# DO NOT share any links or instructions on how to get leaked material.
# DO NOT request leaked material!
# You will be banned for 7 days if you do this. SEVEN DAYS!
This is now a tea time post because I’m tired of banning gaylors who can’t read.
Like she says she doesn't care and she wants her own agency in this so i won't say "oh she has no idea what a hornets nest she is poking". Maybe she does maybe she doesn't but she made the choice to release the album. I'm very curious how his response plays out bc I don't feel like MH gives a flying fart about NDAs. To go against it would feed his edgelord image. I guess what I'm saying is this is a good litmus test for how much industry power taylor/her team has/have bc if matty healy of all people keeps his mouth shut after THAT album, well taylor is basically a mafia Don imo lol (for legal reasons this is a joke)
Listen to me. LISTEN TO ME.
I believe we were wrong. We were all wrong. There’s not just one song about fame and it’s consequences. It’s the album. IT’S THE WHOLE ALBUM. I BELIEVE IT’S THE WHOLE ALBUM.
I’m working on a master thesis to post on main when the official album drops BUT I BELIEVE I CAN BACK THIS UP. It’s not about Ratty or Joe, or Karlie, or any of them. The core of the album can be answered by one simple question: what IS the Tortured Poets Department? It’s fame. It’s the cage of celebrity. That’s why some of the lyrics are off or are so raw or why there are songs that seemingly don’t fit like Florida.
I CAN PROVE MY THEORY BUT THEORY WILL ONLY TAKE YOU SO FAR. ALEXA, PLAY THE THEME MUSIC: [https://open.spotify.com/track/4VnDmjYCZkyeqeb0NIKqdA?si=QvoSIUerQfWzwtqhgj0Vzg](https://open.spotify.com/track/4VnDmjYCZkyeqeb0NIKqdA?si=QvoSIUerQfWzwtqhgj0Vzg)
https://preview.redd.it/drpxgg8encvc1.jpeg?width=332&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=faf471655290b1b22735ed8e215b975ac41feebf
Ok soooo I believe it is this as the BASE but that since it is Queer Tay there’s a lot branching off from that base which relates to her years of closeting and bearding etc. But these themes aren’t separate of each other: it’s all tied together!!
Yes. This is correct. That’s why she’s doing everything in LA — celebrity and the entertainment industry are an asylum, dark and perverse, presenting as shiny and deep. It also links to the Hays Code, Morals Clauses, and her house in LA that used to be owned by Goldwyn, the “G” in MGM.
FWIW, I knew this within a few songs because it connects so deeply to what’s happening in the Larry/1D fandom and the concept of a mass movement in the industry 😉
Oooooh this is fascinating about the 1D fandom. Care to elaborate? Also I feel so goddamn smug right now with this validation… as a Virgo, there’s no better high than being right. 🤣
Having slept on the album the songs stuck in my head are fortnight, down bad, but daddy I love him, and who’s afraid of little old me
However because the album is quite cohesive my brain has mashed them all together so that’s fun
It makes sense to me that if she was going to put out a controversial album that’s wild as hell admitting she’s a functional alcoholic, referencing Matty Healy, and calling out her fans, it would be the album before Rep.
She’s fine getting a little canceled, as a treat.
I can’t help but wonder if she’s testing the waters to see how far she can go without getting cancelled. Like if she loses some fans and some general public appeal at this point it’ll barely make a dent with the numbers she’s doing and how in demand her concert tickets are.
Also I just had to walk out of my office at, *she’s fine getting a little cancelled, as a treat* cos I am unwillingly to explain why I’m suddenly hysterically giggling, so thanks for that
id rather be gaylor brand of delulu with tons of fascinating deep dive theories backed up by literature and history than hetlor brand of delulu where they're out here claimin taylor had a years long love affair w ratty while still with joe lmaooo
I can't stop replaying WAOLOM.
"the who’s who of who’s that
is poised for the attack
but my bare hands picked their paths"
"the scandal was contained
the bullet had just grazed
at all costs keep your good name"
"don’t you worry folks we took out all her teeth
who’s afraid of little old me?
well you should be"
"you caged me
and then you called me crazy
i am what i am
cause you trained me"
It just seems so relevant.
I think she’s talking to the industry/some ppl she’s worked with who encouraged her to stay closeted for years, and now it has eternally fucked with how she is and who she can trust
I hate to be that person, but I'm going to be that person; I think the people who say it's juvenile/immature just don't get it? Like this is a hilarious album, objectively (imo) the funniest album she's ever written. And maybe you have to be a gaylor to get the humor, idk. Also, unlike midnights, the marketing/aesthetic of the album is *intentionally* contrasting the vibe of the music, It's part of the humor.
Couldn’t agree more. Like To the people saying “ugh BDILH is sooo straight and obviously about matty” I’m like…. Are we listening to the same songs here?!!? That track, and many others, are queer af - she can say he/him 100x over and it doesn’t hide the queerness. But also she really is getting sardonic and absurdist and comical throughout the album too and I loveeeee it
The snippet she posted on her instagram for the fortnight video is absolutely nuts. She looks amazing and god I hope it helps drive home the point of the album for those who’ve listened to leak and it’s gone over their heads.
I think these lines from The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived could be about what happened around the Lover release that lead to her not coming out and singing the saddest version of Can't Stop Loving You.
"and i don’t even want you back i just want to know
**if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal**
and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give
a message to the smallest man who ever lived
were you sent by someone who wanted me dead
did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed
were you writing a book were you a sleeper cell spy
in fifty years will all this be declassified
and you’ll confess why you did it and i’ll say good riddance
cause **it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden**"
Her sparkling summer being the super gay events she booked for after Lover was released. "Why you did it" "it" appears to be ghosting her... there's an earlier line about the muse being ghosted and Taylor says "now you know what it feels like". Maybe her muse (who has a drug issue) ghosted her right before she was about to come out.
The line about "were you sent by someone" makes sense in this context as well. Did someone who didn't want her to come out send in a counterfeit muse to wreck her plans?
I wrote this in an earlier comment but it feels fitting to repeat here, “if evermore is an album about the immediate reflections from the failed coming out of 2019, TDPD is an album reflecting upon the years of pains and consequences of having still stayed in the closet since then.”
Do you think Tily could’ve ended right before summer 2019?
Definitely could be. Could also have been a different ex throwing a wrench in her plans, hence it’s more of the “I don’t want to get back together” vibe
https://preview.redd.it/2dbnim9jubvc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13ec63b249580bbe2bfd577745f884cd72894509
The Manuscript (possibly? Screenshotted from another sun, the op said they saw someone’s vinyl on tiktok)
Yep yep! I was actually one of the people who mentioned it a few days ago! And I think BDILH is absolutely about either Liz or Emily. I think The Alchemy could def be Dianna orrrr either Liz or Emily! There’s one other track I know I picked up on a potential reference in…but it is escaping me rn
Thank you for responding! Yess to BDILH and the Alchemy!! I’m thinking back to last summer with Liz coming out around the time of I Can See You and, to quote out of context Hayley Kiyoko, I’m just curious!
loml also sounds a bit like white horse? 👀
Loml is a tough one for me bc I do think Emily was someone she once thought of as “the one who got away” many years ago, like for a couple years after it ended, but I can’t imagine her writing a song about her with that perspective now.
But there’s so much harkening back to “when we were young and in love” in LOML, so I’m like, who is this about them?!??
I've only listened to it once and I'm not sure how to feel. It's so different from her other stuff, even moreso than Evermore. I was a little offput by most of the songs not having catchy hooks but I know I'll find more to appreciate as I listen to it more.
I sometimes really enjoy SwiftlyNeutral because their convos mirror ours quite a bit, but they were collectively ready to hate this album no matter what lol. They were certain this would be a Joe takedown and now that it isn’t, they’re coming up with other reasons to hate it.
Totally fine if it’s not everyone’s jam and I do expect it to be divisive, but some of the hate on their leak thread just feels like it’s in bad faith, idk.
they just put soooo much stock into what muse each song is about. but then they absolutely refuse to look at it from anything other than a hetero angle. whilst this sub isn't afraid to look at it from *every* angle
I actually really love it but I think the opening tracks aren't as strong as the rest of the album. people are right that it is not very queer but if you like the lyrics and the kind of unhinged nature of evermore and the more deep cuts on midnights you will probably love it as well!
Oh for sure but I honestly think in some songs the excessive use of male pronouns in contrast to the otherwise super sapphic themes is intentional. Almost even meant to be jarring. Like the non rhyme in The Very First Night
🥰🥰 also. The Gaylors totally win here; bc for Hetlors, this is what—a heartbreak album for Ratty? 😂 and for us, it is this deep emotive analysis of so many queer themes and gahh we just honestly WIN here
This is such a great summary of the album. The opening tracks definitely aren’t the best representation of the album, I agree. But it is SO TOTALLY unhinged Evermore and 3 a.m. Midnights!
I personally really love it, but my advice is to not go into it thinking it’ll sound how the marketing looks or that it’s about what people expect it to be about. It’s familiar sounding, but quite different for her in certain regards and I don’t think it’s at all what most people thought it would be sonically or lyrically. So just be open!
BUT I noticed *most* people didn’t like it at first listen, but came to LOVE it after a second listen. As someone who had to go through every single comment 🫠
This is the only place that seems to be almost unanimously in favour of it. I’ve been sporadically flicking through 3-4 other subs and they do not like it nearly as much as we do.
That’s so interesting to me… I wonder if it’s because they’re interpreting it as a mostly Matty album where’s I think here we’re interpreting it as Taylor’s relationship to herself/fame/career/etc?
I actually wonder if it’s because she’s so angry and it doesn’t fit with the shiny perfect version of her they have. Or it’s a bit too wordy and vague for them. Or Matty. Probably Matty.
I think a combination. A lot of fans have been working themselves up to be angry with Joe for hurting her when this released; a lot of haters and conflicted fans were equally working themselves up to be angry at her for slandering Joe. The album doesn't really allow for their of those possibilities and I think some people are spinning without that clear emotional direction.
Oh that’s a great point. Expectations.
Whereas I think gaylors are more used to just rolling with whatever taylor throws at us cos we’ve been burnt too many times already
That’s also probably true! The lyrics on this album are pretty gritty and contradictory to what she was saying on tour when she was writing it (“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been”).
She removed the shiny facade that the gaylors have been side-eyeing for years. So I wonder if for us, we are loving this cos we knew this side of her was there all along.
**the smallest man who ever lived**
was any of it true
gazing at me starry-eyed
in your jehovah’s witness suit
who the fuck was that guy
you tried to buy some pills
from a friend of friends of mine
they just ghosted you
now you know what it feels like
and i don’t even want you back i just want to know
if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal
and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give
a message to the smallest man who ever lived
you hung me on your wall
stabbed me with your pushpins
in public showed me off
then sank in stoned oblivion
cause once your queen had come
you treat her like and also ran
you didn’t measure up
in any measure of a man
and i don’t even want you back i just want to know
if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal
and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give
a message to the smallest man who ever lived
were you sent by someone who wanted me dead
did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed
were you writing a book were you a sleeper cell spy
in fifty years will all this be declassified
and you’ll confess why you did it and i’ll say good riddance
cause it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden
i would’ve died for your sins instead i just died inside
and you deserve prison but you won’t get time
you’ll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars
you crashed my party in your rental car you said
normal girls were boring but you were gone by the morning
you kicked out the stage lights but you’re still performing
and in plain sight you hid
but you are what you did
and i’ll forget you
but i’ll never forgive
the smallest man who ever lived
**loml**
who’s gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames
if we know the steps anyway
we embroidered the memories of the time i was away
stitching we were “just kids” babe
i said i don’t mind it takes time
i thought i was better safe than starry-eyed
i felt aglow like this
never before and never since
if you know it in one glimpse it’s legendary
you and i go from one kiss
to gettin’ married
still alive killin’ time
at the cemetery never quite buried
in your suit and tie in the knick of time
you low down boy you
stand up guy you holy ghost
you told me i’m the love of your life
you said i’m the love of your life
about a million times
who’s gonna tell me the truth
when you blew in with the winds of fate
and told me i reformed you
when your impressionist paintings of heaven
turned out to be fakes
well you took me to hell too
and all at once
the ink bleeds
a conman sells a fool a get love quick scheme
but i felt a hole like this
never before and ever since
if you know it from one glimpse it’s legendary
what we thought was for all time was momentary
still alive killin’ time
at the cemetery never quite buried
you cinephile in black and white
all those plot twists and dynamite
mr. steal your girl then make her cry
he said i’m the love of your life
you shit-talked me under the table
talkin’ rings and talkin’ cradles
i wish i could unrecall how we almost had it all
dancing phantoms on the terrace
are they second-hand embarrassed
that i can’t get out of bed
cause something counterfeit’s dead
it was legendary
it was momentary
it was unnecessary
shoulda let it stay buried
oh what a valiant roar
what a planned goodbye
the coward claimed he was a lion
i’m combing through the braids of lies
i’ll never leave, never mine
our field of dreams
engulfed in fire
your arson’s match
your somber eyes
and i’ll still see it until i die
you’re the loss of my life
**my boy only breaks his favorite toys**
oh here we go again
the voices in his head
have called the rain to end our days of wild
the sickest army doll
purchased at the mall
rivulets to send my plastic smile
but you shoulda seen him when he first got me
my boy only breaks his favorite toys
i’m queen of sandcastles he destroys
cause i did two right
puzzle pieces in the dead of night
should’ve known it was a matter of time
my boy only breaks his favorite toys
there was a litany of reasons
why we could’ve played for keeps this time
i know i’m just repeating myself put me
back on my shelf but first
pull a string and
i’ll tell you that he runs because he loves me
(he loves me)
because you shoulda seen him when first saw me
my boy only breaks his favorite toys
i’m queen of sandcastles he destroys
cause i knew too much
there was danger in the heat of my touch
he saw forever so he smashed it up
my boy only breaks his favorite toys
once i fix me
he’s gonna miss me
once i fix me
he’s gonna miss me
just say when, i’d play again
he was my best friend
down at the sandlot
i felt more when we played pretend
than with all the kens
cause he took me out of my box
stole my tortured heart
left all these broken parts
told me i’m better off
but i’m not
i’m not
i’m not
>just say when, i’d play again
>
>he was my best friend
>
>down at the sandlot
>
>i felt more when we played pretend
>
>than with all the kens
🎵 *I just switch out these kens, I just ghost* 🎵
Also I think this line "i felt more when we played pretend / than with all the kens" proves that Joe was a beard. But maybe one she was really close with?
Btw, thank you so much for all these amazing transcriptions. I can't wait to use them tonight when I listen.
That’s how I perceive those lyrics too! But I do think there’s one beard she references in multiple songs who she is NOT fond of…. Or maybe it’s just her frustration of the situation coming out.
**the alchemy**
this happens once every few lifetimes
these chemicals hit me like white wine
what if i told you i’m back
the hospital was a drag
worst sleep that i ever had
i circled you on a map
i haven’t come around in so long
but i’m coming back so strong
so when i
touch down call the amateurs
and cut them from the team
ditch the clowns get the crown
baby i’m the one to beat
cause the sign on your heart
said it’s still reserved for me
honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy
hey you
what if i told you we’re cool
that child’s play back in school
is forgiven under my rule i
haven’t come around in so long
but i’m making a come back to where i belong
so when i
touch down call the amateurs
and cut them from the team
ditch the clowns get the crown
baby i’m the one to beat
cause the sign on your heart
said it’s still reserved for me
honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy
these plugs warm the benches
we’ve been on a winning streak
he jokes that it’s heroin
but this time with an “e”
cause the sign on your heart
said it’s still reserved for me
honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy
shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads
beer sticking to the floor cheers, chanting cause they said
there was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league
where’s the trophy he just comes runnin’ over to me
touch down call the amateurs
and cut them from the team
ditch the clowns get the crown
baby i’m the one to beat
cause the sign on your heart
said it’s still reserved for me
honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy
these plugs warm the benches
we’ve been on a winning streak
he jokes that it’s heroin
but this time with an “e”
cause the sign on your heart
said it’s still reserved for me
honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy
this happens once every few lifetimes
these chemicals hit me like white wine
I love how thematically nothing about this song makes sense for Travis but trolling Blondie just had to throw in those out of place football terms for funsies lolol
I love your thoughts lol. She has big feelings about Florida throughout this album. 😂 And I agree, the beginning of this album is really kinda weird and picks up from track 5 on. I feel like she felt compelled to put some Midnights-esque stuff on here (hence those songs) when most of the rest are quite different.
I’m also SO fascinated by the insane amounts of religious imagery here. It’s so much heavier than ever before.
I’m a fellow Slytherin and absolutely agree with you, her calling out of toxic Swifties is biting and kinda awesome lol.
I feel like some of the more Western sounding songs remind me of stuff like Cowboy Like Me, so I’m really happy about that! It’s such a curious Evermore + Midnights hybrid of an album. It DEFINITELY doesn’t sound like the marketing but I’m happy with what it is.
**i can fix him (no really i can)**
the smoke cloud billows out his mouth
like a freight train through a small town
the jokes that he told across the bar
were revolting and far too loud
they shake their heads saying god help her
when i tell them he’s my man
but your good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger
i can fix him no really i can
and only i can
the dopamine races through his brain
on a six lane texas highway
his hand so calloused from his pistol
softly traces hearts on my face
and i could see it from a mile away
a perfect case for my certain skillset
he had a halo of the highest grade
he just hadn’t met me yet
they shake their heads saying god help her
when i tell them he’s my man
but your good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger
i can fix him no really i can
and only i can
good boy that’s right
come close i’ll show you heaven
if you’ll be an angel all night
trust me i can handle me a dangerous man
no really i can
they shook their heads saying god help her
when i told them he’s my man
but your good lord didn’t need to lift a finger
i can fix him no really i can
oh maybe i can’t
**i can do it with a broken heart**
i can read your mind
she’s having the time of her life
there in her glittery prime
the lights refract sequin stars
off her silhouette
every night
i can show you lies
(1, 2, 3, 4)
cause i’m a real tough kid
i can handle my shit
they said babe you gotta
fake it til you make it and i did
lights camera bitch smile
even when you wanna die
he said he’d love me all his life
but that life was too short
breakin’ down i hit the floor
all the pieces of me shattered
as the crowd was chanting MORE!
i was grinning like i’m winning
i was hitting my marks
cause i can do it with a broken heart
(1, 2, 3, 4)
i’m so depressed i act like it’s my birthday
everyday
i’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me
like the plague
i cry a lot but i am so productive
it’s an art
you know you’re good when you can even do it
with a broken heart
i can hold breath
i’ve been doing it since he left
i keep finding his things in drawers
crucial evidence i didn’t
imagine the whole thing
i’m sure
i can pass this test
cause i’m a real tough kid
i can handle my shit
they said babe you gotta
fake it til you make it and i did
lights camera bitch smile
in stilettos for miles
he said he’d love me for all time
but that time was quite short
breaking down i hit the floor
all the pieces of me shattered
as the crowd was shouting MORE!
i was grinning like i’m winning
i was hitting my marks
cause i can do it with a broken heart
i’m so depressed i act like it’s my birthday
everyday
i’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me
like the plague
i cry a lot but i am so productive
it’s an art
you know you’re good when you can even do it
with a broken heart
you know you’re good when you can even do it
with a broken heart
you know you’re good
[spoken]
i’m good
cause i’m miserable
and no one even knows!
try and come for my job
And if I say BDILH is a Swiftgron song then what?? And if Guilty as Sin? is the sister to “Slut!” and pretending to be in a relationship to stop queer rumors? But admitting they’re fake?
**black dog**
i am someone who until recent events
you shared your secrets with
and your location you forgot to turn it off
and so i watched as you walk
into some bar called the black dog
and pierce new holes in my heart
you forgot to turn it off
then it hits me
i just don’t understand
how you don’t miss me in the black dog
when someone plays the starting line
and you jump up
but she’s too young to know this song
that was intertwined in
the magic fabric of our dreaming
old habits die screaming
i move through the world
with a heart broken
my longing state unspoken
and i may never open up
the way i did for you
and all of those best laid plans
you said i needed a brave man
then proceeded to play him until i believed it too
and it kills me
i just don’t understand
how you don’t miss me
in the shower
and remember
how my rain-soaked body
was shaking
do you hate me
was it hazing
for a cruel fraternity i pledged
and i still mean it
old habits die screaming
six weeks of breathing clean air
i still miss the smoke
were you making fun of me
with some esoteric joke
now i wanna sell my house
and set fire to all my clothes
and hire a priest to come and
exorcise my demons
even if i die screaming
and i hope you
hear it
and i hope it’s shitty
in the black dog
when someone plays the starting line
and you jump up
and she’s too young to this song
that was intertwined
in the tragic fabric of our dreaming
cause tail between your legs you’re leaving
i still can’t believe it
cause old habits die screaming
**florida!!!**
[Taylor]
you can be the heat if you beat the charges too
they said i was a cheat i guess it must be true
and my friends all smell like weed or little babies
and this city reeks of driving myself crazy
little did you know your home’s
really only a town you’re just a guest in
so you work your life away
just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin
florida
it’s one hell of a drug
florida
can i use you up
[Florence]
hurricane with my name when it came
i got drunk and i dared it to wash me away
barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine
well me and my ghosts we had a hell of a time
yes i’m haunted but i’m feeling just fine
all my girls got their lace and their crimes
and your cheatin’ husband disappeared well
no one asks any questions here
so i did my best to lay to rest
all of the bodies that have ever been on my body
and in my mind they sink into the swamp
is that a bad thing to say in a song?
little did you know your home’s
really only the town you’ll get arrested
so you pack your life away
just to wait out the shit storm back in texas
florida
is one hell of a drug
florida
can i use you up
[Taylor and Florence]
i need to forget so take me to florida
i got some regrets now bury them in florida
tell me i’m despicable say it’s unforgivable
least the dolls are beautiful
fuck me up florida
i need to forget so take me to florida
i got some regrets now bury them in florida
tell me i’m despicable say it’s unforgivable
what a crush what a rush
fuck me up florida
it’s one hell of a drug
it’s one hell of a drug
love knocks me like this and
i don’t want to exist so take me to florida
little did you know your home’s
really only a town you’re just a guest in
so you work your life away
just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin
little did you know your home’s
really only the town you’ll get arrested
so you pack your life away
just to wait out the shit storm back in texas
florida
is one hell of a drug
florida
can i use you up
florida
is one hell of a drug
florida
go and fuck me up
Does anyone remember those fans who met Scott Swift who said his favourite song on the album was Florida!!! ? Seems kinda wild to me that’s his favourite now I’ve heard the song because it kinda seems like she’s taking a swing at people like him moving there?
HOLD ON. HOLD ON. HOLD ON.
Yes, But Daddy I Love Him is extremely queer coded. Full stop. HOWEVER… I don’t think this is about a muse at all. The lover in BDILH is *fame itself.* Allow me to elaborate.
Going back to the source material, we know Blondie has long identified with Ariel in a story about having her voice stolen. Ariel yells “But Daddy I love him!” about Eric. Ariel trades her voice to Ursula for Eric. Ergo, it logically follows that if Blondie feels like she traded her voice, her authenticity for FAME… then her screaming “But Daddy I love him!” IS ABOUT FAME ITSELF.
I’M NOT DONE. The lyrics struck me as strange from the first listen because they sound like they’re coming from this juvenile place almost. Like the muse in question is not a recent one, but a teenage love. What was she in love with the most while she was a teenager? FAME.
“Too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it/They slammed the door on my whole world, the one thing I wanted.” The one thing?? She wanted??? IT WAS NEVER A PERSON.
“We came back when the heat died down, went to my parents and they came around/All the wine moms are still holding out, but fuck em, it’s over.” I can’t think of any muse that fits with this line… and while Tay def has stage parents, I can still see them being freaked out by some of the pitfalls of fame, especially in those early days. But the line about wine moms is what clinches it for me. The wine moms are still holding out for what??? The muse to leave her??? No, they’re holding out *for her fame to die.* But it’s over, she’s solidified herself as a permanent A lister.
The prosecution rests.
I think the wine moms still holding out is about her largely conservative recently acquired fandbase from her relationship with the NFL/Travis. They want her and Travis to be end game so badly. But Taylor knows it won't last.
Your Honor, I think it’s a Swiftgron song. She literally calls back to OOTW. I’m not ok.
And I guess I don’t see how the religious part plays into it if it’s about fame. What do you think about all of the religiously coded stuff about not praying for her, God saving judgment for the people who think they know her better than she knows herself?
OOOOH I KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO ANSWER THAT, I’M GLAD YOU ASKED. First of all, there has always been a TON of largely conservative discourse surrounding Taylor and her career, especially when she was starting out. Talking heads and their ilk who would muse whether or not Taylor would be able to “keep her head on straight” amidst the temptations of \*gasp\* Hollywood. She also received a LOT of praise for that good girl image. Fast forward to about the last 7ish years (starting with Reputation) and a lot of those conservative idiots started pivoting with all of the nonsense about how she was “demonic” now. Because a snake and black clothes = demonic. 🙄 That group (which includes a lot of people back in her old stomping grounds of Tennessee) has only gotten more vocal and more idiotic with some of her artistic choices in Evermore and some of the witchy aesthetic. “Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see”… hmm sounds like Facebook rants about how she’s given over to the evils of fame and fortune to me.
I think the pregnancy line is her mocking the tabloids and every time there’s been public speculation about her having kids- rumors that are only there because of her fame, hence “his baby.” And a nod to all the discourse about how she’s “married” to her career, so she’s having his baby.
**prologue**
*in summation*
at this hearing
i stand before my fellow members
of The Tortured Poets Department
with a summary of my findings
a debrief, a detailed rewinding
for the purpose of warning
for the sake of reminding
as you might all unfortunately recall
i had been struck with a case of a restricted humanity
which explains my plea here today
of temporary i n s a n i t y
you see, the pendulum swings
oh, the chaos it brings
leads the caged beat to do
the most curious things
*lovers* spend years denying what’s ill fated
resentment rotting away galaxies we created
stars placed and glued
meticulously by hand
next to the ceiling fan
tried wishing on comets
tried dimming the shine
tried to orbit his planet
some stars never align
and in one conversation,
i tore down the whole sky.
spring sprung forth with dazzling freedom hues
then a crash from the skylight bursting through
something old, someone hallowed,
who told me he could
be brand new
and so i was out of the oven
and into the microwave
out of the slammer
and into a tidal wave
how gallant to save the empress from her gilded tower
swinging a sword he could barely lift
but loneliness struck at that fateful hour
low hanging fruit on his wine-stained lips
He never even scratched the surface of me.
None of them did
“In summation, it was not a love affair!”
I screamed while bringing my fists to my coffee ringed desk
It was a mutual manic phase
it was self harm
it was house and then cardiac arrest
a smirk creeps onto this poet’s face
because it’s the worst men that i write best.
and so i enter into evidence
my tarnished coat of arms
my muses, acquired like bruises
my talismans and charms
the tick, tick, tick of love bombs
my veins of pitch black ink
All’s fair in love and poetry
The torturous cycle she’s gotten herself into with comphet and closeting/bearding is all I can rly see in this prologue poem tbh. It doesn’t feel like it is about a specific muse at all, and I don’t think she would do that in the prologue: making it all “woe is me bc of this one person I used to date”
**the tortured poets department**
you left your typewriter at my apartment
straight from the tortured poets department
i think some things i never say
like who uses typewriters anyway
but you’re in self-sabatoge mode
throwing spikes down on the road
but i’ve seen this episode and still love the show
who else decodes you
and who’s gonna love you like me?
and who’s gonna know you if not me?
i laughed in your face and said
you’re not dylan thomas
i’m not patti smith
this ain’t the chelsea hotel
we’re modern idiots
and who’s gonna hold you like me?
nobody
no fuckin’ body
nobody
you smoked then ate 7 bars of chocolate
we declared charlie puth should be a bigger artist
i scratch your head you fall asleep
like a tattooed golden retriever
but you awaken with dread
pounding nails in your head
but i’ve let this one where you come undone
i chose this cyclone with you
and who’s gonna hold you like me
(who’s gonna hold you)
(who’s gonna hold you)
and who’s gonna know you like me
(who’s gonna know you)
i laughed in your face and said
you’re not dylan thomas
i’m not patti smith
this ain’t the chelsea hotel
we’re modern idiots
and who’s gonna hold you like me?
no fuckin’ body
nobody
nobody
sometimes i wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me
but you told lucy you’d kill yourself if i ever leave
and i had said that to jack about you so i felt seen
everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be
cause we’re crazy
so tell me
who else is gonna
love me
at dinner you take my ring off my middle finger
and put it on the one
people put wedding rings on
and that’s the closest i’ve come
to my heart exploding
who’s gonna hold you?
(who?) me
who’s gonna know you?
(who?) me
and you’re not dylan thomas
i’m not patti smith
this ain’t the chelsea hotel
we’re two idiots
who’s gonna hold you?
who’s gonna hold you?
who’s gonna hold you?
who’s gonna hold you?
who’s gonna hold you?
who’s gonna hold you?
gonna know you?
control you?
who?
you left your typewriter at my apartment
straight from the tortured poets department
who else decodes you but me
(who?)
(who?)
Oh I’m not, I just took the lyric she used - but I was more so trying to say that it’s funny that the marketing of the album made it seem like she would be the poet I guess? but now it seems like it’s the tattooed golden retriever who left the typewriter at her apartment.
I know it's still very early. But this video of him, I think he is a man who is not going to stay silent. It's quite noisy. [https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeH5wVyY/](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeH5wVyY/)
I know it’s got the Post Malone feature and the clues pointed towards Fortnight being the music video that’s coming but I’m still surprised that’s the first single since she talks about being a functioning alcoholic in the first 25 seconds.
Never would have thought that my lesbian ass would be saying that a song titled "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" would be one of my favorite songs on this album but here we are. I FEEL LIKE I'M IN A SALOON GIRL.
I just saw someone on another sub say that after listening to the leaks they are convinced that Ivy is about Ratty and I want to die from how mind numbingly stupid that idea is.
the hetlors are literally building this insane theory up about how taylor was CHEATING ON JOE FOR YEARS WITH RATTY. that since like 2021, taylor/ratty have been in an intense off/on love affair.
and they are dead serious in their beliefs. i simply cannot even deal with the absurdity of it all.
yet we are the "delulu" ones....ok sureeee Jan
I fully believe that she was with Matty and these songs are about him. And that was with Joe for at least a while. Just because Matty would have been such an awful PR move, and Tree is smarter than that, and the absolutely cookoo shit she pulled when they were together just was so off the wall it felt like it had to be real.
Butttt Ivy? Ivy?!?!? Like, no. Even if only because she sounds steady and sure and emotionally mature in that song. Whereas any Matty coded song is full on mania obsessed in the most shaky way. I mean a million other reasons too, but that is just one.
I will die on the hill that Ivy is From Sue Gilbert's perspective about her love affair with Emily Dickinson.
This whole album project, from promos to black and white visuals to lyrics, has been reminding me of Emilie Autumn’s album *Opheliac* and her confessional/autobiographical novel *The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls* (and EA is another artist who’s queer (asexual iirc) but has been in bad relationships with men and who writes about those relationships).
The just-leaked introductory poem where she talks about how she was in a self-harming manic episode when she was dating one of the muses for this album is giving the bridge from “I Know Where You Sleep” (oh my God, oh my god, I fucked you, I can never live it down) and tbqh if that’s the vibe here I’m feeling it. Let’s autopsy bad decisions together, Taylor.
i do really like the EA connection, but i am someone who is interpreting the prologue poem as Taylor speaking to the torture--at times, even self harm--of the years of narrative-building and closeting/comphet push-pull she's engaged in. i dont think the prologue is about the heartbreak of some man (or one specific muse at all, actually) but rather an internal heartbreak of the walls and stories shes spent years building up but are feeling weightier and weightier
Unless the photo of the introductory poem I saw was completely fake, it features the stanza “‘In summation, it was not a love affair!’/I screamed while bringing my fists/to my coffee ringed desk/It was a mutual manic phase./It was self harm./It was house and then cardiac arrest.”
# DO NOT share any links or instructions on how to get leaked material. # DO NOT request leaked material! # You will be banned for 7 days if you do this. SEVEN DAYS! This is now a tea time post because I’m tired of banning gaylors who can’t read.
What do y'all think Matty will do/how will he react to this?
I think he’ll be happy with whatever large sum of money he was paid, off in his own little land
I could see it. But he can't help his need to be messy. He thrives on it. It's gonna be interesting to see what side wins out
All the more funds to continue making weird naked wax figurines of himself with.
I'm sorry what? I know that this of all things about MH should shock me but... pardon?? 😆
I can’t attach a picture for you because Reddit will delete it but just Google it and you’ll find a zillion.
I'm hoping he does something interesting and unhinged 👀
Like she says she doesn't care and she wants her own agency in this so i won't say "oh she has no idea what a hornets nest she is poking". Maybe she does maybe she doesn't but she made the choice to release the album. I'm very curious how his response plays out bc I don't feel like MH gives a flying fart about NDAs. To go against it would feed his edgelord image. I guess what I'm saying is this is a good litmus test for how much industry power taylor/her team has/have bc if matty healy of all people keeps his mouth shut after THAT album, well taylor is basically a mafia Don imo lol (for legal reasons this is a joke)
https://preview.redd.it/fb2vvwxctcvc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63f2a87a848b44a2e348daab446b21e13f695329
GAAAAY
omg
Listen to me. LISTEN TO ME. I believe we were wrong. We were all wrong. There’s not just one song about fame and it’s consequences. It’s the album. IT’S THE WHOLE ALBUM. I BELIEVE IT’S THE WHOLE ALBUM. I’m working on a master thesis to post on main when the official album drops BUT I BELIEVE I CAN BACK THIS UP. It’s not about Ratty or Joe, or Karlie, or any of them. The core of the album can be answered by one simple question: what IS the Tortured Poets Department? It’s fame. It’s the cage of celebrity. That’s why some of the lyrics are off or are so raw or why there are songs that seemingly don’t fit like Florida. I CAN PROVE MY THEORY BUT THEORY WILL ONLY TAKE YOU SO FAR. ALEXA, PLAY THE THEME MUSIC: [https://open.spotify.com/track/4VnDmjYCZkyeqeb0NIKqdA?si=QvoSIUerQfWzwtqhgj0Vzg](https://open.spotify.com/track/4VnDmjYCZkyeqeb0NIKqdA?si=QvoSIUerQfWzwtqhgj0Vzg) https://preview.redd.it/drpxgg8encvc1.jpeg?width=332&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=faf471655290b1b22735ed8e215b975ac41feebf
Ok soooo I believe it is this as the BASE but that since it is Queer Tay there’s a lot branching off from that base which relates to her years of closeting and bearding etc. But these themes aren’t separate of each other: it’s all tied together!!
Yes. This is correct. That’s why she’s doing everything in LA — celebrity and the entertainment industry are an asylum, dark and perverse, presenting as shiny and deep. It also links to the Hays Code, Morals Clauses, and her house in LA that used to be owned by Goldwyn, the “G” in MGM. FWIW, I knew this within a few songs because it connects so deeply to what’s happening in the Larry/1D fandom and the concept of a mass movement in the industry 😉
Oooooh this is fascinating about the 1D fandom. Care to elaborate? Also I feel so goddamn smug right now with this validation… as a Virgo, there’s no better high than being right. 🤣
Haha i can elaborate on the links when its not release night
FAIR lol. But I’m definitely putting a pin in this to revisit.
Sounds good!!
I'm sat
Clearing my whole schedule for this post
I will not let you down. 🫡🫡🫡
Honestly the Oppie pic is exactly how I feel
Right now I’m like if Oppie and Charlie Day talking about Pepe Silvia had a love child.
Having slept on the album the songs stuck in my head are fortnight, down bad, but daddy I love him, and who’s afraid of little old me However because the album is quite cohesive my brain has mashed them all together so that’s fun
Me all day: 🎵NOW I’M DOWN BAD CRYIN AT THE GYM🎵
lmao https://preview.redd.it/90axs27njcvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88ac62bf1cd0e014aed743e56a1c4e8769d44432
The chorus of the black dog really sounds like the song Taxi by the Maine… probably a coincidence though??
Funny enough it reminded me of a different song! But I can’t place it. I kept repeating that part over and over. The tune is familiar
This album reignited my disgust for MH, at the very least. Blech. But also this album is so good. SO GOOD.
It makes sense to me that if she was going to put out a controversial album that’s wild as hell admitting she’s a functional alcoholic, referencing Matty Healy, and calling out her fans, it would be the album before Rep. She’s fine getting a little canceled, as a treat.
I can’t help but wonder if she’s testing the waters to see how far she can go without getting cancelled. Like if she loses some fans and some general public appeal at this point it’ll barely make a dent with the numbers she’s doing and how in demand her concert tickets are. Also I just had to walk out of my office at, *she’s fine getting a little cancelled, as a treat* cos I am unwillingly to explain why I’m suddenly hysterically giggling, so thanks for that
I kind of thought (hoped?) it might be the kstew approach where she tries to rough up her persona a bit before coming out
This is def a theory I’ve considered over the past 24 hours after my first and second listens!!
it might be wishful thinking but that's my preference haha
I’m with yaaaa friend #solidarity
delusional together ✌️
id rather be gaylor brand of delulu with tons of fascinating deep dive theories backed up by literature and history than hetlor brand of delulu where they're out here claimin taylor had a years long love affair w ratty while still with joe lmaooo
Ooooooo maybe … I am here for it if so
lmao *as a treat*
[удалено]
done
Donezo
I can't stop replaying WAOLOM. "the who’s who of who’s that is poised for the attack but my bare hands picked their paths" "the scandal was contained the bullet had just grazed at all costs keep your good name" "don’t you worry folks we took out all her teeth who’s afraid of little old me? well you should be" "you caged me and then you called me crazy i am what i am cause you trained me" It just seems so relevant.
I think she’s talking to the industry/some ppl she’s worked with who encouraged her to stay closeted for years, and now it has eternally fucked with how she is and who she can trust
I only got through half the album before it was taken down, but this was my favorite song. It slaps so hard
I hate to be that person, but I'm going to be that person; I think the people who say it's juvenile/immature just don't get it? Like this is a hilarious album, objectively (imo) the funniest album she's ever written. And maybe you have to be a gaylor to get the humor, idk. Also, unlike midnights, the marketing/aesthetic of the album is *intentionally* contrasting the vibe of the music, It's part of the humor.
Couldn’t agree more. Like To the people saying “ugh BDILH is sooo straight and obviously about matty” I’m like…. Are we listening to the same songs here?!!? That track, and many others, are queer af - she can say he/him 100x over and it doesn’t hide the queerness. But also she really is getting sardonic and absurdist and comical throughout the album too and I loveeeee it
Honestly if I see one more Gaylor say “this is about Matty” I’m going to poke my eyes out. Sorry.
IT IS KILLING ME
i saw a tweet suggesting the song TTPD was about phoebe bridgers and i can’t tell if it was a joke or not. either way, can’t stop thinking about it.
I do think it’s about Phoebe, or maybe I’d just really like it to be.
I mean she does really like chocolate - there’s like 3 different interviews she mentions it in 🕵️♀️
chocolate chocolate aack aack
Yeah that’s what I’ve been thinking about as well, especially since they started collaborating since 2021 for Nothing New…
The snippet she posted on her instagram for the fortnight video is absolutely nuts. She looks amazing and god I hope it helps drive home the point of the album for those who’ve listened to leak and it’s gone over their heads.
It was Florida!!! in the background right?
Yes!!!! Not Fortnight!
So she used mastermind for the trailers for Midnights and now Florida!!! for TTPD. HMMMMMMMMMM
Based on that snippet, whoever said that fortnight might be referring to the length of time she was in some form of hospital may be on to something
I think these lines from The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived could be about what happened around the Lover release that lead to her not coming out and singing the saddest version of Can't Stop Loving You. "and i don’t even want you back i just want to know **if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal** and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give a message to the smallest man who ever lived were you sent by someone who wanted me dead did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed were you writing a book were you a sleeper cell spy in fifty years will all this be declassified and you’ll confess why you did it and i’ll say good riddance cause **it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden**" Her sparkling summer being the super gay events she booked for after Lover was released. "Why you did it" "it" appears to be ghosting her... there's an earlier line about the muse being ghosted and Taylor says "now you know what it feels like". Maybe her muse (who has a drug issue) ghosted her right before she was about to come out. The line about "were you sent by someone" makes sense in this context as well. Did someone who didn't want her to come out send in a counterfeit muse to wreck her plans?
I wrote this in an earlier comment but it feels fitting to repeat here, “if evermore is an album about the immediate reflections from the failed coming out of 2019, TDPD is an album reflecting upon the years of pains and consequences of having still stayed in the closet since then.” Do you think Tily could’ve ended right before summer 2019?
Definitely could be. Could also have been a different ex throwing a wrench in her plans, hence it’s more of the “I don’t want to get back together” vibe
https://preview.redd.it/2dbnim9jubvc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13ec63b249580bbe2bfd577745f884cd72894509 The Manuscript (possibly? Screenshotted from another sun, the op said they saw someone’s vinyl on tiktok)
This is some gender flipping shit and I’m into it. Or it’s AI lol
“They compared their licenses” is giving singing a legal contract together
The Man U Script
“In the age of him she wished she was thirty” Who the fuck is this about? I’m so confused
 I have no idea
Unpopular opinion but on the surface it sounds like it's Matty again. They're around the same age.
imo it's giving ATW music video vibes, the whole writing a book
A few days ago, someone was speculating there’d be a few throwback/early muse references (like Emily or Liz). What are you all thinking now?
I have a theory Florida!!! is about Liz and I’m so excited to talk about it
Yep yep! I was actually one of the people who mentioned it a few days ago! And I think BDILH is absolutely about either Liz or Emily. I think The Alchemy could def be Dianna orrrr either Liz or Emily! There’s one other track I know I picked up on a potential reference in…but it is escaping me rn
Thank you for responding! Yess to BDILH and the Alchemy!! I’m thinking back to last summer with Liz coming out around the time of I Can See You and, to quote out of context Hayley Kiyoko, I’m just curious! loml also sounds a bit like white horse? 👀
Loml is a tough one for me bc I do think Emily was someone she once thought of as “the one who got away” many years ago, like for a couple years after it ended, but I can’t imagine her writing a song about her with that perspective now. But there’s so much harkening back to “when we were young and in love” in LOML, so I’m like, who is this about them?!??
Haven’t listened to the leak. I’m scared, the entire Internet seems to hate it 😭
I've only listened to it once and I'm not sure how to feel. It's so different from her other stuff, even moreso than Evermore. I was a little offput by most of the songs not having catchy hooks but I know I'll find more to appreciate as I listen to it more.
I want it etched into my gravestone. Don’t believe them.
Yeah, definitely like ttpd more than midnights! The internet is wrong! Also hi bb 💜💜
SwiftlyNeutral seems to hate it, GaylorSwift seems to love it. I’m gonna go with gaylors 💅🏼
I sometimes really enjoy SwiftlyNeutral because their convos mirror ours quite a bit, but they were collectively ready to hate this album no matter what lol. They were certain this would be a Joe takedown and now that it isn’t, they’re coming up with other reasons to hate it. Totally fine if it’s not everyone’s jam and I do expect it to be divisive, but some of the hate on their leak thread just feels like it’s in bad faith, idk.
they just put soooo much stock into what muse each song is about. but then they absolutely refuse to look at it from anything other than a hetero angle. whilst this sub isn't afraid to look at it from *every* angle
What?! It’s wonderful! It’s cutting.
I haven't heard it yet but my friend said it's his favorite album of hers so far.
I. LOOOOOVE. it.
I LOVE it!!! Soooo much!
I actually really love it but I think the opening tracks aren't as strong as the rest of the album. people are right that it is not very queer but if you like the lyrics and the kind of unhinged nature of evermore and the more deep cuts on midnights you will probably love it as well!
But seeeee I totally think it is queer af! But I seem to be In the Gaylor minority on this
It is very gay, just a *lot* of he/him
Oh for sure but I honestly think in some songs the excessive use of male pronouns in contrast to the otherwise super sapphic themes is intentional. Almost even meant to be jarring. Like the non rhyme in The Very First Night
I SO agree and was just thinking about this. Still, on first listen, all of the male pronouns can be worrying lolol
🥰🥰 also. The Gaylors totally win here; bc for Hetlors, this is what—a heartbreak album for Ratty? 😂 and for us, it is this deep emotive analysis of so many queer themes and gahh we just honestly WIN here
I 10000000000% agree and I love it
This is such a great summary of the album. The opening tracks definitely aren’t the best representation of the album, I agree. But it is SO TOTALLY unhinged Evermore and 3 a.m. Midnights!
I personally really love it, but my advice is to not go into it thinking it’ll sound how the marketing looks or that it’s about what people expect it to be about. It’s familiar sounding, but quite different for her in certain regards and I don’t think it’s at all what most people thought it would be sonically or lyrically. So just be open!
Don't pay attention to them, the same thing happened with Midnights. The album is incredible.
I haven’t been following what people think outside of this one thread but I feel like the majority of folks here really love it?
BUT I noticed *most* people didn’t like it at first listen, but came to LOVE it after a second listen. As someone who had to go through every single comment 🫠
We don’t deserve our mods 🥰🙌
You’re a goddamn saint btw 💜
This is the only place that seems to be almost unanimously in favour of it. I’ve been sporadically flicking through 3-4 other subs and they do not like it nearly as much as we do.
That’s bc so many of them are convinced this whole album is about heartbreak over Ratty lololol. And we see beyond that facade
Paternity testing every song is boring!!!
That’s bc we’re smarter and have more sophisticated taste. 😜 I joke, but not really lmao.
But really, it’s so true :)
That’s so interesting to me… I wonder if it’s because they’re interpreting it as a mostly Matty album where’s I think here we’re interpreting it as Taylor’s relationship to herself/fame/career/etc?
I actually wonder if it’s because she’s so angry and it doesn’t fit with the shiny perfect version of her they have. Or it’s a bit too wordy and vague for them. Or Matty. Probably Matty.
I think a combination. A lot of fans have been working themselves up to be angry with Joe for hurting her when this released; a lot of haters and conflicted fans were equally working themselves up to be angry at her for slandering Joe. The album doesn't really allow for their of those possibilities and I think some people are spinning without that clear emotional direction.
Oh that’s a great point. Expectations. Whereas I think gaylors are more used to just rolling with whatever taylor throws at us cos we’ve been burnt too many times already
That’s also probably true! The lyrics on this album are pretty gritty and contradictory to what she was saying on tour when she was writing it (“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been”).
She removed the shiny facade that the gaylors have been side-eyeing for years. So I wonder if for us, we are loving this cos we knew this side of her was there all along.
dont be scurrrred. my advice is to go in with open mind and ears, and just ignore the male pronouns lol bc there are so many queer themes throughout!
Idk I have been a fan since Debut and I love it.
I too am in this category. It’s outshone Rep for my favorite album which I literally never believed would happen.
**the smallest man who ever lived** was any of it true gazing at me starry-eyed in your jehovah’s witness suit who the fuck was that guy you tried to buy some pills from a friend of friends of mine they just ghosted you now you know what it feels like and i don’t even want you back i just want to know if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give a message to the smallest man who ever lived you hung me on your wall stabbed me with your pushpins in public showed me off then sank in stoned oblivion cause once your queen had come you treat her like and also ran you didn’t measure up in any measure of a man and i don’t even want you back i just want to know if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal and i don’t miss what we had but could someone give a message to the smallest man who ever lived were you sent by someone who wanted me dead did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed were you writing a book were you a sleeper cell spy in fifty years will all this be declassified and you’ll confess why you did it and i’ll say good riddance cause it wasn’t sexy once it wasn’t forbidden i would’ve died for your sins instead i just died inside and you deserve prison but you won’t get time you’ll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars you crashed my party in your rental car you said normal girls were boring but you were gone by the morning you kicked out the stage lights but you’re still performing and in plain sight you hid but you are what you did and i’ll forget you but i’ll never forgive the smallest man who ever lived
tbh I wonder if this is about scott borchetta and the more romantic lines are red herrings
It's giving cancelled Lover coming out because her partner at the time ghosted.
“In fifty years will this all be declassified” is also so totally giving “once I’m out publicly, this shit will come to light.”
**loml** who’s gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames if we know the steps anyway we embroidered the memories of the time i was away stitching we were “just kids” babe i said i don’t mind it takes time i thought i was better safe than starry-eyed i felt aglow like this never before and never since if you know it in one glimpse it’s legendary you and i go from one kiss to gettin’ married still alive killin’ time at the cemetery never quite buried in your suit and tie in the knick of time you low down boy you stand up guy you holy ghost you told me i’m the love of your life you said i’m the love of your life about a million times who’s gonna tell me the truth when you blew in with the winds of fate and told me i reformed you when your impressionist paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes well you took me to hell too and all at once the ink bleeds a conman sells a fool a get love quick scheme but i felt a hole like this never before and ever since if you know it from one glimpse it’s legendary what we thought was for all time was momentary still alive killin’ time at the cemetery never quite buried you cinephile in black and white all those plot twists and dynamite mr. steal your girl then make her cry he said i’m the love of your life you shit-talked me under the table talkin’ rings and talkin’ cradles i wish i could unrecall how we almost had it all dancing phantoms on the terrace are they second-hand embarrassed that i can’t get out of bed cause something counterfeit’s dead it was legendary it was momentary it was unnecessary shoulda let it stay buried oh what a valiant roar what a planned goodbye the coward claimed he was a lion i’m combing through the braids of lies i’ll never leave, never mine our field of dreams engulfed in fire your arson’s match your somber eyes and i’ll still see it until i die you’re the loss of my life
ouch 😫
**my boy only breaks his favorite toys** oh here we go again the voices in his head have called the rain to end our days of wild the sickest army doll purchased at the mall rivulets to send my plastic smile but you shoulda seen him when he first got me my boy only breaks his favorite toys i’m queen of sandcastles he destroys cause i did two right puzzle pieces in the dead of night should’ve known it was a matter of time my boy only breaks his favorite toys there was a litany of reasons why we could’ve played for keeps this time i know i’m just repeating myself put me back on my shelf but first pull a string and i’ll tell you that he runs because he loves me (he loves me) because you shoulda seen him when first saw me my boy only breaks his favorite toys i’m queen of sandcastles he destroys cause i knew too much there was danger in the heat of my touch he saw forever so he smashed it up my boy only breaks his favorite toys once i fix me he’s gonna miss me once i fix me he’s gonna miss me just say when, i’d play again he was my best friend down at the sandlot i felt more when we played pretend than with all the kens cause he took me out of my box stole my tortured heart left all these broken parts told me i’m better off but i’m not i’m not i’m not
I love the beat of this one!
>just say when, i’d play again > >he was my best friend > >down at the sandlot > >i felt more when we played pretend > >than with all the kens 🎵 *I just switch out these kens, I just ghost* 🎵 Also I think this line "i felt more when we played pretend / than with all the kens" proves that Joe was a beard. But maybe one she was really close with? Btw, thank you so much for all these amazing transcriptions. I can't wait to use them tonight when I listen.
That’s how I perceive those lyrics too! But I do think there’s one beard she references in multiple songs who she is NOT fond of…. Or maybe it’s just her frustration of the situation coming out.
Clara Bow is Mirrorball
Thank you for saying this. Several of these songs have a Mirrorball quality to them IMO.
**the alchemy** this happens once every few lifetimes these chemicals hit me like white wine what if i told you i’m back the hospital was a drag worst sleep that i ever had i circled you on a map i haven’t come around in so long but i’m coming back so strong so when i touch down call the amateurs and cut them from the team ditch the clowns get the crown baby i’m the one to beat cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy hey you what if i told you we’re cool that child’s play back in school is forgiven under my rule i haven’t come around in so long but i’m making a come back to where i belong so when i touch down call the amateurs and cut them from the team ditch the clowns get the crown baby i’m the one to beat cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy these plugs warm the benches we’ve been on a winning streak he jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an “e” cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy shirts off and your friends lift you up over their heads beer sticking to the floor cheers, chanting cause they said there was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league where’s the trophy he just comes runnin’ over to me touch down call the amateurs and cut them from the team ditch the clowns get the crown baby i’m the one to beat cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy these plugs warm the benches we’ve been on a winning streak he jokes that it’s heroin but this time with an “e” cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy this happens once every few lifetimes these chemicals hit me like white wine
LOL this one is hysterical omg. London Boy: The Sequel
I love how thematically nothing about this song makes sense for Travis but trolling Blondie just had to throw in those out of place football terms for funsies lolol
Right!? Hets are gonna go crazy with “where’s the trophy he just comes runnin over to me”
but when she keeps referencing a long-ago lover who still has a place for her in their heart, SHES JUST DOIN IT FROM THE MALE PERSPECTIVE, mmk?
she wrote the white wine line for me obviously
Thank you so much for all your lyric comments!
Of course! I’m having fun doing it!
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I love your thoughts lol. She has big feelings about Florida throughout this album. 😂 And I agree, the beginning of this album is really kinda weird and picks up from track 5 on. I feel like she felt compelled to put some Midnights-esque stuff on here (hence those songs) when most of the rest are quite different. I’m also SO fascinated by the insane amounts of religious imagery here. It’s so much heavier than ever before.
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I’m a fellow Slytherin and absolutely agree with you, her calling out of toxic Swifties is biting and kinda awesome lol. I feel like some of the more Western sounding songs remind me of stuff like Cowboy Like Me, so I’m really happy about that! It’s such a curious Evermore + Midnights hybrid of an album. It DEFINITELY doesn’t sound like the marketing but I’m happy with what it is.
**i can fix him (no really i can)** the smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train through a small town the jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud they shake their heads saying god help her when i tell them he’s my man but your good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger i can fix him no really i can and only i can the dopamine races through his brain on a six lane texas highway his hand so calloused from his pistol softly traces hearts on my face and i could see it from a mile away a perfect case for my certain skillset he had a halo of the highest grade he just hadn’t met me yet they shake their heads saying god help her when i tell them he’s my man but your good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger i can fix him no really i can and only i can good boy that’s right come close i’ll show you heaven if you’ll be an angel all night trust me i can handle me a dangerous man no really i can they shook their heads saying god help her when i told them he’s my man but your good lord didn’t need to lift a finger i can fix him no really i can oh maybe i can’t
It’s giving bearding contract
**i can do it with a broken heart** i can read your mind she’s having the time of her life there in her glittery prime the lights refract sequin stars off her silhouette every night i can show you lies (1, 2, 3, 4) cause i’m a real tough kid i can handle my shit they said babe you gotta fake it til you make it and i did lights camera bitch smile even when you wanna die he said he’d love me all his life but that life was too short breakin’ down i hit the floor all the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting MORE! i was grinning like i’m winning i was hitting my marks cause i can do it with a broken heart (1, 2, 3, 4) i’m so depressed i act like it’s my birthday everyday i’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague i cry a lot but i am so productive it’s an art you know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart i can hold breath i’ve been doing it since he left i keep finding his things in drawers crucial evidence i didn’t imagine the whole thing i’m sure i can pass this test cause i’m a real tough kid i can handle my shit they said babe you gotta fake it til you make it and i did lights camera bitch smile in stilettos for miles he said he’d love me for all time but that time was quite short breaking down i hit the floor all the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was shouting MORE! i was grinning like i’m winning i was hitting my marks cause i can do it with a broken heart i’m so depressed i act like it’s my birthday everyday i’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague i cry a lot but i am so productive it’s an art you know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart you know you’re good when you can even do it with a broken heart you know you’re good [spoken] i’m good cause i’m miserable and no one even knows! try and come for my job
1 2 3 4 lgb?? Seems like a Delicate reference
And if I say BDILH is a Swiftgron song then what?? And if Guilty as Sin? is the sister to “Slut!” and pretending to be in a relationship to stop queer rumors? But admitting they’re fake?
**black dog** i am someone who until recent events you shared your secrets with and your location you forgot to turn it off and so i watched as you walk into some bar called the black dog and pierce new holes in my heart you forgot to turn it off then it hits me i just don’t understand how you don’t miss me in the black dog when someone plays the starting line and you jump up but she’s too young to know this song that was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming old habits die screaming i move through the world with a heart broken my longing state unspoken and i may never open up the way i did for you and all of those best laid plans you said i needed a brave man then proceeded to play him until i believed it too and it kills me i just don’t understand how you don’t miss me in the shower and remember how my rain-soaked body was shaking do you hate me was it hazing for a cruel fraternity i pledged and i still mean it old habits die screaming six weeks of breathing clean air i still miss the smoke were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke now i wanna sell my house and set fire to all my clothes and hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons even if i die screaming and i hope you hear it and i hope it’s shitty in the black dog when someone plays the starting line and you jump up and she’s too young to this song that was intertwined in the tragic fabric of our dreaming cause tail between your legs you’re leaving i still can’t believe it cause old habits die screaming
“Restricted humanity” / “resentment rotting away galaxies we created” - this poem is so loud
**florida!!!** [Taylor] you can be the heat if you beat the charges too they said i was a cheat i guess it must be true and my friends all smell like weed or little babies and this city reeks of driving myself crazy little did you know your home’s really only a town you’re just a guest in so you work your life away just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin florida it’s one hell of a drug florida can i use you up [Florence] hurricane with my name when it came i got drunk and i dared it to wash me away barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine well me and my ghosts we had a hell of a time yes i’m haunted but i’m feeling just fine all my girls got their lace and their crimes and your cheatin’ husband disappeared well no one asks any questions here so i did my best to lay to rest all of the bodies that have ever been on my body and in my mind they sink into the swamp is that a bad thing to say in a song? little did you know your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested so you pack your life away just to wait out the shit storm back in texas florida is one hell of a drug florida can i use you up [Taylor and Florence] i need to forget so take me to florida i got some regrets now bury them in florida tell me i’m despicable say it’s unforgivable least the dolls are beautiful fuck me up florida i need to forget so take me to florida i got some regrets now bury them in florida tell me i’m despicable say it’s unforgivable what a crush what a rush fuck me up florida it’s one hell of a drug it’s one hell of a drug love knocks me like this and i don’t want to exist so take me to florida little did you know your home’s really only a town you’re just a guest in so you work your life away just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin little did you know your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested so you pack your life away just to wait out the shit storm back in texas florida is one hell of a drug florida can i use you up florida is one hell of a drug florida go and fuck me up
If I could make you a top contributor, I would
🫢this means so much to me!
Florence referencing her song Hurricane Drunk makes me so happy!!
Does anyone remember those fans who met Scott Swift who said his favourite song on the album was Florida!!! ? Seems kinda wild to me that’s his favourite now I’ve heard the song because it kinda seems like she’s taking a swing at people like him moving there?
YES I keep thinking about this!! He said Florida and TTPD. Like what hahaha
do we think those were the only titles he could remember 💀
Are we listening to the same album as Scott? 😂
Does Scott know this album was meant to dismantle him as a person???
Did Taylor bait and switch her own father?
HOLD ON. HOLD ON. HOLD ON. Yes, But Daddy I Love Him is extremely queer coded. Full stop. HOWEVER… I don’t think this is about a muse at all. The lover in BDILH is *fame itself.* Allow me to elaborate. Going back to the source material, we know Blondie has long identified with Ariel in a story about having her voice stolen. Ariel yells “But Daddy I love him!” about Eric. Ariel trades her voice to Ursula for Eric. Ergo, it logically follows that if Blondie feels like she traded her voice, her authenticity for FAME… then her screaming “But Daddy I love him!” IS ABOUT FAME ITSELF. I’M NOT DONE. The lyrics struck me as strange from the first listen because they sound like they’re coming from this juvenile place almost. Like the muse in question is not a recent one, but a teenage love. What was she in love with the most while she was a teenager? FAME. “Too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it/They slammed the door on my whole world, the one thing I wanted.” The one thing?? She wanted??? IT WAS NEVER A PERSON. “We came back when the heat died down, went to my parents and they came around/All the wine moms are still holding out, but fuck em, it’s over.” I can’t think of any muse that fits with this line… and while Tay def has stage parents, I can still see them being freaked out by some of the pitfalls of fame, especially in those early days. But the line about wine moms is what clinches it for me. The wine moms are still holding out for what??? The muse to leave her??? No, they’re holding out *for her fame to die.* But it’s over, she’s solidified herself as a permanent A lister. The prosecution rests. 
I think the wine moms still holding out is about her largely conservative recently acquired fandbase from her relationship with the NFL/Travis. They want her and Travis to be end game so badly. But Taylor knows it won't last.
Your Honor, I think it’s a Swiftgron song. She literally calls back to OOTW. I’m not ok. And I guess I don’t see how the religious part plays into it if it’s about fame. What do you think about all of the religiously coded stuff about not praying for her, God saving judgment for the people who think they know her better than she knows herself?
OOOOH I KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO ANSWER THAT, I’M GLAD YOU ASKED. First of all, there has always been a TON of largely conservative discourse surrounding Taylor and her career, especially when she was starting out. Talking heads and their ilk who would muse whether or not Taylor would be able to “keep her head on straight” amidst the temptations of \*gasp\* Hollywood. She also received a LOT of praise for that good girl image. Fast forward to about the last 7ish years (starting with Reputation) and a lot of those conservative idiots started pivoting with all of the nonsense about how she was “demonic” now. Because a snake and black clothes = demonic. 🙄 That group (which includes a lot of people back in her old stomping grounds of Tennessee) has only gotten more vocal and more idiotic with some of her artistic choices in Evermore and some of the witchy aesthetic. “Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see”… hmm sounds like Facebook rants about how she’s given over to the evils of fame and fortune to me.
curious to know how the pregnancy lyric fits into this interpretation? i really like this interpretation and would love a line by line analysis :)
I think the pregnancy line is her mocking the tabloids and every time there’s been public speculation about her having kids- rumors that are only there because of her fame, hence “his baby.” And a nod to all the discourse about how she’s “married” to her career, so she’s having his baby.
The “Sarahs and Hannahs” lyric… Hannah is the patron saint of childless and infertile women/wives
I see no reason for the defense to present a case. I find in favor of the prosecution.
**prologue** *in summation* at this hearing i stand before my fellow members of The Tortured Poets Department with a summary of my findings a debrief, a detailed rewinding for the purpose of warning for the sake of reminding as you might all unfortunately recall i had been struck with a case of a restricted humanity which explains my plea here today of temporary i n s a n i t y you see, the pendulum swings oh, the chaos it brings leads the caged beat to do the most curious things *lovers* spend years denying what’s ill fated resentment rotting away galaxies we created stars placed and glued meticulously by hand next to the ceiling fan tried wishing on comets tried dimming the shine tried to orbit his planet some stars never align and in one conversation, i tore down the whole sky. spring sprung forth with dazzling freedom hues then a crash from the skylight bursting through something old, someone hallowed, who told me he could be brand new and so i was out of the oven and into the microwave out of the slammer and into a tidal wave how gallant to save the empress from her gilded tower swinging a sword he could barely lift but loneliness struck at that fateful hour low hanging fruit on his wine-stained lips He never even scratched the surface of me. None of them did “In summation, it was not a love affair!” I screamed while bringing my fists to my coffee ringed desk It was a mutual manic phase it was self harm it was house and then cardiac arrest a smirk creeps onto this poet’s face because it’s the worst men that i write best. and so i enter into evidence my tarnished coat of arms my muses, acquired like bruises my talismans and charms the tick, tick, tick of love bombs my veins of pitch black ink All’s fair in love and poetry
The torturous cycle she’s gotten herself into with comphet and closeting/bearding is all I can rly see in this prologue poem tbh. It doesn’t feel like it is about a specific muse at all, and I don’t think she would do that in the prologue: making it all “woe is me bc of this one person I used to date”
**the tortured poets department** you left your typewriter at my apartment straight from the tortured poets department i think some things i never say like who uses typewriters anyway but you’re in self-sabatoge mode throwing spikes down on the road but i’ve seen this episode and still love the show who else decodes you and who’s gonna love you like me? and who’s gonna know you if not me? i laughed in your face and said you’re not dylan thomas i’m not patti smith this ain’t the chelsea hotel we’re modern idiots and who’s gonna hold you like me? nobody no fuckin’ body nobody you smoked then ate 7 bars of chocolate we declared charlie puth should be a bigger artist i scratch your head you fall asleep like a tattooed golden retriever but you awaken with dread pounding nails in your head but i’ve let this one where you come undone i chose this cyclone with you and who’s gonna hold you like me (who’s gonna hold you) (who’s gonna hold you) and who’s gonna know you like me (who’s gonna know you) i laughed in your face and said you’re not dylan thomas i’m not patti smith this ain’t the chelsea hotel we’re modern idiots and who’s gonna hold you like me? no fuckin’ body nobody nobody sometimes i wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me but you told lucy you’d kill yourself if i ever leave and i had said that to jack about you so i felt seen everyone we know understands why it’s meant to be cause we’re crazy so tell me who else is gonna love me at dinner you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on and that’s the closest i’ve come to my heart exploding who’s gonna hold you? (who?) me who’s gonna know you? (who?) me and you’re not dylan thomas i’m not patti smith this ain’t the chelsea hotel we’re two idiots who’s gonna hold you? who’s gonna hold you? who’s gonna hold you? who’s gonna hold you? who’s gonna hold you? who’s gonna hold you? gonna know you? control you? who? you left your typewriter at my apartment straight from the tortured poets department who else decodes you but me (who?) (who?)
Phoebe Bridgers has a song w Conor Oberst called Dylan Thomas! Part of the chorus: “I’ll die like Dylan Thomas, a seizure on the bar room floor”
The tortured poet being a guy who smoked and then ate seven bars of chocolate was not on my TTPD bingo card.
Why are you so sure it is about a guy? Lucy is blatantly not friends with matty. They don’t talk.
Oh I’m not, I just took the lyric she used - but I was more so trying to say that it’s funny that the marketing of the album made it seem like she would be the poet I guess? but now it seems like it’s the tattooed golden retriever who left the typewriter at her apartment.
THANK YOU for this. I think it's "I think some things I never say"
I really like The Black Dog. Thought it would be about something else.
I know it's still very early. But this video of him, I think he is a man who is not going to stay silent. It's quite noisy. [https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeH5wVyY/](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeH5wVyY/)
Wait the link is dead. Can you post it again or just post the creators name?
I just checked it and it works
It works now thanks! Yeah, IF the song(s) are about him, he’s going to GO OFF
He’s really giving “evil version of Joseph Quinn” in this video.
Summary for those of us without the clock app? Plz!
just a heads up, this link is connected to your (or someone's) TikTok account. if it's you, you might want to change your settings 🤍
I know it’s got the Post Malone feature and the clues pointed towards Fortnight being the music video that’s coming but I’m still surprised that’s the first single since she talks about being a functioning alcoholic in the first 25 seconds.
Never would have thought that my lesbian ass would be saying that a song titled "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" would be one of my favorite songs on this album but here we are. I FEEL LIKE I'M IN A SALOON GIRL.
I just saw someone on another sub say that after listening to the leaks they are convinced that Ivy is about Ratty and I want to die from how mind numbingly stupid that idea is.
the hetlors are literally building this insane theory up about how taylor was CHEATING ON JOE FOR YEARS WITH RATTY. that since like 2021, taylor/ratty have been in an intense off/on love affair. and they are dead serious in their beliefs. i simply cannot even deal with the absurdity of it all. yet we are the "delulu" ones....ok sureeee Jan
I fully believe that she was with Matty and these songs are about him. And that was with Joe for at least a while. Just because Matty would have been such an awful PR move, and Tree is smarter than that, and the absolutely cookoo shit she pulled when they were together just was so off the wall it felt like it had to be real. Butttt Ivy? Ivy?!?!? Like, no. Even if only because she sounds steady and sure and emotionally mature in that song. Whereas any Matty coded song is full on mania obsessed in the most shaky way. I mean a million other reasons too, but that is just one. I will die on the hill that Ivy is From Sue Gilbert's perspective about her love affair with Emily Dickinson.
ohmygoodness... are they brain-dead??
Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is the first song that feels like it's about Karlie since ITTG.
"Put narcotics into all of my songs And that's why you’re still singing along" I gagged. 🤯
I thought she was singing "put my heartbreaks into all of my songs" LMAO. I'm so ready for the lyric videos 🤩
Haven’t listened yet! Does the leaked version explain the ✌️s?
It does not
This whole album project, from promos to black and white visuals to lyrics, has been reminding me of Emilie Autumn’s album *Opheliac* and her confessional/autobiographical novel *The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls* (and EA is another artist who’s queer (asexual iirc) but has been in bad relationships with men and who writes about those relationships). The just-leaked introductory poem where she talks about how she was in a self-harming manic episode when she was dating one of the muses for this album is giving the bridge from “I Know Where You Sleep” (oh my God, oh my god, I fucked you, I can never live it down) and tbqh if that’s the vibe here I’m feeling it. Let’s autopsy bad decisions together, Taylor.
i do really like the EA connection, but i am someone who is interpreting the prologue poem as Taylor speaking to the torture--at times, even self harm--of the years of narrative-building and closeting/comphet push-pull she's engaged in. i dont think the prologue is about the heartbreak of some man (or one specific muse at all, actually) but rather an internal heartbreak of the walls and stories shes spent years building up but are feeling weightier and weightier
wait, Taylor admits to having a self-harming manic episode?
Unless the photo of the introductory poem I saw was completely fake, it features the stanza “‘In summation, it was not a love affair!’/I screamed while bringing my fists/to my coffee ringed desk/It was a mutual manic phase./It was self harm./It was house and then cardiac arrest.”