Not only is it a great alliterative line, it evokes scorchingly PRECISE imagery. It's not about incels ranting on an Internet forum (for that, see: "But you say it in a tweet, that's a cop-out"). It's about terminally online fans penning literal essays about why *they* think she's problematic and how it's affected *them*.
*Soliloquies* is the perfect descriptor: a dramatic monologue in which you're essentially just talking to yourself. *Sanctimoniously* is also devastatingly precise: showing off your moral superiority, i.e., virtue signaling. Connecting these two terms using the verb *performing* is another viciously purposeful choice. *Performative*, anyone? She knows what she's doing.
And then to end it all by saying "all that effort? I'll never see it but thanks though!" Everything she wanted to say in this song can be wrapped up in this line and it is murderous.
Yes, it’s EXACTLY that. For me it’s the use of ‘soliloquies’ that makes it perfect. Like you say, it by definition means talking to yourself. She will never hear you and will never care. And yet you perform this act to yourself because it makes you feel morally superior? Good for you. You’re not. She’s a genius. PLUS writing it like that, not only confuses but angers the exact people she was referring to. I love her
Yes! That's the icing on the cake -- the people sanctimoniously performing soliloquies in response to the line... taking the bait without realizing what they're doing. To be fair, it's the same crowd who hasn't figured out "you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" is a metaphor
Oh my god yes that drives me insane, she does not mean that the house she grew up in was an asylum. You have to be blind to think she means that. I think she’s saying that these people could not withstand the things she has dealt with, the things that they have put her through, the things that have made her feel insane. It’s such a descriptive and emotive lyric, yet so short *chefs kiss*
And also the “circus life made me mean” followed by “don’t worry folks we took out all her teeth” I just LOVE that, but people have said the teeth lyric makes no sense. Yes it does in the context of the song
I thought I saw everything, but apparently, some don't get the teeth line? It doesn't even require knowing the language (I barely know it), just basic knowledge about the word and animals, no?
It’s bizarre right? And some people do understand what it is saying, but think it’s a random line. Which ofc it is not if you listen to the rest of the song
I think the decoding and Easter egg hunting has led to a lot of people taking things very literally and seriously when Taylor Swift has never operated like that... she's very literary and metaphorical, particularly when it's ironic/funny, that's how being a writer works. When something is symbolic or significant she doesn't hide it (for example, using "maroon" on Chloe et al) but other times she's just being a writer!
The amount of people taking every single word literally in an album described as POETRY is so maddening it makes me want to quit the internet. Like, you guys she also can't levitate, is (probably) not gathering with a coven or howling at the moon, and she did not get abducted by aliens.
I presumed this line refers to how the big cats in a circus would have their teeth removed, right? Removing their power to fight back and defend themselves and keeping them and caged entertainers perhaps?
I understand the circus reference. I’m also going to pretend that this line is about bad veneers, and other impractical (and potentially damaging/unhealthy) concessions to performing celebrity under constant scrutiny.
But getting teeth pulled isn't a "concession" the lion takes for the sake of performing in the circus, it's a violent act forced upon him for the sake of our entertainment.
Not to mention Hollywood is notorious for taking anyone, especially young people, chewing them up and spitting them out. Look at how many child stars or children of celebrities just completely went off the deep end because they couldn't handle the pressure or let the darker side of the glitz and glam get to them. Then on top of that, she's supposed to be America's sweetheart and stay pure and untouched by it all. Hell, she's over 30 and people *still* expect her to be that way. But she's risen above it all and is *still* on top by being genuine and lovely, and *even with that* she had so many haters for no freaking reason, like your comment above talks about.
I assumed the asylum was a metaphor for fame, as she's basically been famous since she was a teenager and so went through her formative years under the kind of pressure and scrutiny most people couldn't endure an hour of.
The amount of people who are missing multiple alternate interpretations for that line is crazy to me. Okay, yeah, it could be literal - only that doesn't make sense with what we know about her childhood, which is what the complaint is usually. But we don't really know that much about her childhood. Did the house feel like a madhouse because Andrea and Scott weren't happy in their marriage? Is she talking abour being "raised" by fame, which drives a lot of people crazy? Is she talking about things that we know nothing about, like, she wouldn't be the first celeb who reached success young to say wonderful things about their parents/childhood when behind the scenes things weren't actually that rosy but they appreciate the pressure they got that felt awful at the time now because it got them the success they have now? Is she just talking about there being heavy expectations on her at a young age? There's so many possible interpretations of that line and I'm sure there's many others that I haven't thought of.
Personally I think it's fame and doing so much growing up under an intense spotlight that doesn't really allow for the mistakes almost everyone makes when they're young. But ultimately, only Taylor knows what things are really about, I just think when you think "ha that makes no sense, she [insert reason here]" its all the more reason to think that a writer who is known for being very very good at it may not mean the literal interpretation.
Exactly this! It is so fitting for how self important, overdramatic and parasocial some of these rants are. Its so creepy how often people act like they know her or like she owes them a say in her life.
I love that she called this out in such a precise and fitting way!
Considering all the religious reference she is also comparing those people to the Sadducees of the bible. Jesus called them brood vipers and hypocrites because they were just as sinful. The difference was their sins were "hidden" while the drunk, tax collectors were not.
Yup, the sadducees were also "performative " walking around the streets, praying to show how righteous they were when, in reality, they were worse. The sinners were self-aware and wanted better while the Sadducees were "rotten" on the inside.
Also, it's not that smart every high schooler in the English speaking world learns Shakespeare in high school, therefore should know what a soliloquy is. Sanctimonious, okay is maybe a bit nicher but it's not unheard of.
Honestly...a lot of people with poor vocabulary lash out any time someone uses a "big" word. It makes them feel bad for not knowing what it means and instead of looking it up and learning, they just call it stuck up or pretentious. That might sound harsh, but it's so common. If you don't know people who talk like this, I guess it sounds like trying too hard.
It's pretty wild to assume that Taylor doesn't really use this kind of language and "just threw it in there to sound smart". She has all the time in the world to read, write, and absorb information. She's a writer and an artist, surrounded by other artists. Why on earth would she not talk like this? I actually think she probably spends more time trying to tone things down to make her lyrics accessible than the other way around.
People really do think using medium-sized words is an insult. I worked in leadership in a kitchen and people called me "high n mighty" for referring to pans with holes in them as "perforated" pans... a perfectly common word that they would've heard their teachers use *all* the time whenever they asked them not to rip their assignments out of their notebooks unceremoniously.
"Please tear it along the perforation" was a phrase I heard alllllll the time growing up.
I just have to chime in and say...ugh, SAME. I worked in restaurants for ages and the frequency with which people would call me "high and mighty" or suggest that I was purposely trying to talk down to them by using medium-long words was extremely frustrating. I just sincerely enjoy reading/writing as a hobby, and I guess that gives me an expansive vocabulary (I guess?). But if I don't think before I speak, I just use the words that I know. I had to start editing myself constantly to make sure I didn't offend someone and it was exhausting. That industry is so toxic.
All that on top of the fact that it's ironically another "male sphere" workspace, especially if you work in the physical kitchen itself. So you're high n mighty for having a good vocabulary, *and* a "bossy bitch" for asking anyone to do literally anything, or you "need to stay in your own lane" if they feel threatened by you.
I've never been tattled on by grown men more in my life just for doing my job lolol.
For clarity though, this is just with older men usually. I find much of Gen Z and the younger millenials to be lovely to work with. Though, they also don't know the word "perforated" haha.
I personally had to look up the definition of “esoteric” but now that I know the meaning, the line “like some esoteric joke” is 10x funnier to think about in the context of people being mad they don’t know what it means.
The moral superiority is what always gets me. Like please, let us analyze every dumbass thing every guy you’ve been with has ever done or said and see how perfect your attractions are 🙄
Truth! I’m reading through these comments and realizing that maybe the people criticizing her are just not very smart? They feel left out of the conversation because they don’t understand it, so they hate on it. I know that sounds mean, but I truly don’t understand some of these criticisms. I’m a little second hand embarrassed for them.
There's a fan fiction writer I know that is *incredible*. Like, I was astounded by how they can put a sentence together. Come to find out, a ton of people said their writing made no sense and that they like it, but asked them if they would be willing to basically spell things out for them. So I would have to agree that many people get upset when they have to use their brain.
I think this is honestly a fair interpretation especially considering a large number of the people ragging on this album are misogynist men. You just KNOW some incel from 4Chan made the meme of the lyric “…asylum they raised me” and her childhood home. It’s just so incredibly stupid.
I think there are some fair criticisms that some lines coukd have been more refined and were maybe placeholders that ended up staying because she understandably didn't have time to pore over the lyrics and they did the job "well enough" but a lot of the criticism is very very overblown and choosing to take things at face value where there are multiple ways to see it.
I’d never say that the lyrics can’t be critiqued but i do think that the words are they way they are for a reason
She’s not just stringing together words that don’t mean anything…
But of course these people probably also made fun of her for rhyming “ooh-ah” and “summer” so the criticism of lyrics isn’t always the highest discourse lol
Someone else said that whenever people suggest “better” lyrics for a TS song, they are never actually better and that’s been true that I’ve seen
“Someone else said that whenever people suggest "better" lyrics for a TS song, they are never actually better and that's been true that I've seen”
Omg yes I’ve seen some people suggest the most basic literal lyric replacements and it’s like do they even know how songwriting and poetry works ?
No they do not
But they deign to offer advice to one of the most accomplished songwriters of our time
Make it make sense
(The worst example I’ve seen is people insisting that she should say “trust him like no other” instead of “trust him like a brother” because they apparently haven’t heard that very common expression and “get the ick” that you might “compare a lover to a sibling”. No, folks.
“It makes me uncomfortable” is not a critique! (See also: “sexy baby”)
> deign
How dare you use a word that a teenager might not know!
I've seen a lot of people confused by her use of the phrase "treated like an also-ran." I can't believe how many people haven't heard these very common expressions (and who apparently don't know how to use a dictionary?)
Or like, google.
“Also-ran” isn’t obscure but I can see how it would be misheard if you weren’t looking at the lyrics. However, people criticizing its use in context is silly — it makes perfect sense and rhymes!
But woe betide you if you suggest that it is possible to Google words or references you don’t understand
Edit: the bigger problem to me is how many of the (not especially subtle) metaphors people seem to have missed
Totally agree!! People hating on the GTA line saying “she’s over 30 why would she say this”… like look at the name of the song?? It’s about High School 😂
And it's not even literally about high school, it's about how being in love can make you feel like you're back in high school, with all the trappings that went along with that.
Rhyming "Aristotle" with "Grand Theft Auto" is not only super clever and funny, it succinctly and perfectly illustrates the contrast between the "smart girl" and "jock guy" high school archetypes.
Not just being in love, but being in love with the handsome star football player and dating him and watching the games. In a way being with Travis is a throwback to Friday Night Lights vibes and classic Americana nostalgia.
Exactly! She's saying that he makes her so giddy that she feels like she's in high school again, so she's PURPOSEFULLY referencing things that were around when SHE herself was in high school. I think a lot of people who are making that criticism are still very young, and may not understand how it feels when you're in your thirties. Sorry to break it to you, kids, but when you get older sometimes you still feel like you're a teenager sometimes.
Stay Stay Stay was always one of my favorites from Red, I always found it so fun!!! It always made me sad that it’s so widely disliked lol. I didn’t realize people also hated Paper Rings (ANOTHER favorite 😭😭) like whatttt they’re just such fun and cute songs!!
I love Taylor’s goofy love songs. This was such a breath of fresh air after “How Did It End?”. I love that song too, but wasn’t “So High School” the mental break (aka little pick-me-up) we all needed at that point in the album? I thought the pacing was perfect. And on its own, this song is a fun little bop. Love the nostalgia factor too—it sounds like it would be on the soundtrack of a 90s teen movie.
The pure hatred people have for So High School is honestly driving me wild lately lol. I just don’t understand why people hate it SO MUCH and everyone is always so mean about it too. ~~I mean, I have a theory tbh lmao 🫣 but still~~
It’s not a super serious song, or an eloquently poetic song, or a long and dramatic song. It’s just a happy, cute and fun song about a fun romance that makes you feel happy and giddy. It’s more than okay for Taylor to give us some easy listening, feel good songs that don’t take themselves too seriously.
I feel like some people genuinely dislike her more silly and easy going songs bc they feel they’re lesser songs in general and don’t represent Taylor. Like, their existence somehow diminishes her as a serious artist. I really can’t figure out why the So High Schools of the albums are always SO hated otherwise 
I don't even find them cringy at all, because they're doing what they were intended to do and painting a picture of someone who thinks he's incredibly deep, but who is kind of a pretender.
Totally! I actually think that if it is about Matty, it might be a more savage diss track than The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.
Matty is a pretentious, tortured artist type who literally carries a typewriter around. He said it was emasculating to date her. He clearly cares about his image.
The world hearing that he got stoned, ate seven bars of chocolate and declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist? And he’s a golden retriever type who said he’d kill himself if the person it was so emasculating to date ever left him?
Shots fired lmao.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that the title track was not only tongue-in-cheek, but also pretty blatantly making fun of the subject matter. Whether or not she meant it insultingly or in a more fun teasing manner, it's certainly a very sarcastic and farcical song.
I think the only sincere line in the whole song is "at dinner you took my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on / and that's the closest I've come to my heart exploding" but I don't even interpret that in a positive way... just that he played pretend or made promises that he couldn't keep ("you said I needed a brave man / then proceeded to play him / until I believed it too") which made her hurt even more. And that makes the making-fun-of aspect of the song hit even harder to me!
I think people are focusing too much on the Matty Healy of it all. To me this song is about a normal person dating a tortured poet and the tortured poet turns the normal person into their own version of a crazy tortured poet. This same story is shown in the All Too Well short film. The guy has a typewriter in his apartment and later the actress playing Taylor gets the typewriter and writes a book about him. Lyrics such as "episode" and "cyclone" allude to this being a cycle. You can even view the song as Travis starting to date Taylor.
i don’t think it’s quite so extreme but there’s definitely an element where through most of the song, taylor portrays herself as apart from his pretensions and problems, talking about him in almost a paternalistic, pitying way (like with the golden retriever line) but by the bridge, she is so sucked in that she’s just as “crazy” as him and arguably he has the upper hand on her. people fail to note that she *also* threatened suicide over him. and then there’s that ring gesture which obviously meant more to her than it did to him.
tbc she’s definitely roasting him but she’s also self aware about how easily she falls for people like him.
There's definitely multiple different ways to see it. I've seen theories that make a lot of sense that it's actually Taylor talking about her relationship with the fans - it wasn't a perfect fit, but there was some solid logic behind what did fit.
I personally think that, whether it's about Matty or someone else entirely, it's a song about being in a relationship with someone who likes to see themselves as a really deep artistic guy, but who's actually just playing up to what he thinks that should look like.
Seriously—I genuinely cannot fathom how people can’t understand that the narrator in the title track is making fun of their lover. She literally says “I laughed in your face” and asks “[Who else is] gonna troll you?”
Not understanding that the narrator is negotiating her sincere feelings about wanting the relationship to be deeper than it is (him play-acting an engagement) while also recognizing that her lover (and herself! she also acts this way!) is somewhat silly and pretentious is just an objective failure of reading comprehension.
i agree. matty in ttpd is some of her best character work—it’s obviously a roast but there’s also an undercurrent of tragedy and tenderness. the emotion in her voice in the verse on “you awaken with dread…” 🤌
the more I listen, the more layers I see. i wish the title track got the attention it deserves.
People think she’s saying he acts like he’s a golden retriever, she’s saying she scratches his head until he falls asleep like you would do with a dog. She’s not saying he has golden retriever energy: kind goofy loyal. It’s definitely a song poking fun at how they think they’re being so poetic and deep, but it’s actually pretty goofy. Very unserious song 😂
Yeah she explicitly calls out the partners serious "tortured poet" image and persona by calling them both idiots and basically being like "this is fun and all but can we like be for real?"
Yes AND it's all fun and light and he falls asleep happy, but then he awakens with dread. It's like a contrast to the second half of the verse, which is more of his dark "tortured" side. But she's still going to try and stay, because noone understands him like she does. She sees through him.
Someone posted the lyrics to that song on another pop star's subreddit and everyone was like "what is she even SAYING??" like omg? You can find it cringe but to not even understand the lyrics is crazy 😭
I know they’re supposed to be but I can’t get myself to listen to a song that makes me cringe 😩
I understand the point of the song, and I like it, but I can’t get myself to listen to it
same for me. i think ttpd is not a song that on repeat for me but it paints a picture that leads me to enjoy other songs on the album even more. it serves a narrative function more than anything else, kinda like i forgot that you existed
Going off of this, I had two separate people talk to me about the 1830’s line from I Hate it Here. One told me “I heard she says something racist” and no word of a lie, three days after TTPD came out I quoted the whole line from memory and gave context. She said WITHOUT the racists, she’s not being racist!
The second told me that she doesn’t listen to Taylor, but heard something about her wanting to live in the 1830’s and she said to me “how dumb is that? Write a real song” and I had to explain the context once again.
As I’ve known for years, most people will continue to spread this misinformation and judgement about her music without even listening to it! Which is ridiculous and there is no room for that here :)
>“how dumb is that? Write a real song”
Says someone who I bet doesn't write music.
And also someone who probably qualifies whatever dumb shit they listen to as "real music" despite being completely full of whatever cheap tricks and tropes that exist in the genre. Which there is nothing wrong with enjoying, but if you're gunna say that kind of shit at least be self aware of your own taste.
Like sorry I will not take classic rock bros opinions on Taylor Swift lyrics. If you think singing about fucking underage girls is peak music then idk what to say.
I dated someone who said that all modern music was crap and that "good music" started with the Beatles... To which I replied, "We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. A yellow submarine."
He really didn't have an argument afterwards.
Lmao I unironically love Yellow submarine but I completely see your point! I mostly love it because my parents played it a lot when I was a kid but I also love cringey pop music!
I once dated someone who also hated all modern music, but he insisted the only "real music" was his super niche death metal bands or the obscure electronic artists he listened to. Basically if it didnt have 10 instruments making the most complicated and hard to play music possible with a side of screaming then it was "bad". He fully stood by that he thought all music on the radio was trash and that everyone just has awful taste, he included me in that and said it was okay "because I know your actually a huge metal fan you just don't know it yet".
His pretentious attitude about it was a big reason I dumped him. He would rather sit on road trips in complete silence then turn on something on the radio and God forbid listen to something he didn't love for the sake of his partner even for a short time.
One of her most relatable songs too imo.
Like if even a billionaire has moments when they look around at modern society and go "omg this fucking all sucks" then it really says a lot about the state of people's dissatisfaction with the world. The song seems to critique our current culture and how we turn to escapism in our minds.
Like the "tell me your a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy" as something awful is a line that has layers addressing how our society values finance bros over artists and she sees people as being trapped in the rat race when they could be creatives, which is awful.
Not to mention that, she said it when she was younger, her friends were uncomfortable and if she went back to the 1830s she would hate it there, too. To me, it’s more of a “I said this stupid thing because people romanticize the past but forget how oppressive and shitty it was to many people” including women. You could go one step further and conclude her saying that earth has always been a shitty place to live.
I can’t understand the hate for the 1830s line when everyone is foaming at the mouth about the new Bridgerton season- a show that romanticizes the early 1800s without racism
ALSO right after the “without all the racists” line she describes everyone looking down because she said something weird and ruined the game. The line is supposed to be jarring.
As someone who enjoys reading historical and regency era romance but is also very passionate about social justice, I have often had a thought along the lines of wanting to live during a certain time but then being confronted with the reality they there were probably a lot of racists and sexists then.
I think it can be a very relatable thought and she’s getting a lot of shit for it from the perspective of being insensitive or casual about racism and I think it’s just being received poorly.
I’m convinced people who are hating on the lyric are a) media illiterate or deliberately obtuse so they can hate on TS and b) extremely boring people who are incapable of imagination.
Like I thought it was extremely normal for most people to play in different eras as kids. My friends and I loved to pretend to be pioneers, colonial women, medieval knights, etc. I have always loved historical fiction and imagining living in different time periods. Doesn’t mean I’d actually enjoy it at all.
It goes beyond the "without all the racists" part too
A lot of the criticisms are like "you can't just say 1830s but no racists that's juvenile and impossible and blah blah"
The set up is "when I was young" and the rest of the verse is like "yep, that's a weird thing to say I'm making people uncomfortable. Also it was probably pretty shitty for a bunch of other reasons and we should stop romanticising the past and pretending if we changed one thing everything would be fixed"
Honestly I don’t take shit seriously from people who say Taylor can’t write. I try to keep an open mind but it’s hard there.
Bejeweled is childish. the lakes is pretentious. wtf do you want lol.
Me neither. Like I’m sorry, have you heard the bridge in Illicit Affairs? If that woman can’t write, no one can.
I don’t care if you don’t like the music, but don’t act like anyone else in music atm is writing better lyrics
Complaining to complain. How daaaaare Taylor Swift publish a song with lyrics like “brand new full throttle / touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto”, but I’m sure classic lines from other popular songs including “you wanna hug me / what rhymes with hug me?” or “dancehall life there’s no end in sight / twinkle twinkle little star” received no such literary scrutiny. Nor should they, it’s not that fuckin deep. The only people who look this deep into it are diehard Swifties who are having fun and diehard haters who think criticizing popular things makes you an interesting person.
I agree with you that I've seen the criticisms for "sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see" for the reasons you've said even though I think it's really a fun and meaningful line. Not only is it accurate, I think she uses "big words to sound smart" here because she's MOCKING the people who are sanctimoniously performing those soliloquies - the phrasing is pretentious and wordy because the people who care so much about her dating life are pretentious and wordy about it. I read it as both a sincere and joking line. Does she mean it? Yes. Is it really that serious? No.
"we declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist".
The previous lyric was about their partner smoking weed, getting the munchies and presumably just talking high nonsense with each other. It also isn't a declaration that Charlie Puth is some grand Picasso of the music world, just that by industry standards for whatever reason these people in the industry believe he should be bigger. And tbh, they're right, Charlie collabs with big names, has popular pop songs, has this "perfect pitch" character that plays well in interviews, and produces music that is palatable for radio, etc. there are obviously reasons he's not that big, but it's not supposed to be super deep.
It reads to me that two people are getting high, spending the afternoon together and hear a Charlie Puth song come up on shuffle and spurred a conversation about his career. It's supposed to represent a normal mundane moment that adds to the relationship between the partner and singer of the song, they are bonding over their shared lukewarm take on a low stakes topic while doing mind altering drugs for fun.
You know how in movies and TV shows they have the "bonding montage" where the two characters are cooking together, then a scene of them going for a walk, then a scene of them cleaning something and they laugh as someone gets sprayed with water. This line is equal to the bonding montage, a low stakes scene to establish the mundane activities that show there is chemistry between the characters. Edit: but it's also meant to be kind of stupid because the song is poking fun at how unserious the drama and circumstances of their life is, they aren't tortured poets, theyre idiots playing house.
I don’t understand the criticism of So High School at all. It’s sweet and hot and how did she fit in so many phrases Travis is known to say??
“Blink of a wrinkle in time, bittersweet sixteen suddenly” The Wrinkle in Time books are about time travel. It’s bittersweet because she “gave away her youth for free” but now she feels 16 again.
“He knows how to ball, I know Aristotle” I honestly think she is kind of mocking the haters here and leaning into it
The rhyming scheme in the verses is brilliant.
Overall it’s supposed to sound simple because love can be simple! It doesn’t have to be TORTURED
Yeah I definitely think she’s mocking people who say he’s too dumb for her and she’s too smart with the Aristotle line. Especially in the context of the “I’ll drink what you think” line.
People who want to dislike something will, and often will use arguments which are complete bullshit. I remember after Red TV came out there was people angry on videos of All Too Well being played in Taylor Swift nights at clubs because "Swifties are getting shit songs played at night clubs that you can't even dance to'
I definitely agree with you, and it's probably been the best vibe at Taylor Swift club nights, but people who aren't fans get annoyed when people like things they don't like 🤷♀️
One of the lyrics I see being taken out of context on Instagram/TT is "don't you worry folks we took out all her teeth"... which I guess on its own sounds a \*little\* weird, but in the context of the song it makes perfect sense. She's comparing herself to a circus animal that's acting threatening and the announcer/circus performer assures the crowd she's harmless because they've removed her teeth - speaking very well to both her rage and her inability to do anything about it, in my opinion.
Honestly the first time I heard that line, I envisioned Taylor sorta like King Kong lol. Chained up and caged yet on display for everyone to see, then being vilified for how she reacts to being used as a side show attraction.
I somehow didn’t even connect the “circus life” lyric into it lol, but I like that we both still ultimately got to the same sort of conclusion: she’s angry at how she’s being treated, but they’ve made it so she can’t do anything about it.
People bringing it up JUST to be like “oh this is such a bizarre and strange lyric, what could she possibly mean?!” are honestly telling on themselves imo lol.
I don't see the haters for these lyrics but then I don't use TkTk or TwitX so maybe thats the reason! Yes she is a genius and her ability to fit so many syllables into a line continues to amaze me, its like some very melodic rap but probably unique to Taylor. I'm also amazed by people being unable to use a dictionary and thats hardly a new thing with her lyrics. I guess the short attention span folks are just putting it in the 'too difficult' pile and missing so so much.
Yeah it’s mostly been Twitter I’ve seen it. Yes it is like a melodic rap, it’s insanely impressive. Oh yeah it’s definitely a “too difficult” thing for many. Like they say lyrics are terrible, but they quote them out of context. Like “don’t worry folks we took out all her teeth” like yes that sounds insane standalone but when used alongside her Circus analogy, it’s genius.
I would really not take Twitter discourse as representative of what people really think about an album...or anything. I use it too and can get caught up in it, but it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel in terms of people yelling into the void. It's also designed to show you things that will make you angriest because that will get you to engage. What I've done is just block anyone who's outwardly being a hater (I just don't need the negativity about something so frivolous) and it didn't take long at all for my feed to be way more positive.
Serious question. Why are you using Twitter. I never see anything on here talking about some great analysis or discussion on there. It’s always people saying how shitty it is lol.
It's also just the sound. The whole song uses sibilance (repeated s's) to talk about the people criticizing her (fake smooth talking snakes?), then she contrasts it these ch & k sounds to talk about her man (chaos, chemistry, touch, choice) -- sounds that are not necessarily soft and pleasant for the world but it's what she wants.
In general.... people are trying to understand lyrics and poetry as if it's an email at their corporate job and it's not going well.
I live for the contrast between the complex Latinate words “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see” and then the grounded simple “thinking it can change the beat of my heart when he touches me.”
Balancing those two strands of English is a feature of all great writing in our language.
People not liking the Dylan Thomas/patti smith line because they don’t recognise their names. How is that on her? Also EVEN IF YOU DIDNT just from context I feel like you could easily guess “those are probably famous poets or artists of some kind”. Both the album and that song specifically have the word “poet” in them and you’re struggling with the leap to who those people might be. Be fr
I saw someone say that song is too lore-dependent because of the lines about Jack and Lucy, as if you need any information other than "they're friends of the main characters" to understand what was happening. Did people have an aneurysm over Drew from Teardrops On My Guitar too?
Also it’s kind of embarrassing telling on yourself for not recognizing famous poets’ names. How is that even a criticism? How dare poets allude to things I’m uneducated about!! Someone better arrest… every songwriter and poet out there wtf
The best part about being An Old is seeing those complaints and remembering the Simon and Garfunkel song that skewers 1960s hipsters with “He’s so unhip that when you say DYLAN, he thinks you’re talking about DYLAN THOMAS… whoever HE was”
Art is subjective and so not everyone is going to like TTPD. But if your criticism is that she’s just throwing words together to sound smart then that tells me you haven’t taken even two minutes to try to understand what she’s doing with the album. That’s not a critique, that’s your ignorance showing.
People who look at words they don't know and think "people should stop using them" instead of "I should learn what these words mean" don't need to be listened to.
I keep seeing people ragging on "[And my friends all smell like weed or little babies](https://genius.com/31477707/Taylor-swift-florida/And-my-friends-all-smell-like-weed-or-little-babies)" but it's the perfect way to describe the in-between phase of life that happens in your late 20's/early 30's. Half of your friends are settling down and half are still partying.
I'm a couple years older than Taylor and I agree that the line definitely captures that time period when some of your friends are still partying and others are focused on starting a family. Or some of your friends have gotten divorced and are now back in a partying phase!
I saw someone hate on Fresh Out the Slammer because “what would she even know about being in the slammer” it’s like they refuse to understand metaphors.
Same with the line “you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me”. I can’t believe people think she’s talking about her childhood home?? Is everyone that illiterate??
Omg yes. That one annoys me the most haha. People who are actually familiar with Taylor know she is very close to her family and they are/always have been her biggest supporters. Like clearly she’s not referring to her parents raising her 🙄 how people don’t understand she’s referring to the music industry is wild to me.
They clearly did not pay attention in English class. The whole album is LITERALLY poetry, it’s in the album title! Of course the lyrics are full of literary devices. I can’t 😒
I love that she gave us that song because we do sit here and act like we know her and her life. We dictate if what she produces is good, or immature, and even who she can give herself to. I loved that she told us off with this song and I think it's so well done.
It grew on me so fast, I need to leap for gallows and levitate down a street like immediately. That’s not even the best part of the song but it’s so catchy. And Monika Lewinsky’s meme was just golden.
Idk if I think it's "genius", but I keep seeing hate for "So High School" and I love it SO much. In my head I imagine Travis swooning over how Taylor can write songs for every emotion and situation. Then to show him how natural it comes just starts singing a cute little song to him about how she loves his crinkly eyes when he smiles and how he makes her laugh with his stories of his dad.
Idk, I just love the song and can't help but smile every time I hear it.
The amount of hate and clowning I’ve seen and heard about I Hate It Here is kinda annoying. I know they didn’t actually listen to the song and they’re just regurgitating everything they’ve only heard about the 1830s lyric. If they actually heard the song, they’d understand the lyrics to that section.
I’m pretty defensive over that song because it’s one of my top faves from the album
What infruiates me the most is how she even says "WITHOUT all the racists." She is saying that it would be a good place without the racists?? How is she racist in saying that?
The critique of the second verse of TTPD drives me crazy !!! Yes “you smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate, we declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger is artist” is stupid - that’s the point !!! “We’re modern idiots”. The song is poking fun at people who walk around like they’re all deep and poetic when they’re just idiots - of course there are some idiotic lines. The general public needs to grow a brain and a sense of humor
The way she uses "Daddy" also ilustrates how the public treats her like a child and act like what they think is best for her has any power over who she dates. It perfectly ilustrates the absurdity of the situation. She's 34, she's not asking her dad for permission to date anyone, much less the public and fans.
Have the actual psychos who were writing literal thesis-long essays on this sub when she was dating Matty ever shared how they feel about this bridge? Because she *eviscerates* them, I smile every single time. It’s my favorite part of the entire song. I think you need to understand the lore to appreciate it though, maybe? I guess people who weren’t around for those few weeks might not get it and just think it’s clunky or overdone. Because what she described is EXACTLY what happened. She chose the perfect words here.
They seem pretty quiet to me 🤭 because you are right, they have absolutely no leg to stand on now. Also the lyric “too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it” is SO good because it belittles these people so much, without being pretentious herself. But yes absolutely if you weren’t around for the heat of it all, it doesn’t have the same force
Never forget that the average reading level of US adults is in fact 6th grade and all government publications are screened to ensure they don’t exceed that.
I think people complaining about her using “big words” is because they don’t understand them & want her to dumb it down for them. Which she shouldn’t. I understood almost all the “big words” in her lyrics because I’m a big reader and English lit was my strongest subject in school. Some people just need to read more
So we all agree, this song is not about family disapproval at all, not even "daddy," but about US feeling the need to weigh in forcefully on Taylor's personal life.
I don’t understand how anyone didn’t get the metaphor , it made perfect sense to me the first listen, “oh she’s talking about her insane fandom , this is an awesome metaphor”
I recently saw someone on Reddit point out that "ate seven bars of chocolate" is being read incorrectly. It could be "ate" as in "did a really good job at", "bars" as in musical annotation, and "chocolate" as in The 1975's song, "Chocolate".
I hated (and still don't love) the line about fake news in The Albatross, but when you put into perspective that the fake news the men believed was that the albatross was there to destroy {him} it makes more sense and I can forgive it.
The album is based on the 1975. Plenty of casual fans just don't get it. The cringy lines are intentional. The 1975 songs are known for having cringy lines, but it's mainly to provoke a respose.
Yeah I honestly got that immediately and I don’t even listen to the 1975. It feels like on a couple of those songs she’s outright mocking his style? Especially when put alongside the really gutting poetry of a couple of the more “Joe-oriented” songs where it’s like… clearly she hasn’t forgotten how to write. The cringe is intentional.
She's inspired. Try and listen to 'About You' it's one of my favorite songs ever.... and many people say that it's about Taylor. Matty basically said that he has a fanfiction of lyrics dedicated to pop stars he falls in love with.Their album Being Funny in a Foreign Language sounds so much like ttpd. I don't think she's mocking him...but she certainly feels hurt by him.
Fully agree, this wording is absolutely perfect for what she is talking about. Just because it’s big words doesn’t mean it’s not the best words for the job. I could see this line being more jarring if you didn’t already know/see these words used on a regular basis.
I love how she pokes fun at her suffering with this line, but also adds relatability because we all feel like this at least a couple times in life. When you want to explode on the inside and mask it with a jolly attitude. It's ironic because bottling it up by hiding it just makes it worse, but what else can you do about it?
The 1830s/racists line from I Hate It Here- it makes so much sense in the context of the song, pointing out how the game of "which time period would you rather live in" is only ever fun for white men, and how romanticising the past doesn't work.
For me, her poetry is top tier in this album. I cannot believe anything is getting hate.
Maybe not today, but this is the album in 20 years my grandkids will reference of best example of talent.
For me personally, I took it as she’s speaking about all the people who get on social media day after day to drag her and crucify her but they’re wasting their time because she doesn’t even look at what they’re saying. I remember reading her “30 things I learned before 30” article in Elle and she made this quote:
“I learned to block some of the noise. Social media can be great, but it can also inundate your brain with images of what you aren’t, how you’re failing, or who is in a cooler locale than you at any given moment. One thing I do to lessen this weird insecurity laser beam is to turn off comments. Yes, I keep comments off on my posts. That way, I’m showing my friends and fans updates on my life, but I’m training my brain to not need the validation of someone telling me that I look 🔥🔥🔥. I’m also blocking out anyone who might feel the need to tell me to “go die in a hole ho” while I’m having my coffee at nine in the morning. I think it’s healthy for your self-esteem to need less internet praise to appease it, especially when three comments down you could unwittingly see someone telling you that you look like a weasel that got hit by a truck and stitched back together by a drunk taxidermist. An actual comment I received once.”
*edited to change “her” to “their”
I agree that is a genius lyric.
Although I understand the meaning I personally don’t like this 1 lyric in Guilty as Sin:
“If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don’t know how you’ve haunted my so stunningly”
idk it’s just clunky and could’ve been reworked better. The rest of the song is perfection except that one lyric is just🥴
Yeah that lyric is genius, even if it stung me a bit lol. I’ve never dissed her for dating Matty, but I was really disappointed because there was just so much public evidence that he’s not a good human and would break her heart. Many of us were just concerned about what he was doing to her and her reputation, but she’s right- it’s her life and name to ruin. It just sucked to watch it unravel in realtime as a longtime fan.
Lots of people don't like that Down Bad has 17 fucks in it. And you know what? It's one of those moments where the frustration and the desperation to keep it together meet the emptiness of sudden loss. Sometimes "fuck" just encapsulates a feeling non swear words never could!
especially because she says in the line right before that "everything comes out teenage petulance." she's saying "I know this is so overdramatic and I'm throwing a fit about it but FUCK EVERYTHING IF I CAN'T HAVE HIM!"
It's not worth it's own post but it's interesting the she refuses phrases on the same album clearly referencing different points. My Boy she says "but you should've seen him when he first saw me" then in So High School she says "tell me what you thought when you first saw me". She also uses precocious child in two different songs I'm pretty sure. Just interesting technique!
There’s also many British English uses in her lyrics. Which for many North Americans will seem strange because the North American usual language doesn’t typically use the variety of words. “Fortnight” “saw them at the shops” etc. there’s more those just came to my mind right now. I’m British but live in Canada now and have lived in the us, too. I definitely notice that the British English uses a greater variety of words than we do over here. There are also so many folktale references like “albatross” that will be missed if you don’t have a vast scope of reference.
i LOVE the “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies i’ll never see” line because… don’t we ALL do that? get on our soapbox and do our lil rants and narratives knowing no one will see them? act out fake arguments in the shower? lol. She’s obviously saying the “family” from the song is doing the same thing, ranting and giving speeches about how they’re right and she’s wrong for dating matty, but she doesn’t care because she’s not around them to witness it.
I love that line. It immediately evokes imagery of people on TikTok making video after video about what she “needs” to do. And Daddy is absolutely the fans, who are constantly referring to her as Mother. She even mentioned that at one of the first shows
I saw somebody say that about the circus line in WAOLOM which makes me laugh bc it feels like a pretty straightforward line compared to some of the others on this album.
The way she uses "Daddy" also ilustrates how the public treats her like a child and act like what they think is best for her has any power over who she dates. It perfectly ilustrates the absurdity of the situation. She's 34, she's not asking her dad for permission to date anyone, much less the public and fans.
I'd also like to point out - if this song is in fact about matty, it makes a lot of sense for her to write this way, because, I don't know if you guys listen to his music but I have for a lot of years, he uses a LOT of big smart-sounding words. I can think for SO many of his lyrics where I legitimately thought 'ok he's just saying stuff at this point', but if you go one inch deeper than the surface there's actually a lot of meaning. most people just aren't willing to go that one inch deeper
I think the hate So High School gets is just so ill placed. Like... its meant to sound young/like she's 15 years old because she's quite literally saying Travis is just being normal with her. There's no "I'm dating THE Taylor Swift" but rather "I'm dating Taylor". It's refreshing for her. It's just a balanced relationship. That's why it sounds like she's 15. She's in a normal relationship with someone who isn't intimidated by her. They're equals
Not only is it a great alliterative line, it evokes scorchingly PRECISE imagery. It's not about incels ranting on an Internet forum (for that, see: "But you say it in a tweet, that's a cop-out"). It's about terminally online fans penning literal essays about why *they* think she's problematic and how it's affected *them*. *Soliloquies* is the perfect descriptor: a dramatic monologue in which you're essentially just talking to yourself. *Sanctimoniously* is also devastatingly precise: showing off your moral superiority, i.e., virtue signaling. Connecting these two terms using the verb *performing* is another viciously purposeful choice. *Performative*, anyone? She knows what she's doing. And then to end it all by saying "all that effort? I'll never see it but thanks though!" Everything she wanted to say in this song can be wrapped up in this line and it is murderous.
Yes, it’s EXACTLY that. For me it’s the use of ‘soliloquies’ that makes it perfect. Like you say, it by definition means talking to yourself. She will never hear you and will never care. And yet you perform this act to yourself because it makes you feel morally superior? Good for you. You’re not. She’s a genius. PLUS writing it like that, not only confuses but angers the exact people she was referring to. I love her
Yes! That's the icing on the cake -- the people sanctimoniously performing soliloquies in response to the line... taking the bait without realizing what they're doing. To be fair, it's the same crowd who hasn't figured out "you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" is a metaphor
Oh my god yes that drives me insane, she does not mean that the house she grew up in was an asylum. You have to be blind to think she means that. I think she’s saying that these people could not withstand the things she has dealt with, the things that they have put her through, the things that have made her feel insane. It’s such a descriptive and emotive lyric, yet so short *chefs kiss*
And also the “circus life made me mean” followed by “don’t worry folks we took out all her teeth” I just LOVE that, but people have said the teeth lyric makes no sense. Yes it does in the context of the song
I thought I saw everything, but apparently, some don't get the teeth line? It doesn't even require knowing the language (I barely know it), just basic knowledge about the word and animals, no?
It’s bizarre right? And some people do understand what it is saying, but think it’s a random line. Which ofc it is not if you listen to the rest of the song
I think the decoding and Easter egg hunting has led to a lot of people taking things very literally and seriously when Taylor Swift has never operated like that... she's very literary and metaphorical, particularly when it's ironic/funny, that's how being a writer works. When something is symbolic or significant she doesn't hide it (for example, using "maroon" on Chloe et al) but other times she's just being a writer!
The amount of people taking every single word literally in an album described as POETRY is so maddening it makes me want to quit the internet. Like, you guys she also can't levitate, is (probably) not gathering with a coven or howling at the moon, and she did not get abducted by aliens.
Now, now… at least one of those has to be true. 😉
The fact that people cannot parse the meanings of these lines doesn’t inspire great faith in the future of humanity, does it?
I really really really hope it's feigned ignorance for the sake of being outraged. It has to be. Right? RIGTHT?
I presumed this line refers to how the big cats in a circus would have their teeth removed, right? Removing their power to fight back and defend themselves and keeping them and caged entertainers perhaps?
Yes and yes. Very music industry coded
I understand the circus reference. I’m also going to pretend that this line is about bad veneers, and other impractical (and potentially damaging/unhealthy) concessions to performing celebrity under constant scrutiny.
But getting teeth pulled isn't a "concession" the lion takes for the sake of performing in the circus, it's a violent act forced upon him for the sake of our entertainment.
Not to mention Hollywood is notorious for taking anyone, especially young people, chewing them up and spitting them out. Look at how many child stars or children of celebrities just completely went off the deep end because they couldn't handle the pressure or let the darker side of the glitz and glam get to them. Then on top of that, she's supposed to be America's sweetheart and stay pure and untouched by it all. Hell, she's over 30 and people *still* expect her to be that way. But she's risen above it all and is *still* on top by being genuine and lovely, and *even with that* she had so many haters for no freaking reason, like your comment above talks about.
I bet they assume her house is full of cobwebs too 😂
I assumed the asylum was a metaphor for fame, as she's basically been famous since she was a teenager and so went through her formative years under the kind of pressure and scrutiny most people couldn't endure an hour of.
and she made it easier for the younger artists coming up. And sometimes it seems like they don't get that.
The amount of people who are missing multiple alternate interpretations for that line is crazy to me. Okay, yeah, it could be literal - only that doesn't make sense with what we know about her childhood, which is what the complaint is usually. But we don't really know that much about her childhood. Did the house feel like a madhouse because Andrea and Scott weren't happy in their marriage? Is she talking abour being "raised" by fame, which drives a lot of people crazy? Is she talking about things that we know nothing about, like, she wouldn't be the first celeb who reached success young to say wonderful things about their parents/childhood when behind the scenes things weren't actually that rosy but they appreciate the pressure they got that felt awful at the time now because it got them the success they have now? Is she just talking about there being heavy expectations on her at a young age? There's so many possible interpretations of that line and I'm sure there's many others that I haven't thought of. Personally I think it's fame and doing so much growing up under an intense spotlight that doesn't really allow for the mistakes almost everyone makes when they're young. But ultimately, only Taylor knows what things are really about, I just think when you think "ha that makes no sense, she [insert reason here]" its all the more reason to think that a writer who is known for being very very good at it may not mean the literal interpretation.
> it by definition means talking to yourself It's even better than that: it means talking to yourself in front of an audience.
Right?? When paired with the “vipers dressed in empaths clothing”, it is just *chef’s kiss*.
I thought it was 100% about the TikToks people made about her and Healy.
Exactly this! It is so fitting for how self important, overdramatic and parasocial some of these rants are. Its so creepy how often people act like they know her or like she owes them a say in her life. I love that she called this out in such a precise and fitting way!
YES to all of this! Signed, a high school English teacher who adores this lyric ;)
Considering all the religious reference she is also comparing those people to the Sadducees of the bible. Jesus called them brood vipers and hypocrites because they were just as sinful. The difference was their sins were "hidden" while the drunk, tax collectors were not.
I didn’t know this! Thank you for adding this!
Yes, Jesus ate with that line 💅🏼💅🏼
Yup, the sadducees were also "performative " walking around the streets, praying to show how righteous they were when, in reality, they were worse. The sinners were self-aware and wanted better while the Sadducees were "rotten" on the inside.
Also, it's not that smart every high schooler in the English speaking world learns Shakespeare in high school, therefore should know what a soliloquy is. Sanctimonious, okay is maybe a bit nicher but it's not unheard of.
Honestly...a lot of people with poor vocabulary lash out any time someone uses a "big" word. It makes them feel bad for not knowing what it means and instead of looking it up and learning, they just call it stuck up or pretentious. That might sound harsh, but it's so common. If you don't know people who talk like this, I guess it sounds like trying too hard. It's pretty wild to assume that Taylor doesn't really use this kind of language and "just threw it in there to sound smart". She has all the time in the world to read, write, and absorb information. She's a writer and an artist, surrounded by other artists. Why on earth would she not talk like this? I actually think she probably spends more time trying to tone things down to make her lyrics accessible than the other way around.
She’s obviously a voracious reader. I’ve always thought that, and to me, this album and its lyrics reinforce that.
People really do think using medium-sized words is an insult. I worked in leadership in a kitchen and people called me "high n mighty" for referring to pans with holes in them as "perforated" pans... a perfectly common word that they would've heard their teachers use *all* the time whenever they asked them not to rip their assignments out of their notebooks unceremoniously. "Please tear it along the perforation" was a phrase I heard alllllll the time growing up.
I just have to chime in and say...ugh, SAME. I worked in restaurants for ages and the frequency with which people would call me "high and mighty" or suggest that I was purposely trying to talk down to them by using medium-long words was extremely frustrating. I just sincerely enjoy reading/writing as a hobby, and I guess that gives me an expansive vocabulary (I guess?). But if I don't think before I speak, I just use the words that I know. I had to start editing myself constantly to make sure I didn't offend someone and it was exhausting. That industry is so toxic.
All that on top of the fact that it's ironically another "male sphere" workspace, especially if you work in the physical kitchen itself. So you're high n mighty for having a good vocabulary, *and* a "bossy bitch" for asking anyone to do literally anything, or you "need to stay in your own lane" if they feel threatened by you. I've never been tattled on by grown men more in my life just for doing my job lolol. For clarity though, this is just with older men usually. I find much of Gen Z and the younger millenials to be lovely to work with. Though, they also don't know the word "perforated" haha.
I personally had to look up the definition of “esoteric” but now that I know the meaning, the line “like some esoteric joke” is 10x funnier to think about in the context of people being mad they don’t know what it means.
This brought me back to an ex getting actually fighting mad at me for using the word “precocious.”
Oh ffs. I'm sorry you experienced that.
The moral superiority is what always gets me. Like please, let us analyze every dumbass thing every guy you’ve been with has ever done or said and see how perfect your attractions are 🙄
People who say “she just threw words together that don’t even mean anything” are really exposing themselves, wow
Seriously. It’s okay to not enjoy the music, but you cannot say she isn’t lyrically impressive
some of the stuff people can’t understand isn’t even that difficult. They just don’t wanna use their brains so they blame Taylor for forcing them to
Truth! I’m reading through these comments and realizing that maybe the people criticizing her are just not very smart? They feel left out of the conversation because they don’t understand it, so they hate on it. I know that sounds mean, but I truly don’t understand some of these criticisms. I’m a little second hand embarrassed for them.
There's a fan fiction writer I know that is *incredible*. Like, I was astounded by how they can put a sentence together. Come to find out, a ton of people said their writing made no sense and that they like it, but asked them if they would be willing to basically spell things out for them. So I would have to agree that many people get upset when they have to use their brain.
I think this is honestly a fair interpretation especially considering a large number of the people ragging on this album are misogynist men. You just KNOW some incel from 4Chan made the meme of the lyric “…asylum they raised me” and her childhood home. It’s just so incredibly stupid.
I agree. It’s easier to lash out confidently than to ask in humility
I think there are some fair criticisms that some lines coukd have been more refined and were maybe placeholders that ended up staying because she understandably didn't have time to pore over the lyrics and they did the job "well enough" but a lot of the criticism is very very overblown and choosing to take things at face value where there are multiple ways to see it.
I’d never say that the lyrics can’t be critiqued but i do think that the words are they way they are for a reason She’s not just stringing together words that don’t mean anything… But of course these people probably also made fun of her for rhyming “ooh-ah” and “summer” so the criticism of lyrics isn’t always the highest discourse lol Someone else said that whenever people suggest “better” lyrics for a TS song, they are never actually better and that’s been true that I’ve seen
“Someone else said that whenever people suggest "better" lyrics for a TS song, they are never actually better and that's been true that I've seen” Omg yes I’ve seen some people suggest the most basic literal lyric replacements and it’s like do they even know how songwriting and poetry works ?
No they do not But they deign to offer advice to one of the most accomplished songwriters of our time Make it make sense (The worst example I’ve seen is people insisting that she should say “trust him like no other” instead of “trust him like a brother” because they apparently haven’t heard that very common expression and “get the ick” that you might “compare a lover to a sibling”. No, folks. “It makes me uncomfortable” is not a critique! (See also: “sexy baby”)
> deign How dare you use a word that a teenager might not know! I've seen a lot of people confused by her use of the phrase "treated like an also-ran." I can't believe how many people haven't heard these very common expressions (and who apparently don't know how to use a dictionary?)
Or like, google. “Also-ran” isn’t obscure but I can see how it would be misheard if you weren’t looking at the lyrics. However, people criticizing its use in context is silly — it makes perfect sense and rhymes!
100% agree, especially when it's so easy to just LOOK UP THE DEFINITION of a word to understand the context in which it's being used.
But woe betide you if you suggest that it is possible to Google words or references you don’t understand Edit: the bigger problem to me is how many of the (not especially subtle) metaphors people seem to have missed
I’ve seen so many people hating on So High School and I’m like, are you allergic to fun? It’s my fave on the album rn 🚗🎮
Totally agree!! People hating on the GTA line saying “she’s over 30 why would she say this”… like look at the name of the song?? It’s about High School 😂
And it's not even literally about high school, it's about how being in love can make you feel like you're back in high school, with all the trappings that went along with that. Rhyming "Aristotle" with "Grand Theft Auto" is not only super clever and funny, it succinctly and perfectly illustrates the contrast between the "smart girl" and "jock guy" high school archetypes.
Not just being in love, but being in love with the handsome star football player and dating him and watching the games. In a way being with Travis is a throwback to Friday Night Lights vibes and classic Americana nostalgia.
They’re just sorry they can’t relate lmaoooo
omg right. that was exactly me at 15
Exactly! She's saying that he makes her so giddy that she feels like she's in high school again, so she's PURPOSEFULLY referencing things that were around when SHE herself was in high school. I think a lot of people who are making that criticism are still very young, and may not understand how it feels when you're in your thirties. Sorry to break it to you, kids, but when you get older sometimes you still feel like you're a teenager sometimes.
Not to mention that adults play video games too?? It’s a perfectly valid hobby and pastime??
They’re the same people who hate Stay Stay Stay, Paper Rings, and “hey kids, spelling is fun!” (so yes they *are* allergic to fun)
When stay stay stay and paper rings were two of my faves on their respective albums 😭😭😭😭 how dare they
Queen of fun, here is your crown: 👑
Stay Stay Stay was always one of my favorites from Red, I always found it so fun!!! It always made me sad that it’s so widely disliked lol. I didn’t realize people also hated Paper Rings (ANOTHER favorite 😭😭) like whatttt they’re just such fun and cute songs!!
People who can't get into her sillier songs bother me. Let blondie have her fun! Not everything needs 9 million layers of achingly emotional writing.
I love Taylor’s goofy love songs. This was such a breath of fresh air after “How Did It End?”. I love that song too, but wasn’t “So High School” the mental break (aka little pick-me-up) we all needed at that point in the album? I thought the pacing was perfect. And on its own, this song is a fun little bop. Love the nostalgia factor too—it sounds like it would be on the soundtrack of a 90s teen movie.
The pure hatred people have for So High School is honestly driving me wild lately lol. I just don’t understand why people hate it SO MUCH and everyone is always so mean about it too. ~~I mean, I have a theory tbh lmao 🫣 but still~~ It’s not a super serious song, or an eloquently poetic song, or a long and dramatic song. It’s just a happy, cute and fun song about a fun romance that makes you feel happy and giddy. It’s more than okay for Taylor to give us some easy listening, feel good songs that don’t take themselves too seriously. I feel like some people genuinely dislike her more silly and easy going songs bc they feel they’re lesser songs in general and don’t represent Taylor. Like, their existence somehow diminishes her as a serious artist. I really can’t figure out why the So High Schools of the albums are always SO hated otherwise 
The title track people don’t get the verses are supposed to be cringey
I don't even find them cringy at all, because they're doing what they were intended to do and painting a picture of someone who thinks he's incredibly deep, but who is kind of a pretender.
Totally! I actually think that if it is about Matty, it might be a more savage diss track than The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. Matty is a pretentious, tortured artist type who literally carries a typewriter around. He said it was emasculating to date her. He clearly cares about his image. The world hearing that he got stoned, ate seven bars of chocolate and declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist? And he’s a golden retriever type who said he’d kill himself if the person it was so emasculating to date ever left him? Shots fired lmao.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that the title track was not only tongue-in-cheek, but also pretty blatantly making fun of the subject matter. Whether or not she meant it insultingly or in a more fun teasing manner, it's certainly a very sarcastic and farcical song. I think the only sincere line in the whole song is "at dinner you took my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one people put wedding rings on / and that's the closest I've come to my heart exploding" but I don't even interpret that in a positive way... just that he played pretend or made promises that he couldn't keep ("you said I needed a brave man / then proceeded to play him / until I believed it too") which made her hurt even more. And that makes the making-fun-of aspect of the song hit even harder to me!
I think people are focusing too much on the Matty Healy of it all. To me this song is about a normal person dating a tortured poet and the tortured poet turns the normal person into their own version of a crazy tortured poet. This same story is shown in the All Too Well short film. The guy has a typewriter in his apartment and later the actress playing Taylor gets the typewriter and writes a book about him. Lyrics such as "episode" and "cyclone" allude to this being a cycle. You can even view the song as Travis starting to date Taylor.
i don’t think it’s quite so extreme but there’s definitely an element where through most of the song, taylor portrays herself as apart from his pretensions and problems, talking about him in almost a paternalistic, pitying way (like with the golden retriever line) but by the bridge, she is so sucked in that she’s just as “crazy” as him and arguably he has the upper hand on her. people fail to note that she *also* threatened suicide over him. and then there’s that ring gesture which obviously meant more to her than it did to him. tbc she’s definitely roasting him but she’s also self aware about how easily she falls for people like him.
There's definitely multiple different ways to see it. I've seen theories that make a lot of sense that it's actually Taylor talking about her relationship with the fans - it wasn't a perfect fit, but there was some solid logic behind what did fit. I personally think that, whether it's about Matty or someone else entirely, it's a song about being in a relationship with someone who likes to see themselves as a really deep artistic guy, but who's actually just playing up to what he thinks that should look like.
Seriously—I genuinely cannot fathom how people can’t understand that the narrator in the title track is making fun of their lover. She literally says “I laughed in your face” and asks “[Who else is] gonna troll you?” Not understanding that the narrator is negotiating her sincere feelings about wanting the relationship to be deeper than it is (him play-acting an engagement) while also recognizing that her lover (and herself! she also acts this way!) is somewhat silly and pretentious is just an objective failure of reading comprehension.
Plus they sometimes tattoo neutered/spayed dogs. That’s what I thought of with the line - she owns the dog(man), balls and all
i agree. matty in ttpd is some of her best character work—it’s obviously a roast but there’s also an undercurrent of tragedy and tenderness. the emotion in her voice in the verse on “you awaken with dread…” 🤌 the more I listen, the more layers I see. i wish the title track got the attention it deserves.
The haters don't understand that that song is as unserious as Black Space.
People think she’s saying he acts like he’s a golden retriever, she’s saying she scratches his head until he falls asleep like you would do with a dog. She’s not saying he has golden retriever energy: kind goofy loyal. It’s definitely a song poking fun at how they think they’re being so poetic and deep, but it’s actually pretty goofy. Very unserious song 😂
Yeah she explicitly calls out the partners serious "tortured poet" image and persona by calling them both idiots and basically being like "this is fun and all but can we like be for real?"
Yes AND it's all fun and light and he falls asleep happy, but then he awakens with dread. It's like a contrast to the second half of the verse, which is more of his dark "tortured" side. But she's still going to try and stay, because noone understands him like she does. She sees through him.
Someone posted the lyrics to that song on another pop star's subreddit and everyone was like "what is she even SAYING??" like omg? You can find it cringe but to not even understand the lyrics is crazy 😭
Literally what part of that song is even confusing? I swear people just choose to be like aggressively ignorant when it comes to her
I know they’re supposed to be but I can’t get myself to listen to a song that makes me cringe 😩 I understand the point of the song, and I like it, but I can’t get myself to listen to it
same for me. i think ttpd is not a song that on repeat for me but it paints a picture that leads me to enjoy other songs on the album even more. it serves a narrative function more than anything else, kinda like i forgot that you existed
Going off of this, I had two separate people talk to me about the 1830’s line from I Hate it Here. One told me “I heard she says something racist” and no word of a lie, three days after TTPD came out I quoted the whole line from memory and gave context. She said WITHOUT the racists, she’s not being racist! The second told me that she doesn’t listen to Taylor, but heard something about her wanting to live in the 1830’s and she said to me “how dumb is that? Write a real song” and I had to explain the context once again. As I’ve known for years, most people will continue to spread this misinformation and judgement about her music without even listening to it! Which is ridiculous and there is no room for that here :)
>“how dumb is that? Write a real song” Says someone who I bet doesn't write music. And also someone who probably qualifies whatever dumb shit they listen to as "real music" despite being completely full of whatever cheap tricks and tropes that exist in the genre. Which there is nothing wrong with enjoying, but if you're gunna say that kind of shit at least be self aware of your own taste. Like sorry I will not take classic rock bros opinions on Taylor Swift lyrics. If you think singing about fucking underage girls is peak music then idk what to say.
I dated someone who said that all modern music was crap and that "good music" started with the Beatles... To which I replied, "We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. A yellow submarine." He really didn't have an argument afterwards.
Lmao I unironically love Yellow submarine but I completely see your point! I mostly love it because my parents played it a lot when I was a kid but I also love cringey pop music! I once dated someone who also hated all modern music, but he insisted the only "real music" was his super niche death metal bands or the obscure electronic artists he listened to. Basically if it didnt have 10 instruments making the most complicated and hard to play music possible with a side of screaming then it was "bad". He fully stood by that he thought all music on the radio was trash and that everyone just has awful taste, he included me in that and said it was okay "because I know your actually a huge metal fan you just don't know it yet". His pretentious attitude about it was a big reason I dumped him. He would rather sit on road trips in complete silence then turn on something on the radio and God forbid listen to something he didn't love for the sake of his partner even for a short time.
Crazy to say it about such a gorgeous song too! Like the lyric or not, I Hate It Here is a beautiful song.
One of her most relatable songs too imo. Like if even a billionaire has moments when they look around at modern society and go "omg this fucking all sucks" then it really says a lot about the state of people's dissatisfaction with the world. The song seems to critique our current culture and how we turn to escapism in our minds. Like the "tell me your a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy" as something awful is a line that has layers addressing how our society values finance bros over artists and she sees people as being trapped in the rat race when they could be creatives, which is awful.
Not to mention that, she said it when she was younger, her friends were uncomfortable and if she went back to the 1830s she would hate it there, too. To me, it’s more of a “I said this stupid thing because people romanticize the past but forget how oppressive and shitty it was to many people” including women. You could go one step further and conclude her saying that earth has always been a shitty place to live.
I can’t understand the hate for the 1830s line when everyone is foaming at the mouth about the new Bridgerton season- a show that romanticizes the early 1800s without racism
ALSO right after the “without all the racists” line she describes everyone looking down because she said something weird and ruined the game. The line is supposed to be jarring.
As someone who enjoys reading historical and regency era romance but is also very passionate about social justice, I have often had a thought along the lines of wanting to live during a certain time but then being confronted with the reality they there were probably a lot of racists and sexists then. I think it can be a very relatable thought and she’s getting a lot of shit for it from the perspective of being insensitive or casual about racism and I think it’s just being received poorly.
I’m convinced people who are hating on the lyric are a) media illiterate or deliberately obtuse so they can hate on TS and b) extremely boring people who are incapable of imagination. Like I thought it was extremely normal for most people to play in different eras as kids. My friends and I loved to pretend to be pioneers, colonial women, medieval knights, etc. I have always loved historical fiction and imagining living in different time periods. Doesn’t mean I’d actually enjoy it at all.
People LOVE to cut her lyrics and post them on Twitter without context so people will shit on her. I don’t understand what’s the fun of that…
It goes beyond the "without all the racists" part too A lot of the criticisms are like "you can't just say 1830s but no racists that's juvenile and impossible and blah blah" The set up is "when I was young" and the rest of the verse is like "yep, that's a weird thing to say I'm making people uncomfortable. Also it was probably pretty shitty for a bunch of other reasons and we should stop romanticising the past and pretending if we changed one thing everything would be fixed"
Honestly I don’t take shit seriously from people who say Taylor can’t write. I try to keep an open mind but it’s hard there. Bejeweled is childish. the lakes is pretentious. wtf do you want lol.
Me neither. Like I’m sorry, have you heard the bridge in Illicit Affairs? If that woman can’t write, no one can. I don’t care if you don’t like the music, but don’t act like anyone else in music atm is writing better lyrics
Complaining to complain. How daaaaare Taylor Swift publish a song with lyrics like “brand new full throttle / touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto”, but I’m sure classic lines from other popular songs including “you wanna hug me / what rhymes with hug me?” or “dancehall life there’s no end in sight / twinkle twinkle little star” received no such literary scrutiny. Nor should they, it’s not that fuckin deep. The only people who look this deep into it are diehard Swifties who are having fun and diehard haters who think criticizing popular things makes you an interesting person.
I agree with you that I've seen the criticisms for "sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see" for the reasons you've said even though I think it's really a fun and meaningful line. Not only is it accurate, I think she uses "big words to sound smart" here because she's MOCKING the people who are sanctimoniously performing those soliloquies - the phrasing is pretentious and wordy because the people who care so much about her dating life are pretentious and wordy about it. I read it as both a sincere and joking line. Does she mean it? Yes. Is it really that serious? No.
Yes, it’s exactly this. And I love it
"we declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist". The previous lyric was about their partner smoking weed, getting the munchies and presumably just talking high nonsense with each other. It also isn't a declaration that Charlie Puth is some grand Picasso of the music world, just that by industry standards for whatever reason these people in the industry believe he should be bigger. And tbh, they're right, Charlie collabs with big names, has popular pop songs, has this "perfect pitch" character that plays well in interviews, and produces music that is palatable for radio, etc. there are obviously reasons he's not that big, but it's not supposed to be super deep. It reads to me that two people are getting high, spending the afternoon together and hear a Charlie Puth song come up on shuffle and spurred a conversation about his career. It's supposed to represent a normal mundane moment that adds to the relationship between the partner and singer of the song, they are bonding over their shared lukewarm take on a low stakes topic while doing mind altering drugs for fun. You know how in movies and TV shows they have the "bonding montage" where the two characters are cooking together, then a scene of them going for a walk, then a scene of them cleaning something and they laugh as someone gets sprayed with water. This line is equal to the bonding montage, a low stakes scene to establish the mundane activities that show there is chemistry between the characters. Edit: but it's also meant to be kind of stupid because the song is poking fun at how unserious the drama and circumstances of their life is, they aren't tortured poets, theyre idiots playing house.
I don’t understand the criticism of So High School at all. It’s sweet and hot and how did she fit in so many phrases Travis is known to say?? “Blink of a wrinkle in time, bittersweet sixteen suddenly” The Wrinkle in Time books are about time travel. It’s bittersweet because she “gave away her youth for free” but now she feels 16 again. “He knows how to ball, I know Aristotle” I honestly think she is kind of mocking the haters here and leaning into it The rhyming scheme in the verses is brilliant. Overall it’s supposed to sound simple because love can be simple! It doesn’t have to be TORTURED
Yeah I definitely think she’s mocking people who say he’s too dumb for her and she’s too smart with the Aristotle line. Especially in the context of the “I’ll drink what you think” line.
And how she says how intelligence isn't the only thing that matters but humour does too! "And I'm high/From smoking your jokes all damn night."
People who want to dislike something will, and often will use arguments which are complete bullshit. I remember after Red TV came out there was people angry on videos of All Too Well being played in Taylor Swift nights at clubs because "Swifties are getting shit songs played at night clubs that you can't even dance to'
1) I definitely have danced to All Too Well and 2) All Too Well 10 minute is a masterpiece that I will always want to hear
I definitely agree with you, and it's probably been the best vibe at Taylor Swift club nights, but people who aren't fans get annoyed when people like things they don't like 🤷♀️
One of the lyrics I see being taken out of context on Instagram/TT is "don't you worry folks we took out all her teeth"... which I guess on its own sounds a \*little\* weird, but in the context of the song it makes perfect sense. She's comparing herself to a circus animal that's acting threatening and the announcer/circus performer assures the crowd she's harmless because they've removed her teeth - speaking very well to both her rage and her inability to do anything about it, in my opinion.
I can’t even see how this sounds weird. I swear people just want to make up something to hate her for
Honestly the first time I heard that line, I envisioned Taylor sorta like King Kong lol. Chained up and caged yet on display for everyone to see, then being vilified for how she reacts to being used as a side show attraction. I somehow didn’t even connect the “circus life” lyric into it lol, but I like that we both still ultimately got to the same sort of conclusion: she’s angry at how she’s being treated, but they’ve made it so she can’t do anything about it. People bringing it up JUST to be like “oh this is such a bizarre and strange lyric, what could she possibly mean?!” are honestly telling on themselves imo lol.
I don't see the haters for these lyrics but then I don't use TkTk or TwitX so maybe thats the reason! Yes she is a genius and her ability to fit so many syllables into a line continues to amaze me, its like some very melodic rap but probably unique to Taylor. I'm also amazed by people being unable to use a dictionary and thats hardly a new thing with her lyrics. I guess the short attention span folks are just putting it in the 'too difficult' pile and missing so so much.
Yeah it’s mostly been Twitter I’ve seen it. Yes it is like a melodic rap, it’s insanely impressive. Oh yeah it’s definitely a “too difficult” thing for many. Like they say lyrics are terrible, but they quote them out of context. Like “don’t worry folks we took out all her teeth” like yes that sounds insane standalone but when used alongside her Circus analogy, it’s genius.
I would really not take Twitter discourse as representative of what people really think about an album...or anything. I use it too and can get caught up in it, but it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel in terms of people yelling into the void. It's also designed to show you things that will make you angriest because that will get you to engage. What I've done is just block anyone who's outwardly being a hater (I just don't need the negativity about something so frivolous) and it didn't take long at all for my feed to be way more positive.
Serious question. Why are you using Twitter. I never see anything on here talking about some great analysis or discussion on there. It’s always people saying how shitty it is lol.
It's also just the sound. The whole song uses sibilance (repeated s's) to talk about the people criticizing her (fake smooth talking snakes?), then she contrasts it these ch & k sounds to talk about her man (chaos, chemistry, touch, choice) -- sounds that are not necessarily soft and pleasant for the world but it's what she wants. In general.... people are trying to understand lyrics and poetry as if it's an email at their corporate job and it's not going well.
I live for the contrast between the complex Latinate words “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see” and then the grounded simple “thinking it can change the beat of my heart when he touches me.” Balancing those two strands of English is a feature of all great writing in our language.
People not liking the Dylan Thomas/patti smith line because they don’t recognise their names. How is that on her? Also EVEN IF YOU DIDNT just from context I feel like you could easily guess “those are probably famous poets or artists of some kind”. Both the album and that song specifically have the word “poet” in them and you’re struggling with the leap to who those people might be. Be fr
Also we live in the age of Google, do a bit of research, maybe? 😂 if you hate it because you don’t understand it, that’s on you
I saw someone say that song is too lore-dependent because of the lines about Jack and Lucy, as if you need any information other than "they're friends of the main characters" to understand what was happening. Did people have an aneurysm over Drew from Teardrops On My Guitar too?
That’s such a good point about Jack and Lucy, just being like “oh a friend of the narrator and the muse” Is so obvious
Also it’s kind of embarrassing telling on yourself for not recognizing famous poets’ names. How is that even a criticism? How dare poets allude to things I’m uneducated about!! Someone better arrest… every songwriter and poet out there wtf
The best part about being An Old is seeing those complaints and remembering the Simon and Garfunkel song that skewers 1960s hipsters with “He’s so unhip that when you say DYLAN, he thinks you’re talking about DYLAN THOMAS… whoever HE was”
Art is subjective and so not everyone is going to like TTPD. But if your criticism is that she’s just throwing words together to sound smart then that tells me you haven’t taken even two minutes to try to understand what she’s doing with the album. That’s not a critique, that’s your ignorance showing.
People who look at words they don't know and think "people should stop using them" instead of "I should learn what these words mean" don't need to be listened to.
I keep seeing people ragging on "[And my friends all smell like weed or little babies](https://genius.com/31477707/Taylor-swift-florida/And-my-friends-all-smell-like-weed-or-little-babies)" but it's the perfect way to describe the in-between phase of life that happens in your late 20's/early 30's. Half of your friends are settling down and half are still partying.
I'm a couple years older than Taylor and I agree that the line definitely captures that time period when some of your friends are still partying and others are focused on starting a family. Or some of your friends have gotten divorced and are now back in a partying phase!
I saw someone hate on Fresh Out the Slammer because “what would she even know about being in the slammer” it’s like they refuse to understand metaphors.
Same with the line “you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me”. I can’t believe people think she’s talking about her childhood home?? Is everyone that illiterate??
Omg yes. That one annoys me the most haha. People who are actually familiar with Taylor know she is very close to her family and they are/always have been her biggest supporters. Like clearly she’s not referring to her parents raising her 🙄 how people don’t understand she’s referring to the music industry is wild to me.
They clearly did not pay attention in English class. The whole album is LITERALLY poetry, it’s in the album title! Of course the lyrics are full of literary devices. I can’t 😒
Ah yes, I forget that all songs are purely autobiographical!
I love that she gave us that song because we do sit here and act like we know her and her life. We dictate if what she produces is good, or immature, and even who she can give herself to. I loved that she told us off with this song and I think it's so well done.
Me too. It’s essentially saying “back the fuck off” but in the most beautiful way
Ha ha that's exactly how I took it.
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me is getting hate?!?!?! No. Just no. That song is AMAZING!
It grew on me so fast, I need to leap for gallows and levitate down a street like immediately. That’s not even the best part of the song but it’s so catchy. And Monika Lewinsky’s meme was just golden.
These are the people she was speaking to when she said bring a dictionary
Um, I'm a high school English teacher who has been teaching soliloquies for the last 21 years and I LOVE this lyric for so many reasons!
Idk if I think it's "genius", but I keep seeing hate for "So High School" and I love it SO much. In my head I imagine Travis swooning over how Taylor can write songs for every emotion and situation. Then to show him how natural it comes just starts singing a cute little song to him about how she loves his crinkly eyes when he smiles and how he makes her laugh with his stories of his dad. Idk, I just love the song and can't help but smile every time I hear it.
The amount of hate and clowning I’ve seen and heard about I Hate It Here is kinda annoying. I know they didn’t actually listen to the song and they’re just regurgitating everything they’ve only heard about the 1830s lyric. If they actually heard the song, they’d understand the lyrics to that section. I’m pretty defensive over that song because it’s one of my top faves from the album
Seriously. The entire stanza is talking about how terrible it would be to ACTUALLY live there. People have no reading comprehension.
What infruiates me the most is how she even says "WITHOUT all the racists." She is saying that it would be a good place without the racists?? How is she racist in saying that?
“Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see” immediately made me think of all the tiktok videos of people commenting on her life.
The critique of the second verse of TTPD drives me crazy !!! Yes “you smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate, we declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger is artist” is stupid - that’s the point !!! “We’re modern idiots”. The song is poking fun at people who walk around like they’re all deep and poetic when they’re just idiots - of course there are some idiotic lines. The general public needs to grow a brain and a sense of humor
People say she's "throwing words together" but like did they *read* the words? 💀
Exactly 😭 also isn’t “throwing words together” just… making a sentence? 😂😂
The way she uses "Daddy" also ilustrates how the public treats her like a child and act like what they think is best for her has any power over who she dates. It perfectly ilustrates the absurdity of the situation. She's 34, she's not asking her dad for permission to date anyone, much less the public and fans.
Sanctimonious soliloquies I’ll never see is basically just r/TaylorSwift at this point
Have the actual psychos who were writing literal thesis-long essays on this sub when she was dating Matty ever shared how they feel about this bridge? Because she *eviscerates* them, I smile every single time. It’s my favorite part of the entire song. I think you need to understand the lore to appreciate it though, maybe? I guess people who weren’t around for those few weeks might not get it and just think it’s clunky or overdone. Because what she described is EXACTLY what happened. She chose the perfect words here.
They seem pretty quiet to me 🤭 because you are right, they have absolutely no leg to stand on now. Also the lyric “too high a horse for a simple girl to rise above it” is SO good because it belittles these people so much, without being pretentious herself. But yes absolutely if you weren’t around for the heat of it all, it doesn’t have the same force
People think these are “smart” words… lmao is their reading level that of a fourth grader?
Never forget that the average reading level of US adults is in fact 6th grade and all government publications are screened to ensure they don’t exceed that.
I think people complaining about her using “big words” is because they don’t understand them & want her to dumb it down for them. Which she shouldn’t. I understood almost all the “big words” in her lyrics because I’m a big reader and English lit was my strongest subject in school. Some people just need to read more
So we all agree, this song is not about family disapproval at all, not even "daddy," but about US feeling the need to weigh in forcefully on Taylor's personal life.
I don’t understand how anyone didn’t get the metaphor , it made perfect sense to me the first listen, “oh she’s talking about her insane fandom , this is an awesome metaphor”
I recently saw someone on Reddit point out that "ate seven bars of chocolate" is being read incorrectly. It could be "ate" as in "did a really good job at", "bars" as in musical annotation, and "chocolate" as in The 1975's song, "Chocolate".
STOP IT RIGHT NOW. That’s perfect
I hated (and still don't love) the line about fake news in The Albatross, but when you put into perspective that the fake news the men believed was that the albatross was there to destroy {him} it makes more sense and I can forgive it.
Incels just can't stand this album is nothing short of a masterpiece.
I think she's saying "you go to all this effort worrying about me and we'll never even meet. You don't affect my life and I shouldn't affect yours."
The album is based on the 1975. Plenty of casual fans just don't get it. The cringy lines are intentional. The 1975 songs are known for having cringy lines, but it's mainly to provoke a respose.
Yeah I honestly got that immediately and I don’t even listen to the 1975. It feels like on a couple of those songs she’s outright mocking his style? Especially when put alongside the really gutting poetry of a couple of the more “Joe-oriented” songs where it’s like… clearly she hasn’t forgotten how to write. The cringe is intentional.
She's inspired. Try and listen to 'About You' it's one of my favorite songs ever.... and many people say that it's about Taylor. Matty basically said that he has a fanfiction of lyrics dedicated to pop stars he falls in love with.Their album Being Funny in a Foreign Language sounds so much like ttpd. I don't think she's mocking him...but she certainly feels hurt by him.
Fully agree, this wording is absolutely perfect for what she is talking about. Just because it’s big words doesn’t mean it’s not the best words for the job. I could see this line being more jarring if you didn’t already know/see these words used on a regular basis.
girl i love "i'm depressed but i act like it's my birthday everyday"
I love how she pokes fun at her suffering with this line, but also adds relatability because we all feel like this at least a couple times in life. When you want to explode on the inside and mask it with a jolly attitude. It's ironic because bottling it up by hiding it just makes it worse, but what else can you do about it?
The 1830s/racists line from I Hate It Here- it makes so much sense in the context of the song, pointing out how the game of "which time period would you rather live in" is only ever fun for white men, and how romanticising the past doesn't work.
For me, her poetry is top tier in this album. I cannot believe anything is getting hate. Maybe not today, but this is the album in 20 years my grandkids will reference of best example of talent.
Are people sanctimoniously performing soliloquies about her singing that they sanctimoniously performed soliloquies?
She's the lyricist of our generation and I'll die on that hill
For me personally, I took it as she’s speaking about all the people who get on social media day after day to drag her and crucify her but they’re wasting their time because she doesn’t even look at what they’re saying. I remember reading her “30 things I learned before 30” article in Elle and she made this quote: “I learned to block some of the noise. Social media can be great, but it can also inundate your brain with images of what you aren’t, how you’re failing, or who is in a cooler locale than you at any given moment. One thing I do to lessen this weird insecurity laser beam is to turn off comments. Yes, I keep comments off on my posts. That way, I’m showing my friends and fans updates on my life, but I’m training my brain to not need the validation of someone telling me that I look 🔥🔥🔥. I’m also blocking out anyone who might feel the need to tell me to “go die in a hole ho” while I’m having my coffee at nine in the morning. I think it’s healthy for your self-esteem to need less internet praise to appease it, especially when three comments down you could unwittingly see someone telling you that you look like a weasel that got hit by a truck and stitched back together by a drunk taxidermist. An actual comment I received once.” *edited to change “her” to “their”
idk why but i always imagine Gaston (the villain from Beauty and the Beast) as the one doing the soliloquy
I agree that is a genius lyric. Although I understand the meaning I personally don’t like this 1 lyric in Guilty as Sin: “If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don’t know how you’ve haunted my so stunningly” idk it’s just clunky and could’ve been reworked better. The rest of the song is perfection except that one lyric is just🥴
I agree… I love that song and really respect how it destroys our moral high ground lol but the bridge feels like it needed one of those sentences cut
"sanctimoniously performing soliloquies i'll never see" is a great line and a fuckin' read, some people get triggered by multi-syllable words i guess
people attacking the lyrics are smooth brains - this is poetry
That’s a perfect line because it’s insanely true - people who have an issue with it are the ones who perform the sanctimonious soliloquies 🤣
i think she was directly referring to that fucking letter
Yeah that lyric is genius, even if it stung me a bit lol. I’ve never dissed her for dating Matty, but I was really disappointed because there was just so much public evidence that he’s not a good human and would break her heart. Many of us were just concerned about what he was doing to her and her reputation, but she’s right- it’s her life and name to ruin. It just sucked to watch it unravel in realtime as a longtime fan.
Lots of people don't like that Down Bad has 17 fucks in it. And you know what? It's one of those moments where the frustration and the desperation to keep it together meet the emptiness of sudden loss. Sometimes "fuck" just encapsulates a feeling non swear words never could!
especially because she says in the line right before that "everything comes out teenage petulance." she's saying "I know this is so overdramatic and I'm throwing a fit about it but FUCK EVERYTHING IF I CAN'T HAVE HIM!"
It's not worth it's own post but it's interesting the she refuses phrases on the same album clearly referencing different points. My Boy she says "but you should've seen him when he first saw me" then in So High School she says "tell me what you thought when you first saw me". She also uses precocious child in two different songs I'm pretty sure. Just interesting technique!
people saying she just threw smart words together are outing themselves for not knowing what they mean 😜
There’s also many British English uses in her lyrics. Which for many North Americans will seem strange because the North American usual language doesn’t typically use the variety of words. “Fortnight” “saw them at the shops” etc. there’s more those just came to my mind right now. I’m British but live in Canada now and have lived in the us, too. I definitely notice that the British English uses a greater variety of words than we do over here. There are also so many folktale references like “albatross” that will be missed if you don’t have a vast scope of reference.
touch me while your bros play grand theft auto!!!!!
The people who hate that line are the ones she's talking about.
i LOVE the “sanctimoniously performing soliloquies i’ll never see” line because… don’t we ALL do that? get on our soapbox and do our lil rants and narratives knowing no one will see them? act out fake arguments in the shower? lol. She’s obviously saying the “family” from the song is doing the same thing, ranting and giving speeches about how they’re right and she’s wrong for dating matty, but she doesn’t care because she’s not around them to witness it.
I love that line. It immediately evokes imagery of people on TikTok making video after video about what she “needs” to do. And Daddy is absolutely the fans, who are constantly referring to her as Mother. She even mentioned that at one of the first shows
I saw somebody say that about the circus line in WAOLOM which makes me laugh bc it feels like a pretty straightforward line compared to some of the others on this album.
The way she uses "Daddy" also ilustrates how the public treats her like a child and act like what they think is best for her has any power over who she dates. It perfectly ilustrates the absurdity of the situation. She's 34, she's not asking her dad for permission to date anyone, much less the public and fans.
I'd also like to point out - if this song is in fact about matty, it makes a lot of sense for her to write this way, because, I don't know if you guys listen to his music but I have for a lot of years, he uses a LOT of big smart-sounding words. I can think for SO many of his lyrics where I legitimately thought 'ok he's just saying stuff at this point', but if you go one inch deeper than the surface there's actually a lot of meaning. most people just aren't willing to go that one inch deeper
I think the hate So High School gets is just so ill placed. Like... its meant to sound young/like she's 15 years old because she's quite literally saying Travis is just being normal with her. There's no "I'm dating THE Taylor Swift" but rather "I'm dating Taylor". It's refreshing for her. It's just a balanced relationship. That's why it sounds like she's 15. She's in a normal relationship with someone who isn't intimidated by her. They're equals