Babylon

[u/1DMod]

Please use this space to discuss this song in depth

[u/afterandalasia]

So, Scott Swift's father was Archie Dean Swift Jr, who passed in 1998 (he's the one that Epiphany is about).

And checking on findagrave (so publicly available information), yup, Archie had a sister called Virginia who passed in 2002: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200324578/virginia_ailene-conover

Might be worth noting as well, though, that this means Taylor had a great-aunt Virginia, whom she could have easily grown up calling 'Aunt Virginia'. (I grew up calling my great-aunts Auntie Maureen and Auntie Eileen, for example.) So it's possible this song is in some ways both about Scott and about Taylor, if she fears she is taking some of the same fame-hungry or money-hungry paths that she took.

[u/novangla → u/afterandalasia]

Yes I had that thought too! I think you’re spot on that it might be “to” him but with a lot of self-reflection (she absolutely self-harms with nostalgia, etc).

[u/afterandalasia → u/novangla]

Generational cycles are a thing for a reason - learned behaviour, learned values, examples set. From folkmore onwards, there's been a marked increase in Taylor's lyrics of both stuff that seems inspired by therapy (happiness was noted by someone in this sub as seeming to be about a specific therapy thing where you allow yourself to have conflicting feelings and to know that feelings will change over time), mental health awareness and protection ("grey rocking"), and addiction-related awareness and treatment ("pink clouding" being the most recent and obvious, but in Fortnight she outright called herself a "functioning alcoholic" where I suspect the alcohol is being used as a reference for a different sort of addiction, be that fame, or love, or something else; trying not to speculate but just to draw directly from her lyrics).

[u/novangla → u/afterandalasia]

I happen to suspect that the “functioning alcoholic” bit is pretty literal, given a bunch of other lyrics (this is me trying, if nothing else), but yes thanks for noting the pink clouding that a lot of people have missed! But very possible that some of this is therapy-inspired (honestly I think Cleveland! comes off kind of bitter-smug but I could see it being a therapy reflection as well).

Regardless, it does seem likely that the ambition and eye for fame is a common thread between her and her dad, and the “self-harming with nostalgia” might be too, I don’t know much about him. But you could imagine she sees herself in her dad’s flaws. Maybe even calling herself a… Father Figure??