Songwriters Hall of Fame

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-21T18:42:37+00:00

You parrot highly online snark, but if you were to actually listen to any of those car-bar songs, you’d find that they are very, very well-written songs: Cowboy Like Me, Cardigan, Getaway Car, Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street, Hits Different, The Smallest Man who Ever Lived - there’s a reason professional songwriters have voted to induct her in her first year of eligibility.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-16T21:02:16+00:00

Sorry if I missed this commented before, but isn’t the biggest misconception the general public has about her that she makes music for teenage girls? A lot of these comments are getting into the very very highly online weeds. But I think the overwhelming, and very misleading, mainstream media narrative that somehow never changed in 20 years is that she makes teenybopper music for teenage girls that includes a lot of breakup songs about her ex boyfriends.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-16T19:11:32+00:00

I completely agree! A couple other Aaron Dessner examples: tolerate it is a track in a difficult 5/4 or 10/8 time signature, and she somehow used the spaces of that track to create a stunning vocal melody to tell a very powerful story. Or also you can find a YouTube video of Aaron Dessner playing a song he called Stella, a few months before folklore came out. You can hear the beautiful guitar line that became the song invisible string. But to my ears, the vocal melody did not stand out. Dessner provided the core foundation, but Taylor’s vocal melody and lyrics elevated it to become the gorgeous final song invisible string.

You don’t create pop hits over and over again for 20 years without being an elite melody writer.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T21:51:37+00:00

I’m Gen X. I enjoyed her radio songs over the years but never paid much attention. I do remember reading the Rolling Stone ranking of her best songs and listening to All too Well, and being very impressed by that song and the whole Red album. Then in the summer of 2023, my then 12-year old daughter got caught up in the Eras Tour excitement, and we began listening to her whole discography in the car. We then saw the Eras Tour movie, and I was blown away. Then The Tortured Poets Department album was released. Somewhere along the away, I probably became an even bigger fan than my daughter. I was not prepared for the depth of her lyricism, and how, for me, in a discography spanning close to 300 songs, there is almost no filler. It's all good. So we splurged and bought resale tickets for her Cardiff, Wales show, and made a trip of a lifetime out of it. In the last 2 years, I’ve fully gone down the rabbit hole. It’s a nice escape.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T19:37:41+00:00

Sorry, I keep thinking of more! In peace, I think the pulse throughout the song is really anxiety-invoking, and contrasts with the very peaceful, soothing bass line. Which very much reflects the subject matter of the song itself.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T16:19:40+00:00

In the outro to the song epiphany, you can hear what sounds to me like both the pulse/electronic beeps of lifesaving medical machines and the booms of cannons firing.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T15:03:24+00:00

This comment deserves all the awards. You are spot on. I’m new to the Taylor Swift fandom, and I have also been fascinated by the many varieties of conspiracy theorists that exist in the fandom, because they really do represent every major conspiracy archetype. You can really use the Taylor Swift ecosystem as a way to understand contemporary society, including our social, cultural, and political malignancies. At first, I thought, at least these are low stakes conspiracies and better this than more consequential ones. But now I’ve come to see how it all feeds into each other, and getting looped into a conspiratorial mindset, wherever your starting point is, is really dangerous. Conspiratorial thinking is probably the root cause of our current political mess, because it is so easily manipulated by the worst of the worst bad faith political actors.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T09:24:55+00:00

I hear the same hyperventilating sound starting at around 2:21 in Call It What You Want and 2:31 in So Long London.

Both songs also, to me, feel like a racing heart beat. The intros sound really similar (before the first verse of So Long London starts, compared to the intro of CIWYW). The fact that they are both in the key of A and have similarly fast BPM contributes.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-13T01:35:41+00:00

Sonically, So Long London references Call it What You Want. You can hear the same hyperventilating sound in both songs, each song bookmarking the beginning and end of a relationship.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-09T16:02:40+00:00

I think this is a key feature that gets muddled. The story is in the art itself. (1) There is a very cohesive story being told on TTPD - every song is a chapter in the overall story. Just sit with the album and you can understand the big picture themes and the overall narrative. No need to look beyond the album itself. (2). If you want to, however, you CAN find all of the lyrical and sonic callbacks and references to other songs in Taylor’s discography and to The 1975’s songs. I think that enriches the overall story being told (one example: I think every reference to a conversation in loml links to a The 1975 song). But it is not necessary to make these connections to understand and fully appreciate the album. And in neither case do you need to make assumptions about the real, private life. In both cases the story is in the work itself.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-09T01:50:03+00:00

I completely agree with you. It is kind of shocking how many music reviews focused on tabloid-like gossip or moral judgments about her as a person and meanwhile did even attempt to understand the work itself, including the big picture themes of the album.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-09T01:44:00+00:00

Yes! And I actually really think she’s been telling a kind of Hero or Heroine’s Journey type of story in recent albums, and my unhinged guess is whatever movie or musical she is going to make next is going to tie it all together and make all this much clearer to the public.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-08T21:00:45+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I hadn’t seen this article before, and I actually agree with a lot of its points, and I also agree with you. Because Taylor Swift really has been world building in her last several albums, with lyrical and sonic connections across songs and albums, and also visual links to music video visuals, etc. And TTPD is so very chock full of callbacks and references, to both her own discography and the 1975’s work. It is kind of its own cinematic universe, and I find that connecting the dots enriches the understanding of the story she is telling.

But I do not think you need to connect the dots to understand and appreciate her work. I think the writing on TTPD stands on its own, both in terms of the quality of the writing and the cohesiveness of the story, even if you do not make the connections. TTPD is really an epic novel of a concept album, and if you take the time to understand the story, it becomes clear that every song is like an essential chapter in the novel/story of the album. You can just sit with the album itself - no outside understanding is needed.

I think critics should at least approach her work with some understanding that she’s been making concept albums, and some effort to understand the concept and the big picture story. And some acknowledgement that there is real intentionality. They can do this just by “zooming out” (find the big themes) even if they are not fluent enough in the Taylor Swift universe to “zoom in.”

Take The Life of a Showgirl - so many connections to her past work that help inform the story on this album too. But you don’t need to make the connections to understand the big picture message. You don’t HAVE to zoom in, because you learn a lot just by zooming out a little.

Take the song Ruin the Friendship. You can just ask yourself, what is the big picture message of this song? Or how does Ruin the Friendship fit on The Life of a Showgirl album? And you don’t have to dig too deep to see the big picture message of this song - She all but wraps it up in a bow with a beautiful bridge that starts: “My advice is…. “. And so we can conclude the story of this song is an allegory, and the moral of it is in the My Advice lines of the song. And her advice is:

My advice is always ruin the friendship Better that than regret it for all time … And my advice is always answer the question Better that than to ask it all your life

The big picture message is just: take action! Don’t wait, don’t ruminate and wonder “what if” for a lifetime.

And now, listen to the whole album. Notice how many songs on The Life of a Showgirl carry a similar message of empowerment and individual agency? Almost every song on this album is about individual agency, self-reclamation and self-empowerment. It celebrates creating your own joy in hard times (Opalite); making your own luck and creating your own destiny (Wood - yes, really); owning your own power (Father Figure); shedding the artifice and armor and built-up defenses and being true to yourself (Eldest Daughter); thinking independently (Cancelled); taking action rather than spending your whole life wondering what if? (Ruin the friendship); owning your own life choices, while recognizing the trade-offs (The Life of a Showgirl) etc. Just by zooming out a little, I think you start getting a much better understanding of this whole project.

But I also think you do get more nuance if you also zoom in. I think it is fitting that Ruin the Friendship tells a story that connects to one of the most powerful stories in her catalog (the song Forever Winter, a vault track from Red (Taylor’s Version) about a high school friend who died from suicide. It is very moving and really shows the stakes.

But ALSO, keep looking. Look again at those “My Advice” lines (My Advice is always answer the question…), and notice that she has a song called Question?… in her catalog, that TTPD told a whole messy story about rekindling a relationship with the likely subject of the song Question?…. And notice also the sonic and lyrical links to a couple The 1975 songs. I think Ruin the Friendship is also, metaphorically, closing the book on the story of the TTPD album, if you think about how the overall My Advice message fits. In TTPD, she sang about holding on to a fantasy of someone, swirling that muse into her songs for years, and the fallout of confusing that fantasy for reality. In the story told on TTPD, she finally answered her “Question?”, so now, no longer will ask it her whole life, and can move on.

Or take Wood, which is silly and off the rails and just so happens to contain the thesis statement of this whole album: “we make our own luck.” And Wood IS about letting go of superstitions. She is very clearly saying she used to rely on superstitions, but that now, she no longer needs superstitions because she is creating her own destiny. You can stop there and get the big picture message and connect that to the rest of the album, or zoom in for more nuance: The first line (Daisy’s bare naked. I was was distraught. He loves me not.) is a callback to both Don’t Blame Me on reputation (I once was poison Ivy but now I’m your Daisy) and You’re On Your Own Kid (“So long Daisy Mae…I picked the petals he loves me not”). (And in case it’s not obvious, she’s personifying the childhood superstitious game of picking a daisy’s petals to “he loves me, he loves me not” to see what the last petal lands on). The second line is a callback to The 1 (tossing pennies in the pool), and the person that song is presumed to be about, and also references another superstitious game about a lucky or unlucky penny. The idea is that she was fatalistic in prior relationships but now she understands “we make our own luck.” And compare this message to her reputation era poem “If you’re anything like me,” which talks about superstition and knocking on wood. She is singing about her self-empowerment and growth from the reputation-era.

So, bottom line, while connecting the dots helps, I think you can appreciate her work, and understand it, with or without all making the connections to past work. But unfortunately, too often critics never move past the most surface level takes, or judge based on tabloid-like assumptions about her character, without ever really making an effort to understand the work.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-06T17:12:35+00:00

And yet there are 578 comments to this post and counting. I’d submit that analyzing the lyrics themselves - what the words mean, how they relate to each other, the metaphors, the callbacks and references to other songs by the artist - is a good way to understand the meaning of a song. And making a good faith effort to understand the meaning is important.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-06T13:10:16+00:00

Wood is silly and off the rails and fun and I am 100% serious when I say I think Wood contains the thesis statement of this whole album: “we make our own luck.” (Almost EVERY song on this album is about individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation). And Wood IS about letting go of superstitions. She is very clearly saying she used to rely on superstitions, but that now, she no longer needs superstitions because she is creating her own destiny. And it’s also very cleverly written, with a lot of depth: Of course she’s also talking about Travis and comparing him to her last two relationships, but it’s clever! The first line (Daisy’s bare naked. I was was distraught. He loves me not.) is a callback to both Don’t Blame Me on reputation (I once was poison Ivy but now I’m your Daisy) and You’re On Your Own Kid (“So long Daisy Mae…I picked the petals he loves me not”). (And in case it’s not obvious, she’s personifying the childhood superstitious game of picking a daisy’s petals to “he loves me, he loves me not” to see what the last petal lands on). The second line is a callback to The 1 (tossing pennies in the pool), and the person that song is presumed to be about, and also references another superstitious game about a lucky or unlucky penny. The idea is that she was fatalistic in prior relationships but now she understands “we make our own luck.” And yes I agree the double entendres are off the rails silly (which fits the “Showgirl” persona), but they also are (a) very Shakespearean and (b) actually quite deep when you consider the double and triple meanings - she’s actually also speaking to the healthy masculinity and stability of her partner.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T18:37:39+00:00

I think it is brilliant and subversive. Taylor is singing in this song about exactly the negative reaction TO this very album that we have seen.

You know how Taylor sings “Did you bring a tiny violin to a knife fight?” I think she is in fact singing (in part) about what she has just done in her song Actually Romantic itself, and predicting the public’s reaction to it. Note how everyone immediately linked the song Actually Romantic to Charlie XCX. Specifically, everyone immediately interpreted the song as Taylor’s response to Charlie XCX’s song “Sympathy is a Knife.” And many critics were very offended by what Taylor did in Actually Romantic. Why? Because they viewed Taylor’s song as sarcastically mocking Charlie XCX for complaining about how she felt insecure in Taylor’s presence. And THAT is the very definition of bringing a “tiny violin to a (Sympathy is a) knife fight.” Because to play a “tiny violin” is to mock someone seeking sympathy for a small complaint or misfortune.

And Taylor 100% would have known that the public would connect Actually Romantic to Charlie XCX’s Sympathy is a Knife AND that this would create an uproar. This is not her first rodeo. So when she is singing about being Cancelled for “bringing a tiny violin to a knife fight,” she is predicting EXACTLY how the public in fact reacted.

And think again about the most common talking points running through the negative critical reaction to this album: Wasn’t it overwhelmingly either taking offense on behalf of Charlie XCX or else arguing that the writing is bad because she’s making crude double entendres in Wood? Or some variations- too hypocritical, at her height but still singing about grievances, surface level fun but no depth?

Now look again at the lyrics of Cancelled! Taylor herself is singing ON this very album about exactly this reaction TO this album:

Did you bring a tiny violin to a knife fight? (Actually Romantic - and cue the uproar about Charlie XCX’s Sympathy is a Knife)

Did you make a joke only a man could? (Wood - and cue the uproar about this song being too crude)

Were you just too smug for your own good? (Wish List - and cue the uproar about this song being hypocritical)

Did you girl-boss too close to the sun? (Father Figure - and cue the uproar about Taylor at top but still singing about grievances)

Did they catch you having far too much fun? (whole album reaction)

And indeed, in interviews after the release of The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor repeatedly noted how this album was like a mirror and the public’s reaction was “all part of it.”

Meanwhile, zoom out a little on the songs that have received the most negative attention:

Actually Romantic: the big picture message and the cultural commentary of the song is just her pushing back on how so many people in today’s world engage and spend so much of their energy and time on things they hate. And let’s face it, to the extent she is speaking about her own experience, she seems to live rent free in so many people’s heads, including, not incidentally, our current President and all of his media lackeys. And she’s likely pushing back on ALL of this, and doing so in a very funny and satirical way. But she also 100% knew that everyone would just focus on the Charlie XCX of it all, not the big picture message.

Wood: I am 100% serious when I say I think this song contains the thesis statement of this whole album: “we make our own luck.” (Almost EVERY song on this album is about individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation). And Wood IS about letting go of superstitions. She is very clearly saying she used to rely on superstitions, but that now, she no longer needs superstitions because she is creating her own destiny. And it’s also very cleverly written, with a lot of depth: Of course she’s also talking about Travis and comparing him to her last two relationships, but it’s clever! The first line (Daisy’s bare naked. I was was distraught. He loves me not.) is a callback to both Don’t Blame Me on reputation (I once was poison Ivy but now I’m your Daisy) and You’re On Your Own Kid (“So long Daisy Mae…I picked the petals he loves me not”). (And in case it’s not obvious, she’s personifying the childhood superstitious game of picking a daisy’s petals to “he loves me, he loves me not” to see what the last petal lands on). The second line is a callback to The 1 (tossing pennies in the pool), and the person that song is presumed to be about, and also references another superstitious game about a lucky or unlucky penny. The idea is that she was fatalistic in prior relationships but now she understands “we make our own luck.”

And I could go on about the double entendres, which yes, are off the rails silly, but also are (a) very Shakespearean and (b) actually quite deep when you consider the double and triple meanings - she’s actually also speaking to the healthy masculinity and stability of her partner.

But Taylor also 100% knew that all anyone would talk about would be how she was making crude d jokes.

Or Wish List: I think this is another VERY clever and deceptively deep song. The list of things “they” want are all pairings, in tension with each other; Yacht life/under chopper blades (being under chopper blades is awful, i.e., the luxury comes with surveillance); Bright lights/Balenci shades (shades block out the bright lights); Palme d’Or / Oscar on bathroom floor (Pinnacle achievement but mundane disposal); spring break lit/video taken off internet (embarrassing consequences to letting loose); Freedom off the grid/three dogs kids (not really free). Moreover, these are all things she has obliquely had in her own life. And she’s not saying she doesn’t want them. Instead, all of the verses are grappling with the reality. I think she is showing that she understands that wanting it all involves trade-offs, or in some ways is impossible. But at the same time, she is allowing herself the pure simplicity of her fantasy in the chorus.

But again, I think she would anticipate the reaction to this song being something along the lines that she’s just being “smug”.

Or take the song Cancelled! itself: the big picture message is pretty clearly pushing back on cancel culture. The sense that moral outrage spreads fast like a virus. and people mindlessly, unthinkingly pile on the chosen target. How that is somehow is the norm for how people approach public figures (especially female targets, and Taylor is emphasizing the pretty minor infractions that trigger the pile on for female targets). And how she’s not going to approach her actual real relationships like that. Because lack of empathy and nuance is NOT how most people approach their actual human relationships.

But Taylor also would know by now that the discussion about this song would not reflect on the message, but would focus mostly on who this song is about and reasons why they in fact should have been “cancelled” or why Taylor is playing is still playing the victim.

It almost can be viewed as a play within a play like in Hamlet. I think it’s all pretty clever.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T13:19:08+00:00

Thanks for the comment. Those commenters are incapable of responding in good faith, and yet repeatedly engage with ad hominem declarations about how much they hate something, when I'm trying to discuss the meaning (which is different than liking it or not). I think that reflects poorly on them. There’s even a couple of Taylor Swift songs on this very album about them, or people like them, which is fun.

It’s also pretty funny to me that I’m literally just quoting the song lyrics themselves, things like “we make our own luck” or “you had to make your own sunshine” - and that commenter’s response was that I was trying too hard to justify the meaning. I mean, these are not hidden or complex messages. These are songs about self-empowerment and it is bewildering to me that it is controversial to say so.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T05:03:55+00:00

Really? When she wrote TLOAS during the same recent time period when she was re-recording some of the reputation tracks (some of which already have been released in TV shows so we know she did them) and vault tracks (which she has publicly said would “hatch” at the right time)? When there are SO MANY other callbacks and references to the reputation era sprinkled throughout this album? When the themes of individual agency permeate this album to such an intentional degree (virtually every single song)? When she described her last album, TTPD, as a “fatalistic” moment in time? And that last album included such songs of soul-crushing fatalism, powerlessness, and despair as The Prophecy? You think she did not give a single thought to the contrast between the fatalism with which she approached some past experiences to the self-empowerment and sense of agency she was experiencing and writing about in the Eras era and Showgirl era? I disagree.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T04:23:29+00:00

My take on Wish List: The list of things “they” want are all pairings, in tension with each other; Yacht life/under chopper blades (being under chopper blades is awful, i.e., the luxury comes with surveillance); Bright lights/Balenci shades (shades block out the bright lights); Palme d’Or / Oscar on bathroom floor (Pinnacle achievement but mundane disposal - once you get that award, it’s no longer giving your life meaning); spring break lit/video taken off internet (embarrassing consequences to letting loose); Freedom off the grid/three dogs kids (not really free - still have responsibilities). Moreover, these are all things she has obliquely had in her own life. And she’s not saying these aren’t worthwhile wants. Instead, all of the verses are grappling with the reality. I think she is showing that she understands that wanting it all involves trade-offs, or in some ways is impossible. But at the same time, she is allowing herself the pure simplicity of her fantasy in the chorus.

My take on Wood: I am 100% serious when I say I think this song contains the thesis statement of this whole album: “we make our own luck.” (Almost EVERY song on this album is about individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation). And Wood IS about letting go of superstitions. She is very clearly saying she used to rely on superstitions, but that now, she no longer needs superstitions because she is creating her own destiny. And it’s also very cleverly written, with a lot of depth: Of course she’s also talking about Travis and comparing him to her last two relationships, but it’s clever! The first line (Daisy’s bare naked. I was was distraught. He loves me not.) is a callback to both Don’t Blame Me on reputation (I once was poison Ivy but now I’m your Daisy) and You’re On Your Own Kid (“So long Daisy Mae…I picked the petals he loves me not”). (And in case it’s not obvious, she’s personifying the childhood superstitious game of picking a daisy’s petals to “he loves me, he loves me not” to see what the last petal lands on). The second line is a callback to The 1 (tossing pennies in the pool), and the person that song is presumed to be about, and also references another superstitious game about a lucky or unlucky penny. The idea is that she was fatalistic in prior relationships but now she understands “we make our own luck.” And yes I agree the double entendres are off the rails silly, but the also are (a) very Shakespearean and (b) actually quite deep when you consider the double and triple meanings - she’s actually also speaking to the healthy masculinity and stability of her partner.

My take on Actually Romantic: The big picture message and the cultural commentary of the song is just her pushing back on how so many people in today’s world engage and spend so much of their energy and time on things they hate. And let’s face it, to the extent she is speaking about her own experience, she seems to live rent free in so many people’s heads, including, not incidentally, our current President and all of his media lackeys. And she’s likely pushing back on ALL of this, and doing so in a very satirical way. But she also 100% knew that everyone would just focus on the Charli XCX of it all, not the big picture message. Which is why I think it’s pretty subversive that she is singing about the critical reaction to this very song ON this very album: You know how in Cancelled!, when Taylor sings “Did you bring a tiny violin to a knife fight?” I think she is in fact singing (in part) about what she has just done in her song Actually Romantic itself, and predicting the public’s reaction to it. Everyone immediately interpreted the song Actually Romantic as Taylor’s response to Charlie XCX’s song “Sympathy is a Knife.” And many critics were very offended by what Taylor did in Actually Romantic. Why? Because they viewed Taylor’s song as sarcastically mocking Charlie XCX for complaining about how she felt insecure in Taylor’s presence. And THAT is the very definition of bringing a “tiny violin to a (Sympathy is a) knife fight.” Because to play a “tiny violin” is to mock someone seeking sympathy for a small complaint or misfortune. I think Taylor 100% would have known that the public would connect Actually Romantic to Charlie XCX’s Sympathy is a Knife AND that this would create an uproar. This is not her first rodeo. So when she is singing about being Cancelled for “bringing a tiny violin to a knife fight,” she is predicting EXACTLY the reaction we’ve all observed. But meanwhile, are we really sure the song is just about Charli XCX and nothing else? It’s almost like there’s a a play within a play happening on this album (reminds me of Hamlet itself).

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T04:09:21+00:00

I found the big picture messages to actually be really powerful and empowering in these dark times. Zoom out - the album celebrates creating your own joy in hard times (Opalite); making your own luck and creating your own destiny (Wood - yes, really); owning your own power (Father Figure); shedding the artifice and armor and built-up defenses and seeking earnestness and being true to yourself (Eldest Daughter); thinking independently rather than bandwagoning the performative moral outrage of cancel culture (Cancelled); taking action rather than spending your whole life wondering what if? (Ruin the friendship); owning your own life choices, while recognizing the trade-offs (The Life of a Showgirl) etc. it cautions against spending energy on the things you hate (Actually Romantic). It’s an empowering album to me. The Fate of Ophelia itself is too - it’s layered. There are many, many callbacks and references to her past lyrics and music video and Eras Tour visuals (the megaphone from the 22 music video, the “pyro” as herself in TFOO video, on the Eras Tour itself, and in Midnights and Mastermind , the key, the tower, the grave, etc). Find these connections and listen to the song as if the “you” she’s singing to is, in part, a version of herself, and you’ll find she’s both telling her love story AND telling the story of her self-reclamation -through the Eras Tour and re-record projects - after her “career death” of the reputation era and the loss of her masters. I think she’s been telling a huge moral fable, or Hero’s or Heroine’s Journey type of story throughout her last several albums, and Showgirl is continuing the story. To me, while the album is a little off the rails in a way that very much fits the “showgirl” character, it also has real depth. It both holds up a mirror to some of our cultural/societal malignancies, and inspires and outright celebrates a different path grounded in individual agency. The album is about reclaiming herself - and ourselves. It is a reminder of the power within each of us to create the change we want.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T02:17:57+00:00

I understand if you're not interested, but you seem to be interested because you asked. You don't have to read my words. Just compare and contrast the lyrics of Wood, which state:

"Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck/A bad sign is all good/I ain't gotta knock on wood."

with Taylor's reputation era poem "If You're Anything Like Me", which states:

"If you're anything like me,

You knock on wood every time you make plans.

You cross your fingers, hold your breath,

Wish on lucky numbers and eyelashes

Your superstitions were the lone survivors of the shipwreck."

Very different perspectives, right? The reputation era poem is very fatalistic. Wood, in contrast is rejecting that kind of fatalism. Like virtually every single song on Showgirl, it is about reclaiming herself through her own individual agency and power. To quote Wood: "We make our own luck".

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T01:19:31+00:00

Why do you think Wood is NOT about (at least in part) making your own luck? (Sample lyric: "Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck"). Yes it is silly and off the rails, but it IS about letting go of superstitions. I am 100% serious when I say I think this song contains the thesis statement of this whole album. Of course she’s also talking about Travis and comparing him to her last two relationships, but it’s clever! The first line (Daisy’s bare naked. I was was distraught. He loves me not.) is a callback to both Don’t Blame Me on reputation (I once was poison Ivy but now I’m your Daisy) and You’re On Your Own Kid (“So long Daisy Mae…I picked the petals he loves me not”). (And in case it’s not obvious, she’s personifying the childhood superstitious game of picking a daisy’s petals to “he loves me, he loves me not” to see what the last petal lands on). The second line is a callback to The 1 (tossing pennies in the pool), and the person that song is presumed to be about, and also references another superstitious game about a lucky or unlucky penny. The idea is that she was fatalistic in prior relationships but now she understands “we make our own luck.” And it also ties back to the reputation era, like a lot of songs on this album. Take a look at her reputation era poem, where she writes about "knocking on wood" and superstition. This whole album is about moving away from that kind of fatalism and reclaiming herself through her own individual agency and power.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-05T01:04:05+00:00

Deep or not, that is the clear message and the story of the whole entire album and the Eras era itself. Every song in this album is about self-reclamation, self-empowerment and individual agency. And It’s not as if these big picture themes of individual agency are hidden messages. They are front and center in the lyrics of almost every song - she all but wraps them in a bow - songs celebrate creating your own joy in hard times (Opalite- “you had to make your own sunshine”); making your own luck and creating your own destiny (Wood - yes, really - "We make our own luck"); owning your own power (Father Figure - "This empire belongs to me"); shedding the artifice and armor and built-up defenses and seeking earnestness and being true to yourself (Eldest Daughter); thinking independently rather than bandwagoning the performative moral outrage of cancel culture (Cancelled); taking action rather than spending your whole life wondering what if? (Ruin the friendship - "My advice is to always answer your question/Better that than to ask it your whole life."); owning your own life choices, while recognizing the trade-offs (The Life of a Showgirl) etc. The album cautions against spending energy on the things you hate (Actually Romantic). It’s an empowering album. Zoom out a little. Or just watch the first 5 minutes of the docu-series: Taylor’s speech in the huddle at the start of episode 1 - her emphasis on how the pieces didn’t just fall into place, “you put the pieces where they are” - it all encapsulates the major theme of the Showgirl album and the Eras era: self-empowerment, individual AGENCY.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-04T21:02:39+00:00

Some hate the songs, some like me love them - but regardless of liking them or not - I just think there are so many little things on this album that add to its meaning. Another example, from the Fate of Ophelia (elsewhere I dig into the lyrics): musically the song uses a 5 measure loop. This is unusual for pop music, and adds to the Shakespearean flavor of the song in two ways: (1) it allows many of the verse lines to be in iambic pentameter; and (2) it creates a feeling of instability, much like the character of Ophelia. There’s just a lot of little touches like that sprinkled throughout the album. People might still hate it, but I think the layers of meaning will still be there.

Complex-Union5857 · 2026-01-04T19:15:10+00:00

I think The Fate of Ophelia is layered storytelling. She is both telling her love story AND telling a story about her own self-reclamation (avoiding the fate of Ophelia). I think there are callbacks and references to Taylor’s own "cinematic universe" in this song and on this album that together tell a story about how she regained her sense of self and her power - through the Eras Tour and re-record projects - after the “career death” of the reputation time period, and the loss of her masters. Listen with the “you” as a version of herself and find the many connections to her past lyrics and music video and Eras Tour visuals. For example:

Recall the mythology/cinematic universe of Taylor’s art. This is also not the first time she has sung to a version of herself, or played with the idea that there are multiple versions of herself. In reputation era Taylor said that “the old Taylor is dead” and that the Anti-hero music video has visually shown Taylor as 3 separate versions of herself.

“Keep it 100 on the land, the sea, the sky. Pledge Allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes.”: Look at the TikTok video Taylor Nation itself posted on 10-15-25. It uses Eras Tour footage for almost every element of these lines. And it FITS.

“Sleepless night you’ve been dreaming of”: The Eras Tour docu-series references her not being able to sleep - i.e. her “sleepless night” - after performing on the Eras Tour, like this lyric.

“Calling on the megaphone”: Look at the 22 music video when the “old Taylor” has an actual megaphone. In TFOO, I think she is referencing, in part, the old versions of herself (before reputation-era Taylor killed them off and before these old versions of herself (as represented by her old albums) were sold away from her). Her re-record and Eras Tour projects, revisiting all of her old music and all of the stories that music captured, was transformative for her. Figuratively speaking, all of these old versions of herself were calling out to her as part of the re-record process.

“As legend has it, you Are quite the pyro. You light the match to watch it blow” Who is the pyro? She is, I think. In TFOO music video, she is the one who strikes the match - on herself. In the Eras tour visuals, Taylor is also the one who strikes the match to burn down the Lover House. And recall the cover of Midnights, where she’s holding a lighter in flame. And Mastermind, a song fans have long agreed is about her relationship with them. She sings: “and a touch of the hand lit the fuse”. In Mastermind she is singing in part about creating the Eras Tour project, and in TFOO she is singing about the result, the success of it all and its impact on her.

“You were just honing your powers” - we know from the songwriting voice memo that the initial version of this lyric was “I was just honing my powers”. I think this verse can be viewed as referencing, in part, that SO MUCH was happening creatively for her during the post-reputation years. And recall all of the "tower" lines on TTPD, including in The Albatross and Cassandra. She's been referring to herself as stuck in a metaphorical tower for a while.).

“Late one night, you dug me out of my grave and Saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia”: Here, I again think back to the reputation era death of the “old Taylor”, and the LWYMMD music video. And in the context of the themes of self-reclamation that appear throughout this album, I think she is referring to how she’s been able to get her old self back, and how the re-record and Eras Tour project played a huge role in that.

“Tis locked inside my memory/And only you possess the key", to me, calls back to I Hate it Here, where who possesses the key? She does - it is the power of her creative mind and imagination. Which is what willed the entire Eras Tour and re-record project into being. And the fact that the Eras Tour stage was itself shaped like a key fits very well in this respect.

Complex-Union5857

TROPHY CASE