#museship

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Heartbreak is the National Anthem by Rob Sheffield.

Chief Haylor Correspondent

There's a noble tradition of great songwriters creating albums about each other. They fall in love, split up, weep their tears, lick their wounds, but then get to work drowning their sorrows and calling response breakup albums. There's a special excitement to albums that dissect the same tragic love affair from opposite perspectives […]

There's the strange case of Fleetwood Mac, who fully embraced this tradition with Rumours. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the Mac just in time to begin breaking up and re-breaking up for nearly 50 years, bringing the rest of the band right along with them. As John McVie said, "About the only people in the band who haven't had an affair are me and Lindsey." The Mac seemed like the ultimate cautionary tale about why songwriters should avoid falling in love with other songwriters — that is unless you're Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.

They clearly took the scenario as a challenge. There's no other breakup song tradition quite like the Haylor mythology. Whatever their brief romance meant to them in real life, neither ever dishes one speck of dirt about it — high road all the way. They serve each other as muses, trading songs back and forth. Haylor is a unique case of two brilliant pop minds who keep tossing these paper airplanes back and forth for years, not because there's any bad blood, but because it's a creative gold mine. They're still at it, as if they just love being part of this tradition too much to let it go. As Harry told Rolling Stone's Cameron Crowe, "It's the most amazing unspoken dialogue ever."

Rob continues in Chapters 15 and 16, the book is available on the Spotify Premium library

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Tortured Poets Prologue has 3 muses

The prologue has three muses:

One who kept her captive in a gilded tower

One who she built galaxy's with but who never aligned, and

One who was hollow and only wanted low hanging fruit.

The first kept her captive, caged in a gilded tower:

The next line 'lovers' with the L looking like the album title, Taylor not denying a union was ill fated, resentment of the relationship with muse#1, because she wanted to be with muse #2

Galaxies we created and the next line refers to writing songs with muse #2. The second line here with glued stars meticulously speaks of Taylor feeling they were kidding themselves it could work.

She then lists the things she did to move on from muse #2, referring to WIYW, DBATC, long story short and Satellite. Finally Mastermind, the stars never aligned, and BTTWS. She tore down the whole sky, not the muse, as in Peter. This is reminiscent of what Taylor said about Exile to WFPK:

It really feels like this tragedy of two people.. two ships passing in the night.

Importantly she tore it down, muse #2 did not ghost her.

To me, this muse #3, something old, someone hallowed who said he could be brand new. It is old, not present like muses 1 & 2. This muse is a crash through the skylight, they are not someone she's been looking at all along building a galaxy with. He was looking for low hanging fruit, meaning they were not truly in it for her, and never they scratched the surface. “Loneliness struck in at the fateful hour” this muse #3 did ghost her.

And finally, this line confirms it is three people with 'none of them did' rather than 'neither of them did'

This also lines up with their being three combinations of Post Malone in the Fortnight Music Video:

No Tattoos, No rings in the road scenes holding her face

Tattoos, 2 rings - his wedding finger and right index finger in the typewriter and phone booth scenes

Tattoos, 1 ring, glasses - on his right index finger in the scientist scene

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This beef with Kendrick and Drake made me realise how much Drake sneak disses people in his music in a way that only the person that the diss was about would pick up on it when they hear it and it goes above everyone else's heads. Which made me think, and I can not imagine all the things that Harry and Taylor put in their music that only they pick up on and understand. Sure, we pick up on quite a lot. But there's still things that we're probably missing, and we don't understand. The double entendres, etc.

Definitely and there are times we have learned about the inside reference later too. What first comes to mind is the first taymoji pack in 2017 was Ready For it..? which had this flower and the caption 'roses are red, this flower is also red' until Maroon came out in 2022 with 'Carnations you had thought were roses that's us' that was a private inside joke. Then Harry included red carnations on the table in the opening of Satellite along with his midnights themed outfit. As a bonus Taylor was seen carrying carnations out of the hotel they were staying at in 2012, but it's not clear if a fan gave them to her.

Another example is April 29, we never picked up that Harry was referencing Taylor's dress at Gigi's birthday in Kiwi in 2018 until High Infidelity on Midnights in 2022 specified April 29 Same with Harry taking photos with fans in that St Laurent shirt on 29 April 2017.

Harry also said that he and someone who wrote about him have included things that they think absolutely that happened this song is about me in the behind the album:

I'm sure there is more too

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Do you think Haylor is a museship? They probably don't want it to end by coming together. It might end up destroying the inspiration. I think they could be together if they both wanted it but they have specifically chosen not to for many years now. I think that's what the 'tortured poets department' and the fortnight video refers to as well. They are both tortured poets and ending their misery could end the inspiration, so they continue to stay this way.

Yes, I do, as much as it would be lovely if they were together I don’t think that’s their intent, not while active in their careers anyway. I think they are muses first, friends and have been lovers at times.

When Wildest Dreams came out in 2015 Taylor liked this post pointing out the characters had married other people, I think she thought that would the the outcome, married to others and not letting it go.

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The Lakes

The lakes is about escaping the challenging aspects of Taylor Swift's life with her muse to form an artist community like Wordsworth and Keats had in the Lakes district in the 19th century.

Above, the Lyric video shows wildflowers, LK has referenced this song and Harry also has for a Pleasing campaign. In the vertical video Taylor is on a swing, reminiscent of the swing in Seven, possibly about Harry. Finally a photo with a swan in The Lakes District.

In the Long Pond Session Taylor said (I've shortened it)

'The Lakes is a testament of what I wanted to escape from and where I saw myself escaping to. We'd gone to the Lake District in England a couple years ago. In the 19th century you had a lot of poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats. There was a poet district. They had their own community of other artists, which I've always in my career.' Jack: 'it's not just I've found something worth escaping to it’s a person to escape with.” Taylor agreed "That's a huge sincere statement of hope, everything I'm naming is completely small compared to this love.” “Hoax as the ending song was interesting for a couple weeks but then I wanted the real last song. The Lakes shows you exactly what the overarching theme of the whole album of trying to escape and having something you want to protect, protect your own sanity and saying look they did this hundreds of years ago, I'm not the first person who's felt this way.

Taylor said they had gone to the lakes "a couple of years ago", and she described a poet district with an artist community, meaning fellow songwriters. She had been to the Lakes with a couple of years ago with on her first trip there with Harry Styles on her birthday in 2012. At the time Taylor said it was her best birthday since she was 6. Like Taylor, Harry has a similar experience of fame and is a lyricist. Harry has also sung about being in an artist community with Taylor, in Canyon Moon, which has a very similar idea as The Lakes.

I have seen people refer to the Invisible String Lyric "Our three-year trip / Getting lunch down by the Lakes" to point to Joe. While not photographed, their 3rd anniversary was October 2019, or 6 months before this song was recorded. 'A couple of years ago' rather than 'last year' implies the earlier trip. Joe is also not a lyricist, she spoke about an artist community. He is credited as a producer on Folklore. Taylor described how William Bowery wrote the melody's not lyrics.

Lyrics

Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me? I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones These hunters with cell phones

An elegie is the speech at a funeral, her songs, particularly those she is reclaiming are like diary. She lost her eulogie, the story of her life.

The last line refers back to 'I Know Places' "They are the hunters, we are the foxes" where she and Harry ran from paparazzi, now they hide from every person with a cell phone.

Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse

Taylor is saying she is not cut out for the music industry life, she lost the rights to her diary, constantly photographed. In the Long Pond she referred to having this plan for years, which she foreshadowed for Lover, and I think Harry's Peace ring. I think they may have shared this plan when they first visited for when she turned 30 and into 2020. Folklore is about communication and how life differs to what a 23 year old planned.

The final line is so lovely, her muse is Harry Styles. No other partner has inspired so much work or so much success, they have inspired and encouraged each other to do their best work. Even when they are with others for years they still write about each other. When they see each other they are prolific. Harry has even sung about how he writes too much about her. I could list what proportion of awards and hits are about this relationship, but let's stay in the Windermere peaks.

Despite their success Taylor does not think they are cut out for this life. Taylor has sung about Harry's anxiety in New Years Day and Now that we don't talk, it's also apparent watching him at award shows in his solo career. This song and many (Mirrorball, I know places, Slut!, You're on your own kid) are about how fame impacted Taylor.

What should be over burrowed under my skin In heart-stopping waves of hurt I've come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze Tell me what are my words worth

The first line I think could have 2 meanings, one that the relationship should be over but it is not and the waves are hurt of not being together. Or, and I think this because of the second half, Taylor cannot let her masters go. The last line is a pun on the worth of her words and the poet William Wordsworth.

I want auroras and sad prose I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet 'Cause I haven't moved in years And I want you right here A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground With no one around to tweet it While I bathe in cliffside pools With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief

I want auroras and sad prose, refers to Harry Styles. She describes his eyes as “aurora borealis green” in Snow on the Beach. She also describes him as sad boy in Question..?, he does write sad prose.

In the Long Pond Session Taylor said "I could see this you know you you live in a cottage and you've got Wisteria growing up the outside of it and you just why you know of course they escaped like that." William Wordsworths cottage (below) has wisteria growing on the side, which is a slow growing purple plant, almost a lavender haze!

I love the imagery of 'Red rose grew out of rose in frozen ground', because it refers to Rose, which is a Haylor theme. But also because it refers to the track before Hoax: "My winless fight, this has frozen my ground" It also refers to a theme of hiding their love, "I would die for you secret" in Peace, that something beautiful and no one needs to know about it.

The last lines are so poetic and dramatic I love them. Calamitous love refers to a love that’s “built to fall apart (and back together)” in OOTW or "a crooked love in a straight line down” in IWYW. Taylor used a similar word discussing SOTB, calling it cataclysmic love. Taylor describes her dramatic and passionate relationship with Harry rather than staide and safe one described with Joe.

Her insurmountable grief is all she’s lost, her masters, the things she gave up in your own your own kid and things she has to pine about.

Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse No, not without you

Love this chorus, such beautiful poetry about poets and love.

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I’m new to your blog. Can you tell me exactly what you think the deal is? Like do you think they’ve been together this whole time since 2011 and all the other relationships were decoys or? I’m just trying to catch up!

hahaha no, I think they are friends and muses. I don't think they are (or intend to get) over each other. I think having each other as "muse" is helpful to have both their work and an ability to have relationships. A significant portion of their songs since Red are about each other. Rolling Stone commented on it in 2021, talking about Style:

I think their other relationships are real, but there's a pattern of media having them seem longer, happier and more consistent. ("Leave me drownin' to edit the runtime" - Ed's Punchline) They seem to respect their other relationships, Harry's behaviour changed when he thought Taylor was happy with Joe, seemingly until he no longer did.

They have likened their relationship to Nash/Mitchell and Burton/Taylor, like them Harry and Taylor have patterns and a sense of possessiveness and inevitability.

In November 2012, talking about Red she said to NPR:

"I've had relationships with people that were really substantial and meant a lot to me, but I couldn't write a song about that person for some reason. Then again, you'll meet someone that comes into your life for two weeks and you write an entire record about them." 

I don't think their relationship falls neatly into a box. In fact in 2020 Harry said to Stern (52 mins) he wasn't sure he would ever have what Linda and Paul McCartney had, that:

"People’s relationships are different now, everyone’s open and people have different things, but I’d like to think I would at some point."

Which to me matches the lyrics of the leaked Make My Day. I think the inner boy from Cheshire would settle down but I think navigating their careers and personalities is hard.

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I watched both of the Howard Stern interview of Harry. That guy is so fucking disrespectful and annoying. I hated him. So many invasive questions. But anyway i noticed something in the fine line interview when they were talking about Taylor. Harry said "even if the song isn't flattering", what does he mean by that! General idea is only 1989 is about him but 1989 didn't have any unflattering songs. Now he may know other songs that are unflattering but they won't bother him much if they are not out in the world like the vault tracks were. Rep and Lover also didn't have any unflattering songs even if they did, Taylor made sure no one would think those were about him. He also said he cares about if the song is too personal then it might become annoying for the other person. Might be refering to OOTW? That I can understand if it made him uncomfortable. But that was like years ago why would it annoy him in 2020

Harry has a way of referring to songs of hers which others don’t always think of as about him, like he wants it known sometimes. It doesn’t matter to him if the GP thinks a song is about him he’ll happily put the title or a lyric in one of his songs.

I think he was repeating ideas he has said in the past, the first widely accepted song about him is IKYWT which Taylor was specific about too and is not flattering at all. Even 1989, which while overall very loving pointed out the same weaknesses he does in his most vulnerable songs, that he can be selfish, flighty and unreliable. Things that he says about him at his lowest she hints at in pop songs as the recipient. On reputation she’s blunt about that in ready for it and sung about knowingly playing with fire by flirting. On lover too DBATC is very similar to 1989 in that it’s both loving, heart eyed and conscious that her heart would get broken.