An attempt at objectivity on the topic of Tayliz/a summary…
Disclaimer: I do not know any of these people personally. This is all speculation/personal opinion and not to be taken too seriously. Honestly, I hope people know that I’m mainly just having fun with Tayliz and, after everything I’ve seen, I don’t think the evidence is necessarily much stronger than Taymily (and both of those ships are less supported than Swiftgron and Kaylor).
I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I was just trying to put it all in one place, mostly for myself.
Over the last month or so, I got a little too into the idea of a potential relationship between Tayliz and I’m still on the fence about it. Although there have been things that made me lean towards the “they definitely dated/were more than friends” side of the fence, I’m trying to stay as objective as I can. This post is my attempt at purely laying out their relationship (whatever the nature of that might be).
I’ve been a fan of Taylor’s since 2006 and I’ve always felt most of her songs were queer coded (even though I didn’t know there was a term for that concept back then). I personally believe that Taylor is either bi/pan or a lesbian. I lean towards the latter based on a multitude of things that are too numerous to list and are essentially irrelevant to this post. The important part is that I think she falls somewhere on the rainbow spectrum. And I do believe that the Big 2 Gaylor ships (Dianna and Karlie) were real and I shipped the hell out of them when they were sailing. I also don’t believe that those are the only 2 women she’s dated.
As for Liz, I really have no idea. She has only ever acknowledged dating/been confirmed to have dated men, but the same could be said of Taylor. She also seems like a bit of a wildcard (not necessarily in a bad way, though) and might just be that one friend who flirts with everyone.
I don’t feel the need to extrapolate on the men either side of Tayliz may have been/may currently be with. Even if both of these woman have dated or are currently dating men for real, that has no bearing on either woman’s potential queerness nor does it mean that it’s impossible for them to have dated each other in the past.
Anyway, my main point is that my Tayliz posts are mostly just me finding something that might lend to the idea that these two incredibly talented, attractive women may have once been an item.
My interest in exploring whether they were more than friends is more about me enjoying their past interactions and trying to fill in the Gaylor gap between Emily and Dianna because there are songs on Red that I don’t think are about either of those women (I don’t think any of them are about Emily).
Here are the potential explanations I have regarding the nature of their relationship:
Tayliz were co-workers who happened to be around the same age and had a lot in common, so they formed an extremely close friendship while traveling the world together and eventually had a falling out or grew apart.
Taylor had a huge crush on Liz, but it wasn’t reciprocated.
Tayliz were more than friends, but not in a serious relationship, and that ended when Taylor met Dianna.
Tayliz were a couple for at least 2 years, but probably longer, and were on and off at certain points until Taylor officially ended things to be with Dianna.
Here are some of the things that stand out to me in the timeline of their relationship:
The official story is that they met at a meet and greet, ran into each other a couple more times, and Liz eventually ended up auditioning to be her backup singer, but the details about exactly how that happened are confusing/conflicting (which makes me a little bit skeptical about it). For example, when discussing Liz’s part in the music video for “The Story of Us” with MTV News, this is what Taylor told them about how she met Liz:
“We met in a meet-and-greet line. I started out playing small bars and clubs a few years ago, and she came to one of the shows, and I would sign autographs … and she waited three or four hours,“ Swift recalled. “And she came up and asked if she could sing for me. She sang for me, and I said, ‘You’ve got to audition for some TV talent show.’ And I ran into her a few months later, and one thing led to another and she ended up being my backup singer on tour and making out with a guy in my video.”
That was definitely the CliffsNotes’ version of how they met, but also kind of confusing because it was years, not months, between when they would have met for the first time and when Liz was hired to be her backup singer. It could have been months between their 3rd meeting (was it only their 3rd time meeting, though? It was, at least as far as the public is aware, but they may have “met” more times than that) and when she auditioned.
Here are the three known instances in which they would have met before Liz was hired to be Taylor’s backup singer:
December 10, 2006 at Brandin’ Iron Nightclub in San Bernardino, CA (3 days before Taylor’s 17th birthday… when you came to the show in SD SB):
Liz waited in the meet and greet line after Taylor’s show:
“When I saw her perform, I knew she had something special,” Huett said about Swift during a recent telephone interview. “Despite feeling silly, I decided to wait in line and talk to her.”
According to this article, Liz asked Taylor for advice on becoming a country music singer. Taylor said that she needed to move to Nashville, if she really wanted to pursue that dream.
There appear to be no Tayliz pics on the internet from that night, but here are a couple pics of Taylor performing:
July 31st, 2007 Taylor performs at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, CA (?):
Go Country 105, the radio station Liz was working for at some point during this time period, was a sponsor at the fair that weekend. According to her theswiftagency . com profile, Liz was the last fan in line at a “local festival” and she wanted Taylor to hear her sing. From that information, I believe this was the date and location of their second “official” meeting. Supposedly they spoke and Taylor gave her some pointers. I have also read somewhere that Liz sang for Taylor in her dressing room, so I don’t know if the singing happened at the Brandin’ Iron nightclub show or if it was actually at this festival or if that was just a made up part of the story.
Liz posted this picture that appears to be from that night on her myspace page with the caption: “me, Tim, and Taylor Swift the nicest girl in the world!”
They meet for a third time “officially” on February 4, 2008 at a taping of “Dance War: Bruno v. Carrie Ann”:
Liz was a contestant on the show. Taylor was a musical guest and she performed “Our Song” that night.
According to Taylor’s myspace blog about that night, she apparently didn’t know that Liz was on the show until she arrived for her dress rehearsal:
“This love is different” vibes haha. “So I sneak out to the garden to see you”… “betty” tho. Relax, I am not actually trying to make “Love Story” a Tayliz song.
I just want to know if they met and/or talked to each other on more than those 2 previous occasions before this taping. I don’t know, but Liz moved to Nashville on June 11, 2008, inspired, in part, by Taylor’s earlier advice.
Sidenote: based on what I believe are videos of the dances performed that night, Julianne H. was also at the taping, so…
2) Taylor wearing THAT cardigan (around the time Liz starts popping up) in the “I hope it’s gonna make you notice” vlog of her promo trip to the UK from February 18-20,2009:
Liz had performed with Taylor and the band at the San Antonio Rodeo on February 13th, 2009 (which I think was Liz’s first ever show as Taylor’s backup singer), but it looks like she wasn’t brought along for the UK trip. Although, to be fair, the vlog was posted on March 5, after they had already performed together again at the Florida Strawberry Festival on March 1.
On February 19, 2009 Taylor’s myspace blog, “On the cover of the Rolling Stone.”, she mentions that George Strait and his wife surprised her in her dressing room (there is no mention of Liz in the blogs until the “Excitement and the Agency.” blog on April 12, in which she introduces Liz and describes her as “precious” and “amazing”):
Here’s a pic of Taylor and Liz with George Strait that appears, based on Liz’s outfit, to be from the SA Rodeo show:
So, maybe Taylor had missed Liz on that UK trip and posted that vlog hoping that Liz would watch it and notice that she was wearing the cardigan.
3) The amount of time they seemingly spent together
There is way too much to extrapolate on here, but, in all fairness, they were two young women “taking on the world together” and they seemed to form a close bond.
Here are a couple cute examples:
May 29, 2009 Taylor’s myspace blog “Hi. I’m nocturnal. Help.”
So, Liz and Taylor went out, just the two of them apparently, for dinner together around Liz’s birthday (May 27) … hmmm…
February 22, 2010 Taylor’s myspace “Just got back from some cool places… (photo blog)”
4) The amount of Liz footage in the vlogs
She’s even in the vlog with the cardigan at the end, even though she wasn’t on that trip. Taylor just threw in a clip from Caitlin’s birthday from after they got back to the States, which shows Liz standing next to Mama Swift during the celebration. Taylor seemed to really enjoy spending time with her… but you know, Taylor has a pattern of intense “friendships” with other women.
There are a lot of examples, but can we talk about the “Demonstrating my fine athletic skills. And more.” vlog from April 26, 2010, though:
FIRST, in Taylor’s description for the vlog she lists the song playing in the background as:
Song: She Band: Parachute
Girl, stop it… we all know the full title of that song is “She (For Liz)”
Taylor dedicates part of that vlog to Liz and her habit of sleeping all the time, including a cute moment with Liz and Mama Swift.
5) The sharing of a hotel room (it seems pretty gay, but maybe it was all just a little summer campy)
So, Liz and Taylor were sharing a hotel room in London… interesting. And Liz left early so…
May 8, 2009- Taylor posts her vlog “Whisper Hello, I miss you quite terribly.”
There is quite a bit of Liz content, specifically there is a part where Taylor shows Liz sleeping on a “tiny little couch” right after this line in the song: “I like where you sleep, when you sleep next to me”.
In the same vlog Taylor wears THIS shirt and a heart necklace with a keyhole:
In the “I Knew You Were Trouble” music video Taylor wears this shirt and a key necklace:
6) The fact that Taylor planned a girls’ trip just because Liz was going through a rough time
Select photos from Taylor’s myspace “The Charleston Photo Blog” posted on August 22, 2011:
7) The speculation that Liz was fired and didn’t just leave to pursue her own career… Emily 2.0?
According to a fan on reddit, who claimed to have met Liz one time, they asked her what happened with Taylor and the other people in the room basically said not to ask that. Supposedly, Liz said she was fired for “getting out of control”. Take that with a grain of salt, though, in part because it was some random on reddit, but also because this person seemed to not like her very much.
8) The following candids:
(these were all found on Zimbio, except the ones from the jj article btw)
November 18, 2009 Taylor and Liz return to their London hotel at midnight
November 21, 2009 lunch and shopping with Mama Swift and Caitlin, Notting Hill and Portobello Market
Fun fact: Taylor sang “Umbrella” at that O.C. Fair show on July 31, 2007
Liz was Mama Swift approved:
December 29, 2010 out and about in Nashville… Just gals being pals, according to justjared…
March 21, 2011 Tayliz and the rest of the band had dinner at Benihana in London
AND NOW SOME BONUS CONTENT
Liz making sure we know she has freckles:
I’m just putting this here because it was sweet:
And for some tinfoil hatter-y/W. Bowery speculation fun, even though these smiley faces look absolutely nothing alike and know that I am just joking about this (btw, in Liz’s case, the smiley face is a World Adoption Day thing that she has done a few times… Liz was adopted)…:
In conclusion, I think at the very least Taylor had a major crush on Liz and at most they had a passionate as sin, sad, beautiful, tragic love affair that inspired a couple of songs on Speak Now and 2/3 of Red.
And there you have it… I’m just going to sit on this fence, leaning slightly towards the “they did” side, unless I come across something more concrete/blatant AND have a little fun while I’m here.
From now on, I’ll probably try to be more of a general Gaylor blog, with only the occasional Tayliz post (I say that, but I’ll probably publish 3 Tayliz posts in a row tomorrow or something). But also, probably a Liz appreciation blog because that woman is extremely talented and sexy as hell.
If read you all of this, I hope you enjoyed it. I made this more as a reference for myself. I left out some of my more crack theory and lyric analysis stuff and the social media interactions between the two. I probably missed a few key things, but I was trying to keep it somewhat brief (I think I failed at that). I probably won’t add anything else to this and will make separate posts for any other Tayliz content I come across.
