Did You Ever Realize How In The Lover Video Taylor 'lassoed' Her Lover Like A Cowboy Would Do? And Then

a bit of resonance with the universe...

i’m just gonna leave this here...

Some thoughts from twitter 🙌🏻

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]

“Up on YOUR Roof with a Schoolgirl Crush”

In the Making of a Song video for “King of My Heart” Taylor sings the lyrics as “with all these nights we’re spending up on YOUR roof with a schoolgirl crush.”

Video - at 6:30.

So who had a rooftop in 2016 when this song was being written?

Lily’s and Karlie’s addresses were public info.

Lily’s Building

Lily’s building had a rooftop for hanging out.

In a photoshoot she did for Cass Bird and Telegraph magazine, they used Lily’s East Village neighborhood for the shoot, including up on the roof.

Karlie’s Building

Karlie’s two-story building had a garden, garden gate, and balcony but no rooftop to hang out on.

Joe’s Building

Articles report that Joe was living in Crouch End when he met Taylor. I don’t think his place had a rooftop to hang out on from photos of the area.

The Bridge

I’ve written about the “King of My Heart” lyrics in other posts, including the British, model, and wlw references, so let’s just look at the bridge here after the roof lyric.

“Drinking beer out of plastic cups”

Is this a reference to Taylor and Karlie at the Knicks game in 2014? Maybe. But the 2014 era doesn’t seem to match the rest of the song, especially since this line is after “my broken bones are mending.”

“Say you fancy me not fancy stuff”

Another British 🇬🇧 reference in a song with many British references. So this line could fit Lily or Joe.

The Making of a Song video was recorded in September 2016. The Nashville and LA scenes, including the rooftop lyric scene, were filmed September 19-21. (Link) The song appears to have been started in early September from the Cornelia Street scene at the beginning of the video and some people think it may have been started as early as August. All of this is before September 28.

so you mean to tell me

taylor was seen exiting Waverly Inn with some of her friends on October 11th 2016, bodyguard with infamous “its all part of the f*cking story” paper tablecloth covering in hand

followed by Calamity Joe getting papped (video) for the first time on October 12th, along with the rumored “kings of leon” first meeting with taylor that night...

and then on the following night of October 13th taylor is papped also at the bowery ballroom with karlie kloss and serena williams (and the maker of her sweater is “Elizabeth & James”??)

and upon further inspection now we all see that taylor is wearing the golden neck tattoo that you can also peep her sporting in the “making of” delicate video...

meaning that

taylor got to the point in writing delicate that she deemed good to go ahead and film herself... quite possibly the day after the first documented date that she had with beau de jour...?

with lyrics like these..???

Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?

Third floor on the West Side, me and you

Sometimes I wonder when you sleep

I pretend you're mine, all the damn time

how much could be crammed in to this 24-48 hour period?!

this puts so much weight on the idea that they first met at the met 😂😂 and you all know what i have to say about that...

like... like...?!

you know what i was just thinking about the locket, that became a thing back when CH was around. like, it says 2015 on it, and the post was made in 2016...

why would taylor put out a piece of merch hearkening back to a Tayv*n artifact with the words

myLover

on it, if the whole album is supposed to be about her current Man Of The Moment??

are the kids out there assuming that the dj is still her secret boyfriend?? what’s the take, folks?

especially considering everything up til now with someone either than all the boys

and just like...

the locket being in the YAIL taymoji pack??

and YAIL mirroring the instagram post?

hello??

hello out there~~~

my tears ricochet - t.s.

"My heart had been frozen, deep blue but you painted me golden..."

"A RED rose grew up out of iced frozen ground with no one around to tweet it."

"About a girl who was frozen in time"

"I'm setting off... it's time to go... but not without my muse..."

Y'all...

She posted today on INFINITY ♾. 👀

👀

13 days ago Karlie posted two fairy emojis, wearing a cardigan, standing in front of the woods. folklore promo ✅

I really want to believe Karlie & Taylor are still together, have a kid together etc. But what are your thoughts on Right Where You Left Me? It's clearly about Karlie, but it's not exactly the most positive bonus track from evermore that would confirm their relationship is, well...forevermore. Thoughts?

I do not really know this song so I will let others chime in. I am not a believer that evermore or folklore are specific narratives of her life. I believe those songs are sprinkled with a combination of true stories and fiction.