Taylor Started Her Countdown To This Chapter Release From The Day That She Announced The Two Bonus Tracks

Cowboy Like Me

Howdy partner! this song is clearly a reference to Taylors roots in country music - but it goes deeper than that. It’s about Karlie, and how both girls have built their careers off of selling the idea of love, karlie through modeling and Taylor through songwriting. Both are super ambitious and focused, playing the game and driving their careers forward, but have rags (ok - not rags, but upper middle class normalcy) to riches stories, which makes them feel like the don’t quite belong in the celeb world.

And the tennis court was covered up

Several people have noticed that this could be a reference to Tennis Court by Lorde. The last time Kaylor was seen together was the below pic at Lorde’s bday. Reading the lyrics to Tennis Court, it almost seems like the same setting as CBM. Lorde’s song explores the dark side of fame, talking about not fitting in and being surrounded by superficial fame. She says “let’s go down to the tennis courts to talk it out” and then we have CBLM that starts in the middle of a sentence with “and”, and takes place at the tennis court, where the cowboys are trying to impress the rich folks, almost as if the songs are sequential.

With some tent-like thing

Here we’re already getting the theme of not belonging somewhere. Taylor doesn’t say canopy - which is what she is referring to and actually would fit both in terms of syllables and rhyme scheme - she says “tent-like thing” which is both dismissive of her surroundings and tells us that maybe she doesn’t quite know the right word for them.

And you asked me to dance

Let’s just take a moment to remember that 1) Karlie is a dancer and 2) kaylor started at vsfs2013 where they danced on stage together like this:

dancer karlie!

But I said, “Dancing is a dangerous game”

This references DWOHT -  which is the ultimate Kaylor song and is all about dancing even though its dangerous, like in the lyrics “can we dance through an avalanche?”, “Swaying as the room burned down”, etc. 

Oh, I thought This is gonna be one of those things

There’s a song called Just One Of Those Things by Nat Porter that you can listen to here, and it seems like Tay is referencing it here. The song lists great loves (ex. Romeo & Juliet) being cast aside and belittled as “one of those things”. This reminds me of people saying that being gay is a “phase” in order to devalue it. Specifically one line in Just One Of Those Things really makes me think about Kaylor - “If we’d thought a bit, of the end of it When we started painting the town We’d have been aware that our love affair Was too hot, not to cool down”. It expresses how they were so loud while glass closeting and had so much chemistry that they couldn’t just tone it down they had to go completely dark in order to keep closeting.

Now I know I’m never gonna love again

In many ways this references the theme of “right where you left me”, Taylor can’t move on because she fell too hard for Karlie and no love will ever compare.

I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve Takes one to know one You’re a cowboy like me

Taylor sees a lot of herself in Karlie. They know how to play the same games in terms of their careers and bearding, but because of this they understand each others vulnerabilities, etc.

Never wanted love Just a fancy car

They weren’t looking for love when they met, they were both just in the place they were because they were trying to advance their careers. However, as Tay has talked about before, the lure or riches and fancy cars isn’t enough to satisfy her. It also references this line in King Of My Heart, where Tay literally says that all the boys aren’t as good as her lover (Karlie) is.

Now I’m waiting by the phone Like I’m sitting in an airport bar You had some tricks up your sleeve Takes one to know one

You’re a cowboy like me

also:

Perched in the dark Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear Like it could be love I could be the way forward Only if they pay for it

Both Karlie and Taylor have built their careers off of selling the idea of love - Taylor through her music and Karlie through her modeling, especially with Victoria’s Secret. Both of them are capitalizing and cashing in on romance. They play the game of love to be valuable to the record labels, fashion brands, and industry overall, getting the “rich people” in the industry to invest in them and their careers. However, both are caught off guard when they encounter the real thing and actually fall in love.

You’re a bandit like me Eyes full of stars

Taylor talks about eyes a lot, but I think this has two meanings. 1 - both of their eyes are full of stars because they are surrounded by other celebs and so they are literally seeing stars all the time. 2 - the more conventional meaning would be that their eyes are bright and beautiful.

It also references two songs that are very much about Karlie: “Starry eyes sparkin’ up my darkest night” in Call It What You Want, and “The stars in your eyes shined brighter in Tupelo” in Dorothea.

Hustling for the good life

Again, Taylor brings attention to the fact that they are both really career focused and trying really hard to be as successful as possible. They don’t have the same type of fallbacks that celebs with famous parents and old money have.

Never thought I’d meet you here It could be love We could be the way forward And I know I’ll pay for it

Here Taylor knows that she’ll pay for her relationship with karlie in two ways, 1- she’s paying for it in that by falling in love and pursuing a relationship she’s on the “treacherous” road making her life much more complicated given that she’s choosing not to come out, 2- she is literally paying for beards so she can have a public muse for her relationship songs.

[Chorus]

And the skeletons in both our closets

Plotted hard to fuck this up

Here Tay is talking about closets again. This actually makes me think of two meanings. 

1- it makes me think of the “skin and bones” line in treacherous (maybe because I was just talking about that song) and how tay has used that type of language to talk about her and her lover in the past. The skeletons in the closet could be a reference to the past karlie and Taylor being in the closet, when they were both really thin and Taylor was battling her eating disorder. In the past they were plotting so hard to cover their tracks and stay in the closet, which eventually messed everything up for them. 

2 - The more obvious interpretation is that the skeletons in the closet are the people who were controlling their careers, who they have now moved away from, like SB2. These people messed things up by keeping them in the closet.

And the old men that I’ve swindled

Both karlie and tay have had careers that were mostly controlled by men who are older than them - VS CMO Ed razek, SB2, etc. These men thought that they were controlling kaylors careers, but kaylor is individually profiting as well.

Really did believe I was the one

This references The One, the first track on folklore.

And the ladies lunching have their stories about When you passed through town

Karlie has quite the rep for making people fall in love with her quite easily (see the klossanova video that @theprologues​ made here). 

But that was all before I locked it down

Love locked down! for more details check out this post and this one, but basically Karlie posted and image with the caption “love locked down” on March 6, 2016, on the same day Taylor posted “one year down” with the picture of a locket. This was one year after their Vogue cover came out in March 2015. Because of this, it seems like they were celebrating their anniversary some sort. Hence the line “I locked it down”. 

Now you hang from my lips Like the Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, known as very beautiful and an incredible feat in engineering (beauty + engineering are both things that describe karlie!). However, archeologists are unable to find proof of their location - therefore it’s unclear if the gardens “were an actual construction or a poetic creation”. 

With your boots beneath my bed

This is a metaphor for sleeping together and is also referencing cowboy boots.

Forever is the sweetest con

It’s impossible to be with each other forever - when we say forever we know that we will actually be separated by mortality and factors we can’t control. However, Taylor is okay being “conned” with ideas of forever, because it’s understood that they will be with each other as long as possible.

And yet, this also references Hoax - it’s a different way of saying “your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in”. Leaving us wondering if the love was real or a con.

[Chorus]

I loved these rings on the third finger of your right hand, girls.

Congratulations! 😉💍

“You’re my, my, my, my… Lover”.

🌞❤🌻

Photo 1 by @teardropsinwonderland

here’s the thing about how falling down the gaylor rabbit hole went for me.. the more i came to learn about the kaylor love story, the more sublime it became.

Louis & Taylor are best gay besties.

Here’s why:

Louis’s infamous “if that” expression of distaste towards Haylor was immediately followed by him saying “I’ve met her before, she’s a lovely girl.”

Not only that, he mentioned how great she is UNPROMPTED at least twice in his interview with Forbes and Telegraph.

They literally partied together.

Taylor’s AT&T NOW commercial ft. Her locked in the closet, her climbing out of the closet through the air vent before arriving in the studio to record music.

Taylor’s AT&T NOW commercial also included her googling the picture she saw on a guy’s shirt.

Louis wearing MJ’s Billie Jean t-shirt in Back To You teaser for everyone to Google the lyrics: Billie Jean is not my lover. She's just a girl who claims that I am the one. But the kid is not my son

In another commercial, Taylor wore rainbow, and rode a unicorn cat. (Hint: What word did Harry use to call a cat and got grounded for being inappropriate?)

There is no subtlety in this household.

Louis’s rainbow Apple t-shirt which led to the Bullshit 2.0 and the dagger tattoo, probably.

Oh yeah, let’s talk about tattoos.

1. Harry, birds don’t have eyebrows. (They kinda do. But it’s a meme at this point.)

2. Louis, Kevin is a pigeon, not a swift bird. HOW COULD YOU?

What a coincidence that Louis randomly picked the name DIANA as promo song for Midnight Memories. Almost like a tribute to Dianna Agron who was once aboard SS Swiftgron with Taylor while Haylor was happening on paper. Or that Harry’s Fine Line theme colors being 🏳️‍⚧️ a trans flag and STYLE music video from Taylor’s 1989 included a scene of this man looking at himself in the mirror only to see a reflection of a woman.

Or that Louis’s song Fearless seemingly referenced Karlie Kloss as the second wife of Taylor in (colourful) Suit & Tie era, aka Lover. Just for the first Taylor’s Version album to be FEARLESS.

It’s almost like they’re all closeted queers in the same industry or a Copy of A Copy of A Copy or something.

argumentative

antithetical

dream girl

The straightest Taylor Swift songs

1.Betty: Writing a song about yearning for a woman is such a hetrosexual thing to do.

2. Marron: Yes because most straight men have scarlet lips.

3.Wonderland: It’s a complete coincidence that Diana had her wonderland tattoo removed right after this song was released. 

4.The Man: Because most straight women wish they could brag about getting bitches and models.

5.Don’t Blame Me: I don’t know what you're talking about being in a straight relationship is totally falling from grace.

6.Hits Different: Because wanting to melt another girl's world is extremely straight.

7.Dress:  Wanting to date your best friend is such hetrosexual behavior right? Right?

8.Gorgeous: Because it makes total sense why it would be worse for a man to not have a girlfriend than to be single.

9.Now That We Don’t Talk: Because it’s completely logical for “Truth is I can’t pretend it’s platonic it’s just ended” to be written by a straight woman about a straight man.

10.Daylight: “I used to think love would be black and white but it’s golden.” is such a straight lyric to write.

11.I Know Places: Because every straight person has to worry about people finding out about their relationship with their partner.

12.End Game: Because her being in a relationship with a man no ones ever heard of would be a big conversation.

13.Illicit Affairs: Again having to hide a relationship is such hetrosexual behavior.

14.Question: Because a hetrosexual relationship is totally going against gender norms and is not at all considered suitable and right

15.Ours: Because most hetrosexual couples have to deal with people disapproving of their relationship.

16.How You Get The Girl: Because most straight women are extremely familiar with how to get the girl. 

17.Out Of The Woods: “The rest of the world was black and white but we were in screaming color” is such a straight lyric you guys.

18.All Of The Girls You Loved Before: Because “all of the girls you’ve loved before made you the one I’ve fallen for” makes total grammatical sense for it to be about a man.

19.Glitch: Because it’s so common for a straight relationship to start off as them supposed to be just friends.

20.The Very First Night: Because there is no reason as to why “they don’t know how much I miss you” breaks the whole flow of the song.

1989 World Tour Live Part 3

Taylor taking off her dress for Gigi Hadid

Taylor and Karlie met in 2013….another interesting coincidence right?

Taylor talking to MTV about the number 13…

And the 2015 Vogue article, just in case there are any new Kaylor’s around.