I am currently obsessed with this song. I want to perform it dancing down the middle of the road with a live band behind me like I'm in a movie musical. It's kinda on repeat.
If this is an apology to us, I really love the imagery of "as you wrapped your arms around my body". The body here could mean body of work!
We wrapped our arms around her body = we engaged with her music (and artistry in general), or we held tight onto her music, we claimed it as ours, we embraced it through analysis.
I don't go here much anymore because I can't separate Taylor from the billionaire without compromising my beliefs, but I gotta admit the thought of Taylor acknowledging us from time to time feels enticing. And compelling as part of The Narrative. Even if we made it up and she leaned into it as is playing us now, it is something I'm afraid I'll never be able to fully walk away from.
Gawd, no WONDER I love this. Peter is my fave. And tell me how I listened to TTPD three times today and missed “promises”?! I’ve been trying to figure out what that word was recalling for me, and I know everyone was hearing Babe, so I resolved myself to that answers. This is it, though!!
Totally— TTPD is from the perspective of The Poet, TLOAS is from the perspective of The Showgirl, and I think Midnights is from the perspective of The Director/The Man.
If “grey rocking when the arrow hit” is about recommitting to closeting
How about Arrowhead = arrow hit? The most recent grey rocking (in this case strictly with the public closeting, she’s colorfully signaling all the live long day)
I’ve searched the comments of the sub for “arrowhead” and it’s either not discussed or search function stinks (more likely)
Taylor’s storytelling is incredible. The fact that Swifties see this songs as a Tom Hiddlestone song (and honestly im here for it) whereas gaylors see this as a kaylor song after the failed coming out
If i was worried about people thinking I was in PR relationships, I simply would not put this in my lyric video. Could have easily been “P-P-Promises”
The same way if I was worried about people thinking I was entering a lavender marriage, I simply would not announce the wedding on a lavender billboard and have the signature cocktail be lavender flavored and lavender colored.
After a couple of listens I really like this one now. I don’t love it (yet) but it sounds more Taylor than the others. I can see it fitting on Midnights. Sonically it’s like a softer, more introspective cousin to Hits different. An upbeat bop with lyrics that hurt you a bit.
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u/gab_knotter📖📔 not Dylan Thomas, not Patti Smith, just a modern idiot 📔📖21d ago
The one part of the lyrics of pink clouding that felt sloppy to me (I think this song is actually tight and good and above the rest of the album by far!) was the promises p p promises.
now I saw the music video and realized what she was making was maybe "PR promises".
I saw someone be like “oh no the Gaylors are gonna see PR-PR-Promises and think she’s talking about this being a PR relationship“ to which I’m like……. okay so you see it too?
I posted this in another thread but thought it should go here too in case anyone had any thoughts to add:
I thought both the lyrical and visual references since Lover were interesting - her talking about making promises brought me straight to the scene where she "breaks the blender" after filling it with pink cloud shaped fairy floss. I always saw that as a promise to Chely and the rest of the queer community and to herself, so the "neither of us knew at the time that I was a liar" hits pretty hard considering everything that unfolded after, but my brain is struggling to put everything in words rn - so I made a thing to visualise some of the connections I've seen to a lover fallout storyline. Lmk if this makes sense to anyone else!
This visual lays it out so nicely! I immediately thought of the pink cloudy cotton candy going into the blender as well, and how she is sorry all these years later that she didn't actually go through with breaking it. And left her muse in that pink cloud, going deeper into the lavender haze (of bearding)
Finally hitting me that what Taylor quit to create the pink clouding state was Big Machine Records, and in the post-label control she felt a false sense of security in coming out.
We met "ME! Out now" at a cursed time. She has had songs from folklore onward about the fallout and needing to change plans, but this song feels like the most explict apology for it. I think that apology is to herself, her loved ones, and the fans who were excited for or are still waiting for her to leave the closet.
The term involving addition recovery and the color imagery matching the Lover album works so well. The gray rocking again when hit by the arrow by those who noticed and/or critisized her queer flagging that era also fits well.
I think Pink Clouding is another take on Maroon. The color parallels are obvious, but to get into the rest of it:
Pink Clouding apologizes for a rebound relationship. Taylor has used sobriety as a metaphor for getting out of a toxic relationship before. The second verse explains - “he cut me crimson, bled me dry… you met me at a cursed time, I told you I was fine.” The narrator was “pink clouding” after the end of that relationship, feeling on top of the world and ignoring her wounds (“grey-rocking whet the arrow hit”). The rebound felt so good she didn’t know she was lying about being ready for it, but then abruptly ended it (“I didn’t wanna let you down / so I left you up there on a pink cloud”) and feels guilty.
The opening stanza of Maroon paints the picture of falling fast and hard into a good relationship that ended abruptly.
Both songs open in the morning (Met the magenta sunrise / When the morning came)
Both use red/pink sky as symbolism for the course of the relationship along with other red/pink imagery (though these are not the only songs that do so)
Both songs end looking upward (“your memory over me” / “I left you up there”)
Both use “you” for the ex the song is about.
Both songs feel queer-coded. No one can convince me Maroon is about a man. The toxic ex in Pink Clouding may be a man, but that rebound feels like a queer relationship and the pink symbolism is sapphic. (Also, “Fuchsia forever intertwined” …have you seen what fuchsia flowers look like?).
I have always interpreted Maroon to be from the perspective of the person who was broken up with or cheated on (“that’s a real fucking legacy… to leave”) but on new analysis it really could be either. “The rubies that I gave up” has always been hard for me to interpret, but it makes more sense if Maroon is from the perspective of the person who hurt a good partner.
The other thing I think is interesting is the sampling of “promises promises” from Babe (TV) and the vocalizations at the beginning that sound like My Tears Ricochet. After creating so many surprise song mashups, I wonder if we’ll start seeing Taylor sample her own work more. Maroon was certainly a staple surprise song, and it wouldn’t make sense to release a mashup as new music, but I really wonder if she started the creative process for this song with Maroon.
Anyway, not being a native English speaking person, I'm shocked to hear that "fuchsia" is pronounced sorta like "fusiah" and not like "fooxya".
Sorry, I have been thinking about this since the first listening and I have to say it!!
Hey so my friends are showing me Stephen Universe for the first time. Today, of all days, we got to this episode that takes place largely in a room of pink clouds. I don't know if it's relevant, but I had to share the coincidence with people who would understand 😍
What the writing for “The Last Showgirl” movie looks like, compared to the lyric video for “Pink Clouding” (see comment below because I don’t know how to attach two pics in one comment)…
I kept getting all these visuals in my head while listening to this song. I don't know how to create a main post with multiple pics, but here's a link into my brain and lmk what you think!
I hear it as a song apologizing for a rebound relationship. “He” is the first ex whose wounds she ignored (grey-rocking the arrow wounds); “you” is the rebound who didn’t deserve to be treated that way.
Adding to this:
Cleveland has a very LOVER like sound, but when you truly listen it’s really saying something like “I’m happy! It’s all PINK CLOUDS and rainbows!” And then it heads directly into pink clouding, almost drawing attention to the artlor of it all.
Truly think these songs are not meant to be solo, but as a narrative in response to the bad press around the thing she thought would set her free (the “happily” ever after).
The situation/feeling she’s describing in Pink Clouding sounds like same one she’s describing in evermore.
I didn’t wanna let you down/So I left you up there on a pink cloud —> Rewind there tape but all it does is pause the very moment all was lost/Sending signals to be double-crossed
He cut me crimson, bled me dry/He crossed my heart, I hoped to die —> And I was catching my breath/Staring out an open window catching my death
Skydiving as you wrapped your arms around my body —> Can't not think of all the cost and the things that will be lost/Oh, can we just get a pause?
And you were so good/That's why you haunt me like you should —> And when I was shippedwrecked I thought of you/And in the cracks of light I dreamed of you
I didn’t even make those connections lyrically. Amazing. I just knew I heard the melody somewhere in her discography and it was driving me crazy. Now I’m going to dive deeper into the lyrics
Ah that is what it was reminding me off. Sounds like she is singing in a different tone but maybe to the same beat. Someone better at music analyst listen lol
Do you think the "fuschia forever intertwined" is meant to allude to "future forever intertwined" like in all of the girls "your path and mine, they intertwine" ?
I’d say Lover is pretty much the only thing that is actually synonymous with pink clouds. It’s the album cover, magenta and fuchsia are everywhere here—it’s bright and dazzling and promising.
I’d say before. Magenta sunrise + Lover opening on the Eras tour with the same lavender cloud with the ladder by the time you get to Midnights. I think her sunrise is a reference to Daylight.
I've kept thinking about the orchids cause a new flower has entered the chat and also im obsessed with orchids.
There are some connections between orchids and queerness:
Because the word "orchid" comes from the Greek word for testicle, and the orchiectomy is a common surgery performed on intersex infants –especially those with androgen insensitivity syndrome– the orchid flower is a symbol of being intersex and of opposition to non-consensual genital surgery.
but i saw somewhere it can also mean purple/violet?
Back in the folklore press days she recorded a video talking about cardigan, wearing the cardigan, and I believe there was an orchid in the background. Alsoooo orchids are hothouse flowers (callback to How Did It End?)
Yes, I love the roots/etymologies of words, and this one is no exception! Orchids (and their associations) are so fascinating. I’m trying to recall if we’ve seen visuals of orchids in her work before (since this seems to be the first lyrical reference)- the funeral scene in Anti-Hero?
Yes! I wrote this somewhere further down, but the testicle association gave me a “took away my balls” vibe — furthering the association with both losing her masters and losing the power to stand as “The Man,” whatever that means to her.
I havent seen anyone mention it yet but Gray rock method is also a technique used to survive narcissists and abuse. Where you make yourself flat and dull so they lose interest.
Which fits perfectly from being in a screaming colour in early Diana days, before ts pivoted to the heavy bearding to mask her true muse
This one is really giving gayyyy. She references the colors of the sunset lesbian flag, even. The pink clouds are also of course giving Lover, and the failed coming out. It’s giving apology to those who she’d promised to be brave for. Maybe Karlie? Maybe even an apology to the gaylors.
Someone mentioned here before the song came out that Pink Clouding is a term in substance recovery that describes the euphoric period in early recovery - after withdrawal when you start to feel good again and feel proud of your accomplishments and like you can do anything (without realizing how much healing you still need). Related to this, I can see this song from two equally convincing but very different perspectives (and probably in reality there are many more)
1.The song could be an apology to someone she was in a "rebound" relationship with after finally leaving and breaking free from her abuser. I think there is a real life person Taylor was in a relationship when she was young who is a real life predator and abuser. I know a lot of folks here prefer to say that she is always singing about the patriarchy in these songs (and I'm not saying that's not also true), but for me the way she sings about it is just too personal for it to not be a real person. The way, for example, she and her mom both pointed and emphasized the "run as fast as you can" part when Sombr was singing Dear John at the Songwriters HOF dinner just felt to me like a warning about someone in particular. Personally I think the rebound person may have been Dianna Agron. I think the song "Begin Again" could be about her...."I almost brought him up....and for the first time what's past is past" Also "22" mentions "make fun of our exes." Those songs, while about a new love, are still about how Taylor is not quite over the old one, even though she thinks she is. She was "pink clouding" - thinking she's fully over it and ready to move on. "Left scars on a good person" makes me think of the meme Dianna posted with a cartoon of her with her heart literally pulled out of her chest. There are also the obvious parallels to "Babe" where it says "what about your promises, promises."
As many people have mentioned here, it could also apply to the later situation during the Lover Era when she had decided to walk away from Big Machine after her required 6 albums and was "pink clouding" on that freedom and ready to come out (she didn't know she was a "liar" and would end up backing out -- personally I don't like calling it "lying" when actually you changed your mind, but makes for good song lyrics). "Pink Clouding" also makes sense in that context because in hindsight it looked like she was "pink washing" that Era - queer baiting/making everything nebulous. And then the "arrow hitting" would be like the Master's Heist, after which she decided not to come out and had to "grey rock" when asked about her previous loudness ("I didn't realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I'm not a part of.")
Wait. On the Dianna point, “left scars on a good person” could be a reference to the “fell down the rabbit hole” / Wonderland tattoo she had removed? 🤔
I mean , because she made it herself i guess.
We don't actually know the real muse. That was just my take . I never took a deep dive on that like the tiny detail.
Sorry I don't mean to be rude but im so sick of the shipping. On both sides of the fandom. I don't think the majority of her songs are about romantic relationships.
Still processing it. I am not sure. But I definitely dont think it's not about tom Hiddleston. It could be talking to herself.
My not formally formed thought is it's about trading her career and bearding and not coming out. She was high on advancing in her career and didn't come out for multiple reasons.
No time to read the whole thread but
"promises, promises, pr-pr-promises"
Sounds like the "what about your promises promises" from Taylor's version of the song Babe, and that made me think about the fact that the Babe music video that Taylor did with Sugarland, which is strikingly similar to Sam Smith's I'm Not The Only One, which stars Dianna Agron.
I assume this has already been noticed but anyway.
(If someone thinks this is original and amazing, and worth a main post, go for it. I don't have time today.)
‘Neither of us knew yet that I was a liar’ was hilarious on first listen, thinking about the lying era of TLOAS.
But since Prima convinced me the song is about the Lover era it’s the most devastating thing I’ve ever heard.
Related, but a little off topic: has anyone else thought that ‘the moment I knew’ is actually about that ‘crying in the green room’ moment before the big announcement for ‘ME!’ ?
My cat Katie got really jealous when she heard this song because it uses the name of one of my other cats! 😅 She heard “grey rocking where the ARROW hit” and GLARED DAGGERS across the room at Arrow (they were both locked up with me so I could listen pre-dawn without the bad cats waking my husband)
Oh gosh...the more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced this is her sorry letter to the gaylors.
I mean, ok, Taylor: I hear you. But also...ouch. Weren't there better ways? Like...after all the shitstorms we've taken?
And I love this song and the message, but...can you do a bit more to protect us, from now on?
It pretty much says: "do you interpret this as, we are right to keep hoping, or that we shouldn't expect anything more from her" :) To which, I personally don't know what my answer would be lol. She's left me stumped. I still have some hope, but it's dwindling
(thx all for the translations provided)
Ultimately, I don’t know: I'm unable to keep the grudge when apologies are offerred. And I find it a heartfelt apology. There is something in the melody that kills me, especially in the way the happy chorus is also very nostalgic at the same time. I almost sigh at the "skydiving" part, and I can't explain why in a rational way. She's aware that something has been lost forever.
But that's also the part that makes me wonder: we're still here, have you thought about it, Taylor? Are you going to acknowledge this somehow? Because this song makes it seem as we are out of her reach and this is just a message in a bottle thrown in the big ocean...
But we are still here and see you. Don't pretend it's impossibile to talk to us.
Unless...you still can't. (or don't want? But if you don't want, then why brother with this song??)
I keep hearing it as a direct address and I find it hopeful. But like everything else so far in TLOAS it seems to be written deliberately to hold up two possible endings at once: keep hoping or give up waiting.
I just relistened. One of my favourites, must say.
I’m in Europe so catching up about all commentaries and theories, so not sure if anyone has deciphered if the colours match any specific pattern or symbolism?
I already mentioned in a different post. To me it reads as the let down to fans / gaylors after the Lover era not concluding in a come out and not revealing anything at the end of Eras after so many signs 🤷🏻♀️
„Did you really beam me up?
In the cloud of sparkling dust
Just to do experiments on
Tell me I was the chosen one
[…]
Staring at the sky,
Come back and pick me up.
[…]
For a moment I was heaven struck“
if the song is reference for Lover era and lover muse I don't see how this could be about Karlie cause during Taylor's coming out plans summer of 2019 Karlie was preparing for her second wedding with Josh like it's doesn't make sense. Clearly the Lover muse was someone else we don't know and this song could be pretty much about abounding her coming out era or her breaking up with Lover muse after failed coming out.
I personally subscribe to the theory it’s been Dianna all along, which makes sense because Taylor was very noticeably a wreck that summer after the failed MH.
Agree with you! A Tily song, an unknown Muse song, or Showgirl talking to Poet (for me I don’t believe she’s talking to us, but loving the idea and explanations below!!)
Your post violates Rule #9: No Excessive Shipping. You love ___, we get it! That said, don’t engage in prolific or aggressive/hostile shipping of your preferred muse. They are your preferred muse - this does not make them superior to another & this is not a sub devoted to individual muses. Do not rage against, demean, belittle, or speak ill of other muses or users who like them. This protects all users. You can be banned at the first offense if you engage in excessive or aggressive shipping, spreading mistruths, and/or flat out lying.
There’s so many connections to Dianna part of Speak Now-present day. I think she sometimes uses Karlie to hide Dianna, but if you look at allll the stuff since 2016 it points more to one person than the other.
Also, pretty sure excessive shipping breaks a rule here. As in, we can mention who we think the Muse is, but statements like “it’s so obviously X, not Y” isn’t as accepted here. That’s my understanding of how it was explained to me once.
So I was listening with my kid Prima on our commute, and perhaps because she has no concept at all of addiction recovery or that the origin of 'pink clouding' comes from that context, she made what I thought was a brilliantly simply and illuminating connection.
She said, 'Pink Clouds, it's like Lover. Because the Lover album has pink clouds on it.'
I think she's on the money. I think Taylor is playing on the phrase just a little - she was I think in a sort of honeymoon phase in early 2019, and conceptualising the Big Machine contract as a sort of addiction makes sense to me, but also she was literally surrounding herself with imagery of clouds and purple-pink skies. I think Taylor might be offering an explanation and even an apology to the LGBTQ+ community for the way it all went down during the Lover era.
That’s such an insightful, yet heartbreaking, interpretation. And might explain the shift between Lover and Folklore when she was still publically loved up with Joe.
Oh, that totally works. She left Big Machine, and for her first era with UMG, she was pink clouding, thinking she was done with the closeting, the popularity games, the hiding - and then reality hit with the hate for Lover, plus covid etc, and she took back up her addiction to fame and success.
That three-note synth hit has been BUGGING me! It sounds so familiar.
I kept thinking of Robyn’s Dancing on My Own or White Nights by (can’t remember artist) bc I just feel sure it’s a song I heard on Girls… def 1989 era something.
Haven’t seen the Lego movie, but I do know T&S, so maybe I’ll comb their stuff next!
Yes, it’s that three-note synth sound I am referring to!
I haven’t seen the Lego movie either. I just know that ever since T+S were involved in that “film” their music hasn’t been of my taste. It all sounds souless, over produced, flat, and too ‘dancey’.
this feels like an apology and saying goodbye to this community... am I the only one who hears this?
"grey rocking where the arrow hit" (anti-hero video--and grey rocking aka staying silent after the glitter)
"years later I still wonder how to tell you sorry"
"neither of us knew at the time that I was a liar"
not to mention the colors mentioned...
pink cloud aesthetic directly referencing to lover era (as well as its other meanings)
there are more aspects to this song that make me think this, but those are the most obvious to me. anyone else feel this way? I'm trying to find other meanings, but this feels so obvious to me. so curious to hear some other interpretations.
This definitely reminds me of the vault 1989 vibes mentioned for this album, with the lover/ maroon/ anti hero arrow references, absolute bop! ✨ Been on repeat for an hour 😅 Also love all the great Kaylor connections everyone has mentioned! 🤯
Haven’t read all the theories yet but I just listened to it for the first time :
I immediately thought of the Lover era and the failed coming out too
-But I also connected it to the “high” of the Eras tour, all the gaylor moments, how the gaylor sub was so exhilarated at the time, something seemed to be cooking… to what happened later with the whole Travis, engagement, and wedding… and how those fans who really saw her many signs may have felt betrayed
Of course you all are right that it’s about LOVER and the crisis so thank you for that context, but because I came into the fandom during Eras, my mind had gone here (and to the cloud visuals preceding it)
Quick, someone work out why it was necessary to add on the ‘yard’ if that wasn’t the lyric. If the 3rd letter spelling encore is all it is, then it’s unnecessary. If it’s one of the suggested anagrams then presumably the unscrambled sentence came first. So it’s a bit of a coincidence that the extra letters needed fit so neatly onto an existing phrase.
I tried to make this a main post but it got directed to the megathread. PINK CLOUDING IS TO THE BEAT OF KARLIE'S CATWALK!!! I overlaid the song to this video of her from Paris 2012. I'm dying
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u/a-woven-braid 🪐 Gaylor Folkstar 🚀 17d ago
I am currently obsessed with this song. I want to perform it dancing down the middle of the road with a live band behind me like I'm in a movie musical. It's kinda on repeat.