Fell Down The Rabbit Hole @lipstickonyourfacee - Tumblr Blog

Longer snippet of Speak Now

Bow and Arrow 🏹

As the legacy of track 5 being a masterpiece goes on, so does the subtle theme of having insecurities about the situation around. Delicate gave us a first insight, more like a throwback to the first moments of a relationship, whilst The Archer has a different introspection. The lyrics is more intricate and complex than what we've seen in a long time and that's what makes it beautiful.

There's a duality in the song that covers both sides of life, a dichotomy that matches with the symbology of Sagittarius and Cupid, yes, but is far more than that. Everyone in life at some point has had the upper hand, hence the archer, but also has been chased to be captured (re: hunters and foxes in I Know Places).

She says that cruelty wins in the movies, so I take it as a statement that if there's something wrong, evil and messed up happening, the universe will rebalance itself and re-establish some kind of order.

Like a Centaur who was half man (the one holding the bow) and half horse (the prey) Taylor has felt both natures in the past, in relationships (love, friendship) but also work.

We know that there's something evil happening around her and the one she loved, and she's been loving since 2013, and the public downfall started a year ago, but even though she almost said whatever she wanted to say without thinking about it over and over, she didn't and she stayed.

She stayed like she promised in New Year's Day and she will hold on to her person, like the memories, but this time she asks for help to hold on because, newsflash humans can be fragile and a force from just one pole doesn't work as two forces on both sides.

Speaking of sides and the complexity of human nature, she searches for the dark side of someone who has been called "sunshine", who lately looks like has been eclipsed by opinions and business, yet Taylor thinks she's her dark side. That statement in my opinion looks more like an admission of guilt, when she's not the one turning off the sun. It's all about insecurities in a fragile, delicate moment of the relationship and it's just heartbreaking.

Just like it is Dancing With Our Hands Tied, the metaphor of being in a room on fire has always a strong meaning when you think about the difficulties of having a life you need to protect from cruelty and it gets attacked from all sides, leaving you to hold on tight to the only thing sure: love, for herself, and for the other person, who's very different from every knight she's been associated with, who would save her on their with horses, and did nothing, and very different from ex friends who turned out to be frauds.

Love as a concept and love as a feeling, which is the main theme of the album as she says, because she makes it clear how she sees through herself after hating for God knows how long her own reflection.

And this brings me to the thought I've had almost immediately: the reflection.

Disney fans, do you recognise this? As one of my favourite animated movies I couldn't help finding the parallelism between Taylor and Mulan. Yes, the concept is different, I know, but if you extrapolate the meaning behind in Mulan it's just a song about not fitting into the world, not being the person she wants to be and the reflection makes her think. That's why in my opinion is important to analyze this side of the meaning, because it has thousands and thousands and it's definitely not a Narcissus kind of story. It's about being someone you're meant to be, and not the one the others expect you to be, like she did it in the past, both for her music (when she was under BMR) and in the public eye as a straight girl.

If YNTCD was a nod to the LGBTQ community, and a way to open the door, this is something deeper because she's deliberately trying to make people understand who she is under the surface and inside. She can now see it, they see it and asks if the other person (this time she's not talking to the lover, but to the general listener) can see who she really is.

As always, she's trying to tell you.

bleachellaz

This feels like Taylor starting to cement herself as a music legend. She’s done the chart topping, she’s done the usual album cycles, she’s now ready to completely artistically grow. I don’t want to be too excited but I feel like this is what we all have been waiting for

lipstickonyourfacee

you go tay 🥺

howyougetthenerd

I'm New York City, you're the West Village, home is Cornelia Street

It would be cruel not to connect the dots, especially when they're about a majestic city like NY. Taylor's love for the Big Apple is confirmed in her seventh album and she clearly states that the city is her home.

As maybe many can recall after she got rid of Calvin (June 2016) Taylor started to rent the carriage house in Cornelia Street, West Village while her penthouse was under renovations.

What's fascinating about Taylor's lyrics is that you can make a connection with almost everything, especially when she sings about the same person, see? It's just adding pieces to a puzzle and they fit perfectly because the subject is the same.

Can't you see how this song speaks so loudly about just ONE person who was always there during that time, and was also spotted entering the rental, yet tinhatters (the real ones) can skip the period with Tom and Hiddleswift world tour to make her a cheater not once, but twice because they want to make reliable the timeline they got, which is full of holes?

So, isn't it weird that Cornelia Street is defined home and curiously it's in the West Village? But then the concept of home is more complex, since she move from that place, yet she sings about their place and going back home in Lover.

Isn't it more curious that even though she lived for a year and half or so, she still makes references to the WV calling her lover like that in False God? Tribeca has its own neighborhood, but we know that years ago someone bought her first home in NYC .

And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name

Coincidences or just dots connected?

And this is just a part of the big picture, just think about the religious subtext that she gives to the relationship, starting with the idea of someone so beautiful looking like an angel and who really was an Angel (not Hey Stephen please). Just like I said when I talked about Don't Blame Me, there's nothing heterosexual in hiding a relationship, and especially comparing it to a fall from grace.

Taylor uses two sides of religion, and this one is associated with the kind of love that is so sacred for her but has to be kept lowkey since it's sinful for someone else, because it goes against some bigot standards.

Sacred new beginnings

That became my religion, listen

Religion’s in your lips

Even if it’s a false god

We’d still worship

We might just get away with it

The altar is my hips

Both songs sing about ups and downs, because a long term relationship is the whole package, being apart, having difficulties when the world comes between them, fighting and making up, but realizing that it's worth it and the possibility of being apart and broken up would be too painful that not even time could ever solve.

That's just a brief analysis of not just a single song, rather about connections that I find interesting. This album can be analysed in many ways, and that's one of the aspects that make it fascinating.

howyougetthenerd

1 year of Lover 😌

howyougetthenerd

homos just being homos

lipstickonyourfacee

what the fuck i just screamed

gracieabramss-deactivated202305

“betty”, queer literary theory, and too much time on my hands: an essay

a.k.a., i’ve been out of school for a month & i miss in-depth literary analysis.

I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff about how we shouldn’t think too much about the queer implications of “Betty”, and as an aspiring queer literary studies phd I just… cannot vibe, u guys. Cannot vibe. So here is me, in my academic chaos, discussing the queer literary history of what Taylor Swift does in “Betty”. I’m going to start with the assumption that James is male. You may disagree with this - maybe I even do - but Taylor Swift’s pattern of speaking as a guy to a girl in her songs is what I’m considering here; “Betty” is the most blatant example of this.

In literary theory, there is something called “the triangulation of desire”. Rene Girard is considered one of the pioneers of this, and he explains it as three roles: the subject, the model, and the object. The subject does not desire the object directly, as this is, for some reason or another, non-normative desire. This can mean that the subject desires the model, who desires the object (think of a woman desiring a man who desires another woman; she obsesses over their relationship because her real desire is the woman.) This can also be a way to create a boundary between subject and object - the subject is not queer, the model is queer and the subject is merely paying attention.

One of my favorite examples of this is Walt Whitman’s poem Song of Myself, XI. In this poem, a woman watches twenty-eight men bathe from inside her house. The woman is hardly mentioned; the poem is focused on the erotic and sensual details of the male body. Whitman uses the woman as the model, so as to not directly describe his non-normative desire. It is a kind of defense so he is exempt from judgment for expressing this desire.

Considering “Betty” on its own, outside of the other two songs, it is the perfect example of a triangulation of desire. Taylor is the subject, James is the model, and Betty is the object. While James might be male (thus making the relationship a normative one), Taylor is not. She is singing/writing from his point of view, yes, but it is still Taylor singing/writing. If we take the song as “from her imagination”, she is telling a fictional story from the point of view of a guy who wants to kiss a girl – this is still a triangulation. Taylor is singing about kissing a girl and James as a male voice is not the subject, but a defensive model so she can safely desire the object.

Taylor has done this throughout her career, by switching the pronouns in the final stanzas of her songs: “she is the best thing that’s ever been mine” / “marry me juliet” / “man i didn’t kiss her and i should have”, or by making the whole song from a male point of view in “How You Get The Girl”. (I’d argue that “Betty” is more direct than HYGTG, because the former is speaking to a woman, whereas the latter is aimed at “you”.)

I’m not saying you have to believe that Taylor Swift is queer, or that this is definitive proof. I’m saying that if her lyrics were studied, outside of any context of who she is, in any kind of academia, it would be assumed that she’s queer. So maybe, before you dismiss this, consider what exactly you’re bringing to the table that makes you certain she isn’t.

if u actually read all of this… holy shit. thanks. ily

murielswedding

anyway there’s a clear line connecting “i’m highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you” and “all eyes on you my magician” with “everybody’s watching her / but she’s looking at you”

felinetay

you ever think about how the first time taylor ever played tiwycf live, she said she loves hearing a crowd sing the words back to her and she’s never heard this one sung back to her and you realize that during the song the crowd is telling talyor, this is what you came for, everybody’s watching her, but she’s looking at you!!!! you bitch!!!!! and it’s an entire crowd of people reminding taylor that the love of her life is a star with a big reputation and even when she’s the center of attention she can’t help but to stare at taylor lovingly and taylor gets to hear an entire crowd of people sing a wlw love song back to her without them even knowing it’s a wlw love song and how incredibly special that must have felt for her to just hear those words, written by her, sung back to her after she was presumably too afraid to release the song under her own name because it’s written from first person pov with female pronouns? do you ever think about all of this and have a breakdown over your morning coffee or is it just me-

taylor-swift-isnt-straight

Gaylor Swift: The Powerpoint

The PowerPoint is officially done, 20 slides total with sources. Gaylor Swift: The PowerPoint Presentation overviews why some fans believe @taylorswift is a part of the LGBTQ community and the evidence behind their views. I’m so thrilled to have compiled all of the information I wish I’d had years ago when I first found this fandom. Whether you are old or new to the fandom the presentation is jam packed with interesting information. Thanks so much to @taytaysbeard and @ts7eggs for such great feedback and thank you to everyone who has shared the link as well as messaged me kind words!

If I get bored enough during this quarantine I might attempt to tackle a Kaylor specific presentation, but I think my laptop would start smoking after the 300 slides I would need to create. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and happy out there!

whywouldiconfess

What's the "karlie fucking kloss" story about a message board post??

Oh hahaha just wait for this one. It is one of my personal fave moments in Kaylor/ Gaylor Swift history. So basically, I am assuming you are aware of the L Chat, and there was a Taylor Swift thread basically discussing Gaylor Swift stuff. And someone posted about how if they were Karlie, they’d be off put by hearing about all Taylors exes in song. And basically “someone” replied with this long rant using first person pronouns talking about how Karlie would be happy to have found the love of her life etc etc, finishing it off with “and that’s how you’d deal if you were Karlie fucking Kloss” and basically we can all assume Karlie went on some drunken/ sober rant about how much she loves Tay because someone pissed her off in a chat LOL

Major creds to @jennyboom21 for helping me hunt down these screenshots

numberoneredfan

My Tears Ricochet Theory

Kaylors, This post is low-key for you but I think everyone should be open to this interpretation regardless of shipping.

My Tears Ricochet is actually about watching someone you thought you were going to marry someday, marry someone else. The opening line “We gather here, we line up, weeping in a sunlit room” is referencing a wedding. We Gather Here Today to see the union of person A and person B. However the following parts : Weeping in a sunlit room, sounds more like a funeral. This is because this Wedding marks the death of the writer (Taylor) upon seeing her Lover marry someone else. Their love is dead, forever.

“Cause I loved you, I swear I Loved you, I loved you until my dying day” Sound like would-be wedding vows, except now they will never be said.

“We gather stones, never knowing what they mean, some to throw some to make a diamond ring” This lyric marks Taylor’s intention to marry Person A, although life clearly had other plans. Perhaps this wedding is a slap to the face of Taylor, Person A throwing rocks.

“You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene” once again playing with the theme of a funeral or the death of love, now it is cursed. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” All the “Stones” that Taylor gave her lover before a possible wedding ring.

To add to this: I think Person A is settling with Person B. Taylor and Person A didn’t work out for whatever reason but it would seem that Taylor begged them to stay “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace, cause when I’d fight you used to tell me I was brave” Person A clearly still misses Taylor though “If I’m dead to you why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I’d stayed”

Furthermore, The Last Great American Dynasty is a metaphor for this exact concept. Person A married for superficial reasons, not love. Money, Loud Parties, Filling pools with champagne. But in the night Person A will always hear Taylor’s “Stolen Lullabies” the songs written about them, and wonder the same as what Taylor does “It could’ve been fun, if you were the one”

I really love this line as well “You turned into your worst fears And you’re tossing out blame, drunk on this pain Crossing out the good years”

Person A never wanted to be the person marrying for money, they are a hopeless romantic. Perhaps they didn’t come from money, like Rebecca in The Last Great American Dynasty, they were Middle Class. They were the type to make fun of people like that, now taylor writes of Person A’s friends of privilege “Bitch Pack Friends”

And yet Person A for some reason blames Taylor for the outcome, they can’t let go of the love either, they are drunk on the pain of losing the love of their life and crossing out the good years, forgetting the innocence of youth and trading it for the corruption of wealth.

does anyone know any sites where I can watch the 4, 5 season of legends of tomorrow with english subtitles. in my country netflix has only 3 seasons

#legends of tomorrow #dc legends of tomorrow #avalance

tswiftdaily

(x)

tay-westvillage

Do you guys remember Ingrid Michealson invite Taylor at her show concert. and she didnt know who is Karlie Kloss..and Taylor proudly introduce her gf KK. I found the interview video Ingrid tell the stories. Enjoy! (flashback july 30, 2014)

cc: @taytaysbeard @alex1213love