@taylorswift lyrical, story telling prowess resonates like never than ever before on this album. Here are some key concepts, some proven, some personally perceived:
-the 1: a past love, wishing it worked “tossing pennies in the pool” but okay knowing it didn’t. See ‘Holy Ground’ off Red for comparison.
-Cardigan: Betty’s point of view on James holding then breaking her heart, “you tried to change the story, Peter losing Wendy” a teenage boy refusing to grow up, so instead he makes it seem like Wendy ran away but it was him not maturing and “chasing two girls, losing one.”
-The Great American Dynasty: The story of wealthy widow Rebekah Harkness and her late husband William (Bill) the pervious owners of Taylor’s Rhode Island house named “Holiday House”, the blame the town put on Rebekah for her husbands death, and her revenge to unapologetically live the rest of her days in chaos and happy, Taylor then being the new owner and carrying on the traditional of chaos and “having a marvelous time ruining everything.”
-Exile (feat. Bon Iver): a couple having enough of their on and off again relationship and both of them still not recognizing the other gave signs “so many times” Beautiful collaboration here!
-My Tears Ricochet: Taylor’s somber ode to former manager and once-looked up to-father figure Scott Borchetta, “you wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” and reminding him when he killed her he died with her.
-Mirrorball: Taylor’s ballad to her fans, to sing us a soft lullaby and remind us she will also entertain us to make us laugh and smile as she changes herself each era, “tallest tiptoes” young Taylor, “highest high heels” older Taylor, we’ve seen her dance through it all with us and us alone regardless of “the robbers to the East (Big Machine) and “clowns to the West (Kanye and Kim).
-Seven: Young childhood-like love, the fantasy of running away, see Love Story and Wildest Dreams for comparison.
-August: the viewpoint of James’s secret summer fling, she wanted it to be real love but it was too fleeting, “cause you were never mine.”
-This is Me Trying: A vulnerable ode to the world, through the good or bad, Taylor is professing that she is trying and possibly to the music industry itself? “I was so ahead of the curve the curve became a sphere, fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here.”
-Illicit Affairs: a timeless bitter truth of what an affair brings to all those involved, the idea of real new love gets rusted and “what started in beautiful rooms, ends with meetings in parking lots.” Perhaps a commentary on James and his summer flings indiscretions.
-Invisible String: the miraculous idea of an invisible string tying your soulmate to you through both your histories and hardships, a very non-fictional story of Taylor and her boyfriend and their journey meeting and forgiving their pasts to find comfort in the fate that tied them together from the beginning.
-Mad Woman: a scorned Taylor maturely speaking to Scooter Braun and his wife Kanye and his wife. She got mad, they made her mad. See ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ for comparison. And its so sad their wives “also like hunting for witches too” because their husbands made them, well...mad.
-Epiphany: the heart wrenching thank you to all the nurses and heath care workers “holding hands through plastic” that this year desperately needed.
-Betty: the harmonic point of view of James coming back to Betty at her party apologizing for what he did to her that summer with that girl. See ‘How You Get The Girl’ for comparison.
-Peace: Taylor’s desperate question to her boyfriend, she can give him the greatest life but never peace and “is that enough?” See ‘Delicate’ for comparison.
-Hoax: tbh this one is still difficult to deduce for me. Perhaps the pain from the Scooter-Borchetta sale is still paralyzing her? Perhaps her current love has secretly ended and she’s announcing that? Perhaps something more to lead into another project? It seems off to end on an unresolved sadness but that is life at times..
Hope you guys enjoyed my breakdown! I’d love to hear all your thoughts! This album is the most complex, intricate and intriguing of her works I find and it takes you to a nostalgic, uncomfortable place that you can’t help but want to open back up. It goes to show, she is still evolving and the best of Taylor is still yet to come.
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