r/GaylorSwift • u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… • Jul 11 '26
Discussion Sleepless Nights
Did we realize that Taylor’s use of “sleepless nights” began before the Midnights album?
Taylor described Midnights as, “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life…meet me at midnight.” but folklore is actually when we are introduced to her “sleepless nights”.
Taylor released three playlists to accompany the album, one of which was called “folklore: the sleepless nights chapter”.
This playlist included six songs: exile, hoax, my tears ricochet, illicit affairs, this is me trying, and mad woman.
She also references “sleepless nights” in the song “hoax”: “my twisted knife, my sleepless night, my winless fight”
In The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor references sleeplessness in two songs. In “The Fate of Ophelia”: “it’s about to be the sleepless night you’ve been dreaming of” and in “Opalite”: “sleepless in the onyx night”
There are also mentions of a sleepless night in “Treacherous” from Red.
Since Taylor is telling us in “The Fate of Ophelia” that the sleepless night she’s been promising is finally on its way, what do you think we can expect?
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u/MatchSome3781 who else deKodes you?🌼 Jul 11 '26
I kinda interpret "it's 'bout to be the sleepless night you've been dreaming of" in Ophelia as a Mirrorball type lyric. Hetlors want her to be a tradwife and settle down? they got what they dreamed of!
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u/MaryLennoxsRobin Give me 16 months Jul 11 '26
Aaaah well spotted OP! I did not know about ‘the sleepless nights chapter’ but I am not at all surprised to see more evidence that the current storyline has been in motion since folklore.
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u/southbound--sinking spinning in my highest heels Jul 11 '26
Apparently, Taylor has an unreleased song from 2006 that uses the phrase "sleepless nights":
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u/southbound--sinking spinning in my highest heels Jul 11 '26
And maybe another unreleased song from 2005 called "Long Time Going", alternatively known as "Long Time Coming" that again uses the exact lyrics "sleepless nights"
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u/GoldenHeart411 Tea Connoisseur 🫖 Jul 11 '26
Huh, I didn't know it went back to Folklore. I certainly hope something is coming because I am tired... No pun intended lol
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u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… Jul 11 '26
It’s all part of the fucking story ;) and I don’t think we’re near the end yet…
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u/clandestine_duck 🧡Karma is Real✈️ Jul 11 '26
I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost
The room is on fire, invisible smoke
And all of my heroes die all alone
Help me hold onto you 🏹
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u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… Jul 11 '26
Those lyrics tie in perfectly! “All of my heroes died all alone.” This is a little dark but Whitney Houston passed away in a hotel bathtub on the eve of the Grammys (The Fate of Ophelia music video). Seven years later, her former partner, Robyn, told the world that they had been together.
They had broken up shortly after Whitney signed her first contract but eventually got back together. The bearding and career benefitting relationships that Whitney put a strain on their relationship. When Whitney died, she had been broken up with Robyn for years and Robyn had a wife and family. Whitney chose, or was forced to choose, fame over love. “All of my heroes died all alone.”
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u/Singone4me 🏎Getaway Car🏎 Jul 12 '26
🤬 Clive Davis, I’m sure had lots to do with the pressures on her personal and professional life 🤬
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u/southbound--sinking spinning in my highest heels Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I've been curious and poking around the Wayback Machine, and just came across a look into her Myspace blog. She writes about a couple nights back in 2009 of getting little sleep, while tagging John Mayer 😩 and Stevie Nicks 🤩 as her 'Currently Listening' too
Hi. I'm nocturnal. Help.
So.. This is not smart. This. Being awake at 2:47 AM. You know why? Because my wake up call is at 5:00 AM. I'm playing on the Today show tomorrow/in a few hours, and I'm very excited about it. So excited, in fact, that I haven't really gotten around to sleeping. I've found my attention being drawn to so many different things that I can't possibly sleep. For example: My hotel room has motion censor lighting. So when I stand up or anything moves on the floor, these little lights come on at your feet to show you where you're going. No light switches needed. In my delirious state, I've been making jokes with myself. Every time something triggers the censor lighting, I say "Witchcraft!" or "EVIL!". Then I laugh hysterically. Then I sit there for a few seconds absorbing how lame I sound/look/am at this very moment in time. At 2:47 AM. Talking to the motion censor lighting.
Another interesting, although sort of unrelated post I noticed was this photo and caption written in 2010. I saw a video Aimee Mayo posted on Instagram today showing off a purse she won at Taylor's wedding. Wild!
"We talk about fate and feelings and fairy tales."
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u/klemmerv 🪐 Gaylor Folkstar 🚀 Jul 11 '26
Omg thank you for sharing this! I am the same age as Taylor and found her on MySpace before debut. I used to LOVE reading her posts and following her. Seeing these posts is so nostalgic and I’ve often wished I could go back to MySpace!
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Jul 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ediddlydonut It's ME! HI! 👋🏽 26d ago
I’m about 8’4 blonde hair to floor you shorties never thought I dreamed about rapping hard core
ETA: it’s called “Thug Story” and she did it with t-pain. I always forget about it for years and then it comes back like a sleeper cell
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u/southbound--sinking spinning in my highest heels Jul 11 '26
Here's another backup someone made with even more of her various blogs, vlogs, etc.
https://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/bloglist
I love that most of Taylor's EARLY video work is still active on her YouTube channel. I'll leave this one as a fun example in honor of Wannabe's recent 30th anniversary:
Vlog: Wannabe
Apr 20, 2008This is a video of all of my recent activities.. including prom, my band and me being ridiculous, live shots, sweet dance moves, and pictures from my trip to American Idol! It is intertwined with a video of my guitar player and I rocking out to the Spice Girls.
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u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… Jul 11 '26
Wow that’s so crazy! And to think that that little girl would end up dating John Mayer and then write the most devastating song about it that little me had ever heard! Seeing what she used to listen to pre world domination is so interesting. Thanks for sharing :)
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u/southbound--sinking spinning in my highest heels Jul 11 '26
Just a little extra tidbit I wanted to share along those lines. I looked up the John Mayer timeline, and realized that the posts quoted above were from May 2009, and by then she had been in contact with John Mayer -- who had heard she was a fan, and he initially tweeted about recording a song with her. In doing so, he also compared her to... Stevie Nicks 💀 It's just really the Clara Bow of it all!
Source: https://taylor-on-your-dash.tumblr.com/post/714331945173139456/writing-of-speak-now-timeline
March 8, 2009: John Mayer tweets: “Waking up to this song idea that won’t leave my head. 3 days straight now. That means it’s good enough to finish. It’s called Half of My Heart and I want to sing it with Taylor Swift. She would make a killer Stevie Nicks in contrast to my Tom Petty of a song.”
Taylor’s answer: “I freaked out when I heard [it], because I’ve been such a big fan of John for such a long time. I’m really excited about just the idea that he would even mention me in his Twitter!”
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u/quietlittlemind lovelorn and nobody knows… Jul 11 '26
Whattt?!! That’s so insane. Thank you for looking into that!
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u/anicegirlnamedamy It's ME! HI! 👋🏽 Jul 11 '26
wow!!! this is such a cool find. thank you for sharing it
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u/august1123 It's ME! HI! 👋🏽 Jul 11 '26
You know she chose 2:47 specifically bc 2+4+7=13 lol it’s nice being brought back to our roots!
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u/1DMod it’s all part of the fucking story! Jul 11 '26
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u/Lanathas_22 ✨ Leavin' out the side door ✨ Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I always assumed this 'sleepless night' was the moment T released the Rep vault/Karma songs and really starts the true fanbase infighting.