Dancing with our Hands Tied- PR will Divide us [Part J]

Logistical Info:

Remember we’re looking at words in the lyrics of Question… to try to decipher who and what and when.

We’ve almost gone through the entire song, pulling lyrics containing the same words to get a sort of consensus or feeling about Taylor’s intention.

Now that we’re toward the end of Question… lyrics, we need to address the central part of the song: Kiss in a crowded room. And the kiss really brings to mind Dancing with our Hands Tied and maybe Kissgate.

We will analyze Dancing with our Hands Tied to see if it parallels Question….

Except this particular line within Dancing with our Hands Tied got a bit long because I really don’t know for sure and there was no solid direction to take the analysis. I will go into it in detail in this post so the guesses don’t overwhelm the analysis of the song as a whole.

And I’ll spell out my conclusions from this post in the full analysis of Dancing with our Hands Tied. But that post was getting very long and I was afraid nobody would read it. So to make things even more confusing each line in DWOHT is going to be its OWN post. But then I’ll do a main DWOHT post with just links to each different post. It’s a whole big thing.

Then we’ll get back to the end of Question…

Was that explanation as confusing as trying to guess who Taylor’s songs are about?

I, I loved you in spite of

Taylor is in cages.  She must choose between authentic sapphic love and closeting for her career.

Taylor, Inc. marketed her to be every fan’s bestie. Retracting central parts of her branding to live openly would repel the homophobic fans, but more than that, any fan that had a parasocial relationship with her would become estranged.  In the middle of the night, Taylor agonizes about it-she doesn’t know how to proceed.  And whenever she’s pressured, Taylor defaults to gay-suppression out of panic.  When there is gossip that Taylor is gay (Emily video looking too friendly, fake Swiftgron article, Kissgate, Bettygate, Lavendergate, Glittergate…) instead of just being genuine and coming out, Taylor acquiesces to the PR containment.  She obfuscates, doubles-down on the bearding, and misrepresents the truth (Question…  [Part 6].

Deep fears that the world would divide us

In general, Taylor prioritizes her image over all of her lovers.  The patriarchal, heteronormative world requires Taylor to portray a specific aesthetic in order to be famous, and that excludes queerness.  So, there are two sides of Taylor:  Veneer of (straight, beautiful) perfection, palatable to a wide audience, vs. anxiety, fear, body dysmorphia, queerness (Question…  [Part 12]).  She has a choice: Closet for her career OR authentic love, not both (Question…  [Part 4]).

During Snakegate Taylor’s lover loved her for her.  Sometimes Taylor makes it all about her, but she wants her lover to stay (Question…  [Part 7]).  Taylor takes some responsibility for some of the fighting with her lover.  And says she is in hell when they fight.  

Karlie’s beard/husband and his family are contemptible and have Trump ties.  Karlie “ran with the wolves” (the Ku$hners, her neighbor and sister in-law Ivanka, by extension the Trumps) and is adjacent and complicit to republican evil (Question…  [Part 16]). 

I do think Taylor is using Hillary Clinton’s “still with her” slogan to make fun or mock Karlie’s feeble “I tried” tweet, hence the sarcastic singing voice in that Question… verse.   It could make sense for the song to allude to Karlie’s political hypocrisy since Taylor mentions “fuckin’ politics and gender roles” in the prior verse (Question…  [Part 16]).  And Taylor has described Karlie as “counterfeit” and “faithless” in other songs.  Those are both synonyms of “hypocritical” so it fits.  No matter Karlie’s actual political beliefs, Taylor does not want her brand anywhere near diabolical politics or evil people.  She and Karlie can’t ever be together publicly because Karlie’s associations will tarnish Taylor’s brand (Question…  [Part 16]).  

Taylor also suspects that Karlie might have involvement with the sale of her masters.  $cooter was Karlie’s manager at the time.  And her beard/husband had an association with the firm that helped fund the deal.  And that yacht pic is damning. Did Karlie have something to do with masters heist? 

It’s a question mark. 

“Twin of your dreams/crook who was caught” sounds conclusive, showing at some point Taylor thought she did.

I don’t know if this was ever cleared up between them. I also don’t know what time period The Great War was written about, but in it Taylor says, “And maybe it’s the past that’s talkin’/Tellin’ me to punish you for things you never did.” There’s a chance there was a misunderstanding. I think there was just because I don’t know that Taylor would still sound so heartbroken and low 3-4 albums out, if Karlie had betrayed her on the masters. Wouldn’t she lash out or be angry as she has in the past?

But that song also says something like, that was the night I almost lost you, and I’m almost certain Kaylor has broken up [again, Taylor’s current sadness told me this]. So the timeline of The Great War is up for debate. Also I’m just assuming one primary subject in that song is Kaylor, maybe it’s something/someone else–you guys know my time has been spent on these two songs. I haven’t gotten to TGW in a serious way yet…

In other words, I don’t know if we have enough evidence to make a decision about Karlie’s involvement in the Master’s Heist either way…

But the point is: Taylor is rerecording the masters, but lost her lover due mostly, to external factors.