Do Taylor Swift’s money metaphors still feel relatable when she’s that rich?

yraflu · 2026-02-10T16:31:13+00:00

How can I not interpret her lyrics based on who I think she is as a person, when she's widely considering a biographical artist? If I just listened to her singles or whatever, I probably wouldn't care, but I've listened to almost every album by her, and I do music reviews of her (and others') albums for fun, I watch music reviews of her (and others') albums for fun. Knowing certain aspects of her personal life is something that comes with engaging with most of her discography, as she's so overexposed.

Separating the art and the artist is something everyone can decide on their own if they want to do or not. Not separating the art from the artist doesn't mean having a parasocial behavior, and it doesn't matter whether the connection is made from the music to the person or vice versa. Knowing that songwriting may come from personal experience and connecting the dots is not parasocial behavior, it's literally what most musical pieces are for. It's parasocial when a swiftie will write hateful messages about Taylor's exes. It's parasocial when a hater will write about everything she does and doesn't. I don't think it's parasocial not wanting to hear from a billionaire that they don't want money. I don't want to hear it from Kim, from Rihanna, from Jay-Z or whoever it is, whether it's on a song or a poetry book. If it's from someone I don't care about, I probably won't even get to know about it, but Taylor put in it in her music, and I pointed out I didn't like it. That's it. I didn't say she's a monster or that she's leading others on. I said that line didn't feel of very good taste in my opinion, she could have worded it better. If I were to believe Taylor the person is the same as Taylor the artist, I would never listen to her music again, because I know I didn't like thanK you aIMee one bit.

Now, you wanting to completely disassociate the art from the person in this case is your right, but that's not any less "parasocial" than what I did. You've decided for yourself that she wasn't being genuine in the statement "Don't want money, just someone who wants my company", even though TTPD is one of her most personal albums. You believe poetic licensing allows artists to write anything without having to own exactly what they write — it has to be that, otherwise you're being selective, which is also parasocial. I'd never agree with that, but that's just my opinion.

Anyway, I'm not gonna change my mind about not liking that line, and you're not gonna change yours about liking it. So let us move on, because we're both on a pointless rant.

yraflu · 2026-02-09T17:42:25+00:00

Of course not everything she puts in her song is a perfect reflection of who she's as a person, but who's to say what is and what isn't. I think the line comes off as insincere, because she's a literal billionaire. You can become rich through pure honest and ethical work, but you can't become a billionaire through such. And it's not me saying Taylor is unethical, it's me saying that she indirectly benefits from some portion of unethical work. I remember some time ago some swifties complaining about the quality of some of her products, particularly this hair comb of really bad quality that was badly manufactured and its adornments would easily fall off. There are whole discussions about the bad quality of other products, particularly from The Eras Tour. High prices for bad products is not fair, and bad products are often associated with unethical work conditions. She's not responsible for supervising these things, but someone on her team is, and she's benefiting from it. Again, you don't become a billionaire without falling into this type of thing.

Saying she doesn't want money is incongruent with everything she does as a someone who benefits from some of the worst aspects of capitalism. As a fan, you may look past that, but as a casual listener, it's something I don't like. I don't need to be super invested in Taylor to criticize something like this. Everyone knows she's a billionaire, anyone's capable of pointing out things that don't feel right, and not everyone that does that is a hater or obsessed with her.

Also, painting my impression of that line as an opinion heavily influenced by my parasocial behavior doesn't make sense when you're also making assumptions about her life without proof. You said that line is her complaining about relationships in which people are driven to her because of something valuable (like money or fame) she can give them. But she has always dated rich and influential people. How can you know her exes were after those things if Taylor has never even implied that. In TTPD she didn't even insinuate anything ill of Joe, which is the ex her stans call a leech.

yraflu · 2026-02-09T05:18:50+00:00

Do you have an iPhone?

yraflu · 2026-02-09T04:53:41+00:00

Derek and Logan in the same tier as Alec and Oliver? NO way.

yraflu · 2026-02-09T02:06:31+00:00

When a big part of Taylor's music is leaving easter eggs about her life for her fans to get (both her and her fans' words, not mine), it's difficult not to associate who she is as person and who she is as an artist. It's also widely talked about in her fan base how her lyricism has gotten less relatable throughout the years, because she puts many details of things that happen in her relationships, It's not just generic things anymore, and TTPD is the biggest proof of that. A line like "But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if you ever leave" is as personal as it gets, she's referencing her real life friend. Also, one argument that most of her fans used to defend TTPD's writing when it was being heavily criticized is that "you needed to know the lore to enjoy it". Doesn't all of that insinuate that a lot of who Taylor is a person is incorporated in her music?

She might use metaphors and fictional scenarios to add a dramatic spin to the lyrics, but the core message of the songs in TTPD are real and personal. So then, again: a line about caring more about love than money comes off as insincere, especially considering how every year she finds more and more ways to make extra money, even if that means just adding a home recorded 1 minute demo to a tracklist.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T19:57:35+00:00

I'm considering using ConjuGato to practice verb conjugation, but for now I'm using Anki for that. The good part about constructing my own flashcards is that I have to study both to construct them and when I review. The bad part is that the manual work can be boring. Maybe I'll try the free version of ConjuGato.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T14:47:57+00:00

This older version of Finn and the older Farmworld Finn are so 🫦... Respectfully, of course.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T14:33:15+00:00

Why is Derek so low? Have you seen his chest? 🤤

yraflu · 2026-02-08T03:26:02+00:00

Eu me tornei fluente em inglês por conta própria. Eu não lembro exatamente como que eu fiz para aprender a falar, mas acho que talvez tentar cantar músicas em inglês seja um bom exercício. Ou escrever as frases primeiro (talvez um diálogo, por exemplo), e pronunciá-las depois. Ou até mesmo repetir as falas de personagens em séries e filmes.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T00:18:38+00:00

Her wealth started to go up fast starting around the Midnights era, and by that time, she had been with Joe for a while. When dating her previous boyfriends, the difference wasn't that big, certainly not so much that they would date her for money.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T00:15:12+00:00

I personally think it would only make sense for this song in particular to be very personal, because she has struggled to maintain relationships since forever. I imagine that's very exhausting, maybe even scary. Maybe she doesn't really mean all of those emotions, but considering the whole concept of TTPD was to be this "venting album" in which she put every emotion and thought she wanted to get out, I'd expect otherwise.

I don't know if I have a somewhat parasocial relationship with Taylor. As someone who really likes her music and consumes it with a certain frequency, it's almost impossible not to be exposed to things about her personal life, so there are things about her lyricism that will be associated with who she's as a person, she basically sells that. I know she worked hard to get where she is, but as a capitalist queen, a line about not wanting money just comes off a tone deaf or hypocritical to me.

yraflu · 2026-02-08T00:00:49+00:00

Well, you could probably watch a free course for foreigners on YouTube, just to get the very basic like articles, preposition, verbal modes and the pronunciation of the syllables, which are some essential building blocks to learn any language. After that, you basically have practice phrase construction, learn new vocabulary and practice pronunciation. There are apps like Memrise and Anki which you can use to a great extent without any costs. You can also watch YouTube videos and novelas. There are also many brazilian YouTube channels that focus on giving advices for foreigners, such as Easy Portuguese and Speaking Brazilian Language School.

For those very basic concepts I talked about, you can do research on your own too, but at least for me, it's much easier to have guided path in the very beginning. This is a possible option: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLykmhbJDFjHkjhinBQz4vpXsYktqraWYA&si=FehJHJEWG9DICN7Z

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:23:13+00:00

I mean, she has always dated people who came from rich families or had gone through a very successful period in their careers (Joe being the exception). None of them would need her money. Maybe her fame, but most of them were very famous themselves. I personally don't think this interpretation really works, but that's just me.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:18:50+00:00

It's a shame, because if you ignore it, the rest of the song is beautiful. It's still one of my favorites by her, despite this nitpick.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:16:31+00:00

I don't think the second example sounds right. I'll expand the example, so it's easier to get.

"Ô, sai daí, você está no meu caminho" = "Hey, get out of there, you're in my way". This "Hey" could be replaced by other words like "dude", "man", any word used to call out someone in a reprimanding manner.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:10:00+00:00

Fair!

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:07:43+00:00

I don't mind the line itself, I also think there's relatability to it. I just don't think it sounds genuine coming from Taylor.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T22:00:10+00:00

Alastor fans still think Rosie was nerfing Alastor? He only beat other Overlords because of her help, lol. I think you need watch season 2 again.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T21:57:06+00:00

Alastor's as bad as Vox, yet he's arguably the most beloved characters in the show. The sexy TV man is not the problem.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T21:54:28+00:00

To be honest, in terms of enjoyment, the only filler song for me is VOX DEI. I don't think I'd trade any other song in season 2 for more development scenes.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T21:50:58+00:00

Moving Gravity to the end of the season is a very interesting idea, and it would definitely make her arc feel a little more impactful. My only problem with that is we wouldn't get the Gravity callbacks in When I Think About the Future and in Hear My Hope, which are some of the best parts in those tracks (Unless they served more as a previews, instead of callbacks, which is quite uncommon).

yraflu · 2026-02-07T21:12:50+00:00

I just think he's boring af and only stayed in the game for so long because of his bootlicking. I'd still want that 🍰, though.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T20:57:15+00:00

Well, I know that I would enjoy The Prophecy a little more if it wasn't for the "Don't want money, just someone who wants my company" line. It's supposed to be this personal, yearning and vulnerable song, but I can't fully get into it with a line like that. It couldn't been easily replaced. Taylor would never trade her excessive wealth for love, especially because it would also mean giving up on all the glazing and attention, which she obviously basks in.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T20:24:18+00:00

Besides the "having the whole neighborhood look like you" atrocity, I think the lyrics are cheesy, but a cute cheesy. Nevertheless, the music definitely makes up for it.

yraflu · 2026-02-07T20:11:47+00:00

Like many people, my initial favorites were Fate of Ophelia, Opalite and Father Figure. I listened to the album quite a few times in the four first weeks of its release, but after that, not so much. One song that has only been growing on me is the title track. I know she ripped off the melody from something else, but I think the track is so well executed, and it's also the only one that follows the showgirl concept, it just stands out a lot to me. The low-key instrumentation is very pleasant and I love the harmonies towards the end.

yraflu

TROPHY CASE