#not me sneaking an asib (1976) reference in here

[septembersghost]

Nothing beats falling cardigan tbh. I am usually not a fan of mashups but holy cricket........that was literal perfection. It was the song that made me wish they never dated. Their voices work so well together and if you didn't know the songs,you would probably think it is a collab. It's a shame that it's not popular enough

this one? 💚

i'm still not over the imagery in the cardigan video echoing moments from the falling video to the point where it looks intentional, but was probably entirely coincidence? what, i ask the universe, was the reason?!

here's why i think there's a particularly captivating, almost old hollywood romance aspect to their story (and i always feel like i should be clear i don't say this in a current "shipping" type of way, but it is really an intriguing artistic question) - had they not dated, maybe they could've musically collaborated platonically instead, and it would be brilliant because their voices are so beautifully complementary (it's wild how good mashups are, imagine if they created something with intent that was real!). but. if they hadn't dated, and kept coming in and out of each other's lives, and each other's music, they also wouldn't be who they are. not even personally, but professionally as well. that great unspoken dialogue wouldn't be there. what is the album taylor creates following red if not for him? she likely would've pivoted into pop anyway, but that album would not have been 1989, at least not as we know it. (a couple of red tracks vanish too.) suddenly we've lost style and ootw (goodbye to question...? now as well) and ayhtdws and iwyw and hygtg and this love and i know places and wonderland. what replaces them? we'll never know. does any of the trajectory of her life stay the same? is 1989 even as massive? does she meet the same people, go to the same places? her entire career and catalog and life could suddenly shift on their axis. this is true across taylor's life, eliminate one experience, good or bad, and her path changes, but because 1989 was what it was, and serves now as a kind of crossroads, it stands out.

the same goes for harry in many respects - for example, made in the am no longer has certain songs, but far more than that, HS1 is now a *fundamentally* different record. when he goes solo, what does he create? how does it change him and his approach, his emotions, even the core of his songwriting? it's the epitome of - if one thing had been different, would everything be different today? (and i'm not saying the 1 is about this situation at all, but the wondering what-if still makes that a good way to describe it.) i wish we could hear what they might've made together, and yet i love what they actually have made separately. i wish they could work together at some point, but understand why it's impossible.

it's a little bit of a great love story that was never told, and it's a little bit of a potential musical meeting of talent that never happened, and it's a lot...choices and youth and the mystical way the chips fall.

timing is a funny thing.