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Welcome back to Evolution of a Snake. In this episode, we're introducing a new format: Sister Songs. This is a series where we draw parallels and themes between two (or more!) songs from different points in Taylor Swift's discography. On the menu today is an evergreen connective tissue: Taylor's musings on fame, being replaced, and ageing. Initially, we were inspired by the mashup she performed for Stevie Nicks in Dublin. But as we got into our in-depth lyrical analysis, it quickly became clear there are more than just two songs to pay attention to. We delve into Nothing New and Mirrorball to flesh out our analysis and better understand how Taylor's relationship to the public eye has evolved but also stayed the same over the years.

Comments

anna

This is such a cool idea for a format cant wait to listen!

Syd

So excited about this new format! ✨

Katebushesdaughter

Loved this new series! One thing that came to mind when you mentioned the new pop girlies having a different playbook to live by was the first verse from Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? “My bare hands paved their paths, you don’t get to tell me about sad”

Joanna

Great episode, I loooooveee this format and topic. I feel like you could even do a sister episode to this one with songs that approach the topic of fame not from a place of vulnerability but with defensiveness or satire like Blank Space, I Did Something Bad, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, etc.

Emery

I adored this episode and live for lyric and theme analysis type of videos. Maybe you guys could do another sister songs episode about Taylor being a loner all throughout her schooling years and how’s it’s impacted her mindset to be super sensitive to any slight criticism and her need to explain herself when people misinterpret her and her art. And maybe touch on how this has lead to her absolutely demolishing people who said something SLIGHTLY rude about her..aka Bob Lefsetz, Niki Minaj, Katy Perry, etc. You could include songs like: Invisible, The Outside, Mean, BTR, TIWWCHNT, Vigilante..idk if I’m cooking or not 😞 but just an idea LMAOO

violetta

What a cool concept! For many sister songs Taylor herself is doing the connection, maybe you could analyse some of the odd-cool ones like cowboy like me and tim mcgraw

Joey Caleb

I looooved this ! So much fun. At the end of the day I’m here for you two so feel free to play with any kind of structure. 🫶🏻

Raphaëlle

This was amazinggggg. So excited for this new series! How about Madeline’s favorite song (the last time lmao) x renegade? Or Cassandra X mad woman x my tears ricochet

Shani Harper

LOVE this new format!! Brava!!

April Brookshire

The reason Taylor probably wasn’t close friends with her contemporaries in 2014 is because they were almost all cool girls and Taylor was not. She had such different branding than the rest of them that it wouldn’t have matched publicly. But don’t forget about Lorde. She was huge at that time and they were friends.

Rosario Varela

I’m confused… the bejeweled microphone is back? Is it a new one?😂🦎no more gamer Lizard?

April Brookshire

I think the reason Taylor handled fame much better than Britney was because Taylor was hungry for it and pushed for it. Britney was pushed into it and never would have sought it out on her own. Britney was also much more mentally fragile than Taylor and a sweeter person. I think the child and teen stars who don’t choose it for themselves are much more fragile, like Justin and Selena.

Madison G

love this series!!!!!! The options are endless! so much for our fave historians to mine through 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Amy Versprille

Simple song on TTPD - maybe - I can do it with a broken heart

Juliana McKenna

Let’s not forget, Taylor’s first manager managed Britney. The Scott swift email that keeps on giving

Juliana McKenna

Aweeee, remember the interview where she says she hopes she doesn’t worry about aging when she hits 30? 🥺

Ally ❤️

Holy shit!!!!!!! This was incredible! More pwease and any time!!!! Incredible content!

Cynthia

Yes songs about Taylor by other artists would be so cool! This was amazing I love your linking of songs and topics Taylor says in so many different yet the same ways.

Ally ❤️

I wonder if I Hate it Here and But Daddy I Love Him and even I Know Places and Anti Hero get at fame as well… a different facet, more focused on how it is to try to have relationships (with men and otherwise) in the midst of fame… but still that same monster…

Swiftologist

So true an oft overlooked morsel including by us....

Swiftologist

DEFINITELY!!! A sister episode to the sister song episode .... lmao

Swiftologist

oooh def an episode on the psychic wounds of having nowhere to sit at lunch....

Swiftologist

an ep on each of our faves would be so fun!! maybe on how one of each of our faves has an invisible string....

Swiftologist

Very true. Britney was also the breadwinner of her family. She had a whole layer of pressure on her that Taylor could never imagine

Swiftologist

oh for sure, maybe something about running away/avoidance here...

Rachel B

Love this series idea and hope you continue down this endless rabbit hole!❤️❤️

Lia

Okay, this episode feels tailor-made for me (I LOVE this new series concept in general!!) because I LOVE thinking about this topic/Taylor’s thoughts on and relationship to her own fame, and how it has affected her life. A couple months ago I even made a playlist about Taylor’s relationship with fame where the opening and closing tracks (long before she did the mashup) are… you guessed it… The Lucky One and Clara Bow. 😂Well yes!!! I really think those are the important thematic book ends, because The Lucky One was the first song we heard (though not the first one she’d written, as we found out from the vaults with Nothing New & Castles Crumbling) about the downsides of fame, and with Clara Bow being her most recent reflection on her own fame. So I looooooove thinking about this thematic thread throughout her discography. And of course Nothing New and Mirrorball are on the playlist too. 😂 I titled it “Lucky You” (as a nod to the lucky one but also to her first song lmaoooo), and the track list is: 1. The Lucky One 2. Anti-Hero 3. Castles Crumbling 4. Slut! 5. Lavender Haze 6. I Know Places 7. Eyes Open 8. Call It What You Want 9. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince 10. The Bolter 11. Nothing New 12. Mirrorball 13. Evermore 14. Dear Reader 15. Clara Bow These are the songs that, for me, tell me something about how Taylor’s fame and her drive for success have affected her life. I absolutely loved hearing the snakes’ thoughts on these songs. Mirrorball especially is one of my favorite Taylor songs of all time—I listened to it like 700 times in 2020 which is soooo mentally ill. 😭Mirrorball makes me feel how COSOSOM makes Madeline feel, that’s the only way I can describe it.

Hattie

Obsesseddd with this new series!!! Can’t wait for more!!! 🫶🏻 🐍

Kylee

I actually had some thoughts on the particularly wordy nature of TTPD on discord (go figure 🤣)…Now yes, she loves a big word that no one’s ever heard before. Teenage petulance & long suffering propriety could have really been on any Taylor Swift album. But TTPD Anthology tends to be extra unedited word flow (someone had described the title track lyrics as ‘clunky’ in the discord.) But if we are to follow our understanding that this is a break up album aimed towards a particular rat with the band, then suddenly an extra layer as to why unfolds. If you listen to the 1975, one of the first things that stands out is the unedited word flow of the lyrics, you hear it with Charli xcx too (not sure who influenced who there but I digress). And so, we have to look back at the original trolling track, Dear John. What’s the most satisfying parts of the cook? That is sounds like a damn John Mayer song. There is so much of that going on ALL OVER TTPD, layer + layers of it. That was a very long winded explanation but, I’m just trying to stay on theme to drive home the point. 😘 And that was my Tay talk 🙏 P.S. The Lucky One, Nothing New, Clara Bow, & mirrorball? Babe, don’t threaten me with a good time. 🫶

V

Cold as you x the smallest man who ever lived hits hard. “You come away with a great little story, of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you’

Kristina Frost

TAKE MY MONEY and do another one (when you have time, of course)

V

My dream bridge mashup, smallest man x cold as you: I would’ve died for your sins, instead I just died inside… and I know you wouldn’t have told nobody if I DIED dieddd for you! 🤣👏

Evie Eleanor🐍

I loveddddd this kind of episode!!! maybe an episode on her escapism songs, the lakes I hate it here etc

Mia Mar

Just remembered I ordered this shirt a while back but I haven’t gotten it yet, please check DMs! Love you guys

A Thorns

To me, they’re triplets with The Last Great American Dynasty

ninamae4

here for it. i can’t help but associate the word 'dazzling' in clara bow to olivia’s song lacy ‘dazzling starlet’

Courtney A

I’m loving this series! 🥰

Jade

I always love your analysis! If you feel inspired to do another one in the future, it would be interesting to hear a Part 2 about how fame has impacted Taylor’s relationships, specifically. I don’t think she ever talks about it as directly as she does about her own fame, but it’s definitely kind of haunting the background in a lot of her relationship songs imo. Off the top of my head, I’m thinking Cowboy Like Me (“telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear / like it could be love”), Slut!, Gold Rush (bc jealousy over her lover due to fame), maybe some of the Rep songs where she sings about having to hide their relationship away (“our secret moments / in a crowded room / they’ve got no idea about me and you”), or DWOHT, you get the idea. Oh also! In Guilty as Sin where she knows she’s gonna face a public backlash for breaking out of the “happy quiet girlfriend” mold, but she wants to do it anyway. (What if I roll the stone away, they’re gonna crucify me anyway…) At any rate! Just an early morning brain whirlwind, thought I would share!

madelon

I love that castle crumbling was left in the vault, where it should be...