#the cheerleader the team losing the RIPPED UP MY PROM DRESS???

[a-chaotic-ananas]

look me in the eyes and tell me miss americana & the heartbreak prince isn't the perfect ryen/misha song. u can't

[whyamistill-writingpages]

Lover First Impressions

Okay, so. a little late, I know. Believe me, I listened to Lover as soon as it came out like everyone else. And as I listened to it for the first time, without anyone else’s input or opinions or impressions, I recorded my thoughts. 

I took a break from tumblr and social media for my mental health and to focus on my life and lately I’ve been more twitter/instagram. But I thought @taylorswift would get a kick out of my reactions (and the rest of you) so I thought I’d finally post!

1.       I Forgot That You Existed

·         OH MY GOD HER VOICE

·         I love the beat!

·         The way she says “indifference”

·         SHE LAUGHED

·         The chorus may not be my *most* favorite part, but honestly I love her voice and the verses are AMAZING and she laughs like three times!

·         Conclusion: I love. Probably not my fave, we’ll see, but I love

 2.       Cruel Summer

·         Oh my god WHAT IS THIS

·         SO GOOD

·         IT’S SO GOOD

·         The beat plus her voice plus oh my god

·         Devils roll the dice angels roll their eyes

·         Said I’m fine but it wasn’t true. I don’t want to keep secrets just to keep you

 3.       Lover (trying to remember first impressions)

·         Okay so nice, interesting beat

·         Probably not my favorite, but it’s good

·         Oh my god the way she SINGS

·         Okay so I love it

 4.       The Man

·         IT’S SO GOOD

·         Oh my GOD

·         I’m so sick of running as fast as I CAN wondering if I’d get there faster if I was a MAN

·         The bEAT

·         It’s all good if you’re bad it’s all good if you’re mad

·         Okay I love it like a lot

 5.       The Archer (trying to remember)

·         Hmm what am I hearing? OH MY GOD IS THAT BATTLE??? *crying, screaming* OH no it’s just a false taylor account

·         Okay so not battle

·         Interesting though

·         OH MY GOD THE ROOM IS ON FIRE INVISIBLE SMOKE I’M CRYING

·         THIS IS ANXIETY

·         I LOVE

6.       I Think He Knows

·         I love the beat, reminds me of a song I can’t remember

·         I LOVE THE WAY THIS SOUNDS

·         THE DETAILS

·         OH MY GOD

·         IT’S LIKE I’M SEVENTEEN

·         THAT AHHHHH

·         I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

·         SKIPPING DOWN SIXTEENTH AVENUE

·         I’M SCREAMING THE BRIDGE

·         OH MY GOD

·         IT’S SO GOOD

 7.       Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

·         Interesting sound

·         Definitely a shift from the last one

·         I LOVE HER VOICE

·         Marching band playiiiiing

·         Ripped up my prom dress??? I ran for my life????

·         I counted days? I counted miles?

·         THIS IS SO GOOD

·         The whole school is rolling dice !!!!!!

·         I’M SCREAMING OH MY GOD

·         IT’S SO SAD WE PAINT THE TOWN BLUE

·         MY TEAM IS LOSING

·         I SEE THE HIGH FIVES BETWEEN THE BAD GUYS

·         THE LYRICS

·         OH MY FUCKING GOD HOWWWWWW

·         OH-KAY! LIKE A CHEERLEADER OH MY GOD

·         THE CHEERLEADER SOUNDS OH MY GOD AGAINST HER

·         Violins?????

·         I JUST GOT CHILLS

·         This is so creative and different oh my god this is so COOL

 8.       Paper Rings

·         INTERESTING SOUND

·         I love her voice

·         I went home and stalked you on the internet lmaoooooo

·         Little bit creepy lol

·         ID MARRY YOU WITH PAPER RINGS

·         This is such a throwback sound

·         Standing here so TALL

·         Kiss you twice cause it’s gonna be alright

·         This reminds me of eighties pop tbh

·         IN ALL MY DREAMS YOU’RE THE ONE I WANT AHHHHHHHOHHHHH

·         This’ll be fun on tour for suuuuure

 9.       Cornelia Street

·         Well definitely different than the rest of the album so far I think

·         That echoing sound is so interesting

·         Filling in the blanks as we go

·         This is so nice

·         Very soothing sounding

·         And baby

·         This chorus gives me CHILLLLSSSSS

·         Her voice on AGAIN oh my GOD

·         Sat on the roof like king of my heart???? I’M SCREAMING AHHHHH

·         I hope I never lose you in the bridge???? That AGAIN???? ATTACK ME WHAT I COULD CRY

·         This city screams your name

·         The sound of the car door at the end???? Oh my GOD

 10.   Death By A Thousand Cuts

·         Huhhhh

·         What is this beginning sound?

·         This is so DIFFERENT

·         I love her VOICE IN THIS

·         The SOUNDS in this SONG

·         I ask the traffic lights if it’ll be alright?????

·         Is this more detail to CIWYW??

·         IF THE STORY’S OVER WHY AM I STILL WRITING PAGES

·         THIS BRIDGE UHHHHHHH

·         Okay oh my GOD I love that

 11.   London Boy

·         HE’S TALKING AT THE BEGINNING????

·         THIS BEAT

·         WHAT

·         HER VOICE

·         THE CHORUS

·         I FANCY YOUUUUUU

·         MY AMERICAN SMILE

·         I GUESS ALL THE RUMORS ARE TRUE

·         THIS BRIDGE THE WAY SHE SINGS IT

·         The way she calls Stella a queen awwwww

12.   Soon You’ll Get Better

·         Ooohhh this guitar

·         OH MY GOD IM GONNA CRY

·         Desperate people find faith

·         SOON YOU’LL GET BETTER

·         Cause you have to

·         I just pretend it isn’t REAL

·         OH MY GOD

·         I love this old taylor country sound

·         WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO TALK TO

·         OK I’M CRYING

·         HER VOICE KEEPS ALMOST BREAKING

 13.   False God

·         This is a weird sound

·         Huhhhh

·         I really love her voice in this

·         For some reason I’m getting jazzy vibes

·         I can’t talk to you when I’m like this! Like the ME! Video

·         Blind FAITH

·         I’m not sure if this is a happy song or not tbh

·         It sounds like both sad and strained and yet like it could be happy? Idk?

·         This needs a relisten to understand for sure

·         This lo-o-o-ve

·         All the way she sings love like OKAY

 14.   You Need to Calm Down (trying to remember my initial reaction)

·         Interesting beat

·         And I’m just like DAMN it’s seven AM!

·         AND SNAKES AND STONES NEVER BROOKE MY BOOOOONES LIKE OOOOHHHHOOOHHHOHHHH

·         YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN

·         AHHHHH GOODDDDD

·         AND SHADE NEVER MADE ANYBODY LESS GAYYYYYY SOOOOOOOOOO

·         A Very Good Song

 15.   Afterglow

·         Is that like stomping?

·         This is such an interesting sound

·         OOHHH

·         Boxing with NO GLOVES

·         This is really good

·         But it makes you look like the bad guy, Taylor

·         Ooooohhhhh

·         Its all ME in my HEAD

·         The way it sounds at the END OHHHHH

 16.   ME! (can’t remember a lot)

·         Ohhh her voice! I LOVE IT

·         This is FUN

·         I know that I’m a handful baby UH!

·         And you can’t spell AWESOME without ME

 17.   It’s Nice to Have a Friend

·         Huh

·         This sounds interesting

·         What instrument am I hearing?

·         Another school metaphor

·         I love the cadence

·         I really love this it’s so interestinggggg

·         A HORN????

·         I love the sounds in this song

 18.   Daylight

·         Hmmm right in with words

·         Ohhh her voiiiiiice I can’t get over it in this album

·         I’ll tell you the truth but never GOODBYE

·         NOW I SEE DAYLIGHT

·         THIS SECOND VERSE AFTER THE CHORUS AHHHHH

·         This is so varied

·         I love the way she sings daylight ahhhhhh

·         SHE’S TALKING?????

Okay so I hope yall had fun reading that lmaoooo those were my honest reactions. Even though I’m late to the party forgive me :)

[lanternburning19]

My (Romantic) Interpretation of Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

First, we should introduce the characters of the story.

Miss Americana: Taylor. From the very beginning of her career, Taylor was dubbed America's Sweetheart and was branded to be a role model. She avoided talking about sex, showing off her body, and was not shown drinking or partying. She loved (and still loves) being a role model. She is kind, polite, charismatic and has an air of dignity about her. She also is not shy about her love for her country. Her 4th of July parties were highly publicized and has been a big advocate for exercising the right to vote ever since 2008. She is Miss Americana.

But then 2016 happened. And her reputation did a 180. She went from the friendly girl next door to the calculative mean girl. People were routing for her career to die. She went from America's Sweetheart to America's Most Hated.

The Heartbreak Prince: Joe. Rumors say that Joe used to be a huge playboy and never had a serious relationship until Taylor. This is echoed in Taylor's lyrics.

"Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down"

"Do the girls back home touch you like I do?"

"I don't want to be just another ex-love you don't want to see"

It's interesting to me that Joe gets the royal title of "Prince" but Taylor is just "Miss". This alludes to Joe being British and being under a representative monarchy government, where America is not.

Now into the story:

You know I adore you

The song starts out with a declaration of Taylor's love. This ties in with the theme of the Lover album.

Crazier for you

Than I was at sixteen

Lost in a film scene

I believe this is referring to when Taylor first started her career. She was 16 when her first single dropped. While she wasn't in the acting business, she was still in the world of celebrity. Realizing her dreams with her first single and album doing well, she must've felt as if she was walking a cloud, or "lost in a film scene".

Waving homecoming queens

Marching band playing

These lines do two things at once for me. First, they remind me of the You Belong With Me music video in which Taylor plays a high schooler in marching band. Second, these lines evoke a feeling of victory. Homecoming queens usually wave to the student body after being crowned. Marching bands strike up when their team scores. YBWM was a huge hit for Taylor early in her career, and continuing from the previous lines, her early successes probably made her feel victorious.

I'm lost in the lights

The very last line of the first verse takes a sudden turn. The way Taylor sings this is very different from how she sings "lost in a film scene". When she sings "I'm lost in the lights" she sounds breathless and scared. She is no longer feeling the joy of being crowned homecoming queen or the excitement of your team earning a touchdown. She's not lost in the wonderment of it all, she's lost and scared. She got lost in the fame.

American glory

Faded before me

In this verse, we learn that Taylor is scared because her shining moments, her victories, her happiness is slipping away from her. She did not purposely push it away. It faded like a ghost, slipped out of her grasp.

It is interesting that Taylor links homecoming and football games to "American glory". While homecoming may seem like a tradition, it is distinctly an American high school thing.

Now I'm feeling hopeless

Ripped up my prom dress

Running through rose thorns

This is imagery of Taylor wearing a prom dress, and this immediately takes me back to earlier in her career when she used to wear princess-y dresses on tour. She also wore a prom dress in the YBWM music video. And that very same dress was repurposed for the Fearless Tour's performance of Love Story (calling back to the Lover theme).

Taylor ripped up her prom dress. How is unclear to me, because of the lack of punctuation in song lyrics. Is it "Ripped up my prom dress. Running through rose thorns..." Or is it "Ripped up my prom dress running through rose thorns". Did she purposely rip it herself or did it get accidentally torn by the roses?

If she ripped it up herself, it could be symbolic of her wanting to distance herself from the music business, from the fame, from the plastic Party-City homecoming queen crowns. But I don't think that's the case.

It is more likely the dress was ripped unintentionally. The rose thorns seems to be a call back to the line "Rose garden filled with thorns" in Blank Space. This line means that nothing is as it seems. What looks nice and pretty can actually hurt you. The life of celebrity looked pretty to Taylor at first. She wanted to be "lost in the film scene" with all the glory that a homecoming football game brings. But the industry ended up hurting her.

I am, of course, talking about 2016 when Taylor's reputation went from America's Sweetheart to a "snake". She was on top of the world with a hugely successful album and world tour, but became overexposed because of that success. Suddenly, people who posed as her "squad" on the red carpet started turning against her. Ex-friends and ex-lovers who usually kept to themselves started bashing Taylor all over social media. Longtime fans who had bought every album couldn't stop saying bad things about her. Her social media accounts were flooded with hate comments. The media thrived off of using her downfall as a headline.

I saw the score board

And ran for my life

Shortly after this chaos started, Taylor took a step back from the spotlight. She stopped posting of social media, releasing new music, doing interviews, attending award shows. She disappeared.

No cameras catch my pageant smile

With her avoiding the media, the paparazzi couldn't take new pictures of her "pageant" or fake smile.

I counted days

I counted miles

To see you there

To see you there

It's been a long time coming but

It's you and me

That's my whole world

The "you" here is the Heartbreak Prince, or her love. Taylor went through many hard days before she was able to find love.

They whisper in the hallway "she's a bad, bad girl"

This line evokes an image of teenagers gossiping in a high school hallway. So we're back to the high school theme.

The "bad girl" is referencing Taylor's bad reputation that was mentioned earlier. But it also could be referencing her dating life. Taylor was mocked for years for having a rocky dating life. People would joke that men should stay away from Taylor. Taylor is comparing people who spread rumors to immature teenagers.

The whole school is rolling fake dice

The "school" is Hollywood. People obsessed with fame are fake.

You play stupid games

You win stupid prizes

The students at this metaphorical school are focused on the wrong thing. They risk cheating (fake dice) to win a game that in the end, doesn't yield you a fulfilling prize.

It's you and me

There's nothing like this

Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince

But Taylor isn't focused on those "little games" (Look What You Made Me Do) anymore. She's focused on someone that really matters to her.

It's so sad

We paint the town blue

Instead of painting the town red in celebration, they paint the town blue. This line reminds me of how Taylor and Joe painted Patrick's room blue together.

Voted most likely to run away with you

To me, this line is referring to how Taylor has jetted off to different parts of the world to be with Joe.

My team is losing

Battered and bruising

I see the high fives

Between the bad guys

Again, we get another visual of a high school football game. Taylor's team is down and others are celebrating her defeat. This reminds me of the Taylor Swift is Over Party, where people were celebrating the end of her career.

Leave with my head hung

You are the only one

Who seems to care

With the whole world seemingly against Taylor, it must've been a relief to meet someone who actually cared about her feelings.

American stories

Burning before me

This feels to me like a reference to Fahrenheit 451, which is about a dystopian society and the effects of mass media. Miss Americana has crumbled. Her glory days have been burned to the ground without any hope of recovery. Mass media and social media played a part in this.

Instead of just repeating "American glory" Taylor chooses to use "American stories" instead. Perhaps it's because no one wanted to believe her side of the story of things. Her truth was ignored.

I'm feeling helpless

The damsels are distressed

If boys will be boys

Then where are the wise men

Darling, I'm scared

The "damsels in distress" reference flows nicely after the mention of stories. Taylor is feeling like a damsel in distress, but no one is coming to save her.

"Boys will be boys" is an expression often said when a young boy acts reckless to excuse their behavior. Perhaps Taylor is waiting for her knight in shining armor, but he has abandoned her to go do something else. Everyone is excusing his behavior but blaming Taylor.

"If boys will be boys, then where are the wise men?" Is one of my favorite lines Taylor's ever written. If men are all off doing stupid shit, then who's the smart one around here? Where are all the men when it's their time to save the damsel in distress?

No cameras catch

My muffled cries

I counted days

I counted miles

To see you there

This could be referring to a long distance relationship. Miss Americana is going through some hard times, as described in the last 2 verses. But her Prince is not there to comfort her. So she has to hold out for a while.

And now the storm is coming but

It's you and me...

There are much more difficulties that lie ahead of the couple. I love how the last word of the verse is "but". and then it leads in to the romantic chorus. It's going to be hard, BUT, we have each other.

And I don't want you to go

I don't really wanna fight

Because nobody's gonna win

The last words of these lines are a standard cheer for high school football teams. The cheerleaders will yell "Go! Fight! Win!" to encourage the team.

Fighting is mentioned a few times in Lover, in songs like Afterglow, ME!, and The Archer. But in each song, Taylor sings about fighting with remorse. She doesn't want to fight with her loved ones or turn against them. Nobody's going to win in the end of the fight because they'll both be without each other.

And I'll never let you go

Because I know this is a fight

That someday we're gonna win

The last part of the bridge keeps the "Go! Fight! Win!" motif but changed the lyrics so that instead of fighting against each other, it's about fighting for each other. They might face some hardships but they'll be alright if they stick together. This song is an encouragement of their relationship.

In the end, Miss Americana became America's Most Hated and The Heartbreak Prince settled down with someone to love.

[butthatsnotwhereminelives]

god i desperately want a miss americana music video just imagine it

it opens with a panning shot of a kind of dark, dystopian, post-apocalyptic high school, maybe with an 80s vibe like stranger things but in the upside down, wind blowing, the whole school is just wrecked and grey

that synth comes in at the beginning and taylor enters in a ripped up prom dress, kind of like in the safe and sound video, hair down, minimal make up, gazing around, rubbing her arms, cold and alone as she takes in the destruction

‘you know i adore you, i’m crazier for you’ - the camera comes in close to her face as she says the words like she’s not quite sure that she believes them anymore

‘than i was at 16, lost in a film scene’ - the camera pans back out except it’s now the past, everything is over saturated, crowds of beautiful teenagers, smiling with all their teeth

‘waving homecoming queens, marching band playing’ - cheerleaders wave like pageant queens, the camera moves to the marching band and taylor is in the middle of it, dressed like in ybwm, playing along

‘i’m lost in the lights’ - camera pans out to take in the whole scene, lights are strung up everywhere and they get brighter until they blind the whole screen

‘America glory faded before me’ - as the lights fade, everything is even more saturated but it’s just red white and blue now, everyone is dressed to the nines for prom, talking excitedly, there are a lot more people in red than blue

‘now i’m feeling hopeless, ripped up my prom dress’ - taylor is alone on the edge of the prom, watching the smiling crowd, she shakes her head and turns to run outside, ripping off the top layer of her blue skirt, a sleeve comes off with it, she tosses it to the side

‘running through rose thorns, i saw the scoreboard and ran for my life’ - the part of her prom dress she chucked aside lands in a bed of thorns and they gladly swallow it up, she looks back to the prom, purses her lips and runs into the night

‘No cameras catch my pageant smile, I counted days, I counted miles to see you there, to see you there’ - the camera moves with taylor as her feet pound the grass, her breaths coming faster, and she reaches the football field stands where she curls up underneath them, hugging her knees

‘It's been a long time coming’ - taylor’s face is bathed in red from the football scoreboard

‘it’s you and me, that’s my whole world’ - the scene blows away like ashes and reforms as a school hallway

‘they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl’ - the camera moves between everyone whispering, grinning, the lockers have blue paint peeling off them to reveal red underneath

‘you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes‘ - the homecoming/prom banner is up in the hallway, a king’s crown has been graffitied on it in red

‘the whole school is rolling fake dice’ - taylor walks up to a noticeboard, and it shows the votes for homecoming king/queen, one has a tonne more votes than the other, but the latter is still circled as the winner in red

‘it's you and me, there's nothing like this’ - taylor turns to her locker, yes it’s 117 like in her diary, but it’s been painted red sloppily, theres drips on the floor she steps in the paint

‘Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince‘ - taylor tries to get the paint off her shoes but she’s leaving red footprints, the whispers start to look like they’re being directed at her

‘we’re so sad we paint the town blue, voted most likely to run away with you’ - the colours fade from the image, and it’s just taylor alone walking down this decimated, ashy remnant of the hallway

‘my team is losing, battered and bruising’ - the scene fades away again, to the home of a student we saw in the hallway, she is crying as she looks at an exam score before starting another one, its 3 in the morning

‘I see the high fives between the bad guys, leave with my head hung’ - move to a student getting yelled at by a teacher, the teacher shoves him, hard, but he only cries when he leaves the room so that the teacher doesn’t see

‘you are the only one who seems to care’ - taylor sits alone playing guitar on the football stands

‘American stories burning before me‘ - a mother hugs the boy we saw getting abused by the teacher before sending him into school in the morning

‘im feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed’ - taylor stands alone in the library looking around, students including the girl we saw before are slaving away at their desks

‘boys will be boys then, where are the wise men?’ -  jocks the hallway outside the library, one of them is the boy we saw, a friend claps him on the back and he flinches

‘darling i’m scared‘ - taylor watches the boy flinch

‘no cameras catch my muffled cries, I counted days, I counted miles to see you there’ - the scene fades, and it’s people getting ready for prom, taylor watches as someone hangs up the american flag

‘now the storm is coming‘ - the strung up lights blind the screen again

‘it’s you and me, that’s my whole world’ - its the prom from the beginning, red white and blue, the girl we saw before grins mechanically as she dances

‘they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl’ - the boy we saw shakes the hand of the teacher, in front of others, smiling like a robot

‘you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes‘ - taylor stands at the edge, watching this play out

‘the whole school is rolling fake dice, it's you and me, there's nothing like this’ - they announce the homecoming king/queen

‘Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince‘ - the american flag falls down

‘OKAY’ -  the scene fades, the room is empty and grey

‘we’re so sad we paint the town blue, voted most likely to run away with you’ - taylor walks over to the american flag still lying on the floor, it’s charred but it’s the only thing still colourful in the room, she hangs it up

‘and i don’t want you to GO’ - scene fades, they’re on the football pitch from the beginning

‘i don’t really wanna FIGHT’ - the cheerleaders smile like robots, the girl is on top of the pyramid

‘cause nobody’s gonna win’ - the boy is on the football team, he’s slammed into by the opposing team

‘i think you should come home’ - taylor is playing band, everyone is playing enthusiastically except for her

‘and i don’t want you to GO, i don’t really wanna FIGHT’ - taylor gets out of the band formation, and runs off the pitch

‘cause nobody’s gonna win, i think you should come home’ - she runs toward the school, it’s on fire 

‘and i don’t want you to GO, i don’t really wanna FIGHT’ - taylor watches in shock as it burns while everyone else is pretending it’s okay

‘cause nobody’s gonna WIN’ - the cheerleaders echo around taylor, the camera pans around so the glow of the pitch is in frame

‘just thought you should know’ - the camera moves away from taylor’s face, and inside the burning school

‘and i’ll never let you GO’ - the red paint on the lockers burns off

‘cause i know this is a FIGHT’ - the homecoming banner with the graffiti falls down

‘that someday we’re gonna WIN’ - the camera rushes backwards out of the hall during the pause in the music

‘it’s you and me, that’s my whole world’ - the school slowly burns, and the fires fade out

‘they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes’ - it’s the same shot from the beginning, this is the dystopian landscape, the chaos in the background of the pretence

‘the whole school is rolling fake dice, it's you and me, there's nothing like this’ - taylor walks through the hallway, look at the burnt locker paint and charred fallen banner

‘Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince‘ - the shot from before; taylor walks into the hall and over to the american flag still lying on the floor, it’s charred but it’s the only thing still colourful in the room, she hangs it up

‘OKAY’ -  the cheerleaders are still chanting, taylor looks up as if remembering the past

‘we’re so sad we paint the town blue, voted most likely to run away with you’ - she walks out of the school, toward the pitch again, nothing is lit

‘and i don’t want you to GO, i don’t really wanna FIGHT’ - nothing is lit, the pitch is empty, but the chants of the cheerleaders still echo around the pitch

‘cause nobody’s gonna WIN’ - taylor picks up a cheer pom pom from the floor

‘just thought you should know’ - the girl we saw comes running onto the pitch, she sees taylor and falters ‘and i’ll never let you GO’ - taylor offers her the pom pom, the girl smiles and nods before running back

‘cause i know this is a FIGHT’ - taylor gazes after the girl, looking sad

‘that someday we’re gonna WIN’ - taylor looks around the pitch, reflected in her eyes, the scoreboard flickers

‘it’s you and me, that’s my whole world’ - the scoreboard flickers between blue and red

‘they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl, she’s a bad bad girl,’ - taylor sits cross legged in the middle of the pitch, and watches the scoreboard expectantly, the final image is blue reflected in her eyes before the screen fades to black

[canadianswiftiesyaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Yes. Miss @taylorswift bringing this generation’s protest song tradition at a much-needed time. Cuz I know this is a fight / that some day we’re gonna win.

So much about this song merits in-depth discussion.

Key quotes: “Songs about the United States as a creeping dystopia tend not to be very interesting, or listenable; a song about the U.S. of 2019 as a homecoming-game horror movie is something else.

“Echoes of Swift’s early signature song, her country-to pop-crossover breakthrough “You Belong With Me,” are unmistakable and almost surely intentional. It’s got the sound of actual cheerleaders, for God’s sake! Some deeply unhappy cheerleaders, who punctuate a chorus that amounts to an anti-fight song: “And I don’t want you to GO / I don’t really wanna FIGHT / ‘Cause nobody’s gonna WIN.” The imagery is stark and hellish, even by the already hell-like standards of actual high school: “American glory / Faded before me / Now I’m feeling hopeless / Ripped up my prom dress / Running through rose thorns / I saw the scoreboard / And ran for my life”.

“The singer is distressed to see that “my team is losing / Battered and bruising / I see the high fives / Between the bad guys.” Women have a particularly sad plight of it in this vision — “The damsels are depressed” — and Swift alludes to how, when she considered speaking up in 2016, she dreaded being seen as just another Hillary-loving Hollywood witch: “They whisper in the hallway, ‘She’s a bad bad girl’”.

[girlreviewsgirlmovies]

Sierra Burgess is a Loser

This movie could have been so much better, and that hurts more than if it was just bad. 

It opens with Sierra getting ready for the day, which is honestly so common in these types of movies it could be a trope. She has a moment where she compliments herself in the mirror in this bit which I think was well-placed seeing what comes next: we do see a single hint that maybe she’s not as confident as she’s about to seem for the next bit of the movie. We head off to school with her and meet the Plastics-- I know, I know, but that’s what I’m calling them for now, because it has that cliche trio of alpha bitch and two worker bees that is so darn common in teen movies these days. Veronica is shown to target Sierra right from the start, but then we come to Sierra and the movie’s first big “could have been good but wasn’t” aspect comes up.

Sierra is shown as quite confident in the face of Veronica’s bullying. She puts on a face like it doesn’t hurt her. I loved that! I found it so refreshing because so many movies in this genre show unpopular people defining themselves by the popular people. Despite that first interaction and what happens later, this bit of the movie establishes Sierra as not one of those characters. Veronica is an annoyance in her life, but not one that she ever seems actively hurt by. I loved this... right up until we get told by the movie later on that Sierra is not that person. Of course, just like Veronica, she can have her game-face, she can pretend things don’t hurt her... but the movie isn’t nearly as clear about what’s real for Sierra as it should be. They needed to pick a direction, and they didn’t. They could have shown Sierra confident in the face of her bullies but breaking down after, but nothing like this ever happens.

And this is a huge problem in light of how the movie progresses. Veronica gives a guy Sierra’s number, they text all night, they start to like each other, they call... I can only just buy this in light of the person Sierra was shown to be, even despite that first little bit of the movie, but only because we didn’t see the conversation and I told myself, “Okay, Sierra must have not realized he thought he was texting someone in particular right away.” Then she figures out it’s Veronica he’s texting, and things go a little wonky.

Sierra enlists Veronica to help her, and I think this is the strongest aspect of the movie. Actually, this middle bit with Veronica is almost worth the pain of the bad bits. I won’t talk about the arc in detail, but I will just say that there’s nothing that’s done wrong. There are places it could have gone for tell don’t show, and it didn’t. Veronica and Sierra start to have a wonderful friendship while tricking this guy and it’s adorable. They both make each other better. The only character development in the whole movie rests in these bits. If it weren’t for the romantic window dressing of the situation that pretends to be the movie’s focus, this could’ve been an awesome movie just based around how a situation like this brought these two girls together.

There’s a lot of little things in this bit that are so good to me, mostly between the girls. Veronica’s home life was given the exact treatment I think it needed, and just un-cliche enough that it felt fresh (she’s not the first popular girl from a broken home but the trend does tend towards rich popular kids, especially since Mean Girls), and her mother is shown as living vicariously through her daughters’ youth in a way that really criticizes “beauty before brains” mindset as coming from parents raising their kids wrong. I dunno, I just really think this middle bit is the strongest part of the movie. 

Eventually, Sierra starts calling Veronica “Ronnie”, it’s very sweet. They take lots of selfies, confess things to each other... this is the kind of content I really come to girly movies for, not the romance, not really.

And then we come to another problematic aspect of the movie: the kiss scene. I’ll be honest, I fast-forwarded through this bit because it was just so painful to watch. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but the catfishing came to a level where Veronica was faking a date with Sierra in the wings giving her lines, there’s a few good moments for their friendship where Veronica says that Jamie would like her Sierra and that Sierra’s presence in her life has made her finally consider her own future properly and says that Sierra should be a singer... and eventually Jamie leans in for a kiss. Instead of dealing with the catfishing problem-- we all knew that wasn’t going to happen-- the lines of consent are crossed and Ronnie asks Jamie to close his eyes, and Sierra kisses him. He tries to open them, and she shoves her hand on his face and tells him to keep them closed-- this was very uncomfortable and violent imo. Girl on guy consent-crossing is not any better than the opposite. I should have seen it coming with the catfish theme and the way things were progressing but I was not ready for such a violation from our “hero”. This is the first bit where I felt I was losing my suspension of disbelief regarding her being the “hero” of this story. Yes, even after all the catfishing, I was still with it. The circumstances were strange, but I could see this happening... you know how a lie gets bigger and bigger as you maintain it, that’s how I felt Sierra had progressed into this catfishing, and that was somewhat forgivable. I was on board for redemption for the bad things she was doing, but here I thought, “No. No way.”

Then we come to this party, Sierra gets drunk blah blah, Ronnie is told not to hang out with her blah blah... there’s this bit where Ronnie’s college boyfriend who she’s been studying to impress shows up. I definetly make a squeaking noise of excitement when he said, “I saw your post” and she just lit up and said “The Hamlet one?” Despite the fact her studying was driven out of impressing him, honestly I think that line sounded a whole lot like she was proud of herself for making that progress, that this is something she’s started to enjoy. Her character development is A+ here. Anyways, the guy takes advantage of her naiivity to sleep with her and dumps her over DM the next day, and Ronnie goes to Sierra for comfort (awww!)...

Eventually, we come to the third-act misunderstanding that everyone saw coming where the situation comes to a head. Well, I say everyone saw coming: everyone saw there would be a third-act misunderstanding, but the direction it takes manages to be both out of nowhere and unsurprising at the same time. The homecoming game (I assume) happens, Sierra is there with marching band, Veronica is here to be a cheerleader, and Jamie is there as the opposing team’s quarterback. Jamie obviously kisses Veronica when he sees her, she pushes him away but only after Sierra who was watching unbeknownst to them pushes Jamie away...

... and Sierra, who has shown very little cruel tendencies up to this point (besides the whole consent issue), decides to humiliate Veronica in front of everyone by hacking into her social media and showing the whole school Veronica got broken up with over DM. Nevermind the fact this would not be the social murder the movie portrays it as-- just humiliating for Veronica but I don’t think anyone else would have noticed... in the fallout, the fact that Veronica and Sierra have been playing with him is revealed to Jamie, and Veronica has this bit where she says to Sierra “you think I’m mean but you should look in a mirror” which seems to come from an earlier form of the script or something because it’s basically a rewording of Mean Girls’ “You Cady are a mean girl” and no movie attempting that theme will ever be as striking as the masterwork so they should stop trying. Besides the rip-offiness of it, it just doesn’t fit. The only mean thing Sierra has really done is the catfishing and the bad touch kiss, and she’s never really shown to hate Veronica for being mean and at this point they’ve been legitimate friends for half the movie. Where did Sierra’s cruelty come from?? Why is it getting this response? This scene just doesn’t fit the movie at all. It was like I’d switched channels into Mean Girls 2 or something, but I hadn’t. 

And then she gets home and snaps at her parents for being beautiful in a move that has no previous indication throughout the movie she feels this way. This movie needs to know the difference between showing and telling, because in the climax, it tells us one thing about the characters even though it’s shown us another for 50 minutes or so. 

And then comes my next complaint: Sierra writes her song (which was good, don’t get me wrong, if its use was terrible) and everyone suddenly goes “oh poor sierra she deserves forgiveness and a happy ending because her life is just so hard because she’s so ugly” (seriously, the song is about how she’s not conventionally beautiful and how hard that is for her and everyone just forgives her for playing with their lives), and gets off scott free. It wasn’t even a proper apology! Jamie takes her to the prom because Veronica explains on her behalf, and roll credits. 

There are a few other miscellaneous complaints-- we have a gay black best friend (yeah, couldn’t just chose one stereotypical minority type of best friend for their one-dimensional support character!), for some reason Stanford is implied to not be interested in a white legacy girl who has near perfect SAT scores and parents with money to pay her tuition (like, I know maybe she wouldn’t get a scholarship with her amount of community involvement but seriously her dad is famous and a Stanford graduate, she just needs the minimal submission requirement and she’d fucking get in!) And I was also not impressed by the whole “why does everyone think I’m a lesbian” joke. Like... it just... wasn’t funny... and they hit it three or four times. She never does anything lesbian-y and I was sitting here like, “Are you saying lesbians are unattractive girls?”???  A few other details here and there in dialogue and the like were weaker too.

I did laugh so hard I spilled a glass of water over when she signed her name is “Shit Pizza” though. So there’s that. 

There were so many individual aspects of this movie that I just loved, but as a whole it just didn’t work together. In my opinion, the whole movie needed refocusing to go from passable to actually good. Instead of the third-act misunderstanding going the way it did, I think the movie could have been saved by shifting the focus. Use the catfishing as a tool to connect the two girls and write a friendship plot. Let Sierra face the consequences of playing around with Jamie and have him not be interested in her because she hurt him, and let the real prize be the friendship she made along the way. And remove the whole “Sierra betrays Ronnie” bit because it came out of nowhere, have it be a more realistic confrontation between them for the kiss that doesn’t involve such an uncharacteristic behaviour, remove the Mean Girls shit, and then end on Ronnie and Sierra going stag together to homecoming. Or maybe turn it into a romance between them, because god knows we need more LGBTQA+ romances in film. Doing something that like that and doing another pass of the script for making sure what they show matches up with what they tell could have saved this movie.

But they didn’t, so it hurts to know that they almost made a good story but fell just short of doing anything truly noteworthy. Overall, the content was basically passable, but there were some problematic points that I think didn’t belong and the ending fell flat.