if you had to guess purely on vibes, what order do you think the ttpd and anthology songs were written?
i know you said just based on vibes but i wanted all of my opinions to be researched and defensible so this has taken me hours to write. most of these are still opinions though!!
2022/Early 2023: i'm guessing she was mostly working with aaron on new stuff this year, while her and jack were building instrumental tracks and stems, so they could streamline writing while she was on tour if she wanted to. i'm also guessing she did 1989 tv early in 2022 and speak now tv that winter, but that's mostly based on vibes.
UNKNOWN: Clara Bow, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus (i could see this being recorded later in spring 2023, but it just sounds so 2022 to me), I Hate It Here, I Look in People's Windows (could easily be a post mh breakup song, but this is my list), Cassandra
Dec 2022: Instrumentals for Fresh Out The Slammer, Florida!!!, and Guilty As Sin are recorded in New Orleans (FOTS and Florida were confirmed to have their vocals recorded in New York)
Apr 12, 2023: Taylor is photographed at Electric Lady, then Aaron shows up to all three of her eras dates in Tampa (Apr 14-16). The songs credited to both Jack and Aaron are But Daddy I Love Him. (implausible given how she and Matty were not publically dating at the time, this would be three days after her and joe announced their breakup) and thanK you aIMee (more plausible imo but still unlikely). If I had to guess I would say Taylor was recording Who's Afraid, but idk she could've not recorded anything and just have been in the studio to be in the studio, yknow
MAY: matty month. i'm guessing she was mostly working with jack, but theres nothing stopping her from working with aaron (until he leaves for tour on may 18 and is gone the rest of the month). i'm also guessing she was planning on recording a taylor's version this month, because fresh out the slammer, guilty as sin, and the alchemy all have christopher rowe credits, who is taylor's main tv collaborator.
UNKNOWN: But Daddy I Love Him, Fresh Out The Slammer (i could also see this being what i call a "wrap up song", which is a song written late in the process about emotions felt earlier in the process, in order to fill listeners in about some crucial detail(s) she hadn't covered in a song. think like, style being the last song written for 1989, or fortnight almost definitely being written in october), Guilty as Sin? (this might've been written earlier, but i doubt it was recorded before late april), Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?, The Alchemy (i'm a "it was originally about matty healy but it fit so well for travis that she decided to retroactively transform it into a travis song" truther, but that can obviously be totally wrong)
May 7, 2023: The Albatross (mostly based on taylor and aaron both being in nashville and her officially getting together with matty, but i could see this also being a wrap up song)
May 24, 2023: Florida!!!
May 31, 2023: The Tortured Poets Department (two photos of her from this day are labeled as "the tortured poets department" and "ttpd" are on her and jacks insta)
JUNE: reports that taylor and matty broke up hit early june. jack leaves for europe in july and gets married in august, so i'm guessing he wasn't super available again until september (she also isnt photographed at electric lady between Jun 28-Sep 5). so i'm guessing the more intense jack stuff was written in june (aaron was def still around though)
UNKNOWN: My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, imgonnagetyouback (just based on when GUTS was released, i'm guessing this wasn't written after september 8)
Jun 22, 2023: The Black Dog
Jun 29, 2023: Down Bad
JULY: seems like aaron time! jack is seemingly in europe, aaron wasn't touring, and he showed up to two eras dates this month
UNKNOWN: So Long London, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, How Did It End? (this might've been written in april, but personally i would need a couple months to be able to process and express this), The Prophecy, Peter
AUGUST: a weird month! aaron is touring (though he is in nashville on the 15th), and Jack gets married on the 19th so i imagine he was busy. taylor was photgraphed in a studio in LA on the 2nd that, as far as i can tell, was not credited on TTPD (i don't have the anthology credits though).
SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER: wrap up time! i'm guessing theres probably a ton more down here, but i erred on the side of songs being written in the moment-- but i don't think she was writing multiple songs a week while on tour from may-july
UNKNOWN: I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) (i guess it could technically have been written earlier but it feels too playful to me to have been written pre-september. also the christopher rowe credit makes me think she was recording another tv late in the year), loml (it feels like a june/july song to me but it has a christopher rowe credit and that throws me off) So High School (for obvious reasons)
Early Oct, 2023: Fortnight
Nov 13, 2023: Us (taylor also played bdilh for gracie that night, so we know it was written by november)
WHO KNOWS: i could see all of these being written in 2022 or 2023
UNKNOWN: thanK you aIMee, The Bolter, Robin, The Manuscript
Lana's dating choices have always been like wut? but its not shocking to me, its in character. Not that it's any of my business but it is interesting how the public reaction is always forgiving and being like girl slaaaay, do it for the bit.
i couldn't help but wonder... was lana the matty of alt pop?
Just thought of the "I'd hold you as the water rushes in"->"that's when she sees the littlest leaks down at the floorboard and she just knows she must bolt" pipeline and now I'm feeling unwell
Also the metacontext of loml immediately followed by ICDIWBH is nuts. if SHE has to have total emotional breakdowns over life altering events and then immediately go out on stage and flip on the Banger Switch in real life, then she’s gonna make YOU go through that emotional whiplash too!! It’s only fair!! NUTS but fair!!
about chloe et al, i definitely think it’s about MH, but it’s also mostly about…the idea of him, the hypothetical of what could’ve been and how she uses those thoughts to torture herself, like that song literally just *feels* like aching to me. so in that sense, it could be applied to multiple people because it’s just a concept of a possibility rather than the real thing (which is why the lyric “you turned me into an idea of sorts” always guts me, because they were both doing that to each other).
last ask I’ll be posting about this bc i can just tell i’m pissing everyone off by having the discussion at all, but this is absolutely correct imo. the entire song is about the idea of him. that’s the premise of fortnight as well: she doesn’t actually know what their life would be like together, but because they never had a proper relationship, she’s scared that he might potentially be the right person, and she’ll never know if she doesn’t start the car and touch him
Taylor “living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts” with Dear John when she was 19 only to despair over doing so as an adult because even the lashing out was an unanswered plea for acknowledgement that something was taken from her.
every album since lover swifties have been like “omg we’re finally gonna get a lovey dovey album about how happy she is!” and then boom. yet another album about how she wants to kill herself.
Sometimes people talk shit about Taylor’s tracklisting skills and my hot take is that I think she’s very very very good at it. The whiplash is intentional baby and it’s just part of the storytelling!
