Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Torturedpoetology (Part 1) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-04-21 13:55:21
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

We're back with a very important and length episode: unpacking the juicy morsels of The Tortured Poets Department. Taylor Swift's 11th studio album is the culmination of years spent honing her craft. And, it's a significant departure from her previous Grammy award winning record, Midnights. Today, The Snakes unpack first thoughts from this mammoth of a record: interrogating the muses, the futility of trying to 'assign' a muse, and the evolution of Taylor's perspective on love through the years. Audio will be out shortly :)

Files

Taylor Swift Historians Decode The Tortured Poets Department...🐍 Evolution of a Snake Podcast

CHECK OUT OUR PATREON FOR UNEDITED REACTIONS AND WEEKLY VIDEOS: https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist welcome back to the evolution of a snake! surprise divas...bet you thought you'd seen the last of us....but no, we're here, and this is the THIRD and final swiftologist installment of TTPD release weekend. whew! today, we tear into the tracklist of our new national anthem, dissecting the different muses, matty healy and joe alwyn, and how they played a part in the incredible storytelling done on this record. let's just say we have a few choice words for THE smallest man who ever lived!!!!!! viva la snake nation!!!!! Don't be a stranger! 📸 INSTAGRAM: https://bit.ly/3RKOF5u 💻 TWITCH: https://shorturl.at/fxW39 📹 TIKTOK: https://shorturl.at/buzG3 💰 PATREON: https://shorturl.at/uILT3 🎙️ MY TAYLOR SWIFT PODCAST: https://spoti.fi/3U1pu06 📸 PODCAST INSTAGRAM: https://bit.ly/3QDNt2x 💌 EMAIL: zachary@fwbtalent.com 0:00 - 1:00 coming up 1:00 - 16:06 prologue 16:06 - 22:37 fortnight 22:37 - 33:12 tortured poets department 33:12 - 38:19 my boy only breaks his favorite toys 38:19 - 44:48 down bad 44:48 - 51:10 so long london 51:10 - 59:42 but daddy I love him 59:42 - 1:06:40 fresh out the slammer 1:06:40 - 1:10 39 - florida 1:10:39 - 1:18:23 guilty as sin? 1:18:23 - 1:25:53 who's afraid of little old me? 1:25:53 - 1:28:33 I can fix him (no really I can) 1:28:33 - 1:38:14 loml 1:38:14 - 1:43:02 the smallest man who ever lived 1:43:02 - 1:54:12 the alchemy 1:54:12 - 2:01:16 clara bow 2:01:16 final thoughts

Comments

Bon

Yas.

erin

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

Lauren

omg gaggggg so quick!!!!!

Lisaboo

Took Sunday off for this. Thank you guys

chappell roan

Part 1 😭 Please tell me there will be an episode on The Anthology!!! Honestly was more excited for your guys’s reactions and podcast then the album lmaoooo. Ok not really but a close second I swear! Thank you both for working SO damn hard to make so much content for us this week! I really appreciate it.

Candace Tirado

YES!!!!!!!! it’s here BRAVA BELLISIMA !

Jordi

i am SAT

Swiftologist

But of course a full episode on the anthology imminently!

V

Been checking in all day for this, so excited

Erik P.

boots🙏🏽

Erika Diego

Gahhh I’ve been DYING to hear your perspectives after some analysis of this insane album!!

MonsefMA

Hey snakes, appreciate all the hard work. it would be nice if you could upload videos on patreon instead of linking them from youtube as that takes away the screen-on-screen/bg listening features. Thanks as always

Denise Taylor

I am seaaaaated!!! Been waiting for this one!!! 🙏💙

Amanda

Seated, popcorn, ready!

Ari

Omg, just what I needed with my morning coffee! thanks for being SO quick, guys!

Jenny

I am part of the unwashed masses and have been deep diving so I can understand, that is why I signed up for yiur master class. Please don't send me away!!! 😂🤣😂🤣😂

Amanda

Grabbing my coffee and geeking the hell out with y’all! Yay! Can’t wait to watch!

maryna

madeline, you're saying that taylor doesn't say things like "you were a meteor strike" about joe. i think with joe the love just died.ä and eventually went away - fully. the dieing seemed to have been long and dragging, but it definitely ended, there was probably or maybe something close to closure because of the long fade out. but with shorter love affairs they tend to not die out organically, but are stopped when the forever feelings are still there, so it's more traumatic, i suppose. i think you end up seeing a long relationship that died not as a magical thing that obly strucks you once in a lifetime, but as the thing it was from beginning to end. you have seen all the phases, you have experienced the entire thing. with a shorter relationship you have not experienced all the potential phases of this relationship so some dreaming may be left. and the dreaming may turn into the you were a meteor strike kind of feeling. with a shorter relationship you have not gone through the same old shit over and over again, being disappointed and diening inside over and over and over again.

Paula

hi snakes

Zara Hennessy

Someone needed to get Madeline on smack cam when she logged back on

Paula

i’m new on the patreon

Paula

how do i access the discord?

Candace Tirado

Oh you two COOKED!! Michelin star, Zagat, top chef, iron chef, all of it. Mastery. We have been needing this as a break from the nothing knowers.

Jenny

Guys, when you were talking about so long london, I wanted to scream 'Joe is a Pisces' and you were describing Pisces precisely. They love being boohoo poor me, you have to struggle and being sad and scared is their default setting. As a water sign he was stifling her Sagittarius fire. I see it so clearly.

Jackie Lehman 💅🏼

This album is for those in their room with their beers and their candles.

maryna

maybe the point of so long london is to tell him and everyone "well, i say goodbye to london, i really liked london and that phase of my life, but i'm not really saying goodbye to you (anymore), only to london. (also: go fuck yourself!)".

Chloie 😝

Thanksgiving dinner is SERVED!!!!!!!!!!!! THE TURKEY IS ON THE PLATTER!!!!!!!!!

Ml

You both look cute … 🥹😀☺️

that.cute.idiot

omg video version? I'm eating well today

Jackie Lehman 💅🏼

This album, the "I love you its ruining my life" video, and the video for "I'm the problem its me" are all very "The Yellow Wallpaper" coded.

Chas

Between Zach serving in that shirt and Madeline’s eye liner and eye shadow, I’m 😍

Chas

Omg yes!

Ally ❤️

I think the reason Aaron is bleeding through Nathan Chapman is because he is primary producer on Debut TV 🤞🏻🤞🏻 If so, we are winning!

Kylee

Hey kids spelling is fun! P-R-I-S-O-N

Linz

Remember the pioneer who said The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived would definitely be about Matty 🙋🏼‍♀️😎

Jane Porter

Here's the thought I had today while listening to So long, London, and the part "So how much sad did you think I had in me?/How much tragedy?/Just how low did you/Think I'd go before I'd self-implode?/before I'd have to go be free?": I think by the end of it Joe pulled the "I'm just gonna treat you like I don't care so that you leave first" move, when a person just stops trying to surpise you, treat you good, ask you on dates, be interested etc. So, here she is maybe saying: how long did you think I would be sad for, that you act as if you don't care. "How low did you think I would go" meaning for how long did you think I would tolerate this low-commitment from you, before I HAVE to go, because at some point a person who this kind of move is made on, just has to leave, after they try, and try, and try, and get nothing in return. Then, we have the "and you're not sure if he wants to be there", which fits into this as well, it's because he doesn't.

Forty2times

Did she have a 1989 era fling with Matty Healy?

Kylee

I’m so happy you said that Midnights could be the Turkey breakup album, and I had that realizations thanks to your analysis of sweet nothing. That was her goodbye letter to him, it was the final chapter. I think SLL is her saying goodbye to it all, to both relationships, to London, etc. AHHHHH I’m going to eat this video up 🙏 P.S. You’re talking about Fortnight right now, and I found an unhinged Swiftie on TikTok who’s also a 1975 fan and the lore is deep with this song. She does not give a fuck if this is a good song, it’s a pure Matty roast, she’s trolling the fuck out of the 1975, there’s so many references to count. It’s not for the casual listener, it’s not for the masses other than for vibes, I even had to do my homework to get that song. I personally like it, but the first listen was interesting for me.

Jackie Lehman 💅🏼

Yes! And if you have ever dated a person that Joe sounds like; struggling with depression that neeeever helps themselves, it is exhaustung. When you go help yourself to get out of the slump they get resentful and try to sabatage your healing.

Emma Bassford

Guilty as sin is so motha fuckin good. Like soccer mommy meets Taylor, sonically. Fuckk

blake

ive been reading waolom as a masters/scott borchetta song! very much u raised me in a dragons den and now ur shocked im breathing fire????? fuck scott borchetta till the day i die!

Emily

Bravo!! In terms of Fortnight as the mission statement, I kind of see the vision it in that sense that (lol) it’s a song about being in a miserably mundane relationship, having the person you only spent a moment with in the past coming back into your life as a neighbor/acquaintance, and longing about what once was and wondering about the ‘what if’s’ of a long-passed short-lived romance. Extrapolating that back to reality, I think the album is a lot about how she was Over her relationship with Joe, and saw Matty as this great missed love she was always supposed to be with and running straight to his welcoming but duplicitous arms. It obviously turned out exactly the opposite of what she imagined, daydreaming got her ass :/, but I do think Fortnight sums up her headspace of late 2021/early 2022 when she was writing Midnights and Matty came back into her life.

Jackie Lehman 💅🏼

Destin, Florida: "What sets Destin apart is its unique geology – the dazzling white sand beaches are composed of pure Appalachian quartz".

🌷Elle🌷

The Frankestein like scene in Fortnight has to be about So Long London

G

I agree!!! So obvious: the fortnight period was back in 2014. Short but enough to hunt all over her what ifs. After that they run into each other sometimes talk about the weather… NOW you’re in my backyard - this is 2021 when 1975 starts working with jack. That is HER backyard!!! Her work place, her friends, her world. Turned into good neighbors so they are friendly. But same time she hates his girlfriend and wants out of her relationship (cheating husband??) and she needs to take a forget him pill to get out and work in the same department as him (in the mv) while in her had obsessed with the what ifs. This is why I think it’s actually a perfect opener for the album and really smart as first single cause it’s the whole story in one song.

Paulrissa

Florida, stand behind me. No one gets you like me.

V

I’m perplexed because I do think there was a seriousness I haven’t seen before on the album. Existential is the word I’m looking for. Especially with songs like I hate it here. Which I think is why we didn’t get the classic roast songs about Joe. There’s just something to still mine and decode about this album and I can’t quite put my finger on it

Abby

HAHAHA I was wondering if either of you caught me-he-he at the end of Fortnight. So glad you mentioned it here.

Burtasaurusrex11

The marriage references in this album are heartbreaking. I mean, she wrote a first dance song (multiple actually, I've seen people dance to several of her songs). She wrote the song that MANY swifties have been proposed to during. Yet, here she is with no one kneeling to the ground and taking out a ring.

Jessica Maguire

I love how in ICDIWABH the metronomic sound effect sounds kinda like her in ear.

Linn Isabel Eielsen

Loving this video! I intuitively interpreted "locked in lowercase inside a vault" as like, she was writing Midnights and then couldn't admit everything because it was happening in real-time.

Linn Isabel Eielsen

i also think she really DID love Joe at some point, even though it might have been toxic - so I don't think she was pining for other people at first

Kelly

Ok fully have my tin foil hat on here but the Taylor’s face silhouette in the Fortnite MV calls back to the style MV (a CHOICE!! 2014 connections anyone??) and my mind immediately went to the line “I’ve been there too a few times” …ummm with who?? Matty?? Fully don’t know but this man has been haunting her for years and we were not aware

Kelly

I am living for Madeline’s folklore/question lyric quotes. So funny and SPOT ON! Excellent video. Thanks for the foood!!!!

Michelle Johnson

Taylor met Matty in 2014 - could that be the “fortnight”?

Ally ❤️

Y’all killed this. TYSM

Krista Dabel

The fact that Travis can’t spelled is well documented. 🤣

hana

Started the video and the Fantano mention got me heated all over again - he’s being weirdly mean spirited about this album.

hana

This album is for the girls gays and theys the men are agog

V

I think Zach is right about the lowercase folklore thing. He gagged me. I mean guilty as sin? is about fantasizing about him, so it makes sense that that’s what she did a lot on those albums

V

I mean if cardigan or the one is about Matty then that’s indeed a pretty stunning haunting if you ask me

V

I thought the keep your good name part in who’s afraid of little old me? Was referring to how the public now is like oh don’t date Matty and do these things so you can keep your good name. And she’s referring to the cancellation when she responds with you don’t get to tell me you feel bad, as in like don’t try to protect me now when you’re the ones who hurt me to the point that I got depressed etc

madfem

The discourse on tiktok is abysmal. I saw someone say "you're not tortured, you're a billionaire" and linking it back to Palestine (!) and multiple people losing their shit over that line in I hate it here.. yes that's where we're at 😐

Erin S

Saw one stupid review in Slate that completely misinterpreted the lyric about “these people only raise you to cage you”. They thought it was a direct reference to her parents, which is completely insane. It’s clearly a reference to music industry execs. Why are those without a degree in Swiftology allowed to publish anything on the topic of Taylor??

Krista Dabel

The first time I heard Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, I said aloud “this is going to go OFF performed live.” Can you imagine everyone screaming that line with her? Chills. Also would love to see a mashup of London Boy, So Long London, Black Dog. How it started, how it’s going. 👏🏻 London is definitely going to get the goods. 🫶🏻 I have too many comments. First line of Guilty As Sin she says about Joe “drowning in the Blue Nile.” I chewed on that so long. He was literally an unfathomably deep and treacherous river of depression and… boredom. 🥱 I agree Alchemy never sat right as a Travis song though I admit my ears perked up at the chorus with the trophies blah blah. I didn’t feel it fit though. I’m certain So High School is a Travis song, though. I’m sure y’all will get to that in a later video. I was 99% certain based on lyrics (I don’t see her artsy British boys watching American Pie, and the Marry Kiss or Kill me referencing an old interview with Travis,) then someone pointed out that she literally highlighted his initials and her initials in “the twinkling lights” in the lyric video. It’s faint but it’s there, so that feels like the last 1% for me. Thoughts? 🎤 Also, could we please get the 31 new songs sorted into the playlists she made? 👏🏻

Cassandra R 🫶

I’ve been preaching to everyone who will listen to me about the alchemy not being about Travis. They cannot comprehend that the phrase touch down isn’t strictly confined to the realm of football. But like you said, we can just let everyone think what they want and simply enjoy the songs for what they are, art.

Krista Dabel

We don’t love it, but girrrllll… how long has he been swirled into her poetry!?? I think Midnights especially needs to be re-examined… since she was recording it with Jack at the same time Matty was recording with Jack… so much overlap. Can I ask you a question… Matty? The prequel to Guilty as Sin? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Alison Smith

YES YES YES YES YES YES. Blessed.

Krista Dabel

Everyone has a timeshare in Destin. I don’t understand this line or really this song. I have stayed at timeshares in Destin. 🤣 Its not giving “escaping regrets.” It’s giving middle class families on vacation, taking pictures on the beach in their white shirts and khakis. There’s no mystery to it. I mean. If they had spent more time building imagery around disappearing to the Everglades? I could see that. I just don’t get this song. Florida stans, please enlighten me…

Krista Dabel

Ugh, hating myself because now this makes me think of Ivy… I’m questioning EVERYTHING! 🤦🏻‍♀️

thalia

warning this comment is so long lmfao i just have SO many thoughts 😭 love you guys im gobbling this content up!!! we appreciate you snakes thank youuuu🫶🏼🫡 i think “how much sad did you think i have” goes back to joe and taylor getting together when she was at her lowest. he thought she would always be like that and he could stay a savior and she would never leave. but taylor didnt “have enough sad” to be who he wanted her to be and, as we know, got fed up and left. i love it as a track five! i think its interesting that the steady driving beat is so similar to the archer, which to me was a big early clue to a deeper issue between them — that he doesn’t understand her. and the fact that it is a track five is really illuminating because i think its the one heartbreak song that is completely free from the “matty psychosis” imo. track 5s are for the confessional, and this whole album is confessional but so long london is clear headed as it’s the most devoid of matty’s influence and the temporary insanity.

Krie

My alchemy thought and I’m okay with ppl thinking I’m delusional is that it was originally written with one man as inspiration but maybe got a little ending rewrite / addition for another. Partially because of the end imagery in the song - but also because of where it is in the track list. Cause the whole thing feels like a journey with Smallest Man being the final “and by the way you were not sht and I don’t miss you. “ And that was the closer on that story arc. Just feels weird to go from that to oh and it was alchemy. Cause we already had the but I love him songs. 🤷‍♀️ I think it’s a mishmash with an ending written in for the current relationship

Krista Dabel

The way my friend and I both snapped to attention, eyes wide, when she says “went to my parents and they came around, All the wine moms are still holding out…” Not us, 2 moms, wine in hand, in total disgust that Matty was all over this album. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I literally said, “oh no, this is for us.” 🤣 🤣🤣

Krista Dabel

The energy of the song literally feels like the adrenaline pump from performing… genius.

Heli Notkonen

Firstly I apologise my English, I'm not a native speaker and the fact that this is gonna be long! BUT I think that Fortnight is a really beautiful opener for the album! What I gathered from the MV and the song itself (and comments)is this: In the video all of the cuts aren't necessarily in order and the first dress is obviously the Grammy dress -> which is known to from a wedding dress collection. Additionally to that it makes complete sense to use that dress because she announced TTPD in Grammys and marriage theme is often mentioned in this body of work. When they electrocuted her (to try to fix her->her brain delivering only "I love you it's ruining..." -> she is mourning Joe) Post Malone saves her by unplugging from the power and from there they start to bond and for Taylor it feels like Post (aka probably Matty irl) can fix her pain from Joe. Her mourning is being showed with a Victorian time Mourning dress ->Then the actual bonding is being showed with the typewriters -> they are writing letters to each other and forming also a mental connection. This helps her get over Joe, or so she thinks. But this love was also ruining her bc she was so lost after the breakup that now she is losing herself in Post ->his tattoos appear on her face and she doesn't really know who she is anymore. The fall of this new love is signified with the burning papers. Then actually the first scene is after this new love has failed also (so first Joe->electrocuted to fix, new love and failure) and then back to the asylum because now she needs the treatment again. When she is breaking the mirror she understands it's again the same torturing stage in your life when you feel like nuts after a breakup. She is back where she started, a bride never married bc she is fucked in the head. ALSO: The scene where they lay down it's like they exist on a certain (and hoped) way only in Taylor's mind (that why they are lying on ground with T's head shape underneath. And when they see each other more (filmed in these chemistry/romantic scenes) she starts to realise the reality of Post. The first headshots are pretty hopeful but the 2nd T's face is concerned and sad, she has realised it's not gonna work. ALSO2: Obviously the memories and feelings of those men keeps her prisoned in the asylum (and in her head irl maybe) and only the "Losing him" -pills make it go away ->alcohol maybe? And this is the main reason this album exists so that's why she started with this song.

Tia

Where was Fantano mentioned in this video? I just watched his reaction, he hates it

Cynthia

You both look so nice!! Zack's shirt is so cool and Madeline's eyes and outfit are so beautiful!!

Jade

There’s a phrase that comes up on relationship blogs - “A tolerable level of permanent unhappiness” - where straight men are just…fine with letting their partners be low key sad and dissatisfied forever, and won’t change their own behavior, even knowing the effect it’s having on their partner. (And then they claim to be “blindsided” when their partner walks out the door “suddenly” and “without warning” lol) So anyway that’s what was coming up for me when you were talking about So Long, London and “How much sad did you think I had?” Anyway, love your reactions! Just wanted to share my 2 cents of what that lyric brings to mind :)

McKenzie Yates

As a Louisiana native, I regret to inform you guys that it most definitely would not have been better for the song than Florida😭

V

So high school is confirmed to be about Travis because his initials are highlighted in the lyric video

Becky

This was so enjoyable! Thank you both.

Chas

I love Florida!!! The song, not the state 🙃

Kelly

Yes. Ivy absolutely and ivy has always felt more like emotional cheating (my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand) more than physical which really tracks

Kate!!!

loml is exceptionally devastating because it’s the all too well aftermath of realizing she loved him more than he loved her and he knew it the whole time and just wanted to see how far he could take it

Krista Dabel

I went down a rabbit hole and I’m saddened to say that I 100% now believe that Cardigan is about Matty. 🥴 Everything since FolklEvermore is now under examination. I fear she just shed light on all the ambiguity of the last 3 albums.

Krista Dabel

As a Louisiana native I have thoughts… I think Louisiana swamps have a lot more mystique and better imagery, certainly richer culture that could have been mixed into the sound… it’s a beautiful backdrop for a story like this. However literally no one runs away to Louisiana, so maybe not. lol. I can’t see Florence with a Louisiana back drop either… “Run fast to the swamp, fast to your pirogue.” So maybe you’re right.

Krista Dabel

Zack’s shirt was giving Tortured Poet official uniform.

Chiara

Thank you so much for this, I was going crazy reading that people were calling it lazy writing and I needed good commentary, especially because I’m not an old fan so I really needed the prospective (sorry for my English, not a native speaker)

Lea

Now I wonder if this CD puts her last three in a different light. Certain songs people thought were about one thing or person is actually about another.

V

Sadly I think you’re so right! Haha Not to mention that she said on stage the song was about him before playing it… it’s just all so messy now

V

Hold on… the pipeline of “it wasn’t sexy when it wasn’t forbidden” to illicit affairs… which is about a forbidden affair…

G

Yesss. Ivy and also illicit affairs. Maybe it wasn’t a fiscal affair but those songs are inspired by those feelings and both are so specific… it cannot be all made up. She simply has such an amazing imagination and story telling skills she can use that feeling as inspiration.

V

also did she really write august from the imagined perspective of another girl in regards to Joe? That would be masochism… or… is Taylor both Betty and Augustine? In different scenarios to different ppl… in the longpond sessions she just sounded very emphatic with how Augustine wasn’t some bad person, and I agree, but… she sounded very passionate about the subject is all I’m saying

Erika Fern 🌿

Locked in lower case is definitely referring to folklevemore! PETER losing Wendy?! Ifeel like I’m losing my mind

V

I agree! I think she wants us to know

G

Oh. Very interesting! The fact that they lay inside the head silhouette… in her mind they are still in that place in 2014. Also the way colors coming out of the typewriters and sending them to that space, so through their poems they maintain the love affair (swirled you into my poems)

Erika Fern 🌿

Still alive killing time at the cemetery from loml also reminds me of ivy “I’d meet you where the spirit meets the bones”

Swiftlennial

I cried at a few songs first listen, but the song that got an actual sob first go was I Hate It Here. I felt seen, and I felt seen by Taylor, and that sent me. Broke me open. I have a feeling a lot of people will relate to that song, especially people that have a very rich inner world.

Hattie

Love love love! No one works harder or faster than the snakes 🐍 🖤

boleynns

And following up from ‘killing time at the cemetery, never quite buried’ absolutely reminds me of the 1 ‘digging up the grave another time’ - and ‘thought I saw you at the bus stop, I didn’t though’ makes me think of ALL of I Look in People’s Windows. And don’t even get me started on gold rush and Maroon and labyrinth ahhh, there are too many dominos being knocked over in my brain 😅

G

Well said! I think it’s perfect for track 5. I read the “how much sad did you think I have in me” a little different. He said she abandon the ship, but he was making her sad for so long… how much sad can a person have? How long can we be a sad song? He has endless sad, blue days, depression references. But she has a limit.

thalia

yes exactly!!! i think those are tied together definitely :) he needed her to be sad with him

V

You know… the spirit meets the bones line is the one line I truly never understood before. I thought she just thought it sounded good. But I think you just cracked the damn code, I can never unsee it now

Ciara

I attended the 1975 concert in Paris in March this year and before they played Paris the song ironically, which I believe was written when Matty was in the thick of his addiction, he explained how he now has been clean etc etc for almost 6 years and how this time in which the song was penned was such a hard time for him but this song is one he is so proud of from this period of his life.. with all the references to drugs on TTPD it's truly fascinating to contemplate if this was an active issue seeing as Matty Healy has recently been declaring he's clean a d this isn't an issue anymore!!! Fascinating cause Taylor is certainly contradicting his sentiments

Monica

I agree, calling the rat the smallest man who ever lived and following it up with cheesy on the nose football references to her new man really feels like a 1 - 2 knockout punch. the song is about the rat, she’s kicking him while he’s down.

Renata Faustina

I have the feeling that Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is her revisiting an angle of why it didn't work in the first place, around 2014. "The decade would play us for fools". The drug usage would make sense plus both of them not being exclusive at the time and just watching it happen. So the guy that would have bullied him on high school might be Calvin -wasn't he a bit conservative? Situating the storyline during 2014-2016 would also add layers about her saying "tell me "I loved you the way you were"" recalling the time her idea of self was so lost and buried under her "problematic" public persona and no real loved ones on sight. She also mentions being way younger and also draws paralels to the one and maroon, pieces that share this melancholic perspective wondering about what could've been. I'm definitely with Madeleine about the one being about him, plus, her typewriter on the "Fortnight" video is literally missing the "1" !!!! :'( I'm now confident about DWOHT is about him, and so many more will unravel...

Ariel Baker

Zach, when you say at 53:30 that Taylor is "Careening towards the chaos", this choice of diction is perfect. The oxford definition of careening "move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way". Gag!

thalia

fortnight shooters PLEASE rise 🙏

amandasoul

Yes! i totally agree. i agree with a lot of what they have to say in opinion but i for sure think this one is about her current relationship. also way too many sports analogies and puns for it to be coincidental. I don’t think blondie is a coincidence girlie. Quite the opposite, very calculated.

hana

Oops sorry i didnt note it down 😭 But it was early probably before the third song discussion

Tyler

Taylor needs therapy but thank god she doesn’t get it

Megan 🫶🏻

snakes, the chats and reacts girls now think labyrinth is about the rat, what do you guys think of that? do we need another midnights revisit👀😂

Megan 🫶🏻

it really made me think more about that song, but im delulu so i need yalls honesty😂

Savvy

🥲

Kylee

Madeline you just blew my mind with the illicit affairs tie in- read. Everything is different now.

Jade

One other thought I had about “you look like Taylor Swift” could be about Taylor herself, as she navigates a new and (almost) post-Eras chapter of her life. A lot of people have said that in some ways Eras might be honoring her past selves before she permanently lays them to rest, and moves forward into a new chapter of her life. So that could be one way to look at it. Like, I wonder if the connotation is “you look like Taylor Swift (tm)” as in the public image, based on the roles she used to play. But she’s growing up and needs space and grace to make those changes, and leave her past behind, and chart a new future, even though people will still expect her to be “dazzling” in ways that she might be growing tired of. (“getting tired even for a phoenix…) So like, I wonder if she’s at least partially contending with this absolute *empire* she’s built for herself, and how she can move forward now into a post-Eras period in her life, where she can more fully explore who she is now, and who she wants to be next. Tl;dr I wonder if the line is at least partially saying, “You no longer resemble the carefully crafted public persona you wore like a mask for so long. So, while she *looks* like Old Taylor, she really isn’t, and she hasn’t been for awhile. She’s growing into herself as she ages, and that’s such a cool process to watch. I hope she’s able to be free to move forward from her past in a way that best honors who she is now. PS it also reminds me of “she said I looked like an American singer” from Invisible String. I think that instance is kind of the same: her face is universally recognizable, no matter where she goes and what she does, but there are moments where she’s *not* Taylor Swift (tm.) Moments when she’s just a person out to lunch with her partner, just living as a person and not a walking advertisement for her art.

Aleesha Hunter

This is really helping me wrap my mind around Fortnight…thank you!! 🙌

Nicky Lynch

I enjoyed this so much thank you Zack and Madeline! Can we all vote for an eras tour set list? I would want the black dog (can you imagine screaming your head off to that live?), I can do it with a broken heart, my boy only breaks his favourite toys, loml and either down bad or guilty as sin. Also who’s afraid of little old me needs a music video just so we can see her leaping from a gallows and levitating down the street like some nightmare vengeful ghost :)

treesap

Do either of you sleep!? Overworkedologist indeed!! Loved this early analysis and looking forward to what's next (after u rest)

boleynns

I love the little preview that you keep coming back to I Hate It Here — that song, Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus, and The Prophecy are the three that I think legitimately changed the composition of my brain.

Vee

I know this isn’t the explanation Taylor gave, but I personally find Florida exponentially better when I listen to the song from the perspective of Florida representing a man, the same way London does in So Long, London. If you’re interested in my LONG winded lyrical analysis, here are my thoughts: “Little did you know your home’s really only A town you’re just a guest in So you work your like away just to pay For a time-share down in Destin.” She thought Joe was her forever “home,” but he turned out to just be a place she was visiting — she was “just a guest.” The line she “worked her life away” could have many meanings: 1. She worked as hard as she could to dim her shine, her celebrity, the “life” she had built for herself to try and fit into the kind of life Joe wanted. (“Tried wishing on comets tried dimming the shine. Tried to orbit his planet. Some stars never align.”) 2. She spent years of her life trying to make it work with Joe. (“I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.”) 3. She threw herself into the tour and into her work to try and distract herself from what was actually happening in her life. (“Lights, camera, bitch, smile even when you want to die”) Whatever way you interpret it, the conclusion is the same: She did alllll of that “just to pay for a time-share down in Destin” (end up with Matty Healy.) She changes the lyrics slightly in the 2nd pre-chorus: “Little did you know your home's really only The town you'll get arrested So you pack your life away just to wait out The shitstorm back in Texas.” She likens being with Joe to being “arrested” or in jail. This could also be tied to the line from her summation poem, “It was house and then cardiac arrest.” There was almost a TWO WEEK time period between her shows in Arlington, Texas (last show 4/2) and her shows in Tampa, Florida (first show 4/13). During this time, the news broke of her breakup with Joe (4/8, also apparently Matty Healy’s birthday.) I think this is also referenced in the 2nd verse: “The hurricane with my name when it came I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine Well, me and my ghosts, wе had a hell of a time Yes, I'm hauntеd, but I'm feeling just fine All my girls got their lace and their crimes And your cheating husband disappeared Well no one asks any questions here” I believe the “hurricane with her name” is likely the media frenzy surrounding her breakup with Joe. Her “ghosts” could possibly refer to Matty, as it seems like they’ve have something for each other for the past decade. However, I think this more likely refers to the Eras Tour. Where she revisits her previous eras and the past versions, or “ghosts” of herself. I also like to believe that WE (the fans) are her “girls.” In the final couple of lines she notes that her “husband disappeared but no body asks any questions here.” She had broken up with Joe, and when everyone else was asking “How Did It End?” Matty wasn’t. Matty didn’t care how it ended, only that it was over. In the chorus she states that “Florida is one hell of a drug.” I believe this correlates to the “miracle move-on drug” she sings about in Fortnight/the “Forget Him” pill she takes in the music video. Matty IS the “miracle move-on drug” and she’s asking if she can “use [him] up” to forget about Joe and the media circus surrounding their breakup. We see the idea of trying to forget about a past lover pop-up again in the line, “So I did my best to lay to rest all of the bodies that have ever been on my body.” Finally, the lyrics that bring this all home for me (and that sparked this idea in the first place) can be found in none other than the bridge. Replace “Florida” with “Matty” and the picture becomes pretty clear. “I need to forget, so take me to Florida I've got some regrets, I'll bury them in Florida Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable What a crash, what a rush, fuck me up, Florida It's one hell of a drug It's one hell of a drug Love left me like this and I don't want to exist So take me to Florida” Blondie was fresh out the slammer and she KNEW who her next call would be to. As she says, she was “out of the oven and into the microwave. Out of the SLAMMER and into a TIDAL WAVE.”

boleynns

One more comment to say: I think you guys should re-read Florida!!! through the lens that it is a placeholder for Matty (or just unhealthy but passionate relationships in general), the same way Taylor used London in place of Joe’s name on track 5. It is very interesting through that light I think: I’ve done a crime that I am guilty as sin for but I’m fresh out the slammer and ready to get high and destroyed by Florida.

Lisa

So grateful for a place of refuge from all the annoying reactions to TTPD out there! It’s so frustrating when people don’t really know her work or the lore and they reduce her songs to the guys she’s dated or don’t appreciate the incredible literary masterpiece she has just given us. It’s not about the guys!! It’s about her and her incredible gift!! Also! I am living for the honesty on this record directed at movements like “ the speak up now” bullshit! She is angry (as she should be) and is not holding back and I am living for it. I love to see her even challenging the fan base. That’s a new kind of freedom for her! Love the content and so glad you are providing a place to Kiki without all the Easter egg and tayvis nonsense. I mean sure whatever but it’s not the best part of loving her music and honoring all that she is giving us!!

Joan Chan

Probably you’ve already seen this elsewhere - but the lyric video for So High School has some Easter eggs that seem to confirm that’s the (probably only) Travis song

EverNora

Loved this! Gobbling it down. Really appreciated your take on the Alchemy. It should have occurred to me that she was delulu enough to think she could replace heroin for an addict.

Lisa

I wondered if it could also reference certain fans who want her to stay a young girl and keep her caged in the “good girl” image instead of letting her be a grown ass chaotic woman making her own damn choices and living her life!

V

Basically we don’t know. They were flirty and hanging out a lot, and she wore their merch etc. but we don’t know if something happened then or if it was just flirting and she always wondered what could’ve been. Hence why people think cardigan and the 1 is about Matty. And the song question as well

Erin S

Yes, I think that sentiment about the fans” (well, some fans) opinions about who she is/should be is addressed in other parts of the song. But I feel like the reference to being “raised by” points to record label execs who made concerted efforts to preserve an innocence about her FOR that particular audience/fandom - censoring “too early” references to physical intimacy or alcohol or use of foul language in her lyrics and keeping her look “wholesome” and vetoing songs or working with other producers in order to keep her squarely in the country genre for their own financial gain… all of which fed into fans also wanting to keep her in that “good girl” box. Not that it was a bad thing in the long run… she was saved from a descent into having her image be sexualized too young like so many of her contemporaries. But I’m sure as an artist and just a young girl finding herself, it was a bit confining. It could also simply be another reference to the masters situation. Raising her up in a cage/contract that keeps her chained to them… having to make another record where they own the master recording just to earn back the master of an earlier record, one record at a time in a neverending spiral - unless she did something unheard of to break the wheel.

Erin S

Yep… when she said she kept her “longings locked in lowercase inside the vault”, it was the key to folklevermore’s so-called fictional stories. Matty is the “cowboy like [her]”… her bandit twin conning her with the idea of forever. He was taking her hand that “belonged to another” in that cemetery in ivy… “putting roots in her dreamland”… with his “arson’s match” (loml) that set the “goddamned blaze in the dark” that “burned the [Lover] house to the ground.” I think Matty may even be the guy in exile the male voice (Joe, presumably) sings about seeing standing with “his arms around [her] body, laughing but THE JOKE’S NOT FUNNY AT ALL” 😳 And in the Bejeweled music video… her watch was slowly counting down to her exile being over!!

Erin S

I think there was hanging out and flirting, but then the next thing you know, Ellie Goulding is introducing her to Calvin Harris. I think she and Matty were a repeated missed connection… either he was with someone when she was single or she was with someone when he was. And our girl didn’t stay single long… it was Calvin, Tom and Joe in rapid succession. He wasn’t ready to be “Taylor Swift’s Boyfriend” in 2014 (straight from an interview), so she moved on and then met CH and Matty’s window closed.

Laine Wagner

it’s an amazing album, but the way she did the double drop did her no favors. this album is lyrically DENSE. folklorian hamilton if you will lol…why didn’t she use fortnight as an easter egg and drop the second half with a second music video in two weeks? she’s is the queen of capitalism. what was wrong with the way she dropped folklore and evermore? why didn’t she do that and have the second half be called “the anthology” or “the verdict”? I just feel like the world needed more time to process the first half before we got the second half. I don’t want to not be grateful, but i’m a lil overwhelmeddddd

Laine Wagner

I know what taylor said about the song…but i keep wondering if it’s from sophie turners perspective…

Laine Wagner

I 100% think it’s about her!!! her saying, “you had edge, she never did”, after releasing her most edgy album is a GAG

Erin S

Oh… and I forgot the “eyes like stars” in clm and the “better safe than starry-eyed” in loml. And the “BRAIDS of lies”?! Hello, evermore cover.

Jade

Yeah! And I almost wonder if part of the reason she didn't release music this dark/raw earlier on is *because* she was so married to keeping that one (1) specific image of herself alive, at the cost of living her actual life. Like, at age 22 I'm pretty sure she was still giving interviews saying "I would never drink/smoke/etc, I'm a Good Girl and I don't Do That" - but behind the scenes she was drinking alone at 2 am and writing Nothing New. That's super dark! But we never heard about it til like last year. So I wonder if some of the rage we hear on TTPD had been waiting to come out for a long time, but she was just stifled by her own "good girl" image that she'd built, so she was just swallowing it all down for all those years.

Laine Wagner

I also just find the stevie nicks reference fascinating because of all the emotional turmoil fleetwood mac went thro… I think it’s all a reference to iconic women who’s careers have been interlaced with relationships with men…it’s almost like her accepting this as her fate and legacy to some extent

Jade

Ooh interesting. I really like that interpretation!

Rebecca Robbins

Just finished listening…bellissamoooooo!!!! Couple of thoughts… Something I think everyone is missing is in BDILH is that the last verse is about the love she has now after Matty. She says, “fuck it it’s over”. That’s the end of the Matty relationship and now she’s rubbing in his face the healthy beautiful love she has now. That’s my truth and I’m sticking to it haha Second: I’ve had a love in my life exactly a mirror of what she had with Matty and I didn’t realize it until I listened to you two break down the record and it’s making me appreciate it all in a whole new way! So thank you!!! And yes, a whirlwind love like that, that gets rekindled from a younger age, can take you the fuck Down Bad! In summation 😉. Love the album, love you two. After I finished listening, the next thing I was soooo excited to watch/listen to was your interpretations and reactions!!!!

Kylee

I love when I’m able to use my useless knowledge to decode songs called The Alchemy 😆 transparency: I love football, I’ve been playing fantasy football for 15 years. If you don’t know anything about this, it’s a game where you draft your own dream football team, I drafted Travis this year having no idea what was about to happen with Taylor. I don’t like getting too into this, music is so much more to me than just trying to figure out which guy Taylor is singing about (Style is my favorite song, didn’t know if was about Harry until last year & that is about the most embarrassing thing I can say 💀) I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way, I could care less either way, but I can promise you that song is littered with football references. Now whether or not she did that to talk about Travis, or to throw us off, I don’t know. But I can tell you that she is using football terms, not high school football, she’s talking about NFL football.

Kylee

I had a relationship like this too, literally everybody I knew hated him. Coincidence that he was a musician? Probably not. Haha I’ve heard multiple people say they related to this song and I actually think it is digestible for the masses. This is a very relatable sentiment, it’s the same sentiment when Ariel says it in Little Mermaid. It’s passion, it’s chaos, it’s delusion, but it’s love!

Zach V

I laughed so hard when Zach said ‘but it’s a getaway car and he’s also a rat’

Zach V

Yes and folklore and evermore need to be revisited too 😩

Mi ✨

Thank you snakes for your service and for the awesome review…. meanwhile I just got ripped to shreds by the rabid swifties on Reddit for saying that The Alchemy is not about Travis…. the counter argument was: Well she is referencing him being suspended from college with the line about the past things forgiven…. Girls, delusional

Kylee

I just blew my own mind with a theory I have now about the Alchemy, and it’s definitely about her current relationship. If you look up the definition of alchemy, the second definition reads: a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination. The example they give is "finding the person who's right for you requires a very subtle alchemy" It took everything she had to go through to get to where she’s supposed to be. The plot line of the song goes like this in my head: Verse one, she’s addressing her hometown (USA). She was sent away to the hospital (London) to recover from the wounds from reputation, turns out it wasn’t a refuge and now she’s coming back home to America stronger than ever CHORUS: And she won’t be making her American homecoming on just any stage…..oh no no no…it’s going to be on the most American stage she can think of, the NFL hahaha She’s also going to become its focal point, it’s mascot, and it’s ultimate prize 💀VERSE TWO: she’s reached the ultimate peace of mind after any bad breakup: indifference. She’s now talking to Matty, telling him, hey man, it’s good, I got lots to work with here, we cool. I don’t give a shit, I got tight ends to squeeze, peace out. And then the rest of the song she proceeds to make every pro football reference imaginable and scene. Anyone else losing there damn mind? I am one delusional girlie and 31 songs was too much…I said it. I can’t digest this meal mother, please!! I feel like the kid in Matilda trying to finish the entire cake….YOU WANTED CAKE? You get cake! Now eat it!!

boleynns

after all her untruths about folkmore and midnights songs have now been exposed, I don't trust her explanations completely anymore haha

Laura Pearson

I frickin devoured this analysis. I don't know about anyone else but Florida!!!! just does something to me. I know this isn't what Taylor says it's about but I interpreted it as Florida is just the Eras Tour for her after the breakup and how the shows and tour are like a drug for her.

boleynns

Saw a reaction where someone was trying to make Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus about John Mayer (????) -- not to mention the 47 reactions where people are bending over backwards to try and make 15 songs about a whirlwind rekindled romance that had been brewing for a decade with a smoking, tattooed poet in a suit be about Joe in order to soothe themselves. People are wild.

Mi ✨

I mean… Cardigan, the one, illicit affairs, ivy, cowboy like me, Maroon, Question… maybe Labyrinth? Can I just keep being delusional, I don’t want the Ratty association on there

ImogenLucy

Absolutely loved that but legit took my three days to get through 🥵😂 Overall, I feel like we all should have fucking KNOWN this was not going be a eulogy to Joe. We have seen this play out, longer more secure relationships are not the muse. She needs the chaos!! 3 months with Jake Gyllenhaal? All too well. 1 year+ with Calvin Harris? Crickets. She wasn’t going to give us an album about being bored in London. I have too many thoughts but here goes (I will say 99% of them are agreeing with you!) 1) she doesn’t give a shit about singles. Couldn’t care less. I think she literally had that video in her mind that was the primary focus. She thought “this is my album and I’m such a beast it’ll smash whatever I do”. There is no other explanation. Fortnight is MID 2) Very early but calling it now - who’s afraid of little old me? Is the best song she’s ever written 3) the production and track order are CHEFS KISS. (Confession: I had issues with the production on Midnights. It was too much so I was on edge slightly) Really impressed by some of the restraint shown and how that meant later tracks hit more. Main example being so long London vs smallest man who ever lived. You’re anticipating some anthemic take down of the Turkey but it actually sonically mimics the end. She’s tired, exhausted and he fell asleep at the wheel. No big moment. It just means that bridge/third verse/crescendo in Smallest Man Who Ever Lived takes you OUT. The venom! The layers! Rat certified dead! 4) I do agree with you but *whispers* kind of want to believe the Alchemy is about Travis. Fits the chronology too well. Why are we dragging Matty to filth and then he’s the prom king on the next track? Struggling to buy it. Final take is I have listened to the second half once. Too busy absorbing this half. Enjoying it too much to deviate and really want to live with these songs for a while longer because they are such a gift ❤️

ImogenLucy

Totally agree! Haven’t really even waded in yet. Brain cannot compute

maryna

not sure if this was mentioned before, but i feel like taylor's voice is not just on point, but also kind of different and very versatile, not just in songs like who's afraid of little old me but also in more poppier songs such as my boy only breaks his favorite toys. if you only hear certain parts of it ("repeating myself, put me back on my shelf") as a non-taylorfied person outside of the patreon, you may not even recognize that this is her. anyone else feels this way with this mbobhft part? the same is of course true for the chorus of who's afraid of little old me, i think.

D1989

Bellissimo analysis! I have had similar thoughts but less meaty, thanks for doing the work!!

D1989

Question sure is

Kelly

This is absolutely wild. And we thought she was playing the long game with midnights slowly revealing joever and it took months to realize that was a veiled breakup album but here we are 4 years later and folklevermore / Matty was the real long game 🤯😭

Kelly

Okkkk interesting… I’m still thinking about how all this connects to her putting Betty on the delusion playlist …l

boleynns

A thought I had about the tracklist: I actually think Fortnight was the perfect opener. The thesis of that song is "I only touched you for a fortnight, but I love you and its ruining my life" -- and then the rest of the album digs into every angle and corner and way that relationship started, grew in her head, became real, and completely fall apart. Another thing I was thinking about regarding which songs were delegated to the 2nd half: they are so much more about her internal, and eternal, sadness and anxieties, whereas the first side is more dialed in on the "plot".

akr

I might be overstretching, but I can't help thinking that So Long London as a track 5 is not an outlier, in fact, it feels like a continuation of the story where 'tolerate it' ends or maybe if we add you're losing me, it would be 'tolerate it' -> you're losing me -> (actual breakup happens) -> so long London. In tolerate it, she describes the main character as someone who is being ignored or uncared for, while she tries to paint the other person in the highest light and makes a constant effort to keep the relationship going (greet with battle hero's welcome, take indiscretions all in good fun) and then proceeds to wonder what would happen if she gave up (in the bridge). Then in you're losing me, it's like she is asking/ pleading/ giving signals to do something. It's like she is on the verge of breaking things off and just wants one reason (any reason to hold onto). But looks like her pleading went unheard, so she decides to breakup and so long London is written after some time expressing how angry she is to have held it in, tolerated it, how much sadness (from being ignored, unappreciated) did you think I could take it before I broke it off

Alexa Blackman

ANYONE HAVE GOOD TTPD THEMED ERAS TOUR OUTFITS????

Marla Stecki

Someone help me! I'm not smart...how do I access the Dischord??

Joan Chan

Hey Zach and Madeline, I know both of you have done re-ordered playlists of TS albums and I was wondering if you would do one to capture the chronological timeline of events. I’ve just made my own and would love to compare with your brilliant snake minds!! I added a few non TTPD songs to extra background context (only MH ones because Joe ones would overwhelm the list haha). Note cardigan in the middle to represent when she mouthed “this song is about you” iconic moment, hee hee! https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/ttpd-timeline/pl.u-WabZ7zYsMbj3o

Joan Chan

Also just added anti hero acoustic version to represent her performance at the 1975 concert in the timeline

Sarah Hollars

I’m kind of new to Evolution of a Snake. Got hooked by the year recaps and couldn’t listen to anything else leading up to the release of TTPD. I finished the years and started in the rest of the content and was very disturbed to find you both predicted TTPD right down to the ring on TS’s middle finger in your Evermorology episode back in January 2021. You both are amazing and I’m so grateful for your senses of humor and wit. You have helped me enjoy Taylor Swift even more than I originally did, which is saying a lot. I’m living for both of your reaction videos. It’s like getting to hear the album for the first time all over again which shouldn’t be possible.

V

Yeah to me it’s all super confusing… I think there’s so much hidden in between the lines probably since folklore. I think what she said about Betty in long pond sessions, that in her mind Betty and James got married but “he reallyyyy put her through it”. And I guess Betty is kind of about accepting a cheating guys apologies and it has a happy ending. So my immediate thought when she put it on the denial playlist was that it was wishful thinking and denial about a situation like that ever going back to what it was before and having a happy ending. Because even when she was recording longpond and said that quote I mentioned, she expressed that actually what James did wasn’t erasable despite the apology in the song

Batty

Hi, I’ve watched this whole thing twice through and I’m waiting with baited breath for The Anthology part 🖤 Both of your reflections are on period and I feel like this should be a required companion video when listening to the album. Obviously a lot of this record is about Matty, but you both got me when you pointed out so eloquently that she’s reflecting on how these two men sort of blended together. Lots of lines that are blatantly about Matty, are also true for Joe. I was thinking the same thing and I couldn’t put words to it! Her choosing both of these “tortured artists” being a result of her own toxicity toward herself… The fact that Matty is like the opposite of Joe, but still has many similarities like loving the turmoil and struggle of a relationship. It’s like she’s realizing in real time that it’s her own pattern of behavior that’s hurting her, but she won’t let these men off the hook either. That is growth, and I hope it sticks in her writing going forward. It’s so difficult to admit faults in your own character after getting out of a relationship where your emotions were essentially silenced and ignored. She deserves flowers for all the hard truths she managed to convey about herself on this album. I’m convinced that people who are dismissing it, swiftie or not, are just not listening. But the ones who get it are GETTING IT, which made me so relieved. Everything I love about Taylor’s work since I bought Debut on release day is present in TTPD. Her ability to write about such a specific moment and have millions relate to it… this album feels like the culmination of all 10 eras before it. I love you both for the way you express your ideas, and I can’t wait to hear what you have to say next 🤗

Marla Stecki

I can't wait to keep hearing your commentary on this album bc it has so many layers.

Marla Stecki

I'm with you, I get so mad when the "casual listener" doesn't "get it" and inserts their stupid opinion. But, that's what art is. However it effects you is completely valid. I'm just so happy I was able to listen for the 1st time w just MY OWN interpretations. That's a precious thing, truly.

Olivia Donovan

I love how often we refer back to Gillette rain night because that was my show when I was 4th row. Really witnessed swifite history

Itziar

Don't know if anyone else has commented on this, but It'd be interesting to go back through the surprise song list compared to the ratty timeline.... For example, based on Zachs timeline video dates, it looks very possible that the Ratty betrayal had JUST happened during the Chicago night 2 with IDWLF and YAOM... Non zero chance that u guys were the crowd inspiring ICDIWABH

V

One last thing I’ll say is that it’s wild that some ppl think the fans ruined her and Matty’s relationship. Bro used to be a heroin addict. I know enough about addiction to say trust me that it would’ve fallen apart either way if he wasn’t clean for a long time before

Marla Stecki

If anyone knows of other intelligent commentators, please let me know. I'd love to listen to them.

Jessica

Same! I think Ivy was definitely inspired by Matty too

Jessica

After listening to Guilty As Sin, I agree! I also think Snow On the Beach is about Matty too.

Jessica

Oh wow, I did not connect that line from The 1 with I Look in People’s Windows! I wasn’t sure if the windows song was about Joe, but now I can see it being about Matty

Jessica

Someone on here mentioned Gold Rush is about Matty. I just re-read the lyrics, and I think it is too.

V

Ooo please tell me about it if you have time/energy ✨✨✨ I haven’t thought about that one yet

Paula

every time i listen to the chorus of who’s afraid of little old me i picture taylor flipping a baseball bat screaming crying throwing up on the street

amandasoul

i can’t wait to re listen to evermore/folklore now knowing for sure (allegedly) that it was never a damn fictional story that she made up in quarantine. Girl wasn’t able to say what was on her mind so she pretended that the people in her life were not real. I think there was a real love triangle, maybe even a square the turkey definitely had infidelity on his end. I’m sure it (allegedly). I still can’t get over the fact that she told the world that cardigan is about ratty. I feel like I need an in-depth timeline now.. also complete sidenote, I hope she still had parts of reputation to re-record because I really believe her voice sounds so much better when she’s in love or happy at least ( which, for Taylor correlate in my opinion) but I think her not being in a great place mentally, mentally affect the quality of the some of the re records.. like songs that should’ve been perfect and flopped (style tv) just opinions and thinking out loud, but I’ve watched this twice now and I love your analysis

V

Hahaha omg a square that’s so funny🤣 I totally agree with you. And since a fellow snake here showed me the clip of Ratty basically saying “you’re a cowboy like me” and having a whole philosophy of what that is that matches up with Taylor’s song, in his acceptance speech in (surprise surprise 2020!) then we know that he probably said to Taylor “you’re a cowboy like me”. That is insane. 1975 ppl are also saying now that August for sure is about him. Turkey was definitely sneaking around too, I don’t think she would’ve been this open with her (alleged) infidelity or even thoughts about it if the Turkey had been a saint. Wait… does this mean we have to rethink high indefinitely as well? Bc I always thought it sounded like Joe more than Calvin with the white picket fence etc and “good husband bad omen” and her alluding to having to pay etc. Calvin had money. And I thought maybe the April date was significant for Joe and Taylor, and maybe she chose to spend it somewhere else and he asked about it. Also in you’re losing me she says she feels like she’s dying, and in high infidelity she says someone brings her back to life

amandasoul

high infidelity!!! YES yes i literally have to re think all of her work 1989 and on if they have been reportedly connected since then. everything you said *chefs kiss * and i’m also noticing others keep reinforcing that it’s not the most important part of her work, who the songs are about. I KNOW AND AGREE. Nnot even close to the most important but it’s fun for the storyline that we all thing and all have different ideas of. I like to look for certain clues on my own and it brings me joy, so i wish people would stop telling me that it’s not important who it’s about.. i know but taylor loves watching us try and find out

V

Oh I’m glad it made sense! And I completely agree with everything you said! Very well said. I just think midnights is the Joe breakup album in hindsight, and that there’s probably many clues on there that are more straightforward than we believed. of course, I think the speculation is totally harmless if someone is a good person who doesn’t mean anything bad by it.It’s just for fun, and kind of a separate discussion from her actual work. I wish people would stop saying that too bc like you said, we know all of the things they’re saying already. Taylor knows it’s harmless too when her real fans do it it’s just for fun, and she puts clues in and lets us know too.

Pamela F

Omg I was there too in the lower bowl and was feeling so creeped out about the Matty manic episode already and when she said that she was happier than ever and things were making sense I was like oh nooooo girl I’m worried

Pamela F

Oh damn, we need a FULL reassessment of folklevermore ASAP

Misty7

You guys are the best! Love your videos so much! 😍

Emeraldgreen373

I just read your comment and went back and looked and the line where she says “Cause it could never be”…girl I think you’re right it is about him omg

Tanner K

"He's gonna kill himself and so am I and also we've been thinking about getting married and I think it's gonna happen any day now." Lolllll

Sarah

i’m sad we’ll never get an episode like this for showgirl becuse it’s mid and not that deep

Julia Scott

I still haven’t left the TTPD era. It’s so good. I like LOASG, but TTPD is on a whole other level. BTW I’m enjoying going back and listening to all your old episodes. 💙