@taylortruther broke my brain a little with hoax analysis, and it got me thinking of how sweet nothing reminds me a lot of lavender haze in that both of those songs, in retrospect, reframe drastic switches in originally stated plans/intentions and romanticise it.
taylorโs always sung about a desire for marriage: from maryโs song (debut), โtake me back to the time when we walked down the aisle / our whole town came and our mamas cried / you said, โi do,โ and i did tooโ to love story (fearless), โhe knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring, and said / โmarry me, juliet, youโll never have to be alone, i love you and thatโs all i really know / i talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress / itโs a love story, baby, just say โyesโโ to speak now the whole damn song to starlight (red), โwe could get married, have ten kids and teach โem how to dreamโ to how you get the girl (1989), โi want you for worse or for betterโ to loverโs (title song) bridgeโs mimicry of wedding vows to paper ringsโ thesis to itโs nice to have a friend (lover), โchurch bells ring, carry me home / rice on the ground, looks like snowโ. only to drop midnights with lavender haze as the first single, the start to the album; an album that bargains a LOT with her discography (and herself). and that doesnโt make lavender haze a lie, necessarily... but it does make it an immensely thought-provoking narrative to switch to.
sweet nothingโs not that different! it was all over fearless (2008) from that initial, youthful romanticism of fearless (title song), โyou know i wanna ask you to dance right there / in the middle of the parking lotโ, to the spectacular dramatism of love storyโs entire genesis/lyric-story, to the cheeky flamboyance of hey stephen and you belong with me. sheโs known that she wants fireworks & grand gestures. actions & proof! she missed โscreaminโ and fightinโ and kissinโ in the rainโ and being โso in love that you act insaneโ. she herself loves in huge ways, and to cite examples for that would be to quote most of her discography. and she cares about the showing up โ thatโs why she wrote the moment i knew (red). and that narrative started to morph a little when she met joe; she said as much in miss americana, โi was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life. we decided together we wanted our relationship to be private. i was happy. but i wasnโt happy in the way i was trained to be happy. it was happiness without anyone elseโs input.โ their new beginnings werenโt secret to her, they were sacred. and then she sang, โwe still worship this love / even if itโs a false godโ and called their love โfaithlessโ in hoax. she took over the role of being the fire to keep his brittle heart warm. she took ownership of being โthe liquor in [their] cocktailsโ. she took the dreaminess & fated-soulmateism of invisible strong (folklore) and made it mastermind (midnights) โ which everyone joked about at that time, but now hurts to think about.
there is a pipeline from โall that you ever wanted from me was... nothingโ to โand iโm fadinโ, thinkinโ 'do something, babe, risk something, babe, say something / 'lose something, babe, risk something / choose something, babe, i got nothing' / 'to believe, unless youโre choosing meโ that makes my tummy hurt. how long could they be a sad song? (hoax. the sad song is hoax.)
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