r/NuancingTaylorSwift

(Not counting collabs)

Hear me out: Picture to Burn is the “set point” that a significant number of people have re: Taylor Swift. A teenage girl singing a vicious song about an ex-boyfriend and getting just a wee bit ~~dramatic~~ about it.

To some people even here in YOOT 36 that is the impression they have of Taylor: petty, vengeful, immature, “man-centered”. 20 years later, the afterimage of that picture has burned itself into the cultural consciousness in a way that it kind of depressing.

The song itself, tho, is great fun! It hits the emotional reality of a teenager dealing with a sudden breakup perfectly, the country-fried details adding an extra delicious touch and a teenage twist on the “man with a pickup truck/woman with a cheatin’ man” genre of country song. And who doesn’t love an electric guitar and banjo combo?

As to the “original lyrics” I will leave that to be discussed in the comments bc I have never actually heard them. The replacement lyrics are fine! The song as a whole isn’t a lyrical masterpiece but it isn’t really the sort of song that needs to be deep and poetic.

Do teenagers in this day and age even have physical photos they can vengefully ignite? /old

Favorite lyrics: And if you're missing me, you'd better keep it to yourself //
'Cause coming back around here would be bad for your health

Instrumental: 8/10 🪕 🎸

Rating: 8/10 or 🔥 🔥 🔥

This week’s poll is pretty straightforward. What’s your favorite use of a “five dollar word” in a TS song?

By “five dollar word” I mean a multi-syllabic, relatively rare word of the sort you don’t hear often in pop songs. I think we know that Taylor is fond of finding ways to work these unusual and fun vocabulary words into her lyrics.

NOMINATE your favorite five-dollar usage below.

UPVOTE the ones you like!

Discussion, as ever, encouraged. What makes you like these words and/or their lyrics especially?

——

The previous poll was won by “Guilty as Sin?”. Congratulations to that bop and a half!

Hey everyone! This week’s theme is princess! Any mentions of princesses, royalty, empire, kingdom, etc.

How do you think Taylor’s use of this theme has shifted from her early albums to more recent albums?

My chosen lyric is from white horse: “I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale”. And the showgirl summation poem: “the crowd is your king”

What songs would you put on a playlist with the theme royalty?

What does *nuanced* mean in this thread?

For this thread a *nuanced* opinion is a thoughtful opinion, BUT specifically one which is not a widely-held and often repeated opinion of fans, haters or others who pontificate about TS.

A few examples (that I personally believe):

•	people often say they want Taylor to be more experimental with her production but pretty much all the songs where she does experiment, even slightly, are widely hated and mocked by the fans

•	The often-expressed desire for Taylor to work with a new producer bc they will “challenge” her gets it backwards. New producers will be \*less likely\* to challenge her bc they will not have formed the trust that she has with her frequent collaborators (and see next point)…

•	People give both too much credit and too much blame to producers when they like or dislike a song or a choice. Taylor is also a producer of her music and she is the decider and has been for a very long time

•	Her best-produced album is Midnights 💙 

NB. I know people have super-strong feelings about this but let’s stay away as much as possible from “her best producer is X” without further elaboration. Be specific, please 😊** **

BONUS Eldest Daughter opinion 😉: (h/t to u/Expensive-Fennel-163) if this song was produced in a more Midnights-esque synth-pop fashion it would be much more appreciated (including by me)

We can only ask but please DO NOT DOWNVOTE an opinion just because you disagree. However, discussion that includes disagreement is welcome.

Her name was Kitty...

The Life of a Showgirl features Sabrina Carpenter and is track 12 from Taylor's 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl.

I find this song so fun to sing along to and I feel like it closed out the Showgirl era really well. I feel kind of like Taylor almost passed the "Showgirl" title onto Sabrina with this song so it really makes me wonder what TS13 will be like. It's also one of Taylor's duets that feels like a duet. I haven't really felt that since Exile. Sabrina has an actual verse and even gets the final word on the song/album.

You're sweeter than a peach but you don't know the life of a showgirl, babe...

I have noticed with this song that people once again have trouble with Taylor using the term bitch or bitches. I find it okay in this song because she's talking about people who actually wish her career would end or that she'd fade into obscurity. Taylor isn't about to do that, though. I'm curious how other feel about the use of "bitches" in The Life of a Showgirl versus Honey.

Favorite Lyrics:

They gave her the keys to this city then they said she didn't do it legitly

But you don't know the life of a showgirl, babe and you're never, ever gonna... Wait, the more you play, the more that you pay

She was a menace, the baby of the family in Lenox

Do you wanna take a skate on the ice inside my veins? They ripped me off like false lashes and then threw me away

Thank you for the lovely bouquet, now I make my money being pretty and witty

My Rating: 7.7

First of all, as a person who earned a PhD, I have no issue with the concept of honorary doctorates or Taylor receiving one. Everyone understands the difference between a “normal” PhD and an honorary one.

Secondly, I love her speech and particularly her embrace of cringe. Anyone who is a TS fan but worries about cringe needs to listen to it!

Anyway it’s puzzling to me that people can’t understand on the one hand that an honorary doctorate is given as an *honor* to recognize her contributions to music (and music education thru her philanthropy) and isn’t “stolen valor” from us *proper* nerds, and on the other hand people who hold up Taylor as some kind of “intellectual”. It’s fine to joke about her five-dollar words and admire her clever lyrics, but it’s creating bizarre expectations to treat her as a Thinker instead of an Entertainer primarily.

The fact that people could not relate sensibly to her engagement-post “English teacher” JOKE was also very frustrating. There’s **nuance** here but as ever people had to find thjngs to be offended about.

In the pinned comment below I link a news op-Ed which makes a sensible view of the doctorate situation.

What do you think?

* Did you like her commencement speech?

* Do you think people over-intellectualise Taylor?

* why do you think this topic bothers people so much?

So, I onboarded with Taylor at 1989. Taylor as pop. Which means I’ve not really engaged with her country and country pop albums quite as much.

But when the first bits of critique around the re-record bubbled up, it surprised me to discover what I considered a pretty innocuous pop-country album track is considered a bit controversial. I don’t need my popstars to be pillars of morality so a young woman saying she won’t go along with cheating on someone because she’s discovered first hand how hurtful it is, doesn’t actually worry me.

Musically it’s a slight bit of country-pop changed so it leans slightly more pop in the TV. As always it’s interesting to hear her approach in singing differ as an older artist. I think I prefer the younger version - suits the subject matter.

It seems Taylor herself isn’t a fan either, having never played it live.

I don’t know - 5 out of 10? A song not interesting enough to warrant the conversations around it.

But - have at it in the comments!

Wrong (and weird) answers only!

What silly thing do you think Taylor does not have a song for? And can anyone think of a song for it?

Or just other fun examples of this meme you’ve found

My answer: i don’t think she has a song about getting a flat tire

Haunted… god where to sound with this song? Probably one of the unique song of Taylor’s discography production wise, this is definitely her most rockish song. Taking elements from orchestral music, goth rock and arena rock, Haunted sounds like a song that Paramore, Evanescence or even Nightwish could release. I really wish this song got a music video cause the atmosphere of this song transports you into a world where everything felt dark and depressed but in a beautiful way.

I do have to admit while I do like the production (at least in the OG version. The TV production kinda sucks) the lyrics are kinda basic for a Taylor Swift song especially for a Speak Now era Taylor song. However I think the lyrics “I thought I had you figured out/Something's gone terribly wrong/You're all I wanted” does pack a punch.

Some people theorize that this song was written for Twilight and while I don’t believe that theory I could totally see it lmao.

What do you think of this song? Do you prefer the TV or OG? And do you think Taylor should make an entire album filled with songs like this?

Rating: 9/10