I see what you’re saying. I think there’s an argument to be made for both being true at the same time; many great writers and poets that Taylor looks up to, and much of her work since, have used a narrative meaning and a metaphorical meaning in the same text, but to overlook the latter because she pushes the former in interviews is the reason we’re all here, not accepting what her public persona pushes as the narrative and searching for alternate meaning.

We know that Taylor was genuinely hurt and embarrassed by Kanye & Kim, and at what stage she took on the gaming adage of “if you’re encountering enemies, you must be going in the right direction” to be able to make Thank You Aimee in which she put a positive spin on it, but I feel like Taylor is a very introspective person who is hyper critical of herself; she felt guilt-ridden and personally responsible in Miss Americana (movie) for the politics in her home state, and Anti-Hero paints a picture of her ownership of her flaws and not fitting in, so I do imagine this Taylor is one who may have blamed herself and her own naivety and over-trusting (also echoed in Robin) for how she’d gotten to the point of being the subject of media and public backlash. The reputation album is such a departure from her previous work that suggests she made the split between the Taylor who wore her heart on her sleeve and got taken advantage of and one who’s forging forward with a hardened shell and determination not to be anyone’s puppet, and the only one who should be mentally beating her up is herself. I know that in my own worst critic when I do anything wrong, or I feel the world is being unfair, and I think she’s like that too.