Meet Me Behind The Mall

in a way, taylor's whole discography is a negotiation between career ambition and personal relationships, right, like in the early albums there's so much about 'i never fit in, i didn't get the guy, but i found dreams much bigger in songwriting, people haven't always been there for me but music always has.' and then as she grows up there's so much about her partners belittling her art and the whole metatextual element of writing about her relationships affecting them, and her as the narrator trying to navigate what details to share for the sake of the art and what to keep to herself to protect. the idea of running away from the fame to seek out real human connection starts cropping up on RED and reaches a peak on Midnights, to me, where the central question really is 'what parts of myself have i cut away to serve my ambition? is there enough left to continue splitting myself in two?' and by the time we get to Poets, the predominant feeling is 'fine, that door is closed to me forever, i'm just this crazy monster, fame and success have made me something simultaneously divine and monstrous, but either way i'm not human anymore.' and then we get to showgirl where she is both immortal and dreaming of a driveway with a basketball hoop, with no tension between those two things. now tell me again there's nothing to analyze on this album lol

the internet misses folklore because it did not challenge the listener at all — it exactly met the moment in terms of serious sadness in the cultural milieu, The Taylor Swift as the narrator receded into the background, even the visual aesthetic was the cottegecore thing everybody was into. in hindsight it was extremely palatable in a way i don't think any other taylor album has been or aspires to be

rb with your top 3 after the first listen of the life of a showgirl