and there is happiness

but it isnt too late to start tho! if you suddenly wake up and realize the years have slipped by you can start actively living again!

played folklore on the drive today and god, in the 1 when she says "if my wishes came true it would have been you" the whole song, establishing that it was out of her control what lead to their demise. nothing could have stopped the inertia of their downward collapse but a wish. keeps the song lofty, reminiscent, just a day dream. but then in the reprise when she comes back with "rosé flowing with your chosen family, and it would have been sweet if it could have been me" the sharp turn wrecks me every time like.... no actually what happened wasn't up to chance and the whims of the world. the random fate of seeing someone at a bus stop. her lover actively collected an intimate family of their choosing, perhaps comprised of friends and lovers alike, but they didn't choose Taylor. the song is not in fact about wondering if the wind had blown differently would that have been enough to keep them together, as "if one thing had been different, would everything be different today" wonders. it's about wishing she had been chosen and wanting so badly to know, barely resisting the temptation to ask them, why she wasn't. if she had done one thing different, been just a little different, would she have been the chosen recipient of their love? absolutely lethal song.

Shiina Ringo, ROCKIN'ON JAPAN. APRIL 2000, VOL.185.