This will not be an exhaustive list (I do have a job) just a smattering of problematic items.
I’m not sure why people are acting so surprised. Taylor has some sketchy decisions in the past, loser “boyfriends” and is an integral cog in the capitalistic wheel.
I didn’t really know about any of these in real time. So I feel about detached to it all looking at it historically. I think it’s sexist to blame Taylor for the behaviors of her boyfriends, especially when I see her called out more than them. But she does have a platform, and she doesn’t tend to use it for advocacy, so the scales aren’t balanced.
Problematic Age Differences?
Abuser “Boyfriends”:
Taylor dated Jake Gyllenhaal who is a pretentious prick at best and an abuser of young powerless women at worst.
I don’t want to sound like I’m giving her a pass. But being under a microscope your whole life will let people SEE more of your mistakes, just statistically. I wouldn’t want all my horrible moments and bad decisions to be ubiquitous in the public’s consciousness. Taylor, being as visible as she is, will be held to higher standards. Unrealistic beauty and aging standards, the pressure of being a constant role-model, who she dates and how often, not to mention the quality of her writing, singing, persona, promotion, street fashion, albums, fitness, costumes, concerts, and all the numbers (sales, charts, etc, etc…). It’s a lot. Don’t take this as a defense, just some concerns that most people don’t have to deal with.
And now, this guy:
Like, nobody is saying it, because it’s not woke to “body shame” but let me state the obvious: He’s not on her level. Let’s just say it doesn’t make sense to me: Taylor Swift is a prodigy at writing, a smart business-woman, master marketer, successful beyond imagination, about to be a billionaire, and beautiful. I truly don’t understand how fans/media can think her self-esteem is so low, her morals so absent that she’s actually attracted to this dude. We’ll discuss it in the 3rd and final installment.
It cut deep to know ya/Right to the bone…/…I’m fine with my spite/And my tears/And my beers and my candles…/….I know I’m just a/Wrinkle in your new life/Staying friends/Would iron it out so nice/Guilty, guilty reaching out across the sea/That you put between you and me/But it’s fake/And it’s oh so unnecessary
Ummm…. Unintentional find that’s pretty on the nose:
I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone/Trying to find the one where I went wrong/Writing letters/Addressed to the fire/And I was catching my breath/Staring out an open window/Catching my death/And I couldn’t be sure/I had a feeling so peculiar/That this pain would be for/Evermore/Hey December/Guess I’m feeling unmoored/Can’t remember/What I used to fight for/I rewind the tape but all it does is pause/On the very moment all was lost/Sending signals/To be double crossed/And I was catching my breath/Barefoot in the wildest winter/Catching my death/And I couldn’t be sure/I had a feeling so peculiar/That this pain would be for/Evermore/(Evermore)/Can’t not think of all the cost/And the things that will be lost/Oh, can we just get a pause?/To be certain we’ll be tall again/Whether weather be the frost/Or the violence of the dog days/I’m on waves, out being tossed/Is there a line that I could just go cross?/And when I was shipwrecked (can’t think of all the cost)/I thought of you (all the things that will be lost now)/In the cracks of light (can we just get a pause?)/I dreamed of you (to be certain we’ll be tall again)/(If you think of all the costs)/It was real enough (whether weather be the frost)/To get me through (or the violence of the dog days)/(Out on waves being tossed)/But I swear (is there a line that we could just go cross?)/You were there/And I was catching my breath/Floors of a cabin creaking under my step/And I couldn’t be sure/I had a feeling so peculiar/This pain wouldn’t be for/Evermore
I admit when I delve into poetry, especially European, prior to 1900s, formal poems, my eyes and brain go:
But what Taylor wants (listeners to understand her references and subtext) Taylor gets. So I persisted.
The connection to poety:
So Katherine Bradley + Edith Cooper = Michael Field, poetry author.
“Lovers evermore” ties this duo’s poem to Taylor’s song/album/life.
To make things even more hazy (see what I did there?) in their personal letters Bradley and Cooper called each other “Michael” and “Field” later “Henry” as nicknames, and maybe to obscure their love.
OK, buckle up, here’s another complex explanation for how the poem Taylor Swift is referencing came to be:
Got all that? [It took me a bit of time to get it]:
Sappho wrote poems/songs.
They were not discovered in their entirety, maybe not preserved, maybe lost, maybe unfinished, maybe burned by relatives wanting to hide certain unpalatable truths. I don’t know and this was not the central focus of my research.
This Wharton guy took it upon himself to write translations of each fragment of Sappho’s work. This made them more accessible to modern, English-speaking readers.
Michael Field’s (remember the collaborators and lovers, Bradley and Cooper) used the transcribed fragments as inspiration for their own poems. There was a piece of Sappho’s writing as the jumping off point for their original poetry, which sometimes kept to the intention of the original poet, and sometimes intentionally deviated from it.
The final product is a book of poetry, Long Ago, published under the name Michael Fields, containing the “It was deep April” poem.
It is this poem that Taylor, in the tradition of the aforementioned poets, used as inspiration for her evermore song.
whew!
So basically, Taylor was inspired by Sappho.
Bare with me, I promise this directly relates to Taylor’s songs. Let’s talk about how Sappho literally invented the word/concept of “bittersweet” to describe WLW love:
Sappho uses “bittersweet” to summarize homosexual love, and Long Ago has that very phrase twice.
Michael Field knew what they were doing. They had learned the origin of the word/concept of bittersweet and intentionally referenced it to signal queer subject matter.
within the album/catalog:
Me! | I Think He Knows | London Boy | You Need to Calm Down | Paper Rings
vs.
Soon You’ll Get Better | The Archer | Death by a Thousand Cuts | Cornelia Street
within the line:
Rose Garden filled with thorns
Snuck through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate
I love you ain’t that the worst thing you’ve ever heard
within the song:
gold rush
Gleaming Twinkling Eyes like sinking ships On waters so inviting I almost jump in
But I don’t like a gold rush, gold rush I don’t like anticipating my face in a red flush I don’t like that anyone would die to feel your touch Everybody wants you Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you Walk past, quick brush I don’t like slow motion double vision in rose blush I don’t like that falling feels like flying ’til the bone crush
Sorry for not making you my centerfold/Over and over/Lost again with no surprises/Disappointments close your eyes/And it gets colder and colder/When the sun goes down/The question pounds my head/What’s a lifetime of achievement/If I pushed you to the edge/But you were too polite to leave me?/Do you miss the rogue/Who coaxed you into paradise and left you there?/Will you forgive my soul/When you’re too wise to trust me and too old to care?/…Sorry for not winning you an arcade ring/Over and over…/…Did I leave you hanging every single day?/…Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest gray?/A universe away…/…But when I walked up to the podium/I think that I forgot to say your name
Oh, I thought/This is gonna be one of those things/Now I know/I’m never gonna love again/I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve/Takes one to know one/You’re a cowboy like me/Never wanted love/Just a fancy car…/…You had some tricks up your sleeve/Takes one to know one/You’re a cowboy like me/Perched in the dark/Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear/Like it could be love/I could be the way forward/Only if they pay for it/You’re a bandit like me/Eyes full of stars/Hustling for the good life/Never thought I’d meet you here/It could be love/We could be the way forward/And I know I’ll pay for it/And the skeletons in both our closets/Plotted hard to mess this up/And the old men that I’ve swindled/Really did believe I was the one/And the ladies lunching have their stories about/When you passed through town…/…Now you hang from my lips/Like the Gardens of Babylon/With your boots beneath my bed/Forever is the sweetest con/I’ve had some tricks up my sleeve/Takes one to know one/You’re a cowboy like me/And I’m never gonna love again/I’m never gonna love again
I notice everything you do or don’t do/You’re so much older and wiser, and I…/…If it’s all in my head, tell me now/Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow/I know my love should be celebrated/But you tolerate it…/…Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?/I made you my temple, my mural, my sky/Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life/Drawing hearts in the byline/Always taking up too much space or time/You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I/I break free and leave us in ruins?/Took this dagger in me and removed it?/Gain the weight of you then lose it
[I didn’t cite this bc it’s some homophobic church doubling-down on their intolerance, and though I think they have a point about the definition of terms, I didn’t want to give them any more traffic].
Time, curious time/Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs/Were there clues I didn’t see?/And isn’t it just so pretty to think/All along there was some/Invisible string/Tying you to me?/…On your first trip to LA/You ate at my favorite spot for dinner…/…Time, mystical time/Cuttin’ me open, then healin’ me fine…/…A string that pulled me/Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar/Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire/Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons/One single thread of gold tied me to you…/…Cold was the steel of my axe to grind/For the boys who broke my heart/Now I send their babies presents/Gold was the color of the leaves/When I showed you around Centennial Park/Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven/Time, wondrous time/Gave me the blues and then purple pink skies/And it’s cool, baby, with me/And isn’t it just so pretty to think/All along there was some/Invisible string/Tying you to me?
***Trigger Warning***
Conversion Therapy, Religious trauma, Reparative therapy
I’ve been having a hard time adjusting…/…I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back…/…Pulled the car off the road to the lookout/Could’ve followed my fears all the way down/And maybe I don’t quite know what to say/But I’m here in your doorway/I just wanted you to know/That this is me trying…/…They told me all of my cages were mental/So I got wasted like all my potential/And my words shoot to kill when I’m mad/I have a lot of regrets about that/I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere/Fell behind on my classmates, and I ended up here/Pouring out my heart to a stranger/But I didn’t pour the whiskey…/…At least I’m trying/And it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound/It’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you/You’re a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town/And I just wanted you to know…/…That this is me trying/At least I’m trying
This song is difficult for me to listen to-Taylor’s pain is palpable.
Hoax
My only one/My smoking gun/My eclipsed sun
This has broken me down/My twisted knife/My sleepless night/My win-less fight/This has frozen my ground/Stood on the cliffside/Screaming, “Give me a reason”
Your faithless love’s the only hoax/I believe in/Don’t want no other shade of blue/But you/No other sadness in the world would do
My best laid plan/Your sleight of hand
My barren land/I am ash from your fire
You know I left a part of me back in New York/You knew the hero died, so what’s the movie for?/You knew it still hurts underneath my scars/From when they pulled me apart/You knew the password, so I let you in the door/You knew you won, so what’s the point of keeping score?/You knew it still hurts underneath my scars/From when they pulled me apart/But what you did was just as dark/Darling, this was just as hard/As when they pulled me apart
My only one/My kingdom come undone/My broken drum/You have beaten my heart
Don’t want no other shade of blue/But you/No other sadness in the world would do
Here’s another Lover track that is more easily understood by separating the perspectives/subjects in the song. I’ll show you the parts I mean, then do multi posts on the gay content inside each of those parts.
Am I getting any better at that? It’s hard!
it’s a long song, here’s the last part:
America’s Sweetheart to Miss Americana:
You know I adore you [America]/I’m crazier for you [USA]/Then I was at sixteen/Lost in a film scene [innocent, naïve, charmed]/Waving homecoming queens/Marching band playing/I’m lost in the lights [caught up in youth and fame]…/…Ripped up my prom dress/Running through rose thorns…/…No cameras catch my pageant smile…/…American stories/Burning before me…/…No cameras catch my muffled cries [Disillusioned by American politics]…/…They whisper in the hallway, “she’s a bad, bad girl” [as Taylor aged, her image became more negative]…/…You and me [Taylor’s country]/That’s my whole world/They [Patriarchal oppressors, homophobes, far right conservatives (take your pick)] whisper in the hallway, “she’s a bad, bad girl”/”She’s a bad, bad girl”
Sapphic love:
It’s you and me [Kaylor in this case, as the song is political]/There’s nothing like this/Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince (okay!)/We’re so sad, we paint the town blue [they can’t be openly together]/Voted [references after Trump loses, and the Ku$hners aren’t as involved, Kaylor will be more free to be together] most likely to run away/With you…/…You are the only one/Who seems to care…/…It’s you and me/There’s nothing like this/Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince (okay!)/We’re so sad, we paint the town blue [Taylor and Karlie show their support for Democrats]/Voted most likely to run away/With you/And I don’t want you to (go) /I don’t really wanna (fight)/’Cause nobody’s gonna (win)/I think you should come home…[Taylor asks Karlie to choose her over Jo$h]/…It’s you and me/That’s my whole world…/…Oh, I just thought you should know/You should know/It’s you and me/There’s nothing like this [Pleading Karlie to keep their relationship]
2016 Election:
American glory/Faded before me/Now I’m feeling hopeless…/…I counted days, I counted miles [Keeping an eye on the campaigning and the primary run up to the election]/To see you there [to see a Democrat in office]…/…My team is losing [Democrats lost]/Battered and bruising/I see the high fives/Between the bad guys [Trump, cronies, lobbyists, investors, the benefactors of exploitation and oppression]…/…American stories/Burning before me…/…Boys will be boys, then/Where are the wise men?/…I counted days, I counted miles/To see you there/To see you there/And now the storm is coming, [The GOP is about to create laws that hurt everyone aside from wealthy, white, straight, cis males] but
Politics and Kaylor has to end:
I counted days [counting days to the election], I counted miles [following the campaign trail through the stops and primaries]/To see you there/To see you there/It’s been a long time coming [after the election, Kaylor has the option to be together] but/It’s you and me/That’s my whole world…/…It’s you and me/There’s nothing like this/Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince (okay!)/We’re so sad, we paint the town blue [Trump won so Taylor is depressed she cannot be associated with Karlie at all because of those very public Ku$hner/Trump associations]/Voted most likely to run away/With you…/…Darling, I’m scared…/…I counted days, I counted miles/To see you there/To see you there/And now the storm is coming, [The Trump win is the nail in the Kaylor coffin] but…/…And I don’t want you to (go)/I don’t really wanna (fight)/’Cause nobody’s gonna (win)/I think you should come home [This is an important decision point for Karlie, and also Taylor can’t have a secret affair with her as long as she’s tied to Ku$hner evil]…/…Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince (okay!)/We’re so sad, we paint the town blue (paint it blue)/Voted most likely to run away/With you/I don’t really wanna (fight)/’Cause nobody’s gonna (win)/I think you should come home
Fear of Republican animosity toward Women, LGBT, minorities, etc, etc:
I saw the scoreboard [Election results]/And ran for my life…/…They whisper in the hallway, “she’s a bad, bad girl” (okay!) [Taylor is a threat as a powerful woman]/The whole school is rolling fake dice [The election win was based on false premises (Lies and exaggerations about Hilary, Qanon garbage, and stoking fear and hate to generate support)]/You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes [If people voted in anger or hatred, they get what they asked for–Trump and his cronies]…/…Leave with my head hung…/…I’m feeling helpless/The damsels are depressed [Women and minorities know their rights are in question]…/…Boys will be boys, [Politicians are gonna politic, hatred and corruption are common tactics] then/Where are the wise men? [Who will save us? Why is bad behavior, and shady ethics the norm?]/…Darling, I’m scared [because Taylor is a woman and she’s also part of the queer community]…/…And now the storm is coming, [there will be rollbacks on hard-fought freedoms, and prejudiced new laws] but…/…They whisper in the hallway, “she’s a bad, bad girl” (okay!) [Sapphic rumors and gossip?]/The whole school is rolling fake dice/You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes…/…And I don’t want you [the oppressed minorities and the advocates] to (go)/I don’t really wanna (fight)/’Cause nobody’s gonna (win)/I just thought you should know/And I’ll never let you (go) [Taylor will always be associated with the LGBTQ community (because she’s in it)]/‘Cause I know this is a (fight)/That someday we’re gonna (win) [The fight for LBGTQ rights will see progress one day]…/…And I’ll never let you (go)/‘Cause I know this is a (fight)/That someday we’re gonna (win)/Just thought you should know
kit10phish.wordpress.com 
Taylor Swift’s Gay Moments: evermore ~ tolerate it
16 Aprtolerate it
I notice everything you do or don’t do/You’re so much older and wiser, and I…/…If it’s all in my head, tell me now/Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow/I know my love should be celebrated/But you tolerate it…/…Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?/I made you my temple, my mural, my sky/Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life/Drawing hearts in the byline/Always taking up too much space or time/You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I/I break free and leave us in ruins?/Took this dagger in me and removed it?/Gain the weight of you then lose it
[I didn’t cite this bc it’s some homophobic church doubling-down on their intolerance, and though I think they have a point about the definition of terms, I didn’t want to give them any more traffic].
***Trigger Warning***
hate crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard
Tags: analysis, bias, Bible, career, church, commentary, community, conservative, conversation, Crime, documentary, ethics, Evermore, film, Gaylor, hate, heteronormative, homophobia, homophobic, Laramie, LGBT, love, Matthew Shepard, murder, norms, parents, prejudice, religion, society, Taylor Swift, Tolerate It, values, Wyoming