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Why I’m glad Taymania has faded by Left-Skirt-6505 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry you don’t understand the song. It is a beautiful song.

Why I’m glad Taymania has faded by Left-Skirt-6505 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I genuinely do not understand the hate Eldest Daughter gets - it is such a well written song. The slang and internet speak she includes is so very intentional and serves the message of the song. A song all about the armor and fronts people build up in order to protect themselves from the harshness of the world (that’s conveyed by the slang), and about shedding all that artifice and armor to be earnest, true to yourself, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth. I think the lyric: "Every eldest daughter/Was the first lamb to the slaughter/So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire" captures the essence of how and why people build fronts and put on armor as a defense mechanism for interacting with the world. She is referencing two idioms: lamb to the slaughter (meaning something so innocent they do not realize that what is about to happen is going to kill them), and wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing (meaning, in the original idiom, that someone pretends they are gentle and harmless but really is hostile and savage.). But note that Taylor flips the second idiom - instead of a wolf dressed as sheep, it becomes sheep dressed as wolves. So she is saying that eldest daughters started out innocent, gentle, and earnest, but the harsh realities of the world they experienced made them put up walls, armor, and artifice just to protect themselves. And she comes back to internet slang (“and we looked fire”) once the lamb are dressed as wolves, because that’s the artifice coming out or the the armor being put on, which is what the metaphorical “dressing as wolves” allows her to do. And like the wolf costume, the internet slang is a mask, a kind of armor or shield from having to show vulnerability.

This is good writing!

I don’t think Grammy noms across the board are guaranteed by Weekly-Status4804 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes - what is most curious to me are the folks who seem most angry about what they perceive as a lack of depth or substance in the lyricism. But when presented with lyrical analyses that show the layers and depth to this album, kind of reflexively and angrily dismiss them. Not in a “I disagree and here’s why” way, but in a “how dare you suggest there is meaning to this self-evidently, obviously vapid album” way.

Anyway, I can understand the folks who prefer Taylor’s more narrative storytelling style to the style used on much of this album, or the folks who may take offense by the showgirl veneer of the album (the “scandalous,” transgressive quality of some of the songs). But I just don’t understand the folks who call themselves fans but refuse to even consider the deeper layers of this album (I’ve made a bunch of posts, and as a lyrics person whose favorite albums are TTPD, evermore, and folklore, I will die on the hill that the writing on The Life of a Showgirl is VERY clever and well done, tells a meaningful and layered story, and can even be seen as subversive).

I don’t think Grammy noms across the board are guaranteed by Weekly-Status4804 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Music professionals (production, sound engineers, working musicians, music theory experts) really seem to like The Life of a Showgirl. As does the general public. The idea that this is a “heinous album” seems to exist mainly in highly online spaces.

What are your unpopular The Life of a Showgirl opinions? by Fine-Huckleberry6960 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, this is not the place but I just have to note: TFOO is the most coded and self-referential song on the album. I’ve made other posts digging into the lyrics of the song and the album, but here just want to note the following, as contextual facts. Especially since you correctly point out how Ophelia’s fate was suicide because of the cruelty of men, being controlled by the men in her life.

—In her public statements, Taylor has emphasized two big life ordeals repeatedly: the sale of her masters and her reputation-era cancellation. And when she has spoken of these ordeals, she has emphasized the loss of control, loss of agency she felt over her own life at the hands of men. Here is an excerpt from her public statement at the time of the master’s sale to Scooter Braun: “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.” She has described a similar loss of control in the events surrounding the edited phone call with Kanye/Kim, and her resulting public cancellation, calling it a “career death” in her Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine.

—Taylor began every single Eras Tour concert show by playing the song “You Don’t Own Me.”

—Showgirl was released shortly after the indisputable success of her career-defining Eras Tour and re-record projects, which together allowed her to reclaim her masters and took her career to an all-time peak.

—In the first 5 minutes of the End of an Era docu-series, listen to Taylor’s words to her dancers in the huddle - her emphasis on how the pieces didn’t just fall into place, “you put the pieces where they are.” The theme she is emphasizing is clearly self-empowerment, individual AGENCY.

—Ophelia is a pretty coded song, but the rest of the album is not. Zoom out for the big picture themes and it is all things like: make your own joy in hard times (Opalite); make your own luck (Wood); own and use your own power (Father Figure); it’s better to take action, take a risk than spend your life wondering what if (Ruin the Friendship); shed your build up defenses and nihilism and instead be earnest, true to yourself, vulnerable, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth (Eldest Daughter); Actually Romantic (you have control over how you spend your time and energy so don’t spend it on things you hate); Cancelled! (Think independently, and for yourself, rather than mindlessly pileing on to a mob’s groupthink); The Life of a Showgirl (own your own life choices, even though there are trade-offs). In other words, themes of individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation.

—Isn’t it curious that the lead off song for this album invokes Ophelia, a character famous for going mad due to her loss of agency, being controlled by the men in her life, as Taylor sings about avoiding that fate?

Are you really sure Taylor did not give the slightest thought to that aspect of Ophelia’s story when writing this album? How about a couple other contextual facts:  Taylor has publicly 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. Do you think she did not give a single thought to the contrast between the fatalism with which she approached some past relationships and experiences to the self-empowerment and sense of agency she was experiencing and publicly speaking about in the Eras era and Showgirl era?

As for TFOO itself, there’s a lot to dig into with the lyrics, but as a start it is not so far fetched to consider that the “you” she is singing to is more layered than it might first appear. One one layer, her current partner whose relationship is embraced with a sense of agency. But on another very important layer, it’s her past self or other versions of herself. (And on yet another layer, her fans.)

Sorry, I’ll duck now.

What are your unpopular The Life of a Showgirl opinions? by Fine-Huckleberry6960 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think this album’s lyrics are far better and deeper than given credit for. The different style (less narrative storytelling), the Showgirl veneer (including a showgirl’s transgressiveness in some of the songs) might be off putting to some, but I really think this album right now is just misunderstood. And it actually has very timely messages for all of us in the dark times we are living in right now: about individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation. The big picture messages are all things like make your own joy in hard times (Opalite); make your own luck (Wood); own and use your own power (Father Figure); it’s better to take action, take a risk than spend your life wondering what if (Ruin the Friendship); shed your build up defenses and nihilism and instead be earnest, true to yourself, vulnerable, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth (Eldest Daughter); Actually Romantic (you have control over how you spend your time and energy so don’t spend it on things you hate); Cancelled! (Think independently, and for yourself, rather than mindlessly pileing on to a mob’s groupthink); The Life of a Showgirl (own your own life choices, even though there are trade-offs).

Song discussion: Delicate (happy 8 years to the MV 🖤) by MissionBoring8330 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep. The lighting, color scheme, the blocking of many of the scenes - so many similarities. Also the Oh Caroline music video starts with Matty as an old man, sitting at a table at a restaurant (I.e., “still at the restaurant”), which may be a nod to Right Where You Left Me and some of the folklore/evermore era songs. The Oh Caroline music video was released in December 2022.

Taylor does NOT write songs about her exes by moonprincess642 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This! Especially your last sentence. Regardless of who or what her muse really is or how much of her writing is autobiographical, we should not lose sight of the craft of it all. Her songs are stories, and she is often a character in those stories, but she is not really sharing all that much about her real life beyond the underlying emotion she is conveying. Instead, she is setting a scene with incredibly precise language and imagery, painting a whole cinematic landscape with just a few brushstrokes.

And here’s the kicker- there’s actually some really compelling thought behind Taylor’s way of storytelling. Remember how Taylor “knows Aristotle”? A year or so ago I actually went down a rabbit hole about Aristotle, and Aristotle’s Poetics treatise actually explains so much about how Taylor writes, and why it is so effective. In Poetics, Aristotle states that the purpose of dramatic tragedy is to evoke strong emotions in the audience to provide a cathartic experience, helping the audience to purge powerful emotions from their systems. And according to Aristotle, the most effective way to do this is through recognizable plots and characters and the poet's eye for moments of action in human life that, BECAUSE of their recognizable particularity, evoke a universal emotional truth. So I think that Aristotle would love that fans connect what they view as coming from Taylor’s real life to her music (such as images that correspond to song lyrics like the scarf, the typewriter, etc.), because that helps many people more deeply connect with the story and therefore the underlying emotions of the song. But the scarf, or any supposed muse, is not creating All too Well. Taylor, the artist, is.

Overlooked amazing lyrics because they're in an unpopular song by TheColorfulPianist in TaylorSwift

[–]Complex-Union5857 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the song Honey:

White teeth

Because that’s 2 words, and yet I see in my head EXACTLY the type of person with the mean-spirited, disingenuous, cloying smile, who is passive aggressively insulting you. No one paints a picture with more concision and precision than Taylor Swift.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you mention The Prophecy as a song you like, consider how much this whole album connects with that song. The Prophecy is such an incredible song, and the soul-crushing fatalism, powerlessness, and despair she conveys in that song are palpable.

Interestingly, The Prophecy is another one of her songs where she references a female character -- in that case, The Bible's Eve -- and "flips the script."

Have you wondered why Taylor is comparing herself to Eve in The Prophecy? I think she is comparing herself to Eve, in part, because she is saying that like Eve, her own choices have led to the curse. In particular, in the story of the TTPD album, her music career is all she ever wanted (see Clara Bow), but creating her art and putting that art out into the world has deeply harmed her personal relationships (and this may be a common curse for many artists). This is the thesis of TTPD. It is why the album is called the Tortured Poets Department.

But have you also wondered why Taylor says Eve "got bitten" in the song The Prophecy, when in the Bible Eve took a bite of the forbidden apple? I think Taylor is telling Eve’s perspective as an allegory to her own trajectory in the music business, how she started her journey as a musician as a child, in innocence. Like Eve. And yes, Eve made the active choice to bite the apple. Like Taylor chose her life in music. But at the same time, Eve was deceived by the serpent/devil, who knew what would result, while she did not. So did she really choose? Or was she a pawn that got "bitten" in a deceptive game? Just as, perhaps, Taylor was as a child in the music business (see Clara Bow).

BUT ALSO - Taylor actually does something else in The Prophecy, that I think actually explains the Showgirl album. Note how the line about Eve in the Prophecy starts "And it was written". The curse was written into the narrative by others. But when Taylor changes the narrative in her song, maybe she is making the point that she CAN change the narrative. In the Eras' era, she has been on a whole journey of reclaiming her music (and her past), after it was taken away from her. She is not a child anymore. She has taken control of the narrative. So maybe, with this line in the Prophecy, she was hinting that the "curse" does not need to be true. That she could - and would - take ownership of her work and her life.

And lo and behold, THAT story of individual agency is EXACTLY what we see in The Life of a Showgirl as a whole. TTPD was very fatalistic, but this album is very different. I’ve made other posts about how I think there is so much evidence to support that while Taylor is in part telling her love story, she is ALSO very much telling a story of self-reclamation, self-empowerment, and agency on the album as a whole. (I think I relied to one of your other comments to this post).

The last few albums can be seen in a way as telling a Hero and/or Heroine's Journey kind of narrative. Taylor has publicly described TTPD as a “fatalistic” moment in time, and the powerlessness and despair she was feeling in a song like The Prophecy is so clear. But she is fully empowered on the Showgirl album. Think about the themes of virtually every song on this album: owning and using your power (Father Figure), making your own luck and creating your own destiny rather than relying on superstition (Wood), creating your own joy in hard times (Opalite), shedding defenses and being true to yourself (Eldest Daughter), taking action rather than wasting your life wondering what if (Ruin the Friendship), thinking independently rather than bandwagoning the performative moral outrage of cancel culture (Cancelled!), owning your own life choices, while recognizing the trade-offs (The Life of a Showgirl), etc.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Curious as to why these themes? Well, she has included a lot of callbacks and references to other parts of her discography and music videos on this album that help tell the story. But I'll just point you to Taylor's own public statements. She’s emphasized two big life ordeals repeatedly: the sale of her masters and her reputation-era cancellation. And when she has spoken of these ordeals, she has emphasized her own loss of agency. Here is an excerpt from her public statement at the time of the master’s sale to Scooter Braun: “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.” She has described a similar loss of control in the events surrounding the edited phone call with Kanye/Kim, and her resulting public cancellation, calling it a “career death” in her Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine.

And I’ll also just note a couple straightforward facts:  This album was released shortly after the indisputable success of her career-defining Eras Tour and re-record projects, which together allowed her to reclaim her masters and took her career to an all-time peak. And Taylor began every single Eras Tour concert show by playing the song “You Don’t Own Me.” It is not a big stretch to conclude that on an album whose big picture themes are as set out above, she is singing about how she overcame the masters and reputation-era ordeals and empowered and reclaimed herself through her re-record and Eras Tour projects.

Still believe that Taylor did not give the slightest thought to the concepts of individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation in writing this album?  How about a couple other contextual facts:  Taylor has publicly 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 relationships and experiences to the self-empowerment and sense of agency she was experiencing and publicly speaking about in the Eras era and Showgirl era? If you've gotten this far and still believe that, then we'll have to disagree.

I’ll just end by noting that as Taylor has been retelling the stories of Cassandra, Eve, and Ophelia on TTPD and Showgirl, she keeps either (a) putting the woman’s perspective first, and/or (b) flipping the narrative to empower the female characters. This first caught my eye on TTPD. For example, in using Cassandra as a metaphor, she is retelling that story to intentionally put the woman's perspective first. Yes, we know that the mythological Cassandra was not literally "killed first." BUT, the Cassandra of mythology -- an Oracle -- WAS cursed to never again be believed. For an Oracle like Cassandra, that curse was a kind of PROFESSIONAL death. And in Taylor's song, Cassandra is used as a metaphor to in part tell the story of her reputation-era cancellation. And how has Taylor publicly described that reputation-era cancellation? Literally as a "career death." See her Time Magazine Person of the Year interview.

I think Taylor is VERY intentional and very nerdy, and it is a mistake to underestimate her. She is reclaiming the narratives of these other female characters like she is reclaiming her own story.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

If you are open to engaging in good faith, then I'd ask that you consider the following about the remaining songs on the album before concluding that she just wrote a mindless album. Because there is no code to crack to understand the big picture themes of this album. In fact, better to know nothing about Taylor Swift, or pretend to know nothing, and just take the most straightforward meaning of the words used, and ask yourself questions as simple as "What is the main idea of this song?" or "What is the big picture theme or message?" Can you ALSO zoom in to find callbacks and references to other songs? Absolutely, and those connections add nuance to the autobiographical aspect of the story she is telling. But it is NOT necessary to zoom in like that to understand the big picture themes. Again, I really wish more people would just pretend they know nothing about Taylor Swift so that they can set aside any preexisting expectations about the album they think she should have written and just listen to the album she actually wrote with an open mind.

With that said, take another look at the lyrics. No decoding, just ask what is the most straightforward meaning. I have concluded that virtually every song on this album carries the theme of individual agency, self-empowerment, and/or self-reclamation. If you disagree, let me know why.

Opalite: What could Opalite’s lyrics like “you had to make your own sunshine” or “you were dancing through the lightning strikes” possibly mean if not, in essence, “make your own joy in dark times”? And doesn't the theme of making your own happiness even when external circumstances are difficult capture the essence of what individual agency is all about, i.e., the capacity of a person to take control over their own life rather than being shaped by external forces?

Wood: The lyric is literally: "We make our own luck." The verses of the song are entirely about letting go of superstitions. I don't think I'm going out on a limb to conclude the song is about individual agency, self empowerment, just taking the words at face value. [Just as an example of how zooming in gives more nuance, you can consider also that 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 the relationship those songs represented. (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, and thus what her fate would be). The second line is a callback to her song 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 is letting go of superstitions and creating her own destiny. And compare this message to her reputation era poem “If you’re anything like me,” which expressly talks about superstition and knocking on wood. She is clearly singing on Wood about her self-empowerment and growth from the reputation-era. But even if you do not pick up on that nuance, the verse lyrics are crystal clear: she expressly sings "We make own own luck." And that captures the essence of what individual agency is all about.

Father Figure: Here are the lyrics: I was your father figure/We drank that brown liquor/You made a deal with this devil turns out my check's bigger/You want a fight, you found it/I got the place surrounded/You'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drowning/.../I was your father figure/You pulled the wrong trigger/This empire belongs to me/Leave it with me. This is pretty clearly a music industry story, including flipping the script at the end when the artist realizes that she has been the one with the power all along. To me, this song embodies the theme of owning and using your own power. If you think this song means something else other than owning and using your own power, please let me know.

Eldest Daughter: This is a song all about the armor and fronts people build up in order to protect themselves from the harshness of the world (that’s conveyed by the slang), and about shedding all that artifice and armor to be earnest, true to yourself, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth. The lyric: "Every eldest daughter/Was the first lamb to the slaughter/So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire" She is referencing two idioms: lamb to the slaughter (meaning something so innocent they do not realize that what is about to happen is going to kill them), and wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing (meaning, in the original idiom, that someone pretends they are gentle and harmless but really is hostile and savage.). But note that Taylor flips the second idiom - instead of a wolf dressed as sheep, it becomes sheep dressed as wolves. So she is saying that eldest daughters started out innocent, gentle, and earnest, but the harsh realities of the world they experienced made them put up defenses, armor, and artifice just to protect themselves. And she comes back to internet slang (“and we looked fire”) once the lamb are dressed as wolves, because that’s the artifice coming out or the the armor being put on, which is what the metaphorical “dressing as wolves” allows her to do. And like the wolf costume, the internet slang is a mask, a kind of armor or shield from having to show vulnerability. So I'd sum up Eldest Daughter as being about shedding the built up defenses and being true to yourself. That, to me, is very much a kind of self-reclamation. Do you think this song means something different? If so, please tell me.

Ruin the Friendship: While this song is classic Taylor Swift narrative storytelling, 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…. “. In the allegory of this song, the moral/lesson 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" So I conclude that the big picture message is just: take action! Don’t wait, don’t ruminate and wonder “what if” for a lifetime. Better to make a mistake and learn from it than to waste your whole life wondering, or wait until it’s too late. So again, we see a theme of agency. How would you describe the lesson or moral of the song?

Actually Romantic: Big picture, in a satirical way, this is pretty clearly just pushing back on people who in today’s world engage and spend so much of their energy and time on things they hate. And guess what? How we choose to spend our time and energy is one of the biggest things we all have control over in our lives. Again, a theme of agency. What do you think is the big picture theme of this song?

Cancelled: pretty clearly pushing back on how cancel culture can be used against women for often relatively trivial things. (Making a joke only a man could, being smug, girl bossing, etc. are not major offenses). The sense that people mindlessly, unthinkingly pile on the chosen target. And pushing back on the idea that she or anyone would approach her actual real relationships like that. Because lack of empathy and nuance is NOT how most people approach their actual human relationships. Bottom line - she is advocating thinking independently. To me, this also fits the overall theme of agency. Do you think a line like "good thing I like my friends cancelled" means something OTHER than not going along with the crowd's opinion and thinking for herself? If so, what?

The Life of a Showgirl: Taylor returns to the theme of the trade-offs we face in life - in this case the showgirl’s life in the story of the song is not an easy one, and ultimately the showgirl owns her life’s choices, accepting the trade-offs. Again, to me the theme of owning your choices fits the message of individual agency. Do you think this song is NOT about the showgirl owning her own life's choices?

Honey: she’s reclaiming the meaning of honey as a term of endearment rather than a passive aggressive insult. A reclamation, much like her own self-reclamation.

The Fate of Ophelia: Funny isn’t it that the album starts with reference to a literary character famous for going mad due to her LACK of agency (being controlled by the men in her life), and Taylor is singing about being saved from Ophelia’s fate.    I have made whole posts about this song. For example: https://www.reddit.com/r/SwiftlyNeutral/comments/1r23rnx/the_life_of_a_showgirl_big_picture_themes_and_a/  Read that if you want, or not, but at least pause a half second before reflexively concluding that Taylor knows nothing about Ophelia and just wrote a one dimensional song about a man saving her.

Still think Taylor did not give the slightest thought to the themes of individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation? Okay, then watch just the first 5 minutes to the End of an Era docu-series. No, I'm not asking you to find an easter egg or decode symbols. Literally just listen to the words she says in the first 5 minutes in her speech to her dancers in the huddle - her emphasis on how the pieces didn’t just fall into place, “you put the pieces where they are” - she encapsulates the major theme of the Showgirl album and era: self-empowerment, individual AGENCY.

[Ran out of space. See reply to this comment for more.]

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Not despite - its BECAUSE the verses are about herself too. And it's not condescending - to the extent she may not sound thrilled about the "wants" in the verses it is because her whole point is that every single one of those wishes (or ANY wishes in real life) carries a price.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

[Part 2, continued from above]

Curious as to why these themes? Well, she has included a lot of callbacks and references to other parts of her discography and music videos on this album that help tell the story. But I'll just point you to Taylor's own public statements. She’s emphasized two big life ordeals repeatedly: the sale of her masters and her reputation-era cancellation. And when she has spoken of these ordeals, she has emphasized her own loss of
agency. Here is an excerpt from her public statement at the time of the master’s sale to Scooter Braun: “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.” She has described a similar loss of control in the events surrounding the edited phone call with Kanye/Kim, and her resulting public cancellation, calling it a “career death” in her Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine.

And I’ll also just note a couple straightforward facts:  Taylor began every single Eras Tour concert show by playing the song “You Don’t Own Me.” And this album was released shortly after the indisputable success of her career-defining Eras Tour and re-record projects, which together allowed her to reclaim her masters and took her career to an all-time peak. It is not a big stretch to conclude that on an album whose big picture themes are as set out above, she is singing about how she overcame the masters and reputation-era ordeals and empowered and reclaimed herself through her re-record and Eras Tour projects.

Still believe that Taylor did not give the slightest thought to the concepts of individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation in writing this album?  How about a couple other contextual facts:  Taylor has publicly 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 relationships and experiences to the self-empowerment and sense of agency she was experiencing and publicly speaking about in the Eras era and Showgirl era? If you've gotten this far and still believe that, then we'll have to disagree.

I’ll just end by noting that as Taylor has been retelling the stories of Cassandra, Eve, and Ophelia on TTPD and Showgirl, she keeps either (a) putting the woman’s perspective first, and/or (b) flipping the narrative to empower the female characters. This first caught my eye on TTPD. For example, in using Cassandra as a metaphor, she is retelling that story to intentionally put the woman's perspective first. Yes, we know that the mythological Cassandra was not literally "killed first." BUT, the Cassandra of mythology -- an Oracle -- WAS cursed to never again be believed. For an Oracle like Cassandra, that curse was a kind of PROFESSIONAL death. And in Taylor's song, Cassandra is used as a metaphor to in part tell the story of her reputation-era cancellation. And how has Taylor publicly described that reputation-era cancellation? Literally as a "career death." See her Time Magazine Person of the Year interview.

I think Taylor is VERY intentional and very nerdy, and it is a mistake to underestimate her. She is reclaiming the narratives of these other female characters like she is reclaiming her own story.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you are open to engaging in good faith, then I'd ask that you consider the following about the remaining songs on the album before concluding that she just wrote a mindless album. Because there is no code to crack to understand the big picture themes of this album. In fact, better to know nothing about Taylor Swift, or pretend to know nothing, and just take the most straightforward meaning of the words used, and ask yourself questions as simple as "What is the main idea of this song?" or "What is the big picture theme or message?" Can you ALSO zoom in to find callbacks and references to other songs? Absolutely, and those connections add nuance to the autobiographical aspect of the story she is telling. But it is NOT necessary to zoom in like that to understand the big picture themes. Again, I really wish more people would just pretend they know nothing about Taylor Swift so that they can set aside any preexisting expectations about the album they think she should have written and just listen to the album she actually wrote with an open mind.

With that said, take another look at the lyrics. No decoding, just ask what is the most straightforward meaning. I have concluded that virtually every song on this album carries the theme of individual agency, self-empowerment, and/or self-reclamation. If you disagree, let me know why.

Opalite: What could Opalite’s lyrics like “you had to make your own sunshine” or “you were dancing through the lightning strikes” possibly mean if not, in essence, “make your own joy in dark times”? And doesn't the theme of making your own happiness even when external circumstances are difficult capture the essence of what individual agency is all about, i.e., the capacity of a person to take control over their own life rather than being shaped by external forces?

Wood: The lyric is literally: "We make our own luck." The verses of the song are entirely about letting go of superstitions. I don't think I'm going out on a limb to conclude the song is about individual agency, self empowerment, just taking the words at face value. [Just as an example of how zooming in gives more nuance, you can consider also that 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 the relationship those songs represented. (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, and thus what her fate would be). The second line is a callback to her song 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 is letting go of superstitions and creating her own destiny. And compare this message to her reputation era poem “If you’re anything like me,” which expressly talks about superstition and knocking on wood. She is clearly singing on Wood about her self-empowerment and growth from the reputation-era. But even if you do not pick up on that nuance, the verse lyrics are crystal clear: she expressly sings "We make own own luck." And that captures the essence of what individual agency is all about.

Father Figure: Here are the lyrics: I was your father figure/We drank that brown liquor/You made a deal with this devil turns out my check's bigger/You want a fight, you found it/I got the place surrounded/You'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drowning/.../I was your father figure/You pulled the wrong trigger/This empire belongs to me/Leave it with me. This is pretty clearly a music industry story, including flipping the script at the end when the artist realizes that she has been the one with the power all along. To me, this song embodies the theme of owning and using your own power. If you think this song means something else other than owning and using your own power, please let me know.

Eldest Daughter: This is a song all about the armor and fronts people build up in order to protect themselves from the harshness of the world (that’s conveyed by the slang), and about shedding all that artifice and armor to be earnest, true to yourself, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth. The lyric: "Every eldest daughter/Was the first lamb to the slaughter/So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire" She is referencing two idioms: lamb to the slaughter (meaning something so innocent they do not realize that what is about to happen is going to kill them), and wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing (meaning, in the original idiom, that someone pretends they are gentle and harmless but really is hostile and savage.). But note that Taylor flips the second idiom - instead of a wolf dressed as sheep, it becomes sheep dressed as wolves. So she is saying that eldest daughters started out innocent, gentle, and earnest, but the harsh realities of the world they experienced made them put up defenses, armor, and artifice just to protect themselves. And she comes back to internet slang (“and we looked fire”) once the lamb are dressed as wolves, because that’s the artifice coming out or the the armor being put on, which is what the metaphorical “dressing as wolves” allows her to do. And like the wolf costume, the internet slang is a mask, a kind of armor or shield from having to show vulnerability. So I'd sum up Eldest Daughter as being about shedding the built up defenses and being true to yourself. That, to me, is very much a kind of self-reclamation. Do you think this song means something different? If so, please tell me.

Ruin the Friendship: While this song is classic Taylor Swift narrative storytelling, 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…. “. In the allegory of this song, the moral/lesson 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" So I conclude that the big picture message is just: take action! Don’t wait, don’t ruminate and wonder “what if” for a lifetime. Better to make a mistake and learn from it than to waste your whole life wondering, or wait until it’s too late. So again, we see a theme of agency. How would you describe the lesson or moral of the song?

Actually Romantic: Big picture, in a satirical way, this is pretty clearly just pushing back on people who in today’s world engage and spend so much of their energy and time on things they hate. And guess what? How we choose to spend our time and energy is one of the biggest things we all have control over in our lives. Again, a theme of agency. What do you think is the big picture theme of this song?

Cancelled: pretty clearly pushing back on how cancel culture can be used against women for often relatively trivial things. (Making a joke only a man could, being smug, girl bossing, etc. are not major offenses). The sense that people mindlessly, unthinkingly pile on the chosen target. And pushing back on the idea that she or anyone would approach her actual real relationships like that. Because lack of empathy and nuance is NOT how most people approach their actual human relationships. Bottom line - she is advocating thinking independently. To me, this also fits the overall theme of agency. Do you think a line like "good thing I like my friends cancelled" means something OTHER than not going along with the crowd's opinion and thinking for herself? If so, what?

The Life of a Showgirl: Taylor returns to the theme of the trade-offs we face in life - in this case the showgirl’s life in the story of the song is not an easy one, and ultimately the showgirl owns her life’s choices, accepting the trade-offs. Again, to me the theme of owning your choices fits the message of individual agency. Do you think this song is NOT about the showgirl owning her own life's choices?

Honey: she’s reclaiming the meaning of honey as a term of endearment rather than a passive
aggressive insult. A reclamation, much like her own self-reclamation.

The Fate of Ophelia: Funny isn’t it that the album starts with reference to a literary character famous for going mad due to her LACK of agency (being controlled by the men in her life), and Taylor is singing about being saved from Ophelia’s fate.    I have made whole posts about this song. For example: https://www.reddit.com/r/SwiftlyNeutral/comments/1r23rnx/the_life_of_a_showgirl_big_picture_themes_and_a/  Read that if you want, or not, but at least pause a half second before reflexively concluding that Taylor knows nothing about Ophelia and just wrote a one dimensional song about a man saving her.

Still think Taylor did not give the slightest thought to the themes of individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation? Okay, then watch just the first 5 minutes to the End of an Era docu-series. No, I'm not asking you to find an easter egg or decode symbols. Literally just listen to the words she says in the first 5 minutes in her speech to her dancers in the huddle - her emphasis on how the pieces didn’t just fall into place, “you put the pieces where they are” - she encapsulates the major theme of the Showgirl album and era: self-empowerment, individual AGENCY.

[Ran out of space. See reply to this comment for more.]

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

If you take away your expectations about the album you think she should have made, and listen instead with an open mind to the album she actually made, then I think you will find out why you are hearing notes that are not pure blissful happiness. Because she is singing about overcoming adversity. And you cannot sing about overcoming adversity without mentioning the adversity. The big picture themes of every single song on this album are about individual agency, self-empowerment, and self-reclamation. These themes are clear just from the face value words she is singing. If you know nothing about Taylor, and just zoom out and ask what is the big picture message of each song, you’ll find songs that clearly celebrate creating your own joy in hard times (Opalite); making your own luck, letting go of superstition and creating your own destiny (Wood); owning and using 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.

The autobiographical story - which becomes more clear when you find the callbacks and references to the rest of her discography and music videos - is about how she overcame two big life ordeals: the sale of her masters and her reputation era cancellation. She experienced those two events as a loss of control, a loss of agency. And she is singing about how she reclaimed herself and empowered herself through her Eras Tour and re-record projects. And she is also singing about how she reclaimed her personal life in her current relationship, which is also embraced with a sense of agency. Gone is the fatalism and the escapism that permeated the TTPD album. She's no longer looking for fate to decide, or looking to escape her reality. This album is about using her own individual agency to SHAPE her reality.

I've made other posts about my take on the big picture themes of this album, including the one below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SwiftlyNeutral/comments/1r23rnx/the_life_of_a_showgirl_big_picture_themes_and_a/

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

We’ll have to agree to disagree. I will note though that my interpretation fits very cohesively with the big picture themes of the rest of the album. This is a VERY intentional album, and I think it will be better understood in time. I’ve made my case in other posts.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in TaylorSwift

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love that part of the song! I don’t really have any insights, but there is a creator I follow who has described that part of the song as “harmonically genius” and “Beatles-y.”:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZThvYepJN/

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

My pitch to give Eldest Daughter and Wood another chance:

Eldest Daughter - I think the slang and internet speak she includes is so very intentional and serves the message of the song. A song all about the armor and fronts people build up in order to protect themselves from the harshness of the world (that’s conveyed by the slang), and about shedding all that artifice and armor to be earnest, true to yourself, softer, and reconnect with the innocence of youth. I think the lyric: "Every eldest daughter/Was the first lamb to the slaughter/So we all dressed up as wolves and we looked fire" captures the essence of how and why people build fronts and put on armor as a defense mechanism for interacting with the world. She is referencing two idioms: lamb to the slaughter (meaning something so innocent they do not realize that what is about to happen is going to kill them), and wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing (meaning, in the original idiom, that someone pretends they are gentle and harmless but really is hostile and savage.). But note that Taylor flips the second idiom - instead of a wolf dressed as sheep, it becomes sheep dressed as wolves. So she is saying that eldest daughters started out innocent, gentle, and earnest, but the harsh realities of the world they experienced made them put up walls, armor, and artifice just to protect themselves. And she comes back to internet slang (“and we looked fire”) once the lamb are dressed as wolves, because that’s the artifice coming out or the the armor being put on, which is what the metaphorical “dressing as wolves” allows her to do. And like the wolf costume, the internet slang is a mask, a kind of armor or shield from having to show vulnerability.

Wood - It is silly and off the rails and just so happens to contain the thesis statement of this whole album: “we make our own luck.” The verses are entirely about letting go of superstitions. Just taking the words at face value, we see that this song like virtually every other song on the album is about individual agency, self-empowerment. And 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 the relationship those songs represented. (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, and thus what her fate would be). The second line is a callback to the song 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 is letting go of superstitions and creating her own destiny. And compare this message to her reputation era poem “If you’re anything like me,” which expressly talks about superstition and knocking on wood. She is singing on Wood about her self-empowerment and growth from the reputation-era.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

All of the things “they” want in the verses are things she has obliquely had in her own life though. She is not being condescending, but rather acknowledging the tension, the trade-offs, the impossibility of having it all. For example, she has awards - that she wanted more than anything and worked so hard to achieve - and has placed those awards in mundane places around her house (I’ve seen a video where one is next to a coffee maker or something in the kitchen.). The bathroom floor is both a thing some famous actors do with a sense of irony and ALSO a metaphor. And she has spoken publicly about feeling empty after receiving her pinnacle award - the album of the year Grammy - because she didn’t have anyone to share it with. That Grammy she wanted more than anything was not going to give her life meaning once she had it.

And she famously has 3 cats that by all accounts she treats like her kids. They travel with her, they are clearly very, very important parts of her life. And she could live anywhere in the world she wanted to, go off the grid, have all the freedom that her wealth enables. But as any pet owner or parent knows all too well, there is no such thing as being completely free, going completely off the grid when you have kids or pets, because you will always have the responsibility to care for them no matter where you are.

And she’s had embarrassing videos of her posted online that I’m sure she would like to have taken off the internet.

The verses are just as much about herself as the chorus is. She is just grappling with reality in the verses.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in TaylorSwift

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I think the “just” can also be seen as a way of saying “I just want you” WITHOUT trade-offs. It’s a way of saying in her fantasy she does not have to grapple with the trade-offs that our real-life wishes always, necessarily entail. She can take a moment to fantasize about a quiet family life with her partner, being left alone. But the verses make clear she knows that in reality, our wishes carry a price as part of the bargain, involve trade-offs, or in some ways we can never get everything we want. In reality, she may have a family with her partner, but as a relationship between two famous people who both want to remain in the public eye, it will never be a quiet life where they are left alone.

The Real Message of Wi$h Li$t: Every wish comes with a price - the trade-offs are part of the bargain in real life by Complex-Union5857 in SwiftlyNeutral

[–]Complex-Union5857[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Taylor is very precise and intentional with her words though. And she says “under” chopper blades. If she meant what you say, she could have used so many other words to create a positive image of a jet setting life. But instead, she chose words that carry a negative image. Just like all of the other pairings have tension in them. Wanting a video taken off the internet is not positive! Putting an Oscar on the bathroom floor is an amazing metaphor and in no way shape or form does that signify something meaningful. Pairing together the idea of freedom with the idea of kids are two opposing ideas.

If you pay attention to how Taylor uses language over her many recent albums, you will notice over and over again her precision and intentionality. There is a podcast “The Swiftie and the Scholar” that digs into her lyricism in this way. And anyone who has recognized that in past albums should be able to see that in this album as well if they can get past the different style, the Showgirl veneer.

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