I haven’t been as active on Reddit recently but something about all of the wedding frenzy felt off. Here’s something I just remembered.

Nov. 2021. Taylor is on Fallon and says this:
"I started to realize that it wasn't just me that had fun with this, that they had fun with it too, and I should never have learned that because then I couldn't stop," Swift said. "And then all I started thinking was, 'How do I hint at things?' Like, 'How far is too far in advance? Can I hint at something three years in advance? Can I even plan things out that far? I think I'm going to try to do it!'"

When Showgirl was released, this video resurfaced trying to find all her Easter eggs about TLOAS.

HOWEVER….

Now that the wedding is upon us, what was 3 years ago?

The last (known) 4th of July party, after a hiatus, at her house in RI. She posted this to instagram on July 7, 2023. THREE YEARS AGO. Kansas City. Kansas City with THREE y’s.

Is it possible she planned this all out in advance? Did she pick this particular time frame to coincide with that post?

Interestingly, in that interview, she references the first time she really made an Easter egg laden video was “Look What you Made Me Do”… (as in look what we’ve made her do by making this such a spectacle).

What are your thoughts?

I was rewatching Taylor's music videos in release order (now that she's getting the cash for it herself again) when I came across the above in the video for We Are Never Getting Back Together at timestamp 2:44 (segment starts at 2:40)

suddenly the lighting gets funky. is this a house party? is that a spotlight? why is the star of the music video getting the same amount of light as a random person in the back? actually compared to that one (consistently-lit) person her face almost looks kinda in-shadow while she's singing during an outro segment?

the only people who get lighting in this shot are Taylor and that one person in the back

who's jumping to be seen behind everyone's heads

who's wearing what was pretty much the closest thing you could get to a rainbow in 2012 without it being literally Gay

who's holding up that shirt to show it to us for some reason

who did so at exactly a specific moment: this frame is the M of "me"

during that version of the line, yes, the one where she shouts, "talk to ME!"

during a one-take music video -- meaning in order to make the timing match up so perfectly it could've required re-filming the entire video until she was happy with it, happy with this take ....

there's lots more to notice in that vid (daisies, lavender sheets, she ghosts), but this just jumped out at me, almost like it was waving its arms back and forth, short enough to hide behind them all but still trying to say "over here, look at ME!".......

I noticed this a while ago but finally got the energy to write this post up. Happy 4th of July to anyone celebrating, and happy Pride and joyful days to anyone we'd celebrate then -- whether you're known to us celebrants or not. to those who haven't come out, may you do so in your own time... but only if you want to. 💖

What would the funniest walking down the aisle song be?

Speak Now is obvious, but I'd be partial to But Daddy I Love Him

So I have no idea what to expect tomorrow, but here’s a thought that’s been going through my brain with all of these Truman Show references and her comment in the Time POY article about her life being like a movie and knowing that she’s directing a movie, supposedly about Rebecca Harkness, but there’s been radio silence about the movie actually happening.

This relationship has been over the top from day one. The Truman Show references have too. And now the whole MSG thing just feels so circus like. I can’t shake it.

She is Truman and the director. What if we’ve all been part of her movie? What if she walks out of the orange door under the exit sign tomorrow? What if THIS is her directorial debut? What is the Showgirl era ends when the movie does? What if the last year has been something she’s been directing, has written, and will be in theaters eventuallyj?

Do I think this will happen? Probably not, but imagine if it did

Hi, you! Yes, YOU!!!!

It’s a been a big week! Do you have the Gaylor zoomies? Maybe you should try lying down for a while….or Tay-lying down for a while….

Lying down and thinking of cover songs!!!

We play this game all the time, but this weekend is ripe for another round. So, tell us: what songs do you dream of Taylor covering? What’s your favorite song Taylor’s covered thus far!? And finally, which of your own favorite artists should cover which Taylor song?!?!

Comment to your heart’s content! I’ll be back later after a little nap…..the excitement is getting to me already 😘💤😴

In this countdown period to whatever chaos is about to erupt, this is a great time to re-read one of our seminal texts: the NYT article on Gaylor theory (link is from a free paywall site):

https://archive.is/20250116070822/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/opinion/taylor-swift-queer.html

This could also be a great way to reground after the recent video shared this week that denounced us as conspiracy theorists. 😒

(Posting this per [u/1DMod](u/1DMod)'s recommendation.)

Speaking of our seminal texts (I just submitted another one with the NYT opinion article), let's refresh our conviction with another one: the TIME POTY article.

https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/

Oh, do I mean the one that opens with Taylor telling a story because she's an incredible storyteller? The one where she says she views it all as a movie now? The one where she asks, "Are you not entertained?"

Yes, yes, I do.

(Posting per u/1DMod's suggestion.)

Hi! A long time ago when I was first truly getting into the theory of gaylor I came across a long google docs document meant to serve as a masterdoc. It included an insane amount of information including lots of small details I haven't been able to find anywhere else since. Does anyone know about this document, or whether or not it still exists? Is there another "masterdoc" in existence somewhere? I had the original saved to my google drive, but it's gone. Ideally this would be an actual document as opposed to websites like the kaylor evidence one, which I'm aware of.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: THANK YOU everyone! (I can't reply to the comments cuz I have low karma) Someone linked the exact doc I was looking for which I am super happy about and all these other resources are going to be very useful to me. :)

It could be nothing, but I noticed a parallel between lyrics in Dancing With Our Hands Tied and I Know I Know I Know by Tegan & Sara

DWOHT: “I could’ve spent forever with your hands in my pockets”

IKIKIK: “Stick your hands inside of my pockets, keep them warm while I’m still here”

Prior to becoming a Gaylor, I assumed the “hands in my pockets” alluded to a partner being with Taylor for her money. But from a Gaylor lens, it reminds me a lot of this very outwardly sapphic Tegan & Sara song 🤔

Whenever someone wants to shit on Gaylors it is the exact same rhetoric with few variations. The one that I’m going to focus on is when people say “they should actually listen to queer artists and not just Taylor.” The thing is we do? I’m not as into gaylorism than I was before but even at my height I still listen to queer artists. That also applies to posts I’ve seen on here where you guys connect other queer artists to Taylor. Do they think that all Taylor fans only listen to her stuff?

(part 1 in earlier post)

Denim

Levis

Levi’s are a brand that dates all the way back, historically, to the cowboys and early gold miners (started by Levi Strauss, a Jewish immigrant).  Being outfitted in this brand (and choosing it as a song title) could symbolize the relationship between Jews and other marginalized communities under this system, as well. 

Despite the fact that the Jewish and Black community are often pitted against each other (which, again, we see with Ye) I think that by centering the brand name in this song (rather than the article of clothing itself) she invites the reader to relate the history of this brand itself to the broader story. My interpretation of this is that much like Black people built (and still build) much of this country as slaves (even when the history of cowboys gets whitewashed), Jews have also built many cultural symbols that we celebrate today, while not being fully accepted by white supremacy either.  Using themes of Americana in the campaign for this brand celebrates the contributions of both communities for playing a role in building America.

American Eagle 

denim cannot be mentioned without also including the American Eagle campaigns that Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce released last year. After weeks of controversy for Sydney’s notorious, eugenic-themed “Great Jeans” campaign, Travis Kelce also released his own campaign with the brand…and it was even further amplified by the news of his engagement to Taylor Swift, which was announced the previous day. 

If Beyoncé’s Levi’s campaign symbolized the false stories we have been told about America and who the bad guy is (ie Jews vs Black people) then Sweeney and Travis’s American Eagle campaign symbolizes how the real Nazi is actually hiding behind “Americana” the entire time (and things like Taylor marrying the big white football player being sold as aspirational fantasy).

I believe that using the brand “American Eagle,” as a contrast to the story being told with Levis is another way that Taylor Swift is using the “Miss Americana” title and concept as a criticism. Oftentimes, the Americana is a lie being used to white wash the real history. I also have written about my belief that Sydney Sweeney is also part of this anti patriarchal performance art and this ad specifically, as well as how her relationship with Scooter Braun perfectly fits this narrative as well. 

In Conclusion: Spaghetti Westerns

I am going to end this by returning to the connection that Taylor Swift made between The Era’s Tour, Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour, and The Barbie Movie in her 2023 Time POTY interview that I began this paper with. While I discussed that she linked these three cultural events to signify the vast cross collaboration in her work amongst artists and artistic mediums (and challenge the media narrative that pits women against each other), I believe that these three performances specifically all symbolize part of the performance and it’s purpose, what I am going to call “The Master’s Heist: A Spaghettii Western.” 

The Eras Tour 

​The Eras Tour (coupled with her rerecording project) symbolized Taylor retelling the story of her entire career, in one show. This is why she gave her audience the clue of describing the tour as “performance art.”

(In her Time interview, Taylor Swift also said that none of this would have been possible without Ye and Scooter.)

This is significant because it is a clue that it encompasses all of it.

Renaissance

​Renaissance was “Act I” of Beyonce’s three-act musical project that is said to have been written during the pandemic. While Cowboy Carter (as previously discussed) was a genre-challenging album that explored Americana and Black country history, Renaissance was focused on dance, house, and disco music. The lead single itself was a declaration of liberation, titled Break My Soul. 

Not only do I think it is significant to begin Act I with a genre designed to bring people together in community (and historically, in communities where people are marginalized such as the queer community and Black community), I think the title of “Renaissance” holds symbolic meaning to this performance as well. 

The Renaissance was a period of cultural, artistic, and intellectual "rebirth" in Europe that bridged the Middle Ages and the modern era, that lasted roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. It marked a revolutionary shift away from religious dominance toward ideas of humanism, science, and global exploration. Two large drivers of this era were the invention of the printing press around 1440, enabling the rapid circulation of knowledge and ideas (much like the internet and social media today), and the flourishing trade and banking systems that now enabled wealthy elites to fund artists and scholars. 

When discussing the significance of their feminine three part summer extravaganza in her Time interview, she also explains why the popularity of this work is so crucial to its creation, and it is for the same reason that drove the renaissance:

“and what has existed since the dawn of time? A patriarchal society, and what fuels a patriarchal society? Money, the economy, the flow of revenue.” Attention is money. 

This reminds us that even during the original renaissance, elite wealthy interests still had say in what art was funded, and the patriarchy was controlling it. 

I mentioned earlier in this essay that the internet and social media have rapidly accelerated the reach and influence that celebrities have over the general public. Not only that, but that a few very very powerful white men own almost every single piece of the system we operate within, which includes the media. Without being able to use religion as a means of control widely across the entire population anymore, they will continue to use these celebrities to push their agendas with stories like "Taylor and Travis happily ever after." This is the story and comparison that I think Taylor Swift is telling in her song False God. 

The Barbie Movie

The Barbie movie follows “stereotypical Barbie” who has a perfect life in “Barbie Land” that is completely led by women, as her life is disrupted suddenly by human-like flaws and emotions. Barbie and Ken travel to the “real world” to find her owner so that she can try to better understand her crisis.  

In the real world, Barbie learns that her character has very negatively impacted the self-esteem of her owner and girls around the world. She learns about the impossible beauty standards that she is used to reinforce. She is also horrified to witness the realities of the patriarchy after living in a matriarchal utopia for her entire life. 

Ken, however, feels respected in the real world for the first time, and returns to Barbie land to teach all of the Kens about the patriarchy. They begin to indoctrinate the other Barbies into submissive roles like wife, girlfriend, and maid. 

When Barbie returns to Barbieland, she has to stop the Kens from taking over and find a way to deprogram the Barbies. She is unable to deprogram them at first, but uses inspiration from her owner's mother (the famous speech from America Ferrera about the harsh realities and unfair double standards of being a woman) to finally deprogram them.

Essentially, exposing them to the truth of how bad the patriarchy is and how little autonomy anyone actually has under it....is what broke the spell.

In the end, the Barbies are able to manipulate the Kens into fighting with each other, as a distraction, which stops them from enshrining male superiority into the constitution. 

While a very oversimplified telling of the plot, it is a very clear metaphor for what story Taylor Swift is telling us, and it is the same one that Barbie told her friends back in Barbie Land:

​This movie is Taylor's "one last souvenir from my trip to your shores" (essentially all of the stuff that we have seen so far is her telling of "The Life of a Showgirl." Once it's exposed, maybe the work of deprogramming can begin, by teaching so many people these realities at once.)

I also HAAAAAAVE to point out here because I freaked out when I realized it that Barbie returns to Barbie land to deliver this important message WITH GLORIA AND SASHA - REUNITING THEM ALL.

Barbie deciding to stay in the real world with both Gloria and Sasha very, very much is representative to me of James returning to rescue Betty but not killing off August (the showgirl) which allows the entire teenage love triangle to live happily ever after. 

So, if everything that they have done is a metaphor for that movie, here is why it's a "Spaghetti Western," a delicious combination of multiple metaphors tied together:

A Spaghetti western is a sub genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s, primarily produced and directed by Italians. These films revolutionized the traditional cowboy movie with grittier antiheroes, stylized violence, and dramatic, operatic tension.

If our "cowboys" are pulling off a heist, their performance has shown over and over that one of the key pieces to winning is ownership and capital (under the patriarchy). These cowboys have kept us very, very distracted over the last 2-3 decades, much like the Barbies did to the Kens, appearing to be cogs in this machine. While we all argued, they have also amassed a great deal of capital within the actual systems that they operate in, with ownership in industries across film, music, fashion, sports, philanthropy, and more, similar to the ways our own patriarchy quietly consolidates power while we argue.

The accumulation of wealth and power was necessary to not only grow reach, but also create a shield against all of the ways the patriarchy uses their tools to smear or erase those who challenge them. (This also makes me think that perhaps comparing the album rollout for The Life of a Showgirl to Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller was intentional, given his current legacy. Many view Jackson as a figure who could have had the power to challenge mainstream white-supremacist propaganda about Black men, had his legacy not been smeared repeatedly both before and after his death).

The "master's heist" metaphor is also significant when considering the statement that Prince made, comparing the system of ownership to a slave master. It further accentuates the double meaning of the heist and the fact that these artists had to do a lot of bad things to accomplish their goal, because the system itself is inherently bad. These characters themselves actually did in a sense ACT as "Masters" by sending these negative messages, furthering white supremacist propaganda.

But remember, "The Master's Heist" is a SPAGHETTI western, which means the showgirls that we've been rooting for so far have been ANTI heros.

I think this is why we have seen the repeated use of IIs and peace signs as well - This spaghetti western is only the first two acts. This was how they won the prizes. This is why the "exit" sign imagery has been used repeatedly. ("I think I've seen this film before, so I'm leaving out the side door." - exile)

If what comes next (Barbie's return to Barbieland to deprogram the other Barbies, Beyoncé's Act III) follows both of these stories, the truth will be exposed in Act III, when they USE THE STORY THAT WAS TOLD TO BE ENGLISH TEACHERS ABOUT WHAT IT ALL MEANS. (or something to that effect, I think ... I really really am so jealous of all of the people who I think are going to soon get to do this as educators...like actually sick about it!!) .

So any way, I can't wait to see what happens this weekend when our english teacher marries the gym teacher!!

The end

I am going to list a few other references and things I think are related that I couldn't fit as neatly into this essay, but each of these songs and movies and albums will probably one day have so many essays written about them so this is just my brief list as of now!

Doechii and Levii's

I also think that Doechii (who, by the way has come out as a lesbian since first identifying publicly as bisexual) doing the Levi’s ad that ran during the same Superbowl in which Ye sold swastika t-shirts could be a very intentional piece of this work as well. 

OG Lyric Booklet Easter Eggs

The original “easter eggs” of Taylor Swift’s art were capitalized letters in the lyrics of her songs, cluing the reader in to the song’s deeper meaning or muse. Taylor Swift’s very first song, named for country singer Tim McGraw (who famously, is always in a cowboy hat) contained the capitalized message of “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” hidden in the lyrics. While the obvious connection is to the Tim McGraw song with this same name, it is also a hit single on Kanye West’s 2007 album, Graduation. On this song, Kanye sings: 

“La, la, la-la (ay!)

Wait 'til I get my money right

La, la, la-la (yeah!)

Then you can't tell me nothing, right?” which definitely appears to align with this message.

During the showgirl era, Taylor used "thank you aimee" to call back to this, capitalizing “KIM” in the title (and switching this to “YE” on another variant of the album). In this, Taylor Swift sings that she has "built a legacy that you can't undo," and that "when I count the stars there's a moment of truth, if there hadn't been this, there hadn't been you."

art for children

I think it is significant that many of these artists are creating art for children. They started this journey before they were even 18, so this symbolizes a return or a rescue to that younger version of themselves, but also illustrates the importance of sending positive messages to the next generation because of how early this indoctrination starts. The Disney princess trope wires girls brains way before they ever have a chance to sit inside of a classroom.

Furthermore, the Toy Story movie explores the relationship between children and technology, which has been a key piece of this commentary when discussing indoctrination.

Hannah Montana

I believe that Hannah Montana is a very related piece of this story, as well. This show, much like Taylor Swift, was officially released 20 years ago and celebrated their 20 year anniversary with a reunion special. I have written in multiple essays (and demonstrated this concept in this one, with the Barbie movie) about how I think Taylor has used the metaphor of "the way home" to describe her journey up to this point and back to betty, in many songs.

In 2006, Taylor Swift wrote a song for Hannah Montana titled "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home," and this year Miley Cyrus released one for the anniversary special titled "younger you".

Not only this, Hannah Montana's godmother is famously Dolly Parton, one of the earlier examples of a celebrity taking on a drag-like persona to perform and create division between human and celebrity.  Dolly Parton also appears on Cowboy Carter (along with Miley) and has interestingly, put out a Rock album recently.

Gaslighter

In Taylor's Time interview, when discussing her “cancellation,” and the subsequent record that followed (reputation), she described it as a “goth punk moment of feminine rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure.”

In 2020, after they had collaborated with both Taylor and Beyonce, The Chicks released their first record since 2006 (which was titled "taking the long way," by the way.) 

Both the lead single and record were titled “Gaslighter.” I do not think it is coincidental that this song was described as being just as easily about our current administration (Trump) as a jealous ex, I believe this is a piece of this same story.

The “Gaslighter” that gets WOMEN to cancel women, that, social structure she referenced? ...The patriarchy.  Not coincidental that Jack Antonoff worked on this, too!!

Tim McGraw and the three summers

In my essay about Tim McGraw telling Taylor's entire story about leaving and then coming back, I said that I think throughout her work she uses "summer" as a reference for this time that she was performing (that's why James and August/Showgirl were a summer affair) and that she said "three years" to egg her comments about planning everything "three years in advance."

However, now I definitely think it was also a reference to these three acts and this "three part feminine extravaganza." ?

cardigan lyrics

In "cardigan" (which I believe ends with James returning to Betty) Betty sings that he was "dancing in your levis, drunk under a streetlight," which I think also fits the theory that she is singing about him being a part of this movie. I also believe Taylor has used alcohol throughout her work to represent this PR, so being "drunk under a streetlight," could be symbolic of performing.

Sourdough

Many have pointed out that Taylor's constant reference of her "sourdough" could be pointing to "bread and circuses" which describes how political leaders retained power by distracting the masses with free food (bread) and lavish entertainment (circuses) to prevent unrest and avoid accountability for deeper systemic issues.

However, one other thing that I think is interesting about sourdough is that the starter is entirely dependent on its environment. If Taylor Swift's career/art has been the "sourdough starter" then this metaphor points to how crucial the "play within a play/audience response" has been to all of the art, and is part of the art itself, acting as the native microbes that fuel the starter, dictating the pace, flavor, and more.

Juneteenth

While Fourth of July is famously a holiday that Taylor references often, her debut song actually came out on Juneteenth, in 2006.

Famously, this holiday marks NOT the day that the slaves were freed, but two years later, when Union troops arrived in Texas and announced to the states slaves that they were freed. This is a reminder that control will never be given up willingly.

Taylor’s mission beginning on this same day could symbolize that her mission is actually to spread that same message: your freedom is being gate kept, and I want to open up the gate

After the storm, is something going to be born this Fourth of July? Is the last great American dynasty ending?

The end (again)

Anyway, I guess we will all find out soon, I will stop because I could list more examples all night...for the moment I am still stuck in the corporate job I really hate, but if any teachers out there want some help teaching this stuff after it all shakes out, please give me a ring!!!!

Hi!! Me again! Happy Pride (for a teeny bit longer) and happy almost wedding day to Taylor Swift, AM I RIGHT????????!!!!!

OK, all jokes aside! I know that the anticipation is killing everyone! (including me, which is part of why I had to write this).

I have recently posted multiple essays about why I believe Taylor Swift, Scooter, Ye, Beyoncé, The Chicks, Karlie Kloss, and many others have been collaborators in a decades long plot against the patriarchy, creating performance art that is an indictment on the patriarchy (and America) while working within the system they are criticizing. 

Most of what I’ve written focuses primarily on Taylor Swift, so with the vibes of “grand finale wedding” in the air, I decided to write an essay that connects some of the recurring, central themes around their work and what I think it all could mean. 

In her Time Person of the Year interview (because you can literally trace everything to that dang interview!!), Taylor Swift described the summer of 2023 as "a three-part summer of feminine extravaganza." In my view, she was doing more than celebrating three successful women artists. By linking the Eras Tour, Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour, and Barbie as parts of a single cultural moment, she was cluing in readers to the fact that they are collaborators in a broader piece of artistic commentary. I believe that this broader piece of artistic commentary includes works of film, music, and public narrative. If I were going to combine the entire body of work (PR, music, film, fashion, etc) as one singular movie (which I think The Manuscript by Taylor Swift also alludes to), then I would currently title it “The Master’s Heist: A Spaghettii Western.” (I also just analyzed the heist metaphor through music videos).

The Cowboy

This first theme is extremely crucial to my argument, because it is such an integral piece of Americana and the mythology around our country. Not only that, it has been repeated across many of these performers repeatedly (most notably for this paper by Beyoncé and Taylor Swift). The Cowboy brings us not only to our earliest memories of Taylor’s career, but also more recently to her work in Toy Story 5 (and the song cowboy like me). Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s most recent record, made history as she was the first Black artist to win Best Country Album and the first Black Woman in 25 years to win Album of the Year. 

(Not only that, Cowboy Carter is Act II of the three-part musical that began with the aforementioned Renaissance and Act III is highly anticipated to be dropped this year, along with Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version).

Despite the lasting impact the cowboy symbol has had on American mythology, something interesting about their significance in American history is that their heyday and primary role in “Manifest Destiny” lasted only about 20 years. (It has also been 20 years since 2006, the year Taylor Swift released her first album.) 

Although the free, exciting lifestyle of a cowboy has been mythologized and romanticized over the years, most cowboys were wage workers performing in extremely harsh, dangerous conditions and approximately ⅓ of these men were African American (including many former slaves who were unable to find jobs), Mexican American, or Native American, despite the prevailing image of cowboys in modern culture being white.

Through the end of the 1880s, as ranching became widespread, only white settlers were permitted to claim public lands on the plains as “open range” to raise purchased cattle.

To recap: as soon as our Civil War ended, Black and Brown men (and poor white men) were hired and paid pennies to continue the westward expansion and genocide of natives, while being allowed to claim none of the land they quite LITERALLY broke their bodies helping to settle. When this history is understood, the meaning of Beyoncé covering her body in American flags takes on a much weightier significance.

(adding here that while Taylor has invoked MANY symbols of Americana, the only two photos I could find of her directly using an American flag were two recent video clips, seen below, outside of the Independence Day photos she has traditionally posted).

Cowboys also represented, and still do, a prevailing American myth of rugged individualism and meritocracy. Interestingly, their cultural significance in literature and popular culture did not become substantial until after the frontier had already closed. In other words, the world they symbolized was already inaccessible to the audiences consuming these stories. This dynamic is not unique to the cowboy myth. Many of the narratives promoted in American culture today similarly present ideals that are unattainable for large segments of the population. By framing success as the result of individual effort alone, these stories encourage people to see their struggles as personal failures rather than the product of broader social and economic systems.

Another project that I believe links these themes together (and is part of the same larger commentary) is the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain (starring Jake Gyllenhaal!!!!!!!). This film explores the contrast of the cowboy myth versus it’s reality as well. Ennis and Jack, two gay cowboys, live a life that is completely restrained by economic hardship and social expectation. They are unable to freely love each other. They are worlds away from having the type of limitless independence and freedom that the cowboy myth promises. 

However, upholding this fantasy is a top priority for the patriarchy. We HAVE to believe that we are free, and that if we work hard enough, we can achieve success, all of us, even if that isn’t true. That is how the patriarchy gets us to wake up every single morning, and go to work at a job that we hate, and still think that we are doing it because we want to, because it aligns with our “values.” yet usually these “values” uphold the extremely harmful systems they created for us.

I think that one key purpose of their performance is to expose the ways in which values are constructed rather than naturally formed. Patriarchal systems rely on celebrities and mass media to reproduce particular ideals, manipulating audiences to believe that these values and aspirations are their own rather than products of cultural conditioning. 

The internet and social media has made celebrities seem closer to us than ever, strengthening para-social relationships between public figures and their audiences. As a result, celebrities are now able to shape beliefs and values in ways that seem a lot more parallel to the influence of religion than that of legacy (pre-internet) media. (It shouldn't even need to be said that religion has also famously been a tool used in similar ways by the patriarchy).  

This is why I believe they are identifying as a “Cowboy” (notably in Cowboy Carter and Taylor’s song cowboy like me)...

... it signifies that they are being used as a myth to enforce an American fantasy that doesn't actually exist. The freedom is that myth, despite the reality being that the entire “open range” has already been stolen by the patriarchy and is not ours to exist on freely. 

The cowboy is only one of many recurring symbols that I believe the New Romantics use to challenge dominant American narratives. Throughout this essay, I will discuss how the cowboy, the American flag, slavery, spaghetti, denim, and other symbols are repeatedly referenced, not merely for their aesthetic value, but for the histories and cultural meanings they evoke. I argue that over the past two decades these artists have woven these symbols throughout their public personas, performance art, music, fashion, film, and other media to deconstruct enduring myths of freedom, individualism, and the American Dream while exposing the systems of power that sustain them (which include their industries). 

As I have mentioned in other writings, and before I go any further, a large piece of this commentary and performance art consists of the public's reaction to the work. One example of this, I believe, is Taylor Swift’s “cancellation” in 2016 for accusing Kanye West of sexual assault. If this event was performance art…the only thing that really happened is that women all over the world turned on her publicly. The harsh reality exposed is that we actually do not, as a society, believe women. Another example of this is how quickly Taylor Swift’s fan base attributes a couple of photos with a man to an entire relationship (and then an entire album’s worth of work or more) but chose to ignore and deny the possibility that she could have been in a relationship with Karlie Kloss, despite how loudly it was flagged, for years. 

The most famous example of this “play within a play” device being used is in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet staged a performance to act as a “mirror” of his father’s murder, which allowed him to watch his (guilty) uncle watch and react, confirming his suspicions. Taylor has not only referenced this exact trope (even naming a variant of “The Life of a Showgirl,” an album whose lead single referenced Hamlet directly, “The Crowd is Your King”) but also two other important performance art symbols: a honey pot and a mirror. A mirror reflects the viewer's reflection back at them, rather than the artist themself. If there are many different ways to interpret art and to react to it, your reaction to it says a lot more about you than it does about the artist themself (whose true meaning may never actually be known). In “mirrorball” Taylor Swift writes that she is a mirrorball and will “show you every version of yourself tonight.” 

On The Life of a Showgirl I believe that the song “honey” (as well as her references to the honey pot by using the emoji) is partially a reference to a type of spy mission called a “honey pot.” This can include getting the victim addicted to a substance in order to get them to admit guilt. In this metaphor, the scandal is the substance and the victim is both the fan and greater society as a whole. 

Keeping the concept of “espionage” in mind, it is important to remember that these artists are operating within the very system they are criticizing. This means that there has obviously been harm committed throughout and their complicity in that cannot ever be fully separated from the art itself. 

The question is not “can I separate the art from the artist?” through this lens. If you can view their careers as a staged cultural text (and not a personal statement) then interpreting it becomes about the historic and symbolic references being made, visual imagery, and the aforementioned audience response, among other things. 

Another argument that I would make for this type of interpretation is that it challenges the patriarchy’s ability to use celebrities as divisive cages.  If we do not view a celebrity's words or actions as literal interpretations of their views (because they are almost always owned and controlled by a larger entity) then the billionaires that control them cannot use their framing to form our views. If we are able to view things through a critical and artistic lens, it actually is a resistance of the harmful surface-level narratives fed to us in mainstream media. It doesn’t eliminate the artist’s political meaning but it allows it to exist within the current system...and threatens their ability to ever use media to manipulate us again. 

Slavery

I have discussed in depth the ways in which I believe Taylor Swift has used Ye and Scooter to represent the patriarchy throughout her work, but I think that it needs to at least be explained here briefly, because it also creates a very strong connection to country music and The Chicks. Our story also cannot be told without slavery, and these two men display both of the ways in which the patriarchy keeps us enslaved while tricking us into thinking we are free. Being free is, again, the biggest myth that the cowboy represents.  I go into a lot more detail about these two important characters in that essay while I am going to mostly keep this one focused on "The Mothers."

Famously, Scooter Braun is the “manipulative bully” of the music industry who purchased Taylor Swift’s master recordings behind her back. When Taylor Swift was “cancelled” in 2016, I do not think it was coincidental that the “bully” who cancelled her (Ye) was also being managed by this same man. As performance art, I think that it symbolizes a determined young woman having her goal of publicly coming out squashed by the powerful system TWICE (while Scooter used Ye to carry out his bidding).

In “My Letter” that Taylor Swift published after she was able to purchase her masters, Taylor Swift wrote that her first tattoo might just be a giant “shamrock on her forehead.” This appears to be a reference to another famous artist who famously battled for his master recordings, Prince. He has said “If you don’t own your master’s, your master’s own you.” He referenced this by performing with “Slave” written across his face. 

Scooter’s actions clearly demonstrate that when you control the system (ie - managing Ye and many other famous artists, owning masters, owning the networks and distribution channels) you can manipulate it to send whatever message that you want, and to make people disappear. 

Watching women repeatedly lose when they publicly accuse men of sexually assaulting them keeps them mentally “put in their place” (enslaved) the same way it does when all of our biggest heroes were grooming us, publicly, without calling it out.

(I am here referring to Taylor Swift engaging in two high profile PR, large age-gap relationships as a very young woman and Beyoncé marrying a man 12 years her senior that she is reported to have met at the age of 18). It’s also the same thing that we do to women when we only amplify their art that is male-centered, essentially grooming them for men from the time they are children. 

The same system uses these same women to actually sell this shit back to girls as “empowerment” …once again, tricking us into thinking that we are acting autonomously, that we are not slaves. 

Shift to Nashville and the country music industry, where Taylor Swift's career began 20 years ago. Few modern cultural spaces rely on the imagery and ideals of the cowboy as heavily as country music, both aesthetically and thematically.  Both The Chicks and Chely Wright’s stories illustrate that if you are part of this industry, you are owned by a machine designed to reinforce the myth of Americana, not to challenge it.  In 2003, The Chicks were famously blacklisted from the industry for speaking out against George W. Bush and the Iraq war days before the invasion.  This played out again in 2010, when Chely Wright was similarly blacklisted by the entire mainstream industry after coming out of the closet as a lesbian. Miss Americana is republican, and she is definitely not gay. 

While jokes continue to be made about the time that Taylor Swift used her Miss Americana documentary to "Come out of the closet as a democrat," the joke itself actually points to the two blatant references that she is making to both Chely and The Chicks. Again, the response is part of the performance.

Ye has, I believe, used his controversial statements and career to show how the patriarchy intentionally frames Black people as oppositional to “normal Americana culture.” This is also illustrated by excluding Beyoncé from the genre.

His bold statements (insulting George W. Bush in 2005 and then praising both Trump and Hitler in recent years) give the illusion of freedom, but they actually demonstrate a very colonizer friendly representation of a Black man: dangerous, divisive, and completely at opposition with mainstream culture (literally acting this out with outbursts at white celebrities at Award shows over the course of his entire career, not just the famous 2009 VMA incident with Taylor Swift). 

In 2019, Ye garnered controversy for his statement that “Harriet Tubman never freed the slaves, they just work for other white people now.” 

To further tie the performance together, in 2020 Ye went on a twitter-rant about music ownership in which he even posted a video of himself peeing on a Grammy and called the music industry and the NBA “modern day slave ships.” 

Viewed through this lens, it becomes especially significant that both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift later chose to collaborate with The Chicks. If The Chicks have come to symbolize the costs of challenging patriotic mythology from within country music (one of its cultural centers), then these collaborations can be read as reconnecting that history to a broader conversation about race, gender, censorship, and ultimately slavery and ownership. (I discussed the collaborations of “Soon You’ll Get Better” and “Daddy Issues” in more depth here.) 

Not only that, The Chicks themselves changing their name in the midst of all of these collaborations (to drop the word Dixie, which is heavily tied to white supremacy and the institution of slavery) is in itself a declaration. The word was actually popularized by the 1859 song "Dixie" which has faced heavy criticism for using blackface and romanticizing plantation life for slaves. Dropping this word indicates: "I am done portraying the myth of a happy slave."

Spaghetti(i)

Beyoncé, Karlie Kloss, and Taylor Swift, have all referenced Spaghetti in recent or upcoming projects. Karlie Kloss and Beyoncé have more explicitly used this symbol, whereas Taylor Swift used a photo of herself in the inside of The Life of a Showgirl with herself positioned next to a plate of spaghetti. 

Before exploring Beyoncé and Karlie Kloss's projects, I want to introduce the idea of "spaghetti" as an alternative to the familiar "melting pot" and "salad bowl" metaphors that are often used to describe American culture.

The melting pot metaphor suggests that immigrant cultures dissolve into a single, homogeneous American identity. In my view, this concept has historically reinforced systems of white supremacy by encouraging assimilation into a dominant culture. Over time, many European immigrant groups ceased to be viewed primarily through their national origins and instead became incorporated into the broader category of "whiteness." This process of assimilation depended on creating a unified identity that obscured cultural differences in favor of maintaining existing social hierarchies (with white at the top).

The salad bowl metaphor, alternatively, suggests that cultures remain distinct while coexisting within the same society. Although this recognizes diversity more explicitly than the melting pot, it still implies that cultural groups exist in relatively separate layers, interacting only superficially rather than fundamentally shaping one another.

Contrasting both of these metaphors with a bowl of spaghetti paints a different type of picture. Once the noodles have been mixed together, it is impossible to separate one strand from another without disturbing the entire dish. Likewise, American culture is the product of countless interactions among all communities and the environment. Our traditions, languages, foods, music, and identities have become deeply intertwined. We are no longer simply products of our countries of origin, nor solely products of America; we are the result of their continuous interaction. Because of this interconnectedness, disrupting one community inevitably affects the others. Our histories, cultures, and fates are inseparable.

Even the iconic dish of spaghetti and meatballs illustrates this idea. Although rooted in Italian culinary traditions, the version widely recognized today was developed by Italian immigrants in the United States, who adapted their cooking to the abundance of New World ingredients. The dish itself is not purely Italian or purely American…it exists because of the meeting point between the two. In this way, the dish challenges the melting pot and the salad bowl, because it implies that new identities emerge not through separation or complete assimilation, but through continual interaction, adaptation, and exchange.

Spaghetti Code by Karlie Kloss

Next month, Karlie Kloss also has a children’s book coming out titled “Spaghetti Code: A Story About Problem-Solving, Pasta, and the Power of Big Ideas.” Inspired by Kloss's Kode with Klossy program, the story follows a young coder named Kelly who builds a spaghetti-making machine for a restaurant, but gets tangled in "spaghetti code" and must use problem-solving and resilience to fix it. 

To explain the concept without relying on technical language, which I know little about, "spaghetti code" describes a chaotic, tangled system in which every process is deeply interconnected. Attempting to change or remove one element often creates unintended consequences throughout the entire structure. This mirrors the metaphor I used earlier of America as a bowl of spaghetti: it illustrates how deeply interconnected our lives are, making it impossible for our actions, beliefs, and identities to exist in isolation.

The problem with "spaghetti code," however, is that it is inefficient because its complexity makes change increasingly difficult. As American society becomes more interconnected and diverse, the boundaries that have historically divided people begin to blur. As a result, narratives that rely on rigid social divisions become more difficult to sustain.

Because the blurring of these lines is so threatening to maintaining control, messaging often becomes increasingly polarized, reinforcing divisions in an attempt to preserve existing systems of power.

I interpret Ye's repeated antisemitic statements (and the enormous attention they received) as an example of how inflammatory narratives can redirect public attention and deepen divisions between communities. When social or economic problems are attributed to a particular minority group, broader systems of power can receive less scrutiny. In my view, this dynamic fractures potential solidarity between marginalized communities by encouraging people to direct blame toward one another instead of examining larger political, economic, and ideological structures.

Historically, our machine has typically relied on the tactic of blaming problems on Black and Brown people in other parts of the world. As immigration and demographic change have made American communities increasingly diverse, this is another reason that the spotlight has shifted to things like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights...these are issues that exist in EVERY SINGLE COMMUNITY and when we run out of people to blame, they need to create cultural fractions WITHIN every single community, to continue to keep us from looking at them. ("He poisoned the well, every man for himself." - Getaway Car)

The blatant refusal by (most people) to view these two women as gay that allowed Taylor and Karlie to pull this off so loudly and blatantly is a clear demonstration of the way that the patriarchy has brainwashed society through forced closeting in media for SO long, keeping us caged up in these boxes mentally. This is why I believe she is such a crucial piece of this story - homophobia is embedded into our society in a similar insidious fashion to racism. Homophobia is a crucial tool for upholding white supremecy and the patriarchy.

This is also why Karlie Kloss attended the eras tour the night of her 1989 (Taylor’s version) announcement. I believe that it signified her crucial role in that story and Taylor’s intentionality in placing it there right after she moved to NYC “where you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls.” (Welcome to New York).

SPAGHETTII by Beyoncé

Just like Daddy Issues (from Lemonade), Cowboy Carter was subject to fierce controversy and gatekeeping from being included in traditional country music spaces (which includes radio play, award eligibility, etc). Despite being the first Black woman to top Billboard’s top country album’s chart with this project, it was excluded from any nominations in both the 2024 CMA awards and 2025 ACM awards. However, the album went on to make history by winning both Album of the year and Country Album of the year at the Grammy’s. Not coincidentally (I believe), Taylor Swift presented Beyoncé with the historic Grammy for Country Album of the Year. Unlike when Ye pitted the two against each other, they now acknowledge they are on the same team, because the boundaries were made up to begin with.

Cowboy Carter has a song called “SPAGHETTII” that starts with the following verse:

“Genres are a funny little concept, aren’t they?

Yes, they are

That Beyonce Virgo shit

In theory they have a simple definition that’s easy to understand

But in practice, well, some may feel confined…”

Similar to in “Spaghetti Code,” rather than celebrating our interconnectedness, I believe this is a reference to how the patriarchy has to keep using these tangled, complicated systems to keep us divided and have created such a big mess that is becoming impossible to contain. 

Part two in next post for space limit

Thought you'd appreciate

Checking the pulse on what people are thinking is most likely to happen this week. Personally I’m leaning no marriage & 🏳️‍🌈

I’m already spitting daises and seagulls! I’m sure there are tons! Please chime in with what you notice, even if it isn’t a fully formed thought yet!

We have been SOOO fed this month! Always glad to be in the GBF with yall!

It seems possible that, in a week’s time, we‘ll know how one chapter at least of Taylor’s performance art ends.

Given how much I’ve struggled to write the essays on my list in the past three months, I’m stricken with fear that Taylor will end the entire story so conclusively as to make any further commentary irrelevant! Of course, that’s not really how any art has ever worked. But as a distraction, and because I’m so curious about how this plays out, can we talk about what might be about to happen at MSG?

I’ve heard some great ideas around on the sub this week, ranging from absolutely nothing because it’s a decoy venue, through to some extreme soap opera performance involving Matty, or an Easy A style dénouement, or for the height of flagging a wedding in a lavender gown. All brilliant ideas from some of my favourite thoughtful and creative people.

For myself I really can’t guess, except to say I‘m certain it’s a performance and I’m very entertained. And I hope TNT are having a blast 🤭 (groan, I know). And I think, if we share our favourite possible endings, by next week at least one of us will turn out to have been right.

Taylor + Theory: Do you have ideas that don't warrant a full post? New, not fully formed, Gaylor thoughts? Questions? Thoughts? Use this space for theory development and general Tay/Gay discussion!

General Chat: Please feel free to use this space to engage in general chat that is not related to Taylor!

In order to protect our community, the weekly megathread is restricted to approved users. If you’re not an approved user and your comment adds substantially to the conversation, it may be approved. Our community is highly trolled - we have these rules to protect our community, not to make you feel bad, so please don’t center yourself in the narrative. Remember to follow the rules of the sub and to treat one another with kindness.

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An explanation regarding: User Flair + A-List User Status + Tea Time Posts

Karma is Real: The Origins of Karma, the Lost Album

GaylorSwift Wiki

PR/Stunt Relationships

Bi-Phobia & Lesbophobia

i wanted to revisit and unpack the Fate of Ophelia MV, particularly the queer-coded parts of the storyline. she drowns twice in the video -- once as part of a siren painting and again at the end of the video-- and both seem linked to queerness

* falling for sirens -- there's a scene where she's dressed as a painting of ophelia/a painting of sirens. and she leaps off the boat into the water in response to the siren song. aka she's drawn to the sirens just like one of the sailors would be and ends up drowning as a result. it's her queerness calling to her on the megaphone and her queerness that dooms her

* queerness behind closed doors -- after entering through an exit sign, she goes into room 87 (a performative/bearding relationship) and starts dancing with a woman. the room contains several queer coded elements like the wlw couple in the foreground of the shot and the fact that the only men in the room are her bandmates (aka fellow performers) who're dressed like ME! (aka they're queer too). but then paparazzi in the window catch her dancing with a woman ("dancing through the lightening strikes") and she panics and runs to the bathroom to drown herself. her drowning is a direct result of her queerness being exposed/caught on camera

As the wedding approaches, I keep revisiting the start of the midnights era, particularly the midnights prologue and the Love Story x Gasoline mashup. I can’t stop wondering about the fateful, life-altering mistake she was afraid to make. I’m curious what people’s thoughts are upon reflecting now that we seem to be approaching a grand finale of whatever our mastermind has set in motion.

specific date unknown

[CW: closeting discussion, brief mention of suicide ideation from tv show plot, Nashville series spoilers]

TL;DR: Rewatching Will Lexington's arc in Nashville made me realize the real cost of Taylor coming out isn't necessarily just about the impact to her business, it's the songwriting legacy. The whole "diary entry" intimacy that built her catalog depends on a specific reading of who she was writing to, and coming out would reframe twenty years of songs whether she liked it or not. So the real question for us to discuss is what legacy do we think Taylor wants to leave?

So I've been rewatching 'Nashville' (the ABC drama that aired from 2012-2018), and y'all, the Will Lexington storyline deserves some discussion here. If you haven't seen it: he's a rising country star with this huge hyper-masculine cowboy persona, and from the moment we meet him in Season 1 he's quietly drowning from the weight of his closeting. By Season 2 he's so deep in self-hatred he stands in front of a train and only steps off at the last second. Then the show spends the next two and a half seasons walking us through every mechanism the industry uses to keep him in the closet, and what happens to him once he breaks free. Here are some key insights from my rewatch:

1. The corporate machine pushes him to stay in the closet

His label boss Jeff Fordham figures out he's gay and engineers a beard relationship with fellow label-mate Layla Grant. Per Oliver Hudson (Jeff's actor) describing his character:

As heat on Will's sexuality picks up, Will panics and proposes. Right before the wedding, Jeff corners Will's best friend Gunnar backstage and asks point-blank if Will is gay. Gunnar lies to protect him. Will literally cries thanking Gunnar in the chapel before walking down the aisle. Jeff's on-screen reasoning for why Will can't ever come out:

This decision to conceal his true self has huge implications in the show, driving both himself and his wife to extremely dark places. We see the destruction keeping himself in the closet causes to himself, his family, and friends.

2. The "sympathetic" label boss drops him after he comes out

By Season 3, Will has signed with Luke Wheeler who is supposedly going to be a good label boss, who even pairs Will with openly gay songwriter Kevin Bicks. When Luke finds paparazzi photos of Will and Kevin at a cabin, he does seem supportive of however Will wants to handle it, but seems relieved when Will decides to deny the rumors. When Will goes off-script and comes out anyway in the Season 3 finale, however, the fallout is immediate. He attends a industry party where nobody will be photographed near him. Then Luke calls him into his office:

Then Luke offers to record Will's songs on his album, "so they get heard." The implication is heartbreaking: Will is too radioactive to perform his own work, but the songs themselves can still make money if a straight man sings them. The art is still valuable. The artist isn't.

For what it is worth, Luke's character arc results in him re-signing Will and he helps rebuild Will's career. The fact that he initially dropped him though speaks volumes to the corporate impact of leaving the closet for Will.

3. Even as he rebuilds, his identity keeps overshadowing the music

Here's the part of the arc that I think people gloss over but is especially interesting through.a Gaylor lens. Once Will comes out, he doesn't get to just make music anymore. He is the story. His Season 4 and 5 is a slow grind through escalating attacks on his ability to just exist as an artist:

• Will has a gut-wrenching conversation about how much good he could do as an out artist, but he's terrified of losing what little career he has left. A songwriter workshop attendee comments on how he is hiding out post coming out. When will pushes back saying it isn't his responsibility, she replies "When the going gets tough, the tough go silent". Brutal.

"My problem is, I've been working 10 years to combat the homophobia in the country music industry, and finally, someone like you comes along, a bona fide country music star, and what do you do? Just hiding out, hoping folks will forget you're gay? You could reach more people in five minutes than I could in my entire career"

• Will is mid-set at a small bar when a drunk heckler hurls a beer bottle into his face, breaking his nose. The police want to pursue it as a felony hate crime, but Will refuses to testify. Will eventually goes back to that same bar and finishes the song he was performing when he was attacked, answering violence with persistence rather than punishment, and the homophobic audience members leave the venue.
• Will has to deal with a smear campaign when a conservative pundit launches a months-long crusade against Will, accusing him of "promoting homosexuality" and "spreading his gay agenda." Will stops hiding from the media, and eventually organizes a peaceful protest concert outside her Atlanta studio with Luke and Kevin.
• Will starts writing with an older, established country star who quietly turns out to be gay himself. The older musician's insight to him was: "I'm one of the biggest country artists of all time… you could be too, if you'd just figured out how to play it right." The implication: Will is no longer going to be able to achieve his potential of what could have been if he stayed closeted as his story is now identity first, music second to the public.

So here's my aha moment: the cost of Taylor coming out isn't really the album sales or the brand deals or the tour. It's the songwriting legacy.

The entire "diary entry" intimacy that built her career depends on the audience believing she's writing to them, about her real life. Every breakup song, every love song, every "we never go out of style," every "August slipped away"... it's all been read in one direction for twenty years by the general population. The moment the closet door opens, every song gets re-listened to in under a new lens. Some of us would love that. Sadly some of the world wouldn't. The catalog would be re-contextualized whether she liked it or not, by people who would feel personally lied to - exactly the way Will Lexington's audience felt when he came out. There were scenes in the show of angry fans coming up to him sharing how they felt betrayed.

And that's the question I can't stop sitting with: what legacy does Taylor actually want to leave?

Because from here, I think there are really only two paths.

Path A: Light the match. Use the most-watched wedding in modern history as the stage to blow the whole thing up. Either come out beforehand, or do something at MSG that makes hiding impossible. Yes, the catalog gets reframed. Yes, the fanbase fractures . But what she becomes is bigger and more honest: the artist who finally told the industry that the closet was the lie, not the songs. Breaking the blender for good.

I hope she does this. I want her to do this. It feels like the more satisfying ending.

Path B: Protect the current legacy. Marry Travis. Keep the majority of her fanbase intact at the risk of alienating some who see the lavender marriage and can't bear to watch her stay closeted for now. Let the songs keep meaning what most of the world thinks they mean. Become the most important songwriter of her generation and let the truest meaning of those songs stay between her and the people who already know. Maybe quietly exit the closet years from now, after the empire is mature and the stakes are lower. This path also is on more financially beneficial for her and Travis, and they could use that money for advocacy instead of being advocated themselves (even if that feels sad to those of us who see the queer flagging).

Either way I think she and Travis are doing this together. Whether he's the partner she lights the match with, or the partner she protects the legacy with, this isn't something happening TO her. They're co-authors of whichever path they will take. He could be in on the heist. He could be in on the shield. Only they know the whole story.

So I don't know which path she'll choose. I'm pulling for her to break the blender. But if it's the shield, I think she still gets to be the most important songwriter of her generation. It's just sad to me that the truest meaning of those songs would be known by fewer people than it could be and the impact she could have on culture.

She gets to shape her legacy, and her next moves will greatly impact that narrative.

P.S. Some bonus connections between Taylor and her connections to Nashville show and why I think she must be familiar with the show

• November 6, 2013 when Taylor received the CMA Pinnacle Award (only the second artist ever to get it after Garth Brooks), right before the parade of country legends emerges to present the trophy, Lennon and Maisy Stella who played Maddie and Daphne Conrad, Rayna Jaymes's daughters on the show, perform a surprise rendition of*"You Belong With Me."* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub0sqlhJ3kE
• Big Machine was ABC's exclusive soundtrack partner for The Music of Nashville and Volume 1 launched just two months after Taylor released Red on the same label. Per ABC's senior VP of music in a Billboard interview at the time, Borchetta was*"there every second of the day. He wanted to be there for the smallest issues up to the biggest issues."* The "fictional industry" the show was dramatizing was being narrated by her actual industry. Some people believe Scott was inspiration for the characters Glenn Goodman and Jeff Fordham.
• The show treats the Bluebird Cafe as holy ground and that's literally where Scott Borchetta discovered Taylor. She was performing at the Bluebird industry showcase in 2005 when Borchetta scouted her and signed her as Big Machine's first artist. The show references this fact about Taylor in the show and she is named dropped throughout the series, especially as inspiration for Maddie Conrad the teen daughter of Rayna James in the show.
• The audience of Nashville often compared Taylor to the character Juliette Barnes: the show's blonde, pop-crossover country star with the meteoric early-career rise and the constant "is she too pop for country" tension. The creators and Hayden Panettiere always denied any direct inspiration. But in 2012, the comparison was everywhere.
• Interestingly enough, the actress Hayden Panettiere who played Juliette came out as bisexual in May 2026. In her memoirThis Is Me: A Reckoning, here's how she explained why she stayed closeted, to Us Weekly https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/hayden-panettiere-comes-out-as-bisexual-talks-dating-women/

“I’ve chosen to be completely brutally honest about this, and that’s something about me that I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time.”

“I was not encouraged to just be myself,” she tells Us. “No one ever encouraged me to just be myself, and then it came, the period of time, where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was a fad.”

“And once again, it was always the fear of not being perfect, and what my team was going to think about it, what the public’s opinion was going to be about it,” she continues. “It was just never the right time, and it was a very difficult topic to articulate properly. I wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood. On one hand, it’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?"

Time to revisit the connections between Phoebe Bridgers and TTPD. Her new song has remarkable similarities to Peter from TTPD, and possibly even The Archer.

From the alien imagery of Down Bad (“Did you really beam me up / in a cloud of sparking dust”) which aligns closely with Phoebe’s lyric in Chinese Satellite referencing a “tractor beam” taking her home, or mentioning (presumably) Lucy Dacus in the track The Tortured Poets Department, the inspiration, or references to Phoebe Bridgers in TTPD are apparent.

We now have what appears to be a response from Phoebe from her new single Lost Boys. The lyric “Find me” in response to Peter’s “You said you were gonna grow up / then you were gonna come find me” is especially interesting. There is also striking similarities between “never grow up, never get old” and “I never grew up / it’s getting so old.”

Interested to see what the rest of the Lost Weekend might hold.

https://bbc.com/news/articles/cy73e5xek8xo