I Think A Lot About Sadie's Expression In This Exact Moment

the autotune distortion part of dear reader is soooo effective in how it takes someone who has been idolized and constructed through song and performance and public persona, with some of the cogs and bolts her own doing, and reveals how that person we think we know is as real as the pixelated images we see of her, which is to say not real at all. it reveals this god like figure to be an invention of our own design, barely human anymore. and the fact that it distorts over the line "never take advice from someone who's falling apart" hits home that she's not the shiny, perfect godlike woman we see. the hologram ripples, the machine glitches, when the fallibility of her humanity shows through, breaking the visage of perfection we're accustomed to. it's not real, not humanly possible to be this person the curated and carefully constructed way we see her, never was, and isn't possible to achieve. the reality of who she is, outside the songs and the narrative, is way messier, way less inspiring and tied up in a perfect bow. but also doubles as a philosophical meditation on where does one end and the other begin? if the only version of her that most people know is a bunch of perfect pixels, is that the real her now? If that's taylor, then who is the flesh and blood person sitting on her couch every night? does she even exist outside of those pixels anymore? does anyone know the real taylor anymore, herself included, and which one is the real taylor? is she just the ghost in the machine now?

@lgbtqcreators creator bingo: layout

The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology userboxes

Forever Winter 2012 demo (x)

GUYS WHAT IS THIS MASHUP??????????

SOUND ON.

The Thesis For Every Taylor Swift Album

Debut: I'm just a girl, tryna' find a place in this world - "A Place In This World"

Fearless: You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless - "Fearless"

Speak Now: The girl in the dress wrote you a song - "Dear John"

Red: Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right - "State Of Grace"

1989: The best people in life are free - "New Romantics"

reputation: They're burning all the witches even if you aren't one, so light me up - "I Did Something Bad"

Lover: You are what you love - "Daylight"

folklore: I don't belong and, my beloved, neither do you - "the lakes"

evermore: And I couldn't be sure, I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn't be forevermore - "evermore"

Midnights: Lost in the labyrinth of my mind - "Labyrinth"

TTPD: I love you, it's ruining my life - "Fortnight"

Love this! Trav caught it 🏈❤️

Odysseus: Achilles, don't you think you're overreacting about Patroclus's death? Achilles: What would YOU do if Penelope died? Odysseus: Achilles: Exactly.

A Guide to Red - The Quintessential Taylor Swift Album

After the release of The Manuscript, the role of Red and Red (Taylor’s Version) in Taylor’s life and discography has been highly discussed. A lot of people have referred to it as her magnum opus and most formative album. I have decided to compile a condensed list of about a dozen key interviews, performances, speeches, posts, and videos from 2011 all the way until 2024 that illustrate the importance of this record for Taylor’s personal life and career. I’m putting the list under a cut because it got pretty long. You don’t have to go through all of these, obviously, but I would suggest at least one per era. The bolded ones are essential in my opinion.

Pre-Red - These interviews hint at Taylor’s emotional state at the time and thus the content that will be explored on the Red album

2011 The New Yorker profile

Taylor Swift reveals new album is all about heartbreak - Extra TV

Bonus: an article going through Taylor’s arm lyrics on the Speak Now World Tour, which she described as mood rings for any particular show

Lover diary entries from the making of Red (credit to @cabincreaking for the scans)

- All Too Well lyrics first draft (February 2011)

- Random bursts of happiness and anxiety during the Speak Now Tour (June 17, 2011)

- Red (September 8, 2011)

- Holy Ground (February 2012)

- Nothing New (March 2, 2012)

- Working with Max Martin (June 10, 2012)

Red era - Listen to the original sixteen songs on the Red album at this point.

Red announcement livestream + Q&A

Red prologue

2012 Rolling Stone interview

2012 The Guardian interview

2012 Billboard interview

2012 Esquire interview

Sirius XM Town Hall - an hourlong interview from the day Red came out

Good Morning America - this is the first mention of the ten-minute version of All Too Well

Red track-by-track descriptions

Random interview where she discusses the connection between writing Speak Now and Red

I Knew You Were Trouble music video

Diary entry about how love is fiction and she might move to New York after all (January 6, 2014)

Diary entry from Grammy night (January 25, 2014)

Red Tour London performance of All Too Well - any performance of this song from 2013-14 will work here, but this one has a pretty comprehensive speech

Final performance of All Too Well on the Red Tour - just listen to the speech here

Post-Red era - Over the course of these interviews, you’ll see her relationship to the album evolve.

Taylor’s description of Clean (skip to 11:18)

2014 BBC Live Lounge interview

1989 World Tour interview where she mentions thinking she’d never sell as many albums as she did with Red before 1989 came out

Clean speech - a lot of these will work, but these two best describe her relationship with the Red era and heartbreak in general

All Too Well (The 1989 World Tour live)

2015 GrammyPro interview

All Too Well Super Saturday Night performance

Reputation Tour All Too Well speech

Red into Daylight performance - 2019 City of Lover concert in Paris

Re-recordings era - at this point, listen to the red vault

2020 Rolling Stone podcast

Red (Taylor’s Version) prologue

2021 Saturday Night Live performance

All Too Well: The Short Film + Behind the Scenes

Seth Meyers interview

2022 Tribeca film talk OR TIFF (both are equally good. I have a slight preference for the former, but there are some interesting new details in the latter). You could also watch directors on directors from the same year as a bonus, but it’s less comprehensive.

2022 Graham Norton - How All Too Well (10 Minute Version) came about + how the re-recordings inspired Midnights

Also listen to Midnights

The Eras Tour

All Too Well speech (Glendale Night 2 & Atlanta Night 1) - any of the speeches from March and April 2023 will work, but these two really illustrate how she feels about this time in her life now and how the fans changed the Red album for her. Obviously credit to @cages-boxes-hunters-foxes for the transcripts!

Maroon first ever live performance (‘This is a song about something that happened a long time ago, but it took place in New York’)

Aaaand finally listen to The Tortured Poets Department, especially The Manuscript

This is a lot, but it’s worth it. Enjoy!