#waolom?

[taylortruther]

i still think waolom? is too corny to listen to casually, i don't really care for anthemic songs like this. however, i do love "i'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said?" and how that is now the fear she mentioned in "nothing new" (among others) realized: "how long will it be cute all this crying in my room?" it's not just about the topics she sings about - it's about the fear that as she got older, she would no longer be the charming ingenue, she'd be the crazy disliked wretched woman living alone in her house.

[taylortruther]

I think the debutante line also ties into Miss Americana ( the song but also maybe the documentary) and the whole prom queen motif, ripped up my prom dress, I looked around in my blood soaked gown

yep! also, country/southern roots, being a public figure, an ingenue, the dazzling newcomer, etc etc. - she was once new and introduced to society, full of promise, ready to be a part of the world (or wed.) now? she's too afraid to go outside. kinda reminds me of the "crazy lady" she describes in waolom? and it also gives BIG miss havisham vibes, which we've picked up on since rwylm.

[taylortruther]

I always interpreted "who's that" as like d listers like the who's who of all the d listers are always waiting to attack her

i can see this too! i took it to mean like, the biggest gossipers/clout chasers of all the gossipers/clout chasers. but i think either way we get the point of the line, which is people who benefit from her career and her trailblazing that only want to tear her down

[taylortruther]

note to self: review these tags after the album has been released

[taylortruther]

have you ever watched "who's afraid of virginia woolf?"?

i’m sorry if you've already talked about it, but i searched quickly here and i didn't find anything about it. anyway, i saw these days and i found it so 🤯🤯🤯 the main characters reminded me a lot of t and j in some aspects (from what we think we know about their relationship and breakup until now)

i have! i watched it in college. i'm curious how they reminded you of them, they're both total assholes lmao neither bring out the good in each other.

i do think it's interesting to think about how taylor might've related to a couple that was relying on a shared illusion to stay together. like, this point you get to as a couple where you both know something is wrong, but neither of you are brave enough to do anything about it; since you know your relationship is over once the problems are acknowledged, you're both silently committed to the bit, to never addressing it. of course, a couple can't survive this without resentments and passive aggression piling up. but you're also both terrified someone will catch on, or that one of you will say the jig is up.

also, it's possible this is reference to the rhyme, where taylor is the big bad wolf, the monster on the hill, a menace that supposedly had to be reined in for her relationship to survive... it feels tongue in cheek, like she might be saying she's not a monster, but she is in control.

[taylortruther]

about the anon of waovw: omg i expressed myself badly, only martha's monologue saying how much she loved george even though they were always in conflict that reminded me specifically of the two of them. but i thought a lot about this issue of the illusion you said, maybe it's crazy but the fact that martha and george resorted to an imaginary situation so they didn't have to face reality directly, didn't have to be extremely honest and realize that it shouldn't go further reminded me a little of the escapism of folklore/evermore.

but despite all this, i also think waolom will be more about this issue of monster on the hill! but maybe the little old her is also the person who was most open to us, who doesn't need to police herself so much about what she’ll share or not about her relationships. idk I think it just matches a little with the premise of the album

anyway it's just a few thoughts. and honestly sometimes i think that none of what i said makes the slightest sense lol

also it's exceptionally notable that they have to keep it to themselves! they disrespect each other and their relationship openly, yet they still honor this big lie, because they're TERRIFIED of facing the truth (they aren't in love, they aren't happy, they have deep regrets about their lives.) like it's telling this story of how we all lie to ourselves about something, we all avoid facing the light/truth, because it's hard and scary. isn't it incredible what fear can do? look what it did to george and martha. look what it does to us when we're at our worst.

i feel like who's afraid might be about the good/bad of taylor's fame. almost like she's asking, "why do you fear me? why do you have to take me down all the time? why do you expect me to answer for everything? then again, i'm powerful, so..." and this is a question i could see her asking joe, herself, the audience...

[taylortruther]

What do you think “The who’s who of who’s that is poised for the attack” means? I’ve been confused since April 19 lmao

the "who's who" was a book or list of famous noteworthy people, and the phrase also just means important/notable people themselves. so i took this lyric to mean like... the biggest gossips are out and ready to attack.

[break-aperfectlygoodheart]

My particular brand of flawed human being loves the arc of Florida!!!-Guilty As Sin?-Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me? like It's a tasty trilogy, Running away as as solution, fantasy as a solution, just losing it and being scary as a solution (not proudly). Their not great habits to have but I reckonise it in myself.

!!!!!! Anon!!! Yes!!! It takes sooo much self awareness and vulnerability to recognize these things in ourselves!! And I totally feel you here, the not great habits we find ourselves engaging in, and the way we sometimes… revel in them. I’m thinking about what my therapist would say if I talked about that arc (love left me like this and I don’t want to exist so take me to Florida!! -> these fatal fantasies/am I allowed to cry -> so tell me.. they didn’t do it to hurt me, but what if they did??? I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me!!!!) and I think my therapist would encourage me to honor those emotions. What do they tell me? And I think that’s exactly what Taylor has done on the entire album (anthology included). She’s rotating these behaviors and reactions and triggers in her mind and wondering about where they come from. What wounds are still bleeding? Maybe the solution to feeling trapped and worthless IS to escape rather than shrinking yourself into a shell of who you are (there’s escape in escaping). Maybe the solution to dismantling an entire religious worship of a relationship IS to sin and see how it feels. Maybe the solution to feeling like everyone wants to hurt you is to recognize that some people DO want to do that!! And you have every right to feel RAGE about it!!! Those three songs in that order are sooo powerful and I love that you pointed it out because now I can’t stop thinking about it!! It’s the journey from self-loathing to self-respect and it’s a messy fucking journey and sometimes we might hurt other people on our path back to ourselves. But that doesn’t make us bad to be feeling upset. It’s just so complicated!! And TTPD explores territory I never expected Taylor to willingly share with us and it is such a gift that she went there! I think a lot of people struggle to express anger and fear (especially if we’ve crafted a self image/worth based on being “nice” and “reasonable”) so the way that Taylor has leaned into those emotions and explored them, given them a voice, given herself permission to be Ugly and Wrong, it’s just soooo powerful 😭