So This Sweater Has Been ID’d As Band Of Outsiders, Pre-fall 2014. Naturally, I Did The Google 🥴

I'm genT13 on twitter!!!

the archer theory about taylor swift coming out.

well, i've seen some people talking about this song and i had to listen to it again, since it's one of my favorite songs on lover and it also has to do with the theories and the meaning this song has to me.

i don't want to apply this to anyone so feel free to SKIP and NOT READ if you don't agree that this is a LGBTQIA+ song.

pure my own interpretation but you don't have to come to me if you don't like, she has a lot of songs and some of them are free for interpretations and they have different meanings to different people.

the first line it's:

“combat, i'm ready for combat / i say i don't want that but what if i do?”

this line to me has the deepest meaning and it comes along with the one in you are in love “and you will understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars” and in ivy “this is the goddamn fight of my life and you started it” and both songs are before and after the archer which makes the archer in the middle.

the combat she's (maybe) referring to it's about coming out being (still) the american dream and the woman everyone looks up to when it comes to pop music, she says she don't want it but what if she does? what if she want to fight for it, fight for who she is and who she wants people to see that she really is? it's a combat because you can't come out if you're not ready to start a war against the world.

“cause cruelty wins in the movies / i've got a hundred thrown-out speeches i almost said to you”

cruelty here, to me, it's about how cruel it is to not have the story of your life in the big screen, like, we grow up seeing the bad stories about LGBTQIA+ couples and it's always about how they didn't end up together or how bad they are treated. the “speeches i almost said to you" looks like something she was ready to say to us, her fans, and she didn't had the chance or she wasn't really ready.

“easy they come, easy they go / i jump from the train, i ride off alone / i never grow up it's getting so old, help me hold on to you”

when i first saw the miss americana documentary, i highlighted that part where she is trying to convince her father and the rest of the team that it was a good idea/good move to speak up about the politics and the situation of the trump thing. and it was very hard for me to watch because it was clearly a bunch of old men that grew up and still have in mind their conservatory concepts that goes against what taylor wanted to tell her whole life, they were just trying to silence her and she decided to do it anyway because she is a grown woman and she never spoke up about those things before the reputation era.

the easy they come and easy they go line goes for the fans, they are always in and out and sometimes some of them never want to come back and stay because in the first bad thing that happens to her it pulls them away. she jumps from the train and ride off alone, the train maybe is about her life that never stops and she takes a break from it, the media, the relationships, the image she has in front of the whole world and she ride alone because there's no one in the world that could understand her more than herself. she never grow up when it comes to being more mature when it comes to some things and having the capacity to speak her truth, she's asking us to let her hold on to us when things go harder and when everyone else has left her.

“i've been the archer, i've been the prey / who could ever leave me darling, but who could stay?”

i fucking love this line so much because when you are a LGBTQIA+ kid growing up, you always has to fight against being the bad person and the good person, you grow up seeing in the news that you will die young and that there's people out there that will try to tell you that loving someone of the same sex is the wrong thing to do. being the archer and also the prey is like haunting yourself until you realize who you really are, you have that idea internalized in you, the homophobic jokes you grew up listening and you're also the target and it's like both sides of a coin. who could ever leave her for being a (bi, pan, lesbian) woman? who could ever stay if she's a (bi pan, lesbian) woman? it's like “who could stay in the darkest of the darkest times here with me because it looks like i am lost and i don't know where to go”

“dark side, i search for your dark side / but what if i'm alright, right, right, right here?”

the dark side is not the bad side like people point out, the dark side of someone is like when the moon is half shown and half hidden, and you can only see the part that's out for the light. here the dark side of taylor is the one she haven't showed to us, and to me this line is not about a potential lover but about herself. and this song feels like a mirror, so to me, she's talking to herself and trying to find her dark side in front of her own image. the sequence “alright, right” it's like the dark side saying “i am here and it's good”.

“and i cut off my nose just to spite my face / then i hate my reflection for years and years”

this fucking line is the deepest for me, because it's like, she cut a part of herself to looks like someone who she wasn't made to be, it reminds me of having to hide your true side in despite of being hurt or left aside. how many LGBTQIA+ kids and teenagers has to hide from their parents? we change our way to see the world, we lie to everyone about our love interestings, we hide in the closet and we don't face ourselves because this is not who we are and then we spent the rest of our life hating our reflection because we don't recognize this person but everybody loves this version we created, it's easy, it's very easy to love a straight person but it's the hardest thing to let a queer kid feel loved. it's very easy to not tell a straight person how to be but it's the hardest thing teach a queer kid how to love themselves.

“i wake in the night, i pace like a ghost / the room is on fire, invisible smoke / and all of my heroes die all alone / help me hold on to you”

she's s ghost to the people who live with her so she's not seen, everything is burning and there's an invisible smoke that's where she fades in, and all of her heroes, probably the queer ones that are dying everyday all alone and the ones who died were left alone in their final days. again she's asking if she can count on us to keep going if things go hard.

“i see right through me / they see right through me / can you see right through me?”

seeing through someone means that you see their true version, like if you're looking at their soul and they're so open that you can read anything. it's understanding someone and knowing someone inside and out. just like the lover mv where she's inside the fish tank, it's a metaphor for a thing that can be seen by everyone just like a mirror. and the delicate mv where she's not seen until she enters the bar and sees a person. she can see through herself and people are seeing through her but not in the way she wants to be seen and then she asks (for the fans?) if we can see right through her. could we fight the wars with her? be the shoulder for her to lean on? stay even when she's about to face the fight the biggest war of her life?

“all the king's horses, all the king's men / couldn't put me together again / cause all of my enemies started out friends”

king's horses and king's men also align with the chorus and the universe of being the prey in a world of men. also it can also be the world of a society that lives inside a bubble and cannot accept diversity. not even the men, (her father, team, men she dated?) could put her together again after all that she have been through, and it matches with the “i cut off my nose just to spite my face”. all of her enemies once were friends which implies that she can't trust anyone and as the song goes as (in my vision) a LGBTQIA+ letter to her fans, she's saying that there's no one that could handle this secret and she already tried to tell them but it ended wrong.

that's it. to me this song has a deep meaning and i couldn't put everything i wanted to in this post. also i just want taylor to know that there's a lot of sapphic connotations in her songs and i will always stay.

THE 13 QUEER TROPES OF TAYLOR SWIFT

[I am reblogging this to address formatting issues in original post]

I’ve quantified 13 different queer tropes (yes, 13, that actually organically happened) that can be found in Taylor Swift’s discography. Because I’m an academic, and that’s what we do.

None of these tropes are definitive. They don’t definitively say the text is queer, or that Taylor Swift is queer, but they do suggest queer readings. In other words, they reflect queer experience and queer expression, regardless of intent, or the author’s actual identity or desires. And while many of the tropes overlap with other kinds of readings– for example, female agency is also a feminist trope– when we see them all together like this, well, it’s quite suggestive (and marvelous).

Created by: So Many Signs-So Many Times

1) FORBIDDEN LOVE – Love that is secret because it would be judged or cause harm to those who love were this love to be revealed; Love that is dangerous. 

•This love is different difficult but it’s real (Love Story) [“different” was the original lyric]

•Seems like there’s always someone who disapproves, They’ll judge it like they know about me and you (Ours)

•I would fall from grace just to touch your face (Don’t Blame Me)

•I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us (Dancing with our Hands Tied)

•I don’t want to keep secrets just to keep you (Cruel Summer)

•This love is treacherous… nothing safe is worth the drive. (Treacherous)

2) PRONOUNS (OR LACK THEREOF)  – Many uses of “you” and terms of endearment; Fewer uses of “he,” “him,” and “his” than one would expect. [I did not run the data but my hunch is that if you compared TS lyrics with other songs written by (straight) women, you’d notice that he/him/his are used far less in Taylor Swift’s work.

3) ASSUMING THE MALE PERSPECTIVE AND/OR MALE GAZE– Shifts the POV so she is singing from the an explicitly male perspective; Assumes the role of the looker and positions love interest as object of desire (historically the female position in a hetero diad– male looks, woman has “to-be-looked-at-ness” (related to Feminization of Object of Desire); TS narrator is the “doer,” object of desire is the receiver.

•Marry me, Juliet (Love Story)

•I don’t wanna hurt you, I just wanna be / Drinking on a beach with you all over me (End Game)

•Wrap your arms around me, baby boy (Paper Rings)

•Betty – entire song

•How You Get the Girl (entire song)

•I Hit You Like Bang (End Game)

4) FEMINIZATION OF OBJECT OF DESIRE– Related to Male Perspective and Male Gaze; Presumed male love interest is feminized by describing him in ways that are more feminine, or usually feminine; Describing presumed male love interest by what he’s wearing (overlap with Male Gaze), using diminutive terms of endearment.

•Baby doll, when it comes to a lover (ME!)

•Wrap your arms around me baby boy (Paper Rings)

•And the fella over there with the hella good hair… (Shake it Off)

•Cause I can’t help it if you look like an angel (Hey Stephen)

•Stay beautiful, every little piece love (Stay Beautiful)

•You got that James Dean, daydream, look in your eyes [This one is interesting because it also evokes homo-erotic imagery]

•Lipstick on your face (So It Goes)

•Come here, dressed in black now (So It Goes)

5) DOUBLE ENTENDRES– Words or phrases that have double meanings or clear references (related to Phrasing);

•Then you won’t have to cry, or hide in the closet (Seven)

•We need love but all we want is danger / We change sides like a record changer (New Romantics)

•We’re a crooked love in a straight line down (I Wish You Would)

•Too in love to think straight (Wonderland)

6) WLW Sex or desire– Clear or highly suggestive descriptions of WLW sex or desire

•Wear you like a necklace (So It Goes)

•I’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands (Treacherous)

•All the boys and their expensive cars, with their Range Rovers and their Jaguars, never took me quite where you do (King of My Heart)

•Religion’s in your lips… The altar is my hips (False God)

•You did a number on me…I did a number on you, But, honestly, baby, who’s counting… 1, 2, 3 (So It Goes)

•You showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else (Illicit Affairs)

7) EXPLICITLY GAY

•Why are you mad when you could be Glaad? (You Need to Calm Down)

•You can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls. (Welcome to NY)

8) TENDERNESS – Focus more on emotional connection, tenderness, sensuality, friendship– Feels more sapphic than straight.

•Hand under my sweatshirt / Baby, kiss it better (Cardigan)

•Strange look on his face / Pauses, then says, “You’re my best friend” / And you know what it was, he is in love (You Are in Love)

•Whispers of “Are you sure? Never have I ever before” (August)

•Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand.  (It’s Nice to Have a Friend)

9) PERFORMATIVE OR CONSTRUCTED NATURE OF REALITY –Stories within Stories – References to everything being a text (movie, song, etc.) / describing reality as a text– Conjures queerness in how it foregrounds the constructed or performative nature of reality, pointing to a disruption in things like compulsory heterosexuality, the gender binary, etc.

•Music starts playing like the end of a sad movie / It’s the kind of ending you don’t really wanna see (Breathe)

•I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending (Exile)

•The story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now (The Story of Us)

•Don’t read the last page, but I stay (New Year’s Day)

10) ODD OR INTERESTING PHRASINGS / REFERENCES– Kind of a catch-all; Things that just seem off, or alert my gaydar; Sometimes it’s hard to explain, like how I responded to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” or Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” before I knew they were queer.

•Building forts with my lover, trust him like a brother (Call it What You Want) [This just feels off – I don’t think straight women ever compare their lovers to their brothers. Ew, David.]

•Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town / I’m New York City, I still do it for you babe (False God) [Strong Karlie references here]

Also, queer references such as “road less traveled” (Robert Frost).

And things that just wouldn’t be that clever if it weren’t about Karlie (or a woman)

•You’re so gorgeous, can’t say anything to your face, coz look at your face.” [Really only clever if it’s about Karlie, someone who, as a model, literally makes a living being gorgeous; Totally pedestrian if it’s about a guy]

11) FEMALE AGENCY– Girl power, Strong sense of self and ownership of one’s sexulity.

•Bad, bad boys. Shiny toy with a price. You know that I bought it (Cruel Summer)

•He said the way my blue eyes shined / Put those Georgia stars to shame that night / I said “that’s a lie” (Tim McGraw)

•You should have said no, baby, and you might still have me (Should Have Said No)

•We Are Never Getting Back Together – entire song

•Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? They strike to kill, and you know I will (Mad Woman)

12) OUTSIDER – Focus on being an outsider, not fitting in. Of course everyone feels like they are on the outside looking in at times, but I’ve often wondered why someone who is traditionally beautiful, feminine, able bodied, smart, white, affluent, etc. would write so much about not fitting in, especially in her early work

•How can I ever try to get better, Nobody ever lets me in (The Outside)

• She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts / She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers (You Belong with Me)

•We show off our scarlet letters, trust me mine is better (New Romantics)

13) FEELING UNSEEN– Related to Outsider trope; Lyrics that position TS/narrator as not truly seen for who she is. 

•Been here all along, so why can’t you see me? (You Belong with Me)

•You just see right through me, but if you only knew me (Invisible)

•They see right through me… Can you see right through me… I see right through me (The Archer)

i just can’t get over it

Taylor Swift’s 2005-2006 MySpace Comments

Taylor’s alleged MySpace comments in a chronological order from 2005 to 2006. (Time of posts on 24h). Pictures of the comments were too blurry, so I didn’t add, but if needed, I have them saved in a file if anyone needs proof. 

NB: All the comments are replies to unknown posts by her friends, so the context is unknown. 

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ash’s 1k follower celebration 💋

@ohh-goddamn requested: anything with ivy

so real, i’m damned if i do give a damn what people say

Most of the Renegade lyrics link back to songs on reputation through evermore, but there is one linking back to 1989’s New Romantics (bJ) which has one of the most under the radar stanzas ever!

Like how is she going to say “we team up then switch sides” in one breath and then “the rumors are terrible and cruel but honey most of them are true” in the next and NO ONE SAYS A DAMN THING ABOUT IT?! 🤯💀

I switched teams too… when I was 22! 😂