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Taylor Swift references many fairy tales in her music. Alice, Dorothy and Wendy in particular are often referenced in her lyrics and music videos.

Alice falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

Taylor Swift References Many Fairy Tales In Her Music. Alice, Dorothy And Wendy In Particular Are Often

Dorothy travels to Oz.

Taylor Swift References Many Fairy Tales In Her Music. Alice, Dorothy And Wendy In Particular Are Often

Wendy flies to Neverland.

Taylor Swift References Many Fairy Tales In Her Music. Alice, Dorothy And Wendy In Particular Are Often

But one thing they all have in common is this feeling of being lost with the desire to get back home again.

I see these stories as a reflection of the public version of Taylor wanting to reunite with the private version of Taylor that became lost along the way.

More Posts from Melicious817 and Others

7 months ago

mirrorball x guilty as sin

Did my ears fail me or did she actually sing…

“I'm still on that trapeze, I'm still trying everything, To keep you looking at me, but what if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway.”

???

Let me remind you of the “roll the stone away” saying from my three second google search. It’s a biblical reference with the color that, “The stone was rolled away, not so that the Lord could emerge, but to demonstrate that He'd already done so.”

It’s like Taylor is saying I’ve been trying so hard to get where I am in my career but they’re going to crucify me anyway so what’s the point in keeping this up? What would happen if I stopped hiding?

3 months ago

A gaylor reading of the TTPD Prologue

*I do not claim to know the sexuality of Taylor swift. I simply think interpreting her lyrics from a gaylor perspective is more interesting and leads to interpretations of her music I personally find more impressive and complex.*

At this hearing

I stand before the fellow

Members

Of the Tortured Poets Department

(Ok so we are establishing that Taylor is a member of the tortured poets department and she is talking directly to the other members. This is important because it sets the whole context of the album. She is a tortured poet, and this album is for other tortured poets. Why is she tortured though?)

With a summary of my findings

A debrief, a detailed rewinding

For the purpose of warning

For the sake of reminding

(She wants to warn us about something by reminding us of what’s happened so far. Got it.)

As you might all

Unfortunately recall

I had been struck with a case

Of restricted humanity

Which explains my plea here today

Of temporary insanity

(To me, restricted humanity reads as fame. Taylor talks regularly about feeling caged by fame and like she’s not treated like a person. So fame has been restricting her humanity and it’s made her do something crazy.)

You see, the pendulum swings

Oh, the chaos it brings

Leads the caged beast to do

The most curious things

(Pendulum swings = what goes around comes around, time keeps on moving…. The word “curious” here is very interesting to me, because that’s a word so commonly associated with being in the closet- as well as its connection to Wonderland and the line “don’t you know what becomes of curious minds”. Taylor has done “curious” things before in her time in the spotlight. The cage is still her fame.)

Lovers spend years denying what’s ill fated

Resentment rotting away

Galaxies were created

(Lovers is an interesting word to use here because of the obvious connection to her past music! Now, why are the lovers Ill fated? Were they destined to not work out, and if so, why? What’s keeping them apart?

Resentment rotting away- Taylor’s resentment, or both of theirs? The obvious interpretation of this section of the poem is it’s about her and Joe’s failing relationship. But if we’re taking the gaylor perspective here- I think this section could very well describe being in love with someone you can’t be with, and the resentment that builds up as you see them move on with their life and even get married and have kids.

Galaxies were created reminds me of the lavander haze music video where Taylor created galaxies in her lovers back, and also of the Mastermind vinyl in her room in Lavander Haze with the constellations on it. To my ears, these galaxies are the stories she’s creating for the public. Her public romances, her relationships with the men she’s bearding with. She’s the one who put her and Joe’s constellations together in Lavander Haze, she’s the mastermind who’s created these galaxies.)

Stars placed and glued meticulously by the ceiling fan

(The galaxies are fake! She’s created them from her room, or her prison. She’s meticulously crafted these romances or stories with these men, but they’re not the real thing. )

Tried wishing on comets

Tried dimming the shine

Tried to orbit his planet

Some stars never align

(What is she wishing for? Could be her and Joe to work. Or it could be freedom? Or to be like everyone else? Or to be with her lover? Tried dimming the shine- the shine of what? To me this line is very easy to interpret from a gaylor lense. “Tried dimming the shine,” to my ears, implies dimming down who she really is, dulling the truth, hiding her true colors. Why couldn’t she orbit his planet when they were in a relationship for 6 years? It could certainly be it was a toxic relationship, could it also be that the “him” doesn’t matter, she can’t make that relationship work because it’s with a man? Regardless of the reason, she tried to make this relationship work but couldn’t. The stars never aligned. I also think it’s interesting That we’ve already discussed that the sky is fake, she meticulously created it next to her ceiling fan. So does she have control over these stars? Could it be that she never wanted the relationship, that’s why those stars could not align, because she, the one meticulously placing them, did not line them up? Was the end of the relationship part of a plan?)

And in one conversation

I tore down the whole sky.

(Again, the sky is fake, it’s the meticulously crafted relationships she’s created with these men or in this case Joe. In one conversation, she ended it all. I do think conversation is a notable word choice here, it implies civility and almost a sense that the moment is casual. This was not a fight, not a devastating breakup, they had a conversation and she tore up the whole story she created, or ended their bearding relationship.)

Spring sprung forth with dazzling freedom hues

(This is possibly the most gaylor line of the poem in my opinion. It also reminds me of the line in Ivy where she says “spring breaks lose, time is near.” I think it’s relevant that in gaylor lore, the summer around Lover is when we thought Tay was going to come out, but it got ruined by the masters heist, so we’ve regularly referred to that summer as her “sparkling summer.” The summer when she wore bright colors and rainbows and released Me! This is not the same spring, obviously, but I do think summer has significant metaphorical meaning in the Taylor verse one way or another. So, back to where we were, Taylor ends her bearding relationship with Joe and spring breaks forth in beautiful freedom hues. She’s not at all sad about the end of this relationship, it’s freedom.)

Then a crash from the skylight bursting through

(Interesting! Something real. If the ceiling galaxies represents fake relationships, is something crashing through the skylight representative of something real? Real emotions… I also think this ties in with the lavander haze music video, where she tears down the walls to discover galaxies of koi fish outside.)

Something old,

Someone hallowed,

Who told me he could

be brand new

(I’m not gonna lie, this is one of the harder lines to interpret from a gaylor perspective, it does seem obviously Rathew Healy coded. But, let’s break it down anyways. It’s notable that this section is a play on the wedding phrase, “something old something new something borrowed something blue.” Which of her possible muses has gotten married? I can think of one. Something old seems to reference a past relationship, it could also be a reference to something that’s been with her all along, a feeling, or a secret, that she’s always had. Someone hallowed- empty, this person is a shell. He told her he could be brand new. I think there are a few ways to interpret this. The obvious seems to be that a past relationship came back and told her he could be different this time. Could it also be that old feelings came up and crashed through her skylight, or through her constructed relationships, and she needed a new shell, or puppet, to conceal them? Was the shell saying he could be brand new offering to be whatever Taylor needed him to be?)

And so I was out of the oven

And into the microwave

(Taylor was preparing something, she was getting ready for something, but she had to rush it.)

Out of the slammer

And into the tidal wave

(The obvious interpretation is that the slammer is her relationship with Joe and the tidal wave is Matty, hence guilty as sin. However, what she’s saying at the core here is that as soon as she’s free, she’s in danger. Freedom will drown her. )

How gallant to save the empress from her guilded tower

Swinging a sword he could barely lift

But loneliness struck at that fateful hour

Low hanging fruit on his wine stained lips.

(Now I actually do believe this section is about Matty! He “saved” Taylor, took on a bearding relationship with her, but he couldn’t handle the responsibility. I think it’s very telling that she says loneliness struck. If they were in a real relationship, one that was a close and intense and passionate as she describes throughout this album, why is loneliness what tore them apart? Why were they lonely if they were twin flames? To me, the answer that makes the most sense is they were not. This relationship was not real, either. She got out of the prison of her bearding relationship with Joe and into the tidal wave of chaos that was a bearding relationship with Matty, but they were still both lonely in the end. And that loneliness drove him to say something drunkenly she couldn’t forgive. What low hanging fruit did he reach for? What nerve did he strike?)

He never even scratched the surface of me.

None of them did.

(This seems extremely telling from a gaylor perspective. NONE of them. Not a single one of these men truly understood Taylor. I do think it’s worth noting that Travis songs are on this album, and she does not say, ‘none until him,’ or even include Travis in this prologue. none of the men have scratched the surface of her, period.)

“In summation, it was not a love affair!”

I screamed while bringing my fist to my coffee ringed desk

(She’s screaming at us that this album is not about a love affair, and none of what happened was real love or romance. Her desk is coffee ringed because she’s been there a long time, writing, trying to explain herself.)

It was a mutual manic phase.

It was self harm.

It was house and then cardiac arrest.

(Her and Matty were a mutual manic phase. Why was that relationship self harm? It certainly could be bc Ratty is a terrible person and that relationship was toxic. It could also be that ALL of her relationships with men, or at least the ones referenced in this prologue, were self harm. She’s forcing herself into situations that hurt her for the sake of fame. The relationship was house arrest because she was trapped and then cardiac arrest because her heart died, there was no emotion or passion.)

A smirk creeps onto this poets face

Because it’s the worst men I write the best.

(She writes the men!! She is saying right here, she is the writer of the stories, the mastermind behind the galaxies. She’s smirking because she’s tricking us and she knows it. She knows she’s going to be misunderstood, she knows something we don’t.)

And so I enter into evidence my tarnished coat of arms

(Okay so she’s entering these things into evidence. Time to revisit the beginning. What is this evidence of? What is she warning us against? Is this evidence of her plea of insanity, or evidence to support her warning? At this point in the poem, what exactly is she warning us against? In my opinion, she’s warning us against idolizing her or trusting her at face value, she’s warning us against worshiping her relationship so she’s saying over and over, “this is a story I’ve constructed and now it’s torturing me.”

A coat of arms is a family sigil- it could also be seen on a shield. So Taylor’s coat of arms is something that protects her and identifies her- is it her brand? The public Taylor? It’s tarnished, is that because her reputation was tarnished with Matty? Is she saying, my tarnished brand is evidence this is torturing me?)

My muses, acquired like bruises

(She paid a price for each muse in her songs. Each one of these relationships she’s written about hurt her in some way. I also think it’s notable that bruises are visible signs of injury- we all see the bruises, we all define her by them. I think it’s obvious to see how her muse bruises are evidence she’s being tortured.)

My talismans and charms

(Talismans and charms reminds me of Easter eggs. Hidden symbols and messages and codes. Gaylors regularly use symbolism and Easter eggs as evidence that Taylor is not happy, she’s being tortured.)

The tick tick tick of love bombs

(The love bombs could certainly be love bombing in relationships- I think it could also mean love bombing from fans, and how it’s going to blow up in everyone’s face.)

My veins of pitch black ink

(Interesting for a few reasons. She’s dark and bitter on the inside, she doesn’t feel like she bleeds the same as everyone else. And, she has to bleed to write. She has to suffer for her art.)

Alls fair in love and poetry

(All of this, all the lies, all the constructions, everything I’m doing is fair because it’s for the sake of love and my art. This poem, and this album, is a warning against getting swept up in the stories of her relationships, because they’re constructions that she’s made for her art.)

Sincerely,

The chairman of the tortured poets department

(She’s not only in the tortured poets department, she’s the chairman. She’s in charge. She’s the head tortured poet. SHE IS BEING TORTURED FOR HER ART and we’re misunderstanding her.)

Or, you know, maybe it’s just about how she went insane and dated Matty Healy and now she wants to be seen as tortured and edgy.

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read!

This was entirely for my own enjoyment, but if anything resonates with you or if you have another complex or unusual reading I’d love to hear it ✨

2 months ago

#dreams and wishes

If You See This On Your Dashboard, Reblog This, NO MATTER WHAT And All Your Dreams And Wishes Will Come

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

1 month ago

This this this 💘

This This This 💘
This This This 💘
This This This 💘

(source)

2 months ago

Posting this thread here bc it perfectly summarizes my thoughts on this theory and I want to reference it later

Supernova Karma Truman Show Doomsday Clock theory 🧵

(1/12) pic.twitter.com/PYWGfqPC0x

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Starting in the Midnights era, Taylor began using time/clocks as a running theme throughout her music and aesthetics. My theory is that Taylor is using these to represent her own metaphorical doomsday clock i.e. self-destructing and causing the death of Taylor Swift™️.

(2/12) pic.twitter.com/2ZLUphZKAX

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
We see this theme further in the Karma music video; we see a clock with the minute hand in the same position as it was on the website (see above). We also see two Taylors (Taylor™️ and the real Taylor) trapped in an hourglass, a device used to count down time.

(3/12) pic.twitter.com/Iqx1WFU93z

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
In this snippet of the prologue for TTPD, we get another reference to time (specifically a countdown) preluding a mention of bombs.
Bombs end in an explosion, which is also another theme we've seen multiple times in the past few years.

(4/12) pic.twitter.com/JOqZe2f4xK

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Once again going back to the Karma music video, we see Taylor inside a light bulb ("you should find another guiding light'). She IS the light, until she explodes and causes the glass to shatter everywhere, possibly affecting and impacting the things/ people around it.

(5/12) pic.twitter.com/wwvYBCPQOi

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Linking to Karma once again, we see the most significant reference to explosions in the Eras Tour performance. The visuals are a supernova i.e. when a star explodes and dies. Could this be foreshadowing the death of Taylor Swift™️ and the impact the explosion will have?

(6/12) pic.twitter.com/YLOdSsLEaf

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
She began using stars as a motif in the Midnights era and this has come back around recently in the Eras Tour. I included the last pic because although it definitely isn't significant, it's just funny how her stars look almost like cartoonified supernovas.

(7/12) pic.twitter.com/OA02k189RH

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Another example of the two Taylors, one of which has a star on her cheek (again: star motifs), is the Anti-Hero music video. I believe that the Midnights era was the true beginning of this meticulous masterplan and the foreshadowing that we're seeing unfold in real time.

(8/12) pic.twitter.com/jPaf75f6dz

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
also want to mention another link between Karma and the death of Taylor Swift™️; the Truman Show parallels. At the end of the performance we see her posing in front of an open orange door in the same way as Truman does as he leaves his old life behind.

(9/12) pic.twitter.com/ic0j1A8RHD

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Side note: we also see Taylor prepare to leave her old life behind as she burns down the Lover house. She's also holding a lighter on the Midnights cover which is most likely a metaphor for using it on the house. Once again, Midnights is the catalyst for all of this.

(10/12) pic.twitter.com/3Ubwsq2XM4

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
The stairs in the Karma video are also extremely reminiscent of what Truman uses to get to the door. I believe Ice Spice is here simply to represent the other Taylor. 'When the clock strikes 12 (when our old self dies and we walk through the door) we'll meet ourselves’.

(11/12) pic.twitter.com/cntq9HJ9uZ

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
I think this is all l've got to say, I know l mentioned quite a lot but it's all connected and creates a bigger picture when the pieces are put together. Hopefully it makes sense 🥲

(12/12) pic.twitter.com/z4crUKhdfa

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 7, 2024
Adding this to the thread because oh my fucking god how did I not realise this https://t.co/rGHtL4EoyU

— Peach 🤍 (@booblor_) October 25, 2024
8 months ago

Liar, liar, pants on fire

Taylor has referred to herself as the narrator of the story within her music over and over again, but what type of narrator is she referring to? It’s appears that Taylor has been alluding to being the unreliable narrator of her own story.

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

The unreliable narrator is a form of literary device utilised by authors to create plot twists and conflicted characters within a story. In the process the narrator may withhold information, lie to the audience or mislead them. This encourages them to cast doubt on the narrative and engage with the material on a deeper level. The benefit of telling a story in this way is that it forces the audience to come to their own conclusions when the narrator’s point of view cannot be trusted.

When we apply this context to Taylor’s role in retelling her story we start to understand why she has been affectionately referred to as ‘Tayliar’. There is a layer of mistruth sprinkled throughout her story to alter the way it is interpreted so that everyone can slowly see through the facade that was being presented to us. This is a gentle approach, but also an effective one.

Taylor has slowly been drawing more attention to the lies so that more people will notice. This has intensified the split in the narrative, leading to a hostile divide between those who can see the truth and those who believe that the fantasy is real. Both have different points of view but only one side is right, and it's the gaylors because we can see how all of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place when it's viewed through a queer perspective. There's a lot more to the story past this point, but it is the beginning point for many to begin questioning the narrative.

What we're continuing to see unfold now is the lies being told to keep up the facade for everyone else. This phase is supposed to feel contradictory as Taylor continues the process of leaving a trail of clues. I understand many have known the truth for years and are growing tiresome waiting for an ending, but I'd urge you to see that what's happening now isn't for us, it's for those who still believe in the fantasy.

Unfortunately the ending of a story told by an unreliable narrator is oftentimes anti-climactic. It sounds cliche but it really is about the journey and not the destination. But the good news is that there really is so much suspense, complexity and beauty when you are paying attention to all of the small cracks forming in the facade. This is where it becomes clear that Taylor truly is a mastermind.

It's likely that some will accuse Taylor of gaslighting her fans when they discover the truth, but the majority will begin to understand why she kept it a secret once they've had a chance to uncover the truth that has been hidden in plain sight for themselves.

"If you ask me if I love him, I'd lie" -Taylor Swift

A tortured poet,

Kylie x

1 year ago

It’s Nice To Have A Friend with dorothea?!?! Oh my goodness

3 weeks ago

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro to Taylor Swift’s Reflection

I’ve been fascinated by Taylor Swift’s use of mirrors for a long time and the deeper I look, the more prophetic it becomes. Mirrors in her world are never just props. They’re signals. Symbols. Tools of revelation and concealment. A mirror might reflect a self, or fracture it. It might hide a truth in plain sight... or hold someone else entirely.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

Now, nearly a decade after Kaylor, I remain ~unashamedly~ convinced that there is still a story being told. Whether it’s past or present, I don’t claim to know. I’m willing to wait, watch, and listen as it all unfolds. One thing is for sure, it's impossible for me to ignore. When I see a compact mirror in Karlie Kloss’s hand at the 2025 Met Gala, I can’t unsee it. The mirror is a portal—and she opened it on camera.

It’s no secret that Reputation was misunderstood when it dropped. What amazes me is that, even now, most of the fandom still doesn’t seem to get it. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe Taylor only ever meant for it to be revealed in hindsight. And maybe that’s why the rerelease is taking so long... When it comes, it’s going to be just as devastating as the first time watching it go over people’s heads again.

As I explore this, it's important to note that I see the mirror theory and eye theory in the same vein. So, if the visible eye on the Reputation album cover really is Karlie’s (and I believe it might be), then what we’re looking at isn’t just a concept album. It’s lore buried so deep, it’s taken years to even begin surfacing. Yeeeears to really start clicking.

This post is the beginning of a larger project, tracing the moments where mirrors appear in Taylor’s visual storytelling. Not as decoration, but as active participants in the mythos. This is about symbols that shimmer with double meaning—about what Taylor tells, and what she leaves unsaid. These are three mirrors that matter.

We begin in the present, with a mirror held by someone who’s never really left the frame.

1. Karlie Kloss, The Compact Mirror, and Met Gala Moments

On May 6th, 2025, Karlie Kloss posted a carousel of “getting ready” images to Instagram following the annual Met Gala. Her look that night? Glamorous, gleaming, and a little too Reputation coded, especially given who's watching. However, the morning after brought the smoking gun.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

In one image, Karlie holds a compact mirror. The reflection shows an eye that doesn’t quite look like hers. It appears softer, rounder. There’s a flash of blonde bangs in the frame.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection
The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

Peculiar, for sure...

A video in the same post, sped up to near-invisibility, shows nothing unusual at first. But slowed down, the reflection seems to catch the shape of someone else entirely. Some say it’s Taylor. Some say it’s just a trick of the light.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection
The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

But to those of us watching closely, it’s giving the Call It What You Want Miss Americana clip all over again. Five years going strong.

Even the background audio adds weight. The song playing over Karlie’s video is “U Weren’t Here I Really Miss You” by Cult Member and Mia Martina. Released in 2019, the title alone echoes themes of absence and longing. It’s soft and moody and truly feels like a fever dream. If this was a curated moment, the music choice may be the quietest clue of all.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

At the same time, Taylor is currently selling a compact mirror on her official site. It’s etched with the lyric, “Are you ever dreaming of me?” from Delicate.

A lyric about vulnerability, desire, and the terrifying risk of being truly seen. The mirror in Karlie’s hand lives in a video viewed thousands of times. Sure, they're not the same object, but they speak the same language. One asks the question. The other hovers near the answer.

Oh, the compact mirror... This wouldn’t be the first time it's made an appearance in their shared visual universe. In 2015’s Bad Blood—the cinematic music video where Karlie played the knife-throwing assassin Knockout—compact mirrors flash a couple of times.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection
The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

In one shot, a mirror is held by Selena Gomez's character, Arsyn, and reflects Taylor (her character, Catastrophe) mid-battle. Right after, Arsyn blows smoke off the mirror into Catastrophe's face and she falls, shattering the glass wall behind her. In another moment, Gigi Hadid’s character, Slay-Z, holds a compact that functions more like a weapon than a beauty tool. The mirror isn’t for touch-ups. It’s used to see, to target, to surveil.

For my own entertainment, while we're at it and talking about Bad Blood, I wanted to note what I see as Bad Blood callbacks in two of Karlie's Met looks: 2025 and 2016… go figure.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

The Met madness is deep within Gaylor lore and it's something that deserves it's own dissertation. For the sake of chronicling, let's turn our eyes to 2019. On the night of the Met Gala themed Camp: Notes on Fashion, Karlie posted a photo holding a compact mirror with the caption: “Looking camp right in the eye.” It was clever and pointed. For most, it was totally misunderstood. For some, it felt like the photo winked.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

Camp, in its purest form, is queer—an art of exaggeration, subversion, and coded visibility. The fact that Karlie chose a mirror to make that statement only deepens the meaning. It wasn’t just a nod to the theme. It was a reflection held up to the gaze itself.

When a motif returns like this: same object, same players, years apart... it stops being aesthetic and starts being intentional. The compact mirror isn’t just a prop. It’s a reflection of things unsaid. When Karlie picks it up in 2019 and again in 2025, we’re not just watching a routine beauty shot. We’re seeing something resurface. A deep portal. A time travel. All the love we unraveled and a whisper that says: I'm still here.

2. Reputation – The Disappearing Act

If there’s an era where mirrors stop reflecting and start breaking, it’s Reputation. The visual and lyrical language of this album is all about distortion, erasure, and strategic self-construction. It’s not about being seen—it’s about being watched. And what better symbol to carry that weight than a mirror?

Let’s start with the cover.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

EYE THEORY TRUTHERS, RISE.

Replying to @jembroyderies 🫣  #eyetheory #taylorswift #gaylor #kaylor #karliekloss
Tiktok
Replying to @jembroyderies 🫣 #eyetheory #taylorswift #gaylor #kaylor #karliekloss

The Reputation album cover is a grayscale newspaper layout that blankets half of Taylor’s face. Some believe the visible eye belongs to Taylor, and the obscured one? Karlie’s. (It’s me. Hi.) A theory, sure—but the ambiguity holds. The cover itself becomes a mirror. Or maybe a mask. Either way, it’s hiding as much as it reveals.

I need to make my own Eye Theory deep dive (and I will)... but if you're interested now, there are so many lovely Tik Tok creators that are a total wealth of knowledge :)

Digging into the album, the use of mirrors continues. For the sake of this being an intro, let's touch on a relevant music video from this era.

We’ve already seen the compact mirror show up in Bad Blood, where it’s held like a weapon. But in Delicate, the mirror becomes something more slippery—something emotional. In this video, Taylor isn’t fighting anyone. She’s trying to find herself. And the mirrors in the video don’t reflect a consistent identity. They shift. They vanish. They resist.

Let’s break it down.

00:33–00:36 In the opening hallway scene, Taylor walks with her bodyguards through a grand hotel corridor. She catches a glimpse of herself in a passing mirror, and something strange happens: she and the guards stop, walk backward, then charge forward again. It’s as if the sight of her own reflection interrupts the performance. The self in the mirror is the managed one. The one who turns around? That’s the version trying to break free.

00:44–1:02 In the dressing room scene, Taylor stands alone, making wild faces into the mirror. It’s one of the only moments in the Reputation era where she’s truly unguarded, and it’s with her reflection. She isn’t performing for the world. She’s performing for herself. It’s silly, strange, and a little unhinged. It’s honest.

1:03–1:12 But then, the spell breaks. Three women enter the room. Taylor vanishes. And so does her reflection. The moment she’s no longer alone, the mirror erases her. That is not subtle. That is design.

2:34–2:45 Later, in the elevator scene, a woman stands beside Taylor, smiling, applying lipstick, completely unaware of her presence. Taylor is still invisible. She exists outside the reflection, outside the frame, outside the narrative.

To me, Delicate is one of the most emotionally rich videos in Taylor’s entire visual canon. It’s a meditation on freedom—the kind that only comes when no one is watching. The moves she makes in the video are strange, almost feral. And I think that’s the point. She’s showing us how she behaves when the mirror no longer holds her. When she’s unseen and alive.

There are more mirror moments in Reputation that we’ll get to in the Mirror Atlas, but Delicate stands alone in its depth. It isn’t just a pop video. It’s a reflection of what happens when the reflection disappears.

3. mirrorball – Shimmer, Performance, and Emotional Reflection

If Reputation was about erasure, mirrorball is what’s left behind in the spotlight. It’s one of Taylor’s most quietly devastating songs—soft in delivery, but sharp in what it reveals. This time, she isn’t looking into a mirror or breaking one. She’s become the mirror itself.

In the Long Pond Studio Sessions, Taylor describes mirrorball as a song about performing through pain, about the exhausting need to be “everything for everybody.” She compares herself to a disco ball—beautiful because it’s broken, casting fractured reflections for others to enjoy. “If you break it, it’s just made of a million pieces of broken glass.” That’s the metaphor. And it’s not just poetic—it’s literal.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

She didn’t perform mirrorball in a mirrored outfit on the Eras Tour, but that detail only makes her earlier choices more significant. In 2018, at the American Music Awards, Taylor stepped out in a full mirrorball dress. A mosaic of tiny mirrored tiles wrapped around her body. She wore it to accept awards for Reputation, the album that she’s still letting us unravel. The look was bold, but intentional. She showed up shining—reflective, beautiful, unreadable.

The Mirror Atlas: An Intro To Taylor Swift’s Reflection

In 2023, at The 1975’s concert in London, Taylor made a surprise appearance wearing another mirrored mini-dress. It wasn’t just a callback. It was a performance of an identity. She was stepping into a space filled with speculation, projection, and fantasy—and she wore exactly what the crowd would expect. Not because it was her. Because it was what they wanted her to be.

And that’s what makes mirrorball so devastating. The mirror isn’t something she holds. It’s something she becomes. In the crowd’s gaze, in the fandom’s theories, in the industry’s demands—she reflects, refracts, and never quite settles into her own outline. Even her absence is curated. At the 2025 iHeartRadio Awards, Taylor didn’t attend, but sent a performance clip of mirrorball from opening weekend of Eras. She didn’t appear. The mirror did.

Some may believe otherwise, but to me, this isn’t a song about love. It’s about exposure. About what it costs to be adored, interpreted, and seen only in fragments. mirrorball doesn’t reveal who Taylor is. It reflects who we ask her to be.

And maybe that’s the point. I mean, the last thing we’ve heard from her in months was a clip of mirrorball standing in for her at the 2025 iHeartRadio Awards. Now, there's many buzzing fan theories of all sorts stirring around the 2025 AMAs. If she were to break her silence there, it'd be on the same stage where she first wore that Balmain beauty in 2018. it’s hard not to feel like the loop is closing. The timing is too sharp to ignore.

The End of the Intro, The Beginning of an Atlas

So, given this brain dump, I hope it’s clear that my interest lies in the mirror—not just as a visual, but as a motif woven through Taylor’s body of work. What I've started here is just the beginning, but even with only three moments, the pattern starts speaking for itself.

It’s enough to say with confidence: the mirror isn’t just a flourish. It’s a signal. A portal. A language. And once you see it, it’s everywhere.

This post isn’t a thesis. It’s a foundation. A first pass at something deeper, something still unfolding. The Mirror Atlas will grow—moment by moment, frame by frame—as we trace this reflection through Taylor’s universe.

If you’ve noticed a mirror—literal or symbolic, lyric or live—share it. The comments are open. The story is still being written.

And if you ask me, this mirror trail feels less like theory, and more like an invisible string tying Taylor to… her.

3 months ago
Esp When It’s A Photo From A Road Trip And In The Song She Shouts Out “trip Of My Life” 🙈

esp when it’s a photo from a road trip and in the song she shouts out “trip of my life” 🙈

2 months ago

it’s just like. maybe she just liked the colors of the bi flag and dyed her hair for fun. maybe she liked the idea of cedar closets and was inspired to write a song about an ex boyfriend. maybe she wore a rainbow dress during her pride speech because rainbows are pretty. maybe she dressed like a pride flag flamingo for wango tango to match pride month as an ally. maybe she said that gay pride makes her her because she’s that committed to allyship. maybe she heard about the connotations of lavender in the 50s and wrote a song about how that mirrors her feelings for her boyfriend. maybe she’s never heard of the “hair pin drop around the world” (stonewall) and just chose something that wouldn’t make much noise. maybe she really just likes singing from alternate perspectives. maybe she forgot to change the pronouns when she covered riptide from a female perspective. maybe she put herself in glass closets in multiple music videos because she feels trapped by herself. maybe she wrote so much about secrecy on reputation because she thought if she was seen with her boyfriend publicly it would ruin the relationship. maybe she wrote so much about secrecy in her earlier albums because she prefers privacy. maybe she wrote about secrecy on folklore and evermore because she was writing fiction. maybe she compared loving her partner to sin that forfeits her good standing with god and the world because she likes to be dramatic. maybe the very first night is about a guy and she just accidentally made the verses rhyme with “her”. maybe she really likes daisies because they’re pretty. maybe connections between cruel summer and closure are accidental. maybe connections between it’s time to go and down bad are accidental. maybe she’s been best friends with all of her lovers. maybe!

………………However,

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