theunhinged-brain-rot

[theunhinged-brain-rot]

here is my prediction.

Taylor Swift will come out when she releases Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).

1 - This seems like it will be the last rerecord released and she’s not going to come out before all of her rerecords are out because she does not want people streaming her old music looking for clues if she is not getting the $$$. We learned this in 2019 when she backed out of her plan to come out at Stonewall at NYC pride (in the west village).

2 - When Taylor was writing for her first album she was just a high schooler alone in her bedroom. She was not writing with the lens of the whole world listening or with the idea or brand of Taylor Swift yet. Therefore her vault songs for this album will likely not hide her sexuality as well (like Brittney & Me). 

3 - When she releases Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) she will also be releasing her from the brand of Taylor Swift that she created. We’ve had a lot of prisoner imagery over the last several years, related to the ownership of her masters, but also the business of Taylor Swift. She will be presenting Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version) to the world, not just as an album but also as a reintroduction to who she is herself

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all goofing aside I genuinely don't understand the urge to reimagine Taylor Allison Swift as a secretly queer icon when the pop music scene(TM) is like. literally overflowing with women who actually like women. Gaga and Kesha and Miley and Halsey are right there. Rina Sawayama and Hayley Kiyoko and Rebecca Black and Kehlani and Victoria Monét and Miya Folick if you're willing to get slightly less top 100. Janelle and Demi for them nonbinary takes on liking girls. like what are we doing here. like I'm not even saying you can't enjoy Taylor but why would you hang all your little gay hopes on her.

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For one, there’s a lot of queer context in her songs and in her personal life, as well.

For another, she’s a superstar. I don’t mean popular, I mean a HOUSEHOLD NAME GLOBALLY. I mean not a single album has truly flopped. I mean her reach extends from young closeted gay teens to some of the most homophobic households of senators’ children. For a MEGASTAR of her caliber to come out and say “I’m queer and I’m fine with it” would COMPLETELY CHANGE EVERYTHING. Lady Gaga, Haley Kiyoko, Fletcher, etc. have ALWAYS been queer. And that brazen acceptance is admirable and the explicit quality of their art makes it easy to enjoy and resonate with. But they only reach so far.

Corporate Twitter and TikTok accounts reference Taylor Swift for quick likes and buzz…THAT’S her reach. And for someone whose fan base was able to assume, for a long time, that she jived with their conservative beliefs, to come out would be a massive change. It’s the Ultimate Stealth Mode. It’s saying “haha you lived for the music a queer person made” “you resonate with the queer experience!” For someone whose songs many people not only adore but relate to to turn out to be gay, or queer in general, could force a massive segment of the unwilling population to recognize queer people as PEOPLE. Because instead of building a brand around and priding herself on being bizzare and different (which I love for myself and many queer artists), Taylor has always played the Girl Next Door. And her more conservative fans can brush off her largely performative activism, but they can’t ignore that they resonated with songs SHE sang about WOMEN. They can’t ignore that the Girl Next Door is gay.

Hell, Lil Nas X originally came into the industry with the facade of being straight. “Cheated on my baby/You can go and ask HER.” But he came out after one of his most popular, COUNTRY-themed songs had made numbers. And now, people can’t ignore that they made a black gay man the most popular artist of 2019 and he sang trap-COUNTRY. That’s perhaps one of the reasons that as a newcomer to the industry, and a queer one at that, he hasn’t fallen off the mountain. He’s been able to remain a name not only because of his complex music videos and flashy style, but moreso because he made a BIG impression on a typically conservative demographic of rap-and-country obsessed teens. He pulled a bait-and-switch and made a name for himself almost overnight. And now, he can afford to be outlandishly out and proud, because he’s already trapped the populace holding onto his name. Artists like Hayley Kiyoko are popular queer artists, but they still just aren’t. doing. numbers. And doing numbers is important because to be “in your face” and unapologetically queer, you actually have to be slow enough to a conservative’s face. You have to really rub it in, and be relentless in your pursuit of acceptance and humanity if you ever want to get those things.

all goofing aside I genuinely don't understand the urge to reimagine Taylor Allison Swift as a secretly queer icon when the pop music scene(TM) is like. literally overflowing with women who actually like women. Gaga and Kesha and Miley and Halsey are right there. Rina Sawayama and Hayley Kiyoko and Rebecca Black and Kehlani and Victoria Monét and Miya Folick if you're willing to get slightly less top 100. Janelle and Demi for them nonbinary takes on liking girls. like what are we doing here. like I'm not even saying you can't enjoy Taylor but why would you hang all your little gay hopes on her.

[theunhinged-brain-rot]

Submission: Hi, I was watching the scene in mad men where the flag appears and this is what they say about it:

That can't be good

It is

It's the end of the world

It's the resurrection

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Some say the world will end in fire but what if I am ready to ignite a revolution?

This to me was very loud, so I looked up the meaning of this card and almost died.

KARMA?

Yeah, Karma

Look at this!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We are steadfast. The room is ablaze with light.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Some say the world will end in fire but what if I am ready to ignite a revolution?

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lavender haze 🤝 dancing with our hands tied

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i have many thoughts on the lavender haze discourse that i won’t get into here. i simply want to analyze some thoughts about her quote. but i first want to emphasize that it’s worth recognizing we haven’t heard the song yet so we don’t entirely know how she’ll explore the topic. and as such, i think it’s too early to be frustrated with the situation or to point fingers at anyone (on any side of the debate) because we simply haven’t heard the song yet, so we can’t be sure what it will be about, particularly given her quote about it. and i’ll get into why.

first of all, as is often the case with Taylor, she may likely be saying one thing publicly (referencing her 6yr relationship, rumors, etc) only to have the lyrics point in an entirely different direction. (as was sort of the reverse case with Betty, where many people instantly interpreted the song through a queer lens before she suggested it was written from a male-James’ perspective.) i’d argue that Taylor often allows for this ambiguity and even encourages it surrounding her art (is pronouns, tropes, etc) it’s something she has long done throughout her career.

so with that said, before i address her quote about the song, it’s important to note two key definitions that have to do specifically with lavender and relationships:

lavender haze — a slang term coined during the '50s, referring to being in love.

lavender marriage — a male–female mixed-orientation marriage, undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatised sexual orientation of one or both partners.

note the first definition, which Taylor has explicitly referenced, is purely positive in its description of the status of said relationship. it’s a time of joy and optimism. Taylor alludes to as much in this first half of her quote…

Lavender Haze is track one on Midnights, and I happened upon the phrase “Lavender Haze” when I was watching Mad Men and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it’s a common phrase used in the 50s where they would just describe being in love, like if you were in a lavender haze then that mean that you were in that all encompassing love glow and I thought that was really beautiful.

again, a very positive description of said love. not a care in the world. just pure love.

well, then things shift in her quote. she takes a deliberately different direction by suggesting that the lavender haze is state of one’s relationship that is fragile and is worth protecting. she says that if this love is found out, that people will weigh in on it and ultimately bring it down. so she must do what she can to protect the real stuff.

that’s not only extremely queer coded if you ask me, but also this shift instantly caught my attention because it doesn’t necessarily have to do with lavender haze whatsoever. but more so with the definition lavender marriage, as you’ll recall from above. here is exactly what Taylor said in this second half of her quote…

And I guess theoretically when you’re in the lavender haze, you’ll do anything to stay there, and not let people bring you down off of that cloud and I think a lot of people have to deal with this now, not just like quote unquote “public figures” because we live in the era of social media and if the world finds out that you’re in love with somebody they’re gonna weigh in on it, like my relationship for 6 years we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff and we just ignore it and so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.

quite a specific perspective wouldn’t you say? again, it has nothing to do with the simple definition of lavender haze, of blissfully being in love.

but rather, i interpret this as her articulating a much more nuanced closeted relationship, where dodging rumors is a reality (skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to f*** this up), where this relationship is worth protecting in every possible way because if people we to discover it, they would bring it down (something happens when everybody finds out, see the vultures circling, dark clouds, love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out, whispers turned to talking and talking turned to screams, our secret moments in a crowded room, cynical clones, hunters with cellphones)

i simply think it’s fascinating this secret love motif is ever present in her work.

we know Taylor loves to take a common phrase and give it a new meaning, or simply to twist its meaning with a sense of literary license she proudly holds as a songwriter. perhaps this is a case of that, where she is aligning herself with lavender-esq relationship terminology deliberately, by using a decoy of lavender haze for a lavender love that is far more secret.

because afterall, every bait and switch was a work of art.

for reference: all my analyses; mad men dialogue / scene / overall context

ps. i think it’s worth navigating these spaces with delicacy. we can’t assume what exactly it is she meant by “weird rumors”. because seconds later she mentions “tabloid stuff”. we simply don’t know much yet. i think it would be beneficial for everyone involved on any side of the debate to refrain from going at others and instead wait until we hear the song before we judge the situation.

pps. i’m not suggesting that concealing one’s relationship is an exclusively queer experience. certainly many celebrities encounter that. however, it absolutely is a reality within the queer many face. and given her track record and the continuous themes of her music, it speaks for itself. i am simply pointing out themes i see and addressing them through my lens.

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Basic overview of the Mad Men episode and the Anna and Don connection

For all the lavender haze girlies out there

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Note the caption on Taylor’s Lavender Haze video on instagram and TikTok and compare it to the July 29th 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 anon message 👀

YES!!! Credit to you and @chosetherose for picking up on "Wild" last night, right after I posted it. I wanted to see what else people noticed over night before I posted this. @chosetherose also remembered that she mentioned 'Wild' in the final MMWM (revealing SOTB):“Thanks for tagging along with me on this journey, it’s been wild.” 

The other thing that stood out to me when I first received it back on July 29th, was that 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 anon's "5 months" reference takes us to December 29, 2022. That fits with all of us thinking something significant will happen in 2022.

Here are some other good takes on this 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 anon message:

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Wow! So many queerincidences—I mean coincidences. You could say it’s all very…*queer*. I mean, weird.

Gawker... 🤭 Everyone is getting is she gay click bait. Question is why now? 🤔

https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/is-taylor-swift-gay-gaylor-tiktok

Another one! 👀

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I mean, it is OUT NOW.

Lmao I love that Taylor keeps saying Me! rights lmaooo

She will not let y’all ignore Me!

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Taylor’s boymode band.

https://twitter.com/greedymotivez/status/1570855608768954369?s=46&t=wsCozg8sPfA6XEDtVm2WcA

Taylor used this brand new song in her reel. So suspicious🤔

Alrighty getting buckled up the boyish beau’s ig follows this person

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All I could think about was “Lavender Marriage.”

Has anyone else noticed that the colors of these albums make a rainbow?

💙💚💛❤️💜

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Those vinyls HAVE to be related to album titles or lyrics somehow. Blood Moon, Moonstone Blue, Mahogany? Those are pretty rare color names, and not exactly on the realm of what Taylor’s vinyls usually are.

She’s making me decide under pressure what cool vinyl to get 🤦🏻‍♀️

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not to be a hater (but yeah to be a hater) shocker that the show with the black lesbian lead is cancelled and... The Other One gets renewed for two seasons

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God, I can't tell you how much the "there's not enough enrichment in my enclosure" joke has helped my mental health. Because, for some reason I can't comprehend, pretending that I'm a zoo keeper caring for an animal (which is also me) just makes everything easier to comprehend. Like "Your head gets screwey when you're apartment is messy" just doesn't carry as much resonance as "The tiger becomes agitated when its enclosure is cluttered" because then I'll be like, no shit? The tiger? I've gotta keep things nice and clean for the tiger.

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actually being a ‘swiftie’ means taking every opportunity to tell people that taylor used her own heartbeat in wildest dreams

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I’ve begun to interpret State of Grace as a song about Taylor Swift beginning a new era of her life and embracing a side of herself she had to keep locked away. I can post a detailed analysis later; just thought you should know.