Columbus, 8/18

“Swift often sings of alienation and yearning. She has an unusual number of songs about being left behind. Not by the culture—though I think she worries about that, too—but by someone she cared about who couldn’t countenance the immensity of her life. In her world, love is conditional and frequently temporary. (‘You could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend,” she sings on ‘’tis the damn season,’ a line I’ve always found profoundly sad.) On the chorus of ‘The Archer,’ she sings, “Who could ever leave me, darling? / But who could stay?” Toward the end of the song, she adds a more hopeful line: “You could stay.”As she sang that “you” on Saturday, she raised an arm and pointed directly to the audience. Swift has written many songs that describe her devotion as a punishment to be endured. ‘I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?’ she bellows on ‘Cruel Summer.’ She believes that the force of her affection will push people away. But her fans have remained. They have buoyed her; in turn, she has given them everything.”

— The New Yorker on the Eras Tour (x)

May 20th - date of significance? Yes.

Harry released Harry’s House on May 20, 2022. After waiting many months to release Fine Line on Blondie’s 30th birthday, and after writing the bulk of this album in mid 2020, we can assume he chose this date for a reason. Here’s my proposed reason why.

But first - this requires acknowledging that the official, public Haylor origin story of 2012 is incomplete. Yes, they met in late March, eventually took a break, and picked up again in the fall. But based on Harry’s random flights, their mutual habit of vanishing simultaneously (no photos, fan or otherwise) and the lyrical information they’ve disclosed over the years - there is way more to the story.

Let’s call May, June, and very July of that year the Cruel Summer of 2012.

A bunch of stuff likely seemed to have happened in early May (that’ll be a future post about how the Sweeran origin story is also contradictory). But here we are, mid May.

Taylor is living in LA and mostly in the studio. There’s a stretch mid-month where she seems to disappear. Recall - this is the summer where she rents the house in Hyannis Port for many months.

On May 20th, 5 boys and their crew are spotted at the airport in London, flying to Boston Logan to embark on a couple months touring/doing promo in North America. Take a look at young H:

He is CARRYING ON an acoustic guitar, which he can barely play, rather than sending it ahead with all their other instruments and luggage.

The band lands in Boston; 4 guys head to the Mohegan Sun in CT (where they will play a concert soon) and are photographed by fans. And this guy? Vanishes.

Recall the secret message for Everything Has Changed, which Taylor brought to Ed almost totally done for recording on May 27, 2012:

This song, if you’ll recall, talks of a green-eyed smiling man whose eyes “look like coming home”.

Red was finalized at the very beginning of June; Taylor met the Kennedy grandsons on July 4th weekend. The timing does not work, especially since it was recorded in late May (with pap photos of Taylor and Ed outside the Santa Monica studio that day).

But MORE that that, something else occurs that day. It’s described in a 2014 song by Alex and Sierra written by Harry, and outlined in greater detail by Taylor on folklore. It’s a day described in august:

And…ah…perhaps this was also the date for some of the other events described in august?

And lest you think the whole thing wasn’t significant to Harry…by May 27 or 28, the boy gets his second tattoo. It’s a small capital A on the inside of his left elbow, seen for the first time here:

In an interview given by the boys in early July, Harry is asked about the tattoo (which had been drawn by Zayn, our OG Haylor). I cannot link directly to the interview - search for One Direction Granada TV interview on YT. And at 2:30, Harry is asked the significance of the tattoo.

Harry: oh, it’s for my….ah…ah..it’s for me mum.

Boys: laugh heartily at him

Louis: No it’s not! No, it’s not! It’s for a mystery blond!!

Reader, recall that Blondie publishes all of her songs as Taylor A. Swift.

Ten years later, on May 20, 2022, Harry’s House is released.

And on May 20, 2023, during a rain show at Boston’s Gillette stadium, Taylor Swift tells the crowd “I’ve never been so happy in my life in all aspects of my life…my life finally feels like it makes sense.” And that she will play them “this song, which brings me a lot of happy memories”: Question…?

ETA: Want to know what his next two tattoos are? He has them in this late June photo

- the word “Hi” (“all I know is we said hello, and your eyes looks like coming home)

- the (misquoted) lyrics from Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, which happen to be the line which follows *the secret message for Treacherous*. Which he starts kissing while singing love songs starting the day after he gets the tattoo.

whats your take on the first verse of is it over now? i don’t really get it

it's her listing all the moments that the relationship should have/could have been over! once the flight flew, once the flowers died, once she slept alone...all of those could have been relationship enders, but they weren't. this comes back in the second verse too: when he lost control, when they both got hurt, when she was all alone on that boat, when his new s/o looked exactly like taylor. but it isn't over! there's takeout coffees, she sees him everywhere, he dreams of what it was like before she got mad about the fucking around, he's sleeping with everyone to get past her, they're going on blind dates with other people, she's sleeping with other men, he's still sleeping with more other women, he's dreaming of her and yet......still not done. and she's mad about it! she's mad that he's doing the same thing she's doing and getting away with it while she's getting shamed for less—and making her watch this. she's mad that he's looking everywhere for an answer when the answer is her. she's daydreaming about doing crazy fucking things to get his attention because her matching his sleeping around isn't working. what a good song.

i keep watching videos of people going to the eras tour, girls dressing up with their friends, trading friendship bracelets with strangers, crying to surprise songs, holding each other during their favorite set. singing, and dancing, and screaming, and crying and all of it just feels like pure happiness. there's something so special about the unapologetic way girls get to just purely be themselves at the eras tour and it makes my heart so warm inside.

and it's not a gender thing, but the way teenage girls have constantly seen their interests diminished and overlooked makes this sense of community so much more special.

for so long i felt like there was something wrong with being stereotypically girly. god forbid pink is your favorite color, or you listen to pop music, or you have a stan account and posters of a boyband on your bedroom wall. god forbid you're still strong, and smart, and interesting.

and maybe it's because i'm in my twenties now, and i'm finally figuring out who i am, because fuck, being a teenager sucks, but i can look at the girls crying from their nosebleeds seats at the eras tour, or the girls dancing in line for a harry styles concert, or the group of friends that yelled "hi barbie" to me from their pink dresses on the other side of the street, and feel like there is a part of current pop culture, of mainstream media, that is finally, finally, allowing girls to experience girlhood without shame.

we love taylor. we love each other. look at us and the cute bracelets we trade with strangers. look at our pink outfits to go watch barbie at the theatre and our feathery boas at harry concerts and our kindles full of romance books. look. it's all so pretty.

i spent all my money on concert tickets, i'm going to the eras tour next year. i already warned everyone i'll cry during long live.

i'm making bracelets. i have a pinterest board for my outfit. i'm sharing ideas, because everyone else is doing the same. i made a playlist of my favorite songs and named it after taylor swift. i found an old one direction poster and put it back up on my wall. i learned how to crochet, and the first thing i made was a flower. the yard is pink. it's my favorite color.

i did my makeup. i read my favorite sally rooney novel on the train, with my headphones in. i'm twenty and i'm thirteen, and i'm nine, when pink was still my favorite color. i'm all of those girls, and all of them are me.

it really is the girlhood no one can't take away. it was ours first. we're taking it back.

I just keep thinking like, how much Joe helped Taylor become herself and grow as a person - not in the way that like, a man deserves all the credit, but it is so clear that he and their relationship helped her get to a place where she could discuss the topics on folklore / evermore / Midnights, where she could make her political post, hell even the amount of seductive choreo skyrocketed from 1989 to rep and then to Eras because she feels so comfortable with herself, and I don’t doubt that he was a part of that journey. Even if all he did was stand by her, he gave her the confidence to do it all and having that rock really deeply helped her. And like, whatever happened, but it’s clear to me that relationship made her into the best version of herself she could be, and that’s what any wonderful relationship is supposed to do and that is both beautiful and so fucking heartbreaking. And no matter what happened I am so grateful to him to have given those gifts to her.

Same anon on Travis Kelce ask. I think what most haylors fail to accept is that Harry has been saying no to Taylor since 2020. The Daylight mv is a good proof. It's about & for Taylor but Harry saying, "If I was a bluebird..." But he is not. He's been yelling at her, so to speak on that megaphone, but she just won't listen. And haylors aren't listening too. I think it's best to help Taylor out as you just did on your answer but not push the Haylor narrative anymore. I just think that's more helpful to blondie.

Should I feel conflicted about calling you “Travis Kelce ask” anon, lol? Thank you for replying.

I don’t agree with the view that “Harry has been saying no to Taylor since 2020”. No about what? I don’t think he would ever be willing to again be part of a banquet of boys with whom she hooks up (no more JALBOYL or Fool’s Gold stuff). So yeah, much firmer boundaries. (If I am being honest, my guess is his unwillingness to do so might have set the stage for May’s MH three weeks of yuck.)

But what I am documenting is the ways they seem to still be communicating, sending messages to each other, whatever the messages might be since their meaning is not fully clear to us fans. I wouldn’t classify that as “pushing the Haylor narrative”. These things are actually happening. I am citing sources and using data, and I am saying it’s spec when it is.

And the Daylight MV is an example, but I disagree with your argument about the Bluebird. I think that reference ties to this poem by Harry’s beloved Bukowski, and it’s a heartbreaker.

allpoetry.com

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski

Comments & analysis: there's a bluebird in my heart that / wants to get out / but I'm too tough for him, / I sa

The bluebird? Is the vulnerability and softness he feels he can only let out (at night) sometimes (so it doesn’t die) and if he could share it? It would be with *her*.

And look at this timeline I outlined:

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Haylor Stan

Daylight MV by Harry Styles - why was it not the unreleased Two Ghosts MV 2.0? A timeline. This video, released on July 19, 2023, is jam pa

He filmed a whole video packed with messages for her on May 10/11, 2022 after weeks (or even months) of planning.

Then SIX DAYS LATER he films a decoy video.

Then he sits on the other Haylor-coded one for nearly FIFTEEN MONTHS. He could have never released it; he has done that before. But he chose to, on July 19, 2023. Why would he do that?

And the Satellite MV. He could have let us wonder who the song was about. But after the May 3rd video release: no more doubt. Blondie. And it was entirely developed after she dropped Question…?

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This Daydream *is* Dangerous

I think the the Satellite Music Video is a partial response to Question…? Here’s the timeline: October 21st, 2022 - Taylor drops Midnights,

And I do not have firm answers. I am just archiving what is happening.

It’s the same thing with his set list changes. Why add Stockholm Syndrome?

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Harry Styles - Stockholm syndrome, Frankfurt N2 #harrystyles #hslot #onedirection #subscribeformore

Let’s talk another shocking HSLOT song on the European leg: STOCKHOLM SYNDROME I legit though I was hallucinating watching the May 13th liv

Why drop LOML and add Fine Line?

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Harry Styles Tour Statistics: Love on Tour | setlist.fm

Fine Line (the song) as Harry’s emotional barometer: a thesis Fine Line, my beloved. It belongs to my favourite type of songs by male vocal

And her! Why did she make the it so clear that Question…? was about him? Why did she have it on the album at all, holy sh*t. It’s not fair to ask that Blondie, especially since you already know the answers!

Why did she approach him and touch him in public at the Grammys, twice?

Why did she play Question…?, a song that “brings me a lot of happy memories” on May 20th?

These are just some of the very obvious ways they are sending messages. And I don’t have definitive answers. I am noting what I see.

What do you think is the actual deal between Harry and Taylor? Because they seem to be each other's muses- and with the lyrical back and forth that's been going on, EVEN AFTER A DECADE- it can't be nothing. They give off major soulmates vibes (musical-wise) and even relationship-wise (although they could also be star-crossed lovers) with such shitty timing everytime 😂 i've supported joe and taylor for years, but I've got this inkling in my mind like someway and somehow, H and T might still find their way back to each other. Joe just seems meh :/ tbh.

i almost feel like i shouldn't answer this because it's a bit loaded, but it's 3:30 am so why not 😅💕

i'm going to first defer to my friend @cowboylikedean who said:

"they can be soulmates, but not romantically. Consider: their whole relationship has been leading to a friendship which was always destined, but needed a contextual foundation that only an ill defined on again off again/only communicating through sex then song could create. Consider that. Joe is Taylor's forever person. doesn't mean Harry has to be nobody."

we don't know if they've forged a friendship behind closed doors or not, and whether we ever know anything about that is up to them. their interaction at the grammys was warm and familiar, which at the very least speaks to their feelings of respect and kindness towards one another as artists and people. taylor's support for him was clearly genuine (though you could say that of her support for basically everyone in that room). i think it's really important and meaningful to acknowledge that there are a vast array of dynamics that can be considered a soul connection - not only romantic, but familial, platonic/friendship, artistic, those can all be transcendent and vibrant relationships too. i personally feel there's a soul element and connection within their music that needed to exist as a spark to get them where they are today. (had they not been what they were to each other, what would their careers even look like? what would 1989 be? what would hs1 be? etc) and they were also, in many ways, peers when they were together, and in unique positions of fame at a young age that most other people couldn't understand. their timing was consistently wrong/off, but that connection in their hearts and art still came through clearly. to me, it's part of the invisible string - they had to meet and have that complicated on/off thing and have love for one another to be on the paths where they were supposed to go, in different ways, and to be able to stand in a room together where they're both succeeding and both feeling gratitude for what all of that meant.

i think it's a disservice to joe to...not pay attention to what taylor has explicitly said about him, and why that relationship is so different and profound for her. i've seen a LOT of commentary lately about him being boring and not "getting" their connection, and it strikes me as somewhat unfair because we don't see it, we're not privy to it, and we shouldn't be, that is very much by their design. (she did say romance isn't dead if you keep it just yours!) but because someone like h is sparkly and charismatic and a musician, and joe is somewhat more reserved and less obviously visible and an actor, there's this sense that we "know" him less, which can easily seem less interesting, but keep in mind that how any fan sees him and how taylor herself sees and describes him are totally different. he's home to her, he's that gorgeous dream to her, he's the daylight to her, and that's what matters. he's who she's built her life with and found her peace with for many years now, and vice versa. h hasn't found that yet, but i hope he does. but that doesn't necessarily mean harry has to be nothing to her. whether that's fondness and recognition of their influences on one another and gentle nods to the past, or whether that comes in actual friendship, i think it's really important and valuable to acknowledge that the soul connection can happen and NOT be romantic, or initially be romantic/sexual and then transform into something else later, and it's no less of a cosmic pull. in one way or another, they'll always be connected, even if it remains in lyric and melody - and that's also always going to keep having a life of its own.

I know nobody here really cares that much, but since 1989 (Taylor’s version) came out my fyp has been all about her & Harry, and so many of the videos are like “GASP was Harry one of the bad boyfriends?!”

And as someone who’s never felt any type of way about Harry, I think I like or at least respect him a little bit more after the vault tracks? Especially “is it over now?” Because I’ve seen a lot of clips of this man talking about Taylor over the years, and I’ve never seen or heard him say something disparaging or complaining about her writing songs about him. In fact, I’ve only ever seen him be like “hey, it’s her life and if she’s written anything about me, I’d be flattered. She’s so talented.” And this isn’t a new reaction, like there are interviews from that year where he says something to that effect and honestly?? Pop off, Harry.

They’re friendly enough that I’m sure he’s heard these songs before, or at least knew that she had some less than flattering ones in her back pocket, and was still like “yeah, no, I’d be honored. Are you kidding?” Like he was 20 or something when they were together and 20 year old boys are awful and shitty and apparently he’s talked about the fact that he’s a bad boyfriend before, so I love that this entire time he’s shown a level of emotional maturity and respect for her that fucking John Mayer refused to. It would’ve been so easy for him to be a dick about it, and he never was! It seems like he just went “I treated you like shit. You’re totally valid in this. Go off, queen.”

I’ve been laughing imagining him listening to the vault tracks and the “if she’s got blue eyes I can surmise that you’ll probably date her” line and being like “fuck, bro. She really called me out like that on main? Damn. I should send her flowers or something.” And then “now that we don’t talk” I can literally see him hearing the line about her mom and going “aw, Andrea. I always liked her. I hope she’s well. Fuck it, somebody send her flowers too.”

As somebody who knows nothing about him and never really got into 1d or paid close attention to his career, only passively enjoyed his music, I think these song’s coming out vastly improved my opinion of him 😂

harries and swifties are very similar that’s why they always have discourse because they fight like siblings to me lol. if we could form an alliance we would be so powerful because the way we love our fav is very similar too and we have nearly the same aesthetic. both our favs love art, poetry, books and have similar music taste and style and that rubs off on their fans too! there’s actually a huge overlap between the two fanbases irl, so i’m manifesting harries and swifties alliance in 2023 on social media too

I feel like the Swifties and Harry Styles fans go hand in hand. They’re as likely to wear a boa as they are to dress in an entire album aesthetic. Like usually when we like one, we like the other; because it’s an entire community and I love it. It’s made up of goofy people, hopeless romantics, people who advocate being themselves. It’s a kind and colourful community where you’re sure to find like-minded people, who will sing and scream unapologetically at the top of their lungs like their life depends on it.

And I strongly believe these fans are the formers directioners now all grown up, with the same fantasies they had as teenagers, but a firmer idea of who they want and don’t want to be.