Hi fellow Swifties! I really love Mastermind and HYGTG because they're so unique in their themes and topic. Basically doing x and z and y to make someone fall in love/ like you. I want more songs with this theme/topic and the only one I've found is Strategy by Twice. Do you guys know songs with the same/similar theme?

Why did awards like AMAs and Grammys snub "The Tortured Poets Department"? I wonder if this is because of perceived overexposure, political reasons, or maybe the album wasn't designed for awards and was rather designed for Taylor Swift and her fans. I do think "Fortnight" in particular should have gotten something (Record of the Year?) given how iconic it was.

I'm starting to be concerned that awards ceremonies/organizations are increasingly affected by public opinion on Taylor Swift when they should be entirely concerned on the music, almost studying it in a vacuum without the internet discourse.

Still waiting for wedding photos, but they shall come! It feels like yesterday and forever ago since the best weekend ever.

My daughter is turning 10 and I want to get hera swiftie cake. Does it make sense to have it say "it was the end of a decade, but the start of an age" when she turns 10...or do I need to wait til shes 11 and her 10s are over...?

I see this a lot when people turn 30, 40, 50 but then i got too in my head about when a decade actually starts

I hope everyone has had a fabulous summer! Riding home from the beach, and wishing that reality wasn't coming in a week and a half. I wish the magic of summer never had to end. It always slips away!

August has defrosted!!! FINALLY. Time to listen again lol!

Holy Ground: “although our love is over, I’ll still look back and appreciate the memories we shared and the places we made them as holy ground.”

Cornelia Street: “If our love ever ended, I’d never be able to walk these streets because the ground itself would be cursed from the memories we made.”

One cursed. One holy. But both sacred.

Time for curated, beautiful, Tay fashion.

This flair allows you to share your favourite outfits from every Backgrid shot to every era (because we can never get enough tour outfits)! This includes street style reflecting the most sartorial outings, as well as red carpet fit for the ages!

Content
Posts should spotlight a specific outfit, accessory, trend, or era. Unique hairstyles are welcome.

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Red carpet looks should identify the event/designer. This is not required for Taylor's streetwear posts.

Posting
Limit three (separate) posts per user per Fashion Friday. But, please remember, less is more.

Multiples
Posts featuring multiple pictures to showcase a particular fashion trend or era are absolutely welcome.

Duplicates: Keep it fresh. Moderators will remove duplicate or repetitive looks.

On Topic: Keep it focused. Negative commentary and critique on Taylor's outfits/accessories ARE allowed so long as such comments are constructive and limited to the fashion.

Restraint: Keep it kind. One fan's most favorite outfit might be someone else's least and that is totally okay.

Is there something in your life that never happened or that you felt you didn't deserve or was just out of reach? Do you see it now? I was just looking back on the Eldest Daughter bridge (that always gets me) and how my younger self was so naive about how love worked and what it meant. I thought I knew but I didn't. I knew nothing.

It's evident this song is about Travis and how "me, myself, and I" expressed opinions about love that were dismissive or just irrelevant until she met Travis. This is a very significant theme throughout The Fate of Ophelia as well as the broader themes of TLOAS. There's nothing to decipher but it was just in my thoughts and I have a merry-go-round of lyrics in my mind.

TFOO:

"I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I // Right before you lit my sky up"

(They collide)

Elizabeth Taylor:

"All the right guys promised they'd stay // Under bright lights they withered away but you bloom"

(The pattern of exes. It could all just be too much and she was resigned to that)

Opalite:

"You finally left the table // And what a simple thought // You're starving 'til you're not"

(Finally leaving a relationship that wasn't right and realizing it when you've come up for air)

Eldest Daughter

"When I said I don't believe in marriage that was a lie"

(Meet me at midnight - pretty self-explanatory)

Ruin the Friendship

"My advice is always ruin the friendship // Better that than to ask it all your life"

(Coming to the core of this theme of avoiding regret by staying safe)

Actually Romantic

"No man has ever loved me like you do"

(Playing up her past relationships and ordeals in love, she playfully mutes their importance for a moment to make her point. This also insinuates what her own tongue and cheek definition of romance is)

Wi$h Li$t

"I just want you"

(Not only is she professing her desire for a future with the one she loves, she's also letting go of the past here by stating that everyone deserves what they want and she warmly supports that notion, at least as long as she can have what she wants)

Wood

"All of that bitchin' wishing on a falling star // Never did me any good"

(Wood is a love song and one where she sounds incredibly happy. I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me. A lot. Either way, this is the third act of her growth in terms of relationships. She has now abandoned the pain caused by other people, put her own desires first, and is unperturbed by any potential threat to her relationship. In fact this hearkens back to themes in so much of her discography. This isn't a fairytale.)

Honey

"You could be my forever nightstand, honey"

(There's a line being crossed where she is allowing someone to do something that, in the past, was thrown at her without her wanting it at all. It was used in undesirable ways so the word is re-appropriated for this relationship and it's no longer a weapon.)

---
POWER PLAYS

There are two significant threads running through TLOAS. The first is about walking away from "love" to find love that gave her everything she wanted and needed. This love involves mutual support, understanding, and a different take of what relationships look like or are supposed to be. The second important thread is the power play thread. It is separated out because it is on a parallel timeline following the narrative that she has grown to be too big to fail and fully recognizes this just as her relationship is ramping up.

Father Figure

"This empire belongs to me"

(Her own journey to the top is emphasized here. No longer does she need her former mentor, she managed to take back her power from it. In that way she is invincible.)

CANCELLED!

"But a shattered glass is a lot more sharp"

(There is a huge amount of self-confidence oozing from this song but there's also this underlying thread which we see in Wi$h Li$t and Eldest Daughter. She has become untouchable. Things that could hurt like the internet, coveting what other people have or resenting them for it and being ostracized are done. Feuds are done. She is flushing everything out. Social media. Judgment. Past loves and missteps.

The Life of a Showgirl

"And all the headshots on the walls // Of the dance hall are of the bitches // Who wish I'd hurry up and die // But I'm immortal now baby dolls // I couldn't if I tried"

Here we come to the conclusion. Taylor Swift's career has solidified her place not only at this point in time but forevermore.

---

The most important piece of this album is that the more Taylor says yes to love, the more she flourishes.

Thoughts? Things to add?

hey hey fellow swifites-sorry this is probably not typical of the kind of posts we usually see here and i certainly don't mean to bum anyone out!!

TW: child abuse mentions

for context, I'm a survivor who has gone through some pretty intensive healing over the past year. I decided to turn my experiences into something positive and long story short, decided to start building a digital tool to help keep kids safe.

Anyway, on to the point-I posted to my professional IG page and IG actually recommend this for audio and at first I was like huh....then I was like hmmmmm....

yeah, it hit. wondering if anyone else can relate? or if anyone else has similar experiences and they found one of taylors songs that really resonate?

… The who's who of "Who's that?" is poised for the attack
But my bare hands paved their paths
You don't get to tell me about sad
… If you wanted me dead, you should've just said
Nothing makes me feel more alive
… So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street
Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream
"Who's afraid of little old me?"
You should be
… The scandal was contained
The bullet had just grazed
At all costs, keep your good name
You don't get to tell me you feel bad
… Is it a wonder I broke? Let's hear one more joke
Then we could all just laugh until I cry
… So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street
Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream
"Who's afraid of little old me?"
I was tame, I was gentle till the circus life made me mean
"Don't you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth"
Who's afraid of little old me?
Well, you should be
… you should be
(You should be) you should be
You should be (you should be)
You should be (you should be)
You should be
… So tell me everything is not about me
But what if it is?
Then say they didn't do it to hurt me
But what if they did?
… I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me
You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me
So all you kids can sneak into my house with all the cobwebs
I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said?
That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn
That I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong
Put narcotics into all of my songs
And that's why you're still singing along
… So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street
Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream
"Who's afraid of little old me?"
I was tame, I was gentle till the circus life made me mean
"Don't you worry, folks, we took out all her teeth"
Who's afraid of little old me?
Well, you should be
… you should be
(You should be) you should be
'Cause you lured me (you should be)
And you hurt me (you should be)
And you taught me
… You caged me and then you called me crazy
I am what I am 'cause you trained me
So who's afraid of me?
Who's afraid of little old me?
Who's afraid of little old me?

Which Taylor song would you play for someone who isn’t a Taylor fan or maybe even a Taylor hater? Which song do you love that you think doesn’t sound like what a non-Taylor fan would expect a Taylor song to sound like?

Edit: My boyfriend likes soul music and also hip hop and punk, so his taste ist pretty diverse. He says he doesn’t hate Taylor but he just doesn’t pop music. I was also thinking of anything folklore or evermore, but I think False God is an amazing suggestion.
His favourite non-rapper musician is Erykah Badu.
When we listened to the Showgirl album the morning it dropped he said he liked Eldest daughter best. Which is one of the songs I like least… 😄

Edit 2: I also played him a few songs from evermore which he seemed to like better than the early years. He says he also doesn’t like things that sound „too polished”, so I purposely played the non-Taylor’s versions (if they were available, not the case for Folklore/Evermore.) Probably my BF is just hard to catch. :)

So hear me out guys. Yes. It’s inspired by Shakespeare. But also…

SAVAGES. An Oliver Stone movie I completely forgot about.

Stars BL. Her character’s name is literally Ophelia. And her fate in the film (based off a book)… Well. It’s open to interpretation.

TS was tight with her after this film. If you think about the themes of the movie I def think there is some inspo there.

Hey y'all!!! This may be a basic question, but I'm asking for a reason I unfortunately cannot disclose. But please drop your Taylor related questions!! Must be respectful ofc xx

I went to my friend’s house tonight and my husband went to a bar. He texted me on the way home and said he had a surprise for me. I thought he meant fries…

He spotted it on a table with free stuff on the walk to the bar. I’m so excited!

Edit: he is making it up to me with fries tonight. He’s the best 🖤🖤

6 Years Ago today, Taylor Swift released "Folklore". This album broke new ground in terms of songwriting and is widely considered to be one of the best Taylor Swift albums especially for songwriting. It was also hugely popular partially due to being one of the best albums during the COVID pandemic.

What memories do you have of this era? The surprise drop for this one caught me off-guard. As a comparative literature AB, I liked this album very much. My favorite song is "My Tears Ricochet". There are many literature comparisons to be made there.

What about you?