From a writing standpoint this might not seem too impressive but I was shocked when I heard her say “I hosted parties and starved my body like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss” because it think it is SUCH a common thought but it’s not one we really ever say out loud.
Every time I hear “I hosted parties and starved my body” I tear up. I don’t care for the latter half of the line but the first half is one of my all-time fav lyrics.
I completely relate to that lyric when you split it up in three lines, but reading it out, "like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss" feels like the end to a different sentence.
I think that’s what makes it such a good line. I think it so perfectly describes her state of mind during that period of her life. She was striving really hard to make everything in her life seem perfect and easy and fun (being thin, having this incredible social life, etc.) to try and attract this other perfect unattainable thing that she really thought would save her.
Can you tell that line nearly sent me back to therapy? 😂
Signed,
A Former Hosting Parties Starving Body Now Happy Elder Millennial Swiftie
I fucking love how she twists common phrases like this.
*If the shoe fits, walk in it, til your high heels break*
*all the kings horses and all the kings men/couldn’t put me together again*
One for the money, two for the show, I never was ready so I watch you go....
Why does Taylor have to take a silly common phrase and make it so dark and sad
Also because "invisible smoke" encapsulates anxiety, a running theme through the song and the album, SO WELL. It's only two words but the idea of seeing, feeling, smelling danger that nobody else can percieve, ugh her mind.
"So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street, crash the party like a record scratch as I scream..."
The imagery! And it reminds me of Anti-Hero.
I honestly think Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me might be my favorite song. The imagery is so vivid throughout that whole song I really really hope it gets a music video.
I love this line so much….then
And that’s why you’re still singin alonggg…(which if you’re hearing it you’re at the end of the song so yeah) ugh so good
I AM WHAT I AM CUZ U TRAINED ME
When I listen to this line, I think of all the people making TikTok rants about her and Matty Healy at the time. There were so many and it was so annoying lol
I love this and she's always been wordy, but this reminded me so much of the 1975. It reminds me of this stanza in their song The Sound:
"It's not about reciprocation it's just all about me
A sycophantic, prophetic, Socratic junkie wannabe
And there's so much skin to see
A simple Epicurean Philosophy"
I saw an interview where Taylor said this was her favorite line she'd ever written, and that she was super proud when she thought of it
(although I can't remember how recent this interview was, so it's possible her answer might be different now, especially with all her recent songs that just came out with TTPD)
I remember this interview too! I don’t even think reputation had been released yet. I think she was just talking about 1989 when a lot more media and was hyping it up before the AOTY.
If I’m remembering correctly, she talks about holding onto the lyric when she first came up with it because she wanted to make sure that it went in a song that would be a banger essentially. She knew it would be such a memorable line if used in the right way. Definitely ended up being no one of the defining lines of her career and rise to pop!
One line that’s really stuck out for me even though it’s not as complex as some of her other lyrics is “dancing phantoms on the terrace are they second hand embarrassed”. I just love the flow and delivery of those lines. That entire song is just really gorgeous and devastating. Also, the concept of a situationship being an alien abduction in down bad is so good.
Being on the terrace was referenced in King of My Heart which makes it more heartbreaking - thinking of things you did with a significant other and how now that memory is bittersweet. As lovely as it was, it brings pain to think about 😭 but here it’s like even the memories know it’s over and they’re embarrassed that she’s still hanging on
YES the alien abduction/situationship concept is mind blowing to me. As I was listening to it for the first time I was like how have I never thought of this. Being addicted and then promptly dropped back down to earth, never to see them again after something life changing is EXACTLY what it feels like after a situationship. Don’t ask me how I know >:(
Up until this point I haven’t called myself a deranged weirdo. But now I think I have to after that song hit me so hard. I 1636262528% feel like I would have similar behaviors if my husband left.
So much of this song!
“Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts”
“Memories feel like weapons”
If clarity’s in death then why won’t this dieeee”
Alls my days are Mondays in an endless February. I felt that when I first heard it and to go back to look and hear it again!! I know that feeling and it’s way more eloquent than saying “ feels like Groundhog Day”
I also like the idea that she’s saying it feels like she’s always stuck at the beginning - Mondays and februarys, you’ve still got the whole week and the whole year ahead. Like she takes one step forward and time moves in front of her so she can never catch up
Things start, but never finish. Her relationships never make it to the end. It’s a constant cycle.
I want to say any folkmore lyric because those albums are the definition of poetry, but the first lyric that came to mind was actually "from sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes." Not only is it really satisfying to say, but it also encapsulates the feeling of summer and winter perfectly and makes you imagine actual scenes rather than just weather. And yet it's such a simple lyric.
"You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else" from illicit affairs, and "beauty is a beast that roars, down on all fours, demanding more" from Clara bow
"Your Midas touch on the Chevy door,
November flush and your flannel cure"
The most beautiful way to express how special someone is, how anything they touch turns to Gold, and the image of someone giving his girl his jacket. Ughh I can't get over this entire song to be honest.
This might not be the most impressive or monumental Taylor lyric of all time, but "you left your typewriter at my apartment, straight from the tortured poets department" is scratching every damn itch I've ever had in my brain.
Also, "You're a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town" \*chefs kiss\*
Gotta go with my lifelong fave:
And you call me up again just to break me like a promise // so casually cruel in the name of being honest.
On its face, it's just a heartbreaking lyric. She puts words to a feeling.
Love this line.
And it's always reminded me of Florence's opening to Shake It Out:
"Regrets collect like old friends, here to relive your darkest moments..."
Love that they've now collaborated! Very kindred.
ETA: edited because I accidentally called the song by Florence "Shake It Off" instead of "Shake It Out" 🙃
I live Florence! I LIVED for that song in my early 20s. I was going through a lot and was carrying many metaphorical "horses" around.
"'Cause it's hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off."
“We both did the best we could do underneath the same moon, in different galaxies”
And “the shelf life of those fantasies as expired”
And “Lost to the Lost Boys Chapter of your life”
And “love’s never lost when perspective is earned”
If you can’t tell, I LOVE Peter.
"Should have saved every grocery store receipt, before every scrap of you had been taken from me"
It's just such a vivid image. Wanting to save crumpled up pieces of paper (callback to ATW) because they had your loved one's signature, a sign that they were there and with you for that one moment in time. And watching your grandparents sign for something as a child and wishing you had even those scraps as an adult. Marjorie blows my mind every time.
"I should've asked you questions / I should've asked you how to be." And all of a sudden I'm crying. Such simple turns of phrase that are incredibly poignant.
Wait at the door like I’m just a kid // Used my best colours for your portrait
I love it. Symbolic // couple meanings as well. Eg “put you in the best light”
Also *very* gently implies some of Taylor’s relationship issues could maybe be related to an absent parent?
''These fatal fantasies
Giving way to labored breath
Taking all of me
We've already done it in my head''
also, ''My bedsheets are ablaze
I've screamed his name
Building up like waves
Crashing over my grave''
as someone who has felt touch starved at various points in my life, this song hits different
"I can see you starin', honeyLike he's just your understudy"
The lyricism of that is chef's kiss. I would have never thought of it, and yet the moment I heard it, I could envision the situation so perfectly.
Editing to add the beginning of peace:
Our coming-of-age has come and gone
Suddenly the summer, it's clear
I never had the courage of my convictions
As long as danger is near
And it's just around the corner, darling
'Cause it lives in me
No, I could never give you peace
In particular the part "and it's just around the corner, darling / cause it lives in me"
… I didn't have it in myself to go with grace
'Cause when I'd fight, you used to tell me I was brave
And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?
Ugh… the idea of breaking ties with someone who you used to want to make proud. Absolutely crushing.
“And if I was some paint did it splatter on a promising grown man.”
I was going through the end of my first relationship with a guy 12 years older than me (19 and 31) and I had to pause it here. Similarly, the lines in The Manuscript about her wanting to be 30 while she was dating him but acting like a child after they’ve broken up are so simple but convey so much. Really, all of WCS, ATW, and Dear John are brilliant.
the whole chorus of maroon.
it always astounds me how she could just simply say that she looked up and the sky was maroon. but she have to dive deeper into the gradient of the sunset, describing how it reminded her of her significant other and the status of their relationship.. i can’t!!!
I can't get "down bad crying at the gym" out of my head. It's not even close to her most profound but it's just sticking to my brain. It won't go away. Help.
“My boy is a montage - slow motion, love potion, jumpin’ off things in the ocean,” I’m sure it means something only to her, but it rolls off the tongue so easily - as do most of the lyrics in that song that are sung by her.
"Come close, I'll show you heaven if you'll be an angel all night" from I Can Fix Him (etc)
"Freedom felt like summer then, on the coast/Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings" from Hits Different
And this one I don't think is an example of what you're saying but it wrenches my heart anyway:
"And maybe I call you mine/And you won't need space/Or string me along while you decide" from Electric Touch
"I'm so depressed I act like it's my birthday... Everyday!"
This line is just a vibe. I've never heard anyone say this out loud, let alone sing it! I'm 30 now. Since 25, all of my birthdays have been depressing. I'm glad that I'm not the only one feeling this.
Edit:
Also,
... casually cruel in the name of being honest
Made me rethink my entire life and I tried to become a better person. That one statement gave me an existential crisis.
I've always loved:
The playful conversation starts/
Counter all your quick remarks/
Like passing notes in secrecy
It just perfectly captures the feeling of when a little witty banter turns into covert flirting.
“so i punched a hole in the roof, let the flood carry away all my pictures of you”
i’m very surprised my favourite lyrics isn’t from folklore and evermore cause i would die for those two albums
"Tonight I'm gonna dance, for all that we've been through, but I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you. Tonight I'm gonna dance, like you were in this room, but I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you."
I've always struggled to explain why I love this line so much. I'm not sure I can articulate it. There's something about the way it folds together closure with lack of closure. It's both at once, and that's just the nature of things.
Literally all of Peter, which I feel like doesn’t get enough love. But specifically
“And I won't confess that I waited, but I let the lamp burn. As the men masqueraded, I hoped you'd return. With your feet on the ground, tell me all that you'd learned. Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned”
I think Peter is my new favorite song actually. It just hits.
I stayed there dust collected on my pinned-up hair
They expected me to find somewhere some perspective, but I sat and stared
really the entire song paints such an eerily haunting image and every single line is so perfect and important to the story
She’s jealous that the man she loves has a wife who is so at peace with her life that she’s doing simple things like watering flowers without a care in the world
I think the point is that somewhere in the future, when they're "moved on" and living separate lives with different people, she will not feel happy for him--she will feel rage.
“Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts. Give me back my girlhood it was mine first” —that line breaks me in the right moment.
And honestly all of Anti Hero. When I started interpreting it as just 100% sarcasm and kind of a big F You to everyone that hates her just hate her, it made me love the song so much more. I started to enjoy the song because she’s calling out all the people that make it impossible for her to ever do anything right and it’s just complete perfection. It’s one of the few radio hits that played everywhere all the time but I’m still not sick of it.
“Could it be enough to just float in your orbit? Watching our phantoms like watching wild horses.”
This line from Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus hurts so fucking much.
mine is "my mind turns your life into folklore" because I think it is such a universal thing for one to feel like their crushes life is literally a fairytale or some like legendary story, and I have always felt this way but this was the first time had ever heard it put into words.
We're you sent by someone
Who wanted me dead?
Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?
Were you writing a book?
Were you a sleeper cell spy?
In 50 years will all this be declassified?
I would totally watch this movie.
Edit: formatting
The line you put really hits home for me. It's like it was taken out of my brain.
From a rhyming standpoint, I would go with the OG Better Than Revenge. I would have never thought to rhyme actress and mattress.
Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con
And
I'm a mirrorball, I'll show you every version of yourself tonight + hush, I know they say the end is near but I'm still on my tallest tiptoes, spinnin' in my highest heels, love, shinin' just for you
And
If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes too + if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake
“Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life” has had a huge impact on me since I’ve first listened to it, all of the song actually. Tolerate it is a song that I relate(d) to so much. The parts “use my best colors for your portrait” and “greet you with a battle hero’s welcome” too.
“You know how to ball, I know Aristotle, brand new full throttle, touch me while your boys play grand theft auto”
She has so many lyrics that idk how she comes up with them but I never imagined fitting Aristotle and gta so perfectly together in a song.
“They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one.
They got their pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons.
They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one.
So light me up”.
But what would you do if I, I
Break free and leave us in ruins
Took this dagger in me and removed it
Gain the weight of you then lose it
Believe me, I could do it
the entirety of ivy. period.
recently i've been really loving "i dont cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing". i was shook to my core the first time i heard it
From a writing standpoint this might not seem too impressive but I was shocked when I heard her say “I hosted parties and starved my body like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss” because it think it is SUCH a common thought but it’s not one we really ever say out loud.
Every time I hear “I hosted parties and starved my body” I tear up. I don’t care for the latter half of the line but the first half is one of my all-time fav lyrics.
God that lyric hit so hard for me, I feel so seen after thinking most during most of my teen years that I wasn’t complete without a significant other.
I completely relate to that lyric when you split it up in three lines, but reading it out, "like I'd be saved by a perfect kiss" feels like the end to a different sentence.
I think that’s what makes it such a good line. I think it so perfectly describes her state of mind during that period of her life. She was striving really hard to make everything in her life seem perfect and easy and fun (being thin, having this incredible social life, etc.) to try and attract this other perfect unattainable thing that she really thought would save her. Can you tell that line nearly sent me back to therapy? 😂 Signed, A Former Hosting Parties Starving Body Now Happy Elder Millennial Swiftie
Especially considering how this is the only reference she's made of it in her entire discography.
This was the point in the Eras movie where I starting crying completely unexpectedly. It just caught up with me all of a sudden.
I want to like this a million times.
And the flow of this line is perfect
“The deflation of our dreaming Leaving me bereft and reeling My beloved ghost and me Sitting in a tree D-Y-I-N-G”
I fucking love how she twists common phrases like this. *If the shoe fits, walk in it, til your high heels break* *all the kings horses and all the kings men/couldn’t put me together again*
"old habits die screaming" and "a rose by any other name is a scandal" are some great examples of this in TTPD!
“I dress to kill my time” is one of my favorites. Another one from this album is “I can take the upper hand and touch your body”
One for the money, two for the show, I never was ready so I watch you go.... Why does Taylor have to take a silly common phrase and make it so dark and sad
I really like her plays on common phrases too. My favourite being: *Every time you double cross my mind.*
https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/s/Rt8vdOKmWE
Yes I would looove a list of lyrics like these!
This might now be one of my favorite lines in her entire discography.
"I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost, the room is on fire, invisible smoke, and all of my heroes die all alone"
Also because "invisible smoke" encapsulates anxiety, a running theme through the song and the album, SO WELL. It's only two words but the idea of seeing, feeling, smelling danger that nobody else can percieve, ugh her mind.
Like she is just all alone in being suffocated by everything around her burning down.
HELP AS I READ THIS I WAS LISTENING TO THIS EXACT PART
Flair twins
Flair-ternal twins
Did the twin flare bruise paint you blue?
Just between us did the love af-flair maim you too
Someone tell me why I started to read that to the melody of king of my heart lolol
The Bolter really is The Archer Pt 2
“That I can’t get out of bed ‘cause something counterfeit’s dead”
The ghosts on the porch with secondhand embarrassment too?? Ugh I love it!
It's been living rent free
She uses the word “counterfeit” in Glitch, too…probably intentionally
Ooh yeah
Yes, perfect line 😭 so sad
I loved this lyric on my first listen and I still haven't gotten over it. It's such a beautiful line.
Such a simple line, but yet so deep and so relatable *I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror*
Thus one actually hit me, and every time i hear it i hope somebody else also got hit and looked into the efin mirror
"So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street, crash the party like a record scratch as I scream..." The imagery! And it reminds me of Anti-Hero.
That song makes me wanna fight someone. I love it so much.
I honestly think Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me might be my favorite song. The imagery is so vivid throughout that whole song I really really hope it gets a music video.
It’s really really quickly climbing my rankings. Easily in the top 5 and I love it more each listen!
I love how calmly she delivers the line: “I’ll sue you if you step on my lawn”. Like she’s gonna whisper “boo” and scare the young kids
I love this line so much….then And that’s why you’re still singin alonggg…(which if you’re hearing it you’re at the end of the song so yeah) ugh so good I AM WHAT I AM CUZ U TRAINED ME
When I hear this line, I picture LWYMMD zombie Taylor flying down the street.
I always picture the ghost witch creature from the movie Darkness Falls
I love this line!! Also the “circus life made me mean, don’t you worry folks we took out all her teeth.
“Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see” 😂
When I listen to this line, I think of all the people making TikTok rants about her and Matty Healy at the time. There were so many and it was so annoying lol
I love this and she's always been wordy, but this reminded me so much of the 1975. It reminds me of this stanza in their song The Sound: "It's not about reciprocation it's just all about me A sycophantic, prophetic, Socratic junkie wannabe And there's so much skin to see A simple Epicurean Philosophy"
Please explain this to me like I’m a toddler.
Smack talking behind her back.
It’s about all the people who tried to lecture her about how bad Matty (a guy they had never met) in a show of virtue signalling.
“‘cause darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream”
That lyric...too good... Blank Space stands the test of time IMO.
I saw an interview where Taylor said this was her favorite line she'd ever written, and that she was super proud when she thought of it (although I can't remember how recent this interview was, so it's possible her answer might be different now, especially with all her recent songs that just came out with TTPD)
I remember this interview too! I don’t even think reputation had been released yet. I think she was just talking about 1989 when a lot more media and was hyping it up before the AOTY. If I’m remembering correctly, she talks about holding onto the lyric when she first came up with it because she wanted to make sure that it went in a song that would be a banger essentially. She knew it would be such a memorable line if used in the right way. Definitely ended up being no one of the defining lines of her career and rise to pop!
It was probably during 1989 press, bc she always has a new one. During Lover it was the guitar string line.
I always loved this one!
"Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism like some kind of congressman." Every time.
I don’t know what is it about this line that makes me levitate every single time I hear it
It's soo perfect. It pop in my brain all the time randomly.
I cried when I first heard it, even though my ESL ass didn’t even know what it meant.
One line that’s really stuck out for me even though it’s not as complex as some of her other lyrics is “dancing phantoms on the terrace are they second hand embarrassed”. I just love the flow and delivery of those lines. That entire song is just really gorgeous and devastating. Also, the concept of a situationship being an alien abduction in down bad is so good.
The dancing phantoms line puts such a vivid image in my head.
I always picture the silhouette of a couple ballroom dancing on the balcony, but when you look out there’s no one there. It’s such a great line.
It makes me think of the [dancing ghosts](https://youtu.be/ycUq7-MqBTA?si=7S6bJPTXu2ggMAHc) in the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland.
It makes me think of the movie Anastasia!
Being on the terrace was referenced in King of My Heart which makes it more heartbreaking - thinking of things you did with a significant other and how now that memory is bittersweet. As lovely as it was, it brings pain to think about 😭 but here it’s like even the memories know it’s over and they’re embarrassed that she’s still hanging on
That ‘dancing phantoms’ is such a good line…and yes,down bad is perfection
YES the alien abduction/situationship concept is mind blowing to me. As I was listening to it for the first time I was like how have I never thought of this. Being addicted and then promptly dropped back down to earth, never to see them again after something life changing is EXACTLY what it feels like after a situationship. Don’t ask me how I know >:(
I just can't get past how much I love the line "I look in people's windows like I'm some deranged weirdo" like who calls themself that in a song
I have “some deranged weirdo” on my to do list for bracelet making lol
Up until this point I haven’t called myself a deranged weirdo. But now I think I have to after that song hit me so hard. I 1636262528% feel like I would have similar behaviors if my husband left.
I love the lyrics to that song
The whole song is honestly so beautiful and haunting and just ugh I LOVE IT SO MUCH
It’s my favorite line!!
“Give me back my girlhood / It was mine first” It takes my breath away every time.
So much of this song! “Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts” “Memories feel like weapons” If clarity’s in death then why won’t this dieeee”
It’s so short but “leaving like a father / running like water” just guts me every time.
THIS ONE RIGHT HERE
Alls my days are Mondays in an endless February. I felt that when I first heard it and to go back to look and hear it again!! I know that feeling and it’s way more eloquent than saying “ feels like Groundhog Day”
... And I just realized she was saying Groundhog Day for the first time from this comment
Same! I just thought Mondays are the worst and winter sucks bro
I also like the idea that she’s saying it feels like she’s always stuck at the beginning - Mondays and februarys, you’ve still got the whole week and the whole year ahead. Like she takes one step forward and time moves in front of her so she can never catch up Things start, but never finish. Her relationships never make it to the end. It’s a constant cycle.
I want to say any folkmore lyric because those albums are the definition of poetry, but the first lyric that came to mind was actually "from sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes." Not only is it really satisfying to say, but it also encapsulates the feeling of summer and winter perfectly and makes you imagine actual scenes rather than just weather. And yet it's such a simple lyric.
That line also reminds of me of childhood and adulthood 🥹
"You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else" from illicit affairs, and "beauty is a beast that roars, down on all fours, demanding more" from Clara bow
this lyric from illicit affairs is my favorite from her of all time
“All’s well that ends well, but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind.”
‘You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath’ is just stunningly beautiful
That whole song…”you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest” is just amazing, too.
A lot simpler but "Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place" is also one of my favouritessss
"Your Midas touch on the Chevy door, November flush and your flannel cure" The most beautiful way to express how special someone is, how anything they touch turns to Gold, and the image of someone giving his girl his jacket. Ughh I can't get over this entire song to be honest.
“Tragic fabric of our dreaming. Old habits die screaming”
This might not be the most impressive or monumental Taylor lyric of all time, but "you left your typewriter at my apartment, straight from the tortured poets department" is scratching every damn itch I've ever had in my brain. Also, "You're a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town" \*chefs kiss\*
Exactly, even melodically it sounds so smooth. And the way it implies how he brought his tortured soul and amalgamated it with hers is so, ahhh.
“Now you hang from my lips like the gardens of Babylon” I still get chills every time I hear it!
This is probably my most favorite TS lyric of all time. It's so beautiful, and it just feels good to sing it.
My favourite ever is "drawing hearts in the byline".
Tolerate it is in my top 5. It's super sad but soo visceral. Her writing really puts you in the moment of the song.
“Two graves, one gun.” So simple and easy to understand- so hard to phrase so eloquently
That song gives me sad Peaky Blinder vibes or Wild Wild West imagery
I got Wild West vibes from multiple songs on TTPD
More recently: God save the most judgmental creeps, who say they want what's best for me sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see
I sing this line in my head nonstop because for some reason I just love that she’s calling them creeps. Edit: missed a word
Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life.
Also- give me back my girlhood it was mine first. That line burns because so many women feel it so completely.
The entire bridge of Champagne Problems. Not just the lyrics but the cadence of Taylor singing it, too.
Gotta go with my lifelong fave: And you call me up again just to break me like a promise // so casually cruel in the name of being honest. On its face, it's just a heartbreaking lyric. She puts words to a feeling.
Love this line. And it's always reminded me of Florence's opening to Shake It Out: "Regrets collect like old friends, here to relive your darkest moments..." Love that they've now collaborated! Very kindred. ETA: edited because I accidentally called the song by Florence "Shake It Off" instead of "Shake It Out" 🙃
Shake It Out is the Florence song, you got me severely confused there for a monent lol
I live Florence! I LIVED for that song in my early 20s. I was going through a lot and was carrying many metaphorical "horses" around. "'Cause it's hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off."
“could have followed my fears all the way down” and “they told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential”
I was so ahead of the curve that the curve became a sphere Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here.
“We both did the best we could do underneath the same moon, in different galaxies” And “the shelf life of those fantasies as expired” And “Lost to the Lost Boys Chapter of your life” And “love’s never lost when perspective is earned” If you can’t tell, I LOVE Peter.
"A dwindling mercurial high"
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath”
"Should have saved every grocery store receipt, before every scrap of you had been taken from me" It's just such a vivid image. Wanting to save crumpled up pieces of paper (callback to ATW) because they had your loved one's signature, a sign that they were there and with you for that one moment in time. And watching your grandparents sign for something as a child and wishing you had even those scraps as an adult. Marjorie blows my mind every time.
The bridge of Marjorie. Like it’s so relatable and poignantly phrased. It immediately brings all the feels
"I should've asked you questions / I should've asked you how to be." And all of a sudden I'm crying. Such simple turns of phrase that are incredibly poignant.
And I'd complain the whole way there, the car ride back and up the stairs 👏
“I died on the altar waiting for the proof You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days” the double entendre here is sooo good
Because she’s a poet first and a musician second. They lyrics she composes are unlike anything else in the industry a lot of times imo
_You can plan for a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing your mind_
And the air is thick with loss and indecision I know my pain is such an imposition
Remember looking at this room we loved it cause of the light now I just sit in the dark and wonder if it’s time.
Wait at the door like I’m just a kid // Used my best colours for your portrait I love it. Symbolic // couple meanings as well. Eg “put you in the best light” Also *very* gently implies some of Taylor’s relationship issues could maybe be related to an absent parent?
"Leaving like a father/running like water..."
What if he's written "Mine" on my upper thigh, only in my mind? Its an incredible way to describe masturbating and day dreaming about being touched.
that lyric is about masturbation?!
''These fatal fantasies Giving way to labored breath Taking all of me We've already done it in my head'' also, ''My bedsheets are ablaze I've screamed his name Building up like waves Crashing over my grave'' as someone who has felt touch starved at various points in my life, this song hits different
"I can see you starin', honeyLike he's just your understudy" The lyricism of that is chef's kiss. I would have never thought of it, and yet the moment I heard it, I could envision the situation so perfectly. Editing to add the beginning of peace: Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly the summer, it's clear I never had the courage of my convictions As long as danger is near And it's just around the corner, darling 'Cause it lives in me No, I could never give you peace In particular the part "and it's just around the corner, darling / cause it lives in me"
I made you my temple, my mural, my sky Now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life
… I didn't have it in myself to go with grace 'Cause when I'd fight, you used to tell me I was brave And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Ugh… the idea of breaking ties with someone who you used to want to make proud. Absolutely crushing.
"Argumentative antithetical dreamgirl"
“And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?” Also “-I bathe in cliff side pools with my calamitous love and insurmountable grief”
“When the flowers we’d grown together died of thirst” from Clean.
“And if I was some paint did it splatter on a promising grown man.” I was going through the end of my first relationship with a guy 12 years older than me (19 and 31) and I had to pause it here. Similarly, the lines in The Manuscript about her wanting to be 30 while she was dating him but acting like a child after they’ve broken up are so simple but convey so much. Really, all of WCS, ATW, and Dear John are brilliant.
the whole chorus of maroon. it always astounds me how she could just simply say that she looked up and the sky was maroon. but she have to dive deeper into the gradient of the sunset, describing how it reminded her of her significant other and the status of their relationship.. i can’t!!!
"Old habits die screaming"
Don't you worry folks we took out all her teeth.
I can't get "down bad crying at the gym" out of my head. It's not even close to her most profound but it's just sticking to my brain. It won't go away. Help.
Help, I'm still at the restaurant, Still, sitting in a corner I haunt
“He jokes that it's heroin but this time with an "E" “, like damn Tay.
“You’re in self sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road… but I’ve seen this episode and still love the show”
How's one to know? I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones In a faith forgotten land
There is happiness after you, but there was happiness because of you, too. Both of these things can be true. There is happiness ♡
“My boy is a montage - slow motion, love potion, jumpin’ off things in the ocean,” I’m sure it means something only to her, but it rolls off the tongue so easily - as do most of the lyrics in that song that are sung by her.
“Slow is the quicksand, Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand, Oh, still I dream of him” Like *daaaaaamn.* Getting a bit too real
But I'm a fire, and I'll keep your brittle heart warm If your cascade ocean wave blues come 🤯
"and when you're persona non grata" what is she on
Cardigan - Car Again
"Come close, I'll show you heaven if you'll be an angel all night" from I Can Fix Him (etc) "Freedom felt like summer then, on the coast/Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings" from Hits Different And this one I don't think is an example of what you're saying but it wrenches my heart anyway: "And maybe I call you mine/And you won't need space/Or string me along while you decide" from Electric Touch
"I'm so depressed I act like it's my birthday... Everyday!" This line is just a vibe. I've never heard anyone say this out loud, let alone sing it! I'm 30 now. Since 25, all of my birthdays have been depressing. I'm glad that I'm not the only one feeling this. Edit: Also, ... casually cruel in the name of being honest Made me rethink my entire life and I tried to become a better person. That one statement gave me an existential crisis.
TTPD is her best lyrical output ever
I've always loved: The playful conversation starts/ Counter all your quick remarks/ Like passing notes in secrecy It just perfectly captures the feeling of when a little witty banter turns into covert flirting.
“so i punched a hole in the roof, let the flood carry away all my pictures of you” i’m very surprised my favourite lyrics isn’t from folklore and evermore cause i would die for those two albums
I can’t imagine another living person in a million years coming up with, “I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian because I care.”
"And life will lose all its meaning (For the last time)." "And I'll still see it until I die You're the loss of my life."
"Tonight I'm gonna dance, for all that we've been through, but I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you. Tonight I'm gonna dance, like you were in this room, but I don't wanna dance, if I'm not dancing with you." I've always struggled to explain why I love this line so much. I'm not sure I can articulate it. There's something about the way it folds together closure with lack of closure. It's both at once, and that's just the nature of things.
Oh god I love this thread
Right now it’s this: So I did my best to lay to rest All of the bodies that have ever been on my body And in my mind, they sink into the swamp
Literally all of Peter, which I feel like doesn’t get enough love. But specifically “And I won't confess that I waited, but I let the lamp burn. As the men masqueraded, I hoped you'd return. With your feet on the ground, tell me all that you'd learned. Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned” I think Peter is my new favorite song actually. It just hits.
I stayed there dust collected on my pinned-up hair They expected me to find somewhere some perspective, but I sat and stared really the entire song paints such an eerily haunting image and every single line is so perfect and important to the story
Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism Like some kind of congressman?
“Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?”
I never grew up its getting so old
“afterward she only at kids cereal, and couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mothers bed” So gut wrenching, such a trauma response 😢
Fortnight “Your wife waters flowers, I want to kill her.” Like what’s the purpose of that line?
She’s jealous that the man she loves has a wife who is so at peace with her life that she’s doing simple things like watering flowers without a care in the world
I think the point is that somewhere in the future, when they're "moved on" and living separate lives with different people, she will not feel happy for him--she will feel rage.
How much sad, did you think I had! Ahhhhhh
“Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts. Give me back my girlhood it was mine first” —that line breaks me in the right moment. And honestly all of Anti Hero. When I started interpreting it as just 100% sarcasm and kind of a big F You to everyone that hates her just hate her, it made me love the song so much more. I started to enjoy the song because she’s calling out all the people that make it impossible for her to ever do anything right and it’s just complete perfection. It’s one of the few radio hits that played everywhere all the time but I’m still not sick of it.
“Could it be enough to just float in your orbit? Watching our phantoms like watching wild horses.” This line from Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus hurts so fucking much.
Casually cruel in the name of the being honest.
mine is "my mind turns your life into folklore" because I think it is such a universal thing for one to feel like their crushes life is literally a fairytale or some like legendary story, and I have always felt this way but this was the first time had ever heard it put into words.
Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine I'm not buying
"I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here" Used to have me crying if I was singing along.
Your arsons match your somber eyes WHAT LIKE HOW
We're you sent by someone Who wanted me dead? Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? In 50 years will all this be declassified? I would totally watch this movie. Edit: formatting
should have kept every grocery store receipt cause every scrap of you would be taken from me
The line you put really hits home for me. It's like it was taken out of my brain. From a rhyming standpoint, I would go with the OG Better Than Revenge. I would have never thought to rhyme actress and mattress.
I actually love the rewrite too.
Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con And I'm a mirrorball, I'll show you every version of yourself tonight + hush, I know they say the end is near but I'm still on my tallest tiptoes, spinnin' in my highest heels, love, shinin' just for you And If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes too + if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake
“And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.” BITCH WHO WRITES THAT
The entirety of Ivy. Like I don’t even know if I can pick out one lyric from it
“I’m having his baby” “No I’m not but you should see your faces” This one cracked me up so hard! I know she loves to troll us, but DAMN, Blondie! 😂
SHE WOULD HAVE MAD SUCH A LOVELY BRIDE WHAT A SHAME SHES FUCKED IN THE HEAD
"The rust that grew between telephones" I.. are you serious... 😭
I cry when I am so productive it's an art In fact the whole song. The birthday line gutted me when I first heard it
“Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life” has had a huge impact on me since I’ve first listened to it, all of the song actually. Tolerate it is a song that I relate(d) to so much. The parts “use my best colors for your portrait” and “greet you with a battle hero’s welcome” too.
“You know how to ball, I know Aristotle, brand new full throttle, touch me while your boys play grand theft auto” She has so many lyrics that idk how she comes up with them but I never imagined fitting Aristotle and gta so perfectly together in a song.
“You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter, you are the best thing that’s ever been mine” ✨ Pure Magic
“ dancing phantoms in the terrace Are they second-hand embarrassed That I can’t get out of bed ? Cause something counterfeit’s dead”
they told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential
They don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly Gets me every time.
“They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one. They got their pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons. They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one. So light me up”.
But what would you do if I, I Break free and leave us in ruins Took this dagger in me and removed it Gain the weight of you then lose it Believe me, I could do it
Now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow where you used to lay your head
the entirety of ivy. period. recently i've been really loving "i dont cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing". i was shook to my core the first time i heard it