I washed my hands of us at the club You made a mess of me/I pictured you with other girls in love/Then threw up on the street/Oh, my, love is a lie…/…It hits different this time/Catastrophic blues/Movin’ on was always easy for me to do/It hits different/It hits different ’cause it’s you/(‘Cause it’s you)/I used to switch out these Kens, I’d just ghost/Rip the band-aid off and skip town likе an asshole outlaw…/…Cursed the space that I needed/I trace the evidence, make it make some sense/Why the wound is still bleedin’/You were the one that I loved…/…Dreams of your hair and your stare and sense of belief/In the good in the world, you once believed in me/And I felt you and I held you for a while/Bet I could still melt your world/Argumentative, antithetical dream girl…/…Or have they come to take me away?/To take me away
…I’ve been under scrutiny (yeah, oh, yeah)…/…I feel the lavender haze creepin’ up on me/Surreal, I’m damned if I do give a damn what people say/No deal, the 1950s shit they want from me/I just wanna stay in that lavender haze/All they keep askin’ me (all they keep askin’ me)/Is if I’m gonna be your bride/The only kind of girl they see (only kind of girl they see)/Is a one-night or a wife/I find it dizzying (yeah, oh, yeah)/They’re bringin’ up my history (yeah, oh, yeah)…/…Talk your talk and go viral/I just need this love spiral…/…Get it off my desk (get it off my desk)
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
You know the greatest films of all time were never made…/…We never painted by the numbers, baby/But we were making it count…/…Rosé flowing with your chosen family
The songs on Reputation are packed with meaning, and there are many rabbit holes to go down. As such, this post would be too long if I included each song as I did with Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. I’ll release these song by song.
Reputation (11/10/17)
…Ready For it?
Beard
Holdin’ him for ransom…/…I see nothing better, I keep him forever…/…Knew I was a robber first time that he saw me/Stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry/But if I’m a thief, then he can join the heist…/…And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor/Every lover known in comparison is a failure/I forget their names now, I’m so very tame now…/…Baby, let the games begin/Let the games begin
This is sort of a meandering explanation, but before I get to the subject I want to tie to Taylor’s song you need some background:
We’re in the Golden Age of Hollywood when studios contracted a stable of actors and used them for every movie in the brand. Since it was a handful of people the studios needed to keep their images clean to keep the audiences coming back to see them in movie after movie. Studios would cover up crimes like drunk driving, and they would also cover up sexuality. Arranged, Lavender marriages were not uncommon.
We start our journey with Elizabeth Taylor was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world and married 7 times (twice to the same man, so 8 times):
It’s said the one man Elizabeth couldn’t have was the one she wanted most:
To me (based on only this excerpt) it sounds like Elizabeth was a narcissist who wanted to “win” every man in order to feel beautiful and important. The story shows Elizabeth was willing to look past homosexuality and pursue men, and generally they were pretty receptive to her advances…
Now we move slightly adjacent to Debbie Reynolds (mother of Carrie Fisher). It was said Debbie and her husband were the best of friends with Elizabeth and her current husband Michael Todd. Michael died (in a DUI car accident) and “best friend” Debbie sent her husband, Eddie to console Elizabeth. He consoled a little too hard, and never came back to his family, leaving Debbie to raise Carrie and her brother so he could marry to Elizabeth.
Debbie Reynolds says everyone she dated was gay, except Robert Wagoner. Is she including Eddie Fisher? I don’t know and I couldn’t find anything about it, but that’s her quote.
Now to the romance Taylor Swift brings up: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor met in 1961 on the set of Cleopatra.
What does our Taylor want to emulate from Liz and Dick’s two marriages?
They had “a bond”
There was a very visible romance.
There was PR and publicity. Maybe that’s what Taylor Swift is comparing in Ready for it… ?
Because the marriage itself was passionate (euphemism for drunken, emotional, and sometimes physically abusive) and marked by public fighting in addition to the PDAs. Not really anything to aspire to, unless you dream of narcissist + gold-digger = alcoholism x2. I mean… maybe. We’ve heard Anti-hero we’ve been told of the producing and songwriting Joe supposedly does, and 4th drink in my hand could be problematic…
Also, Liz and Dick could be a lavender or even a mutually beneficial Hollywood marriage for exposure and PR. And so could Toe (Lavender Haze, Grammy).
Here’s some interesting quotes from Richard Burton:
Do with that what you will. I see it as a question mark…
Now for the other part of Taylor Swift’s song. She’s talking about two different people, if you didn’t know–HIM and YOU.
…Ready For it?
Actual lover
Touch me and you’ll never be alone/No one has to know/In the middle of the night, in my dreams/You should see the things we do, baby (mmm)/In the middle of the night, in my dreams/I know I’m gonna be with you…/…Touch me and you’ll never be alone/No one has to know…/…In the middle of the night, in my dreams (my dreams)/I know I’m gonna be with you
It’s the male version of what Taylor sings: Songwriter Cole Porter had a long marriage to a woman [SHE] but “dalliances” with men. He even left most of his royalties to “best bud” Ray Kelly [YOU]…
The songs on Reputation are packed with meaning, and there are many rabbit holes to go down. As such, this post would be too long if I included each song as I did with Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. I’ll release these song by song.
I Did Something Bad
They’re burning all the witches, even if you aren’t one/They got their pitchforks and proof/Their receipts and reasons…/…So light me up (light me up), light me up (light me up)…/…They say I did something bad/Then why’s it feel so good?/They say I did something bad/But why’s it feel so good?/Most fun I ever had/And I’d do it over and over and over again if I could/It just felt so good, good/Oh, you say I did something bad
Walkin’ through a crowd, the village is aglow/Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats/Everybody here wanted somethin’ more/Searchin’ for a sound we hadn’t heard before…/…When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors/Took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer/Everybody here was someone else before/And you can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls…/…Like any great love, it keeps you guessing/Like any real love, it’s ever-changing/Like any true love, it drives you crazy/But you know you wouldn’t change anything, anything, anything
Blank Space
Magic, madness, heaven, sin…/…You look like my next mistake/Love’s a game, wanna play?” Ay…/…New money, suit and tie…/…Ain’t it funny? Rumors fly/And I know you heard about me/So hey, let’s be friends/I’m dying to see how this one ends…/…I can make the bad guys good for a weekend…/…You can tell me when it’s over, mm…/…Got a long list of ex-lovers…/…And you love the game/’Cause we’re young, and we’re reckless/We’ll take this way too far/It’ll leave you breathless, mm/Or with a nasty scar…/…But I’ve got a blank space, baby/And I’ll write your name…/…Stolen kisses, pretty lies/You’re the King, baby, I’m your Queen/Find out what you want/Be that girl for a month/Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh, no/Screaming, crying, perfect storms/I can make all the tables turn…/…Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn ya/THEY’LL tell you I’m insane (I’m insane)/’Cause YOU know I love the players…
Style
Midnight/You come and pick me up, no headlights…/…Could end in burning flames or paradise…/…And I should just tell you to leave ’cause I/Know exactly where it leads…/…And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt/And when we go crashing down, we come back every time…/…Oh, you got that James Dean daydream look in your eye/And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Out of the Woods
Then discovered…/…The rest of the world was black and white/But we were in screaming color…/…Are we out of the woods?/Are we in the clear yet?…/…The night we couldn’t quite forget/When we decided, we decided/To move the furniture so we could dance/Baby, like we stood a chance/Two paper airplanes flying, flying, flying…/…Remember when we couldn’t take the heat?/I walked out, I said “I’m setting you free”/But the monsters turned out to be just trees/When the sun came up you were looking at me
All You Had to Do Was Stay
People like you always want back the love they gave away/And people like me wanna believe you when you say you’ve changed/The more I think about it now, the less I know…/…Then why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?
Shake It Off
I go on too many dates [chuckle]/But I can’t make ’em stay/At least that’s what people say, mmm-mmm…/…And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…/…I shake it off, I shake it off…/…I never miss a beat/I’m lightning on my feet/And that’s what they don’t see…/…I’m dancing on my own (dancing on my own)/I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)
More examples:
These had too many pics to post a concise list on this post, but check out the websites. It shows a lot of relationships, marriages, babies, cheating, fights, etc, etc… are orchestrated to generate buzz and ultimately sell a product:
You think I’m gonna hate you now/’Cause you still don’t know what I never said…/…I wish you knew that/I’d never forget you as long as I’d live…/…We’re a crooked love/In a straight line down/Makes you wanna run and hide/Then it makes you turn right back around…/…And remember what we were fighting for…/…This mad, mad love makes you come rushing
Exp 2:
Bad Blood
You know it used to be mad love…/…Now we got problems/And I don’t think we can solve ’em/You made a really deep cut…/…I was thinking that you could be trusted/Did you have to ruin/What was shining? Now it’s all rusted/Did you have to hit me/Where I’m weak? Baby, I couldn’t breathe/And rub it in so deep/Salt in the wound like you’re laughing right at me…/…Did you think we’d be fine?/Still got scars on my back from your knife/So don’t think it’s in the past/These kind of wounds they last and they last/Now did you think it all through?/All these things will catch up to you…/…If you live like that, you live with ghosts (ghosts, ghosts)/Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes (hey!)/You say sorry just for show …/…Hm, if you love like that, blood runs cold/’Cause baby, now we got bad blood
Wildest Dreams
…”Let’s get out of this town/Drive out of the city, away from the crowds“/I thought Heaven can’t help me now/Nothing lasts forever/But this is gonna take me down…/…I said, “No one has to know what we do”/His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room…/…You’ll see me in hindsight/Tangled up with you all night/Burning it down/Someday when you leave me/I bet these memories/Follow you around…/…Say you’ll see me again/Even if it’s just (pretend, just pretend) in your wildest dreams/In your wildest dreams/Even if it’s just stayed in your wildest dreams
How You Get the Girl
Stand there like a ghost/Shaking come the rain, rain/She’ll open up the door/And say, are you insane…/…And you were too afraid to tell her what you want, want…/…And then you say/I want you for worse or for better…/…Tell her how you must’ve lost your mind/When you left her all alone and never told her why, why/And that’s how it works/That’s how you lost the girl…/…Broke your heart, I’ll put it back together…/…And you could know, oh/That I don’t want you to go
This Love
High tide came and brought you in…/…Skies grew darker/Currents swept you out again…/…In silent screams/In wildest dreams/I never dreamed of this/This love is good/This love is bad…/…In losing grip/On sinking ships…/…This love left a permanent mark/This love is glowing in the dark…/…I watched you leave/Your smile, my ghost/I fell to my knees/When you’re young, you just run/But you come back to what you need
I Know Places
It’s a scene, and we’re out here in plain sight/I can hear them whisper as we pass by/It’s a bad sign, bad sign/Something happens when everybody finds out/See the vultures circling, dark clouds/Love’s a fragile little flame, it could burn out…/…’Cause they got the cages, they got the boxes/And guns/They are the hunters, we are the foxes/And we run/Baby, I know places we won’t be found and/They’ll be chasing their tails trying to track us down…/…Lights flash and we’ll run for the fences/Let them say what they want, we won’t hear it/Loose lips sink ships all the damn time/Not this time…/…they take their shots, but we’re bulletproof
You’re still all over me/Like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore/Hung my head as I lost the war/And the sky turned black like a perfect storm/Rain came pouring down/When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe/And by morning/Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean…/…There was nothing left to do…/…So I punched a hole in the roof/Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you/The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud/But no one heard a thing…/…Ten months sober, I must admit/Just because you’re clean, don’t mean you don’t miss it/Ten months older, I won’t give in/Now that I’m clean, I’m never gonna risk it
Flashing lights and we/Took a wrong turn and we/Fell down a rabbit hole…/…’Cause nothing’s as it seems/And spinning out of control…/…Haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?/Ooh, didn’t it all seem new and exciting?/I felt your arms twisting around me/I should’ve slept with one eye open at night…/…We found Wonderland/You and I got lost in it/And life was never worse but never better…/…Too in love to think straight/All alone, or so it seemed/But there were strangers watching/And whispers turned to talking/And talking turned to screams, oh…/…It’s all fun and games ’til somebody loses their mind…/…I knew I had to go back home/You search the world for something else/To make you feel like what we had/And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad
One look, dark room/Meant just for you…/…No proof, one touch/But you felt enough…/…You can hear it in the silence, silence, you/You can feel it on the way home, way home, you/You can see it with the lights out, lights out/You are in love, true love…/…He keeps his word/And for once, you let go/Of your fears and your ghosts/One step, not much/But it said enough…/…One night he wakes/Strange look on his face/Pauses, then says/You’re my best friend/And you knew what it was/He is in love…/…And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars/And why I’ve spent my whole life tryin’ to put it into words
New Romantics
We’re all bored/We’re all so tired of everything/We wait for trains that just aren’t coming/We show off our different scarlet letters/Trust me, mine is better/We’re so young/But we’re on the road to ruin/We play dumb but we know exactly what we’re doin’…/…I could build a castle/Out of all the bricks they threw at me/And every day is like a battle/But every night with us is like a dream…/…Heartbreak is the national anthem/We sing it proudly/We are too busy dancing/To get knocked off our feet/Baby, we’re the new romantics/The best people in life are free…/…We’re all here/The lights and noise are blinding/We hang back/It’s all in the timing/It’s poker/He can’t see it in my face/But I’m about to play my Ace (ah)/We need love/But all we want is danger/We team up/Then switch sides like a record changer/The rumors are terrible and cruel/But honey, most of them are true
I like to spread my posts out so the go up daily, but I AM TOO EXCITED about this! Here’s part 2 that I promised with the Sister Songs post:
You remember Myspace, right? Here’s this in case you don’t (this comes back later)
People thought Katy was alluding to a manufactured feud. I think (based on context) that Katy is talking about: sapphic, closeting, bisexuals/lesbians in the music industry, etc, etc… You’ll see what I mean, I’m about to show you.
Was Katy Perry calling out the fact that Taylor Swift had a young beard (dancers in drag/performing sexuality/gay males)? Instead of coming out of the closet?
Enter Bad Blood:
We know who the song is supposed to be about. But do we know the REAL reason or a manufactured reason to hide the gay of it all? A closeted person cannot call someone out for “outing” them, because, well, that’s the point. Instead Taylor has to use subtext to get her message across to Katy without pouring fuel on the (gay) fire.
Bad Blood
You know it used to be mad love…/…Now we got problems/And I don’t think we can solve ’em/You made a really deep cut…/…I was thinking that you could be trusted/Did you have to ruin/What was shining? Now it’s all rusted/Did you have to hit me/Where I’m weak? Baby, I couldn’t breathe/And rub it in so deep/Salt in the wound like you’re laughing right at me…/…Did you think we’d be fine?/Still got scars on my back from your knife/So don’t think it’s in the past/These kind of wounds they last and they last/Now did you think it all through?/All these things will catch up to you…/…If you live like that, you live with ghosts (ghosts, ghosts)/Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes (hey!)/You say sorry just for show …/…Hm, if you love like that, blood runs cold/’Cause baby, now we got bad blood
I think the bolded portions especially, show my point that Taylor is talking about an ex that outed her
The Feud:
SHE TRIED TO…OUT…ME
Katy’s Transgressions:
First loud encouragement in song (see my other post for the deets)
This is a part one leading up to a REALLY BIG discovery
Here’s a side by side comparison, Sparks Fly on the left and Firework on the left.
Key:
Magenta is weather related words and phrases
Red is feeling vulnerable
Lime is fireworks/sparks related words and phrases
Yellow highlight is fear of being gay and encouragement to come out and live authentically, respectively.
I wanted them side by side for easy comparison, but also it’s small to read so I’m going to post the Sparks Fly then Fireworks one after the other so people with worse eyes or small screens can read it too:
OK, Red starts getting a little tricky, because it becomes more muse-centric. I will make each muse their own post later, so these are the generally LGBTQ lyrics:
P.S. I’m intentionally showing my address bar as a lazy way of citing sources, it wasn’t just an off-center snip 😉
State of Grace:
And all we know is touch and go/We are alone with our changing minds/We fall in love ’til it hurts or bleeds, or fades in time/And I never (never)/Saw you coming/And I’ll never (never)/Be the same/You come around and the armor falls/Pierce the room like a cannonball…/…So you were never a saint/And I’ve loved in shades of wrong/We learn to live with the pain/Mosaic broken hearts/But this love is brave and wild…/…This is the worthwhile fight/Love is a ruthless game/Unless you play it good and right/These are the hands of fate
Red:
Loving him is like trying to change your mind/Once you’re already flying through the free fall…/…Regretting him was like wishing you never found out/That love could be that strong
Treacherous:
Put your lips close to mine/As long as they don’t touch…/…And I’d be smart to walk away/But you’re quicksand…/…This path is reckless/This slope is treacherous/And I, I, I like it/I can’t decide if it’s a choice/Getting swept away…/…And all we are is skin and bone/Trained to get along/Forever going with the flow/But you’re friction…/…That nothing safe is worth the drive…/…This hope is treacherous/This daydream is dangerous
I Knew You Were Trouble
‘Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in/So shame on me now/Flew me to places I’d never been
All Too Well:
Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place/And I can picture it after all these days/And I know it’s long gone and that magic’s not here no more/And I might be okay but I’m not fine at all…/…You told me ’bout your past thinking your future was me…/…But maybe this thing was a masterpiece ’til you tore it all up…/…And you call me up again just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest/I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here…/…Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it/I’d like to be my old self again/But I’m still trying to find it…/…After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own…/…But you keep my old scarf from that very first week/’Cause it reminds you of innocence/And it smells like me/You can’t get rid of it
22:
Yeah, we’re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time/It’s miserable and magical, oh yeah…/….Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you/You don’t know about me, but I’ll bet you want to…/…We ditched the whole scene/(It feels like one of those nights)/We won’t be sleeping/(It feels like one of those nights)/You look like bad news/I gotta have you
Holy Ground:
And for the first time I had something to lose…/…’Cause darling, it was good/Never looking down…/…But I don’t wanna dance/If I’m not dancing with you
We had a beautiful magic love there/What a sad beautiful tragic love affair…/…And you’ve got your demons/And darlin’ they all look like me
The Lucky One:
Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one/But can you tell me now you’re the lucky one?/….And your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you/And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page/And they tell you that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused/’Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used/And all the young things line up to take your place/Another name goes up in lights/You wonder if you’ll make it out alive…/…It was a few years later, I showed up here/And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared/How you took the money and your dignity and got the hell out…/…And it took some time, but I understand it now/’Cause now my name is up in lights/But I think you got it right
Everything has Changed:
Is I know something now/Know something now I didn’t before…/…I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now…/…And your eyes look like comin’ home…/…And everything has changed…/…You’ll be mine and I’ll be yours/All I know since yesterday/Is everything has changed…/…And all my walls/Stood tall painted blue/But I’ll take ’em down, take ’em down/And open up the door for you/And all I feel/In my stomach is butterflies/The beautiful kind, makin’ up for lost time/Takin’ flight…/…I’m feelin’ like I’ve missed you all this time…/…And let me know that it’s not all in my mind…/…So dust off your highest hopes/All I know is pouring rain/And everything has changed
Starlight:
And we were dancing, dancing/Like we’re made of starlight…/…We were seventeen and crazy running wild, wild…/…The night we snuck into a yacht club party/Pretending to be a duchess and a prince…/…He said, “Look at you, worrying so much about things you can’t change/You’ll spend your whole life singing the blues/If you keep thinking that way”/He was tryna to skip rocks on the ocean saying to me/”Don’t you see the starlight, starlight/Don’t you dream impossible things“…/…Ooh, ooh he’s talking crazy/Ooh, ooh dancing with me…/…Like we dream impossible dreams
Begin Again
Walked in expecting you’d be late/But you got here early and you stand and wave…/…You pull my chair out and help me in/And you don’t know how nice that is…/…I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny, ’cause/He never did…/…I’ve been spending the last eight months/Thinking all love ever does/Is break and burn, and end/But on a Wednesday in a cafe/I watched it begin again…/…And I almost brought him up/But you start to talk about the movies…/…And I want to talk about that/And for the first time/What’s past is past
The Moment I Knew
A million little shining stars had just aligned
Come Back, Be Here:
The delicate beginning rush/The feeling you can know so much/Without knowing anything at all/And now that I can put this down/If I had known what I’d known now…/…This is falling in love in the cruelest way
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