#dbatc all day

[inwhichiramble]

I look through the windows of this love

Even though we boarded them up

Chandelier's still flickering here

'Cause I can't pretend it's ok when it's not

It's death by a thousand cuts

///////////

I look in people's windows

Transfixed by rose golden glows

They have their friends over to drink nice wine

I look in people's windows

In case you're at their table

What if your eyes looked up and met mine

One more time

Death By a Thousand Cuts /// I Look In People’s Windows

[mystifiedmess]

happy third birthday lover, the hate you get is unjustified<3

[andwewerehappy]

i have a new lover (2019) opinion

[fiapartridge]

cruel summer | jack hughes

"he looks up grinning like the devil..."

jack hughes x reader

summary: it's another hot summer night at the hughes family's lake house, and yours and jack's secret relationship is tested now more than ever...

warning(s): swearing

top 3 songs on lover: cruel summer, cornelia street, dbatc (honorable mention: the archer) and you can quote me on that

You've known the Hughes family for as long as you could remember. Your parents met in college, and since then, your families have spent every summer at the lakehouse together. To say that the three boys and you were close would be an understatement. You guys were inseparable.

When Jack moved to New Jersey to play for the Devils, you had just recently got into Princeton. You both were elated. Sure, it was still about an hour drive away from him, but it beat being in Michigan. Before the move, everyone saw you and Luke as the best of friends, the ones that could barely go a day without seeing each other, the ones where laughing was the only thing in their vocabulary, but when you moved to New Jersey, all of that changed. 

You still talked to Luke and you saw him on occasion, like Christmas break or on Thanksgiving, but not as much as you saw Jack. When Jack learned that you were going to Princeton, he rearranged his entire schedule to make him able to pick you up on the weekends and bring you to Newark to hang with him and the team. They became some of your best friends and Jack, well, you guys were closer than ever.  

You suppose that that was when it all started: the secrecy, the quick kisses, the hand-holding underneath table linen— the start of your secret relationship. Though it was all out in the open in Jersey: you staying at his apartment; in his bed, having an extra toothbrush in his bathroom, wearing his hoodies, and staying up talking until the sun came up. 

After a year of going back and forth between Newark and Princeton, debating whether this whole thing was merely just you guys hanging around each other for your families’ sake, or if it was really something more, Jack felt like he knew the obvious answer. He never wanted to talk to you and be around you because of your families. Sure, that was a factor, but he just loved you, and knowing you. And when he asked you to be his girlfriend, to his surprise, you said yes.

So when summer started up again and Jack Hughes was officially your boyfriend, you knew your families would have a field day with it, so you kept it a secret. You didn’t want things to change, you didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable with you going into his room anymore just like you had done so many summers before, or them being weirded out with the fact that you guys kiss and hold hands among other things. You guys just didn’t want them to see you two differently— especially his brothers. Quinn and Luke— they were your best friends. You couldn’t mess that up.

The boys (along with the addition of Z, Coley, Turcs, Eddy, and Duker, who practically begged Quinn to let them stay for the summer) were in the backyard, playing games in the pool when you walked back inside the lakehouse, water spilling off your swimsuit, dampening up the hardwood floor. 

“Y/N/N, you’re getting the floor all wet,” your mom scolded as she and Ellen sat on the couch, drinking wine and talking about their lives leading up to today. 

You grabbed a towel from the cabinet beside the door, letting it hang over your shoulders as Ellen smiled brightly at you. She waved you over to where they were sitting. “Oh, let me see my beautiful, Y/N/N.” 

You grinned upon hearing Ellen’s voice. She was like a second mother to you. You came to her for almost everything. And Ellen loved her boys, but you, you were like the daughter she never had. “You, darling, are stunning,” she beamed. “Come, sit.”

You sat on the carpeted floor, not wanting to mess up the couch. “How’s college?” Ellen asked.

“It’s— a change, but I really like it.”

She raised her brow humorously. “Any boyfriends?”

Hm. You figured the first night of summer may not be the best time to tell her that you are dating her fucking son. So, you shook your head and said, “No. Uh, that department’s still in development.”

She laughed. “I remember when you and Lukey would chase each other around the house when you were little. You’d knock over every single vase in sight. We’d spent a thousand dollars on repairs that month.”

You scrunch your nose. “Sorry.”

“No, no!” she waved it off. “You kids were having fun. I missed it when you guys were kids. The boys have been— stressed to say the least, but the second Jack found out you were going to be in Jersey with him, it’s like his whole demeanor shifted. This past year, it’s like… he’s only been happy.”

“Speaking of Jack,” your mom turned to the figure walking through the backdoor. 

“I was wondering why the lemonade was taking hours,” he smiled at you. “Hi, moms.” He kissed the top of his mom’s head and kissed your mom’s cheek as he stood behind the couch, beaming at you. He loved seeing you with his mom. Every girl he dated in the past had good relations with his mom, but they were never you. You’d known her since birth. No one had a bond like you two. 

Maybe that was another fear; why you had to keep this whole thing a secret. What if Ellen hated you? I mean, she never could. She always anticipated you ending up with one of her boys, but there was still some fear lingering in the back of your head; that maybe she’d think of you differently.

“Sorry we stole her,” Ellen said. “We just needed some girl talk.”

“That’s never good.”

Ellen threw a pillow at him as he ducked, grabbing your hand and pulling you up towards the kitchen. “Go, go, go!” he yelled as you laughed behind him.

When you two finally made it into the kitchen, checking if anyone was around, Jack slowly backed you up against the counter, a smirk dancing across his lips as he held onto your hips and kissed you. You sighed into the kiss, placing your hands on his sub-burnt cheeks. There wasn’t much time for intimacy like there was back in New Jersey, so you took every slim chance you had.

“What’d you guys talk about?” he whispered, his lips still a close distance from yours as if moving a bit farther would ruin the electric atmosphere around you.

“College, you, boyfriends.”

“Boyfriends?” he looked at you, grinning like the devil before tickling your sides as you laughed, pushing his hands off of you. “What’d you say?” he asked once he was done attacking you with tickles. His hands remained on both sides of the counter, trapping you in him. You both glanced at the entrance from time to time, making sure the coast was clear.

“What? You jealous?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m so jealous. Let me go beat up this boyfriend of yours,” he said before pretending to hit himself in the face. 

“Okay, okay, okay. This is getting embarrassing,” you laughed, scrunching your nose at him as you walked around him and pulled out the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge.

Just as Jack was about to pull you back into him, he jumped backwards upon hearing Luke’s voice enter the room. “God, you guys are so fucking slow. What are you doing? Making out?”

Your face turned beet red as Luke shook his head and took the pitcher from where you placed it on the counter.

“Why? Is that what you and Duker are doing outside?” Jack asked, smirking.

Luke scoffed, rolling his eyes. “How have you never noticed that Duker and I have something going on? It’s like you don’t even pay attention anymore, Jacky,” he said, shaking his head before shuffling out the door and back outside to the pool.

You let out a breath, laughing as Jack wrapped his arms around you, matching your energy. 

This was going to be a long summer. 

[that-was-a-bit-stupid-of-you]

ttpd review: thoughts (and prayers)

cuz wtf was that. (also providing my two cents that no one gives a shit about)

Is the promotion in the room with us?

Not going to lie, this part pissed me off. As a post evermore release swiftie, the first album release I got was midnights. And while the promotion for midnights wasn't astoundingly genius, the track list release (midnights mayhem with me) was smart. Everyday, there would be chaos all over social media of taylor taking out a number and releasing the track name. The excitement over YOYOK was to die for. But after reaching peak fame, girlie just decided shit wasn't necessary anymore. Absolutely no promotion for ttpd, except a few lyrics that provided no context (or excitement) whatsoever. That, and the very non subtle "hinting" of some big reveal of what went down between her and joe, by making some playlists, that not only ruined the perspective of many of her fans and the relationship they had with her previous songs, but ALSO. THE ALBUM HAD BARELY ANYTHING ABOUT JOE. (Not that i personally care about what happened, but it was so unnecessary to center the ONLY promotion done around someone who was barely a part of the album). Swifties went on the internet to harass joe alwyn (and his female coworkers) who might as well be called a special mention on a matty healy album. Why even do all that then? We will never know.

Confusion?

taylor released 31 songs, and while a double album theory coming true would be a dream come true for any swiftie, it just... wasn't. Out of 31 songs, barely 10 stood out. Some of it just didn't make sense, in any way. "Why is this on the album?" "This sounds like a midnights vault track." "No issues, maybe this is just a skip. I'll listen to the next. Oh wait nvm. Um." Like girl what. It just feels like a giant vault album of synth pop music.

Also, it's called the tortured poets department. There is barely anything poetic or tortured about the album aesthetic. Except maybe it's torturing me, but I'm as much of a poet as she is, which basically means I'm not one.

The album just feels so different than the other albums, in the sense that they followed an aesthetic, a certain style of music and lyrics, and created some sort of story. This one just feels like she wrote many songs and put them all on an album, picked whatever track name seemed interesting enough as the album name, and called it a day. Some of the songs are gems, some create a confusion as to why they are on this album, and some just make you cringe- or atleast go "wtf". Which is fine, but if not even half the songs fall under the first category out of 30 songs, then it's a problem.

These were written by... taylor?

The lyrics omfg. I'm not going to be one of those ppl who go around saying that the lyrics sounded like an emo middle schooler (I've heard this take) BUT again, some songs have lyrics that make you question how taylor, someone who wrote the albums folklore and evermore, and many great songs like would've, could've, should've, story of us, all too well, fearless, white horse, dbatc, daylight, red... I could keep going tbh, produced...this.

It was very weird to listen to the words "tattooed golden retriever" from someone who wrote "handsome, you're a mansion with a view" (also who the FUCK is calling matty healy that??)

A very important part of taylor's music is how it is focused on the lyrics. The music itself isn't the most special, or different, in most of her songs, but what makes them (and her) special is her songwriting. However, from her songwriting going from commonly used phrases and idioms to make them tell a story, use a wide range of vocabulary, heavily using personification, allusion, transferred epithet, and a few other figures of speech that she uses in her songs to make elements such as colours, for example, tell a story, in a way it seemed effortless and fit perfectly, to this... now it feels like she's trying to do that, but that's it. She's TRYING, and it's not yielding results, and seems more like a try hard "poet" rather than... whatever she was going for. The songs are filled with self-satisfied "clever" metaphors that are being reused and recycled over and over. This is not what ppl meant when they asked you to be more environmentally friendly, taylor.

Final thoughts I guess?

While the songs are basically only an empty shell of something that taylor used to make, the album isn't all bad. Some of the songs do sound good and go well with taylor's voice (aaron dessner, the fucking legend you are) and are quite enjoyable, if not as memorable as her other songs.

There are songs such as the prophecy, clara bow, so long, london, loml, guilty as sin?, etc., that really do come through and honestly I really like them.

I do feel that the album can grow on people, but it's just... not the best. Like she says so much, and not to quote taylor swift, but genuinely the only thing in my head right now is "the more you say, the less I know".

Overall, the album is fine, but not in taylor swift standards. It's just... not bad, with some exceptions.

[spade-riddles]

I’m a LONGTIME Kaylor & SR follower, but these coded messages are a bridge too far for me right now. It feels like DBATC to get all these strange, indirect messages that insist we are so close & something big is around the corner when it has been this way for YEARS. If something is going on behind the scenes, maybe “The Mastermind” will reveal it one day. But I think I’m over parsing poetry & guessing emojis’ meaning. Sorry for the negativity, but they are starting to feel like salt in the wound

[call-me-maggie13]

What’s it like working in a male-dominated environment where everyone is between the ages of 17 & 24? I’m so glad you asked.

“Hey, how do I professionally tell [district manager] this ain’t it, Chief?” - my 19yr old site manager

“Bug race. Bug race. Bug race. Bug race.” - this chant went on for 40 minutes while they scoured for bugs to race in a maze they’d built

“Is my [literally anything] supposed to do this? {proceeds to show themselves doing something that they definitely should not be able to do} It kinda hurts when I do.”

[random screaming]

“What would happen if I ate this?”

{new guy tries to be chivalrous and hold the door for me} “dude, why’d you do that?”

“Because gentlemen hold the doors for ladies?”

“Man, she ain’t a lady. She’s Maggie. Doesn’t count.”

“Pulp fiction isn’t even a good movie.” - this got me kicked out of the group chat for three weeks

In the group chat: [monkey meme] [monkey gif] [monkey stock photo] [monkey trivia fact] [monkey video] [link to monkey video on YouTube] “munky munky”

“Maggie, my girl is mad at me and I can’t figure out why.”

“are you asking her bc she’s a girl?”

“No dude, I’m asking her bc she’s smarter than us.”

“I don’t think I’m straight. Have you seen Ryan Reynolds? Yeah… I don’t know anymore.”

“Did you know the new soap dyes your hands Barbie pink?” [holds up bright pink hands] cause I just found out!”

[more on the previous one] “bro that’s not Barbie pink, that’s fuschia!”

“No it’s not!” {argues back and forth before new guy joins in}

“I think it’s more of a periwinkle.”

“Bro, periwinkle is a purple. Have you never looked at a color before in your life?”

[random projectile flies past my head] “shit! Incoming!”

[random push-up contest]

“Do you think my dog knows I would die for her?”

“You guys know when [vague hand movement] just kinda [even vaguer hand movement] and you just [weird and vague hand movement]?”

“Bro, yes.”

“What were you listening to in your car when I pulled up?” [proudly] “the cheetah girls, bro!”

“Do you think I could take a badger in a fight?”

[random period of absolute silence that either lasts forever or is ended by a random scream]

[someone finds a stick] “you shall not pass”

“You are what you eat, right?”

“Bro what? We’re talking about baseball.”

After the entire staff had heard about me making friendship bracelets for the Taylor Swift concert, I had 4 (out of 6) of them ask me to make them one.

“Do you ever just [like two minutes of complete silence], ya know?”

“I don’t think meeting God could even compete, dude.” - I have no context for this statement

“Sometimes, I just [heavy sigh] and sometimes it’s enough.”

“I need new songs to scream in my car.” [shows them Cruel Summer and DBATC by Taylor Swift] “Dude, make me a playlist. I need more songs like these!”

[loud clattering] “Oh shit. Don’t tell, [manager].”

Manager : “what’d you break?”

“Who decided our company mascot should be a pigeon?”

Manager gives vague answer about corporate and how we’re a car wash so it makes sense.

“Well, they’re dumb. I think our mascot should be a racecar.”

“Do you think I would get workers comp if I had a mental breakdown?”

“No.”

“Damn. Imma reschedule it for my day off then. Hey, [manager], can I have two days off back to back next week?”

“Do I get commission for the customers I scare away?”

“That’s the opposite of how commission works.”

“Well, I’m up to three today.”

[random old guy makes a comment about how women shouldn’t try to do a man’s job] “dude, acting like a dick doesn’t make yours any bigger.”

“Does anyone wanna watch Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper with me on Tuesday?” [everyone said yes] - we’re going to see the new Barbie movie together for “team bonding”

“Did you know that if you do this [proceeds to do some weird flippy thing that makes him fall], you can bruise all your ribs at the same time?”

After seeing a video of Taylor Swift diving into the stage at the Eras Tour : “dude, it’s a really good thing she’s a singer and not a swimmer because that was a bellyflop.”

“Wait. Is Hozier a lesbian?” - I have no context for this question

“If I was a worm, you guys would still play COD with me right?”

“No. We’d lose.”

“We could team up against him and beat his worm-ass!”

“Shit yeah! Then yes.”

[random dancing]

“I wanna jump in that puddle…”

“then jump in it?”

“Ok bet” [spends the last five minutes of his shift splashing in a mud puddle]

“Dude, my [12 year old] sister just got dumped by her boyfriend, what do I do?”

“Take her on a date, dude. I take my sisters out all the time because they should know how a dude should treat them.”

[random trauma dumping] “but yeah, lmao, right?”

Me: [chillin] [randomly gets picked up and carried] - this is an action I have approved, it is both hilarious and fun

“Don’t be weird about it, bro.”

“I’m not gunna be weird about it, bro.” [proceeds to be absolutely weird about it]

“What’s your favorite candy?” [tells them] [receives a two pound bag of my favorite candy the next day] “I’m sorry I yelled at you last week.”

[after he was invited to a party with drugs & alcohol] “My therapist said I shouldn’t do that anymore. It’s shit for my mental health.”

“Okay, bro. We can just play COD instead.”

[randomly tackling each other in the grass]

“Dude, I love you so much, bro. You’re an awesome guy to be friends with.” [proceeds to smack each other back and forth for like three minutes straight]

[complaining about how his seven-month-old is going through a sleep regression and he hasn’t slept more than two hours in a week] “dude, that sucks. I can ask my mom for tips, if you want?”

[random video clip sent in group chat] “wait, Maggie don’t watch that” [watches it anyways] “bro, that’s a video of you and your cat playing peek-a-boo, why couldn’t I watch that?” - I never got a response

[quiet giggling] manager: “what are you doing?”

“Nothing!” - they were hiding his clipboard

“Bro, Taylor Swift probably wrote a song about it.”

“That was literally so homophobic, it’s homoerotic.”

[in the group chat] “Y’all, I have news.” [all but one person responds asking about it] “I wanna wait until everyone responds” [four hours later, the last person responds asking about it] [ten minutes of silence] “oh, yeah. I’m gay.” - this man has been out for over a decade. Everyone already knew. This was not news.

[random tiktok link] [random tiktok link] [random tiktok link]

“Does anyone know how to use epilepsy?”

“Epilepsy? The seizure thing?”

“No the three dots.”

“Bro, that’s ellipsis.”

“I thought that was the exercise machine.”

“No, that’s an elliptical.” - I know this is a tiktok trend now, but this entire conversation was dead serious

“Do I need to go to the hospital if I got bit by a squirrel?” [everyone yells at him to go to the ER] [someone asks how he got bit by a squirrel] “I wanted to know if they were as fluffy as they look.” - he has confirmed that they are, indeed, as fluffy as they look but you most certainly should never attempt to pet a squirrel

“Bro look at this” [picture of something brutal and gory] “isn’t that cool?”

“I think I could be a professional driver.”

“Didn’t you break your axel by hitting a curb?”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t drive.”

[womanexile]

Peter

Forgive me Peter

My lost fearless leader

In closets like cedar

Preserved from when we were just kids

Is it something I did?

The goddess of timing

Something Great-“one day I’ll come into your world and get it right”

Lay Down (HS unreleased)”We were never meant to make it, This time”

I Love You- “maybe if I got my timing right, I wouldn’t end up alone”

Once found us beguiling

She said she was trying

Peter, was she lying?

My ribs get the feeling she did

And I didn’t wanna come down

I thought it was just goodbye for now

Suburban Legends-“when you told me we’d get back together”

Sigh of the Time-“we can meet again somewhere, somewhere far away from here”

Your said you were gonna grow up

Then you were gonna come find me

Said you were gonna grow up

Then you were gonna come find me

Said you were gonna grow up

Then you were gonna come find me

MMITH-“I gotta get better, I gotta get better”

Words from the mouths of babes

Promises oceans deep

Don’t Let Me Go (HS unreleased)-“I promised one day that I'd bring you back a star”

But never to keep

Oh, never to keep

I Love You-“I didn’t come back and I wasn’t there”

To Be So Lonely-“don’t blame me for falling, I was just a little boy” “Wasn’t ready for it all”

Little Freak-“I disrespected you Jumped in feet first, and I landed too hard, A broken ankle, karma rules”

Are you still a mind reader?

A natural scene stealer?

I’ve heard great things, Peter

But life was always easier on you

Than it was on me

Slut!-“I’ll pay the price, you won’t”

NTWDT-“You went to a party, I heard from everybody, You part the crowd like the Red Sea”

Willow-“life was a willow and it bent right to your wind”

And sometimes it gets me

When crossing your jet stream

We both did the best we could do

Underneath the same moon

In different galaxies

Lay Down (HS unreleased)”Two Hearts are divided, Now that we’re worlds apart

And I didn’t wanna hang around

We said it was just goodbye for now

And I won’t confess that I waited, but I let the lamp burn

This Love-“lantern burning, flickered in my mind for only you”

DBATC-“chandelier’s still flickering here”

Golden-“I’m hopeless, broken, so you wait for me in the sky”

As the men masqueraded, I hoped you’d return

With your feet on the ground, tell me all that you’d learned

‘Cause love’s never lost when perspective is earned

And you said you’s come and get me, but you were twenty-five

Sunflower Vol. 6-“but I’ve been trying hard no to act a fool” “let me inside, I wanna get to know you”

And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired

Lost to the “Lost Boys” chapter of your life

Forgive me, Peter, please know that I tried

To hold on to the days

When you were mine

But the woman who sits by the window

Has turned out the light

Taylor also references Peter in cardigan

“Peter losing Wendy”

The cardigan mv has many parallels to Harry’s Falling mv

On the Spotify canvas for Peter it has the typewriter set at 20. 20 is a Haylor number.

[corneliaavenue]

I am so sorry for all of the acronyms

[foxes-that-run]

Little Freak

Did you dress up for Halloween? Little Freak is a sweet song, Harry is thinking about an ex and looking at the relationship with distance. It has many references to Taylor. It was written when he was in Tokyo Oct-Dec 2018. Taylor had her last Reputation concert 21 November, 2018 in Tokyo.

Little Freak was written on bad rental gear, he said it went through 19 versions before finally being on Harry's House. Ophelia is possibly written at the same time, it references Tokyo. TBSL is similar, references Taylor in a similar way, but Harry said it was written in Bath later.

To Howard Stern, Harry said if a song didn't make a previous album why would it make this one, however noted 2 songs on Harry's House are older, but they fit sonically on the album. There is another great post here.

Lyrics

Little freak, Jezebel You sit high atop the kitchen counter Stay green a little while You bring blue lights to dreams

Jezabel is possibly a reference to 'Slut!' Taylor also references this line in the opening of the Bejewelled MV "the prince would not have anything to do with that Harlot again."

Harry references kitchens in Haylor songs Sunflower Vol 6 (kiss in the kitchen), Two Ghosts (fridge light washes the room white), here it is a device to remember a calm intimacy with his muse

A Blue film is an adult film, the last line is a wet dream.

Starry haze, crystal ball Somehow, you've become some paranoia A wet dream just dangling But your gift is wasted on me

The starry haze, crystal ball is a reference to the Ready for it...? MV. Which is about Harry, he also referenced it in To be so Lonely. Ready for it also references a sexual dream "In the middle of the night, in my dreams (eh) / You should see the things we do (we do), baby" It was an impressive tour open too.

The paranoia refers to the complicated nature of their relationship (Fine Line, DBATC) he is asked about her a lot and while their songs imply they interact, they are almost never seen together so they may work hard at that.

The wet dream, just dangling, to me means unfinished business with her that he doesn't know how to resolve.

He feels her musical gifts are wasted on him, (they aren't Harry, you're the best muse)

This producer video comments on the use of a Linn drum machine as something Jack Antonoff uses on Taylor Swifts songs. (26:30)

I was thinkin' about who you are Your delicate point of view, I Was thinkin' about you I'm not worried about where you are Or who you will go home to, I'm Just thinkin' about you

This verse refers to another Haylor Reputation song, Delicate, which also tells of sexual tension. However, here Harry uses the song title to flatter her and adds that he is not feeling possessive, just thinking of her.

Did you dress up for Halloween? I spilt beer on your friend, I'm not sorry A golf swing and a trampoline Maybe we'll do this again

This verse refers to Taylor and has links back to their time dating.

Taylor does dress up for halloween, like this 2014 1989-era Pegacorn. Harry and Taylor were also both in Tokyo a few weeks after Halloween

The spilt beer is often thought to be this photo of him with Karlie Kloss on a fashion persons yacht. It looks like water in front of him but I like to imagine this is it.

Blank Space MV Taylor took a golf club to a classic luxury car. Harry has many nice classic cars. In the Red era when they first dated Taylor had a trampoline on her tennis court and it also featured in the 22 MV.

in the close he asks maybe we'll do this again, I interpret that as maybe be together again one day. Olivia, WITW and Someday maybe have similar messages.

Tracksuit and a ponytail You hide the body all that yoga gave you Red wine and a ginger ale But you would make fun of me, for sure

Above I have a grab from Miss American, which was filmed during the Rep tour, in most of the back stage, home or recording scenes she is wearing a variation on a tracksuit and ponytail.

Red wine and ginger ale mixed is a seltzer type drink, here it is an 'easter egg' as there are red wine references in a lot of Haylor songs: DBATC (My time, my wine..), Clean (You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore), Maroon (The burgundy on my T-shirt when you splashed your wine into me), Olivia (This isn't the stain of a red wine, I'm bleeding love) and Grapejuice ("Give me something old and red")

I disrespected you Jumped in feet first, and I landed too hard A broken ankle, karma rules You never saw my birthmark

In the last verse Harry has started reflecting on how things ended, he acknowledges he disrespected Taylor. This may refer to the time in Now that we don't talk.

Harry broke his foot playing football while on tour in Ireland in October 2015, this is close to the time period in NTWDT, Harry includes a reference to Karma, Taylors maybe album, evential song from that time period.

Harry has a birthmark on his back so many think this means he has and will never turn his back on her. (I have seen another fandom say this means they were not intimate, dude- strangers on the internet can link to it)

to me the birthmark is not literal, I think she never saw his full self because of his age & the band. He spoke to both Howard Stern and Zane Lowe about all of his adult decisions being made as part of a group from 16-20. It was in a context of leaving One Direction. To me this emotional coasting (he says he was 'away' in TBSL) was a factor in the events of NTWDT and Is it over now?

But both of these are true, he won’t turn his back on her and he wasn’t his full self then.

[taylorrepdetective]

As a gaylor, I always felt Sweet Nothing was a sad song because the line “all that you ever wanted from me…” is past tense. I found it really interesting that she said publicly that she wrote it with Joe as if to make it sound so romantic when I’ve always viewed it as pretty melancholy. She’s a master with words and getting across the stories that she wants to, and it would have been so easy to write “all that you’ve ever wanted” and make it present tense, but she didn’t. I don’t have any strong opinions about behind the scenes things but I just wanted to say that I can see why hetlors are saying it’s actually sad when no longer believing T & J are in love, I guess

Yes! You can believe this. It’s fine to have this sort of interpretation of any Taylor song. Take one word or tone or twist (in this case it feels past tense) and adjust its meaning away from the most obvious. She does this and we shouldn’t ignore it. So I am fully supportive of you having this interpretation. It’s not my interpretation. But that’s fine!

But more of what I’ve been talking about (and have talked about for years):

She writes songs that almost always have some sort of sad, “haunting” quality about them. But you also have to look at it in complete context. You can’t see evermore as the saddest breakup album of all time and just ignore the existence of Long Story Short and the last verse of Evermore. You can’t only see Maroon and ignore Mastermind and Paris. You shouldn’t ignore all the other context clues we get from her in her performances and videos, interviews, dates she does things, and merch etc… It’s hard to figure her out because she makes it hard. But she does seem to like to give clues that can be obvious but also gives her plausible deniability.

But it’s specifically the blanket retconning that gets me. One day an album comes out and people who believe she’s in a happy long term relationship interpret songs as straightforward happy songs (Lover, Peace, there are so many), while ignoring a song that is devastating like DBATC, Exile or Hoax, or Happiness, and just attribute them to fiction or about a friend or about the distant past or about her masters, but then later when they decide that she wasn’t in such a happy long term relationship like they thought, then they take that inherent sadness and haunting quality and turn it the whole thing into a breakup album, ignoring the fact that she can be singing about fiction or about a friend or about the distant past or about her masters.

The songs haven’t changed, only their perspective changed. I see it over and over and over again. And when this happens over and over and over again, maybe people should take a step back and think A) well maybe all of her love songs have this haunting quality because of a deep basic reason about the situation she finds herself in that no matter how solid a relationship might be, there’s always this THING hanging over it that won’t allow her to just be happy. That thing might be crippling depression, it might be trauma, being in an incredibly complicated situation, it might be fame, she might be gay, or you know ALL OF THE ABOVE. But it doesn’t mean that she’s not basically happy with the muse of that song. Especially in private like described in Sweet Nothing. B) sometimes she writes a song about a devastating moment but it doesn’t mean it’s the end of a relationship moment. C) sometimes she makes a song that’s about something completely unrelatable to a normal person, and she changes it to be about something that is relatable because her job is to sell records. And D) maybe we don’t know everything about her private life and aren’t good at figuring it out through her lyrics because she doesn’t want us to know everything, and so we should approach things using words like “maybe, I think, I could be wrong, here are a few possibilities, who knows?” Etc etc etc instead making our account’s entire personality about being an expert on Taylor swift’s life like you have been there in the room with her during it all.

When I say this I am thinking of a few different specific blogs and TikToks, mostly on the Toe side of the spectrum, but we see it on the gaylor side just as much. I am guilty of it sometimes too (more so in the past I think, but you know I do have strong opinions too and sometimes I unequivocally state them.)

All that being said, I have chosen to take the most straightforward interpretation of Sweet Nothing. It’s about her private home life being an oasis from the craziness of her life outside and one of the best things about her lover is that they don’t want anything from her other than her. It’s “you like me for me” expanded out. I interpret it as she just really really values this “normalness” she gets at home, and that normalness really is something only the muse of this song has been able to give her. And as always, home doesn’t have to be a physical place. And, luckily for us, because it’s from the album midnights that she said is about different midnights throughout life, you can choose to make this scene be happening at any time when she was happy with her lover. It doesn’t need to be the way things were at the moment she sat down to write it. It doesn’t have to be turned into some sort of sad song about the process of breaking up because you believe she broke up with the subject. This is why her writing ever since she sat down to write DBATC, and explained it to us,is so much more interesting to me. She very specifically told us with that song (the last known song written for lover) that she was going to be writing things that can be seen as hypotheticals in the future so we’d better get used to it! Folklore!!! That’s why it’s my pinned post.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

(Look away)(So with all the hoaxy revelations of late are we getting to the point where it might turn out that DBATC was inspired by a movie that perhaps resonated with Taylor for… reasons? 🫣)(I’m still taking her at her word until she says otherwise but man today was a day on the dash lol)

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Lover

High highs (dbatc, cornelia street, cruel summer) and low lows (we know which ones those are).

This album is especially important to me and in a way I think it saved me before it even came out in 2019, owing to months and months of anticipation of its release. And when it released, it was everything and more.

Its perhaps a little weak compared to its predecessor and successor albums in terms of concept. I mean, an album dedicated to love itself? Babe thats ALL OF THE TAYLOR ALBUMS *sigh*

Cruel summer is about to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify, making me question (and judge) single choices for promo...but it is what it is.

FAV SONG - 🌸Cruel summer (the bop to end all

bops).

FAV LYRICS- 🌹You hold my hand on the street/ Walk me back to that apartment/ Years ago, we were just inside/ Barefoot in the kitchen/ Sacred new beginnings/ That became my religion, listen (gives me a warm feeling)

🌹I'm New york city

🌹He better lock it down/ Or I won't stick around/ 'Cause good ones never wait (cheeky queen)

FAV BRIDGES- 🌼dbatc,

🌼cruel summer

FAV UNDERRATED TRACKS- ☀️ maathp

☀️ daylight

"Cruel Summer" crossing the 2 b-b-b-b-billion mark is absolute crazy town to me. INSANE. I love this for her? She deserves it?! I so love what Lover has meant to you. Also funnily enough I had a conversation with a friend the other day who made the case that Fearless is actually the superior album that actually expresses love in multiple forms / ways. Which was very fun to think about.

[sunshinelore]

ok here are my very scrambled thoughts (remember this is just silly theorizing based on the lore taylor has given us)

karlie = betty

taylor = james

maybe liz or zoë or someone else = Augustine

in my personal opinion, it’s very apparent in taylors songs that the love of her life was karlie, and in my own interpretation, taylor messed up and karlie left her.

“i lost you, the one i was dancing with”

“when a good (wo)man hurts you, and you know, you hurt [her] too”

“I was dancing when the music stopped”

all of betty taylor apologizes, proving she’s the one who messed up

“I can go anywhere I want just not home”

“I’ll be getting over you my whole”

and more and more and more and more

and as we’ve seen taylor cant stop with the kaylor references on tour, fashion, lyrics, etc. if she had ended things I don’t think she’d be as hung up as she is. I know she has a hard time getting over things/people, but she really is in deep for karlie. Here is my theory I just came up with 5 minutes ago but in my opinion makes sense. disclaimer: im not an lsk i don’t really believe they are in contact but no shame to lsks! I love y’all and again nobody knows what the truth is but them so all love to everybody and I accept all theories🫶

here’s how I think things went

kaylor is dating and they plan their big coming out. circa 2019 lover era. I think she planned the coming out, her and karlie were excited (nervous, but ready to be free) and ready to spent the rest of their lives together (not in a marriedlor way, not yet. I think taylor wanted that regardless, but karlie only wanted it if they came out maybe.) i think karlie wanted a family/kids but clearly they couldn’t have that unless they came out.

“Give you my wild, give you a child.”

I don’t think her and karlie were broken up when she was writing lover. The only song that I think really hints at that is dbatc which I just think Taylor got inspired like I don’t think it was based on current feelings.

maybe taylor got scared or the masters heist stopped it, idk, but coming out fails. I personally believe that taylor got scared because we know how important being liked is to her (I don’t wanna sound too invasive or parasocial 😭) but the sudden switch from colorful to black, the gay pride buildup just for nothing, and miss americana being a…political documentary.

Going from this

To this

We could see how anxious she was from The Archer

“I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost, the room is on fire, invisible smoke, and all of my heroes die all alone, help me hold onto you”

“Combat, I’m ready for combat”

ALL of evermore (the song). I think that song is about the failed coming out 100%

“I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, tryna find the one where I went wrong”

“I rewind that tape but all it does is pause, on the very moment all was lost”

The whole bridge is so failed coming out coded

And when I was shipwrecked I thought of you (the coming out) In the cracks of light I dreamed of you (the coming out) to be certain we'll be tall again (that she’ll get back up) It was real enough (it was gonna happen, it wasn’t just an idea) To get me through (the knowledge that she would one day come out was enough) But I swear You were there. (Maybe she’s talking to karlie, maybe she’s talking to fans, maybe she’s re assuring herself that it was a plan and she didn’t make it up or something)

I think maybe after that taylor fell into a dark spot. I’m trying really hard not to be weird and invasive but based on songs, her graduation speech, and Taylor always having lots of drinks at any gathering, I think she might’ve become too fond of alcohol? I wouldn’t say this if This Is Me Trying didnt exist. And also:

“I’m fine with my spite, and my tears and my beers and my candles”

“I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone”

Again, really don’t wanna get too invasive but I think she might’ve cheated on karlie, as maybe an act if self sabotage, a common theme in her music.

“Why'd I have to break what I love so much?It's on your face, and I'm to blame, I need to say Hey It's all me in my head I'm the one who burned us down But it's not what I meant Sorry that I hurt you”

“I thought you were leading me on I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street Before you even knew I was gone”

“I broke his heart 'cause he was nice He was sunshine, I was midnight rain He wanted it comfortable I wanted that pain”

All themes of self sabotage, so maybe she cheated on karlie.

or the failed plan drove a wedge between them, and that’s when Taylor cheated. I think that’s where the folklore triangle comes from. I think karlie broke up with her after finding out. And then we get folklore and evermore

anyway that’s just my own thoughts lmk urs!

[cursed-man-prayers]

Like a Wine-Stained Dress I Can't Wear Anymore

A queer analysis of wine mentions in Taylor Swift’s discography (1989, Reputation, Lover)

You’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore.

The first time alcohol is name-dropped in Taylor’s entire discography is in Clean. I think there’s a lot of meanings to Clean, but when it comes to queerness, it implies that this loss has left a mark that can’t really be washed away. It's a stain she can't get rid of. Clean feels like a desperate attempt to convince herself that she is clean, that she is pure. But the naming of alcohol, and wine specifically, implies maturity and loss of innocence. She can't wear the wine-stained dress because it would be proof that she isn't a "good girl," the persona she desperately clung to, especially before and during the 1989 era. We can see wine as metaphor for queerness, a symbol of Taylor diverging from the image projected onto her from day one.

I’m spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we’re both drunk.

When it came out, Dress was one of Taylor’s sexiest songs. As we know, Dress is also one of Taylor’s gayest songs (especially when paired with the performances of it on Rep tour, including bisexual lighting and a dedication to Loie Fuller). There’s the inherent queerness of the song (“I don’t want you like a best friend,” “All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting,” “There is an indentation in the shape of you”). There’s also the contextual queerness of the song (“Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo,” “Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about all this…” “Our secret moments in a crowded room”).

Spilling wine in the bathtub is a really interesting visual and metaphor. If you spill wine in the bathtub, nothing gets stained. It’s washed away. It remains in secret. When they’re in the crowded room, no one knows about them because the wine (the romantic/sexual nature of their relationship) is carefully hidden and washed away. Additionally, the placing of these lyrics immediately after “and if I get burned, at least we were electrified” implies death. Being in this relationship brings the threat of death (metaphorically or literally). Now, in what world does a white woman being with a white man bring the threat of death?

“Only bought this dress so you could take it off” is also a reference to Taylor’s good girl, highly feminine brand, especially prior to Reputation. While she traded the 1950s housewife dresses of the Red era for the crop tops and short skirts of 1989, Taylor was still a beacon of classic femininity (“I’ve got that red lip classic thing that you like/good girl faith and a tight little skirt” in Style). In a queer context, “only bought this dress so you could take it off” shirks the traditional view of women’s fashion throughout history. “I’m not wearing this dress to impress men. I’m wearing it for you.”

Spilling wine in the bathtub, in secret, where it is washed away before anyone can see it, means that Taylor can get away with being the best best friend of someone without the general public thinking twice about it. Additionally, the placement of a lyric mentioning wine in a song called Dress directly calls back to the wine lyric in Clean.

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust; trying to find a part of me you didn’t take up.

Death By A Thousand Cuts, iconic sad bop, brings wine back into the picture. DBATC also has the lyrics “I get drunk but it’s not enough.” Where before drinking and getting drunk were representative of loving in an uninhibited way, here it is used to try and forget the lover. Lover is an extremely anxious album. Cornelia Street, Cruel Summer, the Archer, Lover (the song), Afterglow, and False God all express anxieties about a potential break up. I don’t know if DBATC is theoretical or literal, but I don’t think one is likely to write this many songs about fearing the loss of an impossibly beautiful love if that love is “stable.” At the very least, DBATC became literal ("now I'm searching for signs in a haunted club" vs. "I washed my hands of us at the club" plus the rest of Hits Different).

In this song, wine represents an integral part of who Taylor is. It’s a stand-in for queerness, as it was in Clean and Dress. The lover consumed her. She can’t look at herself and not see her lover, this person who defined her life for so long. She cannot truly separate herself from the lover, no matter how hard she tries to. Even the drinking reminds her of her lover. She's stained by the love.

Make confessions and we're begging for forgiveness. Got the wine for you.

Ah yes, the somehow sexier, gayer sister of Dress. False God is one of my favorite songs on Lover, and I truly hated it when I thought it was about a man (and also was a purity-culture stricken baby gay). Once again, we have inherent queerness (“We were crazy to think that this would work,” “We might just get away with it,” “Religion’s in your lips/the altar is my hips even if it’s a false god), and contextual queerness (“I’m New York City/You’re the West Village.”) While False God is not the first instance of queer love as religion (see Don’t Blame Me), it’s a very direct iteration of the theme. The false god is their love. It’s heretical and sinful, but they want it anyway. They’ll still worship this love.

Making confessions for forgiveness paired with “got the wine for you” is a metaphor for makeup sex. When things feel wrong, they touch each other (“I know heaven’s a thing”). Hell is when they fight, when they feel like the relationship might end. “But we might just get away with this” is so queer coded I can’t stand the thought of people using this song in a hetero context. You don’t “get away” with a heteronormative straight relationship. That’s literally the norm. The thing keeping them together while everything tries to tear them apart is their love, romantic and sexual. The twist of wine being gay and religious is incredible to me as a religiously traumatized homosexual. While the relationship is “wrong,” they love each other anyway. They still worship this love.

In short, wine = gay. A playlist of Taylor songs that mention wine leaves you with a fruity-ass playlist.

In the next part, I'll look at the lyrics mentioning wine in the 1, august, willow, ivy, and Maroon. I think Maroon is the culmination of what wine means in Taylor's music, in terms of how wine = queerness and the relationship we see evolve and devolve from Reputation to Midnights.

[albiclalepsza]

It's Taylor Swift release day so here's my ranking of all her albums that no one cares about.

1. evermore - subjective perfection. It's as if someone produced a perfect mixture of what I want Taylor to sound like. Incredible, it's a shame she didn't stick to that vibe. Cowboy like me is her best song. She should fire Antonoff and just stick with Dessner.

2. folklore - just slightly behind evermore. It's the one that got me into her music. Wonderful songwriting, great production. Also all the songs are easy to learn and sound great on guitar which is a wonderful addition.

3. 1989 - the perfect Taylor pop record. I was honestly pissed at the Taylor's version because it messed up the pace of the album so badly.

4. Speak Now - sonically diverse, not a single weak spot in this one. Last Kiss is her second best song. Long Live, Dear John, Mean - so many iconic songs on this one. It's also her first album where the songwriting really shines.

5. Fearless - love the vibe of her still being in her country phase but slowly leaning closer to pop. The upbeat songs are great but the slower and sadder ones don't land as hard as on other albums.

6. reputation - another really good Taylor pop. A bit edgier 1989. Don't Blame Me, Dancing With Our Hands Tied, Getaway Car, Dress and New Year's Day are the highlights.

7. Red - THE Taylor Swift album if we're being honest. It's the one that cemented her as a superstar. A lot of great songs here - State Of Grace, Red, Holy Ground, I Knew You Were Trouble, WANEGBT, All Too Well (especially the 10 minute version). Also some of the best Vault tracks (again, especially the 10 Minute ATW). But it's kind of bloated, with quite a few songs that could be cut and not much would be lost.

8. Taylor Swift - I loooove country Taylor. It's a shame this era ended so quickly. Picture To Burn, Should've Said No, I'm Only Me When I'm With You, Our Song? BANGERS. Every track that's a bit slower here is just a skip tho.

9. Lover - bloaaaated. Some phenomenal stuff. False God, which I'm pretty sure is the only saxophone part in Taylor's discography. Cruel Summer, The Archer, DBATC, Lover, Daylight, all really good tracks. But the lows are really low. ME! with Brendon Urie is a crime, and You Need To Calm Down and The Man are not much better. Also it's the album repsonsible for the gaylors.

10. Midnights - I still haven't forgiven her that disastrous rollout. 15 different versions, a special song available only on the variant sold in one venue. There are 23-26 tracks in total (again, thanks to that mess it's hard to tell) and you could easily remove about 13 to have a much better album without losing nothing of value

11. The Tortured Poets Department - maybe it will grow on me but I doubt that. This one is also so bloated, with some very bizzare lyrical choices. That one line in the article about the songwriting collapsing under the weight of the lore was so real. I appreciate that she plays with her vocals more than usual here. Also the moment Dessner takes over the album immediately gets better. FIRE JACK ANTONOFF. Anyway, it's quite a disappointment for now. I've been happier about getting one Cassandra Jenkins track a few days ago than getting two hours of Taylor today.