So, uh, I went back and watched the video and y’all… Taylor totally lightly kisses Karlie on the cheek and Karlie returns it by kissing her own hand and touching Taylor’s cheek. 😭
canon states that things kicked off for taylor and karlie back in 2013, but many of us know that the actual first time that we know of that taylor and karlie were ever in the same room at the same time was the tommy hilfiger spring 2010 runway show, back in 2009.
the collection was called Beachside Romp, although the collection isn’t overtly beachy. and as far as we know they didn’t interact or anything, it was just, you know, karlie doing her thing walking in a collection of pinks and reds and preppy navies and khakis, and taylor peering out from her seat in her direction and maybe or maybe not watching her pass by
but do you ever think about how she attended this show mere days after the infamous VMAs ceremony where kanye interrupted her? three days, to be exact! September 13th 2009 and September 16th 2009.
i know swifties say that karma brought joe to her after all the drama she had to face in 2016 but you know?
have you ever thought about how, much earlier than all that, at the very start of it, at this show, in this way,
taylor’s singing a cute rhyme-y little song based on a never ending game with a little joke about how tired she is, her lover is in the kitchen humming, at midnight
and do you ever think about how theres a similarity between the lyrics “they say the end is coming” and “i know they say the end is near” in mirrorball? only because i think there is also something similar going on thematically, with mirrorball being this quiet lulling melody accented by taylor whispering hush
YES. And the way she says in mirrorball that her lover is not like the regulars or the other people she doesn't like and that Karlie is just as unique as she is (once again it's taylor saying they don't belong in society) she also says it in sweet nothing! Industry disruptors and soul deconstructors and smooth-talking hucksters out glad-handing each other and the voices that implore, "You should be doing more" to you, I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it.
Everyone always says that the end of their relationship is near or even that their romance is dead but they know better because only they know what they have and they are not like the masquerade revelers
I was just thinking about Snow on the Beach and about Taylor’s Rhode Island home and how she bought it in spring 2013, so that fall and winter it would have still been new to her, and we know that Taylor and Karlie hung out between Nov 13 2013 and Dec 9 2013 and we know that Wildest Dreams with “let’s get out of this city away from the crowds/you’re so tall and handsome as hell” was created in 2013, and that snow on that beach in Rhode Island would have still been a new and weird and beautiful experience for Taylor at that stage. And how even Taylor Swift would have felt like a sweet and kind Victoria Secret super model angel person wanting her seemed impossible.
So even though the song could just be a nod to the imagery of the VSFS13, it’s also entirely possible that it is fairly literal. And she did show us a video of her in the snow on that beach, and we did just get a quote from Gigi that the song reminds her of that house.
I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I never realized that in Dancing With Our Hands Tied on the Rep Tour on Netflix, it’s edited to look like it’s shot on a phone. You see where I’m going with this… kiss—
Yes, it is, I always thought this was a reference to that fateful and difficult night in their lives. She makes us remember their story in all aspects of her art…
So, uh, I just want to say that if Twitter gaylors are migrating here, welcome! Tumblr is amazing and I truly believe there’s room for everyone. I just want to say please please just let us all exist here in peace. I know kaylors are not very welcome on Twitter, which is why most of us stay over here, and I fully understand those who think they have broken up, so please please let’s just all be respectful and let us all enjoy our own spaces. I’m directing all of this at myself and other kaylors too!
We all agree on one thing and that thing is that this woman is big ol’ fruity fruit. 😂🌈
How weird is it to be reminded that Karlie and Taylor’s name are both made up of 11 letters? And that their birthdays has 3 on it and that their age difference is 3 years? How about when they officially met on 13rd November 2013 at the VSFS? Or the fact that Taylor Swift is named after James Taylor and Karlie Kloss is named after Carly Simon who were married to James Taylor? I mean, these are all so weird to put together but, I just, it’s too much. So let’s just forget the fact that they gushed and tweeted about being soulmates because.. 😩 this could go on and on.
“Once upon a time, the planets and the fates
And all the stars aligned
You and I ended up in the same room
At the same time “
—————
“You might remember earlier this summer when NASA released a striking image taken by the Cassini spacecraft of Earth as it appears from the dark side of Saturn. Yesterday the space agency wowed again with the first ever photograph of Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Earth all in the same shot. “
Mastermind by Taylor Swift - (my take on the song)
-------------
Mastermind is my most favorite song (tie with Sweet Nothing) on Midnights because it's the smartest one for me, there were plot twists. If you've watched the Korean movie: The Handmaiden, it feels kinda like that.. kinda. I actually have 2 interpretations for this song - Kaylor lens and Bearding.. which is ultimately connected. For now let's go for the Kaylor lens/take... (this is loooong, bc i really love this).
-------------
The song starts with Taylor setting out this scene:
Once upon a time, the planets and the fates / And all the stars aligned / You and I ended up in the same room / At the same timeAnd the touch of a hand lit the fuse / Of a chain reaction of countermoves / To assess the equation of you / Checkmate, I couldn't lose
She paints this world, our romanticist world, that everything is pre-destined, that it's fate, that the greatest love stories of all time were written in the stars. A cosmic design.
But Taylor (based on her songs) doesn't TRUST. She's very suspicious of everything, bc of past experiences from childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Of people breaking their promises to her, of people treating her unkindly. See bridge:
No one wanted to play with me as a little kid / So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since / To make them love me and make it seem effortless
She grew up feeling like she needs to please people to like her. That she needs to always exert effort for people to be friends with her bc effortlessness doesn't come easy with her. Maybe the few times she showed her true self as a kid or as a young adult, she's always met with hate, indifference or irritation.. so she ended up hiding her true self. Started to calculate and figure out what people liked instead of what she liked and who she was, became a mirrorball. Then comes the self-loathing, that you don't deserve good things in life. She can't trust 'fate' to give her the happy life/dream she wants bc she doesn't really see herself as deserving of it (See: Anti-Hero, The Archer, This is Me Trying *insert more devastating TS songs*).
She ends up needing to control everything in her life.. including love.
What if I told you none of it was accidental? / And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me / I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork / The dominoes cascaded in a lineWhat if I told you I'm a mastermind? / And now you're mine / It was all by design / 'Cause I'm a mastermind
Now the start of the 2nd verse sounds ~queer~ to me:
You see, all the wisest women had to do it this way / 'Cause we were born to be the pawn in every lover's game
Which 'wisest women' is she talking about? I'm not saying this is the right or only way to see this.. i guess, for most of history, the women who were the leaders of 'revolution', who didn't conform to societal norms, a lot of them were queer. They didn't want to be just 'pawns' in their lives, and follow along whatever heteronormative shit the world tells them to be. They defied what 'should' be by planning and going against the current. They wrote their own 'fate'.
Taylor knows this (she's such a history nerd). Now imagine a closeted pop star looking for true love in a very homophobic industry? Close to IMPOSSIBLE. Queer people are mostly erased from history, our stories hidden in plain sight, often forgotten, and if there were surviving accounts of Queer love, it's mostly riddled with tragedy and torment. Taylor didn't want to be like her 'heroes' who died all alone. She had to do it, the way the wisest women in history did.. by writing their own fate. By taking matters into their own hands. To defy 'fate' and say "Yes, I, a queer woman, can fall in love too. I don't need fate to tell me who's meant for me, i will put in the work! I'll plan everything!".
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail / Strategy sets the scene for the tale / I'm the wind in our free-flowing sails / And the liquor in our cocktails / What if I told you none of it was accidental / And the first night that you saw me, I knew I wanted your body? / I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork / The dominoes cascaded in a line
She finally found someone she really really liked, someone she could fall in love with. She didn't want to leave it up to fate if they will work out or not, so she created this grand plan to get her, to make 'coincidences' for them to fall in love. To give themselves a chance. She will write her own love story.
Time passes, and they did fall in love. But now she's feeling guilty bc what if her lover thought they were star-crossed lovers? That they were written in the stars? That they were destined? When in fact, it was all Taylor's efforts and plans for them to have these "coincidences".. so she confessed bc for the first time in her life, she didn't feel the need to 'plan' anymore. She finally felt comfortable to be her true self. (See: Sweet Nothing's - To you I can admit that I'm just too soft for all of it)
Is this the first time I feel the need to confess? / And I swear, I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care / So I told you none of it was accidental / And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me
The big plot twist of all is that her lover knew the entire time! She knew Taylor was the one making all the coincidences for them to build this love!
I laid the groundwork and then saw a wide smirk / On your face, you knew the entire time / You knew that I'm a mastermind / And now you're mine / Yeah, all you did was smile / 'Cause I'm a mastermind
The double plot twist, for me here tho, is that Taylor didn't actually need to plan their whole love story bc her lover liked her from the start too, hence why she let Taylor do all the scheming. It was mutual from the get-go. She likes the real Taylor (Delicate's "This ain't for the best / My reputation's never been worse, so / You must like me for me"). She let her do her thing and slowly gain her trust to be vulnerable with her. They defied fate bc they fought for this love, this queer love, put in effort to make it work.. but also they were actually 'destined' too. Yes, Taylor can plan the exact time and place for them to meet, but she can't plan a person's mental state if they were ready to fall in love or not, you leave that to 'fate' or 'time'. Hence why this song will lead to "Snow on the Beach", "Glitch", "It's Nice to Have A Friends", "invisible string", "cowboy like me" and so on. Taylor can't believe a love like this can actually happen for her too. They conquered fate (of queer people) by meeting at the right place, at the right time / mental state, against all odds in a homophobic industry. It was both the spark of fate, but also, it was their effort and choice to make it work. In the end, their love was written in the stars, but also, by them.
--------------
I would just like to comment on the production of this song, it's very on theme. The song is full of arpeggios from synths/midi but with different patterns and octaves, making us feel the precision of time. Arpeggios from synths/midi, are often quantized, which adds to the "perfect timing" the song is going for.
--------------
The second interpretation is about Bearding, which connects to this initial Kaylor lens interpretation. After finding her "invisible string", Taylor now wants to make them work until the very end. She wants her and her Lover to survive "The Great War", hence she needs to construct this grand plan to escape and win the "War" = enter Bearding. (Another post for another time)
If you reached this part, thank you for reading! I really love think pieces between Fate, Destiny and Free-will. There's no definite answer to it, and the 'not-knowing' is the best thing about being a part of this mysterious world.
jacobvanloon
baratheonpilled
areudirty
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
