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.
Delicate
Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?/Phone lights up my nightstand in the black/Come here; you can meet me in the back…/…Just think of the fun things we could do…/…Yeah, I want you…/…Is it cool that I said all that?/Is it chill that you’re in my head?/’Cause I know that it’s delicate (Delicate)…/…Is it too soon to do this yet?…/…Long night with your hands up in my hair/Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs/Stay here, honey, I don’t want to share/’Cause I like you/This ain’t for the best…/…Sometimes I wonder; when you sleep/Are you ever dreaming of me?/Sometimes when I look into your eyes/I pretend you’re mine, all the damn time
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
Written 6 years ago, but I read it today and thought, ‘go me!’ It’s funny how things may come to fruition easily when you don’t want it or don’t care. I was not intentionally playing hard to get or anything like that, I really wasn’t invested. But it seemed to help. Also, having a strong background in negotiation skills from my parents making me haggle for spending money or on chores, etc… is really a priceless, valuable skill set to have.
During the dental yesterday, my boss teased me (in a half-serious) way about how she wished I would re-consider and keep cleaning. It’s a difficult position to fill because it requires trust to let someone come in during off hours. I told her I had made up my mind and wouldn’t be pressured! Also jokingly. And she talked about how it seems like an easy job, but she is having trouble finding someone to work few hours, on off-times, and trusting said person would show up, work, and do a quality job. Which I told her were all traits I was excellent at, but I didn’t want to have any crutch with this new move of mine. I had explained how I didn’t test into my LVT (even though it would garner me a job anywhere, be an instant, raise, and “legitamize” me in any setting. If I had my LVT and failed at any new career endeavor, or couldn’t get a job–it would make sense to use that and work in vet hospitals. And that’s not what I want for myself. If I can’t be a vet–I don’t wanna ever be satisfied with a thankless, dead-end, menial job.
And that’s why I couldn’t work for my current job–in any capacity. It would be just too easy to get scared, and back-slide right back into my comfort zone where I have most experience and where I have an “in.” Because I know if I wanted it bad enough my work would be happy to have me back. They know the quality of work I deliver, and vets never want to trust anyone new–and they can always use the help. So even though I could make the TIME work, I didn’t want to keep even one finger in my past.
But my boss said don’t give a negative answer hastily–just think about it. And just that little bit of (half-joking) pressure got in my mind. I thought it would be some income for me. And I could easily do it. There would be a flexible schedule and I wouldn’t SEE anyone so nothing could irritate me.
But I really didn’t think about it that much because I didn’t think my boss would press the issue. And before work I told Cool that IF my boss brought it up, I would just ask how much it was worth to her. Because I didn’t really think it would come up, and if it did I was almost certain my boss wouldn’t agree on a sum I’d be happy with.
But at work, my boss made a quip about it, then quickly said she was kidding–so as not to be terribly obnoxious. But I said I had taken her seriously and thought about it. And she practically scampered across the room asking if I would really be willing to do it. But I wanted to know the expectations. And she started saying every day (which is MORE then I currently do). . . to which I was like–no, no never-mind that won’t work. But I could see she was desperate because she asked what I was thinking. And I told her 2, 3 times a week max, on a flexible schedule. At this point I showed her my checklists that I date as I accomplish things. I pointed out the frequency in which I currently do things is not as often as she thought (proving vets really don’t know who does what or when just as long as it doesn’t directly affect them). She said she’d have to think about it–and I figured she wouldn’t go for it and oh well–no loss to me. But 2 minutes later she came up to me and said that would work.
But I persisted that I needed to know expectations–just to make sure the cleaning I’m doing now is what they want. Because my work isn’t the greatest at communication, and I didn’t want anyone disgruntled in the future. So all these talks were loud and in front of everyone. Which I am normally not a fan of–but I wasn’t all that invested in this. I had already planned to quit all-together and if I could help without too much headache on my part, great, but if not, great. But once the ball got rolling, and it looked like I WAS going to keep cleaning, I got a little worried I had not mentioned the financials. That was the thing that this decision would be about. Because it did go against what I had decided, was because I bent to pressure, and would hold me back from my future field just a little). So I wanted to feel like I wasn’t totally being a push-over. I needed to get MORE out of the deal–and I apparently had leverage. That is not a very familiar place for me to be.
I tried to deviate from my normal ultra-serious talk and keep it light. I told my boss we would have time after the dental to talk 1:1. And she was like, more? And I was like of course. So we get up there, and I told her I broke the cardinal rule and told her what she wanted to hear FIRST so she stopped listening.
I said any monkey off the street can clean–you are not paying me to clean. You are paying for the trust, my dedication, my work ethic, and the fact I already know her expectations. But of course I was getting nervous–despite having nothing to lose and coming from a position of leverage. And she was like, calm down you’re just talking to me. Why are you getting worked up? And I was like, I don’t know, I’m just putting myself out there I guess. You make me nervous. And she said, I’m that way too–I wonder why it’s so hard to ask for what you think you’re worth? And I was like yeah it’s a funny thing because I KNOW what I’m worth, but the asking is awkward. So I still felt like I had to put out the disclaimers, and included that she wouldn’t be paying a new person what she had paid me so it would save money. I also said I would be working less hours, but still had to account for the gas, the time, and going back on my plan. She asked how much I made now. $12.00. I think it’s $12.25 she says. No, $12–and believe me, I know–b/c it’s been more then a year (even after my stellar evaluation) since I got a raise. Then she put the ball in my court and asked how much I wanted.
Fail! I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, because I honestly didn’t think the negotiations would get this far. Always have a number in mind ahead of time! But I didn’t. . . And I was nervous, and too flustered to do any math in my head. So I said I needed a calculator. Maybe I could clear my head and walk away from the table for a second to gather my thoughts. She handed me her phone. With shaking hands (remember I’m nervous and completely unprepared) I plugged in my anticipated monthly fuel cost and my highest utility bill. Then divided that into an hourly amount for the cleaning hours. I know–totally random! It came to $12.66. But even in my nervous state, I know you aim high in negotiations so you have somewhere to go. But for whatever reason $13 seemed scary. I didn’t want to see some sort of horrible expression on my boss’ face or hear that my work wasn’t worth THAT much. So I went for a nice round quarter-amount: $12.75, with the expectation we’d go down a little.
Without batting an eye my boss said they could make that work. And immediately I was regretful I didn’t go higher. Both people should feel just a little uncomfortable if you arrive at a good number, and my boss had answered all too readily–apparently I had underestimated how much the cleaning position meant to her. Damn–it was a 6.3% raise!
But I will just consider the extra 25 cents I should have asked for as the benefit of a flexible schedule. They did try several times to get me to commit to certain days. But I resisted for study/school/future commitments/vacation purposes. So I will consider that my “benefits-package.” Which I guess for janitorial is pretty good, and better then I would have done had I readily agreed to keep on cleaning. And better then no income at all. So everyone IS a winner?! Maybe.
In summary: Working at veterinary hospitals falls under the heading “I can’t quit you.” Also, everybody needs to have some negotiation skills at the ready, because you could need to use them at any time.
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