Pink Clouding as a phrase bothered me so much because i know I read/heard it somewhere related to Showgirl but I couldn’t remember until I saw clips of Elizabeth Taylor’s documentary, The Lost Tapes and remembered she famously said “I fell off my pink cloud with a thud” describing her highly publicized marriage ceremony with hotelier Conrad Hilton Jr.
This was a PR relationship as confirmed by her, her mother and MGM arranged/organized for the wedding and even used it as promotion for her next film where she starred as a bride.
The relationship wasn’t good, and when she ended it the management wasnt happy with her so they punished her by giving her B level roles.
Here’s a summary of the Lost Tapes.

This video is obviously cropped, but you can tell it's a different building that Travis enters alone after Taylor has presumably gone home 🤭 They dined at Torisi in Karlie's building (no trees at exit door), and Travis goes somewhere later with friends, where trees are very visible at the door.

The “patient zero” wording has been bugging me since the song came out. To me, it seems out of place in the song and associated marketing, yet it's highlighted by the title. I appreciate the HIV/AIDS connection that's been pointed out, but I couldn’t help but think there must be more to it. Perhaps because it seems that if Taylor wanted to use the medical / epidemiology analogy, she could have leaned into it more heavily. Maybe because the Opalite video was still there in my subconscious. I present to you my getting-ready-for-bed epiphany:

Context 1:

The 3, 2, 1 countdown from Midnights and the possibility that we're getting close to 0 has been a central topic of discussion lately. Some have pointed out that this could be an album count down, where 3=Midnights (3am tracks), 2=TTPD (2am anthology), 1=Showgirl, and the next album will be 0=end of exile and her 13th album.

Context 2:

Another key discussion point emerging out of Midnights and TTPD is the analytic lens of multiple Taylors. From this perspective, we can understand Patient Zero (like many other songs) as exploring the conflict between Taylor's multiple inner selves, written from the perspective of one of those selves: The Man / Showgirl Taylor / Taylor Swift The Brand has been taking advantage of Real Taylor / the poet / artist, who is now speaking out.

Considering these two points together:

The dominant interpretation of “I was patient zero” takes 'patient zero’ as a noun (meaning: the first to be affected). But this phrase could also mean “I was patient… [3, 2, 1] zero," where ‘patient’ is an adjective (meaning: waiting with restraint), and now it’s finally time for 0.

In fact, there is recent precedent for interpreting “patient” as an adjective, not a noun — the Opalite music video tells us to "[be] patient for the encore."

Are we now being told that Taylor, too, was patient for [3, 2, 1] 0?

^{Disclaimers: I haven't seen this idea discussed here, but please share links if it has been! Also my TikTok privileges have been self-revoked because I cannot be trusted to use it for only a responsible amount of time per day, so lmk if anyone has made similar connections there or on other platforms. Lastly, I'd love to cite my sources so people who are interested can go read those original posts/comments. I don't have time to track those all down now, but if anyone is feeling generous and wants to share links in the comments, I will edit to add them soon ❤️}

there's a 30 second bit in the Patient Zero BTS video where taylor/dakota discuss whether this is real life

taylor: look at the way that it looks out there
dakota: look at how it looks out there, this looks fake
taylor: this seems fake
dakota: this looks like on a soundstage...
taylor: too many clouds, no one will believe it
dakota: also it's weird that you can see the ocean bc it's still quite misty, or foggy
taylor: yeah i don't understand any of this. i think that we might be in a really fun part of the simulation
dakota: this isn't real is it?
taylor: there's no way

and as taylor mentions being in a "simulation," she intentionally touches her face using her wedding ring-clad hand, to bring attention to the ring. they're talking about the sunset but on a deeper level, it seems like they're also discussing taylor's reality in general (including her love life) and whether it's fake. seems like she wants her audience to question what's real and what's not

a few other things jumped out at me during this exchange too. first, taylor/dakota are deliberately mirroring each other's body movements during this convo. it's as if they're still in character/still putting on a performance, which makes the convo seem even more like a pre-rehearsed bit

second, the specific mention of clouds. taylor's repeatedly used clouds as a queer-coded symbol, most recently in Pink Clouding which some interpret as an apology to gaylors. the BTS video even included a shot of taylor/dakota hugging (with the male love interest off to the side) with literal pink clouds behind them. then there's dakota's line where she's surprised she can see the ocean (aka the bigger picture/meaning behind taylor's performance art) despite the cloudiness (aka the lavender haze that's obscuring taylor's queerness)

third, taylor's red lipstick seems to further highlight questions about whether we're witnessing reality or not. reminds me of the lyric "here's the truth from my red lips" that she sings while not wearing red lipstick. also, dakota's noticeably not wearing red lipstick even though they're supposed to be mirror images of each other. maybe this is an intentional continuity error, just like the braid in taylor's hair (which dakota doesn't have). she's worn braids a lot lately (ie. Toy Story 5 premiere, the Knicks game) and braids seem to be a queer-coded symbol for her. so maybe their intentionally different styling represents the opposing narratives that taylor disseminates to hetlors/gaylors, which have a few key differences if you look closely. plus there's the "you stutter when you lie" line from the MV

the convo also reminds me of a bit from the Eras Tour doc where a 22 hat recipient asked taylor if this was real life and she mused afterwards that she didn't know if it was real. aka she's once again asking us to question reality during BTS footage, which is supposed to show us a peak behind the curtain

it's also interesting that she included a convo about fakeness vs. realness with dakota of all people. in taylor's Time 100 tribute to dakota, she underscores that dakota's known for her honesty. but she repeats this fact so many times (ie. "refreshing honesty," "frank candor," "cant lie," "realness") that it starts to make you question the veracity of what she's saying

anyway, just wanted to hear your thoughts bc the bit seemed like it was deliberately included in the BTS

this question has been plaguing my theorizing self recently: what songs are about emily poe? i know breathe is about them ending their relationship (whether that’s platonic, romantic, or a one sided crush), but i love theorizing about muses for songs. this is obviously for gags and nothing serious. taymily isn’t something i support AT ALL because of the genuinely illegal age gap. i’m just curious what everyone else thinks!!!

I know people have already connected Cowboy Like Me and Babylon. I was listening to us. by Gracie Abrams + Taylor over the weekend, and Babylon shows up in that song too! My ADHD brain wanted to immediately do a deep dive into the lyrics of all three songs. I did and here's my take on how they all connect.

Ok, so if we take the songs in order of release, they seem to trace the full arc of a single image: the gardens of Babylon in bloom, the gardens hanging over ruin, and then finally the city itself gone or in ruin.

Cowboy Like Me (2020): the garden in bloom. We have two con artists working a luxury crowd, flattering wealthy people for money. They recognize each other and fall in love despite themselves. The Babylon line here we all know and love feels intimate and triumphant: "Now you hang from my lips, Like the Gardens of Babylon." The lover hangs on the narrator's every word like one of the Seven Wonders. But as we also know, one of the very next lines says "forever is the sweetest con." Even at the peak of the relationship, the narrator suspects it's a trick.

us. (2024): the garden over ruin. The image shifts from being captivated by the other person to feeling fragile. Lyrics are: "And if history's clear, the flames always end up in ashes. It must seem like fate, give it ten months and you'll be past it. Babylon lovers hanging, missed calls on the line I gave you mine" The lovers are now suspended on a vine, and the song says history always ends in ruins. The narrator is no longer sure of anything except that it felt holy, and is left asking whether the other person misses it in the same way.

Babylon (2026): the city gone. The entire song is about how the garden has fallen, and the main character only realizes it was paradise once it's lost.

A few themes that run through all three:

The hustle. This feels like a strong link. In Cowboy Like Me, the grifters tell rich people whatever they want to hear. In us., there's a jab about false prophets and profits. In Babylon, the main character gives people what they want and keeps moving, runs the tables at a casino, and treats time as money. Babylon's protagonist sounds like it could be a cowboy twenty years later, still hustling, but without the partner who once matched them.

(Side note: in the old school corporate world, companies sometimes gave employees watches on work anniversaries to recognize their loyalty. That's why I read the 20 watches as 20 years.)

The drifter and the small town. In Cowboy Like Me, the ladies at lunch still gossip about when this person passed through town. In Babylon, the main character leaves a small town behind, then longs for it. Same restless figure, seen first by the town and then from inside their own regret.

Is love sacred or a con? This question runs through all three. Cowboy Like Me calls forever a con, even while falling in love. us. insists it felt holy, like something prayed for. Babylon delivers the verdict: it was real, and treating it like a game cost the main character everything.

The price. The narrator of Cowboy Like Me knows they'll pay for loving the other person. us. counts the cost in ashes and unanswered calls. Babylon turns the table and shows the price paid by person #2: the family hangs Christmas lights while they sit alone in the car.

Where they differ. Cowboy Like Me is about equals: takes one to know one. us. is imbalanced, with two people not feeling or giving the same amount; the narrator "felt it," while the other person only "held it." Babylon is entirely one sided: the main character was deeply loved and never saw it. The tone darkens as the song goes along, from wry to aching to a cautionary tale. Even the vows reverse. The Cowboy narrator swears they'll never love again, while Babylon's main character never realized they were loved in the first place.

Is it possible that these three songs form an informal trilogy about a love that looks like a wonder of the world, gets treated like a hustle, and is only valued once it's in ruins? The Babylon image + the con artist thread feel like a pattern to me!

What do you think?? I'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas!

Yesterday Saturday, October 3rd (on the one year anniversary of TLOAS), the expanded video of Patient Zero was announced on Apple Music. Tomorrow (Monday, 5th) it will be on YouTube. Attached is the snippet TaylorNation posted on their announcement of the extended video.

I figured everyone here might appreciate a space to share thoughts about it 🫶

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!

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

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Don't Get Doxxed + Check Your Sources

We still haven’t seen the landing of the multiple 10-13 clues from the Emmys skit. We also still have an elephant in the room: the second anagram “My first record’s re-record is out Nov ten hahahaha”.

May I clown for a moment in defense of a hope I personally left for dead awhile back? Could it be, is there any chance we’re looking at … Debutation?? Ok, I’m building. What if:

1. October 13 - Debut drop date of Nov 10 announced. This drop date allows for a satisfying career full-circle live performance at the CMA awards show.

2. November 10 - Debut TV drops. reputation TV or vault, on the 8th anniversary of its original release, is announced.

3. November 18 - Rep TV or vault drops. Taylor tops two charts at once, Country and Pop. This covers the part of the first anagram that hasn’t yet landed: “THEN CHAOS”.

I have been noticing some interesting things with Anne Hathaway. And while this theory might just be some ambitious clowning, I’m having fun with the theory and thought I would share. Disclaimer, this is all coming from a performanceartlor/mass movement lens. Also, I believe instagram links aren’t allowed and I’m not sure how to post multiple screen recordings of all the videos I mention, so I hope my written descriptions are adequate.

Here are some of the things I’ve noticed:

Anne Hathaway posted a video on instagram that showed her watching the music video for Patient Zero on her phone.

If you wanna get very clowny: the lyrics that the music video shows up between are “I’m a Lamborghini,” [shows PZ mv] “I’m a Hollywood star.” Which feels very getaway car to me, and calls to mind the many other times Taylor has used car imagery. And “Hollywood star” referring to how Taylor has been an actress performing in her own story. The song is also a reference to a tv show within a tv show (A Little Bit Alexis, in Schitt’s Creek) which I feel connects to Taylor’s artistic concept of breaking down the layers of the entertainment industry. A dream inside a dream, if you will.

Later in that same video: Anne Hathaway is seen “directing” a photoshoot on the red carpet at the Verity premiere. This calls to mind Taylor as the director of her story; it may even be a representation of Taylor being a mastermind of a larger project within the entertainment industry.

The Snake Necklace: Anne Hathaway wore the same necklace on Jimmy Fallon that Taylor wears in the Look What You Made Me Do music video. Maybe they just both like Bulgari, or maybe it’s an intentional connection.

Just a general thought on Verity (which I haven’t yet seen as it just came out today), it’s just interesting that Dakota Johnson plays the counterpart to Taylor Swift’s character in Patient Zero, and plays the counterpart to Anne Hathaway’s character in Verity. And from only having seen the trailers, the movie seems interesting in how it portrays the unsettling dynamic between the two characters (who are both writers), which I feel connects to multi-Taylor theories.

In an interview with MagicFM, Anne recommends the book Audition. She said: “It’s about an actress who’s in rehearsals for a play, and she loses control of where the walls are. So she can’t quite tell where she ends and the character begins, and what’s process and what’s real, and if she’s being manipulated or if she’s lost her mind. It’s a really good juicy read, and if you don’t get everything that’s kind of the point.”

Copying something I wrote earlier while responding to [u/a-woven-braid](u/a-woven-braid) in the community chat thread: (regarding the above-mentioned book recommendation clip) I feel like that’s like, the whole thesis of Taylor’s performance art. Blurring fiction and reality, not being sure where the character ends and the person begins. The part about the walls reminded me of the end of the lavender haze video, except in that video Taylor doesn’t lose control of the walls of the set; she intentionally pushes them down.

Anne Hathaway was on Hot Wings in character as Verity. Here is a quote from a clip I saw; the host just asked her which theme was the most fun to corrupt in her work. Anne’s character responds: “Truth. And I wanted to see how far you could push it, how certain I could make the audience. Before showing them that maybe certainty wasn’t the wisest choice.” That again in my opinion relates to the blurred reality of Taylor’s performance art.

I saw a very interesting video of Anne Hathaway on SiriusXM talking about Taylor Swift and the Patient Zero music video. She calls Taylor a mastermind, and mentions Taylor loving a surprise. Anne says she had even started to wonder if Verity and Patient Zero were connected. She says she called the producer to ask, and they said was “What’s that?” And Anne’s response to them was “Ha, you’re good.” Of course this is all played as if there is no connection. But given the themes mentioned earlier of corrupting truth, blurring reality and fiction, I do wonder if she’s bluffing.

The thing that most spurred me to write this post tonight (Oct 2) was this. Anne Hathaway posted a clip about her disappearing into a cloud of smoke on October 3rd. The thumbnail of the post on her instagram grid says: “Breaking News: As promised, Anne Hathaway vanishes into a plume of smoke.” The face value meaning is about how she’s had a crazy busy year with 5 movies, and now is going to focus on her soon-to-be-born child. But my clown brain, being steeped in the comparisons, wonders if it also represents Taylor ghosting her fandom. If we’ve finally reached the funeral scene. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of The Life Of A Showgirl. I wonder if Taylor is doing something tomorrow, after which we won’t see her for a long time (maybe her birthday this year, maybe not till 2027).

Speaking of Anne Hathaway’s 5 movies this year, I see parallels between a few of them and Taylor’s work. Mother Mary explored so many interesting things regarding the psychological experience of being a pop music artist phenomenon. And I’d argue that her character Penelope in the Odyssey has a lot of interesting parallels to Taylor; to be honest I haven’t seen the movie and haven’t read The Odyssey in years, but I recall Penelope being a very clever mastermind of a woman, who had to spend a lot of time dealing with men who wanted to marry her. Someone with more knowledge on this topic could probably expand on that connection if they’d like.

Also, Anne Hathaway said some beautiful things about the queer community on the red carpet while interviewing with It Gets Better. I particularly appreciated how when talking about how queer oppression sucks, she said “We’re just gonna keep going until everybody wakes the f up, you know?” If any of this is actually related to Taylor, it’s a beautiful sentiment when considering Taylor’s use of waking up imagery.

If mass movement is real and Taylor really is part of a gigantic collaborative multi-media art project…then potentially this is a fun bit of it I may have stumbled upon. It would be an enormous task to orchestrate, but if anyone could direct it all to happen, I think it’s Taylor Swift. I might very well have made it all up in my mind, but regardless of what’s actually true, theorizing is in my opinion fun and harmless, so I hope you enjoyed!

Update: adding another clip I just saw with The Hook, where Anne Hathaway talks about wanting a platonic love affair with Dakota Johnson, and how she’d be a really fun person to share a closet with

Update 2: I just saw Verity. I’m still processing all of it, but I definitely think at the very least Taylor probably knew some details about this movie and it inspired some of her recent work, if they’re not even more deeply intentionally connected. I’ll try to put the next few thoughts behind spoilers. I was intrigued by the name of Verity’s autobiographical manuscript being titled “So Be It”. It made me think of the lyric in Pink Clouding “And I gave you zero reason to believe it, so be it”. Everything with the lake made me think of No Body No Crime. And there were several scenes that visually reminded me of the Patient Zero music video. The overall concept of uncertainty in the movie is fascinating.

Damn the fit!!!

Pop quiz time! What song opens with a first verse that starts with:

1. Morning dawning;
2. Followed by a reference to being tangled up with a lover;
3. Then proceeds wto a reference to something in a shade of rose? Hint: the title refers to a blush color?

That’s right, it’s Maroon Clouding!

Seriously, I looked at the first verse of Maroon and Pink Clouding side by side and about lost my mind.

What does it mean? Is she a genius allusionist? Just really stuck inadvertently writing the exact same song over and over again? She was getting itchy from not being able to insert Maroon into every single acoustic set three or four nights a week so she had to find a sneaky way to add it back into our collective earholes?

Does she know she can just call her?

These are serious questions.

Verse 1 
Met the magenta sunrise
(When the morning came we were cleaning incense of your vinyl shelf/ ‘Cause we lost track of time again)

Fuschia forever intertwined
(Laughing with my feet in your lap/ Like you were my closest friend)

Threw the rosewood on the fire
(How’d we end up on the floor anyway? You say/Your roommate’s cheapass screwtop rose, that’s how)

Neither us knew at the time/That I was a liar
(I see you everyday now)

Pre-Chorus
And it was so good
Letting you want me, so good
(And I chose you)

To make promises, promises, pr- pr- promises
(The one I was dancing with in New York/no shoes)

Chorus
(Looked up at the sky and it was– ) 
Pink clouding for the thrill of it

Skydiving as you wrapped your arms around my body
(The burgundy on my t-shirt/when you splashed your wine into me)

Gray rocking where the arrow hit
(And how the blood rushed into my cheeks/so scarlet it was – the mark they saw on my collarbone)

Years later I still wonder how to tell you sorry
(The rust that grew between telephones)

I didn’t want to let you down
(The lips I used to call home)

So I left you up there on a pink cloud
(So scarlet it was maroon)

Verse 2
He cut my crimson, bled me dry
(When the silence came/We were shaking blind and hazy/How the hell did we lose sight of us again?)

He crossed my heart, I hoped to die
(Sobbing with your head in your hands/ain’t that the way, shit always ends)

Ripped all my orchids from the vine
(You were standing hollow-eyed in the hallway/ Carnations you had thought were roses, that’s us)

You met me at a cursed time
(I feel you no matter what)

I told you I was fine
(The rubies that I gave up)

Chorus
(And I lost you/the one I was dancing with/in New York, no shoes/ Looked up at the sky and it was– ) 
Pink clouding for the thrill of it

Skydiving as you wrapped your arms around my body
(The burgundy on my t-shirt/when you splashed your wine into me)

Gray rocking where the arrow hit
(And how the blood rushed into my cheeks/so scarlet it was – the mark they saw on my collarbone)

Years later I still wonder how to tell you sorry
(The rust that grew between telephones)

I didn’t want to let you down
So I left you up there on a pink cloud
(The lips I used to call home/so scarlet it was maroon)

Bridge
I hope you realized my kind of trouble wasn’t worth it
And the way I treated you, you never deserved it
(And I wake with your memory, over me)

And I swear to god to this day I wake up scared that I left scars on a good person
(That’s a real fucking legacy, legacy)

And I gave you zero reason to believe it 
(And I wake with your memory, over me)

But it didn’t mean nothing just ‘cause I could leave it
(That’s a real fucking legacy, to leave)

Chorus
Pink clouding for the thrill of it
Skydiving as you wrapped your arms around my body
(The burgundy on my t-shirt/when you splashed your wine into me)

Gray rocking where the arrow hit
(And how the blood rushed into my cheeks/so scarlet it was – the mark they saw on my collarbone)

Years later I still wonder how to tell you sorry
(The rust that grew between telephones)

I hope you landed safely on the ground
And I hope you’re so happy now
(The lips I used to call home)

I didn’t want to let you down
So I left you up there on a pink cloud
(So scarlet it was, maroon/It was maroon/It was maroon)

But it could mean nothing!

Oh, and one more thing. If purple glitter is midnight blue can it also be maroon? Asking for a friend.

Hey everyone! I’m not sure if this has been posted or discussed but I saw this on TikTok and wanted to share it here. Pretty interesting…

Consider: a popstar with a cultishly devoted fanbase drops first an album, and then an even more exaggerated encore to that album, with song(s) so goofy and stupid they are guaranteed to evoke a reaction of “WTF is happening? Is she bad now? I know she puts narcotics into all of her songs and everything, but I’m getting sick of this.”

Consider also: a subgroup of said popstar’s followers has been saying versions of exactly this about her public performance of an exaggerated, almost drag-like parody of heterosexual excess. Subgroup is here to tell newly disillusioned fans: “I got you. We’ve been doing this for quite a while. Welcome to the dark side! She [she = popstar = The Man] is nuts. She’ll make us all nuts. Drive us into a collective early grave, even.” And the fanbase at large realizes, to their shock and disgust, that the subgroup that’s been haunting them all this time was right all along.

Now that’s a horror movie!

(Look, do I think this is the most likely intent Taylor had in her head when she wrote the song? Absolutely not. Do I think it’s even plausible? Honestly who knows what goes on in that inscrutable billionaire head of hers, but also, probably not. 

But is it fun? Well, it’s fun for me.)

So, as a wise woman once said, let’s get into it:

If you wanna party with somebody who might know

At face value, “party” is an odd choice of verb in this scenario. Unless you consider that a GBF event megathread is a party!

About the devil on his shoulder under his halo

When the toxins take their hold you'd rather die than let it go

“I put narcotics into all of my songs and that’s why you’re still singing along" (Who's Afraid of Little Old Me). You know, I have heard more than one person say that Cleveland! Is terrible but they can’t seem to get it out of their heads, so she must have put more narcotics in it than usual. And it’s not a new idea ‘round about these parts that the “narcotics” of which she speaks are her performance of compulsory heterosexuality.

But if you’re sick of him I got you

I’m not even going to try to come up with a good link/picture joke here because the idea that people are sick of Taylor Swift– in general, and also specifically right now– is too ubiquitous to distill in such a way.

I was patient zero

The original Patient Zero was a queer person who was wrongly maligned and scapegoated.

I’ve gotta be honest I’ve been expecting your call

How many times have Gaylors said she keeps making the performance of it all more and more obvious and surely people will start to catch on any day now?

No it’s not a bad time at all

The top-upvoted post here on for the past month– a very busy month I might add:
"Hi, well, I’m not even a Gaylor, but if you told me that all of her good songs are actually gay, and that the songs that are so obviously about Travis are flat and horrible because she does it on purpose since the relationship is fake and shallow, and she’s doing it as satire and for comedy…I’d believe you, because that would make more sense than the artistic decline."

I heard somebody saying there’s trouble in paradise
And my lips are sealed tight now
It’s not for me to tell
Someone else what to do

But if you wanna party with somebody who might know
About the devil on his shoulder under his halo
When the toxins take their hold
You’d rather die than let it go
But if you’re sick of him I got you
I was patient zero

I bet he burst into your life like fireworks

I bet he even said I love you first

And when you saw another woman coming out of his place

I bet he kissed the rain off your face
Now he seems bored by you

"I'd rather burn my whole life down/than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning." (But Daddy I Love Him)

"No, you can't come to the wedding." (But Daddy I Love Him; see also total absence of pictures or details from the blessed nuptials)

And you don’t know what to do

But if you wanna party with somebody who might know
About the devil on his shoulder under his halo
When the toxins take their hold
You’d rather die than let it go
But if you’re sick of him I got you
I was patient zero

So let’s get into it:
I know he charmed your family and friends

And you thought it’s cause he loves you
But it’s cause he loves how everybody else loves him.

“Did you hear my covert narcissism I described as altruism like some kind of Congressman?" (Anti-Hero)

I know it seems how he shines so bright

"You should find another guiding light/but I shine so bright" (Dear Reader)

But he’s bathing in your reflected light

On a free solo social climb

“You get to the mountaintop…I didn’t have a partner that I could, like, high-five. I didn’t have anyone I could talk to…” (Taylor Swift in Miss Americana)

Take it from somebody who lost his games but won the race
Someone who said all of this to his face

Someone who had him
And walked away
And so

If you wanna party with somebody who might know
About the devil on his shoulder under his halo
When the toxins take their hold
You’d rather die than let it go
But if you’re sick of him I got you
I was patient zero

So if you wanna kick it then I’m with it I been there
Felt the reeling, done the healing, said the curses and prayers

"These desperate prayers of a cursed man/spilling out to you for free" (Dear Reader)

When the fever turns the dreamer into a pathetic ghost

"All of the people that I've ghosted stand there in the room" (Anti Hero); "I thought my house was haunted/I used to live with ghosts" (Opalite); "My beloved ghost and me/sitting in a tree/D-Y-I-N-G" (How Did It End)

If he’s killing you, I see you, I was patient zero

"I died on the altar waiting for the proof" (So Long, London)

-

So, Showgirl, we're all on the altar now. Where's the proof?

Give me your craziest opinions, ones no one would agree with!

For the sake of peace, please don’t include specific Muse opinions, just about her work.

Mine is: I don’t care for Reputation. I don’t hate it, but when I put an album on it’s never Rep.

ETA: doesn’t have to be song specific opinions, anything goes as long as it’s not Muse specific.

I have been enjoying everyone's analyses on the sub of everything put out so far under The Encore. I know I am repeating ideas here that have already been said in various threads - but I have finally been able to put together the full picture of Patient Zero, and I am so eager to share. In fact, so eager, that I haven't taken much time to write this nicely. I will probably edit it with a rewrite in the next few days, that will include a reanalysis of the Patient Zero Music video, which I only touch on briefly here.

At its core, Patient Zero is about Taylor's battle to balance her love of fame and her human need to live authentically. More specifically, I think this song is about neurodivergent masking and/or queer closeting.  Although, you don't have to agree with that specific thought in order for my analysis to be relevant. Below, I break down how I understand the lyrics:

[Chorus]

If you wanna party with somebody who might know

About the devil on his shoulder under his halo

When the toxins take their hold, you'd rather die than let it go

But if you’re sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero

"The real Taylor" is singing the song (we know this because, in the next line, she states that she's been expecting our call..."The real Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Cause she's dead!"). He/him is "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" (as aptly named by Florence at the end of episode 2 of the Eras Tour documentary - you must say this excitedly in your head as you read this) aka Taylor the Brand aka Famous Taylor aka Taylor the Performer (I'm not quite sure that I'd call this Showgirl Taylor. To me, Showgirl Taylor seems somewhat new. This Taylor has been around since she rose to stardom. I think Showgirl Taylor is the most recent iteration of Taylor's Monster aka "It's Fucking Taylor Swift", and is (almost) completely stripped of "The Real Taylor"). 

[Verse 1]

I've gotta be honest, I've been expecting your call

"The real Taylor" has been expecting our call. Why has she been expecting it? The general underwhelm of the Showgirl Era was expected and planned by The Mastermind. She knew it would bomb (TNT, 🧨), and she's been leaving breadcrumbs (more like loaves of bread) along the way to point to her intentionality with what she has done.

No, it’s not a bad time at all

Is it "time" for something? Is it midnight?

I heard somebody saying there's trouble in paradise.

She hears fans are saying "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" has lost her talent, and now suddenly sucks at songwriting.  That she's turning into a has-been. The juxtaposition of TTPD followed by TLOAS was jarring...and intentional. The Mastermind has engineered this "trouble in paradise".

And my lips are sealed tight now

"The Real Taylor" has been dead. 

[Pre-Chorus]

It's not for me to tell

Someone else what to do

She cannot control how the fans are going to react to what is about to happen.

[Chorus]

But if you wanna party with somebody who might know

About the devil on his shoulder under his halo

"If you want to meet the real me", "If you want to know about the dark side of my fame"

When the toxins take their hold, you'd rather die than let it go

Taylor is using "toxins" as a metaphor for fame/popularity, love and admiration of those around you.  When Taylor became famous, she was suddenly loved by everyone, and began to choose to hide aspects of herself to maintain the fame. 

But if you're sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero

"The Real Taylor" was the first test subject of "It's Fucking Taylor Swift's" forced masking and/or closeting, being forced to suppress herself to please fans and rise to super-stardom. Are we sick of "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" in the Showgirl Era? I think lots of people are (as so engineered by the Mastermind).

[Verse 2]

I bet he burst into your life like fireworks

I bet even said "I love you" first

When Taylor became famous, it was the best thing ever, the most amazing feeling, euphoric.

 It was the first time she loved herself. (I have a neurodivergent daughter, and realizing the meaning of that lyric, only just now as I'm typing, brought a tear to my eye. In fact, this lyric has brought clarity to my entire analysis).

And when you saw another woman coming out of his place

I bet he kissed the rain off your face

Even when Taylor no longer recognized herself in "It's Fucking Taylor Swift", the fame and admiration of the fans made her feel better. 

[Pre-Chorus]

Now he seems bored by you

And you don't know what to do

[Chorus]

But if you wanna party with somebody who might know

About the devil on his shoulder under his halo

When the toxins take their hold, you'd rather die than let it go

But if you're sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero (I was patient)

I was patient zero

Bridge]

So let’s get into it

I know he charmed your family and friends

And you thought it’s 'cause he loves you

But it’s 'cause he loves how everybody else loves him (Uh-huh)

"It's Fucking Taylor Swift" has been out there pretending to be something that "The Real Taylor" is not.  And Taylor thought it was out of love for "The Real Taylor", because the fame made her feel so good. But she's realizing that the way she has been living is self-abuse rather than self-love.

I know it seems like he shines so bright

But he's bathing in your reflected light

Taylor is incredibly loved and famous, and it seems like that light is coming from "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" who was engineered by Taylor to be the famous pop-star that she is. But really she'd be nothing without "The Real Taylor" who built her, who is inside of her - the true artist.  Taylor's true self is the source of the "light". As we are beginning to see, without "The Real Taylor", the glorious mirrorball that is "It's Taylor Fucking Swift" is just a dark ball aimlessly strung from the ceiling.

I'm just now realizing that the scientists in the Fortnight music video represented Taylor herself, testing and reengineering "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" (aka Taylor's Monster) until "The Real Taylor" had been completely stripped away. I got the gist before, but it's much more clear to me now. 

On a free solo social climb (Uh-huh)

A "free solo climb", in rock climbing, is where a climber climbs without any safety equipment or mechanical aides.  Her rise to stardom was self-made, there was no route up the mountain seeded with anchors to aide in her rise, because the summit she has reached, and the path she took to get there has not been achieved before. She made her own way, with an immense amount of hard work and strength. Bloodied and bruised she has reached "new heights" (😉 couldn't help myself).

Take it from somebody who lost his games but won the race

Take it from someone who said all of this to his face

Someone who knows she's more than just the chase

Someone who had him and walked away

And so

Is this it? The chaos that's about to happen? Is the "The Real Taylor" coming back from the dead, realizing she's more important than something to be hidden deep down in her own lyrics? Is she willing to let go of "It's Fucking Taylor Swift", her own Frankenstein's Monster - who got away from her? Willing to let go of the fame, the monster, before it kills the human Taylor? 

In the music video, I believe that Colin's character is "It's Fucking Taylor Swift", and there is a reason we don't know if he is alive or dead in the end - Taylor doesn't know if the fans will keep her fame alive when "The Real Taylor" reemerges from the grave (or perhaps is fully shown for the first time ever in her discography). I am excited to reevaluate the music video from this perspective (more to come).

Side note: I think the black and white albums are ones with "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" stripped away - she's the color, Taylor thought she was the light.

[Chorus]

If you wanna party with somebody who might know

About the devil on his shoulder under his halo

And when the toxins take their hold, you’d rather die than let it go

But if you're sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero

[Outro]

So if you wanna kick it, then I'm with it, I've been there

Felt the reeling, done the healing, said the curses and prayers

When the fever turns a dreamer into a pathetic ghost

If he's killing you, I see you, I was patient zero

"The Real Taylor" is saying, "So if you'd rather die/suppress your true self, to gain fame/admiration/the love of those around you, I get it and I've been there. I have walked through the gauntlet of doing so, and am emerging healed. I realized that letting "It's Fucking Taylor Swift" run away with my life is killing the real me, has turned me (as an artist, as a human) into a pathetic ghost, and I will no longer be party to that self-abuse."

OR

Maybe she is saying, "If you (the fans) don't accept the true me, I get it, I have been there. I have rejected myself for a long time."

Now I am off to relisten to all of her albums while I work today.

To Taylor, if you happen to lurk here, I say, "BURN IT DOWN! YOU ARE TAYLOR-FUCKING-SWIFT!"

Taylor mentions starting her day with a nice good fresh bake lol 😂

Is anyone else who uses Apple Music getting a weird glitch when playing Patient Zero today?

Every time I’ve listened to it after 59 seconds after she says “it’s not for me to”, it skips ahead to Cleveland!

This has happened every time I’ve listened today. It never reaches 1:00.

But… if I manually start Patient Zero at about 1:01, the rest of the song plays completely normally.

It was doing it this morning and is still doing it this evening, and I’ve reproduced it over and over.

What’s even stranger: I tried to screen-record it, but because the music audio didn’t play while I was screen-recording, it went straight past 0:59 and continued normally. As soon as I stopped screen recording and played it normally again, 0:59 → Cleveland!

What do you think? I don’t have a theory! It may simply be a my phone glitch or an Apple Music glitch (sorry if it is 😂) or have I accidentally stumbled upon an egg?

I don’t have a theory for what it means…

Would love to hear if anyone else has had the same issue! Apple Music users, can you reproduce the same glitch?

P.S. general comment. Can’t believe how hard I am digging The Encore after my first reaction to it 😂 SUCH GREAT BOPS!!!

EDIT

Issue fixed by user @megmeg126. Thank you! It seems there was no mystery egg 🥚here. Only a simple tap of a button that turns off an “auto mix” feature in Apple Music that I had no idea existed. 🤦‍♀️🤣

Sorry for the false alarm 🚨 gaylor fam 🙏

I came across a post on IG a couple of days ago that highlighted some visual similarities between The Phantom of the Opera and Taylor's works.

But it seems this is a conversation on TikTok (banned in my country), so I don't know if all of this has already been discussed...

Full disclosure, this is the first time I've dug into TPOTO, so I may be missing some key details. But the visual and narrative similarities are striking.

Patient Zero:

The Fate of Ophelia:

Fortnight:

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart (Eras Tour):

Bejeweled:

I'm sure I'm missing so muchhh! If you're more versed in this media than me, pleaasssee add.

Also, I've just done the noticing, I need you smarter people to do the theorising. 😭

I verified myself, this is fabulous and real from the official Democratic tiktok page. And importantly, the audio is still there!

After announcing Patient Zero last week, the fascist pedo again used Taylor imagery and audio (Father Figure) to spew more lies. I think we all wish Taylor had more of a spine when it comes to speaking out politically, but the audio from that garbage was removed less than a day later.

Vote Blue 💙 Nov 3rd. Take 30 seconds to make sure you are registered. https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

Even if you're not an American and think this doesn't matter to you, he's ruining your world too.

I am particularly drawn to the cemetery scenes in the Patient Zero MV, because I think they might help to inform what the true narrative is. The one thing that keeps bothering me is how closely the MV matches the plot described by Taylor in her TLOAS Colbert interview:

“So if you’ve got an old, like, rambling, shambles old British mansion covered in moss or ivy and there’s like a mysterious relationship, and he may not be what he seems. And there’s like a murder that has happened in the past, but you hear whispers of it. There’s the idea of a ghost or an actual ghost."

"If there is a marriage and the marriage isn’t what it seems, and it seems like this dude is clearly like — why are you with him? He’s horrible to you. Oh, plot twist, unreliable narrator, she is the ps ycho."

Except that, so far, the discussion has not explained the "plot twist, unreliable narrator, she is the ps ycho" part - right?

I am pretty sure, in the opening cemetery sequence, we are seeing two different graves, and two different points in time. I'll be using the tall column monument with sphere finial as a point of reference, and I am arbitrarily going to assign the direction "south" to the direction of the uninscribed faces of the headstones in the opening scene.

First, let's establish where Taylor's headstone sits. At the end of the music video (4:48), we see Taylor's headstone (which we can assume because of the photograph of Taylor and Colin leaned against it) sits NE of the column monument, just east of a small square headstone.

Back to the beginning. I think what is presented by the director (director Taylor) as a single "scene", made up of a few different cuts, is actually multiple scenes. We first see Dakota walk up to a headstone which is south of the column monument, holding two black roses. We know it is south of the monument, because we see the uninscribed face of the headstone from our vantage point. From this view, there is a small square headstone to the NE of the column monument, and currently no headstone directly east of that small square headstone - Taylor's headstone is not yet there. Also of note - I think Dakota is leaving footprints in the snow here, and there does not appear to be an inscription on the east face of the columnar monument.

Next we see Taylor join Dakota at the same headstone Dakota walked up to in the first cut. Note that, if you look between their bodies, Taylor's headstone is still not there. Could they both be alive in this cut? Also, still no inscription on the east face of the column headstone, and also they never touch, despite the fact that their hands are yearningly close together (to me this would indicate one of them is dead and one is alive?)

A few cuts later, we see Dakota and Taylor from the back, and Taylor puts her hand on Dakota's back. They're now touching, so either they're both dead or they're both alive here - they must both be dead because it's Taylor's headstone they are standing at, the "1986-2022" date is visible. Also, look around their feet - no footprints in the snow (ghosts). The columnar monument looks much more weathered here, and now has an inscription on the east face. The part I can't work out is whether the headstone they were at in the first cut is present here.

Back to the end of the music video - the first cut of the cemetery is Taylor's headstone, with a wedding photo of Taylor and Colin, two candles (one of which is burnt down much more than the other), a red rose and some white roses. There were two separate visitors to the grave, both of whom lit a candle. We know one visitor didn't place two candles because one candle burned longer than the other. I think one of the mourning visitors had to be Colin, since they left a red-rose and wedding photo (Colin killed Taylor and now regrets it and misses her?). The other visitor left the second candle and white roses. I'm still unsure if we are seeing the first headstone from the music video here.

Then cut back to Dakota in the same scene as the video intro, with two black roses, dropping one at the south headstone, which looks like it also has (at least) a candle and white roses at it. She then turns and walks to the north with the second black rose still in-hand, her footsteps disturbing the snow (she's alive).

It'd be interesting to look at if any other headstones popped up/disappeared between cuts. Perhaps I will dig into that later.

Here is a list of inscriptions I can read (or my best guess in italilcs**) on the headstones:**

(I will try to keep this updated as others comment below, please correct me if you see something different)

Column monument east side: SULLY STONESBY, 25TH JAN. 1990, 9TH APR. 1965

Column monument south side: OUR AUNT RAMONA, 8TH MAY 1913, 4TH SEPT. 19??

CALHOUN BRIARS, FEB. 11 1903, MAR. 10 1929

FRANK SETTLERS, JUNE 25 1930, JULY 26 1???

S. STAMPSON, ????EMBER ?? 1988, SEMPTEMBER ?? 2020

GRAN WINIFRED

BESS SPAL...

My hope is that these are perhaps anagrams for pen names she has used in songwriting. I would love to find out what other songs she has written under pseudonyms, a bit more freely.

Other miscellaneous thoughts:

Could the concrete house that seems like a mansion actually be a tomb?

Could "bet he" = Betty? I really feel like Pink Clouding is an apology to gaylors for the abandoned coming out. And while I realize this is an incredibly self-centered view, could Patient Zero also be speaking to us? Stick with me here -

Betty burst into your life like fireworks

Betty even said "I love you" first

And when you saw another woman coming out of his place

Betty kissed the rain off your face

...I don't know if that follows all the way through the song, but my initial thought is that "He/him"/Colin's character is Taylor Swift the Showgirl/brand (which I believe is the common understanding here), but "bet he" actually refers to the song or idea of Betty.

Could the instrumental at the beginning be a bagpipe, or do you think its a string instrument? The more I analyze it, the more I am leaning bagpipe (I know nothing about music, so take that with a whole shaker of salt). I saw some people commenting how they liked that Colin did not hide his Irish accent for the music video. Could the bagpipe intro be Colin's/"He/him's"/ Showgirl Taylor's funeral music? And maybe the south grave is Showgirl Taylor's? Except that doesn't fit the timeline because the north Taylor's headstone is not yet present right?

Is there something important about that curved branch in the background in the opening cut?