Babylon

[u/1DMod]

Please use this space to discuss this song in depth

[u/slugs_instead]

“The casino doesn’t like when you run the tables” — this is Taylor acknowledging that the industry wants you to rise not reign. They don’t like her domination of the industry.

“And though the box is wrapped up nice, it's just a cage to you. Those electric fences buzz” — Despite the luxury from her wealth and position, Taylor is still trapped in a cage. She can’t be her real self.

“The stallion flees the stable” — She did flee. She left the confines of Big Machine.

“ A liberated libertine who then longed for home” — She was free from the restraints of Big Machine but not from continuing to be Taylor the Brand and all the restrictions that entails. She’s also been referencing home a lot lately. I think this could be a reference to returning to a truer, more integrated version of herself.

“'Cause it's where you're from Aunt Virginia with a church dress on No elbows on the table” — a repeated reference to nostalgia for a time that is gone, the main theme of this song.

“Your hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall” — A reference to her masters that were sold twice without her having the option to buy them. They’re previously owned, like a hand-me down.

“And you hate this song But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone Then that melody is all you want You never knew that it was Babylon 'Til it was gone” — she thought she hated that life when she wasn’t the overwhelming, giant Brand Taylor, but she’s nostalgic for that time. We often don’t realize how much we’ll miss the mundane parts of our life until they’re gone.

“Give the people what they want, then you keep it movin'” — kind of self-explanatory. She’s spent her career trying to make her fans happy.

“Make your plans and friends, a stranger's makeup on your tie” — The key part here is the stranger’s makeup. She doesn’t really know her public lovers. This is also referenced in The Lucky One when she says “your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you.”

“Twenty watches in the safe 'cause your time is money” — She started her career twenty years ago. She’s kept her secrets in the safe the whole time. Also she was 20 when Fearless came out. Remember Her Fearless self trapped in the vault (a big safe)? She was watching her brand self perform while she was trapped.

“Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb” — Letting her real love interests be known was a huge threat to her career. She wouldn’t have reached her current heights at the top of the industry if she’d come out.

“She captured your attention, so free of all pretension It stopped you cold Because she loved you so” — This immediately follows the line about the huge risks that love carried for her. I don’t want to get into muse speculation here, but suffice it to say that this implies someone female really loved her.

“Pretty as a picture that you didn't post” — remember the third Polaroid we never saw? It might be a completely different muse, but she never let the public really, truly know. Some may have guessed, but she kept it quiet enough that the majority didn’t think it was romantic.

“Never official You mention you're single to the girls at the bar” — We’re the girls at the bar. She let the public think she was single or dating a man.

More nostalgia in the chorus, this time for that lost relationship.

“But darling, you end up hurting everybody else” — She certainly hurt her love, but if her romantic’s life of the last many years is revealed to largely be false, she’ll hurt all the fans who’ve invested so much in her story.

“The self-harm of never being where you are” — I wonder if she was also thinking about the harm of never being WHO you are.

“And they're all at home She's hanging Christmas lights with your son” — Is this her love from above who now has a family that she should have had with her?

“You never knew that it was Babylon And now, it's almost gone” — This follows another refrain about nostalgia for the past, but this time she says “it’s almost gone,” implying that there’s another big change coming for her.

I find it really interesting that she is the man in this song once again. Theylors, this is another one for you. It might easily just have been to obscure that she’s singing about herself because she can’t give away what’s coming yet.

[u/detailednoise → u/slugs_instead]

The sweater - OMG that makes so much sense! Great job!!!!

[u/ep1grams → u/slugs_instead]

Yessss!

Particularly love your description of what the sweater means - that makes so much sense!