Illicit Affairs: Analysis of Taylor Swift’s folklore (from larger post)

This is a more digestible portion of my album analysis:

 

Here, I have tried to analyze what and who each track of Folklore is about.  Which is complex because it’s not in a linear order.  Names are obscured.  Facts may be reality or story.  The narrator is unreliable.  And this whole thing is going to be from a Kaylor perspective, because that’s how the songs, and Taylor Swifts catalog as a whole makes the best sense to me.  I’ll show you what I mean.

 

10. Illicit Affairs.

Maybe “break up of Karlie’s marriage” bc she was cheating w/Taylor.  But please, show me the marriage certificate.  Show me an actual marriage record for Karlie and Jared.  She is a model and went to a wedding photo shoot.  He is in a long term relationship with a man named Mike.  He needs a woman to seal his dirty deals.  She was in a long time contract to be his fake girlfriend, and because of Trump’s election, she couldn’t extricate from that cleanly.  Taylor can’t be super mad or upset, because she has also been having fake boyfriends for years.  “Look at this godforsaken mess you made me.. .  Look at this idiotic fool that you made me”  It’s a problem.  It’s a complication.

Enter this song.  It sets up a “real” love triangle.  This shows Karlie “cheating” on Jared with Taylor.  “But they lie and they lie and they lie” is a line that talks about how the relationship is a lie, their position in the White House is a lie, and the way the Kushners make money is a lie.  It’s all fake.  But Swift clarifies, “Tell your friends you’re out for a run [which is a very visible part of Karlie’s social media] You’ll be flushed when you return.” Taylor is spelling out the her and Karlie have sex.

But in the end, Taylor conveys over and over she will stick with it.  This is not a breakup of Kaylor.  On the contrary, Taylor can only be herself when she’s with Karlie.  Their whole situation is a mess, but she really loves Karlie and no one else does it for her:

“You showed me colors [in screaming color!] I can’t see with anyone else”

“You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else.”

“And you know damn well for you I would ruin myself a million little times.”