#this is in particular about a big swiftie blog.

[mohabbaat]

people who have maintained "neutrality" or "a neutral stance" about the genocide, i hope y'all get a reality check soon and realise that sometimes silence is not a good thing. 🙄

[likeadevils]

welcome to swiftie tumblr here’s a style guide

are you afraid of people making judgements about the way your profile looks but you don't know enough about tumblr to tell what people might judge you about? then this post is for you!

this is mostly gonna apply to specifically swiftie tumblr, and even then like. you’re totally free to present yourself however you want, but these are just the dominant cultural norms

URLS

album and song titles are the most sought after

lyrics are also very popular (the shorter the better)

dashes are considered a bit cringe but slight misspellings or adding an s to words are fine

adding your name to your url will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

PROFILE PICTURES

you should have a pfp chosen before you start following people, otherwise people will go “oh fuck a bot” and automatically block you

pictures of yourself will also make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

gradient/one color backgrounds behind a picture of taylor are still very common, but plain pictures of taylor are also a vibe

if they have that one particular pale pink-ish with a bit of grain filter people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

displaying your pfp in a circle format on your mobile theme is more common but if you have it square people won’t judge you

BACKGROUND IMAGES

there’s lots of acceptable ways to do this but something unique to tumblr is playing with the border between the background and the rest of your blog

a few years ago it was super popular to add a ripped paper effect to the bottom, and that’s still hanging on

a curved border (either a wave or a bowl shape) is also fairly common

making the picture smaller than the borders has started to gain traction (i started noticing it becoming popular like, mid pandemic)

hiding the pfp from your mobile theme to make your background flow more is super common but the color schemes should still compliment each other

MOBILE THEME

you can use this handy dandy tool to make your background/text color match a color in your background/pfp

i’d say white or black backgrounds are still the most common but i’ve found the colored background with white text to be making a strong comeback

there’s not a ton of judgement about this, as long as it all matches

BLOG TITLE

blog titles can really be whatever but in general keep it short (less that one row)

a short lyric, a word, or an emoji are the most common options

DESCRIPTION

i’ve found getting on a computer and going to yoururl.tumblr.com and clicking on the little painting thing on the top right corner to be the best way to edit text but the mobile app works fine too (unless you’re adding links then you have to go on a computer)

in general 2-3 rows are the most common, and ideally it’s not just one big wall of text

general format is name (this is where you link your caard/about page) / age/age range / pronouns in the top row and a (short) lyric you like in the bottom

another popular format is everything being a lyric and adding links to stuff on important words

if you like to make edits/art/some other type of original content feel free to add a link in your description

you can add links (again only on desktop) like this

MISC BLOG SETUP STUFF

if your likes/following are visible (especially if both are visible) people will go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

some people show their most popular posts, some people don’t, to my knowledge there’s no judgement either way

your pinned post can be whatever you want it to be but it’s super common to have it be a short about/navigation page

most people have a tag they use for personal posts (“name speaks/rambles/etc” is probably the most common) but you don’t have to if you don’t want to

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE

follow for follows are not super common. it happens (if you follow someone people it’s common for that person to check out your blog but not in any way a guarantee) but for the most part being tumblr mutuals is a higher bar to clear than “oh this person follows me.” if you want to get peoples attention i would recommend this method, but even then the person can chose not to follow you without it being an insult to your character

blocking is more common than it is on twitter and not an insult to your character. repeatedly starting shit with other people will cause your followers to block you. if you want to start a fight with someone just block them instead

feel free to reblog old posts and spam like

while the mechanics and terminology are very similar, in terms of the way they are perceived a tumblr like is not equal to a twitter like, a tumblr reply is not equal to a twitter reply, and a reblog is not equivalent to retweet

likes are generally utilized as a little hello or bookmarks

reblogs are closer to twitter likes than anything else

replies have a fairly unique function in tumblr interactions but i think the closest way to describe it is like a semi-public dm to the op— chances are no one else is going to see it but the op (except if you replied through a reblog, then the reblogger will see it, but the reblogger will still likely read your reply as intended for the op)

if you have a comment put it in the tags. you know those old screenshots of tumblr posts that have a million “oh my god this is so funny”s breaking up the content of the post? that’s widely considered not only cringe but a bit rude now, please don't do that

if you like someone’s tags, reblog from them and say “prev tags”. every few weeks you’ll see someone from a different corner of tumblr say “prev tags is dead!” but on swiftie tumblr prev tags has never died and doesn’t show signs of dying in the near future

@-ing taylor in a post (edit: unless it’s a joke, @-ing taylor as a joke is very funny feel free to do that) will make people go 🫵 twitter user 🫵

again you can present yourself however you want, tumblr is the home of cringe, these are just the dominant cultural norms that i’ve noticed on swiftie tumblr specifically

[musicalmoritz]

Hello💕

My name is Roxy. This blog is mainly for my rambles and shippy posts (not mutually exclusive). I am a writer on ao3 under the same name as this account. I’m just here to put my thoughts out into the world like an open diary, and to reblog cute shit💞💞💞

Fandom Interests:

• Current Hyperfixation- TBHK

• Other Animes (in no particular order)- Hunter X Hunter, Chainsaw Man, Fruits Basket, Madoka Magica, Kakegurui, Jujutsu Kaisen, Bungou Stray Dogs, My Hero Academia, Cowboy Bebop, Ouran High School Host Club, I’m In Love With The Villainess, Sk8 the Infinity, Adachi and Shimamura, Banana Fish, Demon Slayer, Mob Psycho 100, Spy X Family, Vampires In The Garden, High Rise Invasion, Kyo Kara Maoh, Kase-San and Morning Glories, Haikyuu!!, Death Note, Attack On Titan, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Full Metal Alchemist

• DC Comics, mainly the female characters and anything related to the Teen Titans/Batman. I’ve been in this fandom for years due to adaptations but I’m relatively new to the comics themselves. Currently reading Batwoman's New 52 run and anything Cass Cain related I can get my hands on

• I do like Marvel but like mainly Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Black Widow. I'm refraining from posting about it for the time being due to the boycott

• I'm a big filmbro, my top 3 movies of all time are Dead Poets Society, Pride & Prejudice (2005), and American Psycho

• Classic lit is my favorite thing to read (aside from fan fiction). Currently reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky

• I love listening to musicals, my top 3 being Les Miserables, Falsettos, and Spring Awakening

• Some shows I like are Breaking Bad, Glee, Stranger Things (not posting due to the boycott), Gravity Falls, First Kill, Bly Manor, I Am Not Okay With This, The Middle, Adventure Time, Modern Family, Merlin, Doctor Who, and probably others I can't think of rn

• I'm really into classic fairytales🦋

• As far as music goes I am a critical Swiftie. I also enjoy Fall Out Boy, Marina, early Panic! At The Disco, Megan Thee Stallion, Nirvana, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, and various other artists

• Some other fandoms I've been involved in include It by Stephen King (all media types), Twilight, Percy Jackson (boycott), The Hunger Games, Marauders, Camp Camp, Archie Comics & Sabrina, Dan & Phil, Hellaverse, Homestuck (save me), aaaaaand I think that's everything??

• My favorite piece of media of all time is Les Miserables, especially the book and the musical. I love it with all of my heart and it truly changed the way I live my life as well as my outlook on the world and religion💕

• My favorite character of all time is Dazai from BSD, I adore his character development and all the subtle details that add to his characterization💕

• I enjoy analyzing and yapping about my interests so expect a lot of that

Other Interests:

• I am a psychology major with an AS degree in psychology

• I practice wing-chun, though I am still somewhat of a beginner (white belt, my si-fu makes his students earn them)

• Writing is my passion and I have been working on my own novel for many years now. It is meant to be a three part series but I don’t want to publish the first book until it’s perfect

• Proud Cat Mom

• Being an older sister is like 50% of my personality

• I am a lesbian and a Christian and both of those identities are very important to me

• Believe it or not I am employed, though I won’t say where for obvious reasons💪🏻

• Raging Feminist

• Antique collector

• Complainer, not a hater

• Optimist

• Lover of all things pink

Again, this blog is really just a side quest, I’m much more active on TikTok so you might want to follow me there (femslash.enthusiast / #1 aoinene lover). I’m just here to yap about my interests and spread good vibes💕

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Thank you for creating this account, you are so brave.

Prefacing: I used to tolerate TS and her music when I was a teen and couldn't really avoid it. Now I'm 25 and I find her abhorrent as a human being.

(I'm not American and where I am from TS was never a Big Hit, unless we're talking 14 year old girls that eventually grow out of liking her. It's not entirely for a good reason, my country's a bit too conservative-brainwashed to like a self-proclained "girl boss" on a gov. level.)

Something that I noticed about that cult-like worship of that frankly boring woman is that most of the interesting shit about her is 1. made up 2. not about her music and I DO NOT understand how this is even considered a singer anymore.

Like, for example. A bunch of liberal queers like her because they take her bland music and fill it with their own meanings. Her lyrics are so soulless and boring and generic you can apply them to anything. You don't have to go listen to staples of quuer music like what drag queens, or queer women, or Black gay men create: because their music is visceral, it speaks onto real lived through opression that not everyone can relate to. But not with fucking TS! She writes the most TYPICAL line and a bunch of people assign some secret gay meaning to it. The amount of times I saw TS added to playlists for queer content is ridiculous. Like she wouldn't be half as popular if her music was regarded as what it is: straight white girl soliloquy.

The shit about her love life? Should not be fucking mentioned in regards to her as an artist. She's SO fucking fake. She will complain that people only see her as some girl who dates all those guys but she's the one fucking monetizing her love story. I'd understand if she didnt TRY TO but she fucking does! She knows she's bland and boring and she relies on people liking gossip enough to listen to her crap.

ok quick note when you said “liberal queers” it should be “queer liberals”. im assuming english isnt your first language so your native tongue has different grammatical rules but in this instance you put “queer” in front of “liberal.” i just don’t want you to be accused of being homophobic or anything so this is a quick note for you

you said you were 25 and everyone who’s been following this blog has been 20+ demographic in particular. i think it must be because we’re old enough to remember her entire journey starting w the 2009 kanye west mtv incident up until this moment. her staunchest swifties on here were born after the fearless release 💀

hmmmm i always wonder what people imply by Taylor Swift being a global superstar. like she’s isn’t popular in the entire continent of Africa but that doesn’t count apparently? and as much as she is popular in south asia, so much news is framed with a western perspective and all westerners think whiteness is default, and this includes taylor swift. i wouldnt be surprised if theyre inflating her popularity abroad as they are here in the states. idk

and so true! she’s known for her controversies and dating drama. even her music is known not for its success but ppl questioning the legitimacy of her grammys she’s received for her music.

also your gaylor hate—i understand. im not straight and i think gaylors were lobotomized by taylor swift’s music like genuinely these bitches have bricks for brains. there are soooooooo many better queer musicians especially musicians of color who write songs of their literal shared experience of queer love, identity, etc. but here they go theorizing that taylor seift and karlie kloss secretly dated 😭 it reminds me of this convo i had with my friend about gay people admiring/looking up to straight and cis people and labelling them as “gay icons.” its so stupid and reductive and continues to marginalize actual queer artists.

also talking abt taylor swift playlists i will never forget when i found spotify’s bad bunny x taylor swift playlist inspired by their photo from the 2023 grammys 💀 it was so dumb

“straight white girl soliloquy” PERIOD ANON! i need to start making a list of what you guys say cause its fkn fire

taylor swift embedded her relationships so deeply into her brand and music that its inseparable from herself. she really does define herself by her partners and her fans do too, which is why they expected this to be a joe alwyn album.

she really is so unoriginal and unremarkable and that’s why her thing WORKS. because to swifties she’s like “another everyday girl like you and me :)” 🙄 whatever. yuck!

[9w1ft]

hi, 9wing!

this is quite random and not particularly relevant to anything in particular, although my question is inspired by this side of the fandom, but a general question nonetheless: what does it mean to critically think?

on a grander scale none of us really know what is objectively right, right? a single new, miniscule discovery could change everything, whether it be the foundational laws of physics or the swiftie lore.

on the internet, especially in this side of the fandom, i constantly see things about "thinking for yourself," media literacy, biases, doing your own research, etc for the past several years. and given the current state of the world, i've come to believe that maybe it is important to be able to critically think, but as a young person, i'm struggling to actually find out how to really do that.

how do i know i'm actually thinking for myself and not simply going with whatever popular perspective suits my internal biases or to avoid backlash? on the contrary, how do i know i'm actually thinking things through and not simply being a contrarian a-hole?

thank you for your wonderful blog <3

this is such a good question and thank you for asking it! i think i wrote too complicated of an answer but i hope there’s something here that you find helpful 🙏

to give you some context, i have sort of a blended understanding of what critical thinking is because while i took a teeny tiny bit of philosophy in college, i mostly learned about critical thinking in the context of how it is taught in business school… in japan. because i’ve worked here for more than a decade. i’m not positive my take on it is totally international but.. i’ll share.

in business here, we often explain critical thinking by comparing it to logical thinking. logical thinking is a way of identifying an issue, and continually analyzing the cause of the issue, and the cause of each cause, to where you get a process tree and can start to analyzing where the root cause lies. it’s an exhaustive uncovering of confirmable information. this is a helpful framework for fixing problems in a company, on the frontline, in a business process, etc.

in contrast to this, critical thinking is the process of analyzing an opinion or assertion (sometimes it’s a core question or a thesis) through the continual analysis of hypotheses as to why the assertion is supported, and looking for information that backs up the various hypotheses related to it. you then follow up by thinking about what the meaning or implication of the information, hypotheses, and assertion really is, in determining how to treat the assertion in a business setting (usually you have to make a business decision based on limited information, and the assertion is a sort of best guess related to a course of action you need to take within a certain timeframe)

i recognize that sort of sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo 😆 so to put it another way, to me, the spirit of critical thinking is an honoring of the why, always asking why at each turn, or in other words, never losing sight of the purpose of things. and i think that in the context of all these theories we find ourself looking at with gaylor or kaylor, i honor critical thinking all the time in how i take in new information. when i get presented with something, i try to think about why that would be. not just why the info would exist (though of course that is something important to always consider) but also, why is it being shown to me, and by whom, and what might their aim be, or where did they get it from, and where is the information located, how did it get there, and why does it exist, and if it’s not possible to know why.. then why might it exist, and why that might be, and how would it relate to this or that or another thing, what would the implication be on the big picture, etcetera.

i think back on my early days here with gaylor and i recall that a lot of analysis and consideration of information that i did was based on trying to keep an open mind and that felt like the right and critical thing to do. so i listened to so many different theories from different people and tried to uphold each with the same amount of my attention out of some sense of duty to the process

but over time i’ve had an increasing number of opportunities to see stuff come in from different pathways, and get a sense of the culture, and get to know people and best practices and patterns, and through the continued process of considering the purposes behind how the stuff exists and how it is brought before me, i have been able to discern what kinds of information are more interesting or relevant or earnest etc to my understanding and from within this process, have formed my opinion on what i think is going on. and for me that answer has been kaylor.

tl;dr: i think it’s important to just be very aware of why you think things, and it looks like you are already off to a good start with that! i wouldn’t sweat it. self awareness is really the key to all of this, i think.

and i understand your point about contrarianism, and i think that this is an impulse which is very natural at the beginning of understanding a topic. it’s helpful and important to question what you do not know, and at the beginning, that will be a lot of stuff. just know that a part of the critical thinking process is forming opinions and that, if someone is following that process, they will in time place different values on different pieces of information, as they continue to hone in on what they perceive to be the reasoning behind what they have seen up until that point.

sorry i get the sense this is written like english translated from a different language 😆 but it’s the way i think about it. i’d love to hear about other peoples definitions and interpretations of critical thinking 💕

[almyrachiam-blog]

Fandom

WHAT IS FANDOM?

The word fandom can be found first used all the way back to 1903. The word can be easily described as all the fans whether it be fans of a certain sports team or fans of a famous celebrity (Merriam-Webster 2023. A fandom can also be described as a social network that has particular practices that fans usually put all their time and energy into if it is according to their object of interest (Geraskier 2020). Fans of a fandom usually share a common interest in a particular topic or things of interest. A fandom can also be defined as a subculture in which fans gather together in a sense of empathy and camaraderie. 

The speed of growth of a fandom varies based on the interests of humans or the activities of an individual. The interest of a fan can vary from either a narrow type of view or a wider type of view. A narrow-interest fan usually focuses on something like famous celebrities such as Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber while a wider-interest fan can be defined as a fan that focuses on entire music genres, hobbies, games, or even fashions (Gerakier 2020). 

A good example of a fandom is BTS  'ARMY’. This fandom is very well known globally as the global legion of fans for the Korean boy group BTS. This fandom not only focuses on the catchy upbeat songs of BTS but also focuses on driving social changes (Morrison 2021).  In 2020, the BTS fandom set up and made many powerful campaigns that allowed them to raise millions of dollars. One of their more famous campaigns was the sabotaging of the then-president of The United States, Donald Trump election campaign through buying tickets to the event and not attending the event itself (Hollingsworth 2020) 

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

In this modern-day era, technology has been making advancements very quickly.  A participatory culture can be defined as a culture in which individuals are also producers and not only consumers (Jenkins 2009). Social media is currently playing a very big role especially when it comes to allowing fans to be able to share a social connection with other individuals that share the same interest. Fans are given the opportunity to share their ideas with other fans and connect with them using social media as a medium. This has opened many new exciting methods of communicating for fans to interact with each other share their content and receive comments about their content through social media (Willard 2015). 

Fandom is now not just a group of people that has the same interest but also an individual who gets themselves involved whether it be physically or online means. Fans are able to share their reproduced media to the public on social media to other fans whether it be remix tapes or a cover song of their favorite artist or song. A commonly known fandom that practices participatory culture is Taylor Swift’s fandom. Taylor Swift’s fandom group is called The Swifties (PopBuzz 2023). The ‘Swifties’ do not only share and make cover songs of the artist but also right blogs or even create memes with Taylor’s face.

TOXIC FANDOM

Usually, a healthy fandom emphasizes showing respect and inclusivity in which the creators of the content of interest to the fans and the fandom itself are being respectful towards each other. Even in terms of disagreements, a healthy fandom would remain respectful towards each other but a toxic fandom is the total opposite (Moore 2023). A fan who lacks respect towards other fans and acts violently towards others who have different opinions. Toxic fans are more normally found online on social media, especially on Twitter, more commonly known now as X (Taylor 2023). 

An example of a toxic fandom would be the Star Wars fandom. The fandom has resorted to bullying and racism towards the actors of the movie. One of the best examples of actors/actresses being harassed would be Moses Ingram (Buckley 2022). She has posted on her social media how Toxic the Star Wars fandom is by showing how the fandom has been calling her racial slurs and sending hateful comments to her whether it be through DMs or Comments (Richards 2019).

CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, a fandom is defined as all the fans towards a specific content or person of interest. A fandom can also be described as a social network in which fans are able to use social media due to technological advancements to communicate and share their work with others with ease whether it be sharing a cover of their favorite song from a specific artist or even tape remixes. Fans also practice participatory culture in which they directly involve themselves with their content or person of interest whether it be physically or through online means. Fandoms are not only healthy but sometimes can tend to be toxic which might result in bullying, racism, and disrespecting each other's opinions through aggression.

References

Buckley, MG 2022, ‘Why star wars fans think they can bully the franchise’s actors’, Let’s Overthink That, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://letsoverthinkthat.com/2022/06/19/star-wars-fans-bully-franchise-actors/>.

Chin, B 2023, ‘Week 9 Fandom and fan communities’, MDA 20009, lecture, Swinburne University Of Technology Sarawak, Kuching.

DHCobserver 2023, ‘About DHCobserver’, DHCobserver, viewed 7 November, 2023a, <https://digitalhealthcommunities.org/about>.

Geraskier 2020, ‘What is fandom?’, Medium, Medium, viewed 2 November, 2023, <https://medium.com/@geraskier/fandom-1607c5757841>. 

Hollingsworth, J 2020, ‘K-pop fans are being credited with helping disrupt Trump’s rally. here’s why that shouldn’t be a surprise’, CNN, Cable News Network, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/22/asia/k-pop-fandom-activism-intl-hnk/index.html>.

Kulowiec, G 2020, ‘I’ve been thinking...it is time to revisit jenkins’ participatory culture’, Medium, Medium, viewed 15 November, 2023, <https://medium.com/@gkulowiec/ive-been-thinking-it-is-time-to-revisit-jenkins-participatory-culture-d375ebd34e94>.

Moore, B 2023, ‘Toxic fandoms: When passion turns to Poison’, Agents of Fandom, Agents of Fandom, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://agentsoffandom.com/toxic-fandoms-when-passion-is-poison/>.

Rebels, G 2021, ‘The power of fandom: What social media marketers can learn from teenage fans’, Medium, Medium, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://medium.com/@goodrebels/the-power-of-fandom-what-social-media-marketers-can-learn-from-teenage-fans-63c0e184c8a7>.

Richards, D 2019, ‘Star wars: Rian Johnson talks toxic fandom and the last jedi’, CBR, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-last-jedi-rian-johnson-toxic-fandom/>.

Taylor, V 2023, ‘Toxic fandom: What is it?’, Medium, Change Becomes You, viewed 14 November, 2023, <https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/toxic-fandom-what-is-itc8c1520beb06#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20journalists%2C%20news,seen%20as%20inappropriate%20and%20unpleasant>.

Webster, M n.d., ‘Fandom definition & meaning’, Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, viewed 15 November, 2023, <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fandom#h1>.

Wilson-Taylor, J 2021, ‘What are Taylor Swift fans called?’, PopBuzz, viewed 15 November, 2023, <https://www.popbuzz.com/music/features/what-is-the-fandom-name-for/taylor-swift/>. 

[neverbesokind]

Hi! 🤍 It’s your swiftie pride buddy again! Sorry to send you more questions already. I love your blog and it’s giving me the impressions that your a big speak now fan, so in honor of Speak Now TV, can I ask what re-records you’re most excited for? Also, I hope you’re having a great day 🏳️‍🌈

Swiftie Pride Anon, you never have to apologize for sending me asks!! And thank you!

I am a big Speak Now fan, you're very right. I'm admittedly a newer Taylor fan, only really started listening to her after evermore, so I can't claim long-term nostalgia. But when I first heard Speak Now it HIT ME like it's such a good album and grabs you right away. The sparkly fairytale theater kid vibes are just my favorite and that plus the amazing emotional depth and complexity encapsulate so much about what I love about Taylor and her writing. So I am obviously very excited for the rerecord (I cried when she announced it for real), and in particular Dear John TV, Sparks Fly TV, Story of Us TV, and Enchanted TV are gonna be really huge for me.

...And Better than Revenge TV. And Haunted TV. And... okay, the whole album.

If you mean other rerecords I'm excited for, I also wanna say I'm really looking forward to Debut! I love Debut but I feel like it's going to REALLY shine with the extra polish. Plus, the potential vault tracks are staggering.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

hey 👋 so i wanted to know if u consider urself an “army” and if yes then would u say u’re ot7? i mean i guessed it would be kind of odd if u didnt consider urself an army cause ur whole blog is kind of centered around bts. and also i want to know how much u like each member and if u dislike any in particular (though some are a bit obvious 😭)

Hii hey. I mean, yes, in the technical sense I've always been an army, even if I've never personally called myself that. I gave the example before of how I used to like one direction too, but I never said "i'm a directioner" or "I'm a swiftie". If it makes things easier yeah, I don't mind describing myself as army. I've always thought of myself as a BTS fan and that's it. But saying "I'm army [or any other fandom name]" is something I've always considered very corny and unnecessary for MYSELF. I don't judge people who use fandom names.

How much do I like the members haha umm. It has changed over the years.

Jimin was my favorite from the beginning. I feel like my affection for Jimin has now dimmed significantly, there's a whole lot less affection compared to what it was in 2020 or even until mid 2021. Even if he's still the member I like the most, I'm more chill about it. Like an old friend you've known for ages, you just know you love them no questions asked. Sometimes things happen that remind you how kind and beautiful they are and you feel your heart bursting.

Then, there was Jungkook. At first there was a big difference between how much I liked Jimin and the rest, but eventually that gap closed and I grew to love JK as well, and so there was a gap between Jungkook/Jimin and the rest. I thought he was funny, hot, I actually liked that he was competitive, and I liked that he seemed protective of the things he loved. Nowadays, I don't feel that comfortable about Jungkook. It's not distaste, definitely not hate, not animosity, there's seriously no bad feelings at all. I just stopped being so sure of his genuinity, and I began feeling like he's superficial and unserious, so I stepped away. I'm not someone who hates or rots in bitterness about people I don't like. I'm a leaver hehe, I'm someone who cuts ties, I just leave when I feel like a place or a person is not it for me anymore. I do miss him tho, and I miss the way I used to feel about him and I wish it had never changed but what's done is done.

Yoongi was one of my faves for a while when I first got into BTS. I like engaging and simple people, simple in the sense that it's easy to get a feel of who they are, what they stand for; this is what I saw in Jimin and I felt drawn to him. I saw the same in Yoongi, and I liked that he was witty and his answers were clear, he didn't beat around the bush, and he seemed very #involved. Involved in the team, both professionaly and personally, involved with whatever purpose BTS had. They don't have a lot in common, but I do believe that Jimin and Yoongi still have these traits in common. Then it just stopped haha no reason in particular, tho looking back I think Yoongi's involvement (just as everyone's involvement) in BTS started being less and less, their interviews started becoming repetivtive and superficial, so maybe I just lost sight of Yoongi, in a way. Also ngl the constant focus on awards and charts is a turn off for me.

I never cared about Taehyung, I'm sorry. He's probably the only member that I never cared for and it stayed that way. No character development, and the little there was, it was for the worse. I've always thought he was good looking, I have eyes. And I'm probably responsible for at least 100k views in singularity MV because I really love it (present tense). He has some good qualities, like I know he's fierce about the people he cares about and I can appreciate that. But he never inspired in me strong feelings, of any type. I don't like a lot of things about him, one of those things being that everytime he says anything I have to ask myself if he's saying the truth or just talking out of his butt, which is something I started feeling about Jungkook too. He's just A Man. A childish new money money, at that. An eyeroll and I move on.

On the other hand, Namjoon, Jin and Hoseok were the members that at first I didn't really get a grasp of, but slowly I got to know more of them and started liking them more and more.

I know I talk a lot and a much of what I say might get lost in the grand scheme of things (posts) but I'm actually a good judge of character lol, and hoseok seemed very fake to me. I didn't even think he was funny because I didn't think he meant to be funny, it just felt too cartoonesque. A few years ago he actually admitted that he was much more serious irl and that pretending to be funny and happy and high spirited all the time was his BTS persona and it was a burden to him. He's become more and more himself, a real Him, and I just started liking him slowly, everyone knows I have a lot of appreciation for him, I think he's very strong and that he Cares capital C. He cares about his profession, he cares about the people in his life. He makes donations to charities, he pays for stray cats surgeries. What's not to like, really. I feel somewhat the same about Jin, tho I don't think that I know enough about Jin, what he likes, what type of relationships he has etc, to talk that much about him.

I love Namjoon these days, I think it was around the 2018 tour (idol era) and BV Malta when I really started liking him. I don't remember being that interested in him before that. I liked seeing him and Jimin talking, and Namjoon was always so warm towards him. Really, (honest) words are the way to my heart. I said the other day, I don't have a type when it comes to looks, but I do have a type in personality 😅

I believe BTS is bigger than its members, it's more than the sum of all of them. I don't think you need to love all of them in the same capacity, or even love them at all to enjoy BTS. Or to enjoy what BTS used to be.

I like songs, I listen to music and I watch performances from groups with people that I don't even know the names of.

In terms of music and performances, yes I think BTS need of all of them to work. I was never impatient or anxious about solo careers, until 2020 at least they all looked like they wanted to be there. And I enjoyed watching them, I thought their songs and stages were top notch. They used to work well, all seven of them.

I just saw this and thought I could add it here, because of the question "why us?". I don't know any other way to say it other than BTS as a team is bigger than all of them. I don't know why them, but it just is. It's also really nice to remember that Jimin is realistic, that he knows and understands what supporting and believing in someone is like.

[heystephen]

Hey, I'm sorry but I don't know what's going on right now, what happened and how can I help?

To really explain what’s happening, we’d have to go back to yesterday when Taylor went on the radio and talked about Betty. No big deal, she said James was a boy which obvi contrasts with the running joke/opinion that James is a teenage lesbian girl. We had a laugh about it, jokingly corrected Taylor and that really should’ve been the end of it. BUT the undercurrent of homophobia that exists in this fandom decided to rear its head as cishet fans rejoiced that Taylor had “shaded” all of the lgbt+ fans who interpreted Betty (or any part of folklore) as being ~gay, in particular, wlw were singled out. When we, in turn, said, hey, this is homophobic, we were gaslit and told that we were attacking Taylor. We weren’t. We never were. We never had an issue with Taylor here. A narrative was built out of thin air that the ~predatory wlw~ were angry at Taylor for not letting us lesbo-fy her songs and that we were saying she wasn’t allowed to view her work as she interpreted it. Cishet fans largely ignored this micro aggression and did nothing to be on our side. The issue was then taken several steps further when multiple wlw fans were doxxed and outed to their families. This is a currently ongoing matter and many lgbt+ fans feel wholly unsafe and are going into hiding.

TL;DR homophobic swifties don’t know how to act like normal empathetic people with morals, lgbt+ fans are being outed, people are scared, I’m livid

EDIT: I meant to add that the best way you can help is go to your blog and clear out any swiftlgbtselfies you’ve reblogged just to be safe! There are specific people asking to have their deleted but for the sake of being efficient and making sure everyone is safe, I recommend deleting all of them. If you’re lgbt+, keep yourself safe and remember that if this is overwhelming and upsetting PLEASE step away and let yourself breathe. We all need to be there for each other.

[tiny-katara]

hey i just wanted to say i love your blog! and thanks for finally helping me get into taylor swift music with the zutara lure lol - anyway i wanted to ask, i could've sworn there was a zk comic of a TSR incorrect quote where zuko's freaking out about how he could've died so many times after katara makes friends with him and he's seen her bloodbending and stopping the rain - can you help me find it pls? i've scoured all the zk blogs i follow but to no avail oof -

It makes me so happy to hear you say that you're so sweet omg. I am glad I'm someone you enjoy following! I also can't believe that I was the final push into Swiftie-ism. I don't think you ever truly leave lol. If you're curious, I do have a couple favorites from each album!

Debut: I am not a big Debut fan for no particular reason but I do quite enjoy an angry listen to "Should've Said No" and "Picture to Burn"

Fearless: I was obsessed with "You Belong With Me" when I was younger and my favorite now is probably "Mr. Perfectly Fine" bc its just so good. If you haven't heard that one yet you need to. I also quite like "Breathe." The emotions that one gives me are so strong.

Speak Now: Speak Now is one of my favorite albums from her-- as it should be. She literally wrote it herself. It is very difficult to just pick a few, but i will say that "Back to December" is not overrated at all, "The Story of Us" is criminally underrated, and "Ours" is very sweet and cute.

Red: Red is a very good album. I also struggle to just pick a few here. My absolute favorite from it is "I Almost Do" but I do think "Red" is overshadowed by "All Too Well" which is good, but I just like "Red" more. "Begin Again" has gotten me through some rough patches and I also love "Holy Ground." The bonus tracks are all very good too. ("Ronan" is a very beautiful but extremely tragic song and I don't know if you're aware of the story behind it so I just want to warn you that it is a heavy listen).

1989: I love this album too lol. "Clean" is good for the soul, "All You Had To Do Was Stay" and "How You Get The Girl" are both so good and somehow I mix them in a lot lol. "I Wish You Would" is also one I love.

reputation: This one was not one I liked initially but it grew on me a lot. "New Year's Day" and "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" are beautiful masterpieces. "I Did Something Bad" has badass Katara written all over it though. Cannot recommend that enough for her.

Lover: Solid album, not my favorite tho. I love "The Man" and that also has badass Katara energy. She would listen to that every day. "Death By A Thousand Cuts" and "Cornelia Street" are also both ones I like a lot. I love the live from Paris (I think) version of "Cornelia Street" especially.

folklore: I don't know why, but I've been in a folklore mood recently. I enjoy "the last great american dynasty" and "betty" and "the lakes" but "peace" is my very favorite from folklore, somewhat bc its like the Zutara song.

evermore: This album is so good too! I love "coney island" a lot but I'm not sure why. "champagne problems" is a good one and "tolerate it" is tragic and beautiful. I also adore "no body, no crime" and will not apologize for it.

Anyways! Those are just my favorites if you wanted to know or some recommendations. I also hunted down that post for you! I knew exactly what you were talking about and could have sworn I reblogged it, but alas. I looked on Tumblr for a while and wondered if I could find it faster on Google... somehow that worked. Sorry for rambling so much lol <3

[swiftiephobe]

thoughts on edit discourse, aka “you all realise this is meant to be fun?”

okay so buckle up swifties because i have some THOUGHTS about the whole edit discourse, the idea of needing to support editors by reblogging their posts and where i think some of you are a bit... misguided in how you approach sharing content on tumblr.com. this is a long post (i have put it under a cut because it is that long) because i am incapable of saying things concisely and i cannot think of another way to get my points across without having them misrepresented. i know a lot of people might ignore this because it’s a long ass essay, and that is valid <3 i just wanna get these thoughts out there. i do appreciate anyone who chooses to read this and try and understand my point of view. i love editors and the content they create. i do not love the idea that people have to run their blogs and engage with content on this website in a very specific way in order to be acceptable to the community.

also this isn’t directed at any one person in particular. the attitudes i am talking about are pervasive in a large portion of the fandom, and i’ve seen them building for quite a while now. i’m happy to have a respectful discussion about many of the points i’ve made here, as i know a lot of you will disagree with them. the purpose of this post isn’t to “attack” people, it’s to provide a different perspective.

i wanna preface this by talking about when i first started posting edits. i don’t do it a lot now mostly because i’m busy and don’t often feel like it but back in 2017/2018 i really got into editing. i remember when i first taught myself how to make gifs in photoshop, and i made my first gifset, and i was so excited to post it because i was so proud of myself for having created something. so i posted it, and then i kept making and posting gifsets. most of them didn’t get many notes, and frankly a lot of them were not very good because i was still learning, but i still posted them because it was nice to have created something. 

one day i posted a gifset and tagged it with some appropriate tags, including tagging some big source blogs. well, one of those big source blogs actually reblogged my gifset! and i was so excited by that. i even went and sent that blog an ask profusely thanking them for reblogging my edit. it’s a bit embarrassing to think about having done that now, but the point is i was so excited to have a blog that i considered “important” reblog my stuff, and of course that led to more notes on the gifset which made me happy. that gifset ended up getting about 150 notes, which still isn’t a lot but it made me happy at the time.

why am i telling this story, you might ask? because i want to put it out there that I GET IT. getting that reblog on that gifset made me, a baby editor, very very happy. ecstatic, even. the fact that i can still remember it now shows how much it meant to me. i was already proud of myself for having created something that i thought was good, but getting that extra bit of external validation to tell me that what i had created was actually good felt special. so i understand why editors want people to reblog their work. it makes us feel good to see that others are enjoying what we’ve made enough to want to share it with others.

so i kept making edits, some of them got a lot of notes while others really didn’t. i continued to learn new things about editing, i played around in photoshop and got excited every time i realised a new thing i could do with one of the tools. some of the edits i made were a lot of work, and i was very proud of them, and i still am very proud of them. a lot of those edits that hold a special place in my heart did not get many notes. one edit that i made (which was a url graphic for another person) took hours and a lot of hard work trying to figure out how to make my idea happen, and i think now it has less than ten notes.

sometimes i look back through my edit tag and i see edits like that one, that i loved making and thought turned out very well, but have relatively very few notes. and honestly? when i look at them, i don’t feel sad about the number of notes they have. sure, i think “well, it would’ve been nice if more people had seen this”, but for the most part i still feel damn proud of myself for having made it. i feel happy looking at them because they remind me of when i was making them and how much i enjoyed the process. 

at the end of the day, editing isn’t something i do as a job, for the sake of meeting a quota or reaching a benchmark of external achievement. it’s a hobby, something i do because i enjoy the process of creating something. i post my edits here so that they can be hosted publicly on my blog, and yes while getting notes is very very nice, it’s not my primary motivation. this year i’ve mostly been making edits for albums that i have enjoyed, some of which have practically no audience on tumblr and so don’t get many notes. and that’s fine. i don’t make them for other people.

which i suppose brings me to a point that i feel like will upset some people, but... the way some of you talk about editing, sometimes it seems like you don’t even enjoy it? i know that’s ridiculous because you all do, and many of you are crazy talented, but when i read people posting about how getting less than 100 notes on an edit makes them want to give up and never post an edit ever again, i frankly have to wonder if you even enjoyed making the edit in the first place, and if not, why did you do it? it just seems like a lot of you have a warped idea that the end goal of making an edit is notes, when in my opinion it really should be for fun. we’re in the taylor swift tumblr fandom. this is meant to be fun, remember? it’s okay to be upset when something you thought was great doesn’t receive as enthusiastic a reception as you were hoping for, but it happens to everyone and it doesn’t mean you, or others, are doing something wrong. if you enjoyed creating something, and you are proud of it, that’s what really matters in the end.

something else i’ve noticed is the extreme policing of how people interact with edits, mostly the notion that you HAVE to reblog edits and anything else is offensive and unacceptable. and sorry, but no. everyone runs their blogs in a different way. some people use their likes as bookmarks for things they want to reblog or queue for later. some people have a specific aesthetic they want to keep for their blog so don’t reblog every single thing, but they still want to acknowledge that they saw your edit and liked it. people have a million reasons why they don’t want to reblog something, and since it is their blog and their space, all of them are valid. 

when you post something to a public social media website, you have to accept that people are going to interact with it in the way that suits them most (this is of course excluding hate or stealing, those are not acceptable). if you are seeing a like on your edit and somehow extrapolating it into some “this isn’t good enough” statement, you are reading way too much into it. if people are liking your edit, it’s because they like your edit. is it nice when people reblog your stuff? yes. but people aren’t obligated to do so.

this also applies to the idea of keeping comments in the tags. i agree that commenting in the tags on edits is proper etiquette, and it’s something i always do. but the absolutely vitriol i have seen directed towards people who comment on their reblogs is not okay. i’ve seen people talk about blocking people who comment on their edits. it’s not nice. if you see someone say “i love this!” about your edit and your first thought isn’t “that’s so nice!” but instead “this person said this in the wrong place so i hate it”, please get your priorities straight.

i think most of the discussion surrounding edits starts off in a good place. it’s good to remind people that reblogging edits is the best way to support them, and that it will make people happy. i think that message has been made clear time and time again, but now it’s turning into something more aggressive. you all say that the fandom is “dying” because people don’t interact with edits (as a side note, edits aren’t the only valid form of content in the fandom. funny text posts, theories, discussions and ask games all contribute to the feeling of the fandom being alive just as much as edits do), but all that these rules you’re trying to implement do is scare people away. people will become more and more afraid to interact with anything, for fear of not interacting enough, not interacting in the right way, or not interacting with the right people. and that, ultimately, will do a lot more harm to the fandom than people liking your edits.

[bisluthq]

spade-riddles*tumblr*com/post/652282111107170304/back-in-december-taylor-and-karlie-used-to-post#notes -- I had been working really hard on detoxing from Kaylor and your blog has been a big help but a post like this sucks me right back in... the odds that 2 people who rarely post on instagram post 22 minutes apart 4 times in a couple of months is like... highly unlikely I don't know what to tell you, I don't know how to convince myself that this is a coincidence

So what you need to realize is Social Media is a numbers thing, like especially on the level of multi million follower blue tick accounts. You can go talk to @kaylortruther about this more because she works in digital marketing and she'll be able to explain a lot more but essentially when we get to this level of fame/reach/engagement we're not dealing with "huh it'd be nice to share a pic" - these things are rolled out by a professional team, which uses quantitative analysis to put together a plan. They'll look at times users are most active, times those geo-locations get searched, spikes in searches for the celeb, and like... tons more things, right, it's a whole ass quantitative (and fairly boring oop) job.

Karlie DOES have a lot of Taylor related fans, and if they're looking at particular times of day/week/month their strategies are often going to sync up not because it's a coincidence and not because they're together but because it's not just Kaylors or Swifties who still like her, right it's a lot of English-speaking millennial women who might find both celebs appealing in different ways. So yeah their social media strategy WILL align. And that's also why you'd have them wearing similar styles and shit because they're both trendy (well sometimes) women of the same demographic catering to a similar demographic too.

Thinking about it as numbers - which is almost certainly what it is because again you don't have multi million followed accounts willy nilly posting off of the person's phone when they sorta feel up to it - makes far more sense than "Taylor and Karlie are syncing their posts up by 22 minutes to send a KLUE" like no they're just trying to sell their respective shit and go off girls get that paper.

[soonyoullgetbetterx]

on a wednesday in my bedroom i watched it Begin Again..

i've been spending the last eight years thinking all life ever does is crash and burn and repeat. but on a friday in my bedroom.. i watched it Begin Again.

i don’t know if it’s a swiftie thing, seeing patterns and meanings in the simple little things that most people would not have given a second glance or thought about. then again, taylor does hide easter eggs in the little things most people would have missed. and The Moment I Knew other swifties discovered those too then proceeded to share them on the web. i felt a wave of relief that i am not imagining things. it is not in my head. it is real. i am not making up a conspiracy theory. nor am i seeing patterns or things that are not there. taylor really left hints, clues, crumbs, easter eggs -Call It What You Want, leading to what her latest project is before the release date rolls around.

when the release date rolls around and our guessing and sleuthing got it right. i feel a collective sense of achievement. almost as if i found A Place in This World, a place where i finally belong. where i have these amazing group of people whom i never met, who loves a great story telling as much as i do. that is the first thing that draws me in to taylor, not her music, not her appearance, not her fashion. her enchanting way of telling her version of a story.

of course the themes she touches on happen to be deeply intertwined with my own struggles growing up. she almost feels like a big sister i always wanted but never had. when i could not find the words to describe what i was going through or how i was feeling at a particular moment -especially after a hard time. i knew i could always turn to taylor’s world. a world she has built with such care and Delicateness. Her words, narratives, and imagination enables me to find some lyrics or phrases to help me put what i was experiencing or dealing with at the time into words.

if i were to draw parallels between taylor’s life and Mine. it’s like we are two different individuals faced with an almost identical set of predicaments. if there is anything i have learned, it is that our response to our hardships is the thing that defines us. taylor turns to music while i was still left feeling happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time. it’s miserable and magical, oh yeah. and i was not even 22 yet at the time.

long were the nights when my days once revolved around you. counting my footsteps. praying the floor won’t fall through. again.. my brother accused me of losing my mind but i swore i was fine. you paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain. and i lived in your stress game but you change the rules every time. wondering which version of you i might get on the file this time. well i can’t stop showing up. and this blog is to let you know why.

dear you i see it all now that you’re here. don’t you think i was too young to be messed with. the girl in the dress. cried the whole way home. i should’ve known. well maybe it’s me and my blind optimism to blame. maybe it’s you and your sick need to give Peace then take it away and then you’ll add my name to your long list of patients who don’t understand. and i look back and regret how i ignored when they said run as fast as you can.

dear you i see it all now that you’re here.don’t you think i was too young to be messed with. the girl in the dress. cried the whole way home. i should’ve known. dear you i see it all now it was wrong. don’t you think nineteen’s too young to be played by your dark twisted games, when i trust you so. i should’ve known.

you are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry never impressed by me acing your tests. all the folks that you run dry with tired lifeless eyes ‘cause you burned them out, but i took your matches before fire could catch me so don’t look now. i’m shining like fireworks over your sad empty town.

dear you i see it all now that you’re here.don’t you think i was too young to be messed with. the girl in the dress. cried the whole way home. i see it all now that you’re gone. don’t you think i was too young to be messed with? the girl in the dress who trusted you so.. you should’ve known. you should’ve known, don’t you think i was too young? you should’ve known...

[readingthelastpage]

Calvin, Tom and Joe in the context of Gaylor

so the consensus in the Kaylor fandom is that all of these were purely PR relationships made up to hide her gayness, and the proof was that Taylor is a lesbian in a long-term monogamous endgame relationship with another lesbian, Karlie. I don’t share this opinion, and yet when I prod at these relationships, my overwhelming conclusion is that they are conducted for the public. Gaylor Swift (Taylor being fluid or bi or gay) and songs inspired by her love of women (like Karlie) factor a little bit into that, but the reason why I have this feeling is the reality of Taylor’s image at the time she was publicly linked to each of these men, and the things I assume about Taylor’s creative process.

here’s the deal about 1989: Taylor’s glossy pop single gal makeover is celebrated, but she is still mocked. the love songs aren’t super sad breakup songs, but they aren’t happy love songs either. she says she would love to write an album about a love that shines golden if she ever finds it - it’s obvious that, for Taylor to shed her image of kinda sexless and mildly immature young woman, being a single feminist with a girl squad won’t work as a public image - and it super stops working when the media publishes images of her and Karlie snuggling at a concert. she needs to date someone who is kinda older (but not innapropriately so), not a teenybopper but considered hot by Taylor’s generation, both respected in his field (that has to be different than the typical Taylor date of either actor or pop singer) and up-and-coming in popularity. Someone kinda worldly, maybe foreign.

If it sounds like I just described Calvin, I did! Honestly, dating him for longer than a year was the best thing Taylor did for her public image, for her overwhelmingly hetero audience who want to see her succeeding in her love life. She can now “”””keep a man””””, and a cool man at that, someone who hasn’t been seen as a star-chaser and who hasn’t been involved in PR-relationships. But Calvin wasn’t the best person, he publicly embarrassed Taylor several times and is generally volatile and her fanbase begins to dislike him. He’s not the way to go.

Except Taylor still wants to write about her golden love. TS6. Lover. (Karlie). The good stuff, the good feelings. Someone hot by her side she has cocktails with on a private beach, so handsome they make her jealous and high above the whole scene.

Here’s something controversial: I don’t think Taylor’s albums are a perfect diary of her private life. Anyone trying to “prove” any theory or timeline via them will have a very difficult time. I do think she writes about the real feelings she has experienced (with maybe some artifice in the specifics), but the songs she will put on her album will connect to the story about herself she wants to tell that era, just like her different image each era will communicate different things.

In other words: it’s not that Taylor writes a bunch of isolated happy love songs about Karlie or a bunch of isolated on-and-off again songs about Dianna and conceptualizes her next era around that batch of songs and picks a public muse based on that, to cover up for the real inspiration. Rather, the real inspiration is her life and feelings, she picks the songs and the concepts based on the story she wants to spend a few years performing and telling in the next era, the image and the boyfriends follow.

I don’t have any concrete evidence for this. It’s just my feeling based around being around musicians, being a fan of musicians and investigating into their creative processes, and being a creative type myself and seeing different things about Taylor’s journey. REP is about a very isolated incident in Taylor’s life, but also giving the middle finger to the haters (and, as it turns out, her crappy label) because she has a hot lover and real friends. We know Taylor went through a lot more shit at the time she wrote about these things, but this is the story she wanted to keep telling, possibly to pick herself up, keep herself strong, and for an image benefit. There’s nothing the public loves more than someone owning their mistakes, rising from the ashes and at the same time living a good life. Putting other songs on REP would have muddied the message.

Here’s how I think it went down: Taylor goes through her storm. It becomes clear to her that she will address the storm on the next album. She also will not give the next album to her crappy label, and will have to leave all the old Taylors in the past so she can break free with Reputation and then have the Lover Paradise Butterfly concept. The LWYMMD video is pretty clear as a retelling of that. However, Taylor still has happy love songs in mind and will not spend the next era single - she wants a public partner, not just to cover for the “paternity test” because she doesn’t want the songs tied to Calvin (or Karlie), but because that’s the right PR move to pull in light of the Tayvin breakup.

Enter someone also handsome, enviably so, worldly, funny, broad-shouldered and supportive and - key difference from Calvin - a good sport and agreeable and fun. She attempts to create a whirlwind romance fast with Tom and really there’s no reason why it would go wrong... except they go overboard and it does go wrong. It works on paper but the way they captured all of that looks freakin’ silly, that silly shirt appears, and people go nuts. Taylor gets rid of him very fast. Now she has two romances she doesn’t want her love songs tied to. I don’t think it’s a coincidence she spread the word of Joe on her secret sessions and specifically said all songs are about him, because some of these details really bring me back to specific Hiddleswift and Tayvin public moments she has created. Not a great start for a new era. She would definitely want to go away for a while, regardless of whether or not she is creating space for another public romance or not. Maybe the realization Karlie and her aren’t the endgame she was writing about or thinking about happens right then and there when she disappears, maybe it’s earlier or later.

Joe is a bit of a mystery just because he is such a ghost. There’s no question that not all of the time Taylor spends in London is for work, and there’s no question that at least some of that time is spent with Joe. Sometimes I wonder if she is with someone in his particular inner circle (though there is no need for that really), and sometimes I wonder if she is really with him. But one thing is absolutely clear: in him, she has found her ideal public relationship. A blank canvas, he could be made into anything her team wanted. She could write any future love songs “about him” and no one would question it. It corrects for all things in her previous public relationships (especially Hiddleswift) and it’s perfectly stable and allows her to have the pop star life that’s more in tune with her sensibilities: both glamorous and lowkey, both cool and kinda boring. It would be a big coincidence if she happened to find the perfect boyfriend for her golden love album and mature pop star era. It’s especially suspicious that he was projected to be the next big serious yet mysterious leading man right around the time they hooked up, and then, purely by chance, his career just didn’t blow up like it was expected to. I’m not saying it’s impossible that they are real. But so far... I’m going with PR because it’s a little too perfect.

People constantly question the benefit of Joe for Taylor. With him, she is so private and boring and gets no publicity, and he doesn’t get much either! I’d argue that’s the exact point. Taylor wants to be a little boring. Not too much, but romantically. She doesn’t want her private life pried into so hardcore. She still plays the game, but a bare minimum of it, and it shows. If you go on popular swiftie ask blogs, you’ll constantly get seasoned bloggers saying there’s no point in following her so closely because she “feeds us” so irregularly and then flits off to London for a week right after. “She only does one thing a week and not every week”. The lowering of expectations is working. She only has to “work” in this way when it most benefits her and her public life isn’t such a spectacle anymore because there is nothing juicy to discover.

So. The thing about this fandom is that, when you want to see if something is true or not, you have to start believing it is true and then finding something palpable to debunk it. But with her past few boyfriends, people abandoned that method and went from the assumption that they were fake and let every tiny thing confirm this. I wanna go back to the original way. Overall, even when I debunk Kaylor as an overwhelming long lasting and still ongoing monogamous romance, Calvin, Tom and Joe still don’t quite check out as real boyfriends to me. Thems my thoughts. Maybe Lover will debunk some of them, but I definitely expect some golden love songs like those we got on Rep, some sad songs about other events she skipped depicting on Rep and - maybe another Karlie breakup song or two. (I say another because I connect GC to Karlie and DWOHT and NYD to breaking up). Maybe a song about reconciling after something bitter that people will attribute to Katy but that will be about her feelings about reconciling with Karlie. Maybe a song about a friendship breakup.

[twothon]

SWIFTIE OR NAH?

Love Story is the first song I heard from Taylor Swift; Back to December is the first song I memorised from her songs; We are Never Ever Getting Back Together is the first bop I heard from her; Wildest Dreams makes me feel dreamy; Look What You Made Me Do from her reputation album is the baddass comeback music video she has ever made; and then there's Lover which makes me feel long-in-love with my nonexistent boyfriend.

If you've read the about page of my blog, I stated there that I'll be talking about things and stuff I'm interested on this blog and that includes music. The love I have for Taylor's music and songwriting prowess is massive, if you would ask me. I grew up listening to her music playing on the radio, in public transportations, malls, and parties that it seemed like her music became the anthem of most younger generations including me. To sum it up, I like Taylor Swift when I was younger - not that I like her less now. I have to say I'm not a die-hard fan of Taylor Swift. I hadn't been able to watch her regularly and I hadn't been able to receive updates about what was going on with her life or career; I wasn't even interested at her Red tour here in Manila. I don't have a single album out of her seven albums. I'd only watch some of her music videos on YouTube if I'd come across them and if it interested me but I wasn't a person to wait for her album to drop back then and who would listen to all of them aside from the singles that were released. Yes, I downloaded some of her music before like Love Story, You Belong with Me, Speak Now, Back to December, We are Never Ever Getting Back Together, and other popular songs of her albums. I was just a lowkey person who likes some of her music without actually knowing and liking Taylor Swift.

I have a friend who really really really like Taylor Swift; my friend likes the colour red, number 13, and has Taylor's photos as her wallpapers and all. Occasionally, I'd sing some of Taylor's songs with her and listen to them together but that far I could only get that time. One day, I wanted to discover and listen to songs I haven't heard before then I decided to search for some of her greatest songs and downloaded some of them and since then her music started growing on me. That was between 1989 era and reputation era.

Then, I was in grade 11. One of my classmates was also a massive Swiftie and we had some small talks about Taylor and her music. He was the one who introduced me to the masterpiece, All Too Well. That time, I had a song cover of that on my phone but I hadn't really heard it before so I played it to him and asked if it was the song he was talking about and he agreed but he said it was shorter and that I should listen to the full version of it and so I did. He said that it will hurt and I was - still am - hurt when I listened to the song. I liked it the first time I heard it.

The day the Look What You Made Me Do music video dropped, I remembered thinking what a big change it became from her prior music but I love it! I love the song and the concept of the music video. The power it holds, I couldn't even... Especially the latter part of the video, it's amazing how she turned the hates and the harsh comments she got from people into strength and power. I applaud her for that. True queen.

When we had our Christmas party at school, my classmate (the one I referred to earlier) was playing Taylor's music through his speaker and there was one particular song I liked that I haven't heard before and noted mentally to search it up when I got home. But the only lyrics I could remember were the words "you" and "love" and I also forgot the tune of the song so I ended up failing looking for it.

Until I decided to download ALL of her songs from her self-titled album to reputation. I took my time listening to them. One day, I subscribed to her YouTube channel and came across her Swiftmas video in 2014 and because of that video I found the song I've been looking for! I also began to respect her as an artist, the effort she put in her passion and her fans is beyond amazing. Since then, I've watched many of her intervies, speeches, performances, and just everything about her. I've also watched her concert tours and she's a great performer; it takes such a talent to put on great shows. I've always admired her humility, her heart, and her talent and just like that I've become a fan. There won't be a day I wouldn't listen to her songs or search her name on YouTube to see if there's a new video from her, now I'm writing this and planning to write a book with chapters inspired by her songs.

One of the many things I've learnt from her is that everyone always has something to say in front of you and behind you whether it is good or bad thing (even though you try your best to fit in their standards) and sometimes the negativity just comes overflowing but it - they won't matter as long as you take away the power from the people trying to push you down and carry on and move forward. There is no better counterattack than showing these people what you are truly capable by just being happy with what you're doing and accomplishing great achievements with the people who truly care and love you.

I still have a lot to learn from her and there are many years to come so if one asks me if I'm a Swiftie, I'd say yes but still in progress.

[speaknowslut13]

Hi Lauren! No stress haha tumblr is a disaster website. I’m definitely also excited for 1989, I hope she announces it sooooon! What is your favorite song off of red? (If you can pick, that is! 🙈) I’ve also been on a big classical kick lately, my favorite is Tchaikovsky, I absolutely adore his ballets. Can’t say I’m a big fan of jazz though either lol.

My top three Taylor albums would have to be 1989, red, and folklore, and right now I’m most excited for 1989 and debut! I can’t wait to see what she does with the covers, what vault sings we get, and if we get more personal photos like from fearless!

In my spare time, I love reading, baking, and hiking! Right now I’m reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and it’s been really fun. What about you? And how did you end up on Swiftie tumblr?

Hope you had a good day! 💖 Drew

Hello, lovey! Red is such an emotional album for me. It came out when I was having such a hard time in my life. But I can say that despite it being the most emotional song for me off Red, All Too Well is hands down my favorite. But the close runner ups are: Red, Sad, Beautiful, Tragic, I Almost Do, the Last Time, I knew You Were Trouble, and The Moment I knew. And Begin Again is my honorable mention because it reminds me of my beautiful love. And Stay Stay Stay.

I’m a mom so a lot of my spare time happens in the dead of night 😂 however I’m addicted to books (I have so many) and I love fashion. I’ve gotten pretty talented with makeup. I’m an artiste. I love watercolor in particular. I play instruments. I fully identify as a writer though. I always have. It’s like oxygen to me. My blog is the Modern Ren because I feel a little bit like a renaissance woman. And because my name is Lauren, it works as both ‘Ren and short for renaissance.

I came to tumblr after I lost The Swift Life. It was my first real interaction with the fandom and I loved it. So I decided to come to Tumblr. I had a tumblr before from 2013 but I ended up deleting it and starting fresh! 2020 really threw my plans out the window but I was originally hoping to grow a social media presence. I’d been toying with the idea of having a YouTube channel since not many people read blogs but I’ve always wanted to have a blog to share my work.

Until the last few years I’ve never been a part of a fandom perse. I still mostly lurk in the shadows, a little shy to interact with others.

Thank you for asking about my day, Drew! It was okay. I’m a spoonie! (Not everyone knows that reference but it’s related to chronic illness) I was a little tired out today but I was able to rest up because my husband is still working from home.

Did I mention I over share and am wordy??? 😂

Have you gotten to go to any tours? What’s your favorite Taylor moment? And do you hike in a nice pleasant place? I’m from Arizona so... heat. Bleck. What book genres do you tend to gravitate towards?

PS I’m a fairly open book! No questions are off limits ☺️