TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT PART 3

loved it, am I dumb, did a miss the prophecy?

Brian

It was so funny when you had it with 'I know how to ball' and then you completely lost it 😂😂😂. I was like AUDREY!!! YOU KNEW TRAVIS IS A FOOTBALL PLAYER DBJSJSJBS . SO CLOSE

yasna gonzalez sanchez

Love, love, love! Thank you so much, and getting it in pieces gave me something to look forward to. I really appreciate your insights into the music and vocals. Thank you!

Katherine

Bless you for sharing and for your input on thanK you aIMee. Because you know (and I do as well) that YOU'RE RIGHT. We are only accountable for our own actions and emotional reactions; who knows what Kim went through while married to Kanye, but she got out; their daughter North is a Swifty LoL; and I get the feeling that this song couldn't have been more poignant if not set to COUNTRY MUSIC.

Miguel Ángel Martínez Vázquez

Dearest Audrey, Your reaction was so ON POINT, even with the seagull/albatross incident, which I want to explain. Being an albatross is exactly what you found learned, but that bird is big, so at the end of the song when Taylor says she's coming down like an angel to save her love interest (who others perceive as being his albatross in the sense of the idiom you found) she's saying her strength is enough to pull them out of all the BS. And Marcus, Chloe and those other two names could have been whichever name, just a vehicle to convey her feeling broken about what happened. Yes, Willow is on Evermore!!! I've paused after High School because I want to be all in for your reaction to thanK you aIMee. PS. As the professional you are how would you rank Taylor's overall evolution from Midnights to this album? ขอบคุณ!

Miguel Ángel Martínez Vázquez

Omg I have to comment also on how funny your oxycontin experience is. I actually can't drink alcohol, but for some reason oxycontin, hydrocodone, any opioid is so uncomfortable because it makes me so sensitive to any sound and movement, I prefer OTC medication because it's such a bizarre, unbearable experience with opioids - could not stop laughing as you described it. I wonder if there is some gene related to this that we just don't know about yet. :)

Matt

Someone probably has already said this, but Clara Bow is about how the industry makes huge promises to their next big artists, but with women the music industry (really extends to Hollywood as well) dispenses with them when they can be replaced by someone younger. This is a callback to her song in Red (Taylor's Version) when she recorded "Nothing New" with Phoebe Bridgers. I think there's a strong insecurity about her age running through her music through the last few years as she has become much more age-conscious (she and I both the same age so I can't imagine that pressure). Even in "Anti-Hero" - I think there's a double meaning to the lyric "Tale as old as time" - maybe I'm imagining this interpretation but I think the line doubles as "Taylor's old as time" as she has increasingly talked about being replaced by younger new stars. This could be a whole video. I'll look for a YouTube video and submit as a reaction request - it could be good for a Live reaction.

Matt

Heroine = Female hero. Just want to clarify because it's a position of female power versus being the more reductive damsel in distress. Sorry these comments are so late.

Matt

Audrey, please google seagull vs albatross 😂😂

Georgina

ALBATROSS MELODY REMINDS ME OF WIDE AWAKE BY KATY PERRY

Ashley R 🎪🐰

Robin is her producer's son. It sounds like a lullaby to me.

Ramona

That was so frustrating😂 pretty sure she saw my comment and I told her she should know the backstory to that song cause a lot of people don't like it on first listen/without knowing what it's about and then she just forgets😭😭

patrick

NOOOO I was the one telling you about ROBIN, who is about her friends child and you didn't get it😭😭 you mixed it up with Clara Bow. I'm sad🥲😂 Robin is supposed to be seen as a lullaby, thats why it's also more slow and calm Damnit Audrey!!😂😂😂

patrick

Robin is about childhood

Raquel Derfler

The Alchemy is about Travis! He was at her most recent show (Paris Night 4) and she performed The Alchemy as a surprise song, stating that it was her 87th show total (Travis' number), a nod to Travis. So High School is also about Travis!

Alyssa Pisani

Amazing edit here. Not mine, but had to share. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C67NDvEyFXv/?igsh=MTlnd2NkNzF2MjZnZw==

Amy Winslow

As a suggestion for anytime that you do a reaction to Taylor Swift is to look at the genius lyrics and not just searching it up because they have little footnotes for certain things of what the lyric could mean which could help you process and understand the song even more but overall thank you so much again for putting your time and effort into getting these reactions out to us while you were healing!

Reese

i know right? "scouts honor"? wink wink hahahaha

Eimi Galvan

I think the songs Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus and Peter (so many name) are about Marty Healy. They both met when they were 25 (10 years ago) and have a situationship that lasted all this time. In that time he was using heroin, he went to rehab but after immediately started using again. So probably that is when she talk about him needing drugs more and he might have promise to get better and get back to her. In ten 10 years she changed looks have different boyfriends but he even when he came back still didn’t work. Matty is known for kissing men and woman on stage so probably that why the name of the song. In so the alchemy she said this time the new guy said heroin but this time with an e.

Nay

It’s so funny to me that in the very beginning you mentioned a song being about a friend’s kid and by the time you got there that had just left your brain.

Allie

I didnt notice this the first time I watched it, but in So High School, the TK and TS in the 'twinkling lights' turn pink.

Amy Winslow

Robin is about Aaron Dessners kid who’s named Robin. It’s about protecting their childhood and letting them live in the moment and protecting them from the harsh realities of adulthood and life:)

Cesar Barbeau

Heroine is the feminine version of a hero.

Amy Winslow

The 'out of the oven and into the microwave' is a play on 'out of the frying pan, into the fire'. But from a slow burn to fast one.

Amy Winslow

Did anyone else see that taylor filed a trademark for "Female Rage: The Musical"?

Marcy Lester

This was always a double album, first half dropped at midnight, second at 2am.

Raquel Derfler

So High School is about her current relationship. Travis is a professional football player hence the ball reference . The song is about how he makes her feel giddy like when you liked someone in high schools. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is about a past love and how they each observed the different relationships each had over the years.

Raquel Derfler

Yes, totally agree on this. I didn’t even think about the improv piece of it. Love that

Andrea

😂 definitely not the annoyed kind of sighs…

Andrea

I like you going in blind but it’s okay to pull up genius for context!! Sometimes you have me yelling at my phone 😂 so high school isn’t literal. It’s the feeling of being with someone that makes you FEEL like those crushes you had in high school again. Travis knows how to ball and Taylor definitely knows Aristotle, you know? Oh! And those sighs? She isn’t over it. Wrong sighs 😳😳😳😳

Camryn

This take on the meaning of the albatross floored me. She is such a genius. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLV7RDuJ/

Lady Q

The rythym of the albatross reminds me of wide awake from katy perry, I love them both so much!

mccdreamys

Can’t believe I forgot to mention the infamous Matty Healy. He’s the lead singer of The 1975. He’s… interesting, to say the least 😅 He had a LOT of songs on this album about him. (Including the one you love- But Daddy, I Love Him) People HATED them together because he’s SUPER controversial. She got a lot of hate about it, reminiscent of the Reputation era. Her writing about him went from But Daddy, I Love Him to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived- that gives some good context into their relationship 😬

Mikala B

You are missing a lot of Tay-Lore 😂 especially when it comes to the Kim/Kanye/Taylor drama. (It’s why I think you should do Rep next but I know you want to wait for the TV. But I think hearing Lover would be perfect AFTER Reputation.) Personally, I think you should probably look up the whole thing with Kim, Kanye, and Taylor. It’s a LOT. In Cassandra, the line “the family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line” isn’t a dig at Christians, it’s a dig at the Kardashian-West family. Kanye started his own church or something and made a whole “Christian” album- that led the whole family to act as if they were these big Christians. It was a big thing. The “call” was when Kim and Kanye called Taylor and made it and tailored it to make her seem awful. It was one piece of the smear campaign that “ruined” her reputation. The Manuscript feels like she’s closing the first book of her life. Not closing a chapter- closing a book. And I think her next album is gonna be the beginning of the next book. What I got from it is that she’s saying “this is the past and it’s not my story anymore, it’s not my life anymore- time to move on”.

Mikala B

This was so much fun! As far as reacting to the album in a few parts, I would honestly say that’s actually the best way to process this album in particular. Not only is it very lengthy, being that it is a double album, but each song is highly packed with content and complex ideas, emotions, and wordplay. At one point, you asked how Taylor ended up with Travis. Basically, he attended her concert last year in Kansas City (they had never met) and attempted to meet her backstage but was not allowed to meet her. He later talked about being at the concert on his podcast “New Heights” with his brother Jason, and said that he had wanted to meet her to give her a friendship bracelet he had made that had his phone number on it. People in Taylor’s life encouraged her to reach out to him, and they met and started dating shortly after that. In her TIME’s Person of the Year interview, she described him calling her out this way as something she thought was “Metal as hell.” (Which I found both hilarious and adorable. 😂) Regarding “Robin” I was in the same boat as you when I first heard the song. THIS is actually the song people say is about her friend’s daughter, and with that context it does suddenly make a lot more sense. The concept is that this young child is still innocent and wild and free, not bogged down by the adult and sometimes cruel realities of life. Taylor’s singing about wanting the child to keep her childlike wonder and innocence. “Slowed down clocks tethered, all this showman ship to keep it, for you, in sweetness” is Taylor saying they want to stop the child from growing up too soon, putting on a show to let her enjoy the sweetness of being a child as long as possible. Can’t wait to see your Lover reaction! Also, very happy to see you feeling better and on the mend!

Jennifer V.

I also just wanted to say thank you for this video (and the other two parts), I had so much fun watching them – and more than that, thank you for how honest you've been about your health, taking breaks when you've needed them, and the importance of prioritizing your well being. That's something that I have struggled with for my entire life (years of pushing through a bad leg injury have now led to having to take a leave from work, needing to drive across the border for a several-hundred dollar MRI, and there is a fear that if might require surgery) and even now when I can barely walk without being in agony, I still struggle to take breaks and feel guilty for not being able to "do more" all the time. Unfortunately I come from both a family and a bigger environment (particularly having been in a lot of sports as a kid and always being expected to shake off an injury and keep going, to the point of being told to "walk off" what turned out to be a fractured spine and being forced to get back on a horse immediately after dislocating several vertebrae), so hearing you be so open and unapologetic about needing to take care of yourself first was incredibly refreshing and honestly something that I have needed to hear for several years and needed now more than ever, so thank you for that (and for the wonderful videos to keep me company during my leave) I hope the rest of your recovery goes smoothly

Maddie

My personal theory is that The Manuscript is likely about, or at least heavily inspired by, filming the All Too Well short film – Jake Gyllenall was 29-30 while Taylor was 20 turning 21, which would explain the references to an age gap (and "Then she dated boys who were her own age" also makes sense since afterwards she dated Harry Styles who is much closer in age to her) The fact that the lyric video plays out like a script adds to the film imagery, and the All Too Well video ends with present day Taylor publishing a book (with a manuscript being "A version of a book, article, or other work before being published or prepared for publication") "And the years passed like scenes of a show / The professor said to write what you know / Lookin' backwards might be the only way to move forward" feels like it could be relating to the idea that looking back and reliving parts of that relationship while making the film gave her closure and a chance to move on "Then the actors were hitting their marks / And the slow dance was alight with the sparks" also feels like could very much relate to Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink's performance, including a scene of dancing in the kitchen and "but the story isn't mine anymore" resonates particularly strongly because Taylor has talked a lot over the years about how All Too Well was the first time that the fans' favourite song on an album lined up with her favourite and how the fans' love of this song gave it a new life, eventually leading to her releasing the 10 minute version and the short film – I also feel like it could tie back to the fact that a lot of the dialogue in short film was actually improved by the actors, taking a story that was originally hers and her life and turning it into something more and something that was also theirs I feel like pretty much all your questions have been answered now so I don't want to spam you with the same information everyone else has already shared (I love your swiftie fans this is my favourite place to be a swiftie on the internet) but I did have to share this thought!

Maddie

in So Long London she feels she gave her youth to her previous relationship but with Travis he makes her feel young again.

Ashley Murphy

Travis went to her concert and tried to give her a friendship bracelet with his number on it but she doesn't see anyone after the show so he wasn't able to so he talked about it on his podcast with his brother then she must have heard about it because then it was reported that they were hanging out and then the next thing we know she shows up at one of his games and she went to a bunch of them including the super bowl and he's gone to her shows in Argentina, Australia, Singapore and then just recently Paris. She even when he's there changes the lyrics to her song Karma so instead of saying "Karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me" She says "Karma is the guy on the chiefs coming straight home to me" Chiefs is his football team.

Ashley Murphy

Robin is Aaron Dessner's son and he co wrote it so this is definitely what it's about

Shanice Nowak

Also—The Manuscript…that song keeps growing on me. To me, it very much leans into the All Too Well short film she made (and her relationship that it was about)—the reference to writing what you know and also the age gap. that line about him saying it had been above board, but her not being sure, gets me every time! The part about the actors hitting their marks, and the slow dance, and the tears in synchronicity with the score, and the lyric video being a film script all scream the short film to me. I think it’s really beautiful to end this album with a look back on that time and her perspective on closing that chapter. (And all past ones too)

Andrea

I also related the Christian chorus line to that church choir Kanye started…right? I feel like I saw something about that.

Andrea

Loved seeing your take on all these! And yay for But Daddy I Love Him—my favorite!! I planned to rewatch that one at the end—but you went back to it for me here! Lol. So many thoughts… —Totally agree on getting more out of it with each listen. I find new appreciation for so many songs on this album the more I hear them. —Love that you described The Alchemy as feeling like flying. Pretty safe to say this one is about Travis with the football references and the fact that she played it at the show he was just at…so that feeling fits. I find with this album that the production of each song really leans into the feeling of the subject more than I’ve noticed before. —I love how she uses the double meaning of albatross in the song. So clever Loved that you were able to take time with this…this album is worth doing so for I think

Andrea

I’ve also heard Cassandra as the Scooter Braun diss track, like when all his artists left him last summer

Jenna Bolmgren

I kinda of wish you'd noticed the chorus lyrics on The Prophecy and not just the modulation and production. You missed some of the most devastating lyrics (to me) about I don't want money, just someone who wants my company - esp since she's got plenty of money but wants love and that's something no one can buy, no matter who they are. I definitely think you're right, it's hard to know if someone is just in love with the idea of her as opposed to her real self. She said none of them scratched the surface of her and that makes that song sadder to me. And we definitely have a narrative in society about women over 30 who are still "alone" for sure but I think what's hard is that her entire discography speaks to how much of a hopeless romantic she is wanting an authentic love and after every relationship it can feel hard, especially as you said, for women not to feel like the failure for not successfully having a relationship no matter who broke up with who or the reasons why that might be. It's not just about her, right, it's about how lots of people feel like it's never them, they may never get their happy ending, that love that they seek. I definitely have female friends in their thirties who this applies to, for sure. I LOVE Peter and so glad you liked it, too! Her and a piano killed me throughout this whole album. The Peter Pan/Wendy references are so good like she's a grown up Wendy, waiting for Peter to come back and be grown up while she's aging but he never does. It's so good. And yes, The Bolter became one of my absolute favorites. It's so catchy and fun and warm to me. On the Manuscript, I actually think this song IS her dealing with it, putting it to bed. She says now and again she rereads the manuscript, thinks about her old albums/relationships/songs etc, but those stories are told, dealt with, put to bed, and now they're not her stories anymore; they're her fans.

Danielle

Most of us consider this to be one full album but she said it's a double album. The Anthology, the second album as you called it, was a planned double album; they were not scrapped records. The standard album was mostly produced by Jack Antonoff who she worked with on the standard Midnights album (and many others) whereas the Anthology is mostly songs she made with Aaron Dessner who she worked on Folklore and Evermore with (along with the 3am tracks for Midnights). They are her two main producers and have fairly distinct sounds which you can tell.

Danielle

The crew forced the sailor to wear the albatross around his neck as s reminder of his "crime". But I believe the gist was all the misfortune would've happen regardless of if he killed the albatross. The albatross wasn't the bad omen they all believed it was. There's a tone of Christian imagery in that poem too and she mentions being shipwrecked a lot in her whole catalog

Shanice Nowak

The albatross is a reference to the poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Where a sailor killed an albatross and "doomed" their voyage in misery. Because he thought it was a bad omen when it wasn't.

Shanice Nowak

The song Robin is about Aaron Dessner son, Robin. Aaron is one of the producers Taylor works with on this album. They wrote this song together as a sort of wish for Robin to hold on to the freeness of his youth before its tainted by strains of adulthood — “You have a favorite spot on the swing set/ You have no room in your dreams for regret/ You have no idea/ The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean. It's also been said that Aaron's son asked one day if he worked with Taylor Swift and in trying to shield his son from the media surrounding his work and protect the privacy of those he works with, he decided to keep "All this showmanship [from him] In Sweetness".

Sarah

Yes! I love seeing her love out loud and be loved back just as loudly! The whole performance is dedicated to him… from the swag surfing, to doing his touchdown dances… swoon! But the song perfectly captures that high school feeling of being absolutely taken over by the feeling of wanting somebody like your life depends on it. AND in the lyric video, when the lyrics read “cheeks pink in the twinkling lights” the TK and TS are a shade of pink while the rest of the letters are white 🥹

Kenz

The word on the street is they definitely filmed night 1 in Paris so hopefully a quality version is on its way!

Shanice Nowak

100% there is a lot of sexual innuendo in the song. This song is about how their love is uncomplicated and exciting that it makes her feel giddy and young after many years of bad tumultuous relationships. It is one of my favorites because of happy she is. You can hear that in the album version of the song but it is even more evident watching her perform it on tour. Especially night 4 in Paris with Travis there that entire show was her showing him and the world how in love she is.

KyraB

The Manuscript we think is about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal and finding closure from that relationship after writing the script for her short film ‘All Too Well’ and seeing the actors perform it she could really see how wrong the relationship really was.

Mary

First of all, LOVE watching you break down Taylor stuff 🫶🏼 I think in So High School, she’s not “sighing” because she’s over it…. They’re getting freaky while his friends are around so she’s trying to stifle her SIGHS so they don’t hear… 👀 ever since she started dating Travis, she’s definitely been tapping into her sensual side! I love it!

Kenz

1989 had seagulls on the album cover. Seagulls and albatrosses are both water birds, similar yet different. Both beautiful when flying and both can be annoying as hell when you are trying to eat on the beach or on a boat.

Annie Willow

It sounds like it’s a child who’s ill but doesn’t know it

Shani Gribben

I heard she said Clara Bow is about how the music industry pits women against each other, in the end the next one after her will be “like Taylor Swift” but a little better “more edge” and it goes on and on…

Christy Geller

I think the song Robin is about taking a mental snapshot of a child, wishing that child can hold on to the freeness of their youth before it’s tainted by strains of adulthood.

Mary

In Cassandra she’s talking about the Kim/Kanye doctored phonecall. Cassandra was an Ancient Greek prophet who was cursed to predict the future but never be believed

Shani Gribben

So if someone types in Fortnite (the game) it actually doesn’t bring up her song. Her song only comes up if they don’t know the game is spelled Fortnite and type Fortnight instead by mistake, and even then the definition of the word fortnight shows up first, and then other questions about the word and then search results about the game and I actually had to scroll a bit before I came across Taylor’s song for it

rapid-ren

Jack, Aaron and Taylor produced the album. Jack and Aaron teamed up on quite a few songs.

Sarah from Motown

Also, Fortnite (the game) and fortnight (the word) are not spelled the same. They SOUND the same, and many people misspell both words in different directions, but they are not spelled the same. Fortnight is a word that is used regularly in the UK still that just means two weeks, and it is probably connected mostly to her many relationships with people from the UK. I’m not gonna say that marketing didn’t also play into it, but it is not spelled the same 😅

rapid-ren

Cassandra is another dig at the Kardashians / Kanye. Taylor tried to tell everyone they were lying about the call but the media and public blamed her and wanted her career over, when it came out she was right all along everyone was quiet and no one came out and was like “you know what she was right about them”. The Christian chorus line equates to the fact that Kim’s mom Kris Jenner actually is a founding member of an exclusive church in Hollywood, one where members literally pay thousands of dollars every month in attendance fees and the fact that everyone says the Kardashians are greedy and will use each other to make money = bloods thick but nothing like a payroll. Filling her cell with snakes is a call back to when Kim had everyone online calling Taylor a snake and leaving the snake emoji under all of her social media posts. Robin is written for her producer Aaron’s son whose name is Robin. It’s about protecting the innocence of a child for as long as possible. So High School isn’t necessarily that the person she is with is playing those high school games but that he gives her the feeling of young love and a time where she can just be free like in high school. I Hate It Here reminds me of The Lakes, the bonus track from Folklore where she talks about the place in Europe where all the poets went to retreat from society and live in peace back in the 1800s. The Manuscript is like a retelling of her life up until this point. She’s letting go of her past and moving forward now instead of dwelling on it, she released her story out into the world and now it’s “ours” and not hers anymore. In Clara Bow, it’s like Stevie was compared to Clara, Taylor was compared the Stevie and at the end the new generation is being compared to Taylor. There are rumors about who most of the songs are about, and it’s not who we originally thought the album was going to be over. If you want to know we can tell you but you don’t necessarily have to know who he is to understand them as you can see.

Caitlin Green

Yay! Glad you’re feeling a bit better! I have been looking forward to this reaction.

Chelsea Marie

In the song How Did It End? The word is Maladies. Pronounced MAL-uh-dees. The prefix 'mal' meaning 'ill' in French. She uses the term to emphasize the suffering, pain/depression, and loss of freedom/agency experienced within the relationship. These aliments experienced within the relationship were to such an extent that there was no cure strong enough to save it.

Sarah

Robin is the name of the son of one of her producers.

rapid-ren

I think it's totally cool to lookup stuff from the song if you really want to know during filming ;-) We all did the same while we listened! Love the honest reaction.

Sarah from Motown

just further context for the albatross!: colloquially it's known as a bad omen but historically, and for sailors, they're considered GOOD omens. in rime of the ancient mariner, the mariner shoots an albatross THINKING it was a bad omen and so he and his crew are subsequently cursed and he has to wear the body of the bird around his neck as penance (the metaphor you saw on google briefly touched on that aspect of the story). the albatross itself wasn't bad luck, the act of hurting it was also for how did it end: MALadies, not MELadies. MAL meaning "bad," like malfoy or malcolm lol so high school is about her (finally!) lighthearted relationship with travis. she's just saying she feels light and young and sweet with him instead of her usual sad/dramatic artboys. her "stifled sighs" don't seem to be irritation but, uh, maybe some PDA if you get what i'm saying lol. for once, there's no anxiety in one of her love songs because FOR ONCE, he pursued her (with a friendship bracelet, adorbs) so she's not second guessing herself, a theme that's really been present since rep. i've never noticed those extra sounds in i look in people's windows! idk if it's supposed to be outside sounds but i'll sure as shit accept that they are lol

Neumann

I loved that movie as a kid!

Shani Gribben

The 'ahhhs' in imgonnagetyouback remind me of Dress

Tyler Ward

Thank you!! 🥰🤍

LanaJulie33

Just finished 'imgonnagetyouback' and Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff who did Folklore and Evermore produced these albums. 'imgonnagetyouback' was produced by Jack

Jay Johnston

Chloe or sam or Sophia or Marcus makes me cry, too 🥺🥺🥺

LanaJulie33

With The Albatross, I think it’s about how the media treats Taylor as someone who causes problems for her boyfriends and it’s like a sarcastic warning to Travis

Shani Gribben

In So High School, Taylor is most likely fantasizing about what it would be like to date Travis back when they were in high school (hence all the 90-2000s references and nostalgia). They were both born in 1989 and would be in high school around that time. It could also be interpreted as they are madly in love, like in high school - that kind of crazy butterflies of young love. She feels giddy and madly in love. It's meant to sound cheesy and cringey lol"You know how to ball, I know Aristotle." Travis is great at playing football, Taylor is great with word play and songwriting. They are both one of the best in their separate arenas. As far as the "marry, kiss, or kill me, " Travis did an interview years ago where an interviewer asked him this question and he chose to kiss Taylor. Then he followed up with "it's just a game" Taylor referencing that interview in this song is so cute! As someone who is a year younger than Taylor, who has been happily married to my husband for 10 years and still feel the giddiness from time to time, this song got me swooning and kicking my feet like I was the subject of the song. Love it!

ML.

I'm gonna ask my editor to turn the volume of the album up.

Audrey McDonald ( Songs From A Suitcase)

OK LET ME GET THAT FIXED. HANG ONE

Audrey McDonald ( Songs From A Suitcase)

1989 is the album with seagulls. An albatross is significantly larger than a seagull and they’re often seen as omens

Shani Gribben

Ok am I the only one who watched and remembered The Rescuers Down Under??? That’s how I learned about the albatross bird 🙌🏻 😂

Tessa M

I cackled!

Meredith

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is really sad. Taylor is saying that she imagines this man moving on with someone else but she did nothing. The man saw her move on with a new man but he also did nothing. So over the years she has changed so much (clothes and personas etc) to try to fit back into his world "If you wanna break my cold cold heart, just say you loved me the way that you were" Here, Taylor is saying if the guy wanted to hurt her, he could tell her he wished she had never changed. Essentially, all the changes she made to herself to please him never mattered. He was never gonna love her again anyway.

ML.

LanaJulie33

This!!! Exactly this. Heartbreaking 🥺🤍

LanaJulie33

I think you’re thinking of the song “Robin” and it’s her friend and producer Aaron Dessner‘s son’s name. Aaron and Taylor wrote it together.

Mary

Robin is the one about her friends kid

Shani Gribben

Totally agree on hospitals being the worst place to sleep cause of people checking on, even worse if the room is a shared one. Sympathies with the antibiotics, I’m stuck on them too

Shani Gribben

Forever referring to The Albatross as The Seagull Song from now on. 😂

Hannah

So Clara Bow is about Swift's future successor. Each verse she talks about a woman being compared to a Superstar that came before. This is essentially Swift passing the torch to the next promising artist. I don't think it's about a particular person, but some Swifties think it may be about Olivia Rodrigo taking the pop world by storm and Taylor explaining that there is no bad blood between them and she's happy for her. The "you've got edge" line could be referencing how grungy Olivia's music gets (especially in GUTS).

musicalnerd8301

No- Clara Bow is not about a friends daughter. It’s about the endless cycle of celebrity- one day your’e in- the next your’e out. The last line “You look like Taylor Swift..” is essentially saying, “the cycle continues on…”

Meredith

yessss

Cody M

“It’s been a looooooong tiiiime coming…”

TheKTCM