The lakes is about escaping the challenging aspects of Taylor Swift's life with her muse to form an artist community like Wordsworth and Keats had in the Lakes district in the 19th century.
Above, the Lyric video shows wildflowers, LK has referenced this song and Harry also has for a Pleasing campaign. In the vertical video Taylor is on a swing, reminiscent of the swing in Seven, possibly about Harry. Finally a photo with a swan in The Lakes District.
In the Long Pond Session Taylor said (I've shortened it)
'The Lakes is a testament of what I wanted to escape from and where I saw myself escaping to. We'd gone to the Lake District in England a couple years ago. In the 19th century you had a lot of poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats. There was a poet district. They had their own community of other artists, which I've always in my career.' Jack: 'it's not just I've found something worth escaping to it’s a person to escape with.” Taylor agreed "That's a huge sincere statement of hope, everything I'm naming is completely small compared to this love.” “Hoax as the ending song was interesting for a couple weeks but then I wanted the real last song. The Lakes shows you exactly what the overarching theme of the whole album of trying to escape and having something you want to protect, protect your own sanity and saying look they did this hundreds of years ago, I'm not the first person who's felt this way.
Taylor said they had gone to the lakes "a couple of years ago", and she described a poet district with an artist community, meaning fellow songwriters. She had been to the Lakes with a couple of years ago with on her first trip there with Harry Styles on her birthday in 2012. At the time Taylor said it was her best birthday since she was 6. Like Taylor, Harry has a similar experience of fame and is a lyricist. Harry has also sung about being in an artist community with Taylor, in Canyon Moon, which has a very similar idea as The Lakes.
I have seen people refer to the Invisible String Lyric "Our three-year trip / Getting lunch down by the Lakes" to point to Joe. While not photographed, their 3rd anniversary was October 2019, or 6 months before this song was recorded. 'A couple of years ago' rather than 'last year' implies the earlier trip. Joe is also not a lyricist, she spoke about an artist community. He is credited as a producer on Folklore. Taylor described how William Bowery wrote the melody's not lyrics.
Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me? I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones These hunters with cell phones
An elegie is the speech at a funeral, her songs, particularly those she is reclaiming are like diary. She lost her eulogie, the story of her life.
The last line refers back to 'I Know Places' "They are the hunters, we are the foxes" where she and Harry ran from paparazzi, now they hide from every person with a cell phone.
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse
Taylor is saying she is not cut out for the music industry life, she lost the rights to her diary, constantly photographed. In the Long Pond she referred to having this plan for years, which she foreshadowed for Lover, and I think Harry's Peace ring. I think they may have shared this plan when they first visited for when she turned 30 and into 2020. Folklore is about communication and how life differs to what a 23 year old planned.
The final line is so lovely, her muse is Harry Styles. No other partner has inspired so much work or so much success, they have inspired and encouraged each other to do their best work. Even when they are with others for years they still write about each other. When they see each other they are prolific. Harry has even sung about how he writes too much about her. I could list what proportion of awards and hits are about this relationship, but let's stay in the Windermere peaks.
Despite their success Taylor does not think they are cut out for this life. Taylor has sung about Harry's anxiety in New Years Day and Now that we don't talk, it's also apparent watching him at award shows in his solo career. This song and many (Mirrorball, I know places, Slut!, You're on your own kid) are about how fame impacted Taylor.
What should be over burrowed under my skin In heart-stopping waves of hurt I've come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze Tell me what are my words worth
The first line I think could have 2 meanings, one that the relationship should be over but it is not and the waves are hurt of not being together. Or, and I think this because of the second half, Taylor cannot let her masters go. The last line is a pun on the worth of her words and the poet William Wordsworth.
I want auroras and sad prose I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet 'Cause I haven't moved in years And I want you right here A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground With no one around to tweet it While I bathe in cliffside pools With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief
I want auroras and sad prose, refers to Harry Styles. She describes his eyes as “aurora borealis green” in Snow on the Beach. She also describes him as sad boy in Question..?, he does write sad prose.
In the Long Pond Session Taylor said "I could see this you know you you live in a cottage and you've got Wisteria growing up the outside of it and you just why you know of course they escaped like that." William Wordsworths cottage (below) has wisteria growing on the side, which is a slow growing purple plant, almost a lavender haze!
I love the imagery of 'Red rose grew out of rose in frozen ground', because it refers to Rose, which is a Haylor theme. But also because it refers to the track before Hoax: "My winless fight, this has frozen my ground" It also refers to a theme of hiding their love, "I would die for you secret" in Peace, that something beautiful and no one needs to know about it.
The last lines are so poetic and dramatic I love them. Calamitous love refers to a love that’s “built to fall apart (and back together)” in OOTW or "a crooked love in a straight line down” in IWYW. Taylor used a similar word discussing SOTB, calling it cataclysmic love. Taylor describes her dramatic and passionate relationship with Harry rather than staide and safe one described with Joe.
Her insurmountable grief is all she’s lost, her masters, the things she gave up in your own your own kid and things she has to pine about.
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse No, not without you
Love this chorus, such beautiful poetry about poets and love.
The vaults songs are amazing in the sense that they showcase so perfectly how back and forth their relationship was. They can be almost ruthless, because that was the feeling in the heat of the moment… and then things were good again. For all that she blames him, she also lays her part on it. They both suck at communicating back then.
By the time 1989 was as out they were on good terms, and while I think a big part of letting it be publicly known she was on good terms with him during 1989 initial promo was because the message and image she wanted to project, it was also because she never really saw him as the sole villain in the story… as charged as their story was the fact that they remain friendly nowadays? A true testament of how they really see each other. Theirs wasn’t a story of unforgivable mistakes but a sad story of really bad timing and not being ready for something so striking
It's so annoying to check the Haylor tag and see (mostly Gaylors and Larries) saying dumb shit like "did you even read the prologue of 1989?" Idk babe, did YOU? Because if you're still a Gaylor after that and the other multiple times she's said she's straight, an ally, and to stop shipping her with women then are you even truly a fan of hers? She was saying, in the nicest way possible, AGAIN that she is straight and tired of people shipping her with her FRIENDS. She dated Harry, so linking songs to him is not what she is talking about in the prologue. For the males, she was referring to her male FRIENDS - ie. Ed Sheeran and honestly I have no idea now who her other male friends are because she's kept them so secret but, I know she was also linked with Cory Moneith back in the day as well as Zac Efron who were clearly just friends with her.
The other thing I have seen is "you have no proof Haylor ever happened outside of 2012 besides their song lyrics". Yes, no shit. Did you hear Harry? I'm not even a huge Harry fan and even I know he specifically did an interview (maybe multiple) where he said lyrics/songs were "the best unspoken dialogue between people". Like, he gave you the proof right there. So if you can't put 2 + 2 together then idk what to tell you.
All of 1989 indicates a relationship that failed mostly due to the paparazzi/media influence. Firstly, I have no idea how anyone could ever link that to Dianna Agron when IF they had been in a relationship it was secret so it could not possibly have failed due to the media/paparazzi. I'm assuming those who believe this just do not get metaphors? Because in "I Know Places" she's not talking about hiding a queer relationship, she's talking about the paparazzi hounding her and Harry early into their relationship (he also talked about this and how at the time it was overwhelming for him and he hated it) - I know she also made comments about this back then as well - and she was trying to be his safe place and saying "I know places we can hide from them". The hunters with their guns are literally paparazzi with their cameras. Literally the entire song:
"It's a scene and we're out here in plain sight I can hear them whisper as we pass by It's a bad sign, bad sign Somethin' happens when everybody finds out See the vultures circlin', dark clouds Love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out It could burn out"
"Lights flash and we'll run for the fences Let them say what they want, we won't hear it Loose lips sink ships all the damn time Not this time"
"They take their shots, but we're bulletproof"
All of this is about a public relationship.
"Out Of The Woods" is referring to both the relationship "are we out of the bad parts of our relationship?" and "being out of the media's spotlight causing them issues".
"Wonderland" talking about flashing lights (paparazzi) and them getting lost away from it. Again, media and paparazzi and needing to run/hide from them.
"But there were strangers watchin' And whispers turned to talkin' And talking turned to screams, oh"
That's literally explaining people watching them then running wild in the media and it turned to them fighting.
Haylor was photographed quite a few times but, there were also tons of instances where they were together that was not reported by the media - but fans saw them out and about. So clearly she did know places they could hide from the media.
As for "Slut!" it literally ties in perfectly with every other 1989 song, so again - how is ANY of that about Dianna? She's saying "everyone wanted him that was my crime", aka I get called a slut because everyone wants him and hates me for having him. I'm sorry but, as pretty as Dianna is - she was never someone "everyone wanted". And if their relationship was a secret, then why would Taylor fear being called a slut and how "it'd be worth it for once"?
1989 is not a purely or even mostly happy album and maybe you’ll see that now. there’s a lot of yearning and a lot of truth-telling and a lot of hiding feelings and reckoning with huge life changes and growing up and moving on and crawling back and clinging onto hopes of true love when you have had your heart ripped into pieces but you cut your hair and moved to new york and maybe that’s enough.
new lorde email just dropped
I think there's a lot to be said about Clean and how Taylor was writing songs like Style and Is It Over Now? at the same time. The shaming by the media and public made her put on a face and say she was over her hurt when she wasn't.
The way “I heard that you’ve been out and about with some other girl, you said what you heard is true but I can’t stop thinking about you, I said I’ve been there too a few times” makes the situation sound so sexy and fun and lighthearted and Is it Over Now is like “actually, I wanted to jump off a building!”
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.
Say Don’t Go: Why’d you whisper in the dark, Just to leave me in the night?
Question…?: Did you leave her house in the middle of the night? Did you wish you put up more of a fight?
can i ask what’s so special about 8/9? 👀
btw, 13 days since yesterday is going to be 8/9,soooo👀
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.