pub in Great Budworth and a drive around the area.

We have no idea what happened, but maybe Taylor does?

Taylor never got to take him to Pine Tree farm in rural PA, as far as we know. But in the depths of the pandemic, when no one could go anywhere, she paints him a picture of her PA childhood.

And in it, we find a fictionalized friend who has a difficult and maybe scary father figure. One from whom Taylor wishes she could save and protect her friend, despite crossing her heart and promising not to tell.

What a gift, to affirm the struggle this child went through, and to show her care and desire to *be with them in it*.

She wanted to scoop him up and take him away from the closet tears to play pirates and “run away to India”. What kid in rural PA wishes to go there? Come on! 😭😭😭

And then, here are the lyrics she pens:

“Passed on like folk songs, the love lasts so long”

“And just like a folk song, our love will be passed on…”

And most significantly - *love you to the moon and to Saturn* 🌙🪐 !!!!!

She wasn’t kidding in Gold Rush - “my mind turns your life into folklore, I can’t bear to dream about you any more.”

[tayfabe75]

In the speech Matty did for the award show he went to recently he said that the music industry is a place where pimps, and thieves run free, and it made me think of the Robbers music video. In the music video they are thieves robbing a store, but also in the movie, true romance, that robbers is based on the whole plot is that the main character has to save a prostitute from her pimp. This also makes me think of the colored music video for sex where at the end after all their fun and shenanigans the girl gets arrested and is taken away, could this all be connected back to the fact that Taylor got signed to a record label much sooner than the band did, so she was technically “arrested”, something that the boys have stated many times they couldn’t get. Could this be why Taylor could no longer party or hangout with the boys if they ever did. Also in that music video the boy looks up at a Christmas tree and laughs and I always thought that was weird, which i know could just be him laughing at the irony of it being hot and Christmas where they are, but that also places the music video in the time of Christmas which reminds me of When We are Together when he says “Our first kiss was Christmas in the Walmart toy department”, and the fact that Taylor grew up on a Christmas tree farm. Another part of this is that the boy and the girl in the music video are both wearing homemade necklaces made of chord, one of which has a key on it (this connects to a vault track off of Red called “Run”), and recently matty has been wearing a long necklace that is made of chord and he keeps it hidden under his shirt and I haven’t seen a necklace like that anywhere but in that music video. I think that the thing that Matty and Taylor are trying to do is much more that just expose they’re relationship, I think that they have been trying to free Taylor from the music industry for a long time and that could have been their plan all along, I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Wow! Thanks for your analysis of all of this! That was a joy to read! I really loved the part about comparing the girl getting arrested to getting signed earlier. That's super interesting to me! Especially when we follow the thread of "thieves" to the 'I Can See You' music video, where we see a thief (all dressed in black) on a mission to break Taylor out of a vault. This thief has to pass through a neon box in order to reach her…

By the way - 'I Can See You' is just littered with Matty/The 1975 imagery, in my opinion - I made a little video to highlight what I mean, it also seems to parallel Fallingforyou, amongst others...

But, yes! The inexplicable Christmas Tree! That immediately reminded me of Taylor, too. Also interesting that The 1975 should choose an American actress/setting for the plot of this video. When "Slut!" first came out, it reminded me of this plotline, so I made a little fan video matching the scenes up with the lyrics:

It also reminded me of a female answer to the song 'Sex', right? Here you have the guy all torn up over this girl who is almost squandering their chemistry. In "Slut!" it's almost like we get our answer. She's suffering just as much as he is, but she's the one with the "boyfriend, anyway", and she'll have to endure the insults or the "reputation", not him - but that it might be worth it for once… Now might be a good time to remind that the original version of 'Sex' also included this lyric: "Gonna fuck me anyday", (as can be heard in the 2009 video of Matty busking the song with George!)

Speaking of 'Robbers', did you know Dakata Battcher (the lead guy in the 'Sex' music video) was supposed to play the lead in the 'Robbers' music video, as well? Matty ultimately took over the role. But that begs the question… is 'Robbers' possibly a continuation of 'Sex'?

And if we're gonna talk about 'Robbers', we might as well talk about its "sister video", 'I Knew You Were Trouble'! Because, well, we've got yet another connection not just to 'Red', but keys on chains:

Also, that shirt… it looks familiar! A lot like this one Taylor wore on her trip to London in 2009, as seen in her video entitled, "Whisper hello, I miss you quite terribly.":

But back to 'I Knew You Were Trouble'… did you know Taylor premiered the song as a single on October 8th, 2012, a song notable for lyrics:

"And the saddest fear comes creeping in, that you never loved me, or her, or anyone, or anything"

A few days later, on October 13th, 2012, Matty would tweet this cryptic message:

"listen darlin. i do love you. so terribly much"

Young Matty also shares a similar style to the romantic lead in IKYWT, plus he was a rave kid (he talked about it in his interview with Zane Lowe):

Of course, electronic music is a huge part of the rave scene, so it's interesting that Taylor became one of the first mainstream artists to incorporate dubstep into pop music with 'I Knew You Were Trouble'. Interestingly… the friendship bracelets Taylor's fans now trade at all the Eras shows? Also a long-established tradition in rave culture! (Greater YOYOK implications, perhaps?) And of course, here's the desert rave depicted in the IKYWT music video:

Anyway, I get it, it's all just a series of coincidences. So here's another fun one - Taylor wrote This Love a few days after Matty's cryptic tweet, on October 17th, 2012 - a song whose motif may or may not be purposefully threaded into the lyrics of the following songs:

Love Story: This love is difficult, but it's real Ours: The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours State of Grace: But this love is brave and wild This Love: These hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me Death by a Thousand Cuts: I look through the windows of this love False God: Still worship this love, even if it's a false god Afterglow: This ultraviolet morning light below tells me this love is worth the fight exile: Holdin' all this love out here in the hall

(And possibly Lavender Haze? Harder to say, but maybe: "I just need this love spiral")

As per your last point, that's exactly the same conclusion that I came to, as well! I don't want to get too into that theory right now (or maybe ever lol), but what I will say is… well, I'll actually just link you to one of my old tweets because you'll see exactly why I don't want to re-type what it says given the very unfortunate (and unrelated) series of very current events.

Thanks for the ask! I cannot begin to express what a delight it was to indulge in the potential story elements at play here.

[allannmwasa]

Words Know No Color: A Black Fan's Ode to Taylor Swift's Poetic Mastery

As I reflect on my journey with music and poetry, I find solace in a world that was once solely mine to imagine—a refuge from the bullying for being effeminate I endured in high school. Country music, with its soulful melodies and heartfelt lyrics, became my sanctuary, a haven where I could escape the harsh realities of my teenage years.

One fateful day, as I tuned in to the country music station, a song captivated my senses, offering a mind-blowing juxtaposition. It was "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift, a revelation that would open the door to a new world of poetic expression through lyrics. Little did I know that this encounter would mark the beginning of a profound connection with Taylor's music, a journey into the genius of her poetry that continues to unfold.

In adulthood, I have faced adversity and negativity for my choices, but never did I anticipate that my love for Taylor Swift would become a source of contention. As a black individual, I found myself confronted with the absurd notion that my appreciation for Taylor's art was somehow incompatible with my identity.

Yet, the beauty of diction and the power of words have always been my allies. As a child, I garnered awards for my ability to convey emotions through language, and Taylor's music resonated with me on a profound level. I was drawn to her clever use of symbolism, sarcasm, and satire, recognizing that her songs were not just about melodies but well-crafted words that echoed the sentiments of many.

One striking illustration of this is found in "The Lakes," a composition by Taylor Swift that pays a poetic homage to an era that cherished emotional expression over the constraints of logic and reason. In this particular instance, it became evident to me that Taylor Swift transcends the label of a mere artist; she is, in essence, a poet who crafts vivid images with her words, delving into the intricacies of the human experience with a profound understanding and emotional depth.

Despite the negativity and stereotypes that sought to limit my musical preferences, I have continued to appreciate Taylor's work. I learned that diversity is not solely about experiencing nuances within one's own race; it's about embracing a multitude of perspectives and finding common ground in unexpected places.

While my experiences may differ from Taylor's upbringing on a Christmas tree farm with a family of two parents, her ability to convey emotions and share relatable narratives transcends cultural boundaries. She delves into the intricacies of relationships, love, and loss, reminding us that, as human beings, our shared experiences connect us in ways that go beyond race, background, or social status.

Taylor Swift's music isn't just for one demographic; it's for anyone who appreciates the art of storytelling and the power of well-crafted words. I've learned that it's possible to connect with the experiences of others, even when they come from different walks of life. In embracing Taylor's music, I've found a voice that resonates with my own, breaking down barriers and allowing me to appreciate the shared humanity that unites us all.

So, to Taylor Swift, I say, "I love you." Thank you for being a beacon of creativity and a reminder that the beauty of poetry transcends the boundaries that society may try to impose. My journey as a black fan navigating through negativity has only strengthened my love for your artistry, and I look forward to continuing this poetic voyage with you.

Happy Birthday @taylorswift

[kkatts]

I don't like taylor swift, her music is just not for me but for some reason I really like christmas tree farm that's the only song of hers I'll listen to what does this say about me

first of all, you’re missing out on amazing lyricism but to each their own. I think your favorite being christmas tree farm means you like christmas a lot, or you just like upbeat silly pop (in that case i recommend paper rings or i forgot that you existed or me! 😭) (from the same era as christmas tree farm)

but yeah that song genuinely has crack in it

[9w1ft]

I'm sorry but dear reader might be just the most secretive song Tay has written. Like what does "find another guiding light" Mean??? This song is clearly a letter to her fans and no one can change my mind! Also the line "if you knew where I was walking. To a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there." Idk but what if she means to say, she's walking to a house after all the stunts that she has to do to prove that she's with Joe and her real life partner isn't there. Like she's going to a "house" After pretending to be someone she's not in front of the world because she can't reveal her true identity. She's not going "home" Because the love of her life isn't there and maybe because again she's pretending to be someone who she's not. Ik this is very confusing 😭 sorry but what do you think?

okay so. without typing out the entirety of my thoughts on dear reader, i will say this:

when she says “to a house not a home all alone cause nobody’s there” i get the sense that the phrase because nobody’s there is a descriptive phrase attached to the word house. as in: why is this a house and not a home? because nobody is there. in other words, home is where[ver] the heart is; this house is not a home to taylor without her lover present. i think about the christmas tree farm lyric (yes! a christmas tree farm pull.) “and when i’m feeling alone you remind me of home” and the willow lyric “you know that my train can take you home, everywhere else is hollow” as being in the same spirit, and suggesting that, for her lover as well, anywhere else besides where her lover is, is not home. even if the building is a house. because home is wherever they are together.

and the line preceding this is “you wouldn’t take my word for it if you knew who was talking, if you knew where i was walking” which suggests that the house where she’s heading to and ultimately writing this from is a place that, if people knew were it was or what it was, would make her readers want to stop taking her advice. the idea that taylor’s location is a detail that would matter to peoples opinion of her.

i think whats interesting here is that she follows up what is a string of pretty depressing imagery with a contrasting closer: “you should find another guiding light *but* i shine so bright.” when you take the word bright to be a word with a positive connotation, i would argue that she’s basically saying, “you should look to someone else to be your role model, but i’m not saying that because i feel like i’ve lost my own light; it’s just not the light that you want.”

[ohdorothea]

rank Taylor songs which feature Christmas in the lyrics?

Oh I love this question! Thank you for asking!!!

So according to the lyric search page these are the songs (excluding covers) that mention Christmas;

Begin Again

The Moment I Knew

Lover

right where you left me

I Look In People’s Windows

Christmases When You Were Mine

Christmas Must Be Something More

Christmas Tree Farm

Now I haven’t heard Christmas Must Be More so I’m gonna rank the other songs;

1. right where you left me - it’s a Christmas song canonically and it’s my favourite Taylor song in existence so of course it’s my number one

2. The Moment I Knew - The Moment I Knew is up there in terms of my favourite songs EVER so yeah this is also a Christmas song TO ME

3. Christmas Tree Farm - I love this song because there is also a Christmas tree farm in MY heart like so true Taylor (also I would love love love to hear her write more songs in this musical style)

4. I Look In People’s Windows (Taylor really wrote a Christmas song for those of us who can any look at nice normal christmases from outside thank you Taylor)

5. Lover (I will defend we can leave the Christmas lights up until January forever and ever)

6. Begin Again (it feels mean to have this so low when I do love this song I just love the others more)

7. Christmases When You Were Mine (I feel so so bad for putting baby Taylor’s adorable voice at the bottom but honestly this song is too sad as a child of divorce for me to be able to listen to baby Taylor being so sad)

[uniquejellyfishqueen]

The Lover House inside the snow globe which is surrounded by snowy trees in the night time, midnight I presume. The lover house has 9 rooms telling a different story within each room, the lover house could be a vault.

(Lavender Haze is also LH same as Lover House, and its also track 1 of Midnights 113 which was 7/9/2024 N1 Zurich. The surprise songs 1st letter of each song are SLAR -> side-looking airborne radar. An aircraft, or satellite-mounted imaging radar pointing perpendicular to the direction of the flight (hence side-looking)

L 12

H 8

Woods = trees = folklore and evermore (t+e+f = her brother does call her Teffy according to 73QWV.) *10/13/1992 Prince released his first album using a symbol rather than his name. It’s beautiful but sad. The industry made him into a symbol so if thats what you’re going to see and say then why would he ever say anything different. It was a traditional symbol that blended the female and the male symbols together… like unity in one, I love this so much. This album had 5 singles released for it, of those 5 2 were released on 11/17/1992. “7’ and “ Damn You”

*maybe she will change her name. Travis calls her Tay, so maybe Debut will be called “Tay” or maybe she will use a symbol? You never know.

*songs that mention “trees” in their lyrics include “The Best Day” “Out Of The Woods” “Happiness” “Christmas Tree Farm”

Are we out of the woods yet? (4th track of the 5th album)

4th album is Red. Inside the lover house in the red room she does sing the line about being jealous while her and her lover are on separate sides of the room. They are only together in private. Like this is her showing you the illicit affair and high infidelity she has talked about? ->The “Red Room” can also be a nod to Taylor’s connection to the 50 Shades of Gray franchise. “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” was the lead single (12/9/2016) for the second installment 50 Shades Darker which released on 2/10/2017.

OOTW played 7x on the ET. 5/6/23, 11/11/23, 5/10/24, 6/23/24, 7/14/24, & 10/20/24, & 11/16/2024.

OOTW says “woods” 37x

ET #37 she played SS with Speak Now (3rd album 5th track) Dear John and Lover (7th album 18 track) Daylight -> 518 is the area code for northeastern part of New York State. serves cities in Albany and its neighboring suburbs, such as Plattsburgh and Lake Placid, and includes all or part of 17 counties in eastern upstate New York

“Looking at it now last December”(5th album) “I go back to December” (3rd album) (5+3=8) 2941?

-> -> -> when she goes back to December is that during August (4 month difference counting backward from December to August. m=13…) 4/13 N1/3 Tampa, FL show #8)

-> December to August (counting forward is 8 months) 8+4=12

Are we out of the woods yet? Who is WE? Her and her lover. Or her and the memories she has of this person and they only come out at night when she gives into the vices that she feels like she has to use to show who she really is? She said they are all bored waiting for trains that aren’t coming, and she also said how romantic it was to be stranded. Is she safe in hiding her truth? If she was a functioning alcoholic with a new aesthetic does this mean that the upside down yellow room signify where she would use the vices to help her play the game when she was actually fearless all along.

If it’s set at midnight in the snowglobe maybe they are twin flames that only meet in their dreams.

Also I want to point out that her sexuality is her sexuality but with that being said I just wanna say that during scenes with her lover in the Lover Video he is a black man, and that little girl reminds me of Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse (Char loves it!) and also the dollhouse reminds me of the lover house.. the red N for Netflix that folds down, kinda looks like a scarf. The Me! Music video reminded me so much of Hairspray which was set in the year 1962, which has the theme of acceptance and inclusion but also deals with racism and bias. This musical also had the themes of social activism and self-love. And the biggest theme of all is media bias. What a time to be alive, every afternoon when the clock strikes 4.. iykyk. All of these themes are applicable for today’s world and has been since Hairspray was released. Just because someone printed something in the news to make it look like a pretty headline does not mean the overall problem has gone away. Creating news headlines to induce fear does nothing but separate this country more and more when we need to be coming together most. We want to bitch and moan about pot holes and roads cracking, we can’t keep our people together how in the hell are we going to take care of our environment?

Is Taylor Swift about to be the new Corny Collins.. holy shit no she will be the Lynn Stone from Girls Just Want to Have Fun. I can see her now riding in on her pony. But that was Dance TV.. what are you guys up to?

The vault tracks are going to be fire because the fire was already burning but we definitely didn’t start it but I think someone knows a fireman.

*The Spotify canvas for False god has her climbing the pull down ladder that goes to the attic of the Lover House. Is this an interpretation that what she once believed to be heaven is actually hell?

[tslightninginabottle]

We Are Reputation

Or, An Argument For The Reformation of Community Subculture

Two Days Ago The Tortured Poets Department for Taylor Swift dropped. I have friends who like Taylor Swift. I have friends who love her. I’ve tried to explain to them what this album makes me feel and the more commentary I see online from Twitter, Threads, TT… I feel like, while no one needs my opinion, I want to say it online. So this post is going to be long. If you don’t want to read it, if you don’t care, scroll away. It’s anonymous, because at the end of the day, I doubt I’ll come back to this blog.

I've shifted between posting or deleting for days. This is not very well edited. It's mostly rambling and I understand that. Some points may be connected vaguely. It might seem like I'm contradicting myself. It's messy and raw, and I'm just tired. But if I’m going to do it at all. I’m going to do this as right as I can.

Thus it’s in the form of an academic essay. Unlike other Academic essays, it is not riddled with an intense amount of quotes or sources. This is an opinion piece. But I think for the sake of the TTPD release, the structure is very… fitting.

Introduction (I.E. the TLDR for those of you who don’t understand how an academic paper is structured)

Taylor Allison Swift, has been Taylor Swift (capital T, capital S, with the TM brand symbol) since the age of 16 years old. She has gone through a cycle of expectations three times, and now she is tired. She is begging her fans to listen, and many of them refuse to do so. She is capable of creating great art with great vulnerability, we as fans are no longer equipped to handle it. Ultimately there is a chance that she is afraid of shaping her own ability, because of us. The only way we as a fandom can change is if we redefine our community now before it’s too late. And if she stops after album 13 it will not because she does not want to, it will be because we have destroyed her. 

Taylor Swift (TM)

For those who are reading this, and have made it thus far, chances are you know who Taylor Swift is. Whether that means you know where she grew up (Christmas Tree Farm), when she moved to Nashville (14), the names of her cats, her mother’s medical history, secret sessions, VMAs, easter eggs, accidents, eating disorders, a myriad of too many details that we know about a person we have never met, and the loves of her life. Whether this is friends or relationships, you probably know, all of their names. How each one came and went in her life. Through songs and through tabloids, screaming her name, screaming their names, trying to defend her honor when the world calls her childish for only singing about the heartbreak. You know. Thus, this message is to you: for all you know about Taylor Swift, have you stopped to think of who Taylor Swift is? Truly? Not projecting your own thoughts onto her. How using your long list of check boxes and check marks and “I’ve been here this long and I’m a better fan because I know this much.” Have you, do you, know her? Because I don’t. 

When I got my first iPod in 2006, I had five songs on it that I bought with my own money: Thnks fr th Mmrs, Umbrella, Fergilicious, Our Song, and Tear Drops on My Guitar. In 2008 I had my who family memorize the lyrics to YBWM because we listened to it too often. I saw the 2009 VMAs happen live on television. In 2010 I was screaming Mean in the shower when I had no reason to; I was happy. In 2012, I got my choir to sing a mashup of IKYWT. In 2014, I was racing down the aisles of Target at Midnight to get 1989. I was a bystander during Snakegate. I was sitting in my car in 2017 reading potentially my favorite prologue I’ve ever seen. Then I was subsequently let down by the album as a whole. I was likewise disappointed in 2019. When Folklore came out, it was the first album I ever sent to my non-tailor swift friends. They loved it. I did it again with Evermore. Midnights came out and I sat in my living room with my brother and his girlfriend, screaming, talking, the first listen party I ever had where it was not just me alone. When TTPD came out, I was alone again. 

Don’t come for me and say I’m not a real fan. It’s okay to admit disappointment. I never expected her to change to my will, however. I never yelled about it online. I simply accepted that it wasn’t for me and moved on, waiting to hear the next thing to see if it was. I stood by her, not because I loved her or I idolized her, but because I resonated with her, and sometimes that resonating wasn’t perfect but I accepted that. 

Or maybe do call me a fake fan. I really don’t care what you think of me. I just need you to know that I’ve seen this. I know this. I know what you know, if not more. But all the same, despite me reading the tabloids, reading the magazines, having the posters, listening to all the music, I have never thought I actually knew Taylor Swift. And yet… 

There are people online right now, being critical about this album. Some say it sounds bland, the same as what has come before but not as electric and ground breaking. Some say she needs an editor. Others say she is trying to recreate catching lightning in a bottle and failing. There are those online who are giving the paternity tests to the songs right now, proving to me that you never bothered to actually read, let alone understand what TS is saying to you. 

You were too focused on  “If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that-right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.” That you MISSED: “I had become the target of slut-shaming-the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath, The media co-signing this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt. / It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hand out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the victorian era.” 

Go reread the Reputation prologue for me real quick. Or actually better yet, here:

Here’s something I’ve learned about people. We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us. We know our friend in a certain light, but we don't know them the way their lover does. Just the way their lover will never know them the same way that you do as their friend. Their mother knows them differently than their roommate, who knows them differently than their colleague. Their secret admirer looks at them and sees an elaborate sunset of brilliant color and dimension and spirit and pricelessness. And yet, a stranger will pass that person and see a faceless member of the crowd, nothing more. We may hear rumors about a person and believe those things to be true. We may one day meet that person and feel foolish for believing baseless gossip. This is the first generation that will be able to look back on their entire life story documented in pictures on the internet, and together we will all discover the after-effects of that. Ultimately, we post photos online to curate what strangers think of us. But then we wake up, look in the mirror at our faces and see the cracks and scars and blemishes, and cringe. We hope someday we'll meet someone who will see that same morning face and instead see their future, their partner, their forever. Someone who will still choose us even when they see all of the sides of the story, all the angles of the kaleidoscope that is you. The point being, despite our need to simplify and generalize absolutely everyone and everything in this life, humans are intrinsically impossible to simplify. We are never just good or just bad. We are mosaics of our worst selves and our best selves, our deepest secrets and our favorite stories to tell at a dinner party, existing somewhere between our well-lit profile photo and our drivers license shot. We are all a mixture of our selfishness and generosity, loyalty and self-preservation, pragmatism and impulsiveness. I've been in the public eye since I was 15 years old.   On the beautiful, lovely side of that, I've been so lucky to make music for living and look out into crowds of loving, vibrant people. On the other side of the coin, my mistakes have been used against me, my heartbreaks have been used as entertainment, and my songwriting has been trivialized as 'oversharing'. When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test. There will be slideshows of photos backing up each incorrect theory, because it's 2017 and if you didn't see a picture of it, it couldn't have happened right? Let me say it again, louder for those in the back... We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them that they have chosen to show us. There will be no further explanation There will be just reputation.

You don’t know Taylor Swift. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve read her lyrics and you’re sure. I don’t want to hear another person say “She’s giving us her diary.” She is curating it. Editing it. She is a poet. She is shaping her image into exactly what she wants it to be. She is showing us the worst parts of herself on purpose, because it feels as if she is tired of hiding the full maltifaceted person that she is.

However, she is a marketing genius. She is a billionaire. She is not the girl next door, your very best friend, the girl you’d give your kidney to. You don’t know her. You don’t know anything about her relationships other than what she says on her songs — and the tabloids that are like 90% wrong anyway. We only know what she is giving us, analyzing the lyrics and coming up with more incorrect conclusions than correct. You don’t know her. You only know her reputation.

And every time you chant. Reputation! Reputation at her concerts, in the comments, in the theories, the more feral you are over it, the more you prove her point. At this point, it feels like people care more about her reputation than her. And it seems as if she’s tired of explaining it to us, because all we care about is the show. “Breaking down, I hit the floor. / All the pieces of me shattered / as the crowd was chanting “more!” (TTPD, ICDIWABH)

The Cycles of Hate

We all know the story of reputation. Snakegate. Kanye. Kim. The social media blackout. The comeback of a century. The KYS. I wish Taylor Swift was Dead. She’s just a bitch. I knew she couldn’t be trusted. 

Fun fact. That was Taylor Swift after 1989. Taylor Swift during the Era’s tour could eat that Taylor for breakfast. Her fame is astronomically bigger, full on universal. If you didn’t know this, IDK where you’ve been, but it’s the truth. We’ve seen her grow from that It Girl Popstar. To THE Generation defining popstar. Taylor Swift was named Artist of the Decade for the 2010s because she was the artist of the decade. And to the haters out there, this post is not meant for you. I don’t want to hear it. You can in fact walk down the street and start the song Love Story and people will know the song. Even in other countries. People know Taylor Swift (TM). 

In the cycle of popstars, newer shiny popstars often replace the older ones. And Taylor Swift, one day, will be no exception. The difference is, unlike most of those other women and men— I’d dare to say that none have gone through the torment that Taylor Swift has. In 2009, after the VMAs, the world turned against Taylor. Publicly and through the media, people were criticizing Kanye West. But Taylor said herself that she thought people were booing her on the stage. There were think pieces about how she ‘wasn’t good actually.’ This is when the true hate train began for Taylor Swift. The: she only writes about love and boys. The: she dates too many of them. The: she doesn’t write her own songs (even though her whole brand was built on it). When Taylor Swift released Speak Now, it included the song Long Live. Based on the lyrics, Taylor thought this album could be the end of her career. “Will you take a moment? / Promise me this / That you’ll stand by me forever / But if God forbid fat should step in / And force us into a goodbye / If you have children someday / When they point to the pictures / Please tell them my name.” 

I like to tell my friends that I see Taylor Swift has having three cycles in her career so far. We are living in the third. This isn’t based on music genre, completely. Because for argument sake, Taylor has touched on many subgenera. But it is based on Main Genre, and the cycle of vitriol towards Taylor Swift —i.e.l over saturation. 

Cycle 1: Debut - Red; Country

Cycle 2: 1989 - Lover ; Pop

Cycle 3: Folklore - TTPD; Folk/Folk Pop

The Cycle goes as follows: Taylor Swift has massive world breaking success after catching lightning in a bottle. People get outraged. She has to respond, in order to defend herself. The world gets more angry and irritated. TS is everywhere. There are horrible things being said online, everywhere in every way. People want her to DISAPPEAR. She writes an album for herself, and the fans cherish it. Then she says, it’s time for something new. The Cycle repeats. 

To most, non-fans, that I have met or seen online. They seem to agree that Taylor has only ever had three “good” albums: Fearless, 1989, Folklore. What do all three have in common? They were smash successes. Before Midnights, they were the only three that won AOTY. People around the world know their songs. She has been given critical acclaim for them by people who don’t listen to Taylor Swift. They are all sonically cohesive. They are all lyrically creative, and musically engaging. And, most importantly, they were genre defining (at least for her). 

I ignore Debut here, because Debut was her setting the ground work, and while Debut and Fearless are similar and close, it was not Debut that started the cycle. Debut started her career. For this reason, Debut classifies as an Album 0. It is the album zero, ground zero by which the whole cycle was built. 

In the Cycle that I’ve defined, after the smash success for Album 1, there is a string of vitriol and some sort of incident. She then writes an album response either to it, or about it, trying to prove herself as an artist and that she deserves what she has and where she is: Speak Now, Reputation, Midnights. Each one of these albums are Taylor Writing to prove herself, as being allowed to exist, and create art, her snapping back in some way. This may be the most esoteric in regards to Midnights, but the concept is the same. The big vitriol after Folklore/Evermore was that she could write deep songs, but not deep pop songs. So she made a concept album about the sleepless nights of her past and made an anthology of well crafted lyrics and considerations, thoughts and prayers, and proved she could do it. Midnights shouldn’t have gotten AOTY. It was good, a world wide smash success, but that’s because she has a bigger fan base no than she did years ago. It wasn’t lightning in a bottle. It wasn’t genre defining. It was a good pop album. But ultimately, Midnights is an Album 2, it is a continuation.

Now many people may say, but Evermore was the album after Folklore. It wasn’t. It was written at the same time as Folklore. She didn’t have time to process anything. It is, for all intents and purposes, a double drop with Folklore. The two are one, the same mindset. Midnights was different. 

In the case of Album 2 it is, or was, always a failure. Before Midnights, at least, with both reputation and Speak Now, even though she poured her heart out and made excellent music, and yet for some reason it did not receive the same accolades or awards — or maybe was even ignored by the general public. She did not catch lightning in a bottle again. I would argue this is the same for Midnights, but the difference is that her fan base is so much larger than it was before. 

Now, after Album 2, there is always the ramp up. The actual over saturation. It grows and grows and grows and the world begins to fully hate Taylor Swift. Yes, I know Snakegate had everyone turn against her, but look at the way people said things to her during the Lover era. Once again she thought it was the end after Reputation, that her career was over. Red, Lover, and TTPD are Album 3s, or the “this one is for the fans” album as the fans like to say. The “You don’t get it because you don’t understand Taylor like I do, album.” The Album Taylor writes for herself. Red was the only breakup album. The heart wrench album. The sing it and scream it in your car album. Lover was, at the time, unapologetically, a be you album. The be in love, be happy, it’s okay to be “me” album. TTPD is the I’m falling apart, please see me album. It is the I’m going to have to be okay on my own album. The I’ve healed and move on from this part of my life, but you don’t know me, album. And each and every time general society says it is not great, fans say that they simply don’t understand it because they’re not fans. 

Rinse Repeat.

Album 1: The Critical, Genre Smash Success. Album 2: Is the Critically overlooked Concept Album. Album 3 is the: This one is for the “Fans” (herself), Album that is critically panned. 

Dear Reader

Right quick, go reread the lyrics for dear reader for me. Follow that up with YOYOK and ICDIWABH. Come back to me when you’re done. Good? Let’s go. 

Are you listening yet? Are you hearing her yet? Taylor Swift fans are realizing this now, but TTPD was written for Taylor and it was written for us. The fans. We don’t know her. We don’t know her life. She is begging us, on her knees. Crying to us. She is messy. She is far from perfect. She makes bad choices. She is not a good person. She is simply a person and she is asking us to stop the idol worship.

“Please. / I’ve been on my knees. / Change the prophecy. / Don’t want money. / Just someone who wants my company. / Let it once be me. / Who do I have to speak to. / About if they can redo. / The prophecy?” 

And you may say, but that song is about love. It is. It’s about us. The greatest love Taylor has ever known. She said that. To us, at the Eras tour. We are the longest relationship she’s ever had. We’ve been there with her through the good and the bad. The ugly and the sad. The beautiful and the change. 

“You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons. And that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.”  (1989 TV)

But are we?

“This is a story about coming into your own. And as a result… coming alive. I hope you know that you’ve given me the courage to change. I hope you know that who you are is who you choose to be, and that whispers behind your back don’t define you. You are the only one who gets to decide what you will be remembered for.” (1989)

What is the legacy we are currently leaving behind for her?

“I want to be remembered for the things that I love, not the things that I hate, not the things that I’m afraid of, not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night. I just think, you are what you love.” (Daylight, Lover)

Stop and think. For a moment. Every time we bring those men up. We bring the possible relationships up. We bring the heartache up. We attack the people online. When we hold her to impossible beauty standards, and impossible moral standards. We speculate and wonder and question… yes, there is a level of media literacy that comes from asking these questions. But there is a vocal majority, a large subsection of people online who are doing it again. Who are asking when she’s going to get married and have babies. Who are trying to burn Joe or Matty or Harry or any of the other boys before to the ground. Who are taking us back to 2012, the “she only writes about hs and heartbreak.” The fans who hang on her every word, every breath, and aren’t allowing her to change.

Taylor Swift (TM) has always been about change. But how many times have you seen or heard people scream, “this isn’t like folklore?” Some are like, they’re not real Taylor Swift Fans. But they’re comparing everything to it. And they are, her fans, and they’re not allowing.

Some of you may be like, but other artists don’t change. Don’t branch out. Write the same thing over and over and over, and maybe she wants to do that. Yet, girly has shown us time and time again that she actually likes challenging herself to write other genres. She likes doing it. If she didn’t. Reputation would have been more like 1989. Lover would have been more like 1989. Folklore and Evermore wouldn’t exist. I do think there is an argument to be had that expecting her to change and forcing her to do it is wrong, but I’m saying that we aren’t even accepting the chance that she may want to change for herself. Whether that means into a stable sound that never changes from album to album or into a wildly different genre. RN the FANS are dictating what should and shouldn’t be, and that’s… messy.

How many of you breathed in relief at 17-31 because it sounded like Folklore and Evermore? How many of you liked 1-16 because it was like Midnight’s sister? How many of you were waiting to hear the heartbreak about Joe? How many of you have given the songs paternity tests? It’s only been 48 hours. You can be honest. 

We are Taylor Swifts greatest love, if things are to be assumed, and the muse in TTPD is strangely many people in one — because we are a part of the problem now. She had to plead manic insanity to us, in her prologue for this album. 

How many of you look at the rerecordings and have forgotten the reason for them? I mean, I know you know the reason, but it’s not supposed to be a count down, doubting everything, pushing her, pressuring her, to give us her art. She is trying to reclaim her art, for herself. It’s called Taylor’s Version. Not the audience version. Yet, you scream Reputation at her concerts. Reputation. Reputation. Give us everything you are Taylor. Give us, your love Taylor. Entertain us Taylor. 

All she has left are her name and reputation. She’s already given away her reputation once. Do you think she wants to give it away again after she’s finally reclaimed it? Do you think she wants to give her name away again? When it’s finally her’s? 

And don’t get me wrong I think that reputation (TV) and Taylor Swift (TV) will come, and the world will be excited for the vault tracks, and be angry that it doesn’t sound identical to the original. And feel betrayed that it’s not 100% perfect the exact way they wanted. They’re tired of her failing them. Gaslighting her into believing she’s not good enough. Threatening to quit her and leave her behind because she’s disappointing them, by doing the one thing she’s good at but it’s not good enough anymore.

Oh sorry, not the world.

Her fans. The love of her life.

Critical Critique

The thing about giving good feedback and critique is that it needs to be helpful. You can’t simply say, I hate this, and expect someone to use it. 

Taylor Swift is not above critique. She is not perfect. She is a human being, it’s legitimately impossible to be perfect. Yet we ask her to be perfect. Now I’m not saying perfection with saying one thing (that she cares about social justice) and then doing the opposite. I’m not saying she’s above critique of her private jets or being a billionaire. These can all be valid critiques. I think we should be critical of her billionaire status, and white feminist tendencies, and marketing exploitation. This is looking at an idol and holding them to human standards that you may have for yourself.

I don’t think that being critical and holding someone accountable is toxicity. I do think it’s toxic tho, that we are starting to read into everything. Search for clues in everything. Showing up to weddings we were never invited to. Stalking her across venues. (And I don’t mean the plane guy, I mean you weirdos who show up at her house and her recording studio and scream at her to tell you about her latest breakup). Looking over photos, like you’re a tabloid editor from 2010, like “Where’s the ring?” “Is that a baby bump?” 

And when she tells us the truth we say no, I don’t believe you. When we, her fans, hear her say with her whole chest “I’m not perfect, stop defending me.” and we turn around and say… mmmmmm I’m not going to do that. You are my perfect little baby who can do no wrong. You must be confused. You must be shocked. Let me correct you. She knows she’s making bad choices and she has a whole marketing team to fix what she does. 

Taylor Swift fans have been demonized by media as ravenous brain dead worshipers, and in some ways we are. We defend her at every turn, at everything she does and justifies it, but this is more than that. And yet is also only that. I am defending her when she doesn’t need me to. But more than that, I feel like I need to call out the fandom cuz we are toxic. We have secret sessioners leaking albums. We are gate keeping. We are screaming at each other when people don’t agree with are arbitrary and subjective opinions. We say that the real critiques of her work aren’t actually listening to her— they are, you’re not listening to the critiques. Like the 1830s line. There are so many ways the same sentiment could have been written, better. No one is saying Taylor is a racist. They’re saying she needed someone to check her on the line and be like, is there a different way to say this? 

To everyone we talk to, we are hated. There are think pieces about how toxic we are to others online, how we attack everyone who dares to actually be critical of her. How we attack eachother, like the snake eating its tail. We defend her like its or dying breath and then turn around to Taylor and say, look I was a good fan, give me what I want and only what I want. People hate us. Outsiders hate us. Casual fans hate us. We hate each other. Taylor swift says she sometimes hates us.

Welcome to the age of Aquarius, the downfall of celebrity. We shouldn’t worship people, like idols and gods. However, we should judge people as people and we aren’t doing that either, to the random person on the street saying “see me” to the girl with the lyrics crying “hear me.” 

Social Media Literacy

Hate Taylor swift if you want to, whether that is because she’s over saturated or because you have grown disillusioned. But Taylor swift has built a brand about being relatable, and as much as people may say she’s manufacturing it now, I don’t think she is trying to. I personally think she’s trying to do it the way she always has, and it’s backfiring. 

Not because she’s less relatable, but because we as a society have lost what it means to accept other people. We are holding everyone to a high near high level of perfectionist accountability, where you must be perfect and never change, and never make a mistake. There is a fact to be said that billionaire mistakes hurt millions of people, and that everything you do cosigns another terrible thing. However, we are not building a community. We are not holding people accountable and then pulling them back into the community to help them change their mindset. We are not creating a network of support, we are snipping away at the web at every single point. Saying, you’re wrong, and isolating further. And while this can be said about everything and everyone, it is more apocalyptic for Taylor Swift, because her entire brand is a microcosm of society. 

This is happening to everyone, not just Taylor swift. Everyone. Nuance is gone. Grace is gone. Understanding, just like media literacy and critical thought, is disappearing. People are making value assessments of others based on the media they consume. And that alone should be a concern for all of us.

We are saying if you aren’t perfect, you are kicked to the outside. Immediately. No remorse. We are saying, if you aren’t exactly the way I think is morally right, just, or perfect, you are forbidden from anything ever again. And I’m not talking about Taylor Swift. I’m not talking about critique. I’m talking about us. The fans. Who attack each other. Who demonize each other. Who send hate threats to each other. Who call each other crazy. Who joke about other’s demise. 

Oh, that’s just an issue of Taylor’s brand. No. This is a wider spread issue, it’s just magnified in the Swiftie fandom, because the swiftie fandom has always been a parasocial relationship with Taylor. From the day she began on Myspace, the Swiftie fandom has broken down clues together, kept secrets together, been a community together, in a way that most others have not been. And it’s falling apart, just as Taylor swift’s brand of relatability. Because we as a society, and we as a fandom have snipped away the entire network of support. The only way down is through, and there is no one to catch us at the end of the fall.

Parasocial Relationships, have been seen to become toxic very fast, as soon as a person thinks that they have some sort of control or are heard by the person they follow. For the longest time, Swifts staid back, followed the clues like rabbits and it was a game. She left us a puzzle, and we went to solve it. Now we are trying to solve puzzles that don’t exist. We made the game bad. We have made it awkward for everyone. The Parasocial relationship we have always had with Taylor, which was kind and filled with space and grace, has fallen apart. We are the worst parts of toxic parasocial relationships.

We are screaming for more. Ignoring what has been given. Skipping too fast and onwards to the next thing. All while saying, this thing that you’ve given me? It’s not absolutely perfect. Do more. Be better. Oh but that’s too many now. How about this one thing instead. 

I know with my heart of hearts that when Reputation (TV) comes out. It’s going to be hell on fire. Because there is such a pent up image of this special album in everyone minds, that they keep saying things that are wildly untrue. That it’s going to be release randomly, because “there will be more explanation. There will just be reputation.” 

Go read the prologue AGAIN. I’ll wait. 

Don’t Blame Me, Love Made Me Crazy

We are not capable of listening anymore. And I know that many people of the world won’t read this, won’t understand this, won’t even know it exists. 

But we, are the most toxic love affair that Taylor Swift has ever had.

It was good, when it was good. But we’ve turned on her time and time again. And there are some of us, myself included, who will say, we’ve been here the whole time! Supporting her, even during lover when her concerts were at the lowest. But. 

We are tearing each other apart. We are tearing her apart. We are holding her to impossible standards we don’t even hold ourselves too. Our very real critiques of her are being ignored and some fans say it’s just hate instead. Critiques to her, become massive amounts of backlash at her, that is visceral and appalling. We say, “I love you.” She says, “It’s ruining my life.” 

We say we love you, and then turn around and say but I hated that. We say we support you  but we need “MORE.” We say take a break, but you had better not disappear on us. We say we want you to be in love, but on our terms. We want you to be happy, but the way we want. 

And it has gotten more and more and more, as she has skyrocketed to the Eras Tour level of fame she has right now. Our reactions to her are millions of times over across multiple countries. Where people are saying, she shouldn’t have become a public figure if she couldn’t handle it. She shouldn’t have opened up her life to us and written her songs like a diary, if she couldn’t handle it. She shouldn’t be a human being if she can’t handle being hated for being human. She created this parasocial relationship, it’s her fault it’s toxic. She talks about the men and love, she should handle when we judge her for it. You wouldn’t even judge your friends. Will you say, that’s just the way they are? And ignore the ways they are hurting you and others? And if you did, will you hold grace for them to change and grow or will you cut them out immediately and leave them isolate? Will you forget community? 

And it’s all divisive and anonymous online. This virtual signaling, and hate towards one person, when you can’t even hold your own families accountable. When you can’t even hold yourself accountable. When every moment that this relationship of us to Taylor continues, it proves that we are the worst parts of humanity. 

I’m not immune to that. This post is antagonistic and anonymous. I see the irony. I know the hypocrisy. 

And there are reasons the jokes aren’t funny about us on the internet, but that they’re true. They’re true, what outsiders and non-fans think of us. We are a rapid fan base that gets worse and worse each year. We are not only the good parts, the friendship bracelets and joy of the eras tour. We are all the terrible parts as well. We are the racist, homophobic, terrible parts. We are getting worse and worse the more and more we love her, that we are starting to scare people even more than we ever had. It’s my way, or you’re out. And if you, another fan, don’t agree with me then you’re not actually a fan at all.

Some people, fans, have said that the Eras Tour feels like the end. That she’s saying goodbye. She burned down the lover house. TTPD is alienating people. Taylor Swift is everywhere and she is so oversaturated that people are concerned.

And look. I can’t blame TS for what is happening right now. If she’s feeling alone. Afraid. Lost. Unsure what will happen if she puts one foot out of line. She’s given us this messy album that is filled with the dirty and worst parts of her thoughts and feelings. It’s not edited it’s raw. It’s angry. It’s saying “Fuck you.” Because we made her crazy. And I’m pretty sure we sure as hell aren’t letting her feel like she can change. She can’t trust us to let her change or to become something else. She can’t even trust us to be there as a support network. 

Even if the Cycle dictates that she should do it.

Maybe she’s grown up. Maybe sh’s found her genre and want’s to stay here forever. Maybe Taylor is tired. Maybe she just needed to get all the emotions out and away so she can move on and be fully happy. Maybe she’s terrified of what will happen this time when she falls from grace. She saw it in 2009-2012. She saw it in 2016-2017. 

I don’t know. I don’t know her. But I know this:

When you’re standing at the tallest peak, how far does the valley look? Especially when the wings you built through years of blood sweat and tears are burned by the very people who helped you make them.

There Will Be No Explanation. There Will Just Be Reputation.

We all know the iconic opening sequence from the Reputation Stadium tour. Where she took the media commentary and made it the opening. For years. Taylor has been in a war with the media and the powers at be. When the media slut shamed her. When the media made paternity tests. When the MEDIA said, look at this woman and all the stupid shit she does.

Guess what? The media loves her. 

Taylor Swift reclaimed her reputation from the media in 2017. 

But now who does she have to take it back from?

For as much as Taylor has made a commentary about how women are constantly told to reinvent themselves, to become something new and shiny, in this way and that way for “me.” The greatest changes Taylor has ever made in her music career have been for herself. 1989, was because she wanted to go Pop. Folklore was because she needed to process and try a new type of songwriting style. 

And yet, now Taylor’s fans look at all her clothes and choices and say “ah this is a new era.” This is “reputation era coded.” The fans are now adding paternity tests to every single song. We are going after the exes online and in person. We are asking Taylor to reinvent herself constantly over and over and over to entertain us. We shout “MORE!” over and over again. The fans are feral for reputation. Ignore everything else. 

And with TTPD she said, we need to chill that we don’t know her. That she’s going to make up her own choices and fuck up. And the line about “you should see your faces?” that is about US.

We, the fans, are now in the place of the media. We are the ones that are dictating her reputation in a way that she does not agree with. When Taylor Swift reclaims her reputation again, it will not be from the media, it will be from the fans itself.

We are now giving paternity tests. We are now the ones asking if she’s going to get married and when. We are the ones constantly wondering if she’s pregnant. WE are saying and doing and acting the same way that the media did for YEARS. When before we used to tell the media to back off and ignored it all. We have become the very thing we used to hate. 

And now we, as fans are saying to Taylor Swift that she MUST “Be new to us, be young to us, but only in a a new way and only in the way we want. And reinvent yourself, but only in a way that we find to be equally comforting, but also a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find to be interesting, to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable.”

This time when Taylor Swift reclaims her reputation, she’s going to be reclaiming it for herself, from the men who stole it from her. From the media who dictated it. From the world. From her fans. For herself. (Taylor’s Version)

Lightning in a Bottle

I was always of the opinion that she’d continue making albums after 13. Now I am not sure. I think she’ll write music, but I think 13 might be it. There is a chance, she is preparing to keep coasting. Get 12 out while she’s still at the high. Ride out this Cycle longer than it should. Get 12 out to critical acclaim, face the fall and release 13, her Magnum Opus. Say goodbye for good. People will look at it and wonder what happened, who she is, but she’s been warning us since Long Live that this could happen. 

However.

Taylor Swift is capable of bending lightning. 

To many fans, each Taylor Swift Album is perfect. To some each album is something new that she hasn’t tried before. To me, Taylor’s albums come in the form of a cycle. Where, when she changes for herself and is embraced for that change, she is able to create something no one has ever done before. She defines a generation in a healthy and productive way. 

She’s done it once with Country. She’s done it twice, with Pop. She’s done it thrice with Folk. In each instance she was raw, she was curated. She was honed in on the concept, on the lyrics, on the vulnerability, on the genre itself. Taylor Swift can capture lightning in a bottle when she’s trying an entirely new genre. When she goes all in on everything for the genre, in a new form, and learns and masters that form well. And most importantly, when she decides to make this leap of faith not because she’s reinventing herself to make the world entertained, but because she wants to make the change- the choice- for herself.

I’ve always hoped and prayed for that Rock album. I thought it would be 12 (or 11, in a world where Evermore was not Folklore’s sister/twin). I’ve always thought that if Taylor was going to catch Lightning in a bottle again it would be in rock. I don’t think we’ll ever get it. And that’s okay.

I always hoped that album 13 would be about us, the fans. The coming of age story of Taylor Swift. Her relationship with us and the music industry. The album that has pop and rock and country and folk. Songs that remind me of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I Want to Dance With Somebody, and This Ones For the Girls. I hoped it would be for us. For her. For the love of it all. And album that said Long Live, with a capital TS, that touched on every era she ever did, recreating the sound perfectly. Into 13 perfect songs and not a song more. I doubt it’s going to happen. And that’s okay. 

I won’t be disappointed. I’ll be here for the ride. I’ll critique her as much as I always have, and hold grace for her to change as a person. I’m going to build my community with the paradox of Tolerance in mind. And if I’m wrong and she continues after 13, I’ll be there too. But I think that right now, The Taylor Swift fandom is not in the place to be able to catch Taylor if she makes a jump, a change, a decision that is not tailored for them or considers them. We can't even talk with each other without getting into fights.

Ask yourself how much of our community is left:

When the parasocial relationships Taylor built, is weaponized against her and ourselves. Like some sort of awardshow, where you get a gold star for being the best.

When we are giving her a paternity test at every lyric.

When we see our faces at every new lyric. 

When the games aren’t fun anymore. 

When we scream more. More. More. More. But only the way I want and in the way I deem appropriate.

When her reputation has been stolen from her again. AGAIN by the people she trusted most. 

When we only book mark her life by failures and endings. Gossiping like old women asking how did it happen this time?

When we won’t even remember ALL the things that she loves. 

When that’s all she’s ever asked for us to remember her by. 

When she says we, her fans, "are the love of my life."

But “The Story of Us, sounds a lot like a tragedy now.” 

Because "the story isn't [hers] anymore."

Yet, we're all she’s ever wanted.

I think that with TTPD, she is processing but she's telling us, that this is it. She's going to make the first change of her life not knowing if we're going to support it.

Cycle 4 is coming. Whether that is with 12. 13. With the end of the Eras Tour. With the burning of the lover house on the first night of the Eras Tour. Cycle 4 will end the Cycles. Will end the Eras. 

One more fall from from the precipice. But this time not from the public. Not from the media. From her fans. I think Taylor Swift is ready to take that leap with or without her fans. With or without the safety net. With or without the wings we built her that got her this far. One more fall from the pedestal. One more descent into the horrors that Taylor Swift has ever known. This time into uncharted waters, facing the one true love of her life. The change that is going to shatter the fandom. 

What happens then?

Change

So how do we fix it? How do we, as a community, come together and fix this toxicity? Because we have to be the ones to do it. If we don’t do it now, then there is a chance we’ll never do it in the future. We have to change, and reclaim our own reputation as Swifties.

How? I wish I had all the answers, but I do have a place to start.

Stop sending death threats and hate and KYS to people you don’t agree with. 

Stop arguing like you’re so smart because you understand her lyrics. If someone says they don’t interpret something the same way as you, maybe listen. There is no One Way to read a Taylor Swift song. There just isn’t. 

Tolerance Paradox: Support differing opinions of your own. However, we can not accept intolerance. Those who wish to spread hate, those who wish to spread anger, we can’t support them. We have to call them out. We must call out the racists and the homophobes and the literal nazis and white supremacists who find our fandom home. 

We must be critical of her AND our community. Whose voices are we not listening to? Take a self inventory on why the critique of her bothers you so much. Legitimately. 

We must take inventory of what we have done in the past and take accountability for the ways we’ve hurt others.

We must stop asking for more, legitimately. Stop asking for more Folklore like albums. Stop asking for more 1989 like albums. Stop begging for reputation.

We must be kind to those who are new. Gatekeeping can only be so far as to keep the space a place of tolerance. 

We must support each other in hard times, in times of need. Be the community that comes together to say, I have your back. We must start helping each other, legitimately.

We must hold our ground, and stop the leaks IMMEDIATELY.

Stop speculating, and I don’t mean analyzing of reviewing easter eggs. I mean speculating. We aren’t with her 24/hrs a day so stop acting like we should be.

Easter Eggs are only fun, when people aren’t having full break downs about being wrong. Maybe we should chill. 

Hold space for your opinions to change and for others to change. Validate those changes, and the processing. 

Remember our roots. We are the fandom who has stuck together through everything, who believes in the magic of connection. Draw those 13s on the back of your hands and make a wish. Long Live.

Ending

In the end, there is nothing great about this essay. I’m really not saying much to anyone. I'm saying this for myself because I'm changing the way I engage with Taylor Swift and other Swifties. I’m tired of creating a network of hate. I’m tired of feeling like I don’t belong in this community, because I am not perfect. Or because I don’t agree. 

We, as fans, are the new enemy that we have always fought against.  

I might not be able to fix everything, but I'm going to do my part to change the prophecy. 

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 30/12/2023 (Christmas Garbage)

Content warning: Brief references to murder, racism and unlawful sex acts. Merry Christmas!

Yawn, it’s a Christmas episode. It’s not even Christmas anymore - the tracking week included Christmas Day. “Last Christmas” is #1, of course it is. Skip this one is my personal advice. Christmas Christmas Christmas. REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

So, there are a few new arrivals today, but it’s also a week of mostly just festive music the week after festive music mattered so I’ll have a bit of a different approach, one I’m sure will be made up for with next week’s: Less than a fifth of this week’s chart are non-Christmas songs, I’m going to be mostly in chart nerd form rather than expressing much of my opinion, which is kind of how this series has been moving towards lately? Next episode will be the rush of new and old songs thanks to the end-of-year gains and Christmas collapse, so that will be more of a classic episode when it comes to dishing out intros and opinions on different genres and artists, the usual. For now, well, let’s just run down what we have here. Rounding out the top five are Brenda at #5, Ed and Elton at #4, Mariah at #3 and Sam bloody Ryder still hogging up #2.

Let’s continue with rounding up the Christmas songs. The songs entering the UK Top 75 for the first time this year in this week, but have already entered the top 75 previously, are “Cozy Little Christmas” by Katy Perry at #70, “Mistletoe and Wine” by Cliff Richard at #69, “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Eagles at #68, “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia at #66, “Santa Baby” by Kylie Minogue at #64, “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses at #62 (one of my personal favourites) and “My Only Wish (This Year)” by Britney Spears at a new peak of #59, “Come on Home for Christmas” by George Ezra at #56, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas” by Perry Como at #54, “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” by Bruce Springsteen at another new peak of #47, and “Christmas Tree Farm” by Taylor Swift at #46… and speaking of new peaks, “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder at #76, “Jingle Bells” by Meghan Trainor at #48, “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt at #44, “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys at #43, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives at #40, “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole at #34, “Winter Wonderland” by Laufey at #26, “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes at #20 and “DJ Play a Christmas Song” by Cher at #18, as well as Jorja Smith’s cover of “Stay Another Day” at #16 and “Let it Snow” (three times) by Dean Martin at #13 and finally, it took a while but “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande reached the top 10 at #8.

I questioned the point in listing the notable dropouts - songs exiting the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40 - since they’ll all be back next week but hey, if I can list a bunch of Christmas songs by dead people in succession, why not secular songs by those very much still with us? With that said, we bid adieu to that terrible cover of “I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday” by “Creator Universe”, and then bid a probably temporary farewell to “Stop Giving Me Advice” by Lyrical Lemonade, Jack Harlow and Dave, “You’re Losing Me” (From the Vault) by Taylor Swift, “Surround Sound” by JID featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate, “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, “exes” by Tate McRae, “Northern Attitude” by Noah Kahan with Hozier on the duet version, “Runaway” by Ye featuring Pusha T, “Can’t Catch Me Now” and “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta, “Water” by Tyla, “Strangers” by Kenya Grace, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift and finally, “Sprinter” by Dave and Central Cee. So, yeah, big bloodbath this week but one that involves a revival for the next.

So, time to “review”, isn’t it? We have some new arrivals, most of which are Christmas songs, let’s trodge through them.

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 - “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” - Dean Martin

Produced by Lee Gillette

So, firstly: I’m going to be getting the vast majority of my info from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, the Official Charts Company’s archive: it may sometimes be inaccurate or awkward in its formatting but I know charts well enough to notice when something doesn’t seem right - for the most part - or when it contradicts with Wikipedia or other sources. You can find the vast majority of this info elsewhere, I’m not doing intense research, but hey, it’s good to have a little backstory and that’s what most of this episode will be: stories. We start with a fictional one, that of Rudolph’s.

Now he may be a tradition now but he’s more recent than you think, pitched in 1939 by a retailer in New York known as Robert L. May. He’s a newly-created Christmas character that is a bit of wholesome children’s content with a good message, insanely basic character design and therefore incredibly intuitive marketing strategy. The song came 10 years after the character, and whilst Gene Autry probably recorded the most well-known version, it’s never charted in the UK. In fact, Dean Martin’s version, which debuts this year at #74 - it’s its first week in the top 100 even - is the first version to chart, despite American success of versions by Autry, Bing Crosby and even the Chipmunks and the Temptations, both inspiring 60s vocal groups. This 1959 cover from A Winter Romance, the same album with “Let it Snow” on it, is a completely fine, very cliché Christmas-sounding tune with a weird German accent for Santa’s dialogue. Whilst it may be somewhat surprising the song’s not charted, I do understand. I sang “Rudolph” as a child in assemblies at school, sure, but I’m a much later generation than a lot of the people listening to Christmas music this time of year in this country, and it’s always felt like a specifically American export, especially that stop-motion TV special that may have re-popularised the tune. The only other “Rudolph” song to chart is Chuck Berry’s 1958 classic, “Run Rudolph Run”, which peaked at #36 in 1964 and is currently at #49. When it peaked, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles, another rock-and-roll classic, was #1. Mr. Berry of course would later go on to film women peeing, so maybe someone should make a festive rock and roll remix to “Ignition”.

#72 - “Carol of the Bells” - John Williams

Produced by John Williams

Spotify actually credits more than OCC does here: John Williams is listed here as he’s the only performer listed on the chart itself but on streaming services, the lead artist is actually Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, the Ukrainian composer for the song, originally arranged as a very non-Christmas piece “Shchedryk”, which I guess is still about Winter as when translated, one can read lyrics about how a swallow flies into a home promising wealth for the upcoming spring. It’s connected to a folk holiday in Ukraine celebrated on New Year’s Eve known as “Malanka”, somewhat similar to Christmas in its festivities but with a depth of its own traditions unique to eastern Europe, and it wasn’t even the intended holiday of Leontovych’s original composition, first performed in Kyiv in 1916. An American composer, importantly one descending from the Rusyns of modern-day Ukraine, heard the composition, which made its way to New York in the 1920s, and wrote English lyrics relating to Christmas though, interestingly, Peter J. Wilhousky is nowhere to be seen in the artist credits for this version, being relegated to a writing credit on Spotify.

There are many versions of this song but by far the most popular is the rendition by John Williams, an icon in film scoring who arranged the song alongside a children’s choir performance for the 1990 film Home Alone, which has aged pretty well - mostly because it’s practically just slapstick of a kid torturing these two idiots - and has become a Christmas classic, particularly in eastern Europe, where its release lined up pretty nicely with more lenient restrictions on western films, so it became one of the first western family films seen by many children beyond the Iron Curtain just as it fell, which does make the use of Leontovych’s composition come full circle in a way. Personally, I’ve always found this song a tad eerie and intense, but Williams’ version of “Carol of the Bells” is the only one to have charted in the UK, and it first reached the top 100 in 2018. Additionally, the main theme from Home Alone, “Somewhere in My Memory”, spent one week at #69 in 2019. The #1 that week was “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max, and John Williams has charted a few times with singles and many, many other times on the albums chart, for his work in film scoring. Last year, the Home Alone soundtrack made its very first appearance there at #100, and this year, probably assisting with the new peak of this song, the actor who played the boy Kevin McCallister, Macaulay Culkin, received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the film itself was inducted into the Library of US Congress’ National Film Registry.

#71 - “Entrapreneur” - Central Cee

Produced by Chris Rich and Caleb Bryant

Alright, let’s cut the Christmas crap for a second as we do have a new song from Cench charting, and whilst Jeezy has made that awkward pun before, this is still a completely fine, maybe even pretty good, drill track with a very energetic performance from Cench here and despite some very odd mixing that makes the percussion feel stiff and the bass less present than it should be, I still think it hits hard amidst the soaring strings and keys at the back of the mix that is surprisingly dynamic at times, it almost feels like it’s going for a cloud rap vibe but instead of fully submerging the listener, Cench submerges any need for the instrumental by bringing a lot of charisma, some funny lines and a whole lot of triumphant flexing that given the motivation in his voice here and some genuinely likeable lyrics, actually feels pretty deserved. Sure, he sticks to the same flow, but it’s one that works and seems to serve his best interests lyrically as he can fit all of his wordy bars into it, so I’d say this is ultimately a success.

#67 - “Deck the Halls” - Nat King Cole

Produced by Lee Gillette

Another Lee Gillette production in the same week, huh, I guess the guy was the go-to for soulful Christmas tracks. I’m never going to complain about hearing Nat King Cole’s rich voice… except for this song, misspelled as “Deck the Hall” on Spotify, where it feels like everything’s a bit too fast for the guy, I almost feel bad. It’s a very spritzy and string-heavy song that just ends up too chintzy to give Nat King Cole any time. Hell, I’ll be honest - this one sucks, it’s way too busy and barely anyone could pull off this dead-on-arrival fa-la-la-la song anyway unless you’re a cartoon character but I haven’t seen the Animaniacs chart in my lifetime so this is a carol I’ve never preferred. As for this song’s chart history, this is its second week on the chart, and only this version has ever charted to my knowledge, debuting at #84 last year. That’s not to say people haven’t recorded and performed this song that aren’t named Nat King Cole because by God, they have, though not nearly as much as a song we’ll be talking about in a few paragraphs’ time. As for the original composition, it dates back to the traditional Welsh carol “Nos Galan”, which is actually about New Year’s Eve and both its tune and lyrics were written around the 1700s, but English lyrics by Scotsman Thomas Oliphant in 1862 brought us the carol we know today, so this one is a bit more historied than Rudolph, especially with popularising the now universal phrase of “’tis the season”. I don’t even like the slower, original Welsh version of this, it’s just a pestering little song to me. Never done well to my knowledge. Next.

#63 - “This Christmas” - Donny Hathaway

Produced by Ric Powell and Donny Hathaway

This is a pretty weird one because yes, this version of the song has never charted in the UK’s top 100 before. That much is true… but I have reviewed it, and in 2020 in fact, so dig up that old episode, right? Well, maybe not, because the only reason I reviewed it is because a Jess Glynne version charted that year, and it was an Amazon original version, that I ended up comparing to the original, one of my favourite ever Christmas songs, in complete despair and almost disgust. Hathaway has a buttery but unabashedly joyful voice, he came up with that iconic gleeful horn line and that clever, sleek title-drop in the verses, and like I said in 2020, lest we forget the bongos. It’s a detailed, beautiful song that was first released in 1970, with the B-side “Be There”, which is probably why OCC questionably lists this song as “This Christmas Be There”. Said B-side is the other holiday single tacked onto his self-titled album and whilst not as catchy or canonical, it is more of a melodramatic tune with just as many intricacies, it’s really an underrated gem to be honest. It took a while for “This Christmas” to latch on, only really resurging in 1991 when included on a reissued Christmas compilation record. It didn’t chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 until 2020 and has finally made it to the UK’s singles chart in its original form. The malformed Jess Glynne butchering made it to #3 in 2021, and “Last Christmas” was #1 that week too. It briefly returned in 2021 but only peaked at #52 that year and has not appeared again so I’m assuming the UK has come to their senses and made the correct decision about which one to enjoy from this year onward.

#60 - “Jingle Bells” - Frank Sinatra

Produced by Voyle Gilmore

It is a disgrace that Meghan Trainor’s version outcharts Frankie, but there is some solace in knowing Trainor’s version may be like Jess Glynne’s “This Christmas” and end up as a one-year-only success. It’s not like it matters though, “Jingle Bells” may be the most-recorded song in human history, and is definitely at least one of them, even though it was never explicitly about Christmas… though the song was originally titled “This One Horse Open Sleigh” so part of me thinks that James Lord Pierpoint, the song’s writer and Confederate soldier - yikes - had at least Father Christmas in mind when composing the jingle. Pierpoint even wrote music for the losing side in the Civil War and ended up on the opposing side of his father in the Union Army - Jesus, the less we know about the guy who wrote the song, the better, what a loser. Anyway, like 70,000 Goddamn people have dashed through the snow to get to the studio and record this track, so it’s safe to say the song has reached beyond its obscure writer at this point. It’s been broadcast from space, for God’s sake.

Sinatra, or more accurately Gilmore, extends the song with an unnecessary spelling section from a choir, but otherwise the 1948 recording is a lot of fun with a classic, swingin’ performance from Frankie as one would expect, especially when he has some fun with the cadence of the track, even if he doesn’t do it all too much. The song is such a staple that it’s been implemented into other Christmas standards for years, and not just “Jingle Bell Rock”, which I consider so separate to be its own song so I’ll wait for another cover of that next year before I get into that chart history, but also it’s a motif heard in Bing Crosby’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas”, the guitar… solo(?) in Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” and even Joni Mitchell’s “River”. As for the original, I mean, it’s been covered by everybody from Herb Alpert to the Beatles to the Barenaked Ladies to Barney the Dinosaur to Eric Clapton to Gladys Knight to Pearl Jam to the Wiggles to CBeebies’ Goddamn Alphablocks but the versions that charted are as follows.

The first version of the original “Jingle Bells” to chart in the modern chart was… a reggae version by Judge Dread, who if you know anything about him, is not exactly a wholesome Christmas artist, and of course, it’s actually a vulgar, laddish version using the melody to talk about having sex on Christmas with some girl. I’ve talked about Judge Dread on this blog before in my special episode from 2021 about songs banned by the BBC, in which I included a lot more of his story. To be completely honest, his version is a lot of fun, especially with how carelessly he delivers it all, and it peaked at #64 for two weeks in 1978, during which “Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord” by Boney M. was #1. It’s currently at #51. In 1981, a novelty version by the Hysterics that lasts for only less than a minute and a half, peaked at #44 for three weeks. Subtitled “(Laughing All the Way)”, it is simply a guy laughing obnoxiously to the tune of the song as a cartoon-sounding pop-rock version plays under him. It is profoundly stupid. “Don’t You Want Me” by the Human League was #1 during these three very cursed weeks in British history. In 2005, whoever the Hell was behind the Crazy Frog mashed up the song with “U Can’t Touch This”, which apparently warrants it a separate Wikipedia page, and it peaked at #5 whilst Nizlopi’s “JCB”, a personal nostalgic song for me, was #1. Another EDM version by Basshunter peaked at #35 in 2008, when Alexandra Burke’s cover of “Hallelujah” was #1. It’s safe to say that both 2000s Eurodance versions of “Jingle Bells” are cheap and ridiculous. Last year, Sam Ryder’s Amazon-exclusive version from an Amazon-exclusive Christmas film charted at #41 - “Last Christmas” was of course at #1 that week - and this week, we see both versions by Meghan Trainor and Frank Sinatra charting. He originally recorded it in 1948 but it only started charting two weeks ago. Oh, and of course, Batman smells and Robin laid an egg.

#58 - “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” - Mariah Carey

Produced by Walter Afanasieff and Mariah Carey

Mr. President, a second - okay, more accurately, third - Mariah Carey Christmas song has hit the canon… and I have no idea why you’d listen to this slightly-oversung, dull 1994 rendition over the Darlene Love original, which has a slightly similar story to “This Christmas” though arguably more organic. It wasn’t a single when added to Phil Spector’s Christmas compilation album - he would later murder a woman, of course - but the track, released in 1963 and featuring Cher on backing vocals, who would later cover the song as a duet with the surprisingly-still-alive (especially if she knew Spector, sheesh) Ms. Love, 60 years later - yes, that’s this year - on her own Christmas album. Sadly, that one didn’t chart but Carey’s instead. Love’s version gained popularity simply because in the late 80s, talk-show host David Letterman just liked the song and continued to invite her year upon year to perform it on his show, which is adorable.

In the UK, the original version didn’t chart until after Bublé’s - sigh - which didn’t last, peaking at #47 for two weeks in 2011 and briefly coming back in the bottom-feeder region in 2015. When it peaked, the #1 was “Cannonball” by Little Mix, and then “Wherever You Are” by the Military Wives and Gareth Malone, that year’s Christmas #1. Love’s version first charted here in 2017, though her other Christmas song, “All Alone on Christmas”, featured on the Home Alone 2 soundtrack - starring a man who I’m pretty sure James Lord Pierpoint would have voted for - peaked at #31 in 1992, during which the #1 was predictably Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” would eventually peak at #22 in 2018 and is currently charting at #31, whilst Carey’s version reaches a new peak this year after first charting in 2021, and with that, we are done with 2023’s Christmas episodes of REVIEWING THE CHARTS. Also, did you know U2 had a version of this? …Why?

Conclusion

This wasn’t really a conventional episode, was it? I can’t really fairly give Best of the Week out, or the worst for that matter, because these are songs I hold very few notable opinions on and spent most of the time just talking about their origins and their chart success. With that said, screw “Deck the Halls”, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next… year!

[rigginsstreet]

I mean, to be fair she never claimed to be poor or said poor in the lyrics at all. She said that it wasn’t a mansion, it was a farm (which is true, that’s the farmhouse iirc/her parents owned a christmas tree farm most of her childhood), and contrasted it to a person raised in Beverly Hills, an LA rich kid. Taylor very much so WAS raised in a LOT of wealth and privilege, and her family only got more successful over time (they sold the farm specifically to move full time to nashville so she could pursue her dream of being a singer when she was in high school so like. absolutely rich kid energy). But she never claimed to be poor, and I think it’s okay that she talks about the discrepancies between her childhood and her ex’s. The whole song is about the way she felt like an outsider in his hollywood/LA raised bubble, which is fair.

It’s co written by Chris Stapleton who’s a country singer I don’t know much about, so I do think that it’s likely some of his own experiences influenced the lyrics too, not solely her own.

It is also a song “from the vault”, aka, one she wrote a long time ago and is just releasing now alongside her re-records of the album she released around the same time she wrote those songs. She wrote the song a solid decade ago, so it does hit different in that context to some degree - she was writing it before she was QUITE as rich and famous as she is now (though she was ofc still very much rich and famous at that point 😂).

i have so much i want to say. imma keep my mouth shut tho. gonna keep that between me myself and i. for now lmfao

[mrperfectlyfinetv]

rank Taylor songs which feature Christmas in the lyrics?

Okay!! (only including the two songs from her Christmas EP that she wrote)

1. Tis The Damn Season

2. Christmas Tree Farm

3. Lover

4. Christmases When You Were Mine

5. The Moment I Knew

6. Christmas Must Be Something More

[swiftiephobe]

*rings doorbell* hi! combining both asks here!

i’m so glad to hear your december is going well! mine has been a little hectic, but otherwise pretty good too.

the 22 look is just too good to pass up! and it’s probably the comfiest outfit you could wear too. either that or the “cardigan” cardigan.

also would love to live in a castle during medieval times. “seems like it was never even fun back then” from i hate it here really puts my thoughts onto paper though.

same with the book goal, i usually aim for 20-25 since it’s only ~2 books a month and it’s realistic for me, even if i tend to read way more or wayyy less.

yes! being open to learning more and getting new perspectives is definitely going to push her towards better projects. i’m now dying to see her direct that movie, lol.

please do! i’m sending so many good vibes for you to travel wherever your heart desires.

what’s your favorite christmas/holiday music? is there a very specific song or album that helps every time?

also: are you excited for the secret santa reveals?

—🎅🍪

hello!! december is a hectic month in general, i hope it's slowed down for you and you can relax a bit now!

omg i have to take this opportunity to say that i can confirm that the og cardigan is super comfy because i own one 🤭 i'm always scared to wear it out though because i'm so worried it'll get dirty, it's not like i can ever replace it 😭

20-25 books is a good goal i think! definitely doable. good luck for your 2025 reading year! and yeah the lyric from i hate it here really captures the vibe haha

ooh i don't really have any specific favourite christmas songs because i really only like listening to it in the background rather than putting it on intentionally! but all i want for christmas is you, santa tell me, christmas tree farm are all modern christmas songs i do really like. my fave classic song would probably be last christmas.

yesss i'm so excited!! you've been such an amazing secret santa and i'm looking forward to finding out who you are!!!! 🫶🫶

[talenlee]

Gaylors, Apes, Qanon And That Person You Hate

Sometimes when I’m talking with people about the weird kind of behaviours of cults, I try to draw comparisons to things in the real world they might be familiar with. Then it turns out that actually, most people aren’t familiar with these things either because the people I explain these ideas to are typically not brain-poisoned terminally online gigaweirdoes who research online cult behaviour.

When I use the word ‘cult’ in this context, I am referring specifically to the notion of a community that has:

Claims of special revelation

Tightly patrolled social boundaries

A self-enforcing resistance to correction

I won’t go too deep into these three traits, but suffice to say anyone who’s going to try and @ me about using this term when it’s used to persecute I dunno, the Shakers, I will politely tell you to fuck all the way off to the moon. But you might notice my definition doesn’t require any kind of religious or spiritual definition, and I consider that important. Cults can form around all sorts of things, and while charismatic leaders who want to fuck their flock are an obvious lightning rod for attention, there are other ways cults can form. Sometimes, they can form around people who not only don’t know who they are, but want nothing to do with them.

Let’s start with a simple one that’s borne out of what feels like a specialised kind of internet wishful thinking, but is reasonably harmless when you set aside the actual homophobia involved. Gaylors are a community of people who believe that the billionaire pop star and most successful mid artist in the history of successful mid artists, Taylor Swift, is secretly a big ole queer, and she’s being kept from expressing herself by her wealthy handlers.

The rationale for this is through secret readings of her lyrics. It involves taking the text of a bunch of songs and then interpreting them as being about something much deeper and more intricate than they are. This seems to me to be a very natural impulse because broadly speaking Taylor Swift seems to produce songs that are as complex as I Heart You while all filtered through the persona of the most thin-skinned petty white girl you’ve ever met. Consider off her recent album:

You wouldn’t last an hour In the asylum where they raised me

Consider: Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas Tree farm, which she described as ‘the most magical childhood.’ This isn’t about how she was raised. This is probably her describing the attention she gets and how hard it is to be the most successful artist in the world and also a billionaire. To which I say: You can fucking stop any time, Taylor.

But what if you like Taylor Swift’s perfectly tolerable music and don’t like feeling like you have the tastes of a part-time mall hairdresser? Well, you do what any other overly-invested dork does when they realise they have to share common space in media with people they disdain, and you invent wild and elaborate theories about how it’s actually deeper than that, mom, and those fans don’t get it.

To this, we have a community who recognise the social cachet of liking queer art who then decide if you don’t have interesting queer art from outsider creators, why not just pretend the stuff you already liked was actually secretly queer art! These people then spend their time combing over lyrics to share with one another the hypothetical hope that they’re dealing with an incredibly interesting person who sends them cryptic messages rather than… that.

This is an example of this kind of information cult that is, in my opinion, largely harmless except in the way that they are people being assholes about their fandom in common spaces. They are absolutely engaging in a self-confirming group delusion; I think when Taylor Swift tells you to stop speculating about her sexuality, and you respond with ‘what she really means is,’ you’re absolutely just being a dickhead and anyone not already heavily invested in the secret communal truth can tell.

Anyway, onto people who are ruining their family’s lives.

In January 2021, a Stock Market Thingy happened. There are documentaries, explainers, guides and at least one major movie about it, and the actual thing that happened is something you can spend a lot of time learning about and shouldn’t fucking bother with. It’s as complicated as you want to discover but the core of what it is is that if you invested before January 2021, you could have made a lot of money, if you got out before the money machine broke. That’s usually where the story ends, where get a load of this, a lot of normal people who aren’t The Stock Market Boys successfully did a stock market thing, hooray, capitalism has successes in it, and maybe things are great.

Anyway, a lot of those people who we talk about as having successfully manipulated the stock market didn’t, and instead were left, after the point where they could make money, as now merely ‘investors’ in a company called Gamestop that isn’t very good and isn’t going to make much money. And these people have, collectively, decided with a lot of Reddit style ‘positive vibes only’ as expressed by the kind of ‘I love science’ brain ding dongs, that in fact, that wasn’t even the real thing and the real thing is going to happen later. Any day now.

What results from this is that now there is a community of extremely hostile weirdoes who are convinced that if they just keep buying Gamestop shares, no matter what, that they are going to wind up becoming rich on the scale of the downfall of the entire economic system of the United States and maybe the world. I use the term ‘GME Apes’ for these people, because they use monkey imagery and it relates to the stock code for gamestop. They use other terms for one another that I don’t want to repeat in common conversation.

It is a cult complete with its insular secret revelation, its own socially patrolled boundaries, and its own rituals that reinforce that behaviour. And while with the Gaylors, they’re mostly being annoying on lyrics meanings sites and social media, this is people spending money, money from their jobs and family, to prop up the stock price of a company that not only doesn’t care about them but will never reward them for their hopeful behaviour.

You can go your entire life without interacting with these people. But if you work at say, a Gamestop, there’s a nonzero chance you’ve had someone walk into the business to lecture you about it. The thing that really concerns me are the members of this community who keep it hidden from their families and spend shared funds. And also there’s the way that this cult is compatible with other conspiracy cults that tend to wind up just straight up mainlining antisemitism.

Oh hi Qanon, what are you doing here?

The Qanon movement is a legitimate component of modern American political discourse that serves to manufacture and test-bed ideas that can then be laundered into ‘common wisdom’ that other more mainstream sources then repeat. Sometimes it’s old news, sometimes it’s new things – they’re responsible for catapulting ‘adrenochrome’ into the common dictionary, for example.

The idea at the heart of Qanon is this: There is a special level of clearance above all the things you’ve heard of, inside the US Government and a secret agent named Q is using an anonymous internet forum to share information that nobody has. When Q started out, it was a creative fiction, a LARP of sorts, which tried to explain that not only was Donald Trump exactly what the awful fans wanted to be, but the only reason things weren’t happening the way he wanted to wasn’t because the real world is boring and procedural and Donald Trump was a big dumb loser and liar and failure of a human just the absolute worst kind of dude, just the sheer idea of ‘America’ in the worst possible form of it, poured into a sack and made into a person. Uh where was I. Anyway, yeah, Q forwarded the fiction of a secret hidden state with a bunch of secret players and code words and so on was doing things.

The fantasy that Q offered is ‘what if things weren’t boring and disappointing, but instead interesting and exciting in the dumbest possible way.’ And there’s a conversation about the way that Q kind of restructures a modern understanding of what a cult is. After all, one of the common traits described in a cult is a charismatic leader. Under conventional models where a cult is something an individual twists around themselves, it’s easy to see that Qanon fails because the closest thing it has to a leader is the one person who isn’t involved in it: Donald Trump.

Instead, Qanon is a bubble of basically, Qinfluencers who are, I cannot stress this enough, absolute bozos and losers. They are people who inevitably have no actual things to recommend them as being actually good at or impressed with things, and they’re essentially monetising being dungeonmasters for rooms full of some of the most forgiving players ever. But Qanon doesn’t need to be good it needs to be shareable. It’s a social media cult in the purest way, where things are broken down into either shareable ideas that express disgust and rage with an outsider, or something that expresses joy and reassurance at the insider.

It is a pure meme swarm, coalescing not around what is coherent, but what complies with the immediate needs. You can watch conspiracy thinking in action through the whole mess, as each individual idea that gets expressed suddenly and immensely gets addressed with an ad-hoc excuse that may or may not actually address it and may even be explicitly contradictory of what was just said. There is nothing to this that can be true, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s supposed to feel right.

There are other examples. Consider that there are communities focused on attempting to determine some secret truth or investigating the ‘real’ genders of people, or of trying to determine the crime or fault of a streamer, and where any information that confirms or denies the conspiracy is seen as just more proof of the conspiracy.

This creates a literal cult environment; people who believe they have some special insight into their own enforced and demanded truth and where anything the subject does or doesn’t do cannot change that. You might well know the names of some people who are subjected to this kind of community. There are some people who you may only know exist thanks to the cult hating them making actual content that packages their belief to a general audience.

Maybe think about that?

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[mocofo]

Snuggle Up with Taylor Swift: Matching Christmas Pajamas for the Whole Family!

Calling all Swifties!  Looking for a way to spread holiday cheer and celebrate your love for Taylor Swift with the whole family? Look no further than Taylor Swift-inspired Christmas pajamas!  These cozy sets, featuring festive designs and comfy fabrics, are the perfect way to add a touch of Swiftie magic to your holiday season.

Taylor Swift's Same Pajamas, Squirrel Party Christmas Themed Bamboo Brushed Cotton Taylor Swift Parent-child Home Clothes

Loungewear Style: Cartoon

Number of pieces: 2 pieces

Clothing style details: Printing

Length: trousers

Fabric commonly known as: pure cotton

Applicable objects: youth pants

Placket: rubber band

Applicable scene: pajamas

Applicable season: autumn and winter

Thickness: regular

Sleeve length: long sleeves

Collar type: V-neck

Pattern: cartoon animation

Clothes placket: front button

Applicable gender: parent-child

Size: S, M, L, children 120-130cm, children 140-150cm

Color classification: Squirrel adult model, Squirrel children model

Rock the Same PJs as Taylor? Yes Please!

Imagine snuggling up by the fireplace on Christmas morning, all decked out in matching Taylor Swift pajamas! Here's why these PJs are a perfect choice for you and your family:

A "Squad" Christmas: Channel the togetherness of Taylor's girl squad with matching pajamas for parents and children. These festive sets come in a variety of sizes, ensuring everyone can join the fun.

A "Red"-y Good Time: Find pajamas featuring designs inspired by Taylor's Christmas album " evermore" or classic holiday motifs with a Taylor Swift twist. Think snowflakes, reindeer, or even a subtle nod to her song "Christmas Tree Farm."

Comfy and Cozy: Made from soft, breathable fabrics like bamboo brushed cotton, these pajamas offer ultimate comfort for movie marathons, lazy mornings, or cozy nights by the fire.

The Perfect Holiday Gift: Looking for a unique and festive gift for a fellow Swiftie? Matching Taylor Swift Christmas pajamas are a guaranteed hit, offering both comfort and a shared love for Taylor's music.

Finding the Perfect Swiftie Christmas PJs:

Ready to create a picture-perfect Swiftie Christmas with matching pajamas? Here are some tips for finding the perfect set:

Official Store: The Taylor Swift official store might have a limited-edition collection of Christmas pajamas featuring festive designs.

Retailers: Major clothing retailers may carry holiday collections with Taylor Swift-inspired pajamas around the holiday season. Keep an eye out for these limited-edition sets.

Online Marketplaces: Websites like Etsy offer a treasure trove of fan-made Taylor Swift Christmas pajamas with unique designs and customizations. You can find pajamas featuring characters from her music videos or even lyrics with a festive twist.

More Than Just PJs, It's a Family Tradition

Matching Taylor Swift Christmas pajamas are more than just comfy sleepwear. They're a way to create lasting holiday memories with your family. Imagine singing carols, decorating the tree, or opening presents, all while rocking your festive Swiftie style!

So, spread some holiday cheer and celebrate your love for Taylor Swift with these adorable matching Christmas pajamas!  Get ready for a " evermore" filled with festive fun and cozy nights spent together as a family.

Important Note:  While there is no official confirmation of Taylor Swift having her own line of Christmas pajamas, fans have taken it upon themselves to create and sell fan-made designs. Keep this in mind while searching for these festive PJs.

Taylor Swift, the iconic singer-songwriter, has not only captivated audiences with her music but also inspired fashion trends with her signature style. Now, fans can emulate her effortless elegance even in their sleep with the Taylor Swift pajama set. Combining comfort and chic design, this pajama set allows fans to channel their inner Swiftie while lounging at home or drifting off to sleep. Let's explore why the Taylor Swift pajama set is a must-have addition to any fan's wardrobe.a

Copy from:https://pajamasetsc.blogspot.com/2024/07/snuggle-up-with-taylor-swift-matching.html