Latest Posts by ivy-covered-mirrorball - Page 2
I think it’s interesting that she started out this album out by admitting she’s an alcoholic (I know she says “I was a functioning alcoholic” as if she isn’t anymore but once you cross that line of becoming an alcoholic you are never not one, you will always be even if you don’t drink, at that point you become a recovering alcoholic and I know this because I grew up in AA rooms because my father was an alcoholic while he was alive) and how at every football game she was at you could see a drink in her hand or some type of alcohol being sat beside her.. it makes me think that what she didn’t want was to be at those games, but she had to so she was drinking to deal with it.
cant stop thinking about this...
these songs sound similar and i feel like 'rivulets descend my plastic smile' flows well into 'all that bloodshed crimson clover' ....the implications...
oh. yep. its all her.
so The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is for SURE about so many things, like scooter braun, scot swift, the music industry at large, her fans, etc. but. what about taylor talking to herself? she is The Man after all. so what about True Queer Taylor talking to Public Persona Taylor? i need to sleep but!!
so i saw this thread on twitter talking about how the song Florida!!! references the truman show...&& realized...the sky in the ME! music video...is literally a glass dome...
okok. so ive been compiling this since the first video came out promoting ttpd. i noticed the lights on the ceiling, and knowing taylor loves numerology, decided to look into it. walk with me.
so, first: there are 3 ceiling lights off, and 19 total. 3 19. march 19 was the opening day of the eras tour.
there are 7 lights on, 3 off, then 9 on. 7 9. july 9. which is mentioned in last kiss. which mentions the time 1:58, nearly 2am. taylor used 2 imagery a lot to promote this album, then released the second half of the album at 2 am.
the lights at the far end of the hall ceiling have 5 on the left, 4 right. 5/4. tolerate it & closure have 5/4 beat which is often broken into sub groups of 3+2 or 2+3. these beats are said to be 'unique' and stand out. this numerology also calls back to the exile ends countdown of 3, 2 from the bejeweled video.
left row of lights has 10, right row has 9. 10/9. release date of 'the 1' single
7 lights on, 3 off, 9 on. 739. i searched 739 taylor swift & i got a few things:
1. a link to a website called taylorpictures & it directs to pics from the VS 2014 fashion show
2. a cosmopolitan article that mentions the '739 celebrity cameos' (which includes a certain blonde model)
3. life size cardboard cutouts of taylor wearing specific outfits:
the dress on the left was the one she wore to a billboards award ceremony during lover era and sang 'ME!'
the one on the right was also from lover era and looks like the dress from the fortnight mv
739 is also a manifestation number:
the right row of lights has 8 on and 1 off. 8 1. august 1.
going back to earlier, the 1:58 reference. 15 8. check this out:
i'm not sure what all this means for sure, but i know 'none of it was accidental'. i'm gonna keep my eyes out for what happens august 15.
Taylor Swift Lavender Haze (2023)
this cements it for me. the two sides of her!!
so The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is for SURE about so many things, like scooter braun, scot swift, the music industry at large, her fans, etc. but. what about taylor talking to herself? she is The Man after all. so what about True Queer Taylor talking to Public Persona Taylor? i need to sleep but!!
fuck. so. i hate myself. bc this gives SUCH a different meaning to 'did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed'. um.
so The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is for SURE about so many things, like scooter braun, scot swift, the music industry at large, her fans, etc. but. what about taylor talking to herself? she is The Man after all. so what about True Queer Taylor talking to Public Persona Taylor? i need to sleep but!!
so The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is for SURE about so many things, like scooter braun, scot swift, the music industry at large, her fans, etc. but. what about taylor talking to herself? she is The Man after all. so what about True Queer Taylor talking to Public Persona Taylor? i need to sleep but!!
just remembered when i was a kid and singing the she/her "man's perspective" of 'our song' my dad told me i should 'sing it right' with he/him pronouns & i forced myself to change the literal song when i sang it...took me another decade to come out (fkr clocked me (& taylor))
TAYLOR SWIFT The Tortured Poets Department
um. so i wound up working on a full annotation & analysis essay of this song & all the references it makes to other songs/literature (that i could find at least) & how it ties into the theme of this album being a critique of the music industry and her fans idolization of her & so so much more &&&& it is nearly 4am and i need to sleep butttt should i post it when i finish. yay or nay.
can we talk about 'the albatross' reference to 'candle in the wind'??
"Wise men once said / 'Wild winds are death to the candle'"
like??
in regards to 'daylight' being taylor's metaphor for coming out...& the failed coming out of 2019...look at these lyrics from the songs 'daylight' 'the alchemy' and 'fresh out the slammer':
after all, she did say: 'Come one, come all, it's happenin' again'
okok. theory. taylor is an astrology girlie. what if she is using this "portal" to reinvent herself in the public eye and be more openly true & authentically queer? 'do you want to know where i was april 29' etc etc
oh! & of course:
(i honestly feel like every time taylor calls love 'wild' she is calling back to this, & dickinson in general)
can we talk about 'the albatross' reference to 'candle in the wind'??
"Wise men once said / 'Wild winds are death to the candle'"
like??
my english degree was sooo worth it
can we talk about 'the albatross' reference to 'candle in the wind'??
"Wise men once said / 'Wild winds are death to the candle'"
like??
like!!!
can we talk about 'the albatross' reference to 'candle in the wind'??
"Wise men once said / 'Wild winds are death to the candle'"
like??
can we talk about 'the albatross' reference to 'candle in the wind'??
"Wise men once said / 'Wild winds are death to the candle'"
like??
fortnight mv | drawing i did years ago in college
Oh my god!!???
oh god the Spotify canvas for I hate it here 😭
The Fortnight video foreshadows the convergence of Taylor Swift and her brand
In her videos, Taylor has continually played with the idea of herself as a person versus as a brand. These portrayals have almost been adversarial in nature. Think about the relationship between the two life sized Anti-Hero Taylors. The hooded robot Taylor who got to exist in the world while her bare counterpart was trapped in glass. Etc.
The Fortnight video introduces similar characters but flips the script because there isn’t a me versus her dynamic anymore. Instead, there is a story about coming together.
A scene by scene breakdown:
Taylor Swift™️ is chained to a bed in a white gown with a spicy slit and garter. A faceless nurse enters walking upside down on the ceiling (a continued theme suggestive of PR games). The nurse presents “Forget Him” pills, arguably reminiscent of a dark time where the world thought they could “cure” homosexuality. After Taylor Swift™️ begrudgingly takes her dose, the nurse unchains her.
We then see Taylor Swift™️ approach a two way mirror and wipe the mask off her face, revealing face tattoos we know to be Post Malone’s in real life. This reveal is setting the scene that within this video Post Malone represents Taylor’s inner self, her true soul behind the veil of celebrity. I’ll call him True Taylor.
Next, the mask is back and we see Taylor Swift™️ walk out of the observation room and into the workspace. She goes from wearing a leggy white gown with garter to a fully covered black poet-esque dress. She isn’t dressed for voyeuristic eyes anymore, she’s dressed to work on her art. I love this light to dark transition because black can be seen as the absence of light. Fitting for a tortured poet who can’t live her truth in public with her sunny muse by her side.
Note that we don’t get to see black dress Taylor Swift™️ through the two way mirror. She exists behind the bright lights of fame, making art in a room hidden from our view. Maybe the pills numb her enough to twist the art for an audience who likes to her to be chained to a bed while they watch her suffer.
But wait Taylor Swift™️ and True Taylor are collaborating. They start work separately but their art eventually drifts out of their typewriters, combining into a white light that bursts into a rainbow. Remember how I said black light is the absence of light? Well white light is comprised of all hues on the visible light spectrum.
We know there are layers to Taylor’s music: the surface layers chock full with to red herrings for the grocery line Swifties and the deeper layers of Taylor’s truth. They both exist in the art, swirled together.
But here is where things start to feel different. We cut to True Taylor and Taylor Swift™️ away from all those faceless people - they are alone in the middle of a road. That in itself is ridiculously symbolic of being on the way to somewhere (maybe brighter days). But there’s more because they are dressed identically, laying inside Taylor’s head that is made up of their art. This scene is like bonking us on the head that these two people are one and the same.
Note: The silhouette here is from the Style video which also portrays Taylor’s inner self as a man.
Taylor Swift™️ runs to True Taylor and they embrace in the middle of the road as pages of their art float around them. In the chaos, Taylor Swift™️ reaches out to True Taylor.
Maybe this scene is suggesting the public version of Taylor is ready to embrace her real self.
Then we see Taylor Swift™️ strapped to a table, wild hair from dropping the hairpins we saw in the opening scene. The drugs aren’t working, it must be time to escalate to shock therapy. The men around her gather and there is literally a sign in the background that says “Master Control”.
But one of the men in the room making decisions for the brand is actually True Taylor, who has been there all this time.
Enough is enough when True Taylor can’t take the pain and pulls the plug on the procedure, freeing public persona Taylor from torture.
Next we see True Taylor, familiarly encased behind glass, on a phone call. Perhaps making plans while safe from the rain. Taylor Swift™️ is elevated on a pedestal, out in the storm, in her best dress FEARLESS! Credit to @rep-princess-witch who put the fearless connection together in another post.
I’ll say it again, that is the huge difference in this video compared to others. Here, Taylor Swift™️ is not an antagonist, she is ready to brave the storm.
So what does she do? She’s back in the workspace burning all the files. It’s not without emotion but it’s necessary. We then see a stoic Taylor Swift™️ with no regrets.
After burning the files she’s back in the observation room. It’s time to fight back against the voyeurs and she does so my smashing the glass between her and them. She regains her agency by squashing their ability to hide. Shes deserting her past life.
Note: We don’t see True Taylor back inside. This fight is specifically for Taylor’s public persona.
In the closing seen, we see True Taylor leave shelter, step outside into the storm, and reach for Taylor Swift™️. The person and the public persona are weathering the storm hand in hand.
*Please check out @heyitsmoog on TikTok - he shared thoughts there that inspired me to make this post.*
there's a black dog in the fortnight mv bc 'old habits die screamin' (while getting electroshock therapy)
Everything you need to know : Failed Coming Out 2019
This is an answer to an anon I've received.
I typed it all and Tumblr said there was an error when I went and tried to published it. So I had to type it all again but lost the anon....
Here's the question: could you tell me more about her wanting to come out in 2019? sorry for asking again I'm new on the fandom!
Hi!
It will be my pleasure! This is such an important part of the Gaylor Lore to know and understand, especially when you are new in the fandom.
This theory has been confirmed, but we'll get to it in a minute.
Also, I'm so sorry because learning about what went down during Lover Era is a transformative experiece in the Gaylor fandom, in a very heartbreaking way.
So back in 2019 Taylor wanted to come out with the Lover Era.
June 30th during the New York City Pride wich was also the Stonewall's 50th anniversary, was supposed to be the day it happened.
This date might be familiar to you, because it's the date we learned at the same time as Taylor about her masters being sold to Scooter Braun.
So let's start at the begining of all of this. I won't go through ALL the details because my post will never end. But I'll cover the most important ones.
Right at the begining of the year, insiders were already talking about the fact that Taylor was planing to come out that year in podcasts and blind items.
Then in March 6th (Karlie and Taylor's anniversary)
Taylor does a post hinting at this new era. The very first lyrics we get (We got hints at ME back in February):
Daylight the song is about Karlie. But this line specifically means coming out.
Stepping into the daylight, and letting everyone see the real you.
(Also worth noting the lesbian filter)
Taylor started being really loud in the posts she made from now on. Flagging rainbow, lesbian and bi colors every chances she got.
And flagging Butterflies. Wich is very important thematically in Lover and coming out.
Side note on the Butterfly meaning:
Remembre how in reputation, snake was a really important theme?
And how in Lover it switched to butterflies?
More specifically it switched to Snakes transforming into butterflies?
There's a species of butterflies, that when they are in the chrysalid phase of their transformation into a butterfly, can look like a snake if they feel unsafe or attacked in order to protect themselves.
Then, after the average 13 days waiting period, they transforms into a beautiful butterfly.
Basically what Taylor was doing, protecting herself during reputation with that "personna" like she described.
And now, she was ready to finally transforms and have a new beginning.
Here's a description of what butterflies means:
A powerful beacon of growth and new beginnings, the butterfly signifies the power of transformation and the incredible feats we can achieve when we trust ourselves. We all have the ability to listen to our innate wisdom, guide ourselves through difficult times, and emerge better and stronger than before.
The ME! of it all:
Ok back into the Lover Era timeline!
So all those rainbow posts were leading up to the first single: ME!
Even Taylor Nation was pretty loud about this (number of rainbows = number of days leading to ME! release):
3 days before ME! release, Taylor performs at the Time 100 Gala and it's the first and only time she switched so very clearly pronouns in the song, multiple times:
She sings repeatedly : I want HER midnights
And she even seems to be getting more and more confortable as the song goes on and singing it louder and louder.
She also looks at the crowd while singing it.
Then she releases ME!
That was really the first part of her coming out.
And honnestly, she shouldn't have had to do more than this.
ME! was released on April 26th.
April 26th in 2019 was Lesbian Visibility Day.
And she captionned the release with: ME! Out Now!
A song about how she is unique as a Lover...
That is without mentioning the amount of rainbows everywhere in that MV as well as other references.
Worth noting that in 2019 Lil NasX came out in a MV with the rainbow tower and was annoyed that people didn't get it?
Taylor also probably deadass thought that she made it obvious:
May & June 2019 leading up to the big coming out:
Taylor continues to be as loud as she can.
She makes a very generous donation to GLAAD:
She sings ME! every chances she gets, while flagging the Lesbian Flag.
Taylor Nation also keeps on being really loud:
And releases a song and music video about homophobia and includes herself front and centered in the LGBTQ+ community (represented by the Trailer park, note how Ryan Reynolds, the only straight person in the MV is outside of this park, not in it like Taylor).
With a bi flag wig...
So yeah, she was trying really hard to make people see her.
Christian Siriano and the dress...
Back in April, we learned that Christian Siriano (a fashion designer) was working on a project for Taylor:
In June, he started teasing us about a mistery rainbow dress for an unnknown person:
It was heavily rumored that it would be the dress used by Taylor to come out at the end of Pride Month.
He kind of confirmed it with this post:
Then. June 30th.
The New York City Pride.
Taylor planned to come out at the event.
Employees on site, starts to be warned about this (you can find some comments online).
Taylor learns at the same time as us that her masters were sold to Scooter Braun.
She never makes it to Pride.
And Billy Porter ends up wearing the dress:
But. You can see that the dress was not meant to be worn by him. It doesn't fit well and the "nude" parts shows that it was meant to be worn by a white person.
In 2022, Christian confirmed it by dueting a TikTok talking specifically about this.
He deleted it right after but you can still find it on TikTok: (X)
Last minutes changes to Lover:
We now know that Taylor scrapped two songs from Lover: All Of The Girls You Loved Before and Need.
All Of The Girls is really loud and very clearly talks about a girl. Wich Taylor couldn't afford if she didn't want to/couldn't come out.
London Boy was actually written and added really last minute to the album.
Really interesting, because this is her loudest song about her loving boyfriend. Wich is a brilliant thing to do if you want to limit the public speculation after all the flagging that you did...
We know it was last minute, because Taylor sampled it on Cold War from Cautious Clay. (X)
He was called in the middle of the night and had to approve the sample right away.
Interesting fact: Cold War was featured in Book Smart, a movie Taylor promoted that year.
The song plays during a lesbian sex scene...
The intro to London Boy is actually Idris Elba in a interview where he was talking about a charity where he sold a date with him.
You know, people paid to date him...
The shift in the Lover Era:
After this, you can start to see a shift. Where it was colorful sequin and rainbows everywhere with colorful choreography.
She now dresses in black, is incredibly sad and sings mostly accousting song.
Like her BBC 1 performance or Lover In Paris:
Miss Americana:
Miss Americana was supposed to be her coming out documentary.
It has been confirmed by the director of the project that a lot of footage has been scrapped.
Also, the documentary was supposed to be called : Is It Cool That I Said All That?
This is why the documentary sometimes feels like something is missing and some parts are rushed.
They tried to switch her coming out approach by making it her political activism era.
Taylor confirms it in Anti-Hero MV:
She's pierced through the heart by The Archer.
Her queerness starts showing (she's bleeding lavender glitters).
She tries to cover it up by taking the table cloth.
Her wanting to cover it spoils the dinner for everyone and they leave her.
And while she sings : "Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism, Like some kind of congressman?"
She covers her queerness with a sticker : Vote For Me, For Everything
Confirming that the political activism during Lover Era and mostly Miss Americana was in fact really to cover the fact that she was already one foot out of the closet when they had to backtrack.
With this. Take a look at the closing scene of Miss Americana. When The Archer is playing in the background.
It's a montage of Taylor talking to someone and Taylor on the release night of Lover.
Look at what Taylor says...
Queerbaiting Backlash:
This might be the worse part in my opinion.
Since she was flagging so hard to come out.
Sadly, most people didn't get that that was exactly what she was trying to do.
And medias massively accused her of queerbaiting.
And using the queer community.
I'm still so mad and heartbroken about this....
reusing an old Twitter post...
Even queer fans...:
Frankly, speculating about her sexuality would have been way less damaging than this...
Songs about this event:
Taylor wrote a lot about this failed coming out.
The Archer, was her song about her anxiety about coming out. And begging her fans to stay.
I'm not gonna do a full lyrics analysis because this post is already a novel.
But read those lyrics with that in mind and you'll see how loud it is, and heartbreaking.
"I've got a hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you"
Also. Worth noting that after Lover was released and she was not able to come out, she switched one lyric in that song.
Instead of "Combat, I'm ready for combat" singular (coming out was the combat she was ready to face)
She now sings every time "Combats, I'm ready for Combats", because coming out has turned into multiple battles that she has to face now...
Hoax:
Noticed how she says that all of her heroes die all alone in The Archer?
Her fear that if she comes out, all her fans would leave.
In Hoax she says: "You know the hero died so what's the point of keeping score movie for?"
Because with her Master Heist and everything, she was not able to be one of those heroes herself... The hero that she wanted to be died in that moment because she was unable to come out.
Edit: I messed up the lyrics. But it's even more telling. Because the movie she's talking about is Miss Americana, once she was unable to come out.
Evermore:
This song is litteraly her looking back at what happened and how she managed to process everything and ultimatly heal even though it felt at the start like she would never be able to.
"I've been down since July" - June 30th = failed coming out
"Motion capture, put me in a bad light" - Queerbaiting allegations. And Miss Americana being rebranded.
"Writting letters, adressed to the fire" - Her hundred thrown out speeches that she almost said.
"I rewind the tape, but all it does is pause, on the very moment all was lost" - June 30th...
"Sending signals, to be double crossed" - Her flagging strongly on her way to come out, only to be accused of queerbaiting.
Right Where You Left Me:
The restaurant is a metaphor for the closet.
"Sitting in a corner I haunt, cross legged in the dim light"
Doesn't really feel like a restaurant, but her hiding in the closet.
"I swear, you could hear a hairpin drop. Right when I felt the moment stopped"
Droping hairpins is giving hints that you are gay.
She was doing this very loudly right before she was kept from coming out.
"Dust collected on my pinned up hair"
Her hair are still pinned up because she was not able to come out. And dust collected over time that she spent forced in the closet.
Anti-Hero:
AH is really The Archer 2.0, and talks about the same fear of coming out and being abandonned.
The fact that she decided to depict herself as the Anti-Hero is both really interesting and heartbreaking.
Because to her, the hero was the version of herself that was able to come out...
Listen to Change in the perspective of being able to come out and change the face of the industry:
"Tonight we'll stand, get off our knees
Fight for what we've worked for all these years
And the battle was long, it's the fight of our lives
But we'll stand up champions tonight"
They were the Champions.
Side note: she sang this song at the ACMA in 2010, two weeks before Chely Wright's coming out.
When we know that she has knowed and worked with Chely since about 2007.
Then Taylor wrote Long Live one month after Chely Wright's coming out.
Listen to the song with the same perspective as Change now.
"You held your head like a hero, on a history book page"
Chely Wright came out in May 2010. Taylor wrote Long Live in June 2010.
Look at the parallels of both songs.
And now, look at her choice to name that song Anti-Hero after everything that hapenned....
She also wrote Long Story Short and The Great War about that event, but this is for another post and it's about how this event affected her relationship with Karlie.
How she thought she was betrayed but ultimately found out it was not the case.
And how they both made it through.
Ok, I'm exhausted lol.
Sorry for writting a novel.
But this is such an important part of Taylor's history and I really wanted to do it justice (hope I was able to).
If you are still reading...Thank you for your question!
fuck it. my english major is coming out i might just write an essay about this
the more i listen to TTPD the more convinced I become shes not talking about being in love in any of the songs at all & all the references to muses are just red herrings for fans to look past, & shes really just talking about her relationship with the music industry & her fanbase
bro...hold on...shes also referencing the failed coming out of 2019. and has been ever since folklore. lover came out in august. 'august slipped away like a bottle of wine cuz you were never mine'...going insane. she tells the story of her life through love songs bc she knows thats the only way to get & keep people's attention. 'I'm still trying everything To keep you looking at me'
You said some things that I can't unabsorb
You turned me into an idea of sorts
You needed me, but you needed drugs more
And I couldn't watch it happen
I changed into goddesses, villains and fools
Changed plans and lovers and outfits and rules
All to outrun my desertion of you
And you just watched it
this play was about us. how the public viewed the ME! and 'you need to calm down' songs & music videos. she gave so many signs. she tried to tell us a million little times. she reinvented herself over and over to try and make us see. some of us did, most of her fans and the world at large didn't. now shes burning all her past lives. shes going to come out and destroy everything she built in the name of being her true self.
the more i listen to TTPD the more convinced I become shes not talking about being in love in any of the songs at all & all the references to muses are just red herrings for fans to look past, & shes really just talking about her relationship with the music industry & her fanbase