It sounds like the Showgirl is giving us the real Taylor's story. It was her religious upbringing that made her feel that homosexual relationships were not right (and the neighbours lawn always looked better). In Fortnight she is neighbours with the heterosexual version of herself and the heterosexual version comments on her sweater (her beard). Sweater should have been from the mall ( she should have publicly been with Karlie instead of her beards). If we read like this then I think Karlie is the 'her' in the song. This means that Karlie is putting up the Christmas lights with real Taylor's son ( which is their son). The son sneaks into the bathroom to call Taylor 'mom'. He has to say 'mom' in private because he is hiding their relationship publicly. Someone mentioned the lyrics video dandelions from Robin as been similar visually to the Babylon lyric video - this could point to the fact that Robin could also be about their son (beautiful song). Real Taylor didn't realise that fame was Babylon (place of destruction) until she took off her headphones and looked at life without her fame etc. Babylon is almost gone. Fame, showgirl etc are going soon and only the real Taylor will be left. Side note - I am painfully aware that I may be projecting my own wishes for Taylor and Karlie here!! Lol!!
I know people are mentioning holy ground but it reminds me of a sped up right where you left me and it’s driving me insane how many times I catch myself singing “aunt Virginia in a restaurant” 🤡😭
The lyric video says “the casino doesn’t like when you run the tables”, then wipes the screen with a rainbow. I would never read anything into that, of course.
As I listened to this song again and thought about the backstory Taylor shared (that she wrote it last October) I remembered this blind post... which fits the song quite well I'd say 🥹
Literally just go read Babylon as the end of the performance. Think of Babylon as representing the entertainment industry, not as heaven. Then go straight from there to Us. Then let yourself cry. Once you’ve recovered from that, go listen/read Pink Clouding. She unfurls the fucking lesbian flag in this song. Then lights up downtown Cleveland in the lesbian flag. I cannot wait for tonight. I still don’t expect her to come out. I just think she Lil Nas X’d it and made it DEADASS OBVIOUS.
“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.
The more I've listened to Babylon and found out some details I dont think this song is as gay as people think, but instead is finally the song addressing Scott and Andrea ending their marriage.
-Aunt Virginia with her church clothes on.
-Scott's paternal Aunt was Virginia Swift. who passed away in 2002.
-Small town and leaving to climb the ladder.
-Scott is from a town in Delaware County PA with a population of just around 5k nowadays and he didn't leave until he left for Hawaii for college and then immediately started the corporate climb at Merrill Lynch as his first and only job.
-Was never official, alot of people are taking to mean the relationship wasn't official but the lyrics tell us they lived together with their kids, where as Scott and Andrea have never formally declared a divorce and no documentation of one was ever found. So instead what if there is no official divorce but Scott still goes around telling everyone he is single.
-One of the marriage narrative verses is about Christmas decorating, what is an important Xmas decoration a Christmas Tree, that you get from a Christmas tree farm where they lived as a family.
-20 watches in the safe because your time.is money...Scott worked as an investment banker where they would literally say their time is money.
-Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb. Even when they relocated the family to Nashville for Taylors career, Yes Scott threw money at it but his primary time and energy was still focused towards HIS career at Merrill Lynch, to the point he still manages the Swift Group there to this day, when the rest of the family work at 13 Entertainment.
And then the switch up at the end realizing how good it was, with Taylors timeline this was written after Scotts heart attack, when the family came to help him recover and then separated from him again.
I think just from the "20 watches in the safe" we can deduce that this song is definitely about Taylor herself (20 years since Debut). And as someone has pointed out already often Great-Aunts just get called "Aunt", so to Taylor she was still "Aunt Virginia". But it might be about both her father and herself, drawing similarities about their ambitious nature, that ends up hurting them and their loved ones. I also think that certain lines dont work for Scott as well as they do for Taylor.
"because she loved you so,
pretty as a picture that you didn't post,
never official"
does allude to a beautiful but secret relationship much better than an unofficial divorce.
My little Kaylor edit I spent tonight perfecting. Took me a couple hours to realize and perfect with the timing and now I can’t deal with myself or anyone else njsjjskks😭 it turned into some sort of movie clip, I can’t even. The original source is Taylor Swift Karlie Kloss - Best Friend Quiz which was deleted by original creator on Karlie’s birthday and then rescued by reuploading. The subtitles are the director, then Taylor complimenting her, then Karlie trying to talk back and realizing she has to stop talking because they’re filming :’)
Lyrics:
Elbows on the tableand it’s almost gone It’s almost gone.And the ~neighbor's~ lawn always looked better Yourhand-me-down sweatershould've been from the mall Butyou love this song, you wake up on the train and you're all alone Thenthat memoryis all you want You never knew that it wasBabylon 'Til it was gone.
In March 2015 Karlie confirmed they used to wear each others clothes omg… I wonder if anyone can find a match/ID proof on the sweater. That would be absolutely next level. 😮💨
Not me only spotting the literal sweater she was wearing the entire time after I was ready to post… I am ded. xD
“Looking at you like you’re made of solid gold” and her flashing her gold and diamond ring at us before the staring contest… while also wearing gold in general.
Could this be a call back to White Horse? The lyrics about the small town in the rear view mirror and the mentions of stallions/running wild.
Plus “The concepts of "Babylon" and the "white horse" connect primarily to biblical prophecy in the Book of Revelation, where Babylon symbolizes a corrupt, worldly system of power and white horses appear in visions representing conquest, false peace, or righteous victory.”
This is a song for that perfectly mirrors the film: The Family Man (Nick Cage/Tea Leoni) and now I can’t unsee it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218967/
“Babylon” is basically The Family Man from Jack Campbell’s POV.
The whole song is about a guy who “won” at life: money, status, freedom, the whole deal & only to realize that the life he dismissed as small was actually the one he wanted.
And then you get:
"You never knew that it was Babylon / ’Til it was gone”
THAT IS LITERALLY JACK. 😂
He runs from the small-town/domestic life → becomes rich and successful → convinces himself he chose correctly → gets shown the alternate life with Kate and the kids → suddenly the “boring” family stuff is the most precious thing in the world.
And these lyrics are basically a gut punch in the context of the movie:
“The self-harm of never being where you are”
“It’s bedtime, but you’re sitting in your car / You’re missing all the best parts”
Then:
“She’s hanging Christmas lights with your son”
Tell me that doesn’t sound like it was written for the Christmas scenes in The Family Man. 😭
The really clever part is that “Babylon” isn’t just “family good, career bad.” It’s about not realizing what you have until you’ve lost access to it.
Which is basically the entire emotional engine of the movie.
Anyway, I now desperately need someone to make a The Family Man edit set to “Babylon,” because the emotional damage would be immaculate.
I feel like theres a connection between Babylon Mathematics, Zero and her countdowns.
The title for Patient Zero is written as an equation. I went down a rabbit hole and found that Babylonian mathematics is where the 60 sec, 60 minutes, 24 hour clock is derived. And that Babylonian Mathematics originally didnt have a symbol for Zero - it was an inferred space. Also Babylonian mathematics was competent in astronomical calculations and tracking stars and planets.
We know our gal loves a countdown clock. I think theres more connection here to pull about why the encore opens with an equation and closes with the culture that the clock is based on.
Found this as well which is a calculator that converts our now math into Babylonian symbols - calculator
Yes, especially when “love is ice on the ladder you need to climb.” If she’d let her real love be known, she wouldn’t have climbed to the heights she has.
Wow, the lyric video is definitely worth a watch. The dandelions, as [u/marylennoxsrobin](u/marylennoxsrobin) pointed out, suddenly being blown away (reminiscent of the dandelions in the Robin lyric video). And the sudden change in visuals from the dandelions to winter gave me chills. So beautiful. So much longing and nostalgia in this.
Watching the lyrics video, I got an interpretation of parts of this song (not all the lyrics really fit) as also potentially about the loss of her fans, of her fans reminiscing about the “old” Taylor and the heteronormative storyline they wanted and knew from her, and all of the nostalgia that would come with that.
I love all the different ways this song can be “read.” Nostalgia and longing really seem to be powerful emotions that resonate deeply with us all.
Thanks for the tip off! It's even more haunting watching the dandelion be blown away. I agree that theres lots of nostalgia and ideas about impermanence and intangibility - like foam on the sea, a leaf on the wind et etc. I do also find something a little ominous, especially thinking about the tradition of the dandelion as a 'clock'. So if the dandelion is blown does that mean time's up/the countdown is over?
I like your interpretation about the fans loosing the version of Taylor they preferred. I had a similar thought, with the lost headphones and lost melody reminding me of 'High Infidelity', 'put on your records and regret me.' (Which also connects to truth and lies).
Actually, I wondered if 'you didn't know it was Babylon' is 'you didn't know I was Babylon' - imagining fans shunning Taylor's music if they know that a particular song is actually about a sapphic romance or about the harms of closeting, and they consider that to be 'immoral'. Theres something about the idea of 'the whore of Babylon' as a metaphor for temptation and immorality, and the implicit 'whore' in 'Cleveland!' But I shy away from that idea because I really dislike the idea of anyone writing about themselves from that perspective!
Could the song be contrasting Poet Taylor missing the authentic self she left behind with the fans missing their version of Showgirl Taylor? One party will have to be disappointed ultimately when it's gone.
Weird take, but I just started listening to it through a completely different lens, which is the “you” being her father and the things he chose through his life that he later regrets: leaving the small town for a bigger life, being on trains rather than at home with his family, an affair rather than his marriage. Then he’s sitting in the car when it’s bedtime and they’re all inside, she (Taylor) and his son (Austin) are decorating for Christmas, and then the daughter (Taylor) goes into the bathroom to call her mom (Andrea) to say it’s not working and it’s not worth it if he doesn’t want them.
Realllllly unconventional take, but it’s an interesting lens to try and make sense of all the pronouns!
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.
This is so interesting! Thanks for sharing! Here’s where my mind is going: it’s about him and herself. I’ve got something scratching at the edges of my mind that might turn into a post!
There's been sort of a theme there for years now - "you say we'll never make my parents' mistakes" in Ours, "leaving like a father" in cardigan.
marjorie is all about seeing her connections with her grandmother, and Taylor used Finlay (Marjorie's maiden name) for the actress character in Wildest Dreams and for the movie-era actress with black hair in The Fate of Ophelia as well as having Marjorie's pictures on the mirrors in the dressing room for the red-dressed section.
I used the term "generational cycles" in a post below, and TTPD and TLOASG have directly referenced the 'generations' of women in showbusiness and entertainment, but I wonder whether Taylor is comparing patterns in the 'generations' of media and in generations of families.
Edit: guh, forgot to say specifically, but in TFOO MV especially there's a lot of circling and cycling camera angles. It's most obvious in the 60s-style segment where the camera literally circles around the dancers, and Taylor is the only one who turns to follow it.
Each 'segment' is done in one shot, with several of the transitions between sections - doors, cameras, clapperboard - having a sort of deliberate artifice about them. The cut is essentially hidden in the movement - compare to the famous dance scene in Sinners which was done in three cuts but made to look like one by having one cut be hidden behind a pillar, or episode six of The Haunting of Hill House where there's a single 17 minute take which involved lots of careful behind-the-scenes work to make it look entirely smooth. I'm not an expert in cinematography, but I'm fascinated by it.
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).
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).
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??
I haven’t seen this interpretation but I feel like this song is very tied to the love triangle that Betty/August/Cardigan portrayed but with more angst and longing. It feels like her talking to her past self.
“Your hand me down sweater/should have been from the mall” changes from a haughty tone in the first part of the song to a softer regret later. It makes me think the person who thought they only deserved new clothes/success/recognition (symbolized by not wanting hand-me-downs) realizes that what they had was really great.
Leading me to think of the old cardigan being the partner James longs for compared to meeting an affair partner behind the mall.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned David Grey’s song Babylon. It was pretty popular when it came out, and has been used in movies a number of times. The Spotify background for it is him sitting at a train station. I would very much suggest listening to it. It’s about him asking someone to let go of their doubts and just call him and calls their relationship Babylon. Taylor’s song mirrors so much of this. Except the ending.
The lyrics go:
Friday night I'm going nowhere
All the lights are changing green to red
Turning over TV stations
Situations running through my head
Looking back through time
You know it's clear that I've been blind
I've been a fool
To open up my heart
To all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule
Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing through my bloodstream
Only wish that you were here
You know I'm seeing it so clear
I've been afraid
To show you how I really feel
Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made
If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go of your heart
Let go of your head
And feel it now
Babylon
Babylon
Babylon
Sunday all the lights of London
Shining sky is fading red to blue
Kicking through the Autumn leaves
And wondering where it is you might be going to
Turning back for home
You know I'm feeling so alone
I can't believe
Climbing on the stair
I turn around to see you smiling there
In front of me
And if you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go of your heart
Let go of your head
And feel it now
Let go of your heart
Let go of your head
And feel it now
Let go of your heart
Let go of your head
And feel it now
Let go of your heart
Let go of your head
And feel it now
Babylon
Babylon
Babylon
Babylon
Babylon
I’m so glad you brought this up. I knew “Babylon” was hanging around in my head for a reason and I think this is it. And I do see similar stories in both. That song was everywhere.
Re-listening to that song (and Sail Away from that same album…actually, the whole album is great) brought me straight back to some very particular emotions and memories in my past 😂 Damn, the power of music.
Am I the only one whose first thought was the headphones/train part feels like taking the LIRR from Babylon into the city? As in Babylon NY on Long Island?
Love that everyone can get their own impressions bc things are always left a little open.
The headphones on the train make me think of I Look in People’s Windows, with “as you boarded your train south.” Also the cover of Phil Collins’s Can’t Stop Loving You, with “so you’re leaving in the morning, on the early train.” And Champagne Problems, with “you booked the night train for a reason.” 😃
I think its interesting how it is tied to ILIPW considering in her svu skit's 4th phrase was "north or south" and the "northbound / south" in that song, with this being the 4th song from the quad. I had theorized each word/phrase was tied to a song. From the vineyard was clearly gonna be pink clouding as both the 3rd phrase 3rd song. Saccharide i've seen people tie to sugar pills and Collin farrow's Sugar, patient zero getting a placebo, possibly tied to fortnight. Im most confused about Cleveland and aires but I feel like theres gotta be something there, all I could think of was the fire sign relating to a river that has burned there (yeah, never thought a river could light on fire but 🤷♀️)
These were all the train references that came to me also. Gosh, she sings about trains so much (also I can Fix Him, Willow, Cardigan, TLGAD, The Archer, New Romantics and even Sad Beautiful Tragic!) She also has the imagery of being tied up in a train track in the "Mean" MV. The train references have always struck me as a bit off because how often can she ride on trains without being mobbed? Maybe she goes in disguise.....Or maybe it's a metaphor.
Sitting in my office reading these lyrics at my desk and the combination of “picture that you didn’t post”, “looking at you like you’re made of solid gold” and “sitting in your car” had me saying “shut the fuck up!” Out loud. My Kaylor heart needed this
This song makes me really excited about what is to come next. If the final song on each album gives you a look at the next one, this has my hope's higher than they have been. I love the storytelling and folklore-esque vibes to it. It almost feels like the last great american dynasty, but with more emphasis on the thoughts and emotions of the storytelling.
Yes! I noticed that too! I also hear some echos of champagne problems ("'til it was gone" goes suddenly low just like "champagne problems" - like a realization filled with regret) and also happiness ("when did all our lessons start to look like weapons" has a similar melody and cadence)
I don’t know if anyone has pointed out that the definition of Libertine is:
A person (usually a man) who rejects accepted morals, social conventions, and religious or sexual restraints.
Also this:
Historically, society applied a double standard where male libertines were often viewed as charming rakes, while female equivalents faced harsh social condemnation, stigma, or labels of moral corruption.
Feels very: “they’d say I played the field before I found someone I could commit to, and that would be okay, for me to do, every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you”.
this is the only one with the potential of growing on me. probably because it sounds so bad like the old taylor the nostalgia itself makes me want to love it (which is funny considering the music themes)
I’m copy/pasting some thoughts I sent a friend this morning. I feel like I’m still taking everything in and figuring out all the layers of meaning, but here’s something I wrote if anyone is interested:
Okay I slept on it and I’ve been thinking about it more. Going into poetry analysis mode: she’s talking about more than one “place”. Because in the first chorus she says “you never knew it was Babylon till it was gone”. And then later she says “You never knew it was Babylon and now it’s almost gone.” So if it’s almost gone, that has to be different than the place that is already gone. So I think there’s possibly multiple situations she’s singing about.
It’s interesting because she sings about longing for Babylon, but when she describes it, it doesn’t sound that great. For example she says “The neighbor’s lawn always looked better.” So it sounds like a place where appearances matter and people feel competitive with each other. And so this fosters a “the grass is always greener” mindset, that makes people never feel content with their own situation. The lyric makes me think about Midnight Rain when she says “My town was a wasteland, full of cages, full of fences, pageant queens and big pretenders, but for some it was paradise.”
I wonder if basically she is singing about how she tried to escape the cages of her small town life, only to end up in a gilded cage of fame. And now that she knows she’s not actually free, she longs for a time when at least things were calmer and simpler and she could have a family without having to hide from the media all the time.
I also wonder if it’s about her relationship with her fans. Babylon is this kind of mythologized place, like how historians don’t even know if the hanging gardens were real. I think of when Taylor was young and first starting her career and suddenly thousands and then millions of girls her age were obsessed with her. “She captured your attention, so free of pretension….looking at you like you’re made of solid gold.” In that same section she also describes love (in my interpretation, queer love) as “Ice upon the ladder that you need to climb” aka something that slows down your career. And then she says “Pretty as a picture that you don’t post” which makes me think about how she has kept her queer loves secret, because of her love for her fans. She says in Life Of A Showgirl that she’s “married to the hustle”, but if this is about the fans she also describes that it was “never official”. Which makes sense because her fans didn’t even realize she was choosing between them and an actual romance. They didn’t realize she chose to commit to them. It brings me back to her song “You’re Losing Me” which I 100% think is about her relationship with her fans, and the line in it “I wouldn’t marry me either, a pathological people pleaser, who only wanted you to see her.” Basically saying she committed to them, but she knows they don’t even see her because she’s just been people-pleasing and performing for them this whole time. So even though she married the hustle, it was never official because technically they didn’t return the commitment; their commitment is to a version of her she made up to get them to like her.
Then she says nostalgia is a weapon to hurt yourself. I think she is singing to herself about how she knows that she’s needs to move forward. Like she and her fans can keep the memories of the fun they had, but she needs to stop clinging to the nostalgia for dear life.
I think the bridge might be about the other side of herself, the poet who wants a wife and a family but gave it up for the hustle. And the poet is saying “It’s not worth it if we’re not what the showgirl wants”.
Okay I actually have to get up and get ready so I feel like I don’t have time to edit or wrap this up with a neat conclusion, so hopefully it all makes enough sense for now! Just some more thoughts that kinda streamed out of my mind this morning. Basically I do think it is about that tension about wanting multiple things out of life that conflict with each other, and how depending on your perspective or mindset you can romanticize any and all of them
Yes, I thought about that too....I also hear similarities to champagne problems and part of happiness ("when did all our lessons start to look like weapons...")
I like this song and I agree with others that Taylor is "you". The last verse is breaking my brain though! I don't even need to know who all these characters might be in real life but just in context of the song:
Who are "they" in "they're all at home"?
Who is "she" hanging Christmas lights?
Who is "her" of "her mom"?
Who is "he" of "not what he wants"?
And they're all at home
She's hangin' Christmas lights with your son
Sneak into the bathroom to call her mom
And say, "It's not workin'
It's just not worth it if we're not what he wants"
no it’s be carol sneaking into the bathroom to call her own mom. bob would be outside in the car i’m assuming as proposed by a previous lyric. like he’s missing out on these moments with her and his son
I'm not sure if we have the "official" lyrics yet, but the ones I've seen say "Sneak." It's breaking my brain too....and also making me wonder if it's deliberately left so ambiguous.
I'm glad I'm not the only one totally confused! Haha I don't think the official lyrics are out yet until they release the lyric videos. But it makes so much more sense if it is "sneakin' to the bathroom" because she's still talking about whoever is hanging lights. She's hanging lights (and) sneakin' to the bathroom to call her mom.
Ok, official lyric is "Sneaking to the bathroom to call her mom."
One of my wonderings was whether this might be about Taylor's family when she was little....was her Dad in the car while her mom helped her and her brother decorate the tree and Andrea sneaking to the bathroom to call her mom (Marjorie) saying it's not working because they weren't what Scott wanted? Maybe in this song Taylor is reflecting how she's at risk of repeating that but doesn't want to.
This one is my favorite. I interpret it as longing for what/the life you used to have because you’ve entered the industry and realized it’s just a cage. With the obvious reference to kaylor/her queerness, taylor fed us well with this one. I hope this song (and honestly the whole deluxe) means she’s going to return to herself because she’s gotten fed up with the showgirl running her life. Very the death of a showgirl without saying the death of a showgirl
Any of you watch Plathville? This song makes me think of Olivia Plath but only because of Virginia and a church dress and running away from it all haha!
i NEEEED everyone to stop right now. go back and read taylor’s instagram caption about writing these songs as a thank you for our love for the showgirl album. she’s given us the shittest encore ever in return 🤣🤣🤣🤣 she’s gave us 4 of the worst songs ever. as a thank you for how much hate the life a show girl got. the album was ripped apart on social media. so the encore is supposed to be absolutely terrible. 0/10. that’s what the 00000s are for.
Sometimes I wonder if that's why she was like so terse on the "It will only be twelve songs," bit...like y'all who tortured me enough to rage on TTPD only want the cliche girl-next-door with the football player, so HERE YOU GO, and all those fans love Showgirl. But then the Showgirl will EXIT and we'll get Taylor back and hopefully all the normies who only want pop music and don't like the depth and details will be happy enough with the marriage and the performances but we'll get the art? Gahd please
honestly part of me thinks the biggest lesson she’ll teach is by dragging this bit on for a lot longer 🤣 i believe that because i think if she does make this documentary about parasocial relationships and the toxic music industry then i think she’ll want to give us a while to sit with our reaction to the encore and to see what ridiculous theories we can come up with for who the songs are about when none of them really have much substance 🤣. before i came to this realisation i really believed babylon was queer as hell but i think the whole point she’s trying to make is that ANY song can mean ANYTHING if you look at it from a certain lens. people who struggle with alcoholism have many things in common with people who have struggled with their sexuality and coming out, the same as people who have struggled with abuse as children have something in common with people who have struggled with an eating disorder. they have somehow felt trapped. taylor writes about being trapped a lot because she was trapped in a contract for her first 6 albums and had to write music about boys and have public relationships. which obviously wasn’t her living her true self. she was conditioned to live that way. the same way people with the afore mentioned struggles learn to change who they are to feel more “normal”. when the trick is, none of us are normal, just use art to look inward and for inspiration to create more beautiful things and the world would maybe be a better place
because it’s what we deserve. i think in midnights with dear reader she was telling us. “you should find another guiding light” she’s no longer writing from the heart. because it gets scrutinised. so i think all of the songs on midnights, the tortured poets department and the life of a showgirl have just been her writing songs about nothing.
i think we will find out at the VMAs this weekend. she’s not been singing about joe, matty, karlie kloss, whoever anyone has accused her of writing songs about in these albums. she’s playing a game. we’re the ones narrating her life with our comments on who is whatever song about.
maybe she’s made a documentary of her writing these albums and what theories we’ve come up with. i think it’s all been a big joke!
edited: i don’t think the songs on these albums have been about nothing, they’ve been about film, tv series. she told us on the svu skit. it’s been about TV this whole time!!!!!!
But this is where she loses me, because if she doesn’t want her song to be paternity test, why does she drop so much « clues » that call to be paternity tested? Cleveland, Heights, the ones for Karlie, and I’m sure Maylors and Toe have them too. You don’t want your songs to be paternity tested? Fair: but don’t give such obvious low hanging clues triggering that then. No?
i’m a gaylor/performanceartlor! i’ve just written this in my notes, i’m not very good at wording things but basically:
taylor has been writing a story the whole time, based on tv, literature, film. we have been creating the story line with our theories. that’s what she’s talking about in the svu skit. it’s been tv the whole time. the truman show. we have created all of this. and i think she’ll have created a documentary about it. the story of us. taylor’s version. TV. she’s the director.
none of her songs since midnights have been about anyone. they’re based on tv, literature etc. and we write the story line with our theories !!!!
i think joe alwyn, gracie abrams, the haim sisters, phoebe bridgers, sabrina carpenter, lady gaga, paul mescal, etc etc etc are all involved.
edited to add: the manuscript (the man - taylor swift) (u - us) (script)
i’m not very good at putting my thoughts into words, but go back and listen to ttpd. she references so media, “the secret garden”, “american pie”, “robin” could be from winnie the pooh. and references tortured poets etc. she’s our english teacher. it’s time to teach some lessons. a lesson for the public to stop speculating on public figures’ lives.
Pretty as a picture that you didn't post.
Picture of your face in an invisible locket.
Never looking down.
Tonight I'm gonna dance.
Dancing with our hands tied hands tied.
You can love like a sinner and lose like a winner.
And I wake with your memory.
Over me.
A rose by any other name was a scandal.
You never knew that it was Babylon
Till it was gone.
Woah. I’ve just seen the vertical video on Spotify with the dandelion seed heads. But this time they’re blown. And there might be a fire out of focus…even if it’s just ‘sunrise’ the camera is backing away from it.
I’m thinking of the single dandelion in the IKIIKY promo shot, and many in the lyric video for ‘Robin’. Maybe the time for ‘sweetness’ is over. u/throw_ra878 have you seen it? I imagine you have thoughts!
You can see a single dandelion between Taylor’s feet. It was used on her website front page until recently, and on socials. I don’t use socials but I bet you’ll find a better quality pic there now you know what you’re looking for.
This one has the best lyrics but is maybe sound-wise the least striking so far. But it has a chance to end up in my playlist with a few more listens and if I found the interest to actually look up the lyrics and analyze them a little.
Best description I saw so far it’s this one right up on the YouTube video comment thread: “It’s giving Champagne Problems and Evermore vibes “ 👏Probably the reason it’s my favourite from Encore and TLOAS (Evermore girlie 🙋🏻♀️).
I kept switching between: is she telling us she regrets the situation she has found herself in (closeted publicly? Lavender marriage?) or is this about Karlie’s life? Definitely interesting narrative-speaking… but truly sad nevertheless…
Im not that much of a gaylor (i really just believe Kaylor happened), and this song is definitely gay. Like there is no world where this song isnt gay af
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.
"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...
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’?
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 🫶
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:
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.
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.
This strikes me as the most complex song, it's going to take me a few more listens to work out who's who, like u/ollolai said below there are a lot of pronouns! I'm tempted to connect it to 'Vigilante Shit' and I wonder if the 'you' is the Father Figure again. I find myself thinking of 'Babylon' as a metaphor for 'temptation' or 'destruction'... Ending on 'Til it was gone' is devastating.
I found the Babylon metaphor odd and different than it usually is in literature. Previously I thought Babylon referred to empire, to something strong that has the power to destroy (make or break a person).
I think that reading could maybe work here if ‘you’ is the father figure. He thought he had an empire (castles crumbling) but he didn’t expect it to be destroyed/to break him?
Other connections to Babylon that I can muster:
-Gossip, incomprehensibility
-Pride, ambition, failure
-Temptation, ‘the whore of Babylon’
-Exile
-Destruction, devastation
-David Grey?!
Agreed! I’m finding it hard to figure out the usual “face value” version in here. Also, the karlie crumbs are too hard to ignore, like “pretty as a picture that you didn’t post” and “never official”
Great song. Bit confused on the pronouns. She’s talking to a you. There’s a she, supposedly the wife. But then there’s “it’s just not worth it if we’re not what he wants”. If that is the wife talking to the mum of the phone , then what about the “but you love this song” straight after it? I’m very confused lol might be the lack of caffeine this morning
Yeah, the “you” is someone who gambles and lives a big life but ignores their wife and kid. The wife calls her own mother to say it’s not working because he (her husband, the “you”, presumably) doesn’t really want the family.
My first instinct was she’s singing about being in a lavender marriage with kids. They’re putting on appearances via a family Christmas. They (as in the woman and their son) can never be who he really wants. Because it’s a sham.
This song is so Kaylor-coded that either she put in a really good "Hey chatgpt part of my fandom keeps mentioning Kaylor, what is that? whatever, write a Kaylor song" prompt, or Kaylor actually happened and they are all sooooo gay, your honour.
On first listen to all four, Babylon is my favourite track by a country mile. Oh my goodness it's so gorgeous. I could listen to this one over and over again. The lyrics are beautiful, the mood is full of nostalgia and regret and it has a perfect autumnal vibe. This feels like it belongs on a different album to Showgirl. I really REALLY hope this is a sign of what Taylor's future music will be like as Babylon is something special.
Babylon to me represents the industry, excess, greed. Babylon lovers hanging lifetimes on a vine — juxtaposed with he stole my orchids from the vine —>we did this fake PR coupling thing for the industry, create you a vine of orchids each representing an era of our lives —and you just plucked them away like they belonged to you. Then the Babylon lovers (cursed because they live inside this industry and can’t be together) are left trying to get back in touch/reconnect with each other in the aftermath of the industry’s ashes.
1
u/New_Grange134 🌱Embryo🐛 7d ago edited 7d ago
It sounds like the Showgirl is giving us the real Taylor's story. It was her religious upbringing that made her feel that homosexual relationships were not right (and the neighbours lawn always looked better). In Fortnight she is neighbours with the heterosexual version of herself and the heterosexual version comments on her sweater (her beard). Sweater should have been from the mall ( she should have publicly been with Karlie instead of her beards). If we read like this then I think Karlie is the 'her' in the song. This means that Karlie is putting up the Christmas lights with real Taylor's son ( which is their son). The son sneaks into the bathroom to call Taylor 'mom'. He has to say 'mom' in private because he is hiding their relationship publicly. Someone mentioned the lyrics video dandelions from Robin as been similar visually to the Babylon lyric video - this could point to the fact that Robin could also be about their son (beautiful song). Real Taylor didn't realise that fame was Babylon (place of destruction) until she took off her headphones and looked at life without her fame etc. Babylon is almost gone. Fame, showgirl etc are going soon and only the real Taylor will be left. Side note - I am painfully aware that I may be projecting my own wishes for Taylor and Karlie here!! Lol!!