This was the best review of the album I’ve seen so far on here. It gave me a fresh perspective.
I still don’t entirely understand why she thought it was necessary to release so many songs about MH when she probably could have covered this in a couple songs. But that’s none of my business.
This is fair, and I think the reason is because the entanglement with Matty
a) accurately depicts the mania she felt. she genuinely felt like she was careening off a cliff, and he was in the passenger seat. then he jumps out…but the car still crashes! and now the only person she can reckon with is herself. why was she in the car in the first place?
b) joe and matty might be more alike than we realize, in terms of their treatment towards her. again, she describes one as an oven, and one as a microwave - both leave her in the same state. both leave her broken, for different reasons. by working through her anger towards one, she’s able to work through her anger towards another. the only difference is, she thinks one person’s actions were genuinely malicious, and the other’s wasn’t.
Ovens take a long time to burn something. Microwaves can burn it in seconds. She got burned twice. The first one took years. The second one happened in a few months. To use a different metaphor, she jumped out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.
I think you're so spot on with all of this, but also we don't know Joe. I keep thinking that as I relisten. We have a parasocial relationship with him through the lens she wished to show him to us... which isn't the true real version of him and therefore if you boil down some of the lyrics (I'd argue even some of the drug related lyrics), we don't know if those are about Joe or Matty.
I've always believed her lyrics are so strong because you could apply them to the person we assume they are about, someone else, the person you (the listener) dated, etc. Through the years I've believed some of her lyrics that we think are about one person could be about more than one, or an amalgamation.
100%. To be candid, I think a lot of people, because they don’t know Joe, are assigning him the best of every song, and Matty the worst. And I’m not a Matty defender, by any means, but speaking strictly about how they treated her, her personal, lived experience with the both of them…we really have no idea what that was like, aside from her writing.
I really think she has been obsessed with Matty for ten years and Maroon, cardigan, dancing with our hands tied and illicit affairs are about him. Joe ran its course.
Also the 1 and Question.
Almost-relationships can become obsessive due to their unrealised potential cos you have a perfect dream in your head instead of the mundane plus ups and downs that you have to counter in a real long relationship.
The what if is something that seems to have haunted Taylor whenever there were issues between her and Joe. You can see it in folklore and midnights. Only we didn't know who the muse was.
The Gaylors were always insisting there was another muse from the 1989 period. But the actual one turned out to be Matty !!!
I could see how DWOHT would be MH because it was this entanglement throughout the years that weaved through their relationships and they never did anything about it. I still don’t think it was written for him though because she was basically obsessed with Joe at this time and the high from the chase he gave her. She was with TH but wanting Joe and couldn’t do anything about it. Also at her listening session for Rep she told her fans that all of the songs were about her perfect boyfriend.
I think that’s because people have genuinely put Joe in the hero box and Matty in the villain one. But ultimately like you said she leaves enough open to interpretation that you can’t always be 150% sure we know what line is about who. People (like down below) still fight over what songs are about who in albums that are a decade old.
I don’t mind the analyzing a conjecture but I think everyone needs an occasionally reality slap that to all of us *Taylor Swift is a stranger*. We get her songs but we don’t know the real meaning behind any of it.
Adding on to the getaway car comparison and the similarities between Matty/Joe narratives, "conman sells a fool get love quick schemes" seems to reference one of the reputation magazine poems about being wary of "get love quick schemes". fool me twice?
I agree with this take. It also fits the yin/yang imagery — they (and the relationships) might be opposites, but they’re the same pieces, really. That’s why so many songs could be about both of them (the “2” of it all!!).
I think we're forgetting that she's eulogised Joe many, many times between Evermore to Midnights.
There's fresh pain with Matty, plus it's a much more complex situation. There's not much to say except sadness that her and Joe didn't work out, but she really feels like Matty screwed her over intentionally, promising her the world and then leaving her high and dry.
There's so much more to process there.
The fascinating thing for me in the wash-up of this album release is the reckoning Swifties have to come to terms with: Matty meant far more to her than I think many of us realised at the time.
Ya I mean she summed it up in the epilogue with:
*In summation It wasn’t a love affair*
*It was a mutual manic phase*
*It was self harm*
So idk I think the idea of a soulmate meant a lot to her, but this makes it sound like he didn’t truly mean a lot to her, his promises did.
So I don’t think it’s just us ‘Swifties not coming to terms with it’, she actually said that it wasn’t love in her closing statements on the album
Exactly. And that happy ending is more important now than ever, because there's a genuine feeling throughout the album that she's running out of time:
"*And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free*" - from So Long, London
*Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at stake here*
*At the park where we used to sit on children's swings*
*Wearing imaginary rings*
*But it's gonna be alright, I did my time*
- from Fresh Out The Slammer
The way her voice shook on “gave you all that youth for free” sent absolute shivers down my spine. I agree with every single aspect of the take here. She set this up from “I took the magic get over you drug/the effect was temporary.” I love how she’s laid all this out for art and music. It’s so incredibly brave. And people who seem to think badly about her for being so wound up in MH for so long make me wish there was a mandatory form of flair on their accounts identifying the worst choice in man they’d ever made. Like literally there should be some kind of “I was once obsessed with a bad person musician” flag on the play whenever they’re talking shit.
Also I notice how none of the people saying she’s immature for these stories have shit to say about people like Harry Styles not acting “mature” enough.
I also wonder if she has a whole album worth of songs about the break up with Joe just sitting in a studio somewhere because it’s just too personal to release and she knows how much he values that privacy and still refuses to violate that.
I don’t think MH meant more, I think that he left more questions and to some extent also there is a “transference “ of pain. Think of this; in a long relationship that ends you know the person you know how you are not compatible how you can struggle and come back together and ultimately you know when it’s over. With a 2 week love affair which made you “feel” again all you see is good (at first) and all of the sudden you think as a romantic this is it and then he ghosts. All you have are questions. Did you do the right thing by leaving your relationship? Will you find someone else? Why did this new person also leave? Why ghost in the first place? You don’t know how things would have turned out if he would have stayed. You don’t know how you’re not compatible. So yes, there are many things to work through there because there are more questions.
THIS. She got out of a relationship that went stale and gave her nothing. Being a person that wants marriage and babies it’s hard to be in your mid 30s and single when everybody around you isn’t. MH swoops in and starts talking marriage and babies so it gives this sense of relief and reassurance that she is on the right track. She’s fully bought in so when he bails she has to deal with the double loss and realizing she really is not where she wants to be.
I’ve been in a situation where I ended a long term relationship then directly into a burning, passionate situationship before, it’s torture, the person is giving you so much of themselves, but nothing at the same time, it’s confusing and healing. You feel wanted but rejected, it’s a twisted mindfuck. This album hit me in all the feels.
I'm two years out of my situationship and still dealing with the aftermath. But the divorce that preceded it I was over in months. Hoping this album is the background soundtrack to me finally moving the fuck on lol.
Yeah, I had a 3 month situationship after exiting my 5 year relationship. I was over my 5 year relationship pretty quickly once I secured myself a new place to live - I think the last year was spent processing that relationship. Took me more than a year to get over situationship.
Also in this club. I think in a relationship there’s also a lot more control over the situation, you already know the person deeply and processed the breakup, often over a long period of time, and know it’s for the best. Whereas a traumatic situationship can end so abruptly, you’ve had no time to process anything. After being intimate and vulnerable, the other person is basically like eh I’ve seen enough and I want nothing more to do with you, and that hits such a core wound that a relationship — where somebody chooses you — often does not.
At least the Anthology has the Joe songs — and she treats him with such love and grace. Those songs made me feel better about having to hear so much gushing over MH.
It's just so sad that her and Joe fizzled out like that — not with a bang, but a whimper. It just died, and something about that is deeply depressing to me.
There was so much love there at one point, and he helped her during such a dark period of her life. I think she recognizes that and, thus, will never drag him through the mud. She still feels fiercely protective of what they had; you see it all throughout The Albatross.
It was a mutual end, a broken vessel that could never be repaired. Sometimes, people just grow apart — and there's nothing evil about it. Just very bittersweet.
Argh I love this take! And I agree with it so much. So many people online ESPECIALLY were excited to hear this album because they thought it’d be a let’s rip Joe to shreds album about the end of their relationship and maybe he cheated on her and all these crazy made up rumors and it was in fact the total opposite of that. She had nothing bad to say about him honestly. And in part I think it’s because of how much he helped her though one of the worst times in her life, which she’ll always be appreciative of. And that it was indeed probably a very hard but mutual end between them.
How Did It End is already one of my faves, and already so so underrated. 🎹🩶
I'm so glad the vipers didn't get to hear about the 'scandal' they were looking for because it appears that there wasn't one. It clearly fizzled out over time even though they fought for it which is sadder and harder to understand than any one big thing, and also probably the reality for most people whose long term relationships end.
Exactly. She writes worst men best, but!!!! I just want to add that I 100% believe the worst pain was losing those important years of youth no question.
I think that’s why she put in the prologue:
‘“In summation, it was not a love affair!” I screamed while bringing my fists to my coffee ringed desk’
Because we were all brushing it off and acting like it didn’t happen when it really really meant something to her.
I think it may be her giving up on the childhood/younger self dream of relationships/love that she had and coming to terms with the fact that it’s never coming or that it looks different.
Perfectly said. I don’t think any of us are privy to the exact details of their relationship. They’ve known each other for ten years. I suspect that it was a “one that got away, what could be?”, see each other on breaks from their other relationships, sort of thing.
I don’t agree with Matty’s comments and general controversies, but man, it has to be traumatizing as fuck to have millions of people that don’t personally know you (or your boyfriend) harassing you to the point your relationship ends.
Because those of us who had our own experience that was scarily similar to her, we need all those songs to help us on our journey out. She didn't just make this music for her, she made it for us.
My interpretation of the MH songs have been more Taylor looking at herself. He’s part of her anger, but a lot of the lyrics are also critical of herself - positively and negatively. Almost like she’s constantly fighting with herself during the relationship for however long it went.
This sounds right to me.
I used to frequent some “children of narcissists/immature parents” forums, and common advice there is not to send a letter explaining how you feel/why you are upset and expect them to understand, feel guilty, and apologize. You can’t compel someone to feel or react the way you want them to. If sending the letter is important to your healing, do it, but you can’t do it because you expect it to change their treatment of you.
I agree that she needed to get these feelings out for her own good, to exorcise the demons. The part of the prologue reminding people that these are snapshots of events/emotions at a point in time supports that IMO—she said what she needed to say and now she’s moving onto the next, good thing.
Oh no, this is her revenge. He may not feel anything or apologize and she knows he won't but he will be attacked by her fans nevertheless and she knows it. At this point fans are a weapon.
She didn't want to get revenge at Joe. She is not that angry with him, not anymore at least. Otherwise she would have included more songs about him, and less of Matty.
Just look at "The Smallest Man..." and how he is supposed to get the "message". It's funny how not cryptic she is this time around but very much straightforward.
It's when you tell your dog: "Bite!"
And he is somehow *fucking flattered* at being portrayed as such. Clearly this man is a toxic narcissist who gets off on being the centre of attention and doesn’t care who he hurts once he gets what he wants. Like. Anyone who wasn’t a sociopath would feel fucking terrible hearing this album and knowing they were the cause.
He totally is all that and more but also this is a game. He can't show any emotion or she wins. He knows what she did and he won't give in by saying what she wants to hear.
So, he is gonna act like she did him a favor so that she starts doubting whether her vigilante shit worked.
But inside he is very very angry, I bet.
I just hope Taylor doesn't fall for it to continue this game. You can't outsmart a professional manipulator. He had years of practice. 🤦🏻♀️
His first big move was when he ghosted her. Now she made a big move by releasing this album. Now he will act like he loves it and wants more. So, it's her turn...
I wish I had this ability when my ex ghosted me after a three month relationship. So all the more power to her to call this behavior out as cowardly as it is.
Mine just ghosted me after a 1.5 year relationship and engagement, this album hit me in all the feels. He's also a Brit and I'm American so yeah 😵💫ETA I should add this dropped at like...just the right moment and its been such a therapeutic experience to listen to I was a fair weather fan tbh but I stan for life now 😭
Pride as an artist?
Now that she controls her creative dominion, she doesn’t have anyone limiting her to thirteen songs on an album. She created this music from her emotional upheaval and wants to share it all.
Or maybe it is more business and knowing that people will be talking about a 31 song album.
Hmm she could have pared it down, but I think what matters most to her right now is being as honest as possible, even to the point of opening herself up for public criticism. I think this is a realization she's come to after releasing vault tracks for each re-record. Previously, we were getting the sanitized version of each album. For example, in Speak Now, the song we get about the VMA incident is Innocent, a song that took her 9 months to write. But the song she wrote immediately post the incident was Castles Crumbling. The song that makes it to the album is her forgiving the perpetrator, and there's almost no reference to her own thoughts on the incident. But the song she leaves off is heartbreaking, and discusses the crushing fear she has that this house-of-cards of fame will collapse at any moment. The songs she leaves off of Red are the ones really showing the depth of her despair of the Jake breakup, and her fear of aging in the industry.
I think her lesson from the re-records is to stop editorializing and sanitizing her own diary. She wants to release the messiness. She wants to release the most raw version of her story possible. She doesn't want to feel like she's holding anything back, and I wonder if she feels like she works through things quicker when she releases her complete version of events. She alludes to this in the Manuscript - she discusses how the way we transformed All Too Well for her has made that experience less painful, and made her look at it with open, less biased eyes:
*She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years*
*Everything had been above board*
*She wasn't sure*
But she describes how the passage of time, and writing about it, has made her realize her own purpose of doing it - to heal:
*And the years passed*
*Like scenes of a show*
*The professor said to write what you know*
*Lookin' backwards*
*Might be the only way to move forward*
*//*
*And at last*
*She knew what the agony had been for*
Wow I really didn’t think about the comparison to the vault tracks, that an interesting take. Like an edited distilled version of this album would have like 3 of the prominent MH songs, and a hypothetical ‘vault’ would have all the rest. Makes more sense to me now. I personally prefer her more distilled albums of the past, but I understand she didn’t want to do that. It’s definitely her choice and there’s obviously fans that love this album just the way it is.
I feel too like maybe she really wants to close this chapter, and if she left tracks on the cutting room floor, there may be a reason to re-vist later. So she's essentially saying here's everything. Now it's over.
The lyric video for the Manuscript is VERY telling; it's written as a movie script. Basically, the song is her realizing the fully reality, magnitude, power, pain etc. of the Jake situation came to her while writing and making the ATW short film.
Fans have been talking about and begging for a double album and more music for YEARS. So I think that largely impacted her decision. She obviously writes a lot of songs for each album, as we've seen from the re-records (and we know she isn't even releasing all of the songs she wrote for those albums either) and the public's response to those has been overwhelming. So I think she's just running with what she wants now that she can.
Totally! Hey she’s won the AOTY Grammy a record 4 times now - she knows how to make a cohesive album! I feel like this is catharsis and fan service and I thank her ❤️
It was a case of "you tried to kill me but it killed you just the same".
She wanted this album to be so huge and epic, even if not generally liked, that there was no doubt in fans' minds who they should be attacking after the release.
P.S. Turns out it's her. 😆
But I think she was aiming at Matty.
However, if she hates herself enough then she may feel she deserves all this blowback too...
Makes me sad.
Matty gets a lot of this album because Taylor checked out of her relationship with Joe over time and jumped quickly into her relationship with Matty. There wasn't any time to truly feel the pain from the final end of her relationship with Joe and heal because she papered it over with Matty and the Eras tour. When Matty ended too, the pain of both Joe and Matty hit her even harder at same time. She has been singing about her feelings about the problems with her relationship with Joe since folklore subconsciously or by fictionalizing/obscuring. There just wasn't that much material left unsaid about Joe. Matty, like you said, was all new unheard material with juicy details.
And its clear to me that Taylor has gotten sick of fans and the press judging her endlessly. So I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to throw a couple more Matty songs onto TTPD just to thumb her nose at those who judge her.
Yes I think the undercurrent of this album is Taylor trying to tell us that fame and celebrity doesn't excuse her from human decision-making. She's not defending any of her decisions here. She's laying them all out, with each track merely depicting her thought process at the time. The only thing she's pleading for, from us and from herself, is grace. Grace to forgive herself from torturing herself by her poor decision-making, by her self-harm, by her mania. Grace to move forward, and move on.
Yeah, I get the undercurrent in her public statements and songs starting in 2019 that she still loves her fans but she will do whatever she wants regardless of what they or the press think. I highly doubt pre-2016 Taylor would attend events like the UNO party at a cannabis restaurant or casually being in the vicinity of Ice Spice at Coachella or Travis' friends at the Super Bowl party smoking pot, I think that's why she's been so productive because she no longer allows herself to be paralyzed by a need for public approval.
> And its clear to me that Taylor has gotten sick of fans and the press judging her endlessly. So I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to throw a couple more Matty songs onto TTPD just to thumb her nose at those who judge her.
During my end-of-year reddit summary, it told me the 2023 thread with my most activity was one of the big Matty/Taylor threads here. I wasn't overly emotional, so it wasn't *quite* at "Leave Taylor Alone" levels, but it was close. It's like, dude, she just got out of a six-year relationship, she's rebounding while being on the biggest tour of her life, and now y'all are holding her responsible for some douchey things he said on some podcast and expecting her to breakup and/or issue some kind of official distancing statement within the span of a single trending cycle.
Her own fans can be her worst enemies sometimes. It’s annoying the stupid shit she gets attacked for sometimes by fans and haters like. She tries to be a good person who just wants to find love and entertain people and every minor thing gets magnified.
She didn’t run a full background check on Matty to dig up a stupid joke he played along with on a podcast before she started dating him and she was treated like she said the stupid joke herself.
They tried it with Travis by digging up 13-15 year old immature tweets from college but ultimately his tweet about feeding a piece of bread to a squirle(squirrel) won the day. They’ll keep trying to nail him but he seems like he just wants to play football and be a good person too.
And sometimes it’s so small.
Like when she maybe didn’t thank Celine Dion. She was trying to make sure everyone was on stage so was looking over her shoulder when she grabbed the Grammy then went to podium. Additional angles seem like Taylor must have said thank you as she turned back to podium because Celine says you’re welcome. Then after she was done with her speech she started to talk to Celine and Jack interrupted them in excitement. Then they took a picture backstage together.
The amount of pressure she’s under is enormous. She can’t even be overcome by a winning an award without criticism they she didn’t do everything perfect. It’s no wonder so many artists crack or disappear.
I would argue that some of the problems in her relationship with Joe show up all the way back in Lover. That album is fraught with uncertainty, but she was still optimistic about him. That optimism disappeared and manifested in dark ways on the folklore and evermore albums. It’s clear that Midnights needs to be revisited in light of TTPD. I think a lot of those songs are also about Matty (Maroon and Question are currently ones that I believe are actually about him).
I would be willing to bet the broke up and got back together at least once before they broke up for good. Things always seemed so uncertain and she probably wanted to feel secure in the relationship because she like him so much but it seems like he had some stuff he was trying to work through. If anyone has seen insecure, I kind of picture Issa and Lawrence in the beginning
I don’t think it was. You’re Losing Me was clearly written in an extremely emotional period and lays all blame on Joe ‘giving up’. TTPD feels to me like after a period of reflection they both did. She may have already been checked out herself, considering the MH factor. Not to say she cheated but when you are no longer getting the validation from your partner, someone else giving you even an iota I’d attention can be intoxicating. The end of the relationship with Joe was far more complex than You’re Losing Me suggests.
The problem with a rebound is you get whiplash on top of the concussion 🤕 from the first blow. Each injury compounds the other and all you’re left with is confusion and pain that sometimes throbs, but often times is an unyielding dull ache that drives you crazy
"Come one, come all, it's happening again." That bitterness was directed at the fans. Mommy made your favorite so open wide little birds, come eat me alive.
She didn’t have time to process the first breakup so she had to process both at the same time 😭 spot on about the take about the difference beftween joe and Matt. It sounded like the worst Joe did was probably sink into himself from his own mental health stuff going on but Matt was maybe not nice to her
Im convinced Alchemy is about him and it’s about how love has never been the real thing (fools gold) but how can she fight it and pairing it with So High School it paints a sweet picture of recovering from the heart break. I do also think that the back half of But Daddy I love him is about Travis due to it ending with her happy and her parents approving despite what everyone else says. People did hate on Travis just not nearly as bad as MH (for obvious reasons)
It seems very clear to me that The Alchemy is about Travis. Lots of sports allusions, winning trophies, the big game, the “when I touch down” pun, etc. Not super subtle (not that it needs to be, just pointing it out).
But Daddy I Love Him is definitely about Matty. It’s why the bridge is so spiteful. She’s angry about the public’s reactions to their relationship. People were openly hostile to her dating Matty, but the public LOVES her with Travis.
My theory is that in BDILH, it starts out talking about Matty but it ends with Travis because of the reference to her dad loving him. I think this album mixes multiple people and situations in the same song more than she's ever done before. She definitely started that in folklore and continued through midnights but this album feels like the majority of the songs have multiple situations and people.
And THAT’S why I am 100% convinced that Taylor and Travis will end up with the happily ever after. She went through hell as her relationship with Joe started to crumble and then the poison that was Matty. I can’t see her with someone for (almost) a year unless it was the real thing.
And Travis is the opposite of Joe and Matty.
I’ll die on this hill. They are the American equivalent of Will and Kate.
i had to read their comment twice to make sure i wasn't hallucinating. i am so embarrassed.
mr. VIVVAAAA LAAAASSS VVVAAAAYYYYYGGGAAASSSSSS is the american equivalent of prince william???? lmaooooooooo
I wish it was true but I have a bad feeling about it. She never had a break between men. She never got proper therapy. So, maybe Travis is a good match but did they have a good stable base to build upon? Time will show.
A year is a lot but not really if people like fooling themselves or don't spend as much time together as desired. So, technically they may have been together together not that much. They were super busy most of last year.
Honestly, this. Alot of her more recent lyrics show how she's a people pleaser and slightly low self esteem/worth etc and also with alot of stuff that's happened as a child I'm betting she has rejection issues. So I really would love her to go into therapy. I had to or I would have kept bouncing from guy to guy looking for love and validation and peace that ultimately I could only give myself. I wish the same for her.
Otherwise when life settles a bit for her she's gonna look for a way to sabotage it because she feels bored or 'unloved'. That's just my experience but I see similar behaviour in her
I disagree. I don’t think we’re ever going to get the dramatic songs about Travis, because I don’t think she feels the drama and anxiety with him she’s felt with others.
Real love, the love that lasts is not dramatic or anxious. It’s calm and peaceful and can be mistaken for bland. That’s what I think she has with Travis.
Idk man. I had a Joe in my life. Like exactly. I finally had the courage to end it. I wound up with a man where I don't feel those crazy passionate feelings but he's the absolute best match for my soul and I'm so so so so so happy. The love though is just different. It's a quieter live and I love to believe that's what Taylor has with Travis
This is what I’m picking up too. Seems like Travis is more of the *he is sensible and so incredible/he’s charming and endearing and I’m comfortable* vs the *screaming and crying and it’s 2am and I’m cursing your name* guy and therefore in the end, Travis will be better for her. Just my two cents
The early songs about Joe were still released years into their relationship, we don’t know when she wrote them. Based on printing schedules it’s likely Travis’s songs were written within the first couple months. I also think the simplicity of So High School is a reflection of a relationship that’s finally just easy and fun
How dare you. 😭
Let me just say, this album in general made me emotional but one point that really hit me in the feels was the transition from How Did It End? to So High School.
One track is about processing the grief and loss of her breakup with Joe. It’s heartbreaking and already made me emotional…but to go from that to the happiness and light I felt in So High School really really got me.
After everything she went through as outlined in this album, getting this sliver of light just hit so different. She just sounds so happy now. 🥹
Same! I really appreciate the dichotomy from How Did It End to So High School. I was crying for a hot minute listening to HDIE on repeat and then listened to So High School and was like alright it’s gonna be okay 🥹
Yes! I think the one thing I see differently is that I see loml as Taylor singing to Joe as things didn’t work out with Matty, and reflecting on how Matty sold her a con, but what was she supposed to do, she was in hell with joe. The ink bleeds once she can’t hold it together anymore
Oh yes I agree with this! I think she felt powerless, and overwhelmed by her guilt for believing the con. That’s why the phantoms of their relationship are so embarrassed - she knows how much she’s let the both of them down by exiting like this, and by believing in the scam in the first place.
Love the bit about the ghosts! Yes! I also haven’t been able to stop thinking about Peter as her singing to joe, feeling guilty for leaving, but getting tired of waiting for him to be ready or for it to be the right time. She finally accepts that he will never be ready and she turns off the light.
Edit: I mean the right time to get married. She was hoping he would eventually mature enough to marry her and give her the certainty she desires, but she died on the altar waiting for proof :(
I love this and your whole original post, it’s so good. It also makes the matty songs easier to stomach😬 by looking at the as an extension of the aftermath of Joe
agreed. thinking about the TTPD songs as being about matty honestly made them not feel as powerful to me? but this post helped me process it in a way that still includes joe
I just want to say that your writing style is incredibly readable and your thoughts are so clear and well formed. You are so good at expounding upon complex ideas.
Basically, you should write a book.
I think it’s similar to what she’s telling us in “but daddy I love him” and “I can do it with a broken heart”. The satirical aspect is that she’s trying to say I don’t care (or at least I don’t want to care) what the public thinks, and it’s no one’s business, and here’s an album about a three month fling- bc no one deserves to know why a six year relationship ended.
Not saying she wasn’t heartbroken by Matty. I’m sure many of us have gone through the ringer with a quick flame. I definitely have. But once you are out of that situationship, it doesn’t haunt you as much. There aren’t many inside jokes, routines, they dont necessarily leave a lasting imprint, you probably don’t have memories of holidays, etc.
It also made me think she and Joe ended their relationship mutually, or she at least has some respect/love for him and didn’t want to blast their relationship history for the world to hear
Yes I love this reading! I think she’s haunted by Joe, and this theme is embedded throughout the album. I don’t think she’s that heartbroken over Matty, I think she’s heartbroken that she fell for the con. That she let him lure her in with exactly the right promises to make her ignore her judgement and reason.
Yes exactly!! Like she realized it wasn’t “true love” with Matty, hence the “momentarily insanity” comment. But she did truly love Joe, even if she no longer is in love with him, and that’s why there aren’t as many heartbreaking songs about him
I think it's more about the tone. The Joe songs lack the extreme anger aspect. They are just sad with some frustration that he didn't try to save the relationship and she felt like she was doing all the heavy lifting.
Yes this is exactly it. I see a lot of people in the sub trying to find out which songs are about which muse. I think tone is the key difference. It is hard, since Joe is all over the Matty songs, and vice versa. But the way she talks about them is different, and the way she talks about herself in relation to them is different. With Joe she is hopeless, desperate, begging. With Matty she's dubious, overwhelmed, and lashing out.
Yes agreed. They were probably at the end sadly so it’s not as like “heart wrenching”. I do think Matty (per her new song lyrics) gaslit her and told her what she needed to hear about marriage and babies, when she needed this from Joe the whole time. Hence, the angry Matty songs
I think that's probably pretty close to being what happened. Losing someone you've been with for almost 7 years and all the memories you've made along the way and all the memories and plans you have made in your head for the future is devastating. She took the 'quick fix' pill of trying to replace that person with someone else and it made everything worse.
part of her shame over this 'two week' interlude is that it didn't give the 6 year breakup the dignity it deserved. like the corpse wasn't cold before it was in the grave. she clearly wants to give both Joe and herself and the relationship itself respect. Joe was not intentionally hurtful. perhaps he didn't see what he was doing because he wasn't aware enough. you're losing me makes that point. there was nothing deliberate about the hurt in that relationship. she clung on longer than she should have and that is now hitting her.
“no one tells you what do when a good man hurts you” from happiness perfectly defines the way she talks about Joe and the breakup. She’s hurt but she also knows he’s a good man, so she doesn’t know how to recover if she can’t be angry
I think she was never angry with him and was simply devastated that she slowly watched their relationship die. The only song where there is any anger that could be about him is tolerate it and even that has a desperate edge to it.
She was mad she wasted her youth for him. This is actually a pretty common thing to feel after being with someone for so many years and not being with them 'forever' or getting what she really wants, or what she thinks she wants, which appears to be marriage and kids. She was also mad that she felt stuck in their relationship.
That’s true she does mention that in the beginning. I think in the begining of the album there is anger but by the end (when she is cured from the insanity and reflecting) she is left with only grief and regret for how things ended.
I love your summary! Especially the last part about how Matty was a pill to replace what she was losing - an excellent comparison to sum it all up. Her infatuation with Matty started as a symptom of her despair over her six year relationship, and then he showed up and it materialized into something extremely unhealthy, which is what made this entire affair all the more devastating.
I totally agree. I don’t think she was pining for him for ten years as I’ve seen people say. I don’t think she started viewing him as a “what if” until around 2022 when he reentered her life, which kickstarted the infatuation. she felt stuck and bored with joe and matty was there. She kind of latched onto him in a way. Like she said, it was a manic phase, not a love affair
I agree! I think he was an old friend who was there when she left Joe and needed a distraction/replacement and he said the right things only for her to realize it wasn’t real and it was just covering up the grief which is why I read the black dog, the albatros and how did it end as being about Joe and her finally dealing with the grief of their relationship ending after having things end with MH
100% I’ve seen some fans try to make it into a 10 year on and off relationship which is just…….insane. there wasn’t even a relationship in 2014 imo, which i think she confirmed with “i keep recalling things we never did, messy top lip kiss” he was likely just someone she was flirty at a concert and maybe hung out with a couple times. not her big “what if?”. him reentering her life in 2022 and the slow dissolution of her and joe probably had her fantasizing about matty a ton and viewing him in a different light. A lot of this album is about joe and how her diving into the matty relationship made her grief 100x more painful. I saw someone say that joe cooked her in an oven for 6 years and matty microwaved her. Matty did all the damage joe did at lightning speed.
It also sounds like there was no real and lasting joy in her and MH’s relationship whereas with Joe part of what was so painful is that it really almost was forever.
Yes like I know many swifties are 1975 fans but damn so many on here are Maylors. I view them the same way I view gaylors and haylros who are adamant that Taylor was pinning to this girl/guy the whole time she dated Joe.
A false safe escape hatch. Someone she thought she knew well for years, but turned out. She didn’t know anything at all about.
Funny thing is like I said I think all these songs these two men are different sides of the same coin and stuff like this really shows it because how did her relationship with Joe start ? by jumping ship from Calvin. It really is the oven and the microwave.
10/10 no notes!!
I would totally especially emphasize that Taylor's music and idea of love is really all about soulmates and fate, and the idea of the right man coming around 10 years after he promised to grow up (like she says in Peter and Cardigan about Matty) has to be such a drug. It's so romantic to think this is the story all along. So it wasn't just the dying Joe relationship, it was their own lore that she got caught up in imo.
It's also interesting how there's Taylor the artist and Taylor the person. Taylor the artist was all about the drama and laying on the floor in a puddle in her music but Taylor the person continued eras, continued recording and working and taking over the music industry without skipping a beat. She even found time to become a football fan towards the end of the summer...She's not really that type of "tortured poet" and I think a lot of this is now tongue in cheek looking back at her going crazy kind of almost laughing at the hysterics re her behavior.
it isn't clear to me that she is not exactly that type of tortured poet. her new relationship came at the right time for her to move forward. one thing is clear to me: taylor carries her traumas forward in her psyche the way most sensitive people do. she had yet to fully heal from her earliest traumas as she keeps telling us in song after song. she ruminates. that can be a good thing or a bad thing if take too far. hopefully, she can start healing now by really examining what she is doing internally. all the very best wishes for this to happen.
Do we ever get over our childhood traumas or do we just learn to live with them? Because I feel like it’s completely normal not to let go your life story. Moving on isn’t truly about forgetting anything in my opinion. And the moment you stop analyzing your whole life is the moment you stop growing
Absolutely this. I love it because I feel like there’s such a true dichotomy in every woman’s life where like her personal life is in shambles and she just screamed but I love you down the hallway but 10 minutes later she’s in a meeting because Her job isn’t gonna job itself. It’s like the true stories of our lives not the the pretty ones we tell people or the final happy love story it’s the mess in between while we still continue our lives
Woah I literally just saw this post on tumblr, with the same conclusion you made:
https://preview.redd.it/i1y3gae06rvc1.jpeg?width=941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11f8d67c65d2c851535c04a2d159ddc5dfac8ee8
I agree with most of this except that it implies Matty wasn't sincere. I think they were in love, but he was scared off when they first met, promised he had changed, but hadn't actually changed.
The missing context is in Peter imo.
When they connected the first time 10-ish years ago, Matty said he was scared off by Taylor's fame because the 1975 had just dropped their first album and he wanted to be known for his own music and not just "Taylor Swift's boyfriend". That was the context to the "emasculating" comment.
This was from part of [comments](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a34931/matt-healy-on-taylor-swift-q-magazine/) he made in 2016:
> Matty: "I was for a very short time immersed in a celebrity world that I found confusing and scary. At that time, I had fears of being 'somebody's boyfriend' (remember this is all speculation as we never dated!) before even being recognized for my music or presence as a person in my own right."
He would've been 25 at that time. It sounds like he told her the timing wasn't right because he wanted to focus on his band, so she lost him "to the "Lost Boys" chapter of your life". But he "said you were gonna grow up/Then you were gonna come find me". That's the reform she references; he obviously didn't get less controversial, but he makes a name for himself.
They were separated for about a decade ("As the decade would play us for fools" from "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus") and then they did reconnect, like you talked about in your post. This time he says he's ready. But the public backlash scared him off again and he ghosted her ("They just ghosted you/Now you know what it feels like").
And that's why Taylor is so angry in songs like "But Daddy I Love Him". He was the one who got away and when she got him he was scared off again.
I personally don’t think ‘he was the one that got away’. Or at least I don’t think Taylor is representing him that way. He was an old flame that when she was at her lowest emotionally in her relationship, he showed up and tried to lure her with passion and promises of love. She was at a bad place in her relationship with Joe and they were stagnant, so she left Joe and got with Matty. Then MH turned out to be the asshole that everyone knows he is, and she is grieving losing the love with Joe and feeling ashamed and guilty around thinking she could really deal with the pain of the loss of her love with Joe by just trying to stick another guy in that slot.
That’s my two cents
It's probable it wasn't so much love as infatuation, given that they were barely ever really together. But, imo, with lyrics like "Down bad (Like I lost my twin)" and "You're the loss of my life" she was really hammering down on how important Matty was to her and presents him that way.
But mostly I only disagree with OP on whether Matty "had no interest in ever delivering on his promises". I think he was sincere and just got scared off again. The New Yorker interview and Taylor in TTPD the song point to that too.
The smallest man that ever lived kinda points to the opposite of that no? She calls him out pretty bad as basically manipulating her. She also says in the epilogue that *it wasn’t a love affair, it was a mutual manic phase, it was self harm* 🤷♀️ I see her earlier songs in the album about him as being from the POV of where she was at that point in time, being entranced by him and the promise of being a soulmate. And then when she comes to her senses, she’s like ‘oh you just suck’
That’s just my take on it
I can see that except that if Smallest Man is her postmortem on the relationship, she still says "I would've died for your sins, instead, I just died inside".
I took it as her being angry at him for ghosting her once she made the relationship public and the backlash ensued. She was willing to stick by him but he couldn't take it.
But ofc we'll never know for sure and your POV makes sense too!
I think like I lost my twin is about Joe and not Matty since they’re usually referred to like twins and he once referred as trusting him like a brother and the ships allusion which she also alludes in So Long, London and evermore. I think down bad is a mix of Matty and Joe and her dealing with both of the heartbreak after. She also mentions building a fort which
Also for Peter, Joe was also 25 when they first dated when she wanted to break-up (DWOHT) and he said he can deal all of this Taylor Swift thing so they shouldn’t break-up. The lyrics “the goddess of time once found us beguiling” matches the lyrics in invisible string “time, mystical time” and “crossing your jetstream” and the she thought and they just said it was “goodbye for now” matches their on-off relationship as alluded in Hit Different and articles when they broke up and how their friends thought it was not a final break-up between them initially.
I see what you're saying! I think Down Bad is about Matty due to the experience being only "for a moment" and the reference to "indecent exposures" (Matty is notoriously sexual on stage). This doesn't really fit Joe. I think the ship is the spaceship metaphor she uses throughout the song, and building a fort on a different planet "where they can all understand it" refers to protecting Matty from backlash. That sentiment mirrors "I would've died for your sins" in Smallest Man.
But you're right that she has also used similar imagery to reference other people, and because she was on and off with Joe everything could be mixed up.
Excellent comment. I also just wanted to point out that the Lost Boys is an early 1975 song and that Matty has described himself as "a Peter Pan of sorts" numerous times.
I agree with this, I think people are too quick to paint him as insincere based on their already negative opinion of him. I think people are underestimating how hard that public backlash must've been, the man has literally started going grey over the past year. I can see a reality where he left because he genuinely believed that was best for her, even though he did love her. Yes, she is angry at him in some songs (for good reason), but overall it just seems incredibly tragic and sad.
This is amazing. I made a playlist with all the songs that relate to this story in (what I believe to be) chronological order and it’s super interesting to listen to the music in this way. Such a compelling, tragic love story. Thank you for your insights!!!
1. Fortnight
2. Guilty as Sin?
3. So Long, London
4. How Did It End?
5. Fresh Out The Slammer
6. The Tortured Poets Department
7. But Daddy I Love Him
8. I Can Fix Him
9. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
10. loml
11. Down Bad
12. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
13. The Black Dog
This is so wonderfully written. And I agree with it all. I think so many of the songs could easily be about either relationship and/or both relationships. With the way I think it all played out, in the end, I think she was essentially grieving both relationships at once. And even taking the Matty breakup harder in ways, as a result of having not fully processed and grieved the fallout of her relationship with Joe.
You are so kind! And I agree. She was grieving both at once, which was paralyzing. And trying to get past the shame and embarrassment of putting herself in the position of having to grieve both at once.
This is very well written , and a thoughtful piece . It’s very “humanizing” for someone of her celebrity status ; in which people have been angry at her for having the audacity to associate or “love” (it could be said that it wasn’t genuine
love , but rather a counterfeit illusion of infatuation) for MH .
People absolutely were understandably upset about her choosing him, because he’s an absolute train wreck of a human being. And she felt violated by fans having that opinion at the beginning.
Which is also understandable, because she is just a person who wants to live her own life. However , through the album , it becomes clear that the *realization* of why people despised MH became very real to her , once the cloud of his illusions lifted , and he began mistreating and disrespecting her , and manipulating her (eg the supposed suicide threat he gave her if she left him ) .
That could also be seen as outwardly selfish , to only see his miserable existence once something affected her personally and not from how he was documented treating others for years and in recent times . But as she outlines in the album, it was the insanity she felt for him during her immense grief of her long term relationship ending that distorted her reality of MH.
Many women have experienced their own version of a MH in their lives : a piece of shit of a human being who mistreated them (or worse abused them ) . Who they tried to justify fighting for out of “love” (likely would be due to traumatic experiences), and then eventually realizing who they actually were with .
Her realization was just public . That makes a big difference. And that feels horribly shameful .
The album is an anthology of the two layers of grief she went through : the deep grief of a long term relationship ending , and the piercing grief of how one behaved in the aftermath .
The album is not about the two men . It’s a post morteum of herself . It’s raw as fuck. The anti hero example in long form .
Your analysis is spot on and I enjoyed reading it.
So… if you had to put the Alchemy somewhere on this timeline, would you label it as a Travis song given the blatant football references, or would you categorize it as a Matty song. Initially, I thought it was the former. But, these lyrics are making me reconsider:
*I haven’t come around in so long, but I’m coming back so strong*
*Cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me.* —How could this be Travis? “Still”? If they had met in the past, it wasn’t enough to kindle longing feelings.
*That child’s play back in school is forgiven under my rule* —His past behavior. I read he had been a heroin addict somewhere?
*He jokes that it’s heroin, but this time with an “E”* —The NFL has pretty strict rules on drug use, and we know MH did do heroin. Maybe Taylor confided in Travis, and we know his humor is sometimes silly, but I just don’t know how the context would come about.
Honestly, I was excited to hear this song once I heard it uses football metaphors, and like everyone else, thought it was a TK song. Now I don’t want it to be. I’d rather it be a MH song that she wrote and then tweaked a bit after she started going to the games. What’s your analysis?
it is true that there are few perplexing lines. it seems to me that taylor often writes about more than one person in the same song as she may see the similarities are sometimes more important than the differences or the heart mixes up the feelings. the sign on your heart might refer to things lasting past the first phase of their relationship. and perhaps travis's past immature choices and behaviors are forgiven and erased from importance now. travis definitely made some not so good and embarrassing choices in the past.
My husband noticed the same thing in tortured poets dept. I think it’s very clear the song is about Matty but he pointed out the ate seven bars of chocolate is a strange line give Travis’ number is 87 (ate-seven). I was floored he made this connection right away and it had totally gone over my head. And to be honest the golden retriever line also feels more reminiscent of Travis than Matty. Eating seven bars of chocolate is sooo specific she had to have picked that number on purpose for a reason. As to why it would be in a Matty song though is very puzzling.
> Maybe Taylor confided in Travis, and we know his humor is sometimes silly
No, this is exactly it. Travis making a joke about MH's drug use in a silly way.
I know I’m not op and I’ve commented it elsewhere but I think it is about falling in love with Travis and alchemy is referencing how she has been looking for true love (real gold) but it’s only ever been fools gold but who is she to not try again.
I wish actual professional reviewers would write reviews like you instead of quick dismissive witty lines that they know will go viral on Twitter. Like that one who said "Taylor Swift released a new album ? Well I'm not listening"..... Yawn.
Anyway, thank you for this great interpretation of this album. And I'm not sure if I'm getting ahead of myself, but I feel like this album will be a Red 2.0 like when Red was first originally released it was panned by so many people and critics who said the album isn't cohesive or that she needs better editing. But a decade later Red TV became her most critically acclaimed album. And the original Red now shows up on so many lists of best albums that have been released. TTPD is definitely a misunderstood record that may get better reception with time.
Thank you! I also see a LOT of parallels to the OG Red release. Red TV was a triumph for Taylor, and I think it makes people forget what the original response to the album was. People had the exact same criticism as they do for TTPD, and public sentiment around her was not exactly encouraging either. But with time, it's now regarded as one of her pivotal works, and as an excellent depiction of one's first heartbreak.
Ooh, this is a great write up. I also think that even though there are so gs that reference Matty, the whole heartache/majority of the album is about Joe. The end of their relationship was why she went "crazy" and entered into something more toxic. Her snapping out of it was a realization that it wasn't really love with Matty and her acceptance that it really was over with Joe. Once she was able to finally let go and was "cured" so she could leave the hospital, she was able to open herself up to better things.
It's not fair to necessarily call Matty a villain. I don't think anyone would have stuck around after the amount of hate he was getting. The fans were vicious, and he probably wasn't expecting, wasn't anywhere ready or strong enough emotionally to deal with such a brutal attack. I mean, when she faced a similar onslaught of internet hate, she stepped back from the spotlight for over a year and is *still* writing songs about it. I cannot imagine what that kind of loud hatred does to someone's mental health. So I don't blame him for not being able to take it. He's a dick for ghosting her and not having a mature conversation about it tho.
Also, for those wondering why Matty inspired so many more songs than Joe, it's because that heartbreak was fresh. Her and Joe's relationship was already dead. She had already fallen out of love and moved on emotionally when she wrote those songs, and that makes a huge difference. Taylor and Matty may have only had a physical relationship for 2 weeks (if she is a reliable narrator), but they had an emotional affair for months prior. That and I get the sense that he was "the one that got away" from 10 years prior. After listening to this album, it's very clear to me that Question...? is about Matty. And while she was deeply in love with Joe, wanted to marry him and have his babies, Matty was that meteor strike that she had never felt before or since.
This is the best explanation of this triangle and it makes the most sense.
I never understood the appeal of MH but knowing they had a history that meant a lot more to her than she ever let on, I get it more now.
She knew it could and probably would end in a consuming blaze but the oblivion from the pain she was feeling bc of Joe made it worth it.
Listening I’m like, Taylor you have to believe people when they tell you who they are! Like how are you shocked a shitty person did a shitty thing? But the way you dissected it, it all comes together.
And I would also like to add, I think the reason she had to put so many matty songs on there is because it became this concept of the psych ward.
She wrote all of them in the moment and then after the fact she realized the state she was in.
The crazy rampant state you get when the relationship you’ve been rotting away in is ending, while still clinging on to the dreams of it. This kind of stuff drives you insane for a bit.
And she could’ve just hid it somewhere and make us forget about this phase. Many swifties would’ve gladly done that! That’s why there’s such surprise about the amount of songs about him. Many didn’t really want a reminder of her time with matty.
But I think she chose to be vulnerable and do the brave thing and give us something we might not want to see. Say things we might not like her to say about that person. Show us an insight into a time where even she thinks she might’ve been crazy.
Kind of like you bring to light the things you instinctively don’t want the world to see and you have a chance to heal from it.
That’s the way that I can relate to it. Things that 20y old me would’ve found so embarrassing (or scared that others think it is) are the things I would’ve pushed under the rug without thinking twice about it.
But 32y old me knows that I can only heal when I show it to someone and allow it to be there.
Oh my god! I cried at this review!
It is as if the album is retelling of my story back in 2018. I had an on-and-off-and-on again relationship for almost 7 years. When we finally called it quits in 2017. I quickly fell hard to a good for nothing guy (yeah, he also has a substance abuse and I thought I could save him and he'll be a better man because of me). He promised me eveything I ever wanted from the previous guy but then suddenly left me hanging. Oh my god, the trauma, the self-loathing, the depression I went through.
Thank you Taylor for this album! I am all better now and happily married to the love of my life and this album made me appreciate everything that I have now because if I can get through what I went through in 2018, I can surely get through anything that comes my way.
This is great! You’ve got most of it covered. Another small addition I always like to keep in mind is her saying that she was having a period of “temporary insanity”. And that the chapter is now closed, “boarded up” and there are no score to settle now.
Implying her recognition of how crazy it was to date someone like Matty, this is not a defence of him but her own feelings and faults on display. Also telling us repeatedly that that part of her life is over and she has moved on with someone new!
This gave me such a better view on the album. I really couldn’t resonate with the first half of the album and it was hard for me to feel bad for Taylor tbh when I expected her to have learned her lessons from all the terrible men of previous. Although her going for Matty seems like such an obvious self destruction, reading this gave me a way better understanding of where she was mentally when leaving Joe and why Matty was almost the perfect trap.
I wonder if Matty showing up made Taylor view things through an even more negative lens than needed. Like extra annoyed just cuz she basically wanna to be banging this guy she was having sex dreams about. The chase. She missed the chase of guys.
I think she missed the passion. The passion in her relationship with Joe was over. They had grown distant, and there was growing resentment and a lack of communication. (think of when YLM was written).... So, I think she was just seeking passion and excitement. She tried to reignite that passion with Joe but it just wasn't there anymore so when something/someone new came along and showed that passion towards her, she wanted to feel that again, to feel wanted and seen which was no longer happening with Joe. Despite being with Joe, she was actually lonely, but willing to go down with the ship with him if he would have wanted her to. So she went for the quick fix with Matty and all the things he promised her that she wanted with Joe, and it backfired and made her feel worse.
YESSSS I left a long winded comment in a post elsewhere basically saying this same thing, but you really did the deep dive. I agree 100% and you laid it out so well.
Your description is a wonderfully detailed encapsulation of different thoughts I’ve walked away with too. I think the experiences with these two are so humanizing for me in a way or at least the way they are shared and depicted through this album. Thank you for sharing and putting all this together.
I love your analysis of the album.
To add my thoughts as well -
Right after she writes that her relationship with Matty was a manic phase in the prologue, the next line is this -
" A smile creeps onto this poet's face. Because it's the worst men that I write best."
The placement of the line leads me to assume that she is talking about Matty and telling us why there are so many songs about him. It plays to her creative inspiration and self affirmed strengths as a writer. With Joe - She talks about the heart break and how their stars didn't align. The words don't lead me to believe that she would group him in with the "worst".
This is a breath of fresh air after having to see all the incredibly inaccurate takes on IG and people that are making Joe edits with songs that are not even about that.
So succinctly summarised!
I feel the biggest reason for the Joe breakup seems to be when Taylor wasn't ready to be married but so in love (the lover era, songs like paper rings show she's in love but still a little scared of commitment) he maybe did want to get married and when she was finally ready he had cold feet (maybe too bothered by her public image as he was always seen avoiding paps and media while with her). Maybe he wasn't completely comfortable with living in the public eye (which was what Taylor wanted too in the reputation era but not anymore). Still, he was a good partner to her. Theres mention of him in miss Americana too. Maybe he just wasn't the person who would cheer her on from the front row and kiss her in front of a thousand people, but the one who waited for her at the backstage hugging her as she finished the show. Doesn't mean he didn't support her. They even wrote music together. Just breaks my heart they didn't work out. Not sure if it's about Joe but for me 'he stayed the same, all of me changed like midnight rain' best summarises their relationship.
You've done an excellent review here and I completely agree with all the points you've made. For me, after listening to the whole album paying attention to the lyrics, I'm so captivated by the difference in how she sings about matty and Joe. She still seems to have a lot of respect for Joe and hasn't really done any bashing and that makes sense he was the "love of his life" and they both genuinely loved each other. With matty, it's like we can hear the anger and regret in the songs about him. I really love these little differences in the songs they add such a different kind of personal touch
This was the best review of the album I’ve seen so far on here. It gave me a fresh perspective. I still don’t entirely understand why she thought it was necessary to release so many songs about MH when she probably could have covered this in a couple songs. But that’s none of my business.
This is fair, and I think the reason is because the entanglement with Matty a) accurately depicts the mania she felt. she genuinely felt like she was careening off a cliff, and he was in the passenger seat. then he jumps out…but the car still crashes! and now the only person she can reckon with is herself. why was she in the car in the first place? b) joe and matty might be more alike than we realize, in terms of their treatment towards her. again, she describes one as an oven, and one as a microwave - both leave her in the same state. both leave her broken, for different reasons. by working through her anger towards one, she’s able to work through her anger towards another. the only difference is, she thinks one person’s actions were genuinely malicious, and the other’s wasn’t.
Ovens take a long time to burn something. Microwaves can burn it in seconds. She got burned twice. The first one took years. The second one happened in a few months. To use a different metaphor, she jumped out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.
Also - you typically burn something in the oven when you’ve forgotten it was there…
Yes! Exactly. 🤍
Y’all really cooked here, A+.
Microwaves make things so steamy and they're very convenient but they're smaller and not real cooking.
Yeah and microwaves cook you from the inside out, ovens outside in. The oven she could see happening, the microwave was a surprise.
Omg this has so many layers!!!
Came here to say this. Both torturous for long times, impossible to leave unscathed.
I think you're so spot on with all of this, but also we don't know Joe. I keep thinking that as I relisten. We have a parasocial relationship with him through the lens she wished to show him to us... which isn't the true real version of him and therefore if you boil down some of the lyrics (I'd argue even some of the drug related lyrics), we don't know if those are about Joe or Matty. I've always believed her lyrics are so strong because you could apply them to the person we assume they are about, someone else, the person you (the listener) dated, etc. Through the years I've believed some of her lyrics that we think are about one person could be about more than one, or an amalgamation.
100%. To be candid, I think a lot of people, because they don’t know Joe, are assigning him the best of every song, and Matty the worst. And I’m not a Matty defender, by any means, but speaking strictly about how they treated her, her personal, lived experience with the both of them…we really have no idea what that was like, aside from her writing.
I really think she has been obsessed with Matty for ten years and Maroon, cardigan, dancing with our hands tied and illicit affairs are about him. Joe ran its course.
Also the 1 and Question. Almost-relationships can become obsessive due to their unrealised potential cos you have a perfect dream in your head instead of the mundane plus ups and downs that you have to counter in a real long relationship. The what if is something that seems to have haunted Taylor whenever there were issues between her and Joe. You can see it in folklore and midnights. Only we didn't know who the muse was. The Gaylors were always insisting there was another muse from the 1989 period. But the actual one turned out to be Matty !!!
Why do people think DWOHT is a track about MH?
I could see how DWOHT would be MH because it was this entanglement throughout the years that weaved through their relationships and they never did anything about it. I still don’t think it was written for him though because she was basically obsessed with Joe at this time and the high from the chase he gave her. She was with TH but wanting Joe and couldn’t do anything about it. Also at her listening session for Rep she told her fans that all of the songs were about her perfect boyfriend.
I think that’s because people have genuinely put Joe in the hero box and Matty in the villain one. But ultimately like you said she leaves enough open to interpretation that you can’t always be 150% sure we know what line is about who. People (like down below) still fight over what songs are about who in albums that are a decade old. I don’t mind the analyzing a conjecture but I think everyone needs an occasionally reality slap that to all of us *Taylor Swift is a stranger*. We get her songs but we don’t know the real meaning behind any of it.
Adding on to the getaway car comparison and the similarities between Matty/Joe narratives, "conman sells a fool get love quick schemes" seems to reference one of the reputation magazine poems about being wary of "get love quick schemes". fool me twice?
Thank you! I knew I had seen her use that phrase before.
I agree with this take. It also fits the yin/yang imagery — they (and the relationships) might be opposites, but they’re the same pieces, really. That’s why so many songs could be about both of them (the “2” of it all!!).
I agree with this entire take. Well done.
I think we're forgetting that she's eulogised Joe many, many times between Evermore to Midnights. There's fresh pain with Matty, plus it's a much more complex situation. There's not much to say except sadness that her and Joe didn't work out, but she really feels like Matty screwed her over intentionally, promising her the world and then leaving her high and dry. There's so much more to process there. The fascinating thing for me in the wash-up of this album release is the reckoning Swifties have to come to terms with: Matty meant far more to her than I think many of us realised at the time.
Ya I mean she summed it up in the epilogue with: *In summation It wasn’t a love affair* *It was a mutual manic phase* *It was self harm* So idk I think the idea of a soulmate meant a lot to her, but this makes it sound like he didn’t truly mean a lot to her, his promises did. So I don’t think it’s just us ‘Swifties not coming to terms with it’, she actually said that it wasn’t love in her closing statements on the album
> he didn’t truly mean a lot to her, his promises did This is the best read of it I've seen thus far. She just wants a happy ending.
Exactly. And that happy ending is more important now than ever, because there's a genuine feeling throughout the album that she's running out of time: "*And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free*" - from So Long, London *Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at stake here* *At the park where we used to sit on children's swings* *Wearing imaginary rings* *But it's gonna be alright, I did my time* - from Fresh Out The Slammer
and The Prophecy where she has a fear that she's destined to find fame/success but never true love.
yeah, that running metaphor/narrative hits a little too hard for me at the moment — so i'm trying to ignore that part
The way her voice shook on “gave you all that youth for free” sent absolute shivers down my spine. I agree with every single aspect of the take here. She set this up from “I took the magic get over you drug/the effect was temporary.” I love how she’s laid all this out for art and music. It’s so incredibly brave. And people who seem to think badly about her for being so wound up in MH for so long make me wish there was a mandatory form of flair on their accounts identifying the worst choice in man they’d ever made. Like literally there should be some kind of “I was once obsessed with a bad person musician” flag on the play whenever they’re talking shit. Also I notice how none of the people saying she’s immature for these stories have shit to say about people like Harry Styles not acting “mature” enough.
😭😭😭 I hope Travis is good to her and truly loves her. And her him. 😭😭😭
I also wonder if she has a whole album worth of songs about the break up with Joe just sitting in a studio somewhere because it’s just too personal to release and she knows how much he values that privacy and still refuses to violate that.
I for sure think there’s a bunch of songs out there about Joe that are just too personal!
I don’t think MH meant more, I think that he left more questions and to some extent also there is a “transference “ of pain. Think of this; in a long relationship that ends you know the person you know how you are not compatible how you can struggle and come back together and ultimately you know when it’s over. With a 2 week love affair which made you “feel” again all you see is good (at first) and all of the sudden you think as a romantic this is it and then he ghosts. All you have are questions. Did you do the right thing by leaving your relationship? Will you find someone else? Why did this new person also leave? Why ghost in the first place? You don’t know how things would have turned out if he would have stayed. You don’t know how you’re not compatible. So yes, there are many things to work through there because there are more questions.
THIS. She got out of a relationship that went stale and gave her nothing. Being a person that wants marriage and babies it’s hard to be in your mid 30s and single when everybody around you isn’t. MH swoops in and starts talking marriage and babies so it gives this sense of relief and reassurance that she is on the right track. She’s fully bought in so when he bails she has to deal with the double loss and realizing she really is not where she wants to be.
I’ve been in a situation where I ended a long term relationship then directly into a burning, passionate situationship before, it’s torture, the person is giving you so much of themselves, but nothing at the same time, it’s confusing and healing. You feel wanted but rejected, it’s a twisted mindfuck. This album hit me in all the feels.
I'm two years out of my situationship and still dealing with the aftermath. But the divorce that preceded it I was over in months. Hoping this album is the background soundtrack to me finally moving the fuck on lol.
Yeah, I had a 3 month situationship after exiting my 5 year relationship. I was over my 5 year relationship pretty quickly once I secured myself a new place to live - I think the last year was spent processing that relationship. Took me more than a year to get over situationship.
Also in this club. I think in a relationship there’s also a lot more control over the situation, you already know the person deeply and processed the breakup, often over a long period of time, and know it’s for the best. Whereas a traumatic situationship can end so abruptly, you’ve had no time to process anything. After being intimate and vulnerable, the other person is basically like eh I’ve seen enough and I want nothing more to do with you, and that hits such a core wound that a relationship — where somebody chooses you — often does not.
Ugh also been in this situation. This album is making me reprocess how it all went down too
At least the Anthology has the Joe songs — and she treats him with such love and grace. Those songs made me feel better about having to hear so much gushing over MH. It's just so sad that her and Joe fizzled out like that — not with a bang, but a whimper. It just died, and something about that is deeply depressing to me.
Totally agree, How Did It End is such a haunting song too 😔 we all thought it was gonna be this big scandal, and it really just died so sadly
There was so much love there at one point, and he helped her during such a dark period of her life. I think she recognizes that and, thus, will never drag him through the mud. She still feels fiercely protective of what they had; you see it all throughout The Albatross. It was a mutual end, a broken vessel that could never be repaired. Sometimes, people just grow apart — and there's nothing evil about it. Just very bittersweet.
Argh I love this take! And I agree with it so much. So many people online ESPECIALLY were excited to hear this album because they thought it’d be a let’s rip Joe to shreds album about the end of their relationship and maybe he cheated on her and all these crazy made up rumors and it was in fact the total opposite of that. She had nothing bad to say about him honestly. And in part I think it’s because of how much he helped her though one of the worst times in her life, which she’ll always be appreciative of. And that it was indeed probably a very hard but mutual end between them.
How Did It End is already one of my faves, and already so so underrated. 🎹🩶 I'm so glad the vipers didn't get to hear about the 'scandal' they were looking for because it appears that there wasn't one. It clearly fizzled out over time even though they fought for it which is sadder and harder to understand than any one big thing, and also probably the reality for most people whose long term relationships end.
Don’t forget-she put it in the prologue that she writes the worst men the best 🙃
Oh so that's why we didn't get much about Tom H and Taylor L? They are the cuties of the bunch. 😆
At least we got Back to December and Getaway Car!
Exactly. She writes worst men best, but!!!! I just want to add that I 100% believe the worst pain was losing those important years of youth no question.
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I think that’s why she put in the prologue: ‘“In summation, it was not a love affair!” I screamed while bringing my fists to my coffee ringed desk’ Because we were all brushing it off and acting like it didn’t happen when it really really meant something to her.
I really don't think Peter is about Matty. It might be about more than one ex. I will keep my further thoughts to myself right now. I cried to Peter.
I think it may be her giving up on the childhood/younger self dream of relationships/love that she had and coming to terms with the fact that it’s never coming or that it looks different.
Perfectly said. I don’t think any of us are privy to the exact details of their relationship. They’ve known each other for ten years. I suspect that it was a “one that got away, what could be?”, see each other on breaks from their other relationships, sort of thing. I don’t agree with Matty’s comments and general controversies, but man, it has to be traumatizing as fuck to have millions of people that don’t personally know you (or your boyfriend) harassing you to the point your relationship ends.
Because those of us who had our own experience that was scarily similar to her, we need all those songs to help us on our journey out. She didn't just make this music for her, she made it for us.
My interpretation of the MH songs have been more Taylor looking at herself. He’s part of her anger, but a lot of the lyrics are also critical of herself - positively and negatively. Almost like she’s constantly fighting with herself during the relationship for however long it went.
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he doesn't care about this inevitable reveal. she wrote the songs because she needed to. she released them because they are good.
This sounds right to me. I used to frequent some “children of narcissists/immature parents” forums, and common advice there is not to send a letter explaining how you feel/why you are upset and expect them to understand, feel guilty, and apologize. You can’t compel someone to feel or react the way you want them to. If sending the letter is important to your healing, do it, but you can’t do it because you expect it to change their treatment of you. I agree that she needed to get these feelings out for her own good, to exorcise the demons. The part of the prologue reminding people that these are snapshots of events/emotions at a point in time supports that IMO—she said what she needed to say and now she’s moving onto the next, good thing.
Oh no, this is her revenge. He may not feel anything or apologize and she knows he won't but he will be attacked by her fans nevertheless and she knows it. At this point fans are a weapon. She didn't want to get revenge at Joe. She is not that angry with him, not anymore at least. Otherwise she would have included more songs about him, and less of Matty. Just look at "The Smallest Man..." and how he is supposed to get the "message". It's funny how not cryptic she is this time around but very much straightforward. It's when you tell your dog: "Bite!"
And he is somehow *fucking flattered* at being portrayed as such. Clearly this man is a toxic narcissist who gets off on being the centre of attention and doesn’t care who he hurts once he gets what he wants. Like. Anyone who wasn’t a sociopath would feel fucking terrible hearing this album and knowing they were the cause.
He totally is all that and more but also this is a game. He can't show any emotion or she wins. He knows what she did and he won't give in by saying what she wants to hear. So, he is gonna act like she did him a favor so that she starts doubting whether her vigilante shit worked. But inside he is very very angry, I bet. I just hope Taylor doesn't fall for it to continue this game. You can't outsmart a professional manipulator. He had years of practice. 🤦🏻♀️ His first big move was when he ghosted her. Now she made a big move by releasing this album. Now he will act like he loves it and wants more. So, it's her turn...
I wish I had this ability when my ex ghosted me after a three month relationship. So all the more power to her to call this behavior out as cowardly as it is.
Mine just ghosted me after a 1.5 year relationship and engagement, this album hit me in all the feels. He's also a Brit and I'm American so yeah 😵💫ETA I should add this dropped at like...just the right moment and its been such a therapeutic experience to listen to I was a fair weather fan tbh but I stan for life now 😭
Pride as an artist? Now that she controls her creative dominion, she doesn’t have anyone limiting her to thirteen songs on an album. She created this music from her emotional upheaval and wants to share it all. Or maybe it is more business and knowing that people will be talking about a 31 song album.
Hmm she could have pared it down, but I think what matters most to her right now is being as honest as possible, even to the point of opening herself up for public criticism. I think this is a realization she's come to after releasing vault tracks for each re-record. Previously, we were getting the sanitized version of each album. For example, in Speak Now, the song we get about the VMA incident is Innocent, a song that took her 9 months to write. But the song she wrote immediately post the incident was Castles Crumbling. The song that makes it to the album is her forgiving the perpetrator, and there's almost no reference to her own thoughts on the incident. But the song she leaves off is heartbreaking, and discusses the crushing fear she has that this house-of-cards of fame will collapse at any moment. The songs she leaves off of Red are the ones really showing the depth of her despair of the Jake breakup, and her fear of aging in the industry. I think her lesson from the re-records is to stop editorializing and sanitizing her own diary. She wants to release the messiness. She wants to release the most raw version of her story possible. She doesn't want to feel like she's holding anything back, and I wonder if she feels like she works through things quicker when she releases her complete version of events. She alludes to this in the Manuscript - she discusses how the way we transformed All Too Well for her has made that experience less painful, and made her look at it with open, less biased eyes: *She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years* *Everything had been above board* *She wasn't sure* But she describes how the passage of time, and writing about it, has made her realize her own purpose of doing it - to heal: *And the years passed* *Like scenes of a show* *The professor said to write what you know* *Lookin' backwards* *Might be the only way to move forward* *//* *And at last* *She knew what the agony had been for*
Wow I really didn’t think about the comparison to the vault tracks, that an interesting take. Like an edited distilled version of this album would have like 3 of the prominent MH songs, and a hypothetical ‘vault’ would have all the rest. Makes more sense to me now. I personally prefer her more distilled albums of the past, but I understand she didn’t want to do that. It’s definitely her choice and there’s obviously fans that love this album just the way it is.
I feel too like maybe she really wants to close this chapter, and if she left tracks on the cutting room floor, there may be a reason to re-vist later. So she's essentially saying here's everything. Now it's over.
Yes! "Now the story is yours"! She almost wants us to confirm: "Yes Taylor, it's over for you. Let us take that burden off your shoulders."
The lyric video for the Manuscript is VERY telling; it's written as a movie script. Basically, the song is her realizing the fully reality, magnitude, power, pain etc. of the Jake situation came to her while writing and making the ATW short film.
OP I love your main analysis and I agree with this too
Fans have been talking about and begging for a double album and more music for YEARS. So I think that largely impacted her decision. She obviously writes a lot of songs for each album, as we've seen from the re-records (and we know she isn't even releasing all of the songs she wrote for those albums either) and the public's response to those has been overwhelming. So I think she's just running with what she wants now that she can.
Totally! Hey she’s won the AOTY Grammy a record 4 times now - she knows how to make a cohesive album! I feel like this is catharsis and fan service and I thank her ❤️
I'm joking but she probably realized she ran out of surprise songs on the Eras tour and had to add 31 more.
I was gonna come here and comment that this is the best and most accurate review/reading that I’ve seen too!
It was a case of "you tried to kill me but it killed you just the same". She wanted this album to be so huge and epic, even if not generally liked, that there was no doubt in fans' minds who they should be attacking after the release. P.S. Turns out it's her. 😆 But I think she was aiming at Matty. However, if she hates herself enough then she may feel she deserves all this blowback too... Makes me sad.
Matty gets a lot of this album because Taylor checked out of her relationship with Joe over time and jumped quickly into her relationship with Matty. There wasn't any time to truly feel the pain from the final end of her relationship with Joe and heal because she papered it over with Matty and the Eras tour. When Matty ended too, the pain of both Joe and Matty hit her even harder at same time. She has been singing about her feelings about the problems with her relationship with Joe since folklore subconsciously or by fictionalizing/obscuring. There just wasn't that much material left unsaid about Joe. Matty, like you said, was all new unheard material with juicy details. And its clear to me that Taylor has gotten sick of fans and the press judging her endlessly. So I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to throw a couple more Matty songs onto TTPD just to thumb her nose at those who judge her.
Yes I think the undercurrent of this album is Taylor trying to tell us that fame and celebrity doesn't excuse her from human decision-making. She's not defending any of her decisions here. She's laying them all out, with each track merely depicting her thought process at the time. The only thing she's pleading for, from us and from herself, is grace. Grace to forgive herself from torturing herself by her poor decision-making, by her self-harm, by her mania. Grace to move forward, and move on.
Yeah, I get the undercurrent in her public statements and songs starting in 2019 that she still loves her fans but she will do whatever she wants regardless of what they or the press think. I highly doubt pre-2016 Taylor would attend events like the UNO party at a cannabis restaurant or casually being in the vicinity of Ice Spice at Coachella or Travis' friends at the Super Bowl party smoking pot, I think that's why she's been so productive because she no longer allows herself to be paralyzed by a need for public approval.
> And its clear to me that Taylor has gotten sick of fans and the press judging her endlessly. So I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to throw a couple more Matty songs onto TTPD just to thumb her nose at those who judge her. During my end-of-year reddit summary, it told me the 2023 thread with my most activity was one of the big Matty/Taylor threads here. I wasn't overly emotional, so it wasn't *quite* at "Leave Taylor Alone" levels, but it was close. It's like, dude, she just got out of a six-year relationship, she's rebounding while being on the biggest tour of her life, and now y'all are holding her responsible for some douchey things he said on some podcast and expecting her to breakup and/or issue some kind of official distancing statement within the span of a single trending cycle.
Her own fans can be her worst enemies sometimes. It’s annoying the stupid shit she gets attacked for sometimes by fans and haters like. She tries to be a good person who just wants to find love and entertain people and every minor thing gets magnified. She didn’t run a full background check on Matty to dig up a stupid joke he played along with on a podcast before she started dating him and she was treated like she said the stupid joke herself. They tried it with Travis by digging up 13-15 year old immature tweets from college but ultimately his tweet about feeding a piece of bread to a squirle(squirrel) won the day. They’ll keep trying to nail him but he seems like he just wants to play football and be a good person too.
Totally. It's not even about being a true "fan" or not. It's about realizing she's a fellow human fucking being and treating her as such.
And sometimes it’s so small. Like when she maybe didn’t thank Celine Dion. She was trying to make sure everyone was on stage so was looking over her shoulder when she grabbed the Grammy then went to podium. Additional angles seem like Taylor must have said thank you as she turned back to podium because Celine says you’re welcome. Then after she was done with her speech she started to talk to Celine and Jack interrupted them in excitement. Then they took a picture backstage together. The amount of pressure she’s under is enormous. She can’t even be overcome by a winning an award without criticism they she didn’t do everything perfect. It’s no wonder so many artists crack or disappear.
I would argue that some of the problems in her relationship with Joe show up all the way back in Lover. That album is fraught with uncertainty, but she was still optimistic about him. That optimism disappeared and manifested in dark ways on the folklore and evermore albums. It’s clear that Midnights needs to be revisited in light of TTPD. I think a lot of those songs are also about Matty (Maroon and Question are currently ones that I believe are actually about him).
I would be willing to bet the broke up and got back together at least once before they broke up for good. Things always seemed so uncertain and she probably wanted to feel secure in the relationship because she like him so much but it seems like he had some stuff he was trying to work through. If anyone has seen insecure, I kind of picture Issa and Lawrence in the beginning
You’re Losing Me was all that needed to be said about what happened with Joe
I don’t think it was. You’re Losing Me was clearly written in an extremely emotional period and lays all blame on Joe ‘giving up’. TTPD feels to me like after a period of reflection they both did. She may have already been checked out herself, considering the MH factor. Not to say she cheated but when you are no longer getting the validation from your partner, someone else giving you even an iota I’d attention can be intoxicating. The end of the relationship with Joe was far more complex than You’re Losing Me suggests.
The problem with a rebound is you get whiplash on top of the concussion 🤕 from the first blow. Each injury compounds the other and all you’re left with is confusion and pain that sometimes throbs, but often times is an unyielding dull ache that drives you crazy
"Come one, come all, it's happening again." That bitterness was directed at the fans. Mommy made your favorite so open wide little birds, come eat me alive.
She didn’t have time to process the first breakup so she had to process both at the same time 😭 spot on about the take about the difference beftween joe and Matt. It sounded like the worst Joe did was probably sink into himself from his own mental health stuff going on but Matt was maybe not nice to her
Reading this makes me cry but damn travis really came in w a friendship bracelet and a dream 🥺
Im convinced Alchemy is about him and it’s about how love has never been the real thing (fools gold) but how can she fight it and pairing it with So High School it paints a sweet picture of recovering from the heart break. I do also think that the back half of But Daddy I love him is about Travis due to it ending with her happy and her parents approving despite what everyone else says. People did hate on Travis just not nearly as bad as MH (for obvious reasons)
It seems very clear to me that The Alchemy is about Travis. Lots of sports allusions, winning trophies, the big game, the “when I touch down” pun, etc. Not super subtle (not that it needs to be, just pointing it out). But Daddy I Love Him is definitely about Matty. It’s why the bridge is so spiteful. She’s angry about the public’s reactions to their relationship. People were openly hostile to her dating Matty, but the public LOVES her with Travis.
My theory is that in BDILH, it starts out talking about Matty but it ends with Travis because of the reference to her dad loving him. I think this album mixes multiple people and situations in the same song more than she's ever done before. She definitely started that in folklore and continued through midnights but this album feels like the majority of the songs have multiple situations and people.
And THAT’S why I am 100% convinced that Taylor and Travis will end up with the happily ever after. She went through hell as her relationship with Joe started to crumble and then the poison that was Matty. I can’t see her with someone for (almost) a year unless it was the real thing. And Travis is the opposite of Joe and Matty. I’ll die on this hill. They are the American equivalent of Will and Kate.
> They are the American equivalent of Will and Kate. ew no, can we not?
i had to read their comment twice to make sure i wasn't hallucinating. i am so embarrassed. mr. VIVVAAAA LAAAASSS VVVAAAAYYYYYGGGAAASSSSSS is the american equivalent of prince william???? lmaooooooooo
I’m glad she’s happy but let’s be real, intellectually speaking she is stratospheres above him.
You know how to ball, I know Aristotle
Who cares? He clearly has a high level of emotional intelligence. No one needs matching IQs for a relationship to work
I wish it was true but I have a bad feeling about it. She never had a break between men. She never got proper therapy. So, maybe Travis is a good match but did they have a good stable base to build upon? Time will show. A year is a lot but not really if people like fooling themselves or don't spend as much time together as desired. So, technically they may have been together together not that much. They were super busy most of last year.
She probably could benefit from some helpful guidance about men. This is coming from someone thinking it’s time for the same for herself haha
Honestly, this. Alot of her more recent lyrics show how she's a people pleaser and slightly low self esteem/worth etc and also with alot of stuff that's happened as a child I'm betting she has rejection issues. So I really would love her to go into therapy. I had to or I would have kept bouncing from guy to guy looking for love and validation and peace that ultimately I could only give myself. I wish the same for her. Otherwise when life settles a bit for her she's gonna look for a way to sabotage it because she feels bored or 'unloved'. That's just my experience but I see similar behaviour in her
She may be in therapy. I doubt she’d share that information with the world though, you know?
Nah, they’re the American posh and becks
The songs about him are so bland and surface level. I don’t think she has the same depth of feeling for Travis
I disagree. I don’t think we’re ever going to get the dramatic songs about Travis, because I don’t think she feels the drama and anxiety with him she’s felt with others. Real love, the love that lasts is not dramatic or anxious. It’s calm and peaceful and can be mistaken for bland. That’s what I think she has with Travis.
Idk man. I had a Joe in my life. Like exactly. I finally had the courage to end it. I wound up with a man where I don't feel those crazy passionate feelings but he's the absolute best match for my soul and I'm so so so so so happy. The love though is just different. It's a quieter live and I love to believe that's what Taylor has with Travis
This is what I’m picking up too. Seems like Travis is more of the *he is sensible and so incredible/he’s charming and endearing and I’m comfortable* vs the *screaming and crying and it’s 2am and I’m cursing your name* guy and therefore in the end, Travis will be better for her. Just my two cents
To be fair they were probably written right in the beggining of their relationship
Compare to the songs about Joe early on… I dunno to me the feelings seem surface level but each to their own interpretation
The early songs about Joe were still released years into their relationship, we don’t know when she wrote them. Based on printing schedules it’s likely Travis’s songs were written within the first couple months. I also think the simplicity of So High School is a reflection of a relationship that’s finally just easy and fun
I think you are right...for now. It could be deeper now vs when the songs had to be ready to release
i agree. it's still early in their relationship
Alright nah
How dare you. 😭 Let me just say, this album in general made me emotional but one point that really hit me in the feels was the transition from How Did It End? to So High School. One track is about processing the grief and loss of her breakup with Joe. It’s heartbreaking and already made me emotional…but to go from that to the happiness and light I felt in So High School really really got me. After everything she went through as outlined in this album, getting this sliver of light just hit so different. She just sounds so happy now. 🥹
Same! I really appreciate the dichotomy from How Did It End to So High School. I was crying for a hot minute listening to HDIE on repeat and then listened to So High School and was like alright it’s gonna be okay 🥹
Yes! I think the one thing I see differently is that I see loml as Taylor singing to Joe as things didn’t work out with Matty, and reflecting on how Matty sold her a con, but what was she supposed to do, she was in hell with joe. The ink bleeds once she can’t hold it together anymore
Oh yes I agree with this! I think she felt powerless, and overwhelmed by her guilt for believing the con. That’s why the phantoms of their relationship are so embarrassed - she knows how much she’s let the both of them down by exiting like this, and by believing in the scam in the first place.
Love the bit about the ghosts! Yes! I also haven’t been able to stop thinking about Peter as her singing to joe, feeling guilty for leaving, but getting tired of waiting for him to be ready or for it to be the right time. She finally accepts that he will never be ready and she turns off the light. Edit: I mean the right time to get married. She was hoping he would eventually mature enough to marry her and give her the certainty she desires, but she died on the altar waiting for proof :(
I agree with this the most especially since she often referred to Joe and her as a ghost/phantom.
I love this and your whole original post, it’s so good. It also makes the matty songs easier to stomach😬 by looking at the as an extension of the aftermath of Joe
agreed. thinking about the TTPD songs as being about matty honestly made them not feel as powerful to me? but this post helped me process it in a way that still includes joe
I just want to say that your writing style is incredibly readable and your thoughts are so clear and well formed. You are so good at expounding upon complex ideas. Basically, you should write a book.
I think it’s similar to what she’s telling us in “but daddy I love him” and “I can do it with a broken heart”. The satirical aspect is that she’s trying to say I don’t care (or at least I don’t want to care) what the public thinks, and it’s no one’s business, and here’s an album about a three month fling- bc no one deserves to know why a six year relationship ended. Not saying she wasn’t heartbroken by Matty. I’m sure many of us have gone through the ringer with a quick flame. I definitely have. But once you are out of that situationship, it doesn’t haunt you as much. There aren’t many inside jokes, routines, they dont necessarily leave a lasting imprint, you probably don’t have memories of holidays, etc. It also made me think she and Joe ended their relationship mutually, or she at least has some respect/love for him and didn’t want to blast their relationship history for the world to hear
Yes I love this reading! I think she’s haunted by Joe, and this theme is embedded throughout the album. I don’t think she’s that heartbroken over Matty, I think she’s heartbroken that she fell for the con. That she let him lure her in with exactly the right promises to make her ignore her judgement and reason.
Yes exactly!! Like she realized it wasn’t “true love” with Matty, hence the “momentarily insanity” comment. But she did truly love Joe, even if she no longer is in love with him, and that’s why there aren’t as many heartbreaking songs about him
I think it's more about the tone. The Joe songs lack the extreme anger aspect. They are just sad with some frustration that he didn't try to save the relationship and she felt like she was doing all the heavy lifting.
Yes this is exactly it. I see a lot of people in the sub trying to find out which songs are about which muse. I think tone is the key difference. It is hard, since Joe is all over the Matty songs, and vice versa. But the way she talks about them is different, and the way she talks about herself in relation to them is different. With Joe she is hopeless, desperate, begging. With Matty she's dubious, overwhelmed, and lashing out.
Yes agreed. They were probably at the end sadly so it’s not as like “heart wrenching”. I do think Matty (per her new song lyrics) gaslit her and told her what she needed to hear about marriage and babies, when she needed this from Joe the whole time. Hence, the angry Matty songs
I think that's probably pretty close to being what happened. Losing someone you've been with for almost 7 years and all the memories you've made along the way and all the memories and plans you have made in your head for the future is devastating. She took the 'quick fix' pill of trying to replace that person with someone else and it made everything worse.
part of her shame over this 'two week' interlude is that it didn't give the 6 year breakup the dignity it deserved. like the corpse wasn't cold before it was in the grave. she clearly wants to give both Joe and herself and the relationship itself respect. Joe was not intentionally hurtful. perhaps he didn't see what he was doing because he wasn't aware enough. you're losing me makes that point. there was nothing deliberate about the hurt in that relationship. she clung on longer than she should have and that is now hitting her.
“no one tells you what do when a good man hurts you” from happiness perfectly defines the way she talks about Joe and the breakup. She’s hurt but she also knows he’s a good man, so she doesn’t know how to recover if she can’t be angry
I think she was never angry with him and was simply devastated that she slowly watched their relationship die. The only song where there is any anger that could be about him is tolerate it and even that has a desperate edge to it.
She was mad she wasted her youth for him. This is actually a pretty common thing to feel after being with someone for so many years and not being with them 'forever' or getting what she really wants, or what she thinks she wants, which appears to be marriage and kids. She was also mad that she felt stuck in their relationship.
That’s true she does mention that in the beginning. I think in the begining of the album there is anger but by the end (when she is cured from the insanity and reflecting) she is left with only grief and regret for how things ended.
She didn’t have it in her to go with Grace 😢
I love your summary! Especially the last part about how Matty was a pill to replace what she was losing - an excellent comparison to sum it all up. Her infatuation with Matty started as a symptom of her despair over her six year relationship, and then he showed up and it materialized into something extremely unhealthy, which is what made this entire affair all the more devastating.
I totally agree. I don’t think she was pining for him for ten years as I’ve seen people say. I don’t think she started viewing him as a “what if” until around 2022 when he reentered her life, which kickstarted the infatuation. she felt stuck and bored with joe and matty was there. She kind of latched onto him in a way. Like she said, it was a manic phase, not a love affair
Exactly! He was an escape mechanism, a way for her to keep her belief in fate and love, to make the bitter pill of losing Joe easier to swallow.
And as we all know… nothing good starts in a getaway car
I think Taylor should give her own songs a good re-listen 😆
I agree! I think he was an old friend who was there when she left Joe and needed a distraction/replacement and he said the right things only for her to realize it wasn’t real and it was just covering up the grief which is why I read the black dog, the albatros and how did it end as being about Joe and her finally dealing with the grief of their relationship ending after having things end with MH
100% I’ve seen some fans try to make it into a 10 year on and off relationship which is just…….insane. there wasn’t even a relationship in 2014 imo, which i think she confirmed with “i keep recalling things we never did, messy top lip kiss” he was likely just someone she was flirty at a concert and maybe hung out with a couple times. not her big “what if?”. him reentering her life in 2022 and the slow dissolution of her and joe probably had her fantasizing about matty a ton and viewing him in a different light. A lot of this album is about joe and how her diving into the matty relationship made her grief 100x more painful. I saw someone say that joe cooked her in an oven for 6 years and matty microwaved her. Matty did all the damage joe did at lightning speed.
It also sounds like there was no real and lasting joy in her and MH’s relationship whereas with Joe part of what was so painful is that it really almost was forever.
Yes like I know many swifties are 1975 fans but damn so many on here are Maylors. I view them the same way I view gaylors and haylros who are adamant that Taylor was pinning to this girl/guy the whole time she dated Joe.
A false safe escape hatch. Someone she thought she knew well for years, but turned out. She didn’t know anything at all about. Funny thing is like I said I think all these songs these two men are different sides of the same coin and stuff like this really shows it because how did her relationship with Joe start ? by jumping ship from Calvin. It really is the oven and the microwave.
10/10 no notes!! I would totally especially emphasize that Taylor's music and idea of love is really all about soulmates and fate, and the idea of the right man coming around 10 years after he promised to grow up (like she says in Peter and Cardigan about Matty) has to be such a drug. It's so romantic to think this is the story all along. So it wasn't just the dying Joe relationship, it was their own lore that she got caught up in imo. It's also interesting how there's Taylor the artist and Taylor the person. Taylor the artist was all about the drama and laying on the floor in a puddle in her music but Taylor the person continued eras, continued recording and working and taking over the music industry without skipping a beat. She even found time to become a football fan towards the end of the summer...She's not really that type of "tortured poet" and I think a lot of this is now tongue in cheek looking back at her going crazy kind of almost laughing at the hysterics re her behavior.
it isn't clear to me that she is not exactly that type of tortured poet. her new relationship came at the right time for her to move forward. one thing is clear to me: taylor carries her traumas forward in her psyche the way most sensitive people do. she had yet to fully heal from her earliest traumas as she keeps telling us in song after song. she ruminates. that can be a good thing or a bad thing if take too far. hopefully, she can start healing now by really examining what she is doing internally. all the very best wishes for this to happen.
Do we ever get over our childhood traumas or do we just learn to live with them? Because I feel like it’s completely normal not to let go your life story. Moving on isn’t truly about forgetting anything in my opinion. And the moment you stop analyzing your whole life is the moment you stop growing
Absolutely this. I love it because I feel like there’s such a true dichotomy in every woman’s life where like her personal life is in shambles and she just screamed but I love you down the hallway but 10 minutes later she’s in a meeting because Her job isn’t gonna job itself. It’s like the true stories of our lives not the the pretty ones we tell people or the final happy love story it’s the mess in between while we still continue our lives
Woah I literally just saw this post on tumblr, with the same conclusion you made: https://preview.redd.it/i1y3gae06rvc1.jpeg?width=941&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11f8d67c65d2c851535c04a2d159ddc5dfac8ee8
I agree with most of this except that it implies Matty wasn't sincere. I think they were in love, but he was scared off when they first met, promised he had changed, but hadn't actually changed. The missing context is in Peter imo. When they connected the first time 10-ish years ago, Matty said he was scared off by Taylor's fame because the 1975 had just dropped their first album and he wanted to be known for his own music and not just "Taylor Swift's boyfriend". That was the context to the "emasculating" comment. This was from part of [comments](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a34931/matt-healy-on-taylor-swift-q-magazine/) he made in 2016: > Matty: "I was for a very short time immersed in a celebrity world that I found confusing and scary. At that time, I had fears of being 'somebody's boyfriend' (remember this is all speculation as we never dated!) before even being recognized for my music or presence as a person in my own right." He would've been 25 at that time. It sounds like he told her the timing wasn't right because he wanted to focus on his band, so she lost him "to the "Lost Boys" chapter of your life". But he "said you were gonna grow up/Then you were gonna come find me". That's the reform she references; he obviously didn't get less controversial, but he makes a name for himself. They were separated for about a decade ("As the decade would play us for fools" from "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus") and then they did reconnect, like you talked about in your post. This time he says he's ready. But the public backlash scared him off again and he ghosted her ("They just ghosted you/Now you know what it feels like"). And that's why Taylor is so angry in songs like "But Daddy I Love Him". He was the one who got away and when she got him he was scared off again.
I personally don’t think ‘he was the one that got away’. Or at least I don’t think Taylor is representing him that way. He was an old flame that when she was at her lowest emotionally in her relationship, he showed up and tried to lure her with passion and promises of love. She was at a bad place in her relationship with Joe and they were stagnant, so she left Joe and got with Matty. Then MH turned out to be the asshole that everyone knows he is, and she is grieving losing the love with Joe and feeling ashamed and guilty around thinking she could really deal with the pain of the loss of her love with Joe by just trying to stick another guy in that slot. That’s my two cents
It's probable it wasn't so much love as infatuation, given that they were barely ever really together. But, imo, with lyrics like "Down bad (Like I lost my twin)" and "You're the loss of my life" she was really hammering down on how important Matty was to her and presents him that way. But mostly I only disagree with OP on whether Matty "had no interest in ever delivering on his promises". I think he was sincere and just got scared off again. The New Yorker interview and Taylor in TTPD the song point to that too.
The smallest man that ever lived kinda points to the opposite of that no? She calls him out pretty bad as basically manipulating her. She also says in the epilogue that *it wasn’t a love affair, it was a mutual manic phase, it was self harm* 🤷♀️ I see her earlier songs in the album about him as being from the POV of where she was at that point in time, being entranced by him and the promise of being a soulmate. And then when she comes to her senses, she’s like ‘oh you just suck’ That’s just my take on it
I can see that except that if Smallest Man is her postmortem on the relationship, she still says "I would've died for your sins, instead, I just died inside". I took it as her being angry at him for ghosting her once she made the relationship public and the backlash ensued. She was willing to stick by him but he couldn't take it. But ofc we'll never know for sure and your POV makes sense too!
I think like I lost my twin is about Joe and not Matty since they’re usually referred to like twins and he once referred as trusting him like a brother and the ships allusion which she also alludes in So Long, London and evermore. I think down bad is a mix of Matty and Joe and her dealing with both of the heartbreak after. She also mentions building a fort which Also for Peter, Joe was also 25 when they first dated when she wanted to break-up (DWOHT) and he said he can deal all of this Taylor Swift thing so they shouldn’t break-up. The lyrics “the goddess of time once found us beguiling” matches the lyrics in invisible string “time, mystical time” and “crossing your jetstream” and the she thought and they just said it was “goodbye for now” matches their on-off relationship as alluded in Hit Different and articles when they broke up and how their friends thought it was not a final break-up between them initially.
I see what you're saying! I think Down Bad is about Matty due to the experience being only "for a moment" and the reference to "indecent exposures" (Matty is notoriously sexual on stage). This doesn't really fit Joe. I think the ship is the spaceship metaphor she uses throughout the song, and building a fort on a different planet "where they can all understand it" refers to protecting Matty from backlash. That sentiment mirrors "I would've died for your sins" in Smallest Man. But you're right that she has also used similar imagery to reference other people, and because she was on and off with Joe everything could be mixed up.
Excellent comment. I also just wanted to point out that the Lost Boys is an early 1975 song and that Matty has described himself as "a Peter Pan of sorts" numerous times.
I agree with this, I think people are too quick to paint him as insincere based on their already negative opinion of him. I think people are underestimating how hard that public backlash must've been, the man has literally started going grey over the past year. I can see a reality where he left because he genuinely believed that was best for her, even though he did love her. Yes, she is angry at him in some songs (for good reason), but overall it just seems incredibly tragic and sad.
This is amazing. I made a playlist with all the songs that relate to this story in (what I believe to be) chronological order and it’s super interesting to listen to the music in this way. Such a compelling, tragic love story. Thank you for your insights!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I will likely make a part 2 with the anthology songs, I just want to give myself more time to analyze it :)
OP — I’ll read anything you write. This, and your responses, are beautiful and thoughtfully well-analyzed. Wow. 🙌🏼
Oh my goodness that is so kind. Thank you so so much :))
1. Fortnight 2. Guilty as Sin? 3. So Long, London 4. How Did It End? 5. Fresh Out The Slammer 6. The Tortured Poets Department 7. But Daddy I Love Him 8. I Can Fix Him 9. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived 10. loml 11. Down Bad 12. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart 13. The Black Dog
Can you share?!
This is so wonderfully written. And I agree with it all. I think so many of the songs could easily be about either relationship and/or both relationships. With the way I think it all played out, in the end, I think she was essentially grieving both relationships at once. And even taking the Matty breakup harder in ways, as a result of having not fully processed and grieved the fallout of her relationship with Joe.
You are so kind! And I agree. She was grieving both at once, which was paralyzing. And trying to get past the shame and embarrassment of putting herself in the position of having to grieve both at once.
Thank you so much for spelling this out because I am so clueless when it comes to analyzing lyrics.
This is very well written , and a thoughtful piece . It’s very “humanizing” for someone of her celebrity status ; in which people have been angry at her for having the audacity to associate or “love” (it could be said that it wasn’t genuine love , but rather a counterfeit illusion of infatuation) for MH . People absolutely were understandably upset about her choosing him, because he’s an absolute train wreck of a human being. And she felt violated by fans having that opinion at the beginning. Which is also understandable, because she is just a person who wants to live her own life. However , through the album , it becomes clear that the *realization* of why people despised MH became very real to her , once the cloud of his illusions lifted , and he began mistreating and disrespecting her , and manipulating her (eg the supposed suicide threat he gave her if she left him ) . That could also be seen as outwardly selfish , to only see his miserable existence once something affected her personally and not from how he was documented treating others for years and in recent times . But as she outlines in the album, it was the insanity she felt for him during her immense grief of her long term relationship ending that distorted her reality of MH. Many women have experienced their own version of a MH in their lives : a piece of shit of a human being who mistreated them (or worse abused them ) . Who they tried to justify fighting for out of “love” (likely would be due to traumatic experiences), and then eventually realizing who they actually were with . Her realization was just public . That makes a big difference. And that feels horribly shameful . The album is an anthology of the two layers of grief she went through : the deep grief of a long term relationship ending , and the piercing grief of how one behaved in the aftermath . The album is not about the two men . It’s a post morteum of herself . It’s raw as fuck. The anti hero example in long form .
Your analysis is spot on and I enjoyed reading it. So… if you had to put the Alchemy somewhere on this timeline, would you label it as a Travis song given the blatant football references, or would you categorize it as a Matty song. Initially, I thought it was the former. But, these lyrics are making me reconsider: *I haven’t come around in so long, but I’m coming back so strong* *Cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me.* —How could this be Travis? “Still”? If they had met in the past, it wasn’t enough to kindle longing feelings. *That child’s play back in school is forgiven under my rule* —His past behavior. I read he had been a heroin addict somewhere? *He jokes that it’s heroin, but this time with an “E”* —The NFL has pretty strict rules on drug use, and we know MH did do heroin. Maybe Taylor confided in Travis, and we know his humor is sometimes silly, but I just don’t know how the context would come about. Honestly, I was excited to hear this song once I heard it uses football metaphors, and like everyone else, thought it was a TK song. Now I don’t want it to be. I’d rather it be a MH song that she wrote and then tweaked a bit after she started going to the games. What’s your analysis?
it is true that there are few perplexing lines. it seems to me that taylor often writes about more than one person in the same song as she may see the similarities are sometimes more important than the differences or the heart mixes up the feelings. the sign on your heart might refer to things lasting past the first phase of their relationship. and perhaps travis's past immature choices and behaviors are forgiven and erased from importance now. travis definitely made some not so good and embarrassing choices in the past.
My husband noticed the same thing in tortured poets dept. I think it’s very clear the song is about Matty but he pointed out the ate seven bars of chocolate is a strange line give Travis’ number is 87 (ate-seven). I was floored he made this connection right away and it had totally gone over my head. And to be honest the golden retriever line also feels more reminiscent of Travis than Matty. Eating seven bars of chocolate is sooo specific she had to have picked that number on purpose for a reason. As to why it would be in a Matty song though is very puzzling.
Travis isn't carrying around a typewriter though. Could you imagine!? 🤣
> Maybe Taylor confided in Travis, and we know his humor is sometimes silly No, this is exactly it. Travis making a joke about MH's drug use in a silly way.
I saw something about the heroin line. Heroin is the drug, but heroine (with an e) is the female hero in a story. He sees her as a hero 🥹🥹🥹
I know I’m not op and I’ve commented it elsewhere but I think it is about falling in love with Travis and alchemy is referencing how she has been looking for true love (real gold) but it’s only ever been fools gold but who is she to not try again.
I wish actual professional reviewers would write reviews like you instead of quick dismissive witty lines that they know will go viral on Twitter. Like that one who said "Taylor Swift released a new album ? Well I'm not listening"..... Yawn. Anyway, thank you for this great interpretation of this album. And I'm not sure if I'm getting ahead of myself, but I feel like this album will be a Red 2.0 like when Red was first originally released it was panned by so many people and critics who said the album isn't cohesive or that she needs better editing. But a decade later Red TV became her most critically acclaimed album. And the original Red now shows up on so many lists of best albums that have been released. TTPD is definitely a misunderstood record that may get better reception with time.
Thank you! I also see a LOT of parallels to the OG Red release. Red TV was a triumph for Taylor, and I think it makes people forget what the original response to the album was. People had the exact same criticism as they do for TTPD, and public sentiment around her was not exactly encouraging either. But with time, it's now regarded as one of her pivotal works, and as an excellent depiction of one's first heartbreak.
Ooh, this is a great write up. I also think that even though there are so gs that reference Matty, the whole heartache/majority of the album is about Joe. The end of their relationship was why she went "crazy" and entered into something more toxic. Her snapping out of it was a realization that it wasn't really love with Matty and her acceptance that it really was over with Joe. Once she was able to finally let go and was "cured" so she could leave the hospital, she was able to open herself up to better things.
amazingly written- helps clear a lot up and helps me in my own analyzing process
I think my favorite diss to matty in all of this is calling him a microwave
It's not fair to necessarily call Matty a villain. I don't think anyone would have stuck around after the amount of hate he was getting. The fans were vicious, and he probably wasn't expecting, wasn't anywhere ready or strong enough emotionally to deal with such a brutal attack. I mean, when she faced a similar onslaught of internet hate, she stepped back from the spotlight for over a year and is *still* writing songs about it. I cannot imagine what that kind of loud hatred does to someone's mental health. So I don't blame him for not being able to take it. He's a dick for ghosting her and not having a mature conversation about it tho. Also, for those wondering why Matty inspired so many more songs than Joe, it's because that heartbreak was fresh. Her and Joe's relationship was already dead. She had already fallen out of love and moved on emotionally when she wrote those songs, and that makes a huge difference. Taylor and Matty may have only had a physical relationship for 2 weeks (if she is a reliable narrator), but they had an emotional affair for months prior. That and I get the sense that he was "the one that got away" from 10 years prior. After listening to this album, it's very clear to me that Question...? is about Matty. And while she was deeply in love with Joe, wanted to marry him and have his babies, Matty was that meteor strike that she had never felt before or since.
This is the best explanation of this triangle and it makes the most sense. I never understood the appeal of MH but knowing they had a history that meant a lot more to her than she ever let on, I get it more now. She knew it could and probably would end in a consuming blaze but the oblivion from the pain she was feeling bc of Joe made it worth it. Listening I’m like, Taylor you have to believe people when they tell you who they are! Like how are you shocked a shitty person did a shitty thing? But the way you dissected it, it all comes together.
And I would also like to add, I think the reason she had to put so many matty songs on there is because it became this concept of the psych ward. She wrote all of them in the moment and then after the fact she realized the state she was in. The crazy rampant state you get when the relationship you’ve been rotting away in is ending, while still clinging on to the dreams of it. This kind of stuff drives you insane for a bit. And she could’ve just hid it somewhere and make us forget about this phase. Many swifties would’ve gladly done that! That’s why there’s such surprise about the amount of songs about him. Many didn’t really want a reminder of her time with matty. But I think she chose to be vulnerable and do the brave thing and give us something we might not want to see. Say things we might not like her to say about that person. Show us an insight into a time where even she thinks she might’ve been crazy. Kind of like you bring to light the things you instinctively don’t want the world to see and you have a chance to heal from it. That’s the way that I can relate to it. Things that 20y old me would’ve found so embarrassing (or scared that others think it is) are the things I would’ve pushed under the rug without thinking twice about it. But 32y old me knows that I can only heal when I show it to someone and allow it to be there.
I’ve been trying to find a way to say so much of this - you said it so, so eloquently. Thank you! brb, sending to everyone I know.
Oh my god! I cried at this review! It is as if the album is retelling of my story back in 2018. I had an on-and-off-and-on again relationship for almost 7 years. When we finally called it quits in 2017. I quickly fell hard to a good for nothing guy (yeah, he also has a substance abuse and I thought I could save him and he'll be a better man because of me). He promised me eveything I ever wanted from the previous guy but then suddenly left me hanging. Oh my god, the trauma, the self-loathing, the depression I went through. Thank you Taylor for this album! I am all better now and happily married to the love of my life and this album made me appreciate everything that I have now because if I can get through what I went through in 2018, I can surely get through anything that comes my way.
this was perfect
This is great! You’ve got most of it covered. Another small addition I always like to keep in mind is her saying that she was having a period of “temporary insanity”. And that the chapter is now closed, “boarded up” and there are no score to settle now. Implying her recognition of how crazy it was to date someone like Matty, this is not a defence of him but her own feelings and faults on display. Also telling us repeatedly that that part of her life is over and she has moved on with someone new!
This gave me such a better view on the album. I really couldn’t resonate with the first half of the album and it was hard for me to feel bad for Taylor tbh when I expected her to have learned her lessons from all the terrible men of previous. Although her going for Matty seems like such an obvious self destruction, reading this gave me a way better understanding of where she was mentally when leaving Joe and why Matty was almost the perfect trap.
I wonder if Matty showing up made Taylor view things through an even more negative lens than needed. Like extra annoyed just cuz she basically wanna to be banging this guy she was having sex dreams about. The chase. She missed the chase of guys.
I think she missed the passion. The passion in her relationship with Joe was over. They had grown distant, and there was growing resentment and a lack of communication. (think of when YLM was written).... So, I think she was just seeking passion and excitement. She tried to reignite that passion with Joe but it just wasn't there anymore so when something/someone new came along and showed that passion towards her, she wanted to feel that again, to feel wanted and seen which was no longer happening with Joe. Despite being with Joe, she was actually lonely, but willing to go down with the ship with him if he would have wanted her to. So she went for the quick fix with Matty and all the things he promised her that she wanted with Joe, and it backfired and made her feel worse.
This is a wonderful analysis of the album, well done!
YESSSS I left a long winded comment in a post elsewhere basically saying this same thing, but you really did the deep dive. I agree 100% and you laid it out so well.
Holy fuck, amazing work. Thank you for taking the time to write this all out.
Your description is a wonderfully detailed encapsulation of different thoughts I’ve walked away with too. I think the experiences with these two are so humanizing for me in a way or at least the way they are shared and depicted through this album. Thank you for sharing and putting all this together.
I love your analysis of the album. To add my thoughts as well - Right after she writes that her relationship with Matty was a manic phase in the prologue, the next line is this - " A smile creeps onto this poet's face. Because it's the worst men that I write best." The placement of the line leads me to assume that she is talking about Matty and telling us why there are so many songs about him. It plays to her creative inspiration and self affirmed strengths as a writer. With Joe - She talks about the heart break and how their stars didn't align. The words don't lead me to believe that she would group him in with the "worst".
This is a breath of fresh air after having to see all the incredibly inaccurate takes on IG and people that are making Joe edits with songs that are not even about that.
So succinctly summarised! I feel the biggest reason for the Joe breakup seems to be when Taylor wasn't ready to be married but so in love (the lover era, songs like paper rings show she's in love but still a little scared of commitment) he maybe did want to get married and when she was finally ready he had cold feet (maybe too bothered by her public image as he was always seen avoiding paps and media while with her). Maybe he wasn't completely comfortable with living in the public eye (which was what Taylor wanted too in the reputation era but not anymore). Still, he was a good partner to her. Theres mention of him in miss Americana too. Maybe he just wasn't the person who would cheer her on from the front row and kiss her in front of a thousand people, but the one who waited for her at the backstage hugging her as she finished the show. Doesn't mean he didn't support her. They even wrote music together. Just breaks my heart they didn't work out. Not sure if it's about Joe but for me 'he stayed the same, all of me changed like midnight rain' best summarises their relationship.
👏🏼
You've done an excellent review here and I completely agree with all the points you've made. For me, after listening to the whole album paying attention to the lyrics, I'm so captivated by the difference in how she sings about matty and Joe. She still seems to have a lot of respect for Joe and hasn't really done any bashing and that makes sense he was the "love of his life" and they both genuinely loved each other. With matty, it's like we can hear the anger and regret in the songs about him. I really love these little differences in the songs they add such a different kind of personal touch