Can We Talk About In The OOTW Video When Her Hands Are Covered In Spiked Icicles? Anything She Touches

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

LOUD you say? 3/8 you say? 🧐👀

Making our way through the London Fundon 🙂 crowds to say, "Hello"! 👋 We cannot wait to hear how LOUD these next three of EIGHT Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour shows will be! 🇬🇧 📷: Xavi Torrent/TAS24/Getty

tstheerastour.taylorswift.com

Taylor Swift

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

Oop—

Someone might've found this already—I don't remeber, but like... look at it...

There's of course this gem too, just for posterity.

Secret time:

I struggle A LOT with Taylor song title acronyms/abbreviations. 🤣

I swear it’s like a disability— I have to google almost all of them. 8 times out of 10, my brain CANNOT look at a group of random letters and figure out which song it stands for.

I swear I’m smart but the struggle is real. 🙈

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 ✨

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,

Hey Taylor…have you ever tried ✨this one✨?

🧡🩷🤍

My partners friend went missing if you all could signal boost this!

Taylor Swift and the home motif

Cause all I know is we said, 'Hello'

And your eyes look like coming home

The rust that grew bеtween telephones

The lips I used to call home

So scarlet, it was maroon

Now pretty baby

I'm running back home to you

Fresh out the slammer, I know who my first call will be to

Karma is the guy on the screen

Coming straight home to me

I found myself a-running home to your sweet nothings

Wreck my plans, that's my man

You know that my train could take you home

Anywhere else is hollow

And the road not taken looks real good now

And it always leads to you and my hometown

Rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky

And he feels like home

If the shoe fits, walk in it everywhere you go

Have my back, yeah, every day

Feels like home, stay in bed

The whole weekend

As if the street lights pointed in an arrow head

Leading us home

And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends

When we get all alone

I'll make myself at home

And he'll want me to stay

Take me home

Just take me home

Yeah, just take me home

That nothing safe is worth the drive

And I would follow you, follow you home

I'll follow you, follow you home

Cause you can hear it in the silence

You can feel it on the way home

You can see it with the lights out

Forever and ever, ah

Take me out, and take me home

You're my, my, my, my lover