swiftie-speak-now-stan

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❄️ Speak Now - winter ❄️

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hate when someone's like "you're dead to me" and then i see them at MY wake wearing MY jewelry listening to MY stolen lullabies missing ME in their bones cursing MY name. happens to me all the time these days

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Reblog if you’re currently breathing or you hate yourself and just wish you could be yourself but you’re just so so afraid and you wish you could change things

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I've always considered the main themes of 1989 to be freedom, the recklessness of youth, confidence, letting go of your past traumas, and coming into your own.

These themes are highlighted strategically in three different points on the tracklist.

Track 1 is Welcome To New York. This is the opening number, the one that sets the scene for the rest of the album. The first synth notes mimick the sound of glittering lights and the first line is optimistic "Walking through a crowd, the village is aglow." This is very similar to the opening of Red with "I'm walking fast through the traffic lights/ busy streets and busy lives/ and all we know is touch and go". However, State of Grace opens as a warning: this story is tragically doomed from the start. On the other hand, Welcome To New York is bright with the possibilities of youth. And the lines "When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors/ took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer" let you know exactly what is about to happen.

The midpoint of the album and the lead single is Shake It Off. As a lead single, this song was a fresh start for Swift. The Red album painted her as a lovesick, heartbroken, and sensitive young girl who had taken a tumble into the cusp of adulthood in all the wrong ways. Shake It Off was a new sound and a new theme. Taylor said about the song ""rather than writing a song that was victimized in nature I wanted to write a song that was joyful and give people way to cope with whatever knots of ridiculousness life is doling out to them but also makes them want to dance." The song did exactly what a lead single should do. It hit big. It resonated with millions. Even though the song is very fun and youthful, it appeared to the general public as a more mature take on the same subject than previous songs like Mean and 22. As a lead single, Shake It Off let listeners know that this new album would be about freedom and fun and doing things on your own terms. This theme is further emphasized in the music video for the song. A past common criticism of Swift was that she can't dance. The music video is Taylor basically saying "Yeah, I'm bad at dancing, so what? I'm going to keep dancing because I enjoy doing it." Taylor said herself shortly after the song was released "If they don't like you for being yourself, be yourself even more." As a midpoint on the album, the song is a tonal shift in storytelling, letting you know that a metamorphosis is occuring.

The final point where these themes are highlighted is the end of the album, both on the standard version with Clean and the full version with New Romantics. Clean is moreso about letting go of past traumas and finding freedom in change. The lyrics "I punched a hole in the roof/ let the flood carry away all my pictures of you" invokes imagery of embracing pain head on and then releasing it. The song is cathartic, leaving the listener with hope for the future. Taylor herself made it a point to talk about the meaning of this song every night on the 1989 World Tour. "You are not the opinion of someone who does not know you or care about you," she told her audience. This links back to the message of Shake It Off.

The other (in my opinion, "real") ending to this album is New Romantics. The theme of this song has been compared to 22 and Shake It Off, but totally is a little darker. The song embraces the chaos of youth. Lines line "We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom" and "We need love/ but all we want is danger" in the verses acknowledge the hurt a young adult can experience. But the chorus spins it into an optimistic point of view: "Every day is like a battle/ but every night with us is like a dream". New Romantics perfectly balances the pain and confusion and drama felt on one half of 1989 and the freedom that comes with self-discovery felt in the other half. New Romantics says that your early 20s are simultaneously the best and worst time of your life. Life is going to be messy, but you don't have to let other people make it worse for you. Surround yourself with people you love and embrace every fleeting moment. The song, and album, ends on the line "the best people in life are free", summing up the theme of the entire theme in one acapella moment as all the shimmering production fades away.

Coincidentally, these three/four songs all maintain similar marking points during the 1989 World Tour. The tour and live performances are another avenue to explore the themes of an album, and the 1989 World Tour continued to do so perfectly. The opening numbers of the show are Welcome To New York, followed by New Romantics. These numbers let the audience know that the rest of the tour is going to be about fun and optimism and stories of youth. The midway point of the setlist is Clean. This song is performed during the most intimate part of the show. Flying a story high on an extended stage to get eye level with the back of the venue, Taylor just finished an acoustic song and launches into a speech to inform Clean. The laser lights and band and back up dancers are stripped away, and it's just Taylor and us. 1989 is sometimes criticized for being overly produced and synthetic, but the live performances of Clean show otherwise. It's significant that this song was chosen to get this treatment; Taylor wanted this song and message to stand out for a reason. The show ends with the bombastic spectacle that is Shake It Off. Taylor is back on the propeller stage, but instead of crying with her audience, she is dancing and celebrating. Her dorky and dramatic moves are on full display as 50,000 people sing-rap the bridge off key and have the time of their lives. This is what 1989 is all about.

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

and they say she abandoned the ship but she was going down with it

The thing is that if she loved him, she loved him. No matter if it was shitty and all of that. She loved him.

well and i think part of growing up (and also something that taylor has been grappling with a lot, because it keeps showing up in her music) is that you can hold two truths at once

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Scrapbook pages for Taylor Swift’s albums

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the way taylor sings “and you’re persona non grata” in the albatross. reblog if you agree.

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Agreed, Lover is still a beautiful love song, it fits denial very well but a song can have multiple meanings

i need y'all to understand that there are joe love songs on the acceptance playlist too. daylight, long story short, invisible string

the playlists aren't about casting her entire relationships aside. they're about acknowledging that in big moments and big feelings, things are complex

the denial playlist is about a belief in something, anger is about finding self respect, bargaining is about losing that self respect in your belief, depression is the admission of that, and acceptance is about giving yourself grace

like it's about a theme, not her telling us little lover is toxic!! it's in the denial playlist because it shows and overwhelming belief in this relationship like y'all put the pieces together and stop looking so close i'm begging you

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Taylor Swift (2006)

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there is an insane amount of antisemitism floating around right now.

i just want to say:

this blog loves and supports jewish people.

this blog does NOT conflate the israeli government, or the atrocities it commits, with jewish people.

this blog is disgusted with those who use or express antisemitism.

this blog knows that if someone needs to invoke antisemitism, they do not actually care about helping palestine or the palestinian people.

this blog will do its best to insure that it remains a safe space for all.

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓🩷

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 🐍

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

1989🪽

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑹𝒆𝒅🧣

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝑵𝒐𝒘💜

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑭𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔🫶🏼

[swiftie-speak-now-stan]

𝑫𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒕👗