Okay I’m back on my Taylor Swift evermore theories, so hear me out...
So to me evermore contains 4 songs that comprise the central story and what I like to call the “love rectangle”. In album order those songs would be: ‘tis the damn season, tolerate it, no body no crime, and dorothea. As I tell the story, references to each of the songs will have the song name in parentheses.
Our story begins with Dorothea, and Este’s husband (who obviously wasn’t married to Este at the time), both in high school in Tupelo, Mississippi. I’m going to call Este’s husband E. H. For the rest of this post, to make this easier to read! So, Dorothea and E. H. went to high school together and Dorothea was extremely popular. She was essentially the “it girl” and everyone loved her, and this girl had had BIG dreams.
E. H., on the other hand, was more of a loner. E. H. fell in love with Dorothea and quickly became obsessed with her. Dorothea falls for E. H. eventually as well, but dating him publicly would ruin her reputation. So, the two of them hide their relationship and meet up under the bleachers to be together (Dorothea).
After high school graduation, Dorothea decides to try to make it big and moves away from her hometown to L. A., California. She tells E. H. about her dreams, and he reluctantly lets her go, and the two break up.
“Dorothea” is the first song of the six for this storyline, and this song would be E. H.‘s point of view. It’s important to first note that this song is all in E. H.‘s head, and none of this is ever said to his high school sweetheart, Dorothea. In this song, E. H. continues with his obsession of Dorothea and talks about all of the amazing things Dorothea is doing in Hollywood. He mentions how famous and popular she still is and how everyone must still adore her like they did in high school. He sings about how he wishes she is doing well, but how much he misses her, and if she ever comes back to Tupelo, he would welcome her with open arms. Lets keep in mind, this guy is obsessed with Dorotheaa, borderline stalking her.
However, also during this time that Dorothea is gone, E. H. meets Este and the two are in love at first. They get married and for a while things are great. That is, until Este begins to realize that her love for E. H. is much stronger than his love for her (unbeknown to Este, E.H. is still obsessed with Dorothea). Here’s where the song “tolerate it” comes into play. This song is from Este’s point of view as she reminisces on the love they used to have, and how hard she tries, only for E. H. to tolerate her love. She also sings about how she could escape this relationship.
Now, the next song in this story, “ivy”, is also from Este’s point of view. After Este’s and E. H.‘s relationship begins to hit rocky waters, Este begins to realize her feelings for someone else. Assuming this story is set sometime around the mid-1900s, being in a gay relationship would be highly ostracized. However, Este, is realizing she has feelings for her friend, let’s call her Ivy, and is feeling very drawn to her, considering she’s losing the love in her marriage. Este and Ivy go out to dinner and get a glass of wine every Tuesday night (no body, no crime). Este dreams about Ivy, sings about how she plants roots in her dreamland, and how fast these feelings have grown on her. Este also says that her “pain fits into the palm of your freezing hand”, as Ivy is the only one really there to support Este through her tough times. A relationship that is more than just friendship begins to blossom and Este says that her heart now belongs solely to Ivy. She realizes that her “love should be celebrated” as it is with Ivy, and not just tolerated by her husband (tolerate it). However, as Este states that she only wants to see Ivy’s opal eyes when they’re in a room with her husband, and as they together drink E. H.’s wine, Este begins to wonder what he would do if he knew about their secret relationship. She says that he would burn their house to the ground, therefore noting his destructive and potentially violent tendencies that will come back into play later on.
Now, let’s get back to Dorothea. The next song of the four is, “‘tis the damn season”, and is from Dorothea’s point of view. Dorothea decides to come home for the holidays one year, and E. H. stalks Dorothea so that he runs into her at the store, or some place in Tupelo. The two begin reminiscing on the old times in high school, and Dorothea realizes how much she misses home. She tells E. H. that’s she’s staying at her parents’ house, and not knowing he’s married, says that they could have a thing for the weekend and call it even when she heads back to Hollywood. E. H. who is still obsessed with Dorothea (this obsession essentially ruined the love in his marriage with Este), takes Dorothea up on her offer. The two spend the weekend together and he buys her fancy jewelry, and brings her wine (no body, no crime). At the end of the weekend, Dorothea realizes she missed E.H. and has feelings for him, but says that she won’t wait if he won’t ask her to stay.
Now, back to Este. The final song, “no body, no crime”, is told from Ivy’s point of view. In “no body, no crime”, Este gets together with Ivy for their weekly Tuesday wine night and tells her how she suspects her husband is cheating on her. She says that she can’t prove it, but is going to approach him about it nevertheless. Este indeed approaches her husband and E.H. absolutely flips out and in one way or another, kills his wife. He decides that he must dispose of the evidence and likely takes her body to the woods to hide her. During this trip he gets mud (and potentially blood?) on his truck tires. Immediately after disposing of the evidence he drives to Dorothea to tell her before he leaves that he’s in love with her and that she shouldn’t go back to L.A. Dorothea sees the mud on his truck tires, as mentioned in the line, “time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires” (‘tis the damn season).
Dorothea decides to stay and move in with E. H., completely unaware of the fact that he was once married and killed his wife to be with her. Ivy, distraught by Este not showing up to work or to their Tuesday get-together, decides to do some investigating of her own. In “no body, no crime”, she notices that E. H.’s truck has new tires and that his “mistress” has moved in and sleeps in Este’s bed. Ivy decides to take matters into her own hands. Using Este’s sister as her alibi (as I like to think that her sister knew about Este’s relationship with both her husband and Ivy), Ivy can get away with it. She kills E. H., and is thorough in cleaning the scene so that there’s never proof of her doings.
And that’s my take on the story! Try and tell me this wouldn’t make an awesome movie, or a great book! I also think potentially champagne problems could fit into this plot if, let’s say E. H. proposed to Dorothea after killing Este, but she says no, as she’s still too caught up in her Hollywood dreams. Even coney island could potentially fit here too! The amount of details in all of these songs and the connections between them are absolutely incredible! I only touched the surface here, so please feel free to respond or add anything else as you wish(:
A personal thank you to @taylorswift for saving 2020 and getting me through this year! You are absolutely brilliant.
