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Why 'How You Get The Girl' Is One Of The Best Songs On 1989

HYGTG is so underrated even though it is a prime example of Miss Swift taking control of the narrative™ pre-reputation.

On RED, Taylor was heartbroken because it turned out that her man was a playboy who only saw her as part of his list of ex-lovers (I Knew You Were Trouble: "a new notch in your belt is all I'll ever be"), but on 1989, our queen makes fun of him instead (How You Get The Girl: "and that's how it works/that's how you get the girl").

Long story short, HYGTG shows how our queen went from crying over a playboy to figuring him out and calling him out on his stuff...

She can read him like a magazine 😉

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'coney island' As The Other Side To 'champagne problems'

Other songs on 'evermore' seem to link together (like 'dorothea' and 'tis the damn season') and we heard it from the queen herself that she is unhinged SO I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that 'coney island' and 'champagne problems' are two sides of the same story.

'champagne problems' is obvs from the perspective of the woman rejecting the proposal, and 'coney island' is from the POV of the person who proposed: the verses in CI all begin with a question, but in CP, they all begin with an answer:

were you standing in the hallway//I left you out there standing, crestfallen on the landing

did I close my fist/around something way too delicate/Did I shatter you//Your heart was glass, I dropped it

Were you waiting at our old spot/At the tree line, by the gold clock//Your Midas touch on the chevy door

I'm on a bench in Coney Island wondering, 'where did my baby go?'//you booked the night train for a reason

And that's because the proposer was completely shocked by the rejection ("You had a speech, you're speechless"//"Where did my baby go?") but the woman always knew that they couldn't last, she just didn't leave because she felt comfortable in the relationship before commitment forced her to make a choice ("I never was ready, so I watch you go").

Also, the person in 'coney island' was asking all the questions because they only wanted to be asking one question, but the narrator of 'champagne problems' knows all the answers except the one that would've held the relationship together ("I couldn't give a reason").

ANYWAY Queen Taylor is unhinged and we should all fear her, this has been a PSA.

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The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

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'folklore' As A Sequel to 'Speak Now'

Apart from GROUNDBREAKING LYRICISM and beautiful imagery, 'folklore' and 'Speak Now' have enough things in common that i think they're parallels, like 'Lover' was to 'RED' ("loving him was red"//"I once believed love would be burning red, but it's golden").

1. 'Mine' and 'cardigan'

These songs parallel each other: in 'Mine', the narrator is concerned that her relationship won't work out, but it does. In 'cardigan', the narrator was just starting to feel happy and content before their parents' mistakes were repeated and their partner left. Lyric parallels: "you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter"//"I knew you, leaving like a father/Running like water" "I remember that fight, 0230 AM/When everything was slipping right out of our hands"//"To kiss in cars/And downtown bars/Was all we needed/You drew stars/Around my scars/But now I'm bleeding"

2. 'Speak Now' and 'illicit affairs'

These songs are both about being the other woman that breaks up a relationship, but in 'SN' the narrator is especially outspoken about it and literally crashes their wedding, but in 'illicit affairs' the narrator makes sure to keep it under the radar.

Lyric parallels: "your time was running out/When they said 'speak now'"//"you taught me a secret language/I can't speak with anyone else"

3. 'Never Grow Up' and 'seven'

They're both songs about childhood nostalgia, but 'NGU' makes childhood seem like a positive thing where everything was okay, but 'seven' makes it more negative because childlike innocence makes her unable to understand how bad their situation is (the narrator says her friend's dad is always angry because their house is haunted).

Lyric parallels: "oh, darling, I don't wanna grow up"//"I hit my peak at seven"

"memorise what it sounded like when your dad gets home"//"I think your house is haunted/Your dad is always mad and/That must be why"

4. 'Better Than Revenge' and 'mad woman'

Taylor describes the effect of female anger on ppl around her, but 'BTR' is directed at someone else who got caught in the crossfire, while 'mad woman' is about Taylor directly taking her anger out on the person who did her wrong. Also, in 'BTR', the narrator is angry because her man left her for someone else, but in 'mad woman', this behaviour plainly does not fly™ and Taylor attacks the sexism behind it AS SHE SHOULD~

Lyric parallels: "there is nothing I do better than revenge"//"no one likes a mad woman"

"she's not a saint and she's not what you think/She's an actress"//"women like hunting witches too, doing your dirtiest work for you"

"she took him faster than you could say, 'sabotage'"//"the master of spin has a couple side flings/Good wives always know"

5. 'Innocent' and 'epiphany'

These are both about someone going through smth traumatic/smth that they keep going back to and describing how to deal with those situations, while also reassuring the person in those situations. In 'Innocent', their response is going back to the event at night, but in 'epiphany', the response is to never speak about the event again.

Lyric parallels: "did some things you can't speak of"//"some things you just can't speak about"

"you're still an innocent"//"keep your life, son"

"at night you live it all again"//"just one single glimpse of relief/To make some sense of what you've seen"

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Rita Hayworth, 1941. This was the most popular pinup photo among American soldiers and sailors during World War II.

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Why 'epiphany' and 'marjorie' Are The Most Beautiful folklore/evermore Parallel

I'm writing this because I need SOME APPRECIATION for some of my favourite songs Taylor's written that just don't get enough love.

From the beginning, the narrator of 'epiphany' is teaching smth to the people in the song. The World War II soldier needs to learn to "keep your helmet, keep your life, son", while the COVID medic must learn "something med school did not cover".

In 'marjorie', the verses are what Marjorie taught Taylor, and she learns to "never be so kind, you forget to be clever" and vice versa.

The bridges are direct opposites: in 'epiphany', Taylor is reassuring both the soldier and the medic that they'll get "just one single glimpse of relief/To make some sense of what you've seen", and that they're not alone in what they're going through because "with you I serve, with you I fall down, down". In 'marjorie', it's the opposite and Taylor is all alone with only her grandma's advice to comfort her, because she "should've asked you questions, I should've asked you how to be" but didn't.

Also the OUTRO OF BOTH actually just sends me every time because TAYLOR I WASN'T DONE CRYING TO RED but:

'epiphany' ends with the beeping of a hospital monitor and silence to pay tribute to the COVID medic, and 'marjorie' ends with Marjorie's vocals in the background.

ANYWAY both of these songs are actually the most beautiful, haunting tributes that Taylor has ever written and I RLLY HOPE THEY'RE APPRECIATED MORE!