The Moment I Knew

Obsession

I am 50 and I am obsessed with Taylor Swift.

It is not just that I like her music, I *love* her music.

It is not just that I love her music, I have listened to almost nothing but her music all day every day since July 24, 2020, when she surprise-dropped Folklore.

I don’t just exclusively play Ms. Swift’s music, I am overcome with the quest for knowledge about her personality, her songwriting process, and her life. I love podcasts about her, of which I have discovered upwards of 20. There is one that is my favorite, called Swiftish. There are over 50 episodes and I have listened to all of them. Swiftish is a podcast for “old” Swifties, as Ashley and Shelby are in their thirties. The ladies analyze Taylor’s lyrics and discuss Taylor gossip. I have tried to listen to other Swiftie podcasts, but because I am relatively elderly and super intolerant of the stereotypical Swifties, I always come back to Swiftish.

All of this information gives you the background of my expertise about all things Taylor Allison Swift. The point of this post is to pass my knowledge to you so that you can (at the most) love her as I do, and (at the least) appreciate her for her genius and prowess in the music industry.

I will use her songs and videos to highlight her outstanding characteristics, so you can appreciate the person through her music and actions. It is helpful to listen to the songs as we progress. Here is the link to a playlist that includes them in order.

Songs

I will present these songs in rough order of my favorites. My current favorite is The Moment I Knew. It tells the story of Taylor’s birthday (December 13th) party where her boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, said he would come and he didn’t show. She weaves the story to a crescendo. My favorite lyrics are those that say “The sinking feeling starts as I say hopelessly, ‘He said he’d be here’ and it was like slow motion, standing there in my party dress in red lipstick with no one to impress.” I love how the notes of the words “Happy Birthday” are sad opposing notes of the actual song. Taylor describes the moment impeccably when you know a relationship is approaching its destined end.

To continue the Jake Gyllenhaal theme, All Too Well is next. On most lists of Swiftie’s favorite songs, All Too Well is number one. It weaves the story of Taylor’s autumn visit to Jake’s sister Maggie’s house to meet the family and then the eventual demise of that relationship. The lyrics are heartbreaking and tear-inducing when in the right mood. I recommend screaming this song while driving your car. Ignore the stares at your tear-stained face. My favorites include “You call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest.” The lyrics read like a poem and evoke such nostalgic feelings of real but lost love and remembering innocence before heartbreak hardens our soul. The scarf plays a significant role in the Swift world. While this story took place 10 years ago, Swifties still plead with Jake to give Taylor her scarf back. Taylor is releasing a long-rumored, ten-minute version on the re-recording of her album Red.

Yes, Taylor is re-recording her albums that Scott Borchetta sold to Scooter Braun, allegedly without her knowledge. Once Taylor re-releases an album, Swifties make a point to delete all former recordings so that Taylor gets all of the credit and money. So far, she has finished Fearless (Taylor’s Version), released on April 9th, 2021. TSwift is releasing Red (Taylor’s Version) on November 12th, 2021. Because Swifties caused the song Wildest Dreams from the album 1989 to trend on TikTok, Taylor released her version of this song early, so that Scooter would not benefit from this surge.

The chorus in Red is a rare use of simile and metaphor in song lyrics. “Losing him was blue like I’ve never known, missing him was dark grey all alone, forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met, and loving him was red.” When she recorded the song Red at age 19, Taylor thought love was “burning red”. In future songs, she grows and learns that it’s “golden” with her current long-term boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.

My Tears Ricochet is a melancholy revenge song aimed at her long-time recording label, Big Machine Records. The owner, Scott Borchetta signed Taylor as his first artist when she was 15. “You can aim for my heart, go for blood, but you would still miss me in your bones.” “When you can’t sleep at night, do you hear my stolen lullabies?” My favorite line is “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace.” You can feel her hurt and sadness at how that situation played out after 15 years with Big Machine.

This brings us to Mad Woman, Taylor’s revenge song to Scooter (or Kanye West.) The song oddly works equally well for both men. Her venom for them is evident in her lyrics “Do you see my face… does she mouth ‘f*ck you forever?'” She also calls out their extramarital affairs. Both couples divorced soon after. A well-known and often criticized characteristic of TS is her ability to hold a grudge, clear in her lyrics “They say move on, but you know I won’t.”

When Taylor wrote Dear John, she was 19 and John Mayer was 32. The two stars dated after recording Mayer’s Half of My Heart together. Generally, industry women know Mayer to be a manipulating playboy. In the beginning notes, to make it clear who the song is about, Taylor plays the guitar in a similar similarly to Mayer’s. She also includes a guitar solo (another Mayer trademark) using her voice instead of a guitar. Taylor ends each verse with the lyric “I should’ve known” except for the last one, which closes the song with “You should’ve known.” This is her longest song at almost seven minutes. Mayer wrote Paper Dolls about Taylor after he heard Dear John. The difference in the ability to scathe is apparent.

On her album Folklore, Tay Tay wrote 3 songs that presented the same situation from 3 different perspectives- Betty, August, and Cardigan. Inez, James, and Betty are the characters in the songs and are the names of her friend’s (Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds) children. This was their way of announcing the name of their third baby, Betty. At minute mark 2:47 in both Betty and August, the same scene occurs from different viewpoints. In August, it says “Remember when I pulled up and said ‘get in the car'”, while the same scene in Betty at the same minute marker says “She said, ‘James get in, let’s drive'”. Genius.

Videos

Taylor Swift has made a career out of hiding what Swifties call “Easter eggs.” TSwift buries clues, puzzles, math problems, and secrets in her videos, lyrics, inserts to her albums, and social media posts. Swifties LOVE playing sleuth. The Look What You Made Me Do video has the biggest collection of Ester eggs. It begins with Taylor rising from the grave wearing the same dress as the Out of the Woods video, which was her last video before disappearing. The snippet of her as a (jail)bird in a gilded cage parallels her life as a celebrity. All of the Taylors at the end represent each era and highlight the criticisms she received at that time. In the end, she is a master at making fun of herself.

There are also snakes everywhere in the video, as an homage to when the world turned on Taylor, calling her a snake. Here’s what happened. Kanye West called Taylor to ask if he could use her name in a song. Kanye’s wife Kim Kardashian recorded the conversation. Taylor agrees, remarks reluctantly that she was honored, and asks to hear the song. Kanye never sends the recording and didn’t tell Taylor that he calls her a bitch in the song. Taylor voices her unhappiness and says she never agreed to that song. Kim releases the (edited and skewed in Kanye’s favor) recording of the conversation. Kanye fans started a trend calling Taylor a snake and flooding the internet with #Taylorisover. Taylor retreated from the public eye for a year.

Her album Reputation was a response to how she felt throughout her ostracization. Here is a video example of her songwriting process from that album.

In the video for The Man, Taylor hides many secrets. The Man is actually Taylor dressed up, with the transformation depicted at the end of the video. In the manspreading subway scene with the cigar, a woman wears a Miss Americana sweatshirt before the documentary was announced.  When The Man is peeing on the wall, amongst all of her album titles, there is a sign with a scooter with a line through it, referencing Scooter Braun. When the Man runs down the hall slapping the hands, there are 19 hands, for the 19th amendment- women’s right to vote. The tennis referee who watches The Man (aka Taylor) throw a tantrum is Taylor’s dad. The ball girl who rolls her eyes is TikTok star Loren, whose followers are called angels, hence “angels roll their eyes” referencing a future lyric. At the end of the video, it says “No men were harmed by the making of this video.”

Fans

The most important relationship to Taylor is the one she has with her fans. One superfan asked her to help him with his engagement. She showed up at the party and played “their” song for them.

For her 1989 World Tour, Taylor wanted to be extra for her fans. She conspired to produce a different celebrity guest to perform at every show. These were not half-baked famous people either. Here is the list including Mick Jagger, Justin Timberlake, Sugarland, Alanis Morrissette, Mary J Blige, and the US Women’s Soccer Team.

After his mother passed away, Jimmy Fallon had Taylor as a guest on his show. Before her performance, Jimmy explained to the audience that his mom used to squeeze his hand 3 times to signify “I Love You.” Taylor played this as a memorial, which also includes the lyrics “Hold onto the memories, they will hold on to you.” No dry eyes.

Ms. Swift’s monetary support of her fans in need is unparalleled. Here is a list of her benevolent donations.

Lyrics

Taylor is a talented wordsmith, with cerebral undertones. Here is a sampling of my favorite lyrics.

“Shade never made anyone less gay” from LGBTQ-friendly You Need to Calm Down.

“August sipped away like a bottle of wine” from August.

Champagne Problems is the story of a rejected marriage proposal and says “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer until someone is down on their knees and asks you.” Not “down on one knee” like a proposal, but “on their knees” as if begging. And the lyric Swifties are longing to scream in concert, “What a shame she’s f*cked in the head.”

“I love you, isn’t that the worst thing you ever heard? He looks up, grinning like a devil.” from Cruel Summer. I = Taylor. He = Joe.

Evermore is generally thought to be about Taylor’s quarantine experience. “Can we just get a pause, to be certain we’ll be tall again.”

In Time To Go, Taylor sings “He’s got my past, but I’ve got me” referencing Scooter Braun.

In Renegade, TS croons “Is it insensitive of me to say ‘get your shit together so I can love you'” describing Joe’s take on starting a relationship with Taylor.

Evermore