TTPD: PII (The Anthology)

For anyone curious about my thoughts on TTPD: P1.  

The Anthology has more folkmore vibes than the first album. It really lets a multitude of instruments have their moment, while the synth is almost non-existent. A lot of my Swiftie friends seemed to love The Anthology more in those first few days and weeks of listening. I was hopping all over because I loved songs from both right off the bat. In fact, if I HAD to pick songs from both to create just one perfect-to-me-album, guntotmyhead, this would be it:

1. Florida!!!
2. But Daddy I Love Him
3. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?
4. Down Bad
5. Fresh Out The Slammer
6. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
7. The Tortured Poets Department
8. loml
9. Guilty As Sin
10. The Black Dog
11. So High School
12. I Hate It Here
13. I Look In People's Windows
14. imgonnagetyouback
15. The Bolter

TTPD wins with 9 songs but The Anthology is still solid with 6. So it goes.

Both albums are very cohesive in way of metaphors, poetic lyrics, literary references, and her signature easter eggs, but less so in the musicality and production of the songs. I don't say that as a judgement or dig - just as a fact; because I really do love both overall. However, I do feel that TTPD is stronger as a whole. Songs like Robin and thanK you aIMee are great songs and I appreciate both, but more as an every now and then listen. For me, they aren't on repeat and if I'm being honest, I will probably take them off of my phone entirely at some point because I'm never going to seek them out. 

The fact that we actually got a double album is still mind-blowing, but not totally surprising with the speed Taylor can pop out a track. I mean, Midnights was kind of a double album or at least an album and a half, you know? And folklore and evermore came out within 5 months of one another and are known as sister albums. She feeds us a variety of mostly hearty meals, some junk food, and sweet little desserts on the reg. I am truly so grateful to be a Swiftie. I couldn't imagine those who have to wait 3-6 years in between albums of their favorite artist. Like what? I don't know that life and I never want to. 

Check out this thread of all the crazy but actually good theories on this double album.   

1. The Black Dog

Interesting words: esoteric - intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of                                      people with specialized knowledge

                             exorcise - to expel an evil spirit by adjuration or religious or solemn ceremonies

   

Fave lyrics: Six weeks of breathing clean air

                   I still miss the smoke

                   Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?

                   Now I want to sell my house and set fire to all my clothes

                   And hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons

                   Even if I die screaming

Thoughts & theories: To say I was overwhelmed by this double album upon first release is an understatement; which is why I didn't even realize she mentioned the band at first, since the lyric videos had not been released yet. I remember liking The Black Dog a lot when I first heard it but I only found out about the TSL portion of it all because Dustin told me. Then my little giant head exploded. Taylor Swift referenced one of my fave pop-punk bands? Two worlds colliding? Swemos rise up! 

This news really ignited something in me and so I did a very poor yet fast photoshop of Taylor as the girl on the cover of their album. And hours later came across a much better version on the interwebs.

                                    

The Starting Line's music, especially Say It Like You Mean It and Make Yourself At Home played such pivotal parts in my formative years. Those albums bring me back to high school, to 17, to seeing them live for the first time at Vans Warped Tour in '02, to my Isuzu I-Mark, to several lifetimes ago. It was only a few years later that Taylor came out with Tim McGraw and the rest is history. 

The Starting Line played a 10th Anniversary tour of SILYMI in 2012 which I attended and even wrote about here. I even re-watched/uploaded the video from that performance to my YouTube in the middle of writing this. TSL has been dormant for years even though Ken has been doing his own solo thing, so that P.S. at the end of their letter to Taylor got me psyched. 

It's definitely a Matty Healy song or at least mostly. This article talks about him covering TSL's 'The Best of Me' just last year. Now this is TSL's most popular song but also the lyrics the worst is over / you can have the best of me / we got older / but we're still young / we never grew out of this feeling that we won't give up which really correlates to the whole Matty theme of TTPD. '

Also I noticed the much more subtle use of TSL in Fresh Out The Slammer when she sings Now we're at the starting line / I did my time.

2. imgonnagetyouback

Interesting words: bygone - belonging to an earlier time

   

Fave lyrics: Flip the script and leave you like a dumb house party

Thoughts & theories: We all noticed the lilac short skirt in that Fortnight Tic-Tok she posted, right?

I personally thought the whole argument about stealing Olivia Rodrigo's song 'get him back' was laughable. Yes, both songs are about wanting to get back with someone; but they aren't sure if it's for love or revenge. That's it. 

But the fact that the title is all smushed together and all lowercase is definitely on purpose; and clearly screams 'fallingforyou' by The 1975. She also sings I keep these longings locked / In lowercase inside a vault on 'Guilty as Sin'. 

3. The Albatross

Interesting words:  albatross - a very large oceanic bird 

                              anoint - to select  for an honor or role

                              persona non grata - an unacceptable or unwelcome person

                              hackles - erect hairs along the back of an animal that rise when it is angry

   

Fave lyrics: Cross your thoughtless heart

Thoughts & theories: This was the song I was most excited for based solely on the name after hearing when she was pushing the collector's edition CDs. It's not my favorite but certainly holds up to my expectation. This one is so literary heavy which you really only can start to understand once you follow along the lyrics and read a million articles like this one. 

4. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

Interesting words: hologram - hologram is a picture of a "whole" object showing in 3 dimensions

                              desertion - abandonment without consent

                              glint - reflected at an angle from a surface

                              phantoms - something elusive or visionary

                              orbit - a circular path

Fave lyrics: If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh

                   Down that passage in time

                   Back to the moment I crashed into you

                   Like so many wrecks do

Thoughts & theories: Another song about Ratty boy. Sigh. 

5. How Did It End?

Interesting words: post-mortem - done, occurring, or collected after death

                              maladies - a disease or disorder of the body

                              interlopers - one that intrudes in a place or sphere of activity

                              bereft - suffering the death of a loved one

Fave lyrics: My beloved ghost and me

                   Sitting in a tree

                   D-Y-I-N-G

Thoughts & theories: Reddit of course didn't disappoint with their interpretations. Someone posted it's about Taylor's experience with the media after a breakup and not being able to process the grief herself. Another person thinks this song isn't about one relationship but her luck with them. Whomever or whatever it's about it's a tried and true track five with that gut punch of a bridge. 

6. So High School

Interesting words: stifle - restrain

                             Aristotle - Ancient Greek philosopher

   

Fave lyrics: I feel so high school

                   Every time I look at you

Thoughts & theories: Is this song cute as hell? Yes. Of course. BUT I think I connect with it even more because she is describing specific things from my own high school experience. I mean, she is only 4 years younger than me. American Pie on a Saturday night? First saw that in 9th grade when it came out. Every Saturday was spent at the movies back then. Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto? Yep, totally remember the days of sneakily touching whenever we got the chance; and that game was super popular in the early aughts. Brand new, full throttle? I think of the band Brand New when I hear this because again high school is when I first got into them. Obviously she's not talking about the band (or maybe she is lol) and just describing the feeling of young love when it's just zero to sixty in no time. She even threw in a reference to the marry, kiss, or kill me moment.

7. I Hate It Here 

Interesting words: consolation - the comfort received by a person after a loss or disappointment

                             debutant - a young woman who is making a formal entrance into society

                             precocious - indicative of early development

                             lucid - to think clearly again after a period of illness or confusion

   

Fave lyrics: I hate it here so I will go to

                    Secret gardens in my mind

                    People need a key to get to

                    The only one is mine

                     I'm lonely, but I'm good

                     I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine

                     I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life

                     and I'll get lost on purpose

                     This place made me feel worthless

Thoughts & theories: I related to and loved this song immediately. For me, it's about depression. It's about the world being a shitshow and trying to create some semblance of joy in your brain. It reminds me of escapism that I enjoy in books and movies. The phrase "I hate it here" is a popular one amongst millennials and will probably trickle down to every generation henceforth. I, too, get lost in nostalgia but then when that blurred memory starts to focus, I realize even that time wasn't that great because of x, y, z. Her line is nostalgia is a mind trick but I keep singing it as mind fuck - because it is. It's a drug. It can distort your brain. It can hurl you further down the hole. But goddamn it's also fun as hell. 

8. thanK you aIMee

Interesting words: searing - severely critical

                             

Fave lyrics: I built a legacy you can't undo

                   But when I count the scars

                   There's a moment of truth

                   That there wouldn't be this

                   If there hadn't been you

Thoughts & theories:  On the surface this seems very cut and dry about Kim Kardashian. Bronze spray tanned statue, descriptions of a bully, and oh yeah the whole capitalization in the song title that literally spell out K-I-M. I read a theory that Taylor was probably re-recording reputation and that time period came back in full force and she was like yeah I'm not done writing about this. I kind of hate the fans who have called this one petty or the famous line everyone loves to hear when they've been through something traumatic JuST gEt ovEr iT! EYEROLL. Writing and singing is the way she processes things. It is essentially her form of therapy. Also I can list a bunch of other songs by just as well-known artists that go the petty route but they never get called out about that. I can totally see Taylor feeling like the world expects her to always take the high road and be this perfect little angel but she's not. She's as messy and petty and hurt as the rest of us. This song is catchy as hell but it's not a fave. It's one of those songs that I appreciate for what it is, but not one I will revisit often. Also saw a theory that the whole Kim K. thing is a red herring which I find fascinating. Taylor's brain!

9. I Look In People's Windows

Interesting words: transfixed

                              ponder

                             deranged

   

Fave lyrics: Does it feel alright to not know me?

                   I'm addicted to the "if only"

Thoughts & theories: I am constantly going over "what if" and "if only" in my head with just about every experience I've ever had. So when Taylor says she's addicted to it, I get that big time. There is something about it that is addicting. I am so inherently "a fixer" that I treat it like a problem that could be solved when really it is what it is. There is no going back and doing it different. We all have to accept reality but the daydreaming of different outcomes is so real. Also the whole picture she paints of hoping she will run into this person. Been there too! Haven't we all? You're still hurting from whatever happened and don't want to reach out intentionally; you just hope it'll be a natural run-in. 

10. The Prophecy

Interesting words: pad - move along with a muffled step

                             prophecy - a prediction

                             greige - violin (although I keep thinking of the combination of gray and                                          beige)

                                

Fave lyrics: A greater woman stays cool

                   But I howl like a wolf at the moon

                   And I look unstable

                   Gathered with a coven round a sorcerers' table

Thoughts & theories: My interpretation is quite simply Taylor talking about how she's cursed in love, especially after such a long-term relationship that I'm assuming she thought would be much longer. And going back to my reddit buds, I found it interesting that someone mentioned she uses the word throttle in this and So High School, as if there could be a connection. She's mentioned in songs before being happy in relationships but having that anxiety as to when the other shoe is going to drop. 

11. Cassandra

   Fave lyrics: When the first stone thrown there's screamin'

                       In the streets there's a ragin' riot

                       When it's "Burn the bitch", they're shrieking

                       When the truth comes out it's quiet 

Thoughts & theories: This whole song screams reputation - from the mention of witches and snakes to using the greek priestess, Cassandra, to tell her own story of being cursed (um callback to The Prophecy) and not being believed. All of that mixed with the line blood's thick but nothing like a payroll is giving another song about the Kardashians. I'm guessing a lot came up during those rep re-records. I can also see this being taken as a comment on the current political climate although I think that's just coincidence.  

12. Peter

Interesting words: beguiling - charming or enchanting, often in a deceptive way

                              masqueraded - 

   

Fave lyrics: And I won't confess that I waited

                   But I let the lamp burn

                   As the men masqueraded

                   I hoped you'd return

Thoughts & theories: Taylor and her metaphors is at it again! She uses the Peter Pan story to tell her own experience with waiting for someone for a lengthy period of time, presumably Ratty Healy. She also mentions Peter losing Wendy in folklore's The 1, which leads me to believe that that beautiful song also has a bit of Ratty in it as well. 

13. The Bolter 

Interesting words: reviled - criticize in an abusive or insulting manner

                             bewitching - enchanting or delightful

                             cad - a man who acts with deliberate disregard for another's feelings

   

Fave lyrics: Splendidly selfish, charmingly helpless

                       Excellent fun till you get to know her

                       Then she runs like it's a race

Thoughts & theories: It's such a bop of a melody but really goes hard on Taylor looking back on relationships she's bolted from. She uses the word "mate" so it definitely leads us Swifties to believe it's concerning a British guy...or maybe several. The way she sings All her fuckin' lives / Flashed before her eyes gives me chills every damn time. I hate to admit that I thought the lyric was he was a cat, wanted her fat / just like any good trophy hunter. 😹 And this is why I love to lay down with the lyric book and sing along to new albums, but since we didn't get physical lyrics for the anthology I started making up my own damn lyrics. But they make sense, right? RIGHT?

14. Robin

Interesting words:  bloodthirsty - eager to shed blood

                               tethered - tie with a rope or chain so as to restrict movement

                               showmanship - theatrical presentation

                               just - fair or impartial

   

Fave lyrics: You have no room in your dreams for regrets

Thoughts & theories: It's well-known that this one is about or rather for Aaron Dessner's son Robin. However, the theory I like best is that it's actually about her cats. I will admit this was bottom of the barrel upon the first 20 listens through the albums. It's a sweet song and I do love the way she sings Way to go tiger but just didn't hit me personally in any special way...unless it really about her cats and then I'll change my tune. 

15. The Manuscript

Interesting words: manuscript - a book, document, or piece of music 

                              torrid - emotionally charged and passionate

                              good samaritan - one who voluntarily renders aid to another in distress under                                   no duty to do so

                              above board - honest and not trying to deceive anyone

                              synchronicity - the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear

                              significantly related but have no discernible casual connection. 

                              agony - extreme mental or physical suffering

                              souvenir - something kept as a reminder of a place one has visited

   

Fave lyrics: Looking backwards might be the only way to move forward

Thoughts & theories: I interpreted "the manuscript" in large part to be the lyrics of her entire discography but in small part also thought it could be her looking back on past text messages between her and another person (especially that first verse which seems like it might be verbatim). However, reddit is strong in their belief it's all about ATW10. But that's a Taylor Swift song for ya, they all could mean something different to each listener. 

TTPD: P1

One minute I'm watching the Grammy's and Taylor is announcing her 11th album, and the next it's 4:09am on Friday, April 19th and I'm laying on my couch listening track by track, in album order of course, to The Tortured Poets Department. I can't stay up until midnight unless I'm already out on the town and that's very rare to begin with, but what I can do is wake up hella early. I didn't exactly mean to wake up at 4 in the morning but it's like Christmas, so of course I didn't sleep well. I tip toed out of the bedroom with my phone and my Beats headphones and cozied back down on the couch. Both cats looked at me in confusion like "excuse us mom but you're off schedule". Eventually they got over the interruption and embraced it via laying on top of me while each new Taylor song filled my ears and brain and heart. Of course I took the day off work for this momentum occasion and being that it's a double album, I could've taken a week off to get fully acquainted. 

There wasn't a single song I disliked on first listen and it's still true even after a fortnight of replays. Sure, there have been some serious growers like But Daddy I Love Him and Down Bad, but then of course there was Florida!!! and Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? who were instant loves.

Taylor said herself this album is full of metaphors and it was certainly noticeable right away - from religion to aliens to toys. There are several themes woven in and out of the entirety of the album. The ones that really stood out were all the mental health and religious lyricism and several songs have a Wild West musical twang and/or lyrics. 

Taylor is known for her writing and girl WROTE. This is the most wordy album of all time or at least of Taylor's discography which is really saying something. I genuinely had to look up the definitions of also-ran and rivulets (see below). I guess you can't call an album The Tortured Poets Department without elevating the vocabulary and poetic flow that she's already so good at.  And of course she adds in literary references left and right from Macbeth to Emily Dickinson which you can read about more in depth here and here. 

Taylor wrote two songs completely on her own, eight with Jack, and five with Aaron for this album. And of course Austin Post and Florence Welch each have writing credits on the songs they are featured in. I've heard so many say TTPD 1 is a Jack album and TTPD 2 is an Aaron album, but I think they are both equal mixes, and more than any thing, they are absolutely Taylor albums. 

One of my favorite written reviews came from Rolling Stone, my favorite podcast discussion is of course fellow Swiftie bestie Nikki Glaser, P1 and P2, and my favorite video reaction was Reacts with Ash. 

I saw on reddit that this album is "for the fans, not the public" and I have to agree. I feel like the Swifties get it and the casual fans have very mixed opinions. This album is giving Woodvale aka the third in the Folklore and Evermore trilogy, the anger and snark of reputation with the synth bops of Midnights. Is it overwhelming as fuck? YES. Due to the heavy content of the songs, the lyricism, and the number of tracks (31 total) it is a lot to take in and I understand why some are saying they are emotionally exhausted. This isn't an album you can just understand with a listen or two. It's not even one you can decide if you like or not in a listen or two. This is album you really have to sit with and let it wash over you slowly while you digest every little morsel. 

To my dear Swiftie friends who never get sick of talking about her and her songs in great depth, thank you so much. You are everything in my life. 

And away to the asylum we go...

1. Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)

Interesting words: fortnight - two weeks, literally fourteen nights

                             treason - the act of betraying

   

Fave lyrics: I love you, it's ruining my life - the awareness!

Thoughts & theories: Upon first listen, I immediately thought it sounded like a 1975 song even     though I've barely ever listened to their music. However, the times I've tried a song or two         they all sound the same to me and are all musically very one-note. Musically, that's what this song is giving me but given the subject matter of the lyrics it absolutely works. She's looking back on a short-lived romance a little angry and a lot depressed. I absolutely loved that Posty was on this with her. I'll forever remember that little interaction of the backstage years ago. 

Taylor talks: Via Amazon track by track "Fortnight is a song that exhibits a lot of the common themes that run through this album. One of which being fatalism - longing, pining away, lost dreams..."

 

Whether it was her plan since the jump ,or because all of us kept calling this album Dead Poets Society accidentally, I found it wonderful that Taylor included both Ethan Hawke and Josh Overstreet from the movie. She is always extra with the details. The voibes of this video are some of my fave. Tortured mental health girlies get it. 

2. The Tortured Poets Department

Easter eggs: The name of this song/album is very similar to a what's app group her ex Joe Alwyn is in with his actor friends called The Tortured Man Club. Also Matty had this to say about typewriters. 

Fave lyrics: You're in self-sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road
                    But I've seen this episode and still loved the show
    

Thoughts & theories: Although the lyrics in this song aren't nearly as traditionally poetic as others on TTPD, Taylor still gives us very specific lines naming not only two of her friends (Lucy of boygenius being one of them and of course her bestie Jack being the other) but also some seemingly very intimate moments between her and this "tattooed golden retriever" who I can only surmise is Matty fucking Healy. The whole Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith metaphor is really chef's kiss when you do a deep dive on them both. 

    

3. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys

Interesting words: rivulets - a very small stream

                             litany - tedious recital or repetitive series

Callback: She references Ken in both this song and Hits Different

I felt more when we played pretend 

Than with all the Kens

'Cause he took me out of my box

vs.

I used to switch out these Kens, I'd just ghost

      

Fave lyrics: Rivulets descend my plastic smile

Thoughts & theories: I heard criticism that this song was too juvenile for her but given that TTPD is chalk full of metaphors I think this one is pretty intereresting way to describe what sounds like being in love with an extremely immature man is like. But more than anything it's haunting as hell. I just picture an old rundown K-Mart toy aisle where the Army doll has gone mad in one way while her doll has gone mad in another. I also love the imagery of how exciting it was as a kid to get that toy you've always wanted but then quickly realized you weren't into as much as you thought so you stopped giving a shit about it. 

4. Down Bad

Interesting words: petulance - the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered

Callback: 

Fave lyrics - Did you really beam me up?
                    In a cloud of sparkling dust

                    Just to do experiments on 

                    Tell me I was the chosen one

Thoughts & theories - Right off the bat I love the way she used being abducted by aliens to explain the whirlwind of falling for this person and then being literally and figuratively brought back down to earth. And the whine of the chorus "Fuck it if I can't have him"?! Come on! I can relate to that feeling of not getting what I want and in the moment just saying "Fuck it!" because it's so upsetting not getting this thing that you want, so you try and trick yourself into thinking you just don't care any more. Sure, Jan.

5. So Long, London

Callbacks: The ones that stood out the most to me was the You're Losing Me reference continuing her metaphor of them dying (I stopped CPR, after all, it's no use / The spirit was gone, we would never come to) and the Glitch reference.

Fave lyrics: I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe

                   I didn't opt in to be your odd man out

                   I founded the club she's heard great things about

    

                   And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free

                    And you say I abandoned the ship

                    But I was going down with it

                    My white-knuckle dying grip

                    Holding tight to your quiet resentment

                 

Thoughts & theories: This lives up to the track five lore with consistent gut punches. I mean, to pick one fave lyric line? Nah, impossible. The song is framed around her saying goodbye to a city she loved and made a home in for many years, but that city encompassed Joe. Hell, that city and Joe are seemingly one in her eyes. It is the larger scaled Cornelia Street. I'm not sure how literal she meant "died on the altar waiting for the proof", but I view it as her wanting marriage or some kind of bigger commitment from Joe and he kept stringing her along during what society claims is a woman's prime (late 20s - early 30s). 

6. But Daddy I Love Him

Interesting words: tendrils - a slender threadlike appendage of a climbing plant
                             precocious - exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age
                             revelry - noisy partying
                             saboteurs - one that practices sabotage

                             sanctimoniously - hypocritically pious or devout

                             soliloquies - an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself

Easter egg: When the track list was released, the internet went wild about the famous line from The Little Mermaid being a name of a song. And of course we all remembered that she dressed up as Ariel for her 2019 NYE costume party. So, we can only assume this is one of her favorite movies and/or characters from childhood but also it would appear she can relate to some of the movies themes when it comes to Ariel losing her voice and giving up everything she knew for a guy. 

Fave lyric: I'll tell you something about my good name
                 It's mine alone to disgrace

                 I don't cater to all these vipers dress in emopath's clothing

Thoughts & theories: I didn't pick up on the fact that this is a "fuck-you this is my life" to everyone who talked shit about her dating Matty Healy from the randos and fans alike, until another swiftie mentioned it. Then of course it clicked. It's tongue in cheek but also angry as hell, and honestly rightfully so. To be as big as Taylor Swift and have the literal world discussing what's best for you must be infuriating, even when this time around they were right.  

Until I actually looked at the lyrics I thought the line "All the wine moms are still holding out, but fuck'em" was actually "Our moms are still holding out, but fuck'em". Oops! Also watching fans react for the first time to the line "I'm having his baby, no I'm not but you should see your faces" is so damn funny. We all were caught off guard with that one. I just see her giggling to herself every time someone listens for the first time and their eyes widen with whatthefuck.

I also enjoy the way the song seemingly starts about Matty but then ends with Travis. She goes from "But daddy I love him" to "Even my daddy just loves him" because once again the whole world, including myself were losing our minds in the fall of '23 when we'd see her at Chiefs games or Travis hanging with her dad on tour. 

7. Fresh Out The Slammer

Fave lyric: Years of labor, locks, and ceilings
                  In the shade of how he was feelin'

Callback: It all started in reputation and officially ended in TTPD...

Thoughts & theories: She uses jail imagery to describe her feelings at the end of the relationship with Joe, just as she used it in reputation - except this time it's negative. She is "gray" and Joe is "blue". This other person (presumably Matty Healy) has stayed in touch with her/gotten back in touch and something has been rekindled but she continues to stay in her dead relationship. So as soon as she and Joe are over she's calling Matty because now she is free. Sometimes it takes the hope of a new relationship to get the courage to leave an old one. No judgement here. 

She was quoted in her TIME Person of the Year article as saying 'Life is short. Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years...I'll never get that time back'. As much as I feel she probably needed to hide away for that year after the summer of 2016 to help her heal, I also think there came a point where she was ready to leave the house even with the circus that always transpires in her wake, but she tried so hard to respect Joe's privacy that she lost a lot herself in the process. 

 

8. Florida!!! (feat. Florence + the Machine)

Callback: Florida was mentioned in Fortnight and now it's got its own song!

Fave lyric: Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine

                  Well, me and my ghosts, we had a hell of a time 

                 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
                 At least the dolls are beautiful, fuck me up Florida!  

 

Thoughts & theories: Our girl loves a collab. and this one might just be her best one ever - at least top three with Exile/Bon Iver and Coney Island/The National also on the list. I loved that the production of the song is heavy in Flo's influence which is probably why it's such a standout on the album. The sound is so theatrical and completely different than any other and yet it fits perfectly.  

On a personal level, I was excited about this one from the jump because of the name and feature. I love Flo but that's Katie's number one ho. And then to have them reference my boo's state of Texas?! It's a bad ass song that reminds me of my favorite people.

Other Swifties have theorized the metaphor is that Matty is actually Florida in that he was an escape from every day life and appeared to be "better" than her home aka Joe. But the thing about Florida is with every beautiful beach scene there are also shark and gator attacks, with every warm summer day there is underboob sweat and heat stroke, and for all those attractions there are hurricanes lurking to wipe away your happiness in an instant.  

Taylor talks: Via Amazon's track by track " Swift said the inspiration for this track actually came from “always watching ‘Dateline.'” “People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida. They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in. I think when you go through a heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’ And so that was the jumping off point. Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida!”

9. Guilty as Sin

Interesting words: trysts - a private romantic rendezvous between lovers.
                              propriety -  the quality or state of being proper or suitable         

Callback: This is most definitely the cousin of False God. Both are sexual and both use religious imagery and words.

Religion's in your lips
Even if it's a false god
We'd still worship
The altar is my hips
We'd still worship this love

vs.

What if I roll the stone away?

They're gonna crucify me anyway

What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?

I choose you and me religiously

Fave lyric: These fatal fantasies giving way to laboured breath
                  Taking all of me, we've already done it in my head

Thoughts & theories: This is her fantasizing about what it would be like with another guy she is infatuated with. Probably Matty or maybe just a rando on the internet or a movie that she got carried away with. It didn't click until I listened to Nikki Glaser's special TTPD podcast episode when she said it's about masturbation and the light bulb turned on. Of course it is. 

10. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

Interesting words:  gallows - a structure for the hanging of criminals
                              levitate - to rise or float in or as if in the air as if defiance of gravity
                              asylum - an institution offering shelter and support to people who are                                                          mentally ill
                             

Memed: Monica's was by far the best at this internet trend. But this one and this one were  relatable. What image came to your mind?

you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me. pic.twitter.com/hkhdRlBCkj

— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) April 25, 2024 

Callback: Is this not the cousin of Mad Woman or what?! Both have her leaning into the crazy and delivering the lines with so much snark.

Fave lyrics: I was tame, I was gentle, till the circus life made me mean
                   Don't worry folks, we took out all her teeth
                   Who's afraid of little old me?

                   

                   I want to snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me
                   You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me 

Thoughts & theories: This is another absolute favorite of mine because it is so fucking sad and even though she says 'we don't get to tell her about "sad" '- I do get it. I picture Taylor as a lion who performs for the masses as expected but the second it has had enough and stands up for itself you can hear the gasps from the trainers and crowds, as if they weren't the ones who made her exactly this way with their poking and prodding. I feel like this song is referencing a lot of her recent "scandals" - Matty Healy, the Olivia Rodrigo lawsuit, the NFL backlash, etc. Ultimately, it can be explained as how society lifts artists up just to tear them down. 

Taylor talks: She said via Amazon track by track "alone, sitting at the piano in one of those moments when I felt bitter about just all the things we do to our artists as a society and as a culture...."

11. I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)

Interesting words: dopamine - a neurotransmitter made in your brain that plays the role of                                       "reward center" for memory, movement, motivation, mood, and attention
                              billows - a large undulating mass of something, typically a cloud or smoke
                              calloused - having an area of hardened skin

Fave lyric: They shake their heads, saying, "God help her" when I 
                 Tell 'em he's my man
                  But your good Lord doesn't need to lift a finger
                  I can fix him, no really I can

Thoughts & theories: There is another mention of Texas which makes me think maybe there is significance - Did something happen in Texas? Did she use it because the music has a western twang and it fits the story? Did she use it again because that's where Post Malone is from?

12. loml

Interesting words: rekindled - to start or stir up something again
                              reformed - to amend or improve change of form or removal of faults 
                              impressionist - someone who practices or adheres to the theories of                                           Impressionism
                              cinephile - a devotee of motion pictures
                              phantoms - something apparent to sense but with no substantial evidence

                              counterfeit - to imitate or feign with intent to deceive

Callback: She mentions stitch again just like in so long London and glitch...

Fave lyric:   Oh, what a valiant roar
                    What a bland goodbye
                    The coward claimed he was a lion
                    I'm combing through the braids of lies

Thoughts & theories: From the title alone many of us surmised this to be about her 6 year relationship with Joe but there are some very key references to Matty. So, if anything, it certainly could be a combination of both but it does appear to be more about the 1975 guy.

I absolutely love when Taylor flips the script. She's a true mastermind at this because it's done so well in many of her songs.

    love of my life flips to loss of my life

    you and I go from one kiss to getting married flips to what we thought was for all time was         momentary

13. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

Interesting words: silhouette - the outline of a body viewed as circumscribing a mass
                             crucial - important, significant

Callback: The little detail of her adding the in-ear metronome (aka the ear piece she wears on tour to stay on tempo) to this song is fucking genius. 

Fave lyrics: I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday

I think you can take this lyric a few different ways but the one I really relate to is when you're so depressed you treat yourself again and again to try and help you feel better but in the end it's a short-lived hit of dopamine. 

Thoughts & theories: This is quite obviously about her being on the eras tour sad and depressed while the world is praising how amazing it is. The fans aka me not only attended the tour but couldn't get enough and would watch any livestream they could catch. But we really didn't have a clue what was going on. How many times have you had to slap a happy face on and put on a show at work or at a party or whatever? We've all been there. 

This song is THE bop of the album. It reminds me of Paramore's After Laughter in that most of their songs were up-beat and catchy as hell but the lyrics were sad AF. I always love that kind of juxtaposition.

Taylor Swift during the summer of 2023 pic.twitter.com/hPJo9ulxw4

— Danielle✨ (@folksyswift) April 30, 2024

14. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

Interesting words: also-ran - one that is of little importance
                              oblivion - the state of being forgotten or unknown                               

Fave lyrics: I would've died for your sins

                   Instead I just died inside 

                   And you deserve prison

                   But you won't get time

Thoughts & theories: What a lashing she gave Matty in this. Like gut punch after the other. The bridge cuts so deep. And the best thing of all is the name of the song. 

15. The Alchemy

Interesting words: alchemy - the medieval forerunner of chemistry
                             bloke - British slang for man

Callback: Circled you on a map? Taylor coming to whatever city the Chiefs are playing in.

Touch down? Amatuers? Cut 'em from the team? Ok football references. Beer sticking to the floor? Cheers chanted? Greatest in the league? More football. Clowns - A callback to mirrorball and peace. Crown - We're talking long live, CIWYW, YNTCD, exile, and karma. 

Fave lyric: Honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy?

Thoughts & theories: A Travis song of course. 

16. Clara Bow

Fave lyrics: Crowd goes wild at her fingertips
                    Half moonshine, full eclipse

Thoughts & theories: I feel like this song is maybe the most under appreciated on the album. I absolutely love it. I love the references to past stars who were the talk of the town in their day and how she has the self awareness to poke fun of herself, much like she did in 22. My only critique is the line "we're loving it" - ok McDonald's slogan. I think "magnificent" would've been a much stronger choice. But come on rhyming Clara Bow with remarkable at the beginning of the song and not rhyming Taylor Swift with magnificent to close out the song just seems like such a missed opportunity. 

Taylor talks: Via Amazon's track by track " I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you,” she said. “I picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these architypes of greatness in the entertainment industry. Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music."

Was this post long enough? Probably not.

Did I get to say everything I wanted about this album? Definitely not!

Will I also be discussing the anthology aka the second "album" at a later date? You betcha.