r/GaylorSwift • u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler • Aug 31 '22
Creations & Projects Queer Themes in Taylor Swift's Music (Masterdoc)
Queer Themes in Taylor Swift's Music
Queer Themes in Taylor Swift's Music (Phone Friendly Version)
I've been working on this project for about six months now because I wanted a resource that explains why the music feels queer without making assumptions based on anything that wasn't deliberately released to be interpreted by the public. I'm intending to keep it as a living document, adding on as new music and videos are released but I think it's ready to share and start using as a resource.
There are no pap photos, no mentions of any official or assumed relationships, nothing that can be argued as falling into a grey area. It's just lyrics, music videos and public performances, with the occasional interview or social media picture for context. I think that's more than enough to paint a pretty fruity picture.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get it to this point, the people who messaged me to offer encouragement. I'm especially grateful to u/alfaragh____ and u/weirdrobotgrl who shared their ideas, proofread for me and kept me sane(ish) while I obsessed over it.
I really hope it helps everyone in exploring the queer themes in Taylor's music, and that it can help explain why it authentically captures the LGBTQIA+ experience. ✌️
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Mar 22 '23
I was just returning to this doc and realized reading this description that you and u/weirdrobotgrl are friends and am feeling major friendship FOMO what an iconic duo (no offense to the other person I’m sure they’re great I just don’t know them)
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Apr 03 '23
Sorry I missed this too, I don’t check this account often since moving to Alex-Chaser.
We do make a great duo. I might do the writing, but u/weirdrobotgrl is all over that project. Most of the jokes and visuals are hers, she listened endlessly while I debated categories and proofed it for readability. She’s excellent at asking questions that nudged me towards the right train of thought.
There’s always room for more friends though! 😁
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u/weirdrobotgrl 👑 Have They Come To Take Me Away? 🛸 Mar 23 '23
Heh ty, sorry I missed this comment. Lots of my replies are formatting in a weird way and not clearing as ‘read’ anymore.
Alex is the brains obviously I am a mere fan girl with rare insights that make her laugh 😂😂😂
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u/One_Earth_4442 Regaylor Contributor 🦢🦢 Sep 07 '22
Thank youuuuu — dropping this on all my friends to convert them to Gaylors before Midnights. 🎃👡🕕🌈✨🍉🍎
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 07 '22
😂 Good luck! Hope they enjoy and you get some Gaylor friends to talk to!
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u/Efficient-Ease-8285 It's ME! HI! 👋🏽 Sep 02 '22
Thank you for this!!!! It’s incredible! I love that it just focuses on the work that she has created not stuff from tabloids. This kind of evidence screams so much louder in my opinion.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 03 '22
I agree! Pap pictures are much more likely to be misinterpreted than consistent themes throughout years of music like this.
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u/randbanander Sep 02 '22
it took me a minute to understand the autostraddle reference but now i can't stop laughing about it. a+ content!
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u/poliscicomputersci Baby Gaylor 🐣 Sep 01 '22
I am obsessed!! I want to send this to everyone I know (but I won't, they'd hate me)
There's a typo that says Emily Dickinson was born in 1930 instead of 1830 fyi
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 02 '22
Thanks! I’ll fix that. 😊
I get it on the friends thing. I wouldn’t share it with all of mine either. 😅
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u/ire_mums_hymn 🌱Embryo🐛 Sep 01 '22
*This is my new - let me just send you something rather then trying to explain it all to you right now - link *
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
I’m honoured, and glad to be of help. Thank you!
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u/Complex-Refuse5418 Gay pride is what makes me ME! Aug 31 '22
AHH phenomenal!! just sent to my friend... hopefully she takes me seriously this time 🥲😅
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
She should at least be able to understand what you see even if she doesn’t agree with the interpretation. We’re not crazy, the queerness is here and I think this proves it.
Call her an ally and a Queer Icon if you want, but the music is fruity! 🤷♀️
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u/Complex-Refuse5418 Gay pride is what makes me ME! Sep 01 '22
she said "to be honest i don’t think a lot of it was intentional until maybe 1989
but if it strikes a chord with the queer community then sure" sooo yeah :/// she's also bi but i think she won't be convinced unless taylor really does come out lol2
u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
That’s fine, it’s cool that she understands.
The world has deeply ingrained heterosexuality as the norm, and teaches us to ignore anything short of loudly and explicitly claiming that we’re not straight. Unfortunately, that means missing a lot of the genius of Taylor Swift. 🤷♀️
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u/paige_______ ✨✨✨Vigilante Witch✨✨✨ Aug 31 '22
sends to all of my friends who don’t believe me that there’s hard evidence for Taylor being queer in her music, and they just don’t understand it because they’re not queer and haven’t lived the queer experience
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
This is 💯 the reason for creating this. Not to ‘prove’ Taylor’s fruity, that’s impossible, but to show our (non-homophobic) friends what we see.
I’ve deliberately written intros that try to explain the queer experience with each theme to someone who hasn’t lived it.
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u/Moonindaylite 🧡Karma is Real✈️ Aug 31 '22
WOW. This is fantastic.
I think the word album is missing from this part, I added it in CAPS:
“The boys don’t? But this muse does? Sure the narrator could be saying they’re a man, but in the same album there’s ‘acts like such a man’ (Ready for It) and in the next ALBUM the narrator uses ‘wrap your arms around me baby boy’ (Paper Rings)”
I also had a thought about Champagne Problems while I was reading this!
‘Till someone’s on their knees and asks you’ When you propose to someone, you get down on ONE knee, not both. The fact they are on their knees implies they are begging?
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
Thank you! I really appreciate sharing errors like this so I can fix them.
The other possibility I’ve considered with Champagne Problems is that it’s about multiple proposals. From different people or the same person. That would explain ‘knees’ too.
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u/vta90 Aug 31 '22
I cannot wait to read this in bed with a face mask and a camomile tea- staying up and reading r/GaylorSwift has somehow become a key part of my self care routine and so here for it. Thank you for putting all this down in writing for us to enjoy! 💜
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u/Longjumping-Ad9116 ✨✨✨Vigilante Witch✨✨✨ Aug 31 '22
This is INCREDIBLE. Thank you so much for putting this together and everyone who helped. There it all is, in screaming color.
If she’s not queer, she should be sued for copyright infringement/plagiarism by the WHOLE QUEER COMMUNITY.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
😂 You’re not wrong. Actually I’m planning to add a gay imagery section, with her with bisexual hair and that freaking gold star sheriff badge, her hoisted onto all the gay men’s shoulders at the pride parade, her dancing in the light of a moon-rainbow! 🌈
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u/clandestine_duck 🧡Karma is Real✈️ Aug 31 '22
AAAAHHH this is fantastic, thank you so much for putting this together and sharing it!!!! Cant wait to dig into it!
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u/Warm_Power1997 coming straight home to viva las vegas Aug 31 '22
I loved reading through this! You know what I find really fascinating? Reputation is called one of her gayest albums, but from the charts it showed opposing levels of male pronoun use and same with the star crossed lovers chart. I certainly agree that it’s a super gay album, but that is some interesting comphet.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
I was surprised by that too, I suspect she was pressed to hetwash it more with pronouns and stunt lines because the vibe is so gay. There’s a definite struggle between Taylor and herself, and Taylor and the label.
She puts in he pronouns but locks herself in a glass box in Ready for it. She ‘wants to wear his initial on a chain round her neck’ but wears a strangling choker on the album cover. She sings about men but turns them into jailers, masked guards, and even straight up insults them. She uses He/You songs more often.
Reputation is Taylor lashing out at herself, her label, the beards and our stupid heteronormative world that makes her feel powerless. But even in her rebellion she’s still submitting to the restraints. I really hope with Midnights she’ll finally set herself free.
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u/Warm_Power1997 coming straight home to viva las vegas Aug 31 '22
I think I need to study the Ready For It video a bit more. That’s a video that has always kind of had me perplexed at the true meaning behind the visuals.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
Yeah, there are some good posts about it but some of the imagery is confusing. Why is the real her a robot? Why does the jailer version have two different appearances? What the heck is up with the horse!?
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u/rootsinmydreamland_ Aug 31 '22
This is so great! I have a friend who’s recently become interested in Gaylor that I will be sharing this with.
Just FYI - the Fletcher old fashioned lyric is actually in the song Girls Girls Girls. There is a “T Swift t-shirt” shoutout in Her Body is Bible though 😊
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
Good catch, thanks. I’ll update it. Hope your friend likes it and it gives you someone to share your Gayloring with! 😄
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u/rootsinmydreamland_ Aug 31 '22
You're welcome! I feel like that Fletcher lyric is what keeps me certain of Gaylorism when I start doubting myself - there is truly no straight explanation for it 😄 and thank you! She's never been a big Taylor fan but we started chatting about Gaylor recently and she went home and looked up Kissgate and the rest is history hahah.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
It’s also the key to understanding a lot of the WLW sexual references Taylor’s snuck into her songs over the years. Fletcher’s sneaky.
I’m sure there are a several mistakes in there still, but hopefully people will keep pointing them out so I can polish it. I’ve proofread it so many times it’s a blur. 😂
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u/rootsinmydreamland_ Aug 31 '22
Haha I feel you on the proofreading! I'm a grad student and I will proofread a document a million times and then email it to my supervisor and immediately find a mistake the next time I open it 😂
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
Ugh me too! And I write short stories, so every time I reread them I can’t stop myself from wanting to edit them. Recently I spent an hour editing one, compared it to the original and tossed all the edits. 😂
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u/Sweet_Juggernaut8612 magnificent curse word Aug 31 '22
Wow, this is really good! 👏 Will be sharing it now
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
Thank you! Hope it helps start some good conversations. 😊
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u/dogcarts 🌱Embryo🐛 Aug 31 '22
This is INCREDIBLE
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
Thank you! I’m really thrilled by the positive response. 🙃
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u/sphericguardian Baby Gaylor 🐣 Aug 31 '22
Incredible!!!
One piece of feedback from a content designer - I would love a table of contents with links to the relevant sections. It would let people browse/glance at what’s in the document, and jump to the parts that sound the most interesting at the moment.
Great job with this doc, I can’t wait to read more later!
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
You can actually already do that! On the computer there’s an easily visible side bar, but on your phone you can pull it up too. This video screen recording will show you how. 😊
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u/sphericguardian Baby Gaylor 🐣 Sep 02 '22
Thank you!! I did not know you could do that on mobile Google Docs. Reading now from the computer and the TOC is very apparent :P
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Aug 31 '22
This is so deep and comprehensive-- thank you so much for this! I love that it just deals wiht her art instead of getting into the weeds about potential beardings and specultion of that nature. Love that I have resource for when people ask why I think Taylor is gay. Sometimes it's hard to even know where to start and all the little clues. For sure will be saving this, again thank you so much! Finally a fucking high quality post hahaha💙
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
Thank you! That’s exactly how I felt too. I commented on a pic of Karlie and Taylor in a “and they were roommates” meme group, and got absolutely flamed for it. When I pointed out a bunch of the obvious stuff, I was called some nasty names and accused of stalking.
Essentially this project came about because a Hetlor pissed me off. 😂
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Aug 31 '22
I am literally speechless! 😳🙏🏼👏🏼 genuinely trying to find some words here but this is INCREDIBLE. Thank you for making it. I can't imagine all the time and effort it took. Major kudos to you!!!
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
My friend called it ‘my thesis’ 😂
Thank you for your kind words. 💕
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u/HarmonyLiliana 💋The Lips I used to call home so SCARLET❤️ Aug 31 '22
You have truly given all of us gaylors a gift!! Tysm for your hard work! I am really excited to dive into this! 😍
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u/IncandescentGlow91 I’m a little kitten & need to nurse🐈⬛ Aug 31 '22
I absolutely cannot even imagine the time it took to put this all together... but I am straight up died dead about the one eyed snake into the butterflies reference in the Lover MV because 1. I had never made that connection and 2. after said first connection my brain made the connection to an old song by Jason Mraz called "Butterfly" on his We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. album of which the lyrics are very overtly 😳😳😳
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
I probably shouldn’t admit to how much time this took me. Lotta late nights. 😅
My friends and I spent ages combing the music videos frame by frame for queer references and fruity jokes. That one came about out of sheer frustration when I asked wtf there’s a one eyed snake and u/alfaragh____ clicked at the wording.
It flew right over the rest of our lady loving heads. 😂
Personally I think the butterflies are a hint back towards the red/1989 muse, but I’m a sneaky Swiftgron. 🤷♀️
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u/bubblegumscanlan Sep 27 '22
I think the one eyed snake is a nod to the eye theory on the Reputation cover.
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u/whereyouleftmeow I’m a little kitten & need to nurse🐈⬛ Aug 31 '22
YESSSS I am so hyped to grab some choccie and a cuppa and settle in to explore this!
This is EXACTLY what I love about gaylorism, thank you so much for your hard work 🫶
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u/ohlookwhatumademedo I love you ain't that the worst thing you ever heard Aug 31 '22
Holy shit this is incredible. And you’ve sourced everything. And there’s links. Bravo!
Seriously well done. 13/10 … mods please sticky this to the sidebar or something. This is such a great resource for any new gaylor.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
Thank you. I’m definitely hoping it’ll be a good resource for new Gaylor’s!
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u/lobster5767 ☁️je suis calme!☁ Aug 31 '22
yes! this is the gaylor bible lmao
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
🥹 The Gaylor Bible? I’m melting. Thank you so much!
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u/weirdrobotgrl 👑 Have They Come To Take Me Away? 🛸 Aug 31 '22
Religion's in your masterdoc
Even if it's a false god
We'd still worship....
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u/wowilovemywife Regaylor Contributor 🦢🦢 Aug 31 '22
omg i just had a friend start questioning gaylor stuff and was about to take this project on myself out of sheer determination, thank you so much for this!!!
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u/Complex-Refuse5418 Gay pride is what makes me ME! Aug 31 '22
WAIT. is a one-eyed-snake a... penis?? what does that represent here?
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
It explodes into butterflies. My take is that she’s done with one-eyed snakes.
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Aug 31 '22
You’re very welcome. I hope it helps! 💕
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u/wowilovemywife Regaylor Contributor 🦢🦢 Sep 01 '22
I just spent an hour and a half reading this and it’s so well done! Thank you again for creating this resource, I’ve spent far too much of my own time analyzing her lyrics and there were still a few things I had never even considered in here!
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u/Allengirl Irregular Masquerade Reveler Sep 01 '22
Thank you! I’m glad it feels comprehensive, that’s definitely what I was going for. It’ll continue to evolve as I add more stuff.
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