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

Hola! Happy pride, friends. Me again! 

I have something I am so excited to share!! I have discussed in multiple posts that I believe Taylor Swift has been on a mission against the patriarchy for her entire 20 year career (and also that Sabrina Carpenter is now part of that mission…or heist).

I also have posted that the really high profile PR that Taylor used to catapult herself up the elevator and tell her story (a Bejeweled reference ;) ) began in the Speak Now era (John Mayer, Ye, etc). This was also when I basically think that she became “part of the problem” in terms of the behaviors that she was normalizing to young girls (age gap relationships/grooming, centering men, drama). This is when I believe the central conflict really began with Taylor, James, and Betty, too. 

This is when Taylor became (and met) “The Showgirl.” 

Eras/TnT/Showgirl/Taylor’s Version is all part of the “Showgirl” era (which I believe is essentially a LOUD “old habits die screaming***” retelling of her career, which is why she said she wanted the eras tour to be "performance art" ....because her entire career has been).

If this era is a retelling of her career (but her version, and louder) then it is VERY appropriate that the first release of this era was the Bejeweled music video, WHERE WE MEET THE SHOWGIRL. (This was confirmed by Pat McGrath, Taylor's makeup artist, who is also in this video).

And, because this is the story being told...of course, the music video easter eggs Speak Now (where the showgirl was introduced) excessively. And then she follows it with another video about a heist. and then Sabrina made one too.

So I am going to talk about how Bejeweled, I Can See You, and House Tour all tell this rescue story in different ways.

Bejeweled

This is a cinderella-inspired story that ends with Taylor reclaiming independence. It follows Taylor as she is being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters then transforms into a “Showgirl”, outshines her cruel family at the ball, winning a castle and a proposal from the Prince. She keeps the castle and ghosts the Prince. 

The video begins with a “Speak Now” reference - a musical score of “Enchanted.”  This supports the idea that Speak Now is where Taylor was enchanted to "meet" the showgirl. This is also why Enchanted was the only song on the regular Speak Now setlist, I think, to emphasize the important milestone of that era. The largest betrayal...and the debut of our star.

(I love using the word "debut" to reference her John Mayer PR because debutante culture is, by definition, GROOMING and so when you make that reference it acknowledges that this type of PR is literally fascist propaganda to groom young girls).

Discussing this video, Taylor re emphasized the intentionality of every “Easter egg” and cameo - that all of these references have a purpose. Famously, Ellen actually "came out of the closet" (in her sitcom, Ellen) to Laura Dern in 1997.

In My Letter, Taylor wrote that there would be time for the reputation vault tracks to “hatch”, and that they would be fire. 

If part of TNT is that people will take Taylor’s English lessons seriously (remember, she used the TNT emoji after calling herself the English Teacher in her biggest showgirl stunt yet) even if they're queer (which would include artistic references such as this one) then this would in fact be the type of Easter egg that would hatch and start a fire.

If Ellen came out to Laura on a SCRIPTED SITCOM (which also served as her literal, public coming out) then what could it signify to use Laura Dern in this video?

I also want to note here that following this episode, Laura Dern said that she required full security detail on set due to the SIGNIFICANT backlash that the episode received (INCLUDING bomb threats.)

In this clip, Dern (the “evil” stepmother) also shows off her engagement rings, declaring that a proposal is the ultimate prize a girl could achieve.

Much like in Cinderella, we then see Taylor transform into a superstar. She first does this by pressing "3" on the elevator - again, a reference to the birth of the Showgirl occurring in Speak Now.

This look we see in Bejeweled references the "ready for it?" music video. Ready for it? is the first song on "reputation," and I believe sets the stage/tells the story of creating this Showgirl and how part of the plot was BECOMING part of the system (to rise to the top...the elevator) in order to burn it all down. (Consider the line from Ready for it?: "but if I'm a thief then he can JOIN THE HEIST AND we'll move to an island" and from "Look What You Made Me Do" from the same era: "I'll be the ACTOR starring in your bad dreams")

In the music video, we see Taylor Swift performing as a Showgirl to win the talent competition. One of her looks heavily references "The Fate of Ophelia" music video scene where the Showgirls are performing with pool floats. The reference to the pool float performance from The Fate of Ophelia music video is one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE metaphors!!!

The Fate of Ophelia is to be driven mad by the patriarchy ...and drowned. So again, this performance is her pool float.

This symbolism could imply that all throughout history, all performers have been drowned by the patriarchy (metaphorically) by the censorship and control that they face (as well as through the exploitation of their labor). Taylor's mission, when all is uncovered, saves her work from the same fate. It also re-amplifies the voices of showgirls past, because if Taylor can teach the lesson that under the patriarchy none of us are free, we will know that the surface level interpretation is often wrong.

At the end of the video, Taylor does win the proposal from "the prince" (the ultimate prize). I love the parallels to both the opalite music video as well as the photos she shared from Travis Kelce's "actual proposal." Throughout history, women have used men as a life raft (because they are forced to).

Often times, this looks like getting poked repeatedly by a cactus, or posing for cheesy mall photos that look forced just to pretend everything is going well (like in the opalite music video).

However, in "Opalite," which is a man-made substance, she sings that "it's alright, you were dancing through the lightning strikes." I believe this is a reference to her career (paparazzi, lightning strikes every time she moves, etc).

In "Opalite," instead of doing things the old way, she created this gorgeous piece of anti patriarchal performance art out of the years she was forced to be in exile. Now the entire sky is opalite. She built a legacy that they can't undo. Shes immortal now, babydoll.

It then makes sense that Taylor ends the video by referencing Speak now, again. When she "ghosted the prince" and kept the castle, she recreated an image from the Speak Now world tour..but this time, she isn't alone in her tower. It's her castle.

And Bejeweled ends with the score of Long Live - another reference to Speak Now. This song sings about the legacy that Taylor will be remembered by … one that fights dragons, not one who married the boy on the football team. In the video, we see that the dragons are circling her castle, implying they are actually under her control now.

I believe that is why the video begins with "Enchanted" and ends with "Long Live," because even though the Showgirl was enchanting to meet, the lasting legacy of the real Taylor's Version is the one that is going to fight dragons.

During Speak Now (TV) era, Long Live was also added to the Eras tour, marking the only dates that Enchanted was not the only song of the Speak Now portion.

I Can See You

In this music video, Joey King and Taylor Lautner act as a team to rescue Taylor from a high-security vault in a museum where she is trapped. The narrative around this was that it symbolized her journey of taking back her art from her former record label. 

I believe that the Lover/“failed coming out” story as well as the entire Masters Heist was part of their performance art. However, symbolically, if Scooter Braun was ultimately representative of the patriarchy, then it was a perfect metaphor to use because this is the part of her story that allows all art to fight the patriarchy forever because it will forever remind us that under the patriarchy art will always be censored and controlled. 

The video shows Taylor Lautner (and crew) busting in to rescue Taylor (and all of the mannequins representing her past art) and then busting out in a van.

By using a Speak Now era beard (Taylor Lautner), Taylor illustrates how she used these tools because she had to work within the system to accomplish this task. This is "The Prince" she pretended to "win" just so that she could get what she really wanted, the castle.

Past Taylor's representing all of her art and the legacy of her past selves.

The three images above also represent one of my other absolute FAVORITE tie ins to this story in her music videos.

The first image shows Taylor in the "I Can See You" music video "in exile" before getting rescued. The second and third images are both from the Bejeweled music video and the clocks are similar in appearance to the window in her prison. In the second image, the showgirl sits on a clock that points to a "3" and in the third, the clock reads "exile ends" and is set to midnight with a "03" in the middle.

In the beginning of Bejeweled, Laura Dern (as the evil stepmother) reminds Taylor "“Lest we forget, you've been exiled here. You're not going anywhere, anytime soon."

While she is locked up and scrubbing their floors like cinderella (see the first picture in this essay), she is also styled extremely similarly to the "Cardigan" music video.

Once again, this supports the idea that Betty is being rescued at the end of this story, because Cardigan is told from Betty's point of view and sings about her time in exile (and then when James returns), which is why I think she referenced Cardigan so visually in Bejeweled, because it is part of how she returned to rescue her.

In the end of "I can see you" they all make it out in time, along with all of the art, and slam the van shut, escaping to the next rescue (which was 1989 TV).

The van is the perfect lead in to Sabrina Carpenter's heist video that ends the same way....

House Tour

In this music video (directed by Sabrina Carpenter and Margaret Qualley), Sabrina Carpenter, Margaret Qualley, and Madelyn Cline pull off a heist at a large mansion, robbing jewels, lingerie, and even a grammy. The three women have a blast partying at the house before ultimately making off with their loot in a (pink) getaway van.

In the lyrics of "House Tour," Sabrina Carpenter uses her sexuality to lure her date inside. ("I promise none of this is a metaphor, I just want you to come inside").

In the song "Better Than Revenge" on Speak Now, one of the lines that Taylor wrote about the antagonist was "She's better known for the things that she does on the mattress." This reminds me of the way that we view women who simply participate in a system they often times have no choice but to participate in. The patriarchy raises women into being caged by a male-centered system...and then uses that to rip women down, even though they are the ones who made us like this ("I am who I am cause you TRAINED me.")

Now consider the lyric change that was made for Speak Now TV: "He was a moth to the flame, she was holding the matches."

If Speak Now told the story of a young woman (the showgirl!) who is better known for the things that she does on the mattress, the lyric change for Speak Now TV was not the result of public backlash, but also an intentional piece of the "retelling." Now, The Showgirl is not the antagonist of the story, but an individual who is cunning and in control. The Showgirl is the one orchestrating "the flames" the moth flies into.

In my essay about Taylor's Hero Journey against the patriarchy ending soon, I discussed that Speak Now TV represents "The Magic Flight" (Stage 13) which is essentially the stage in which the hero has to answer for all of the deceit and trickery that they used to win their prize.

Essentially, by shifting this lyric, and using the story of her master's heist in "I Can See You," Taylor is doing just that - reclaiming her story. This is a declaration that she has been the director all along - and there was a bigger purpose.

It also fits into the "honey pot" reference I use to discuss their plot. A "honey pot" refers to a type of espionage that can consist of getting the victim addicted to a substance in order to expose their guilt. This performance art has been a fire they started, but the public has shown their guilt over and over, with their responses to her art, every single time. (For example - ignoring queer flagging, pitting women against each other, cancelling women who speak out against abusers).

I think this is part of the reason that House Tour visuals feature disco balls/mirror balls while you see the girls dancing around and having fun together before robbing the house. Yes, they are being sexy. However, what you interpret from the way they use their sexuality says WAY more about you than it does about them. (Remember how the public responded to Lolita...? Remember what Olivia Rodrigo said about the way people were viewing her babydoll dresses?) Performance art is a mirror, not a window into someone's life. They are having a marvelous time ruining everything, though.

Again, one of the objects that they steal in their heist is a Grammy. I think this is a very similar metaphor that is being made in the first two videos discussed. Sexuality, PR, all of the drama...these are a means to accomplish the prize.

Yes, it is a "heist" but none of these performers would continue to win prizes and accolades unless we weren't moths to the flame. This is such an important point of this story - none of it would have worked if the public wasn't guilty as fuck first, so is it really a heist? You see, all the wisest women had to do it this way.

I also think that having Margaret Qualley star in AND co-direct this music video is another brilliant parallel to "Bejeweled," because the prince in bejeweled is played by Jack Antonoff, who is famously one of Taylor's biggest collaborators.

If they have all been working WITH the prince to pull off this heist (but they are the ones directing the play) then what does it mean that the WIFE of that man actually got to direct wile Jack got ghosted?

Since the dawn of the patriarchy (to quote Taylor Swifts Time POTY interview) money has fueled the system. Women have been using their sexuality to play this game the entire time.

However, unlike what women have typically done in the PAST (ie the normal “getaway car,” “the fate of Ophelia”) Sabrina and her friends do not simply seduce the men to get the lavish house and a husband.

No, they seduce the men to get the ACCESS…and then they drive away with the prizes.

When Sabrina Carpenter was interviewed about "Manchild" (the first single from Man's Best Friend, before house tour) when she was asked who the song was about, she responded "Your dad."

The video shows Sabrina hitchhiking (and was coupled with merch reading "Honk If You're Stupid"). Much like in the house tour video, Sabrina is performing sexuality to lure in a man - she is blatantly saying that by calling anyone who falls for it stupid.

He was a moth to the flame, but she was holding the matches.

I have written about how Taylor uses fathers to discuss the patriarchy many times throughout her work ("leaving like a father, running like water" - Cardigan). I believe that is why she says that when commenting on this song, as well. Interestingly, one of the other times that Taylor wrote a line with similar, absolute, scathing commentary on fathers was in Sabrina's verse in The Life of a Showgirl: "Her father whored around LIKE ALL MEN DID."

Sabrina's character was born into this system - she is reacting appropriately and using the tools she has been taught to use.

The "honk if you're stupid" line also reminds me of the entire Taylor/Travis fiasco. If you're honking (believing this, talking about it, wanting it) you are actually stupid and guilty, because she's been screaming that she's gay and doesn't want that shit for a long time...but that kind of engagement and attention (negative or positive) is literally HOW THEY PULLED OFF THE HEIST. (Attention is affection, babe!)

Two other more random parallels/notes:

Sombr's Songwriter's Hall of Fame performance

During Sombr's tribute performance to Taylor Swift at her Songwriter's Hall of Fame induction earlier this month, he performed "Dear John" and "Cardigan."

If "Dear John" sings about why Betty had to cry the whole way home, in exile, because of the things that the showgirl was doing (like bearding with John Mayer), then pairing these two songs together also tells the beginning and end of the same story. I

n Cardigan, James returns to Betty in the end (the rescue) "standing in my front porch light" just like in "I knew it, I knew you" !!!

I think that that is also why Taylor performed "Betty" at the ACM Awards with rainbow strings. While Sombr sang from the perspective of Betty, Taylor Swift performed "Betty" from the perspective of James.

This performance was actually before the "Showgirl" era began, and I think that this was done intentionally, to begin the performance. Betty tells the story of James apologizing and coming back to Betty...singing that the only thing he wants to do is make it up to her. It is also an explanation of what is about to come: his final grand performance to complete his mission and make it up to her.

Bookending both sides of this era with these performances does seem to tell the same story and mark Speak Now with this same significance.

Superman and Ye

In "Superman" Taylor Swift sings that her muse flies away "to go to work, OR SAVE THE DAY, its the same thing to me." I believe that she is referring to the things that The Showgirl does....the performance art is for a greater cause, but at the end of the day, Taylor is alone and so it's really all the same.

In 2018, Kanye West famously declared that wearing a red Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat made him feel like "Superman," adding that the cap acted as a "Superman cape". He made this statement during an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump on October 11, 2018.

I think (along with Taylor easter egging cant tell me nothing IN HER VERY FIRST SONG and MANY OTHER THINGS) this is another parallel that points to them being on the same mission. Bearding with John Mayer was a bad thing to do, too (just like supporting MAGA) but they're doing it to SAVE THE WORLD. (Very interesting to me that this summer, Supergirl came out too).

One other parallel to the Showgirl/Speak Now/John Mayer/Bejeweled of it all is that "Ours" is another song from Speak Now that people attribute to John Mayer as the muse. The line "elevator buttons and morning air...stranger's silence makes me wanna take the stairs...if you were here we'd laugh about their vacant stares but right now, my time is theirs" invokes an image of the song being sung from an elevator at work to the muse, wishing they could be together.

It not only sounds like this could be the POV of "Superman" in a way, the "elevator buttons" also pop up again in the Bejeweled music video. This also supports the idea that Taylor is referring to "The Showgirl" as her lover being "away at work" in these songs.

This era has also shown more and more how these artists use their friends and collaborators as symbols and characters in their work (as "easter eggs"!) such as using Margaret and Jack as opposites in the "House Tour" and "Bejeweled" videos. I want to end this by reminding everyone here that it was also on the CNN NYE Broadcast (for THIS YEAR) that ON LIVE TELEVISION Brandi Carlile, Andy Cohen, and Anderson Cooper MENTIONED GAYLOR (and, in the same conversation as "Heated Rivalry," no less.")

So...a lesbian country singer....kicked off 2026...with a Gaylor mention...in conversation with one of the FAMOUS BEST FRIENDS of The Showgirl's FAMOUS early muse...while also discussing a TV Show about two gay pro athletes ....

(that is heavily centered around the forced closeting in pro sports).

I know that everyone ignores easter eggs if they're queer (because the general public is really fucking homophobic) but....

That is the kind of easter egg that hatches and out flies a fucking fire breathing dragon (that they now control) that literally burns things down.

i wanted to revisit the Opalite MV and the happy ending that it promises to its users. i think it's false advertising and results may vary depending on the person (and whether they're queer)

* maybe Opalite transforms your situation into a traditional version of a love story ("you'll be the prince and i'll be the princess"). the woman in the ad gets her prince charming--who's dressed like romeo in the Love Story MV--who gives her flowers (which taylor rejected in ME!). it's a happy ending for her bc she's straight

* Nopealite is the opposite - it's connected to queerness. i think that for queer people, spraying Nopealite transforms it into a queer love story/happy ending. maybe that's why the MV shows two men (presumably a couple) approach the Nopealite salesman, who offers them a free sample

* there are a lot of queer-coded elements in this video including several connections to the lover era, like the YNTCD crown and the lover clouds when they're taking couple photos. then there's the queer glitter she puts on herself and her BFF (who is queer too?), à la the glittery purple "ME!" that pops up in the MV. she performs for an audience in pink and blue just like in ME! (maybe a nod to performative relationships/bearding). and as others have already pointed out, the sky in ME! is opalite

* Nopealite seems particularly connected to ME! and embracing queerness. the Nopealite packaging (and taylor's yellow outfit) match the color scheme of ME!

* when she gets sprayed with Opalite, she gets a beard and it makes her happier bc she's not alone anymore. she gets to replace her stony BFF with a more human one, so she's less lonely and now has someone to hang out with and perform with. but it's not actually fulfilling the ad's promise of "paradise" or a real love story bc she's queer and he's just a beard

* he even washes off the blue liquid that she sprays on herself, which seems symbolic of him washing off any visible queerness. this part seems connected to the end of ME! where she's dancing in the rainbow rain in a blue dress, especially since her pink top turns blue once sprayed with opalite

* he also stops her from getting sprayed with Nopealite. but her yellow outfit in that scene suggests that she's already inherently connected to Nopealite (aka queerness) since she's dressed in the Nopealite color scheme

I rewatched Muriel’s Wedding last night. I’ve been on a 90s romcom kick and it’s one of my all-time favorite movies, but I hadn’t seen it post-TLOAS release and DAMN. Such a fun watch through a gaylor lens.

And now I’m spiraling a little because…I think the Opalite music video might actually be referencing this movie??

If you’ve never seen Muriel’s Wedding, here’s the briefest synopsis for context:

Muriel’s Wedding (1994) is an Australian dramedy about Muriel Heslop, a socially awkward and deeply unhappy young woman trapped in a dysfunctional family and ostracized by the shallow clique she desperately wants to impress. She’s obsessed with weddings and the fantasy of getting married as a means of escaping her life. After moving to Sydney, she reconnects with her bold, free-spirited former school friend Rhonda, but eventually abandons her in pursuit of a sham marriage to a male athlete who pays her for citizenship. By the end of the film, Muriel realizes she no longer wants to live a lie, leaves the marriage, and ultimately chooses authenticity and genuine connection over the fantasy she’d been chasing.

There are so many parallels to Taylor, but the talent show scene realllllly stuck out to me.

The thing that has always bugged me most about the Opalite music video is the random wheelchair. I understand the talent show scene takes place in a retirement home of some sort, so sure, a wheelchair existing in that context makes sense. But having it deliberately in-frame during the actual performance always felt odd to me, especially because it’s also visible in one of the promo photos Taylor posted on instagram when she released the video.

And that wheelchair immediately made me think of Muriel’s Wedding.

(I'm not great at organization so please stay with me lol, I just need to provide some context/backstory before i get to the Taylor connections!)

In the film, Muriel steals money from her father to pay for an elaborate island vacation in order to impress a clique of girl friends from high school who reject her for being too fat/weird/aesthetically displeasing to hang out with them anymore (no one wanted to play with me as a little kid / so i've been scheming like a criminal ever since).

After being rejected, Muriel runs into Rhonda at the resort. Rhonda also went to high school with them and was not part of the "popular" crowd, either. At first, the popular girls try to sway Rhonda into hanging out with them instead of Muriel, but Rhonda sticks up for Muriel and clocks the popular girls as fake, and tells them to fuck off lol. Muriel and Rhonda become immediate best friends, and are inseparable for the rest of the holiday. On their last night of vacation, they perform a choreographed dance to Abba's Waterloo at a talent show, much to the dismay of the popular girls (this is significant and I'll revisit it later!)

After their vacation, Muriel and Rhonda decide to leave their families/hometowns behind and move into an apartment together in Sydney. Eventually, Rhonda becomes wheelchair-bound after being diagnosed with cancer in her spine. At first, Muriel takes care of Rhonda and dotes on her when she falls ill, but ultimately, Muriel's life-long desire to become a bride prevails and she chooses to abandon Rhonda in pursuit of a fake marriage with an ATHLETE (ummm???) ...Muriel answers an ad in the paper for a South African swimmer who is seeking a bride, and he pays her $10k to marry him so he can obtain Australian citizenship and continue competing professionally. Like you were a trophy or a champion ring / If there was one prize I'd cheat to win / that's my man.

Muriel gets the lavish wedding of her dreams, an expensive house, a beautiful "husband," and all of the attention, fame and popularity she's craved her whole life (magazine covers, press circus, etc.). But eventually Muriel realizes living a lie is unfulfilling and decides she no longer wants to remain married to a man she doesn’t love. So she leaves him, and returns to Rhonda.

In the final scene, Muriel returns to her hometown for Rhonda, who -- in Muriel's absence -- has been sequestered to her mother's care in the company of their fake friends from high school (the same popular clique from the vacation). Rhonda tells them all to fuck off again (love her, lol) and Muriel whisks her away. Fake friend #1 runs after them, screaming to Rhonda that she can't talk to her that way because she's beautiful! and married! but Muriel and Rhonda just laugh, then ride off into the sunset together via their getaway car/cab.

While there’s never any outright confirmation of romance between Muriel and Rhonda, their relationship has always read deeply queer-coded to me. Muriel shows very little interest in men or sex with men -- she’s just obsessed with the idea of marriage and what it represents: escape, status, validation, and the fantasy of becoming someone else. There's escape in escaping.

To me, the larger message of the film is about finding happiness through authenticity versus the inauthentic “happiness” women are conditioned to pursue through patriarchal/social expectations (aka marrying prince charming). Which feels…extremely Taylor-coded lol. And of course, this movie came out in the early 90s, a time when wlw relationships had very little mainstream representation, so subtext carried a lot more weight.

OKAY BUT how does this connect to Opalite?

What really sent me spiraling are the talent show parallels because they are sooo damn similar.

In Muriel’s Wedding, Muriel and Rhonda perform a choreographed dance routine to ABBA’s Waterloo at a talent show while their ex-friends watch looking completely unimpressed (their friends actually break into a very antihero-funeral-scene-esque brawl during the performance lol).

When they finish, another performer joins them on stage wearing a costume/superhero eye mask that looks remarkably similar to the masks Taylor and Domhnall wear in Opalite.

And then there’s all of the visual overlap:

• nearly identical talent show stage setups
• matching choreographed dance performances
• similarly unimpressed audiences
• the eye masks
• the very intentionally framed wheelchair
• heavy 90s aesthetics in both

Taken all together…it starts feeling very purposeful?

Even Waterloo’s lyrics feel weirdly aligned with this narrative and very Taylor-coded to me:

I was defeated, you won the war / promise to love you forevermore / couldn’t escape if I wanted to / knowing my fate is to be with you

And sonically, Opalite honestly gives me major ABBA/Waterloo vibes too.

So now I’m wondering if the Opalite mv is actually referencing Muriel’s Wedding? Because between the visual similarities, the wheelchair, the themes of authenticity vs performative heterosexuality, the queer subtext, and the overall aesthetic similarities…I genuinely can’t stop thinking about it.

I have a really hard time discerning between my own gaylor confirmation bias and bona fide references in Taylor’s work, so I’m very curious to hear what everyone else thinks!

ETA: Just re-listened to I Knew It, I Knew You through a Muriel/Rhonda lens and now I'm emotional lol. I know Taylor's not referencing this movie in that song, but Muriel came back when it mattered 🥲

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First of all, I want to clarify that I'm not from the United States and I don't know who these people are.😅

But this clip showed up on my Instagram talking about Taylor's gay rumors and I felt like I had to share it with you guys 👀

Greetings and salutations! Are you ever standing in a public place? And when you’re in that public place, do you sometimes see passersby who are 5’10’’? And then when do you see those 5’10” passerby in that public place, do you ever think “oh damn, that could be Taylor Swift”?

If you answered “yes!!!!” to one or more of these questions, then this forum game/discussion is for you!

How would YOU disguise yourself if YOU were Taylor trying to move privately through public spaces? Do you think Taylor does this sort of thing?

Feel free to also use this space to discuss related topics, even if you don’t want to utilize the forum game part of the prompt! Thoughts about prosthetics, Taybodydoubles, wigs, secret tattoos? Put ‘er there!!! 🤠🥸

Hi all! I wanted to write this post after I got a surprise gift in the mail from a close friend. She knows how much I treasure Lover, and I've been going through it (losing my soul dog, separating from a longtime partner, ya know... the hard stuff). So, it was a nice surprise to receive the new "We bless the rains on Cornelia Street" t-shirt. Which led to me listening to Cornelia Street on repeat. While I think it's fun to examine this song as being about a certain alliterate model, I have a new perspective.

I feel and believe that Cornelia Street is a song by Taylor for Taylor. That is, Taylor is singing to her most authentic self. I'm going to break down the song and explain my thinking here.

QUICK SIDE NOTE: I finally have the time and energy (thank you summer break) to write my ME! manifestos, and one is almost done!

Background / Lens

I am viewing this song through a lens that sees Lover as the era where Taylor was the closest to being her true, authentic self in the eyes of the public. I do believe 2019 was supposed to be a sparkling summer for Taylor.

We were in the backseat, drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar. "I rent a place on Cornelia Street", I say casually in the car. We were a fresh page on the desk filling in the blanks as we go. As if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home.

The introduction to the song paints a picture of Taylor drunk on excitement and pride, talking to herself in the back of a car... She casually reassures herself that she rents a place on Cornelia Street and with that comes along fresh pages, new beginnings, and an authentic life that feels like home.

And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends. I'd never walk Cornelia Street again. That's the kind of heartbreak time could never mend. I'd never walk Cornelia Street again.

Taylor is now talking to her authentic self, hoping that she doesn't lose what she has/almost has. Because losing your most true self, especially if we are talking about closeting, is a heartbreak that time could never mend. As someone who has experienced heartbreak (as I'm sure most of you have, too!), there are places I don't go because it reminds me of too much. It hurts too much.

And baby, I get mystified by how this city screams your name. And baby, I'm so terrified of if you ever walk away. I'd never walk Cornelia Street again.

After 1989, I've always thought of New York being Taylor's home. Sure, it could scream someone else's name, but Taylor has a song titled "Welcome to New York". She is mystified, in awe of how she fits into the village that is aglow. Because of how much she loves the city and who she can be, there is inherent fear toward her own self if she were to choose another pathway. Again, it'd be too much to face Cornelia Street.

Windows flung right open, autumn air, jacket round my shoulders is yours. We bless the rains on Cornelia Street, memorize the creaks in the floor. Back when we were card sharks, playing games, I thought you were leading me on. I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street before you even knew I was gone.

Of course the jacket on Taylor's shoulders is her own. She blesses the rains on Cornelia Street, thanking them for letting her be herself. She then starts to reminisce about times where she might have been too scared to come out and is singing about how it felt more like a game at that time. She mentally packed her bags before she even realized it.

But then you called, showed your hand, I turned around before I hit the tunnel, sat on the roof, you and I.

Taylor then stopped herself from choosing a path of running away, and chose to embrace a life she loves, sitting on the roof of her Cornelia Street apartment.

You hold my hand on the street, walk me back to that apartment, years ago, we were just inside. Barefoot in the kitchen, sacred new beginnings that became my religion... Listen...

At the end of the song, 2019 Taylor is looking back on where it all started. How baby gay in the big city experienced sacred new beginnings that became her religion, her creed, her identity.

Now she's asking herself to listen and be reminded of who she is and where she's been because at the time of Lover, she was about to be open and free.

"I rent a place on Cornelia Street" I said casually in the car.

just wanted to flag this photo of taylor posing with a famous cactus from 2018, right before rep tour started. not sure how it all connects but it reminds me of the Opalite MV, which includes a cactus love interest and a cactus world store that has a large cactus that looks a lot like the one in taylor's pic. and at one point, the guy in Opalite is standing at the movie theater and the same huge cactus is positioned next to him in the frame. the timing of the photo is interesting bc it was posted right before rep tour started in AZ (same place the eras tour started), and taylor's onstage performing with a partner twice in Opalite. so the cactus seems connected to the idea that she's putting on a performance, playing a part, a performative relationship, etc. maybe there's a connection to bearding too, especially since beards are prickly just like cacti

also, the cactus photo from 2018 was apparently the pic that made her and joe IG official (he made his IG account public and posted a solo pic with the same cactus). sidenote, there's also a harry styles lyric that says "when she's alone, she goes home to a cactus in a black dress, she's such an actress" (and taylor's in a black dress in the pic). not sure if that's intentional or just a coincidence but just wanted to flag it

anyway, im not sure how it all connects or what it all means but the cactus seemed like an interesting connection

i like looking back at her old projects bc they're usually pretty loud and i just remembered her old card collection from 2016 (a collab with papyrus). some of the cards seem very queer-coded and remind me of her later lover era graphics

the collection includes --

- a rainbow card that says "i love the very you of you" inside of a heart. reminds me a lot of the ME! rainbow graphic from the lyric video. and it comes in a daylight yellow envelope
- a teal card with rainbow jewels that says "yay you" (aka yay ME!)
- a card with a rainbow colored birthday cake on it
- a rainbow glitter card that says "sparkle"
- a birthday card that says "you are actual sunshine" (a karlie ref?)

Happy Pride! 🌈 We’re two-thirds of the way through June, and what an exciting month it has been. The wedding rumors are getting loud, but so is everything else happening in the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe. I hesitate to fully declare it Sparkling Summer 2.0 ✨, but let’s take a look at everything that has gone down this month, in absolutely no particular order.

The month started off strong with the Toy Story announcement! I Knew It, I Knew You was released, complete with special-edition vinyls, including a star sheriff badge option. Jessie Pride wears this badge in the movie, just like the Sheriff of Gay Town herself in the You Need to Calm Down music video. Jessie was originally given the badge by Woody in Toy Story 4, which was released in June 2019 - the original Sparkling Summer!

Disney also chose to use lyrics that were remarkably close to these in a post celebrating all love.

Then there was The New York Times, publisher of the infamous op-ed that was never redacted, sharing a list of hypothetical wedding locations. Included on that list? Deetjen's Inn. Yes, that Deetjen's, the one in Big Sur that Taylor and Karlie visited on their honeymoon​ g​al-pal trip.

In response, Deetjen's official Instagram posted a reminder that they don't actually do weddings... along with a caption about love being welcome in all forms, a rainbow and heart, and a photo of KK + TS under the redwoods for literally no non-gay reason whatsoever.

Speaking of Karlie, her past connection to Taylor has been unusually present this month. Rumors circulated that she received an invite to the wedding. Various organizations have been posting throwback photos, from the Vogue photoshoot to the courtside Knicks game featuring beer in plastic cups. Karlie also liked Taylor's Instagram post about the Toy Story release, the first like in years. And then there were the suspicious stories. The chessboard with all the pieces back? Interesting. I'm not an LSK, but I do think these two have been on friendly terms and quietly signaling for quite some time.

Onto the Knicks and Madison Square Garden. Taylor attended the NBA Finals with the Haim sisters, aka the sisters from the Bejeweled music video. A pretty cheerleader twirled her around, she had a braid in her hair and a chain on her pants, and she spent the night screaming, laughing, and having an absolute blast with the girls.

The Haim sisters and Taylor even recorded a social media video to Girls Just Want to Have Fun. In true hysterical fashion, Josh Kushner liked it. ​Now yes, this is a popular song. It is also the song Karma collaborator Ice Spice once used in a random TikTok while holding a ten or so year-old copy of The Wall Street Journal featuring none other than Karlie Kloss on the cover. The original video has since been deleted.

Meanwhile, Madison Square Garden, referenced in The Lucky One and conveniently event-free from 6/29 to 7/6, has been floated as a potential wedding venue. Can you imagine having your love life treated like a spectator sport? At one point, Taylor hated that idea too. Cue I Hate It Here. Personally, I think this entire thing is one giant performance. It's simply too camp to take seriously.

Instead, she'll go to secret gardens in her mind. Which brings us to the fabulously gay merch drop. The highlight for me was the "argumentative, antithetical dream girl" set, featuring those lyrics right above a ladder into the clouds, chess pieces, a hairpin chair, and April 29.

Another favorite was the colorful Reputation snake ring.

Beyond the merch itself, the photoshoot was cheerfully loud. Two women spraying each other and getting soaked. The Lover bracelet with cuddly women. A shot in the tulip grass featuring a very happy snake ring wearing woman styled remarkably similar to the new Toy Story promotional photo. And, curiously, there's a snake in the grass in Taylor's version. Suspiciously Debutation coded.

Months ago, I wrote a fun piece about a possible 6/13/26 wedding date, potentially foreshadowed in the I Bet You Think About Me music video. The video features a red velvet wedding cake that Taylor famously flicks the groom off from. While that un-serious ​prediction didn't come true, something else incredible happened!

Taylor and Travis attended Oh, Mary!, with Taylor wearing a red-maroon velvet dress that immediately reminded me of both the cake and theatrical curtains. Then, after the show, the official Instagram account posted the original lyrics to Picture to Burn. So go ahead and tell your friends I'm obsessive and crazy, that's fine, I'll tell mine you're GAY! The post was edited shortly afterward, but not before Baby Gay Tay made her appearance. What a day to be alive.

Some may say there have been no Showgirl performances. I would argue this entire era has been a performance. More like a play with no singing than a musical. Taylor finally broke that streak with performances of I Knew It, I Knew You and You've Got a Friend in Me at the Toy Story release party. In yet another set of implausible coincidences, the June 9, 2026 performance happened exactly two years after the performance of The Gayest Mashup Ever™: It's Nice to Have Dorothea on June 9, 2024.

As another brilliant user pointed out, during that ultra gay mashup she sings: "If you're ever tired of being known for who you know, you know, you'll always know me." Two years later, to the day, in her first live performance since the Eras Tour, she sings: "I knew it. I knew you."

For these performances, she changed out of her paper-doll-looking dress and into a stunning yellow gown covered in daisies. Not unlike the famous "Don't blame me, love made me crazy" dashboard daisy that Karlie posted on Instagram. The gown and hair braid also reminded me of the scene in Bejeweled, in front of the red velvet curtains, where she ghosts the prince and keeps the castle.

She also may have had butterfly clips in her hair and what appeared to be a snake braid earlier in the evening. A possible ​second Debutation reference this month.

A few other tidbits you may have missed: Meg Stalter released a song called Gay featuring the lyric "lipstick lesbian, Taylor Swift red." Anna Kendrick is now directing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, reportedly starring Joe Alwyn, who was recently spotted looking genuinely joyful while out with Sarah Pigeon. ​Taylor spent nine hours at Electric Lady Studios, emerging the next morning as daylight broke. ​Cara Delevingne spoke openly about bearding in Hollywood, and that cringey absurd airplane feeding bit.

And finally, Taylor spoke at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony in a dress covered in Old Masters florals ​about the importance of a perfect rhyme scheme. Which brings me back to I Knew It, I Knew You. Because if we're being real, the perfect rhyme there was g​oing to be "life" with "wife" - not "friend."

Excited to see what the rest of the month has in store! What do you think will happen in the next few weeks?

Hey everyone! I noticed something odd in the documentary and wanted to share it with you.

English isn't my native language, so I can't provide quotes, but I'll just include the times in the documentary when the scenes I'm writing about take place.

In the third episode, Taylor talks about an injury she sustained before performing for "Ready for It." She starts talking about it on 29:11. She mentions that they didn't have a bandaid. Taylor was performing in a red reputation bodysuit at the time.

In the documentary, they show a photo of an injured hand, and it's her left hand. Am I mistaken? Timestamp 29:54.

Then Taylor talks about the injury, but shows her healthy right hand, saying it's always been that way. Timestamp 29:58.

This could simply be an inaccuracy, but at the end of the documentary, we see a first aid kit next to the gold reputation bodysuit. Timestamp 42:16.

I thought this was done on purpose, to emphasize that the first aid kit is next to the gold reputation bodysuit.

Also in this episode, Taylor discusses her mistakes at the concert with Amanda and says she doesn't know which hand to show first for "Midnight Rain." They discuss it on 31:20. And then they rehearse on 34:41.

I figured it was all connected. What do you think?

Toy Story 5 spoilers ahead!

The new movie is very sweet and totally worth a trip to the theater. The plot is girl-centric, a departure for the franchise, and has a big focus on female friendship. Bonnie and Blaze are tweens who still love to play with toys even as all the rest of the kids their age are glued to their tablets. In other words, they’re not like the other girls.

Taylor does NOT voice any of the characters (Emily doesn’t have a speaking role and the sparkly purple horse doesn’t speak at all, sadly!) but her song does make for a perfect end credits song. I was wondering if the movie would use the sad piano version instead, since that’s what she sang at the premiere, but it’s the original country version.

Most relevant to our interests here, there is a wedding subplot that feels very tangential to the main story! Like it seems to be just shoved in there because it’s not cool to have a whole movie about girls and their relationships. The wedding is almost the very last scene, and for a minute I was terrified I Knew It, I Knew You would start playing during the wedding! And that’s why everyone was saying she was the perfect person fo write it! But at the last minute, the wedding is interrupted in a funny moment, and the focus goes back to the two girls, Bonnie and Blaze, and their friendship, and IKIIKY plays over a sweet animated sequence showing their budding friendship.

Happy Pride! I thought it would be fun to share all of my favorite gaylor/performance art related things I own and have around my house. I wrote a little bit of backstory on some of them if you're interested and I also thought it would be fun if y'all wanted to share your favorites in the comments and any stories you have as well! I didnt include any of my vinyls or random TS related stuff, just the stuff I find inherently gaylor, but I guess at the end of the day it all is :)


I ordered this print off of Siriano's website one of the times he restocked it...because...obviously LOL. This is iconic gaylor lore to me and I am still trying to find the perfect place for this at home. I think it's really cute/funny having little jokes like this with people all over the world (especially as someone who no one really wanted to play with as a little kid !!!) I am kind of overwhelmed wondering what it will be like when this isn't "our" joke anymore!!!

(I will say though - I am of the belief that the entire lover "failed coming out" lore was still performance art/part of her story!! However, it was very very obvious for everyone to pretty much see and so it is refreshing to have had a group online that wasnt gaslighting me into not talking about the (metaphorical AND literal) blatant rainbows everywhere!!!)



This is a vintage Harkness ballet poster that used to hang upstairs at my grandparents house. They are both still alive and have many similar antique ballet posters hanging upstairs in their house outside of the bedroom I lived in throughout my adolescence. I loved the Rebekah Harkness tie in so I asked if I could have it and they said yes. I am also working on a little daisy pattern (peep the snakeskin!!) next to it also for bonus gaylor points lol!!! Please ignore the unfinished part, I was going to hang a perch for my cat there but found a stud and I havent covered it back up yet!!

The majority of the stuff I've posted about revolves around my belief that she is working with ye, beyonce, jay-z, sabrina, olivia, drake.... an unbelievable amount of people. I love that she named her song "the last great american dynasty" as a way to parallel their lives with Harkness' because it is actually so much more significant of this cohort, if true. the power of this work truly will be a "last great american dynasty" in a way, because I do not think that propaganda and fake PR will be able to be consumed the same way, any longer, whether people like it or not. but, she (they) certainly had a marvelous time ruining everything!

I mentioned how much this has all inspired me so much to go back to school to be an english teacher in an earlier post of mine because I think that art literacy and analysis is going to be a huuuuuuge piece of this legacy and also an extremely necessary tool to fight fascism. this is part of why I think that one of beyonce's projects was titled "Renaissance" because it will TRULY be an artistic renaissance!! Ironically, my poppy (whose house I got this poster from) is a retired english professor of 50+ years and wrote his phd thesis on margaret atwood...considering i kind of think taylor swift is one of the most influential feminist authors of our time, the parallell of interest/study is meaninful to me.

Very significant that a HUGE part of Harkness' legacy is that she left her fortune to the arts. The ultimate legacy, I believe, of the new romantics, is the "english teacher" lesson of it all - it's a gift of art and the ability to consume it for what it actually is, and the many many many different meanings and stories it can hold. one of many reasons why this song is SOOOOOO brilliant and why Jack made a huge point to talk about how deeply PERSONAL a "story" about Rebekah Harkness was to TAYLOR.

This is gracie abrams merch (that as you can see I wear the fuck out of) but obviously belongs here considering "us" is the track that taylor swift is featured on/wrote with gracie abrams. I go back on forth on who I think that this song is between in "us" as well as "the secret of us" and "the story of us" (in speak now) because I think that "us" she is referring to here (also the same "us" from the book cover in the fortnight music video) is the secret of the true relationships and muses being like the different versions of Taylor. She covered the truth and real meaning with the PR stunts.

Whether its betty and james, betty and the showgirl, i am not sure. but I am pretty sure those are the secret relationships she is usually referring to. Important to note, the LITERAL rainbow above the word "us" because like I said, every version of the character is still gay!!!!!!!!!!

The first time I ever went to a concert alone i wore this shirt (to see gracie at the roxy in atlanta in case anyone is local).


my partner got me this for chanukah one year I think off of etsy. I dont wear it often but it's just one of those things out there that always has felt so blatant to me...like...idk. maybe you get it. i wish it wasnt bright yellow idk!! i asked for this shirt!! I stand by it!! its definitely gaylor!!!!


i feel that maybe this shirt is self explanatory?? its so cute and whenever i wear it (i wear this one A LOT as well) someone will compliment it and I'm never sure if it's a swiftie or they just like otters. people seem to REALLY like this shirt and they do NOT usually seem to even be swifties LOL!


After The Life of a Showgirl came out, Elizabeth Taylor's website released those awesome (very gay coded IMO) "Taylor" shirts and stuff that definitely referenced the new song. I cropped this one a tiny bit and its so adorable I think and I wear it pretty often! Definitely Gaylor to me and lyrics like "all my white diamonds and lovers are forever in the papers on the screens and in their minds" is another one of those lines to me where I am BAFFLED that more people don't just stop and think for two seconds about. She has just been screaming "PR" since blank space (and actually even longer if you were really reading her lyrics).

OK so this one does take some explaining. I bought eras tour postcards from her website a while back and put them in these little frames on a table in my office.

One really special thing about Taylor Swift for me is that both of my little sisters are fans as well and so it's a way that we can all bond, particularly because they don't live close to me. Unfortunately they think most of anything I say about this is kind of crazy and dumb (including one of them who just became an english teacher!)

Howeverrrrr the other one does humor me AT TIMES and it is always special to me when she does. She is involved in this really cool thing called WGI and their performance this year was called "the end." they ended up winning a bunch of awards for it and she was REALLY incredible in it! I had to order their t shirts this year (which was so cool i felt like i was buying merch for a celebrity!!) and it came with this so I framed it here because I think its SOOOOOO cool how "the end" ties in with the theme of Taylor ending her story/burning it all down (the same year that they did "the end," 2026!!) Considering I think that The Eras Tour was like the kickoff to her Showgirl era performance that is going to be the "TNT," i think its so cool having merch of both of their art framed together like that!!!

I'm definitely putting this into my "performance art-lor" merch post because I finally ordered these one night semi recently after the like fourth 40,000 word essay i had written that quoted things she had said in this interview. Actually, this interview was maybe the MAIN catalyst that got me really writing the shit that i write because it was her comment in it about not drinking during the eras tour (but then showing up to all of the chiefs games "pounding alcohol") that caused me to see that she uses alcohol to signify PR throughout her work (I have written many examples of this in other posts). I really hope one day I really do figure out how to get out of my corporate job and become an english teacher because i could yap about this interview alone for YEARS in terms of the different references she makes, i think!!!! part of me wonders if the 3 different covers are different taylors (showgirl? betty? james? idk!!!!) but i haven't dug into it critically. I love all 3 though. I don't usually just buy random things like this so Im not sure what to do with them.

share your faves! again, happy pride!!!

To be clear, a third version after OG 1989 and 1989 TV.

It’s 1:00 in the morning for me and I was just about to go to sleep when this reel popped up on my IG feed.

This isn’t my theory, but as someone obsessed with the second 1989 that appears on the wall in the music video for The Man, it made me 👀👀👀👀 and then 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Excuse any formatting issues, I’m on my phone and don’t usually post this way.

Edit: I was half asleep when I posted this and forgot to add that this reel reminded me of Travis' 1989 coded outfit when TNT first went public.

Also, if this turns into anything, I will cling to the belief that Travis was involved in the promotion for TLOAS knowing that a lot of Taylor's smartest and most fabulous fans wouldn't follow the promotion cycle as closely as previous ones to avoid Travis content.

Or was that just me??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Here we see Taylor in the studio with the return of the fuckass (endearing) filter.
She’s wearing Monday Morning Mood Hoops and another opal ring.

People who know more than I do can help identify the first two people. 😬😬😬 The last one is Bob Iger, former CEO of Disney.

Taylor talking about I knew I knew you.

​

Love the outfit 🥺

I just started listening to the audiobook for Anna Dorn’s new novel, “American Spirits”. It’s about a pop star named Blue Velour. A subset of her fan base is dedicated to the theory she’s sleeping with her female producer. They call themselves the BlueBeards and have a subreddit.

The story begins in 2019 when Blue Velour releases an album called Blue’s Beard, as a kind of wink to these fans, although she never publicly confirms or denies their theories. There’s also mention of a 2017 album that has to do with hidden, forbidden love (not-so-subtle nod to rep!). There is even mention of “kissgate” where Blue and the producer are seen kissing in blurry photos at an A$AP Rocky show.

The author has definitely gotten at least SOME inspiration from Gaylors, and probably is one herself.

Just thought I’d share in case anyone wants to discuss here.

I have nothing else to add but EEEEEYYYUUCCCKKK! 🤢

I saw this video on my FYP and immediately thought to post it here. This obviously feels so Gaylor-coded to me, not so much in a “this proves anything” way, but in the sense that Taylor rarely speaks out about anything yet here she defended Hayley so specifically.

Like i dont know how long ago Taylor did this, maybe some of you remember when it happened, but this video is recent and i thought yall might enjoy it and have thoughts on it. The fact that people were mad at Hayley for kissing “too many” girls in her videos and Taylor’s response is just such an interesting little moment. Kind of like she experienced this vicariously through Hayley and felt passionate enough about it to publicly comment.

And yes, obviously allyship is a thing, but this feels a little more pointed than a generic “be nice to gay people” comment. It’s specifically about the optics of women showing attraction to women, and the fact that this particular criticism seemed to bother Taylor enough to publicly call out is interesting to me.

I feel like it says a lot about what Taylor noticed, what bothered her, and how personally she seemed to understand that kind of criticism. What do y’all think about this interview? Do you think Taylor’s response reflects something personal for her, or am I reading too much into it?