"the Truth Is I Can't Pretend It's Platonic"/"i Cannot Be Your Friend"

Beautiful ‘Red’ Album Things:

The guitar slide right before the chorus of State of Grace where the sound amps up and how it all resembles the described relationship which starts out beautiful and then suddenly falls apart and explodes in heartbreak

The background vocals singing “uh oh” in State of Grace to symbolize how the seemingly beautiful relationship is heading for compete disaster

Taylor repeating the second verse of State of Grace as a background vocal right before the song ends 

Ending the first song with “love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right” as a warning of things to come

How the mini guitar solo in “Red” almost sounds like someone in hysterics

The gradual build up of instrumentals and vocals throughout Treacherous that works off the metaphor of the relationship being a dangerous slope/path to travel, as if the further in the song she gets, the steeper the path becomes and more she has to exert to keep going

The build up of the beat right before the bass drops in IKYWT just like how the relationship suddenly exploded

How the beat and instrumentals stop in IKYWT when she screames “Hey!” right before the chorus like a sudden realization that she’s all alone or it’s all her fault

How the pre-choruses and choruses in IKYWT get more beat and vocals as the song goes on and as she becomes more helpless and angry

All Too Well

“Maple Lattes”

How the “hey!” and “it feels like one of those nights” in 22 have a lot of vocal layers to give the feeling of a big group of friends yelling

“Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew!”

How no other vocals but Taylor’s are present in I Almost Do, which is also shown in the song credits in the album booklet

The background vocal at the end of chorus of I Almost Do sounding like a ghost or a fading voice, which echoes how she is haunted by the relationship but can’t quite get herself to go back to it

The entire fact that WANEGBT is a pop song because the person it’s about looked down upon pop music 

“With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine”

The sound of a record being suddenly stopped on a record player at the end of the bridge and how that relates to the last bullet point

“That’s so fun” at the end of Stay Stay Stay

How Taylor puts extra syllables in the rhythm at “now you carry my groceries and I”m always laughing” in Stay Stay Stay which resembles how the relationship goes beyond her expectations

How she put The Last Time right after Stay Stay Stay 

The two point of views in The Last Time

The difference in urgency and volume and emotion between Gary Lightbody’s and Taylor’s voices to signify the dynamics of the relationship and break up

How Taylor’s voice lasts a little bit longer than Gary’s at the end of The Last Time to show how she was holding on longer

How the Last Time builds up and then suddenly drops everything but their vocals and one chord on a piano to convey the loss

How the background vocals of Holy Ground sound like they’re saying “hooray” even though Taylor has said they’re just ‘sounds of joy’

The urgency of Holy Ground like a memory that comes out of nowhere and fills you with a burst of happiness

How the main guitar line throughout Sad Beautiful Tragic carries the same rhythm as a train on a track and then “I stood right by the tracks and “this train runs off it’s track” and the secret message ”while you were on a train”

How, following that, the secondary guitar line pops in and out whenever she sings important lines like the memories coming back to her

The Lucky One/how it’s track 13/”wouldn’t you like to know”/ “hell”

The fact that The Lucky One was recorded in LA and Taylor never toured to Madison Square with Red or 1989 and then admitted to making us believe TS5 was going to be about roses with pics of her rose garden, like that’s some next level shit

“Good to go?”/Ed Sheeran

How Everything Has Changed sounds like an Ed Sheeran song with Taylor Swift lyrics

How the bridge of Everything Has Changed drops everything but Ed’s guitar and Taylor’s voice to give the feeling of intimacy but then explodes with full instrumentals and more vocals like a sudden burst of joy when the love interest shows up

The change to 1940′s vocabulary in Starlight to tell the story from Ethel’s point of view

The guitar at the beginning of Starlight sounding like stars glistening and then that being echoed in the background by the piano in the chorus

The calmness and softness of Begin Again after the wild ride you just went through

REFERENCING THE MAN/MUSICAL LEGEND/NOW FRIEND SHE WAS NAMED AFTER IN BEGIN AGAIN WHO SHE THEN BEATS FOR A GRAMMY 4 YEARS LATER

“But I do” 

“I wear heels now”

How the album takes you through the entire deconstruction of a relationship but brings it full circle with a new love interest at the end and an echoing of hope and begins with an explosive pop rock song about wild love and ends with a gentle country song about easy, childlike love

The deconstruction of the idea of “fate” throughout the ‘story’ of the album and how it leaves you with the message that true love happens but it’s up to you to make it work and to play love “good and right” and that love should be easy and built on a solid foundation

Every lyric on this album

The Grammys fucked up

reddit. com/r/TaylorSwift/comments/16igrdk/fall_out_boys_pete_wentz_on_taylor_swift_really/

"Taylor is the only artist that I’ve met or interacted with in recent times who creates exactly the art of who she is, but does it on such a mass level. So that’s breathtaking to watch from the sidelines. The way people traded bracelets, I don’t know what the beginning of it was, but you felt that everywhere. We felt that, I saw that in the crowd on our tour. I don’t know Taylor well, but I think she’s doing exactly what she wants and creating exactly the art that she wants to create. And doing that, on such a level, is really awe-inspiring to watch. It makes you want to make the biggest, weirdest version of our thing and put that out there.”

!!!

i truly do think that this is why her music speaks to her audience in the way that it does, because it's so authentically her. taylor's personality, vulnerability, emotions, perspective are all very alive in her writing and that touches people. this is interesting because i'd say that pete's writing has always been a raw, expressive reflection of himself too - and that inspired taylor, after all! - but it can be harder to see that in yourself or to recognize that genuineness when you feel more like you're pulling yourself apart. there's very much an energy that resonates in both of their work, and even though they don't personally know each other that well, the mutual professional respect and admiration is such a cool thing to see. it must be so wild and fulfilling to her to now be an inspiration to the very artists she herself found that in when she was starting out

Oh, great. I always thought the line "i'm aware i wrote so many songs about you" was confusing, so he only wrote Cherry for her and that's all or there is another one?? Tbh, in the time i was afraid of this relationship because he lasted with her like almost a year and a half and my haylor hopes were done back in the day

Cherry is the only one I can put with her. She did give him the book that inspired the name of Watermelon Sugar.

After Taylor's whirlwind trip to Kansas City the one detail that was said that lifted my spirit was Taylor packed a candle to take with her. I remember Harry saying one time that he takes a candle with him on tour. So Haylors, it's been a long road, but our Twin Flames are still burning. I feel re-energized.

Yes they are always gonna be linked. They are both going through a healing process. They need to finish healing from the past before they can be in union.

Something something about Harry possibly realizing the gravity of their love and how it still affects her now to an extent…idk not to be a haylor haylor, but WAKE UP. The fact Taylor was willing to ridicule herself just to be together because she knew his perception of her trumped the medias’ is something so special to me

it really makes you wanna go put question on and like actually ask him the question.... did you regret it you fucking idiot?????? cause like!!!!!!! she was so in love with him and was willing to throw herself into a fire for him and he was just so oblivious to his impact!!! with red tv we heard her call his laughter a disaster... she was so taken by him immediately. this was falling in love in the cruelest way. and he had her so hard she missed him so much and then he came back and she got spooked and he just....... bowed out. he started fucking around and jerking her around and that just was how they went for 2 fucking years.

it's heartbreaking and infuriating and i'm SURE that, just like when he hear question the first time a year ago, he is kicking himself for being such a dumbass kid back then

can we make a pact to use tayrry for taylor russell and haylor for taylor swift i’m getting so confused 😭

Taylor performing “You Belong With Me” at the Eras Tour, Glendale

they are so similar i can’t..

Taylor meeting the parents (the moms especially) this early on, will never not be funny to me. Blondie is out there interacting with them as if they've known each other for years lol. I kind of feel bad for them cause they also get to feel the blow of the breakup alongside their sons. Tay is a daughter-in-law material and no doubt she charms them too, leaving a long lasting effect. She's the kind of ex that the moms continue asking about years after the breakup has happened.

Oh Anon - you are spot on! She is a parent charmer for sure. And we can just imagine the “How could you let her get awaaaay?!?” conversations some of these mothers are forced to have with their broken-hearted sons as Blondie zooms away in the Getaway Car?

While we’re on the subject of notorious parent charmers? Harry Edward Styles. Look at his interactions with the senior Cordens, see how Ben Winston talks about his time with the senior Winstons, see the charm on display as H sweetly asks after then greets Hillary Whitehall in front of a panicked Jack at the 2020 Brits. Or listen to that HAIM interview I reposted the other day. Not only is he friends with the girls, he is friends with their DAD whose drumming he’d admired for years.

They’re considerate and kind, and enthusiastic supporters of these parents’ beloved children. No wonder parents are big fans.

Thanks so much for this ask!

Not to be a haylor shipper but I always found it pretty sweet that Taylor has nearly two albums written about her painting her in the most beautiful light possible by someone who loved her deeply. The same girl who was shamed for writing about love and heartbreak to the point where she herself doubted her self worth and felt like she was 'poisoned ivy' that destroyed everything she touches has lyrics like "moonlight dances over your GOOD side" and "summertime and butterflies all belong to your creation" and "I'm missing half of me when were apart" that was inspired by her. Even if the world doesnt know that she knows. She knows she not only left her mark as an artist but as a muse. This is why I don't want gp or casual people to find out that hs1 is about her. There is something romantic about Taylor being a nameless faceless person in his art. Someone who knew her as Taylor and not Taylor Swift.

[P.s I don't think they are soul mates or meant to be. But the mark their relationship left within themselves and music as a whole is fascinating ]

i have nothing to add to this because you phrased it so beautifully. <333 (and i wish sometimes we had more space to talk about this without the caveat regarding ~shipping~, which is simply not the point!) it's a little insight that we get to hear, both musically and from that human perspective. those threads of gossamer inspiration and tenderness and shared artistry.

(your ps!!! 100%, and i think you can be meant to meet rather than meant to be. the moment in time still matters, and the ripples across the music and the stories told and the unspoken dialogue is SUCH a cool creative arc to follow.)

This is Jackknife Lee talking about making songs with Harry & Taylor. He worked with Taylor on Red & Harry on “Something Great”. Do you think we will get these songs on 1989 Taylor’s version? 🤞