#taylor swift analysis

[prod-1989]

clara bow being described by one of her directors as “pitifully eager to please everyone” and taylor calling herself a “pathological people pleaser” in you’re losing me. clara bow being a very famous 20s star, a personification of the roaring 20s, and taylor who’s arguably the artist of our generation… oh my heart. MY HEART, TAYLOR.

[agirlwiththoughtsandnegativity]

‼️I think a great message Taylor put in ttpd is that she’s mad at the fans…and good for her. Many fans still don’t see her as human, as a real person, just some toy they can manipulate to entertain them and fit their narrative. Many fans think their entitled to her personal life too: the letter for her to stop dating matty (yes I think Matty sucks but that was just weird af), speculation on who each song is about, the extreme discourse after her and joe broke up, the gaylor shit, even the talk about her and Travis. Taylor is finally saying it is weird to talk about REAL PEOPLE like that, like they’re tv show characters or your little toys. None of us are entitled to Taylor’s personal life and it is extremely odd to believe you should have a say in it. As Taylor says, NO the fans cannot come to the wedding, because we’re JUST FANS. Even now, some swifties need to see Taylor doesn’t know you, she’s not your best friend, not your sister. She makes music for us. She’s not trying to be a little circus for you to direct.

anyways, taylor is a real human, not a puppet. her personal life is hers, not your circus. and taylor doesn’t know you. she appreciates the fans for giving her her career, for listening to the music, but she has never met you; she. is. not. your. friend.‼️

[taylor-on-your-dash]

For me the saddest line of You're Losing Me wasn't "I wouldn't marry me either" but "Remember lookin' at this room, we loved it 'cause of the light". I'm not surprised that Taylor doesn't think that she's worthy of marrying (whatever that means) cause Anti-Hero made clear that she has a low self-esteem. But hearing her singing about something so mundane like a room broke me. It seems like it's a room from the house that Taylor and Joe were looking to purchase. They were looking for a home that was supposed to be theirs. The room she loved is a metaphor for their relationship in a way. Your home is supposed to be the place where you feel the most comfortable. The room had daylight and it was golden but in the end their relationship wasn't

[colorspoem]

⟣ᩨ ｡✱ ᥬ♥︎ 🍝𓋼 𝗵ᦕᩨ𝕝𝕝𝗈ᩚ̼ ⟬✾︴▓⃞👘𓆇｡䕽ଽ ◊◞ ᘚ𝕖ືω͡ ρ✼᥍̼𝘁 ￣￣🧀❔// 𝕷𝕚𝐤ᩚ𝗲 ★ 𝖗̆𝐞𝗯𝗹𝗼̼ᩧ❡ ȣ ☨˚ꔛ彡🦔ͼ𝗼𝗹𝗈ຼ𝖗ຣᩚ..𝕡ܶ𝐨𝗲𑄚 ⚋⚋§፨⌘ ꒦ ༒ 🀄

[bettyshoweduptotheparty]

Speaking of Look What You Made Me Do: A MV Analysis (NOT mine)

Write up of original analysis by fists_on_up on TikTok

I need a writeup of this amazing analysis of the LWYMMD song and music video on my blog, but please note it's not mine.

Author mentions that the two verses are about two different things. Verse 1: Kanye and the Snakegate situation ('tilted stage/ the role you made me play of the fool/ no I don't like you')

There is a chandelier on the floor in the bathtub scene. The author interprets this as a reference to Phantom of the Opera, where a falling chandelier is a warning of revenge

During the first chorus, Taylor sits on the throne in front of snakes. Look what you made me do -> become the queen of snakes

Verse 2: 'Kingdom keys, locked me out and through a feast' -> This is not about snakegate. It's about a different vendetta. She's mad about being locked away from something/someone. In the video she is in a golden cage during this scene. She's wearing Karma orange and eating lobster, but there is also a rat on the table, so it's only fake luxury. The cage is surrounded by 7 men dressed in black guarding her.

The interpretation is that these are her public 'boyfriends' protecting her straight girl image, and, as such, she is not in fact in control of her career, hence the golden cage. The Karma orange suit symbolizes the album/collective music she was never allowed to release because it would have destroyed her image. The author also concludes that because this situation and snakegate are both dealt with in this song, that one was potentially orchestrated to cause the other, much like the masters heist was conveniently timed to foil her coming out plans in 2019.

The next scene is the heist scene, where Taylor is shown with 4 women wearing cat masks. This is in direct contrast to the men around the cage, as the women are helping her in the mission, as opposed to keeping her trapped. The door in the vault is also orange, another reference to music that was locked away because she couldn't release it. She is shown with 4 women in both this scene, and the 'dykes on bikes' scene immediately afterwards. The author interprets this as representing the 4 women who actually inspired her music (rather than the men who get credited with it publicly).

The next scene is a real underappreciated gem, it happens really quickly, so you can easily miss it, but Taylor is picturing herself as the leader of this group of women, called the CAT 🐱 MAGNET 🧲 SQUAD. I'm afraid I'll get censored if I spell it out, but you get the idea. (damn, Taylor!!😉)

With how many lesbian references there are in these second verse scenes, I would have to agree that it seems likely that the second verse is about being kept closeted, and she's being incredibly blunt here out of spite.

Next, we move on to a scene that cuts between two things happening during the chorus: 1. Taylor performing with 8 men in I❤TS Hiddleswift shirts, and 2. Taylor cutting the wings of a plane off with a chainsaw. So, what the previous two situations described in the verses made her do, is add an 8th guy to the line up of 'boyfriends' and ground the plane that was meant to be TS6 (as written on the plane). In contrast to the men around the cage that were holding her captive though, Taylor is performing with these guys, they are working for her. So, instead of just being at the mercy of her captivity, she is taking whatever small amount of charge that she can have over this situation. I would also add, as the author has pointed out the fallen chandelier in a previous scene as a warning of revenge, the scene with the 8 men also has three massive chandeliers handing from the ceiling.

The author concludes that the video confirms the Karma album theory (though we didn't have the name at the time) that was scrapped in favour of reputation. And I have to say, it's pretty convincing. But I'd make one amendment, I think because the TS6 plane gets sprayed over to be reputation, it's not an entirely different plane, some of the songs are in fact on reputation, in some form or another. Maybe with some lyric changes, the plane is inoperable after all. And in order to release an album with such heartfelt love songs, it would make sense that she needed to present a 'long term boyfriend' to the public that those songs could be attributed to.

She also says that it very much seems like the story of vengeance that's told here isn't over yet, and Taylor did once say that it would be years, if not decades before this whole music video would make sense to all of her fans. And Karma orange has certainly made a few appearances lately, so could reputation (Taylor's version) finally make way for its big sister Karma? And will it fly this time?

[juneberrie]

the folklore love triangle: an analysis

my note — i literally just pressed turn in yippee!! i have to present this tomorrow but anyways I wanted yall to read it <3 it sounds super formal but thats cos its. an assignment. its my final. ANYWAYS enjoy my delulu rambling about this :]

— 1.5k words

In 2020, Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, folklore. The standard version of the  album has sixteen songs, with the deluxe version adding on a bonus track. Of the sixteen songs, three of them are linked: betty, august, and cardigan. These three songs and the story they tell are called the folklore love triangle. Aside from these three songs, which were confirmed by Taylor to be connected, there are three other songs that are widely speculated to be part of the story: mirrorball, the 1, and illicit affairs.

There are three main characters involved in the storyline: Betty, James, and Augustine. Betty and James are in a relationship, but one night, at a school dance, James is nowhere to be found when Betty’s favorite song starts playing. He comes back and sees her dancing with another friend of hers, and he gets angry. Then, as a form of revenge, he decides to cheat on Betty with Augustine over the summer. After the summer, he regrets the affair and apologizes to Betty at a party.

The first song in the storyline is august, which is from Augustine’s point of view. The song describes her summer with James. Throughout the song, she repeats the words “‘cause you were never mine” in the chorus, which shows that she knows that James isn't hers and that he still has feelings for Betty. In the bridge, she calls her relationship with James a “summer love”, while in betty, James calls it a “summer thing”. In the outro of the song, Augustine says “remember when I pulled up and said ‘get in the car’ ” which goes with the lyric in betty where James says “she said ‘James get in, lets drive’.” Augustine repeats the same chorus over and over again, which shows how all she had with James was the short summer fling.

The next song in the story is betty, which is from James’ point of view. This is his apology to Betty. After the summer with Augustine, he realizes that he is still in love with Betty. He decides to go to her party and apologize there, where [he assumes] she’ll take him back. He repeats the words “I’m only 17, I don't know anything” which goes with the lyrics in cardigan where Betty says “when you are young they assume you know nothing” and “but I knew everything when i was young.'' A lot of betty sounds like James is trying to make excuses and justify his affair, like when he says “I hate the crowds, you know that/plus I saw you dance with him.” He says that he was nowhere to be found and then gets mad when Betty dances to her favorite song with another friend. He most likely cheated for revenge on Betty for dancing with her friend. He calls Augustine a “summer thing” which contrasts to how she calls him a “summer love.” When he shows up to Betty’s party and apologizes, he hopes that it will “patch her broken wings” which goes with the line in cardigan where Betty says “you drew stars around my scars/but now im bleeding,” showing how James hurt her and wanted to make her feel better.

The song after betty is cardigan, which is from Betty’s point of view. In the first verse, she says “when you are young they assume you know nothing,” which could be how James assumed that she wouldn’t find out know of his affair with augustine, but right after that line she says “but I knew you” which shows that despite how James tried to hide the affair, she still found out (“you heard the rumors from inez'' and also because she would’ve known him well enough to know when he was lying). Later on in the song she says “I knew everything when I was young,” which directly contradicts the line in betty where James says “I’m only 17, I don't know anything.'' The line “a friend to all is a friend to none/chase two girls, lose the one” shows how James tried to stay with Betty and sleep with Augustine but ended up losing both of them. The line “you drew stars around my scars/but now I'm bleeding” shows how James made Betty feel whole and happy but ended up hurting her more. In the bridge, she says “tried to change the ending” which could be referencing James's apology. There's also a line where she says “I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired/and you’d be standing in my front porch light” where she’s basically saying that she knew that once he tired of Augustine, he’d try to come back to Betty, and the porch line goes back to two lines in betty: “Betty, I’m here on your doorstep” and “Will you kiss me on the porch”).

The next three songs (mirrorball, illicit affairs, the 1) are not confirmed to be a part of the storyline, however many fans speculate that they are. 

Mirrorball can be considered to be from James, Betty, and Augustine’s points of views. The line “I’ll show you every version of yourself tonight” can be used to show how [the affair with] Augustine showed Betty what James was really like. The line “I know they said the end is near/but I’m still on my tallest tiptoes…./shining just for you” could show how all three of them are clinging to the hope of romance: james - he knows that both of his relationships with the girls are doomed but he wants to try to save at least one of them; augustine  - summer is coming to a close and she wants to stay with james, but she knows that he regrets betraying betty and wants to go back to her; betty - she’s hoping that the rumors aren't true but deep down she knows that James cheated on her. The lines ‘I’m still on that tightrope/I’m still trying everything to get you laughing at me“ could be from either Augustine or James’ point of view. If it's from Augustine’s POV, she’s trying to keep James with her and not go back to Betty; if it's from James’ POV, it’s him trying to get back with Betty and get her “laughing at [him].”

Illicit affairs is seen to be from both James and Augustine’s POVs. The first four lines of the song show how James is hiding the affair with Augustine from his friends, family, and  from Betty. The line “tell yourself you can always stop” is James trying to make himself feel better about breaking Betty’s heart by cheating on her with Augustine. The lines “So you leave no trace behind/Like you don't even exist” are from Augustine’s POV, where she’s making sure nobody knows of the affair. After that, the line “take the words for what they are” are her making the most of her time with James because deep down she knows that she and him will never actually be a real relationship like the one he had with betty. The lines “They show their truth one single time/But they lie, and they lie, and they lie” could be referring to Inez (and consequently, Betty) finding out the truth about the affair and the lying that James and Augustine did to cover it up. The lines “And you know damn well/For you, I would ruin myself/A million little times” could be James saying that his reputation would be hurt if people found out about the affair, but it could also be Augustine’s way of saying that she loves him because she’s willing to “ruin” herself for the sake of being with James.

The 1 talks about reminiscing over a past relationship. It’s widely seen to be from Augustine’s point of view at a later point in time, presumably when they are all older. The first line of the song (“I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit”) is Augustine after getting over the whole affair ordeal. The line “And if you wanted me, you really should've showed” shows how if James had actually wanted to have a real relationship with Augustine, he wouldn’t have done it just to get back at Betty and he wouldn’t have kept Augustine a secret. The lines “and if my wishes came true/it would’ve been you” show how despite Augustine hoping and wishing for James to be the one, it ultimately didn’t work out. When Augustine says the lines “We never painted by the numbers, baby/ But we were making it count” it could be about she and James making the most of the summer and breaking the metaphorical rules (aka cheating on Betty). Finally, the lines “If one thing had been different/Would everything be different today?” could be Augustine asking James if he had broken up with Betty before or if Betty hadn't found out, would they still be together?

In conclusion, the folklore love triangle is extremely complicated and in depth, but I hope that this has given you at least a basic understanding of the storyline and the characters.

[viivdle]

it's been a long time coming..

Dancing With Our Hands Tied (Jurdan's Version) with @annamatix <3

part 1!!

"I, I loved you in secret" is one of the many lyrics you don't need to use metaphorically for them to fit. he *did* love her in secret, and he hid his feelings with every action he took.

"First sight, yeah, we love without reason" we get a description of what he noticed first when he saw jude, and he was (very obviously, might i add) star struck. he didn't have a reason to be attracted to her. if anything, it was the opposite. his whole life he was taught to hate mortals and find them repulsing, but something about her was different.

"Oh, how were you to know?" i think sometimes cardan regrets his actions. he would do it again just to have the same outcome - being with jude. but i think he regrets how long it took because it cost them valuable time together. even after his feelings were clear, he did things that prolonged the time until they got to openly confess their love.

"And my, my love had been frozen" with everything in his life growing up, nobody reciprocated the love he tried to give, so he locked his heart away the best he could. he tried to freeze it so it wouldn't get hurt, but people still found ways to shatter it.

"Deep blue, but you painted me golden" cardan had a horrible life, nobody needs reminders of it. it's in everything he says and does. she ultimately saved his life in more ways than one. this can also be taken literally. "but you painted me golden" fits the scene in which jude struck him and smeared gold over his face, but that's just a funny thing to add. another way to interpret it (i'm already getting unhinged with this) is that he was with nicasia before he was with jude. not only were they bad together, which painted him blue, but nicasia is the princess of the undersea, nicasia is the deep blue that was replaced with gold, jude.

"Oh, and you held me close. Oh, how was I to know?" it's no secret that jude can lie. and that she takes great advantage of that ability. even after everything, i think cardan still had doubts about her love for him because she *could* be lying. he's very self-destructive and thinks little to nothing of himself. "it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing" is only one of the many admissions to it, verbal or not. while he knows jude loves him, but can't be certain.

"I could've spent forever with your hands in my pockets" screams cardan. he thought he was uncapable of being loved, and she proved him otherwise. he loves with all he has and all he can give, and when he got a taste of what it was like to be loved, he never wanted to let it go again. he would've spent forever with her hands in his pockets, and he would've been happy to do so.

"Picture of your face in an invisible locket" i love love LOVE this lyric, and cardan would too. as i said, he loves with all his might, and he proudly does so. he would 100% wear a locket with a picture of jude in it, nobody questions that. he would love it even more if the locket was invisible to show everyone who has his heart. in the standards elfhame sets, he shouldn't feel proud to love a mortal. he is anyway and after finding out how it feels to love her, he stops caring about it and he would scream it from the top of every building in the kingdom.

"You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it" need i remind everyone of when he was a serpent and knew nothing, not even himself (yes, i'm repeating myself again) but he knew jude? nothing in the world could stop his love for her, literally. and it most definitely something he'd admit to jude.

"I had a bad feeling" has so many meanings for me, looking at it and trying to connect it to cardan. literally, hate is a bad feeling - and he felt it for jude. a lot. cardan, despite his very inflated seeming ego, is extremely anxious when it comes to jude. not only is she the only family he has left, she's the only family he ever had. yes, he had his court. yes, he had a complex relationship with the people in it. yes, said relationship also included love. but no, it was never pure love. jude and cardan's story is anything but pure. it's tainted, bloody, cursed... but their love? it's the purest love in his life.

i know this is very, very long, and i doubt anyone's read it - but stay tuned for the rest of my version and anna's post on her account<33

[badgalazzie]

I absolutely LOVE this concept!! hopefully this theory comes true

[torturedmirrorball]

i've been a fan of taylor since i was four years old singing along to our song but i've never connected to an album the way i have to the tortured poets department. it's such a masterpiece of catharsis and integrating trauma into your identity, whilst trying to find the strength to rebuild your life. it's hopeful, fearful, sarcastic in places, downright vengeful in others, but it paints such an honest and moving picture of recovery. i can't stop listening to it. she's a master of literature and this album really proves that.

[grantaireble]

Lookin' backwards might be the only way forward: Archaism, Dead Languages, & TTPD

I noticed something that I am still formulating thoughts on. I'm not an expert on any of this stuff, but here it is for now:

I think that Taylor is using archaism her lyrics and evoking works originally told in dead languages like stories from Greek Myth and the Bible.

So, Archaic Words are words that belong to an earlier time period and are no longer commonly used. Colloquially, we also use the word "archaic" to mean that something is generally outdated or old-fashioned.

A Dead Language is a language that no longer has native speakers, but does have second-language speakers. Ancient Greek and Latin are dead languages but are still studied a for religious and academic purposes.

Examples of dead/archaic language on TTPD:

Lyrics:

Fortnight= Old English ("two weeks") Fortnight

'Fore (shortened "before")= Old English So Long London

"Bestow upon"= Old English ("to give or present") But Daddy I Love Him

"Tryst" is from "Triste"= Old French ("lookout post") Guilty As Sin

"Bygone"= Middle English ("well in the past, former") imgonnagetyouback

"Post-Mortem"= Latin ("after death")

"Hereby" & "Maladies"= Middle English How Did It End?

Aristotle wrote in Attic Greek So High School

Cassandra is a figure out of Greek Myth which would have been told in Koine Greek Cassandra

Persona non grata= Latin ("unwanted person") The Prophecy

The Albatross references the Rime of the Ancient Mariner which notably uses archaic english words like "Hark" and "Behold" and "Forsooth"

"Rose by any other name" references Shakespeare, who's work is also full of archaisms because of it's age, but who also employed archaism as a literary technique within his work. The Albatross

Other:

CAIL= Old Irish ("reputation")

Anthology is from the Greek Anthologia ("collection of flowers")

The Bible was originally written in Koine Greek (referenced in tons of these songs: The Prophecy, Guilty As Sin?, Clara Bow, LOML, etc.)

One last thing, Taylor recently used the word when speaking about Beyonce:

“She's the most precious gem of a person — warm and open and funny,” Swift said of the Destiny's Child star. “And she's such a great disrupter of music-industry norms. She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices.”

I have been thinking of all this in connection to "The Manuscript" and the idea that Taylor is possibly in the process of leaving some parts of her story behind. Definitely let me know what you think/ if I missed anything/if I'm wrong about the specifics of any of this language stuff!!

[taydaisytv]

i’ve been in like an analysis renaissance lately and keep noticing new parallels (new to me, probs already noticed) but this is one of my favs so far

[agirlwiththoughtsandnegativity]

You look like Clara bow, Stevie nicks, Taylor swift. Taylor saying each one in the song as something someone giving her a record deal would say, but it changes with time. At first it’s Clara bow they’re looking to replace, who they want someone to be a replica of. Then Stevie Nicks, and then Taylor Swift they’re trying to replace. I think what Taylor is trying to say with this is that the industry changes extremely fast, they want a new replica everyday, and they always want that person to be like the current “it girl”. So many record labels/agents are using Taylor and modelling their new artists off Taylor because of her immense current success. If they can re-create that, find someone who looks like Taylor but maybe with “edge she never had” then they think their new artist will have her fame, can take her place. And before Taylor, they did that to people like Clara Bow and Stevie Nicks. 

[dxrlinggxd]

analysing the lyrics to 'august' by taylor swift

this is gonna be a long post but i put a lot of effort into it so i hope you like it <3

before i begin, let me explain the folklore love triangle to the unaware. taylor swift's 8th album, folklore, has a love triangle, with all 3 characters getting a song from their povs. the basic story is this: betty and james are together, james sees betty dance with another guy at a school dance (and to add to it, he has social anxiety). he's upset, and while he's leaving, he runs into augustine. he and augustine have a summer fling, but betty finds out and is mad at him. james then breaks things off with augustine and tries to win betty back. the ending is left up to the audience's interpretation.

[note: taylor has used he/him pronouns for james & she/her pronouns for both betty and augustine, so those are what i will be using in this analysis.]

betty's song is 'cardigan', james' song is 'betty' & augustine's song is 'august'.

i'm going to be doing a deep dive into the lyrics of august, happy reading <3

salt air and the rust on your door, i never needed anything more

the opening line sets the scene. they're near the sea, at a beach, possibly staying in a cabin, a typical setting for a summer romance. augustine says 'your door', not 'the door'. already, he (james) is the one with the upper hand. it's his door, his cabin, his terms, but that's all she's ever needed. she's going along with whatever he wants because she'd do anything & put up with anything if it means being able to be with him.

whispers of "are you sure? never have i ever before"

whispers. this is augustine recollecting what happens, and even when she's reminiscing, they're whispering. the moment is in private. it's precious. there is a fond, longing undertone. even after what has happened, she'd still do anything to get that back. the 'never have i ever before' probably means that this is either her or both of their first time having sex. never have i ever is also a popular teen game, so that lays down a light, playful atmosphere. it's a happy memory.

and the whispers themselves: this could either be 1) a conversation between her & james, or 2) one of them saying both sentences. the "are you sure" sounds like asking for consent. they're probably losing their virginities to each other. either way, one thing is clear: uncertainty is a prominent theme in this memory. they don't know what they're doing, but there's a thrill to the unknown, to the riskiness of it all.

"but i can see us lost in the memory, august slipped away into a moment in time, 'cause it was never mine"

to her, this memory exists outside of time. just thinking about it makes her feel everything she did then. however, she also knows that despite how attached she is to it, she has lost the memory to time. she's holding onto whatever she can, but the truth is, it's gone. it was never even hers. the worst part is that even back then, she knew it never belonged to her. she knew she was nothing but a distraction, a lapse in judgement, but she went with it anyway, because she took whatever she could get. she'd rather be a distraction than be nothing.

"and i can see us twisted in bedsheets, august sipped away like a bottle of wine, 'cause you were never mine"

again, adding to the "never have i ever before" part- they slept together. losing one's virginity is a major experience, and that, coupled with the fact that the experience was with james, makes this something she remembers every single detail of.

when teens drink alcohol, it's rarely wine. it's usually beer, or vodka, but never wine. the usage of wine shows how they were trying to be adults, pretending that they were making a mature decision by being together when really, they weren't.

it was sipped away like a bottle of wine. slowly, they got drunk on august. they took sips, and went about it slowly, day by day, until there was nothing left and they had to face reality. if we're taking it literally, they probably spent the entire summer drinking and hooking up.

and finally, "'cause you were never mine." the first part of the chorus ends with "'cause it (august) was never mine", as if blaming the month, the season, and/or time itself. she was blaming fate. here, though, she switches. it's as if, while reminiscing, she has come to terms with the fact that the problem here wasn't with august, it was with them. with him. it wasn't august that was never hers, it was james.

the difference between 'slipped away' and 'sipped away' is stark. one says that it was fleeting and happened quickly & the other says they took their time with it and enjoyed it. the tone of the memory changes with the emotion that augustine reminisces them with. we must remember that both james & augustine (who narrate what happened) are unreliable narrators.

another interesting detail is this: in the previous line, she says "lost in the memory", which is very vague. she isn't delving into the details, just brushing it off, saying "oh, yeah, it was a nice time i guess, but it's in the past now". she follows that up with "it was never mine". in the second line, however, she gets specific, like she's actually thinking over what happened. "twisted in bedsheets" is a specific memory. and when she really lets herself think about what happened, she needs to accept that HE, not it, was never hers.

"your back beneath the sun, wishing i could write my name on it"

again, visual imagery. the picture being painted here appears to be after james and augustine sleep together. augustine must've woken up before him because she's looking at how his back looks in the sun. she wishes she could do something as public as writing her name on it. it's a metaphor for not wanting to have to be a secret, but she knew, even while drowsy and possibly hungover (remember the mention of wine), that it could never be.

also interesting is that "your back" could also be her saying "you're back". it doesn't make sense in the complete context of the line, but thinking of it as an exclamation, a secret exhale hidden within the lyrics is heartbreaking.

"will you call when you're back at school? i remember thinking i had you"

she's either older than him (which would be weird and illegal because james is 17), goes to a different school, or they never interact at school. for the sake of analysis, i'm going to assume it's the 3rd one, but it's open to interpretation.

which means they weren't friends at school. they did not hang out in the same groups. she doesn't even expect him to acknowledge her in public, all she wants to know is if he might call her. in private. she hates being a secret, but she's begging him to let her be one because all the bare minimum is enough to get her by.

the second line is sadder when you remember that just before this, she was wishing she could write her name on his back, but knowing that she couldn't. she KNEW, the whole time, that this was just a fling for him, but deep down she a part of her still thought he truly cared for her, that she was as important to him as he was to her.

(but i can see us...you were never mine)

"back when we were still changing for the better, wanting was enough, for me, it was enough"

the first part here is a throwback to when they were younger and 'innocent'. when they'd make a mistake, it wouldn't be the end of the world, they'd just learn. that was before her august with james, because that became something she couldn't come back from. if you've heard 'betty', you know that inez, betty's friend, finds out about their fling and tells betty (and possibly more people). seeing as augustine was never a part of their group in the first place, she will likely be always remembered as the girl james cheated on betty with and nothing more than that. this is something that's going to deeply, deeply affect her, both socially and mentally.

but back then, before she'd asked him to get in her car, before the affair, before heartbreak, she'd just been a girl wanting him, and at the time that was enough for her- but it no longer is. now that she knows what it's like to have had him, she doesn't want to go back to merely liking him from a distance.

something else worth noting here is the phrasing of the line. it's as if she's pleading "what you gave me was enough for me, i promise, i don't need anything else, just please come back." or: "i was happy just liking you from the sidelines, but then you turned up and ruined my life", which would have an angry undertone. the beauty of this is that she gives no elaboration, it's just you and your imagination. interpret it how you like.

there's some more wordplay here: when she says wanting, it sounds like she's saying one thing. as in, "one thing was enough." because that's all she needed- him.

"for me, it was enough to live for the hope of it all, cancel plans just in case you'd call and say meet me behind the mall"

the "for me it was enough" makes sense as a sentence both with the line before it and the one after it. the sentiment is the same: she was happy with the arrangement. there are contrasting themes here because she's in a messy situation. she's aware she deserves better. she knows she shouldn't be settling for the bare minimum. but now that she's lost what they had, she misses it and wants it back. she doesn't need anything more than what he's ever given her. even at the time of the fling, she prioritised him so much that she'd even cancel plans in case he decided to call her (again, him being the one to call re-emphasises the fact that he's the one with the upper hand here).

"meet me behind the mall" is, taylor swift herself said, the core of the song. it highlights how secretive they were. they could always lie, say they were going to a mall to hang out with their friends or to shop, and then secretly hook up behind it. it's also interesting when you parallel it to the fact that they were also hooking up along the beach, which is a completely different setting. this implies that this affair lasted for a while. there's alliteration used here, too.

wordplay, again: meet me behind the mall also sounds like "meet me behind them all", which, again, goes to prove how staying a secret was the most important part of their relationship.

"so much for summer love and saying us, 'cause you weren't mine to lose"

a heartbreaking contrast to augustine calling what they had "summer love" is james telling betty (in the song 'betty') that what they had was "just a summer thing". and with the second part of this line, again, we're running in circles. she thinks she deserves better, she wants him back, she's being positive about it and then she isn't. but as we're nearing the end of the song, after going through the myriad of emotions and thoughts she had in the aftermath of the affair, she seems to be coming to terms with a single fact: he was never truly hers in the first place.

(chorus x2)

some wordplay: over here, the words "never mine" repeat. it almost sounds as if she's saying "never mind". as in, forget everything i've said, it's okay, i'm okay.

"remember when i pulled up and said get in the car, and then cancelled my plans just in case you'd call, back when i was living for the hope of it all (for the hope of it all), meet me behind the mall" (x3)

we think the song is over after the bridge and third chorus, but she comes swinging again. the fact that she sings this part thrice shows just how massive an impact all this has had on her. if we take the "never mind" into consideration, this hurts more because she thought she was over it, but she isn't.

she isn't ever going to forget what happened. even though she's come to terms with what has happened, she still can't stop thinking about all of it. she's still hung up, because memories don't let one off that easily.

from 'betty' we know that the fling began after augustine asked james to get into her car. we've only been getting snippets of their time together throughout the song, but now, she's replaying the entire affair, right from the beginning. the line that is sung with the most emphasis is "meet me behind the mall" because this line is what perfectly captures their relationship: lying to everyone about going to a mall and then meeting each other, the promises that he made to her about being with her only for him to ditch her the moment august ended, everything she gave up (like the plans she cancelled) just to be able to spend some time with him, and the fact that all of this was on HIS terms. he was asking her to meet him behind the mall, and now she's the one left reminding herself of all the promises he didn't keep.

before i end the analysis, i wanted to address one more thing: her name. both betty and james are named in the lyrics, but augustine isn't. we only started calling her that after taylor swift said that in her head she calls her either augusta or augustine, meaning that until then, we were all calling her 'the august girl' or 'the other girl'. the thing is, that is how probably everyone in the story thought of her as well. (earlier in the analysis, under the "back when we were still changing for the better" part, i talked a bit about this.)

taylor herself talks about this in 'folklore: the long pond studio sessions', where she says that the 'other woman' is always thought of as a bad person, with augustine, she really, genuinely liked james, trying to act cool in front of him (pulling up and being the one to ask him to get into her car, for example). augustine was intentionally left unnamed, because her story is the one that's always left out.

--

that's the end of the analysis. thank you so much for reading till the end. please let me know if there's anything i left out, i'll add it and credit you.

and to everyone out there who's had their heart broken, regardless of which side of the story you were on, i'm sorry. we all deserve people who acknowledge our existence, at the very least. we deserve to be remembered, to be talked about, to have our emails replied to. we deserve better than the bare minimum, but the sad part is, we don't necessarily even get the bare minimum in the first place. we're all breaking each other's hearts and sobbing into our pillows about it and breaking each other's hearts all over again. i don't know if love is real, or if at some point the cycle stops, but i do know this: spotify is free. as is youtube. and amazon music. and soundcloud. go plug those earphones in and knock yourself out.

@taylorswift @taylornation

[mauradersdaughter]

When I listened to “Midnight Rain”, one of the things that came to my head was Mia and Sebastian from ‘La La Land’. When Taylor says: “I guess sometimes we all get just what we wanted and he never thinks of me, except when I’m on Tv/ and I never think of him, except on midnights like this.” The way that they both had a dream, but weren’t able to reach that with each other. Mia and Sebastian got exactly what they wanted, but they didn’t together. So, in a sad way, that’s a victory for their dreams, but a lost to their love. They needed to be apart to get that. What is sadder staying together and despising your life for not reaching your goals or having all they wanted, expect each other? “So I peered through a window, a deep portal time travel, all the love we unravel and the life I gave away.” This describes perfectly the scene of the ‘what-if’. They seemed happy, but all the choices they made to have that reality was completely different from the one in the movie. All the real choices got them where they were, apart. They are where they were supposed to be, but the other isn’t there.

[spongecakes100]

just the fact that lover is all about fearful love and being afraid to lose someone but masking it with affection and romance. the fact that fearless is about taking that chance and diving into love without thinking of how you’ll lose it or how it could change. the parallels between dancing in a storm and dancing in the kitchen, between “you pull me in and i’m a little more brave” and “i’m so terrified of if you ever walk away” ... fearless being rainy streets that are danced on anyway, and cornelia street being avoided forever after a lost love... miss swift has done it again

[fitpoemslikeaperfectrhyme]

Thinking about these parallels between maroon and all you had to do was stay:

Maroon

Laughing with my feet in your lap, like you were my... closest friend

Sobbing with your head in your hands, ain't that the way... shit always ends?

All You Had To Do Was Stay

Hey! All you had to do was... stay

Hey! Now you say you want it... back

the pause here makes me think it's intentional and that Taylor wanted us to relate the songs to attribute them to the same muse. This is really interesting because in maroon the pause indicates that Taylor is hesitating a bit between what to call what she is experiencing: ¿closest friend or partner [girlfriend]? And in AYHTDWS she's like 'here's what you should've done: stay'.