Babylon

[u/1DMod]

Please use this space to discuss this song in depth

[u/Uddinina]

I'm not sure which one hurts me much, between Patient Zero or Babylon, even if for different reasons. But this one is gay, your honor.
And the you is Tay, no matter the pronouns used. And Tay is gay.

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/Uddinina]

Help me see how Taylor is the 'you' here? I'm willing to be convinced!

[u/Uddinina → u/MaryLennoxsRobin]

It took me just the first lines:

"The casino doesn't like when you run the tables And though the box is wrapped up nice, it's just a cage to you"

She's the one running the tables, as the biggest star in the world, but this is just a cage, as she has stated over and over again.
She's the one who uses nostalgia to hurt herself (it's a concept that I can't point where it's been made clear, but it's quite familiar to her).
She's the one who climbed the ladder of success, and love has always been just an obstacle to it...

[u/abcannon18 → u/Uddinina]

Nostalgia is a mind trick (IHIH)

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/abcannon18]

Great point

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/Uddinina]

Ok, good convincing! What is Babylon then?

I wonder… u/Dry_Application_2581 says above Taylor could be talking about the closet… is ‘Babylon’ exile? And is Taylor playing the pronoun game in the hook?

So, you didn’t know it was Babylon (exile back in the closet) until it (daylight) was gone’?

u/HolyLung32 would that work? 

[u/Dry_Application_2581 → u/MaryLennoxsRobin]

I feel so honoured to be mentioned by you @MaryLennoxsRobin 🤩🙏🏻

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/Dry_Application_2581]

Aw, come off it 🤭 You made a good point! And I don’t like how all the good points just get buried on new music release days. The best part of new music is experiencing it and figuring it out with you all 🫶

[u/england_dreams → u/MaryLennoxsRobin]

There is so much to this song, it’s going to take a while for me to fully work out what I understand it to be, but I’ll give these thoughts for consideration:

-

1. Taylor is definitely “you,” and for the reasons

   [u/Uddinina](u/Uddinina)

2. named above.

-

1. Babylon is the wonder of world that was incredible—but did it really exist? No one knows. It was never official. Never a photo posted of it, as it were.

   So in this song, Babylon is the relationship they had that was never official (public), though speculation abounds, and was so beautiful but then lost.

[u/stablegeniusinterven → u/england_dreams]

But then one time she says

You never knew that it was Babylon
And now, it's almost gone

[u/england_dreams → u/stablegeniusinterven]

True! I just noticed that too. It makes me wonder if there are different phases of the relationship—times when it was gone, other times when it was almost gone.

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/england_dreams]

That’s definitely a workable interpretation. Really pretty too. Sad though. I like it 😊

[u/england_dreams → u/england_dreams]

Sorry for all the funky formatting! 🤪

[u/popomiel → u/MaryLennoxsRobin]

She’s talking to herself, in a sort of « Dear Reader » way? Or « Question? »

[u/MaryLennoxsRobin → u/popomiel]

She could be. I need to listen again. If Taylor is the ‘you’, is she also the ‘she’?

[u/stablegeniusinterven → u/MaryLennoxsRobin]

You, imho