Expanded: Treacherous = Haylor?
I know I said Iβd be doing a proper Treacherous = Haylor post separately, but fuck it Iβm just gonna dump everything here.
Okay first, timeline. Iβm gonna expand more on the timeline of Haylorβs April fling with the time that the song was written and how it actually syncs up.
- Harry and Taylor meet at the Kids Choice Awards.
- Harry tweets this (most likely referring to Taylor lmfao):
- Justin Bieber invited both Taylor and One Direction to his LA mansion, where they swam and βjust hung outβ. Bieber told Britainβs Daily Mirror that βone of the biggest artists in the world thinks Harry is so hot, but I have been sworn to secrecy.β
- One Direction is in New York for their SNL appearance. MTV interviews the boys and they tease Harry about Taylor.
- Harry postsΒ βSweet Dispositionβ lyrics on twitter (see post above about why itβs related to Treacherous and the Haylor relationship):
- Taylor out and about in New YorkΒ around the same time as the One Direction boys being in the city.
- Unconfirmed sightings with her and aΒ βmystery guyβ (Harry):
- Taylor hanging out with girlfriends in New York:
- One Direction and Taylor rumored to be at the Bowery Hotel together:
(Bonus:Β A Taylor source later told Vanity Fair in 2013 about Taylor and Harryβs April fling as βa weekend where they got really close and he was all, like, βYouβre amazing - I want to be with you. I want to do this.β)
- One Direction leaves New York for Sydney, Australia.
Taylor posts this picture on Instagram with the caption: βRecording for the next album. So happy.β The dress sheβs wearing in this photo is the same as the one she wore on 8th April during her rumored date with Harry in New York.
- Harry reveals to Australian newspaper The Herald Sun that he and Taylor have exchanged numbers and were texting, saying that: βWe met in America. She is very talented. Sheβs very nice β¦ Weβre friends.β
- Harry postsΒ βSweet Dispositionβ lyrics on twitter again:
- Harry caughtΒ βkissingβ Emily Ostilly in Auckland, New Zealand. According to a Taylor source for Vanity Fair in 2013, βhe texted Taylor while on tour to alert her to pictures online where he was βkissing a friend good-bye.β When Taylor searched for the pictures, she discovered they were βmaking out with like their hands all up in each otherβs hair.ββ Harry and Taylorβs relationship cooled down until they reconnected again 6 months later in September, 2012.
2. Creation of βTreacherousβ
So based on the Haylor relationship timeline, weβve established that Taylor and Harry had a whirlwind fling in a matter of 11 days (about two weeks) from 31 March 2012 to 10 April 2012, and then communicated/texted while they were apart until 23 April 2012.
Now letβs go into the timeline of the writing of Treacherous:
Dan Wilson, co-writer of Treacherous mentioned that he wrote two songs with Taylor withinΒ a period of two daysΒ sometime in spring 2012Β (around 1:40 in this video) β the two songs beingΒ βCome Back Be Hereβ andΒ βTreacherousβ.Β
Hereβs Dan Wilson inΒ another interview in 2014 about writing Treacherous with Taylor:
AVC: Whatβs the process when youβre writing with someone else?
DW: It depends on how they work. With Taylor, we had been kind of circling around, very much aware of each otherβs work for a while. We figured out these two days to work together and she came to my studio super excited and said, βI had an idea in the car.β And she sang me the first three or four lines of it and said, βI want to call it βTreacherousβ and maybe the chorus can go like this.β And we were writing the song in 10 minutes and she was just so full of excitement.
Dan Wilson also revealed in this interview that he had to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with Taylor when writing the songs, so weβll never really find out who Treacherous is about. (But we CAN assume on our own, and I think a lot of it points to Harry)
Iβve deduced that βCome Back Be Hereβ is about Harry in this post, therefore there is also a high chance that βTreacherousβ is about Harry as well since both songs were written together.Β
Taylor and Dan Wilson writing the songs in spring 2012 fits the timeline of the Haylor relationship, and Taylor was spotted in the studio recording for Red on 8 April 2012 so itβs very likely they wrote the songs during or after the Haylor fling (most likely after, Iβm in the opinion that they wrote the songs in late April/early May).
3. Treacherous = Style 0.5?
What got me on this investigative journey in the first place is because of this postΒ (thanks hun, you helped me a lot), and also because I always thought that Treacherous does not fit the popular opinion of the song being about Jake Gyllenhaal or John Mayer.
First of all, just compare the confirmed Gyllenswift songs in Red (State of Grace, All Too Well, Red, WANEGBT, etc) with Treacherous, and you can see that the events or themes in Treacherous does not match the Gyllenswift relationship at all.
Then we have Taylor singling out Treacherous and IKWYT asΒ βbeing about the same person, in that Treacherous is before and IKWYT is afterβ β which is significant because if these songs are about Jake like the rest of the album, there is no need to single them out in the first place, no? This makes me think that Treacherous and IKWYT is about a person who IS NOT Jake.
So now that we ruled out Jake, who else could it be? John Mayer? Okay first of all she really hates John Mayer do you really think sheβs gonna waste any of her breath singing more love songs about him after she gone done that magnum opus pissing pieceΒ βDear Johnβ in the previous album? IΒ CANΒ somewhat see her writing IKWYT about John, but Treacherous?? Nah. I know Iβm being a bit harsh but letβs be realistic hereβ¦ And the secret message of Treacherous does not apply to John Mayer at all, so thereβs that.
(Talking about who inspired IKWYT is opening up a whole another can of worms on itselfβ¦ there can be a solid argument that IKWYT was originally written with John Mayer in mind but I think it sort of morphed into something else later on. But thatβs for another time! Letβs focus on Treacherous and Treacherous only.)
It was only when I applied Harry Styles to Treacherous that all the pieces started fitting together. Secret message of the song: βWonβt Stop Till Itβs Overβ = Haylor related? Check.Β Timeline of the song creation with the Haylor fling matches up? Check. What about the song lyrics then?
Two headlights shine through the sleepless night
And I will get you, and get you alone
Your name has echoed through my mind
And I just think you should, think you should know
That nothing safe is worth the drive and I would
Follow you, follow you homeβ¦
Iβll follow you, follow you homeβ¦
I find it amusing that 2 years later, Taylor would go on to write another song in 1989 with similar lyrics and themes as Treacherous, which happens to beβ¦. yupβ¦ you guessed it rightβ¦ Style.
Treacherous: βTwo headlights shine through the sleepless nightβ
Style:Β βMidnight, you come and pick me up, no headlightsβ
Treacherous: βThat nothing safe is worth the driveβ
Style:Β βA long drive, could end in burning flames or paradiseβ
Treacherous: βFollow you, follow you homeβ¦β
Style:Β βTake me home, just take me homeβ
Okay, just from the song lyric comparisons we could tell that Treacherous and Style have similar themes, but letβs confirm things even further with Taylorβs own words about the song:
NPR interview, 2nd Nov 2012 (keep in mind Taylor was already dating Harry by this time):
βIβve had relationships with people that were really substantial and meant a lot to me, but I couldnβt write a song about that person for some reason. Then again, youβll meet someone that comes into your life for two weeks and you write an entire record about them.β
For everyone arguing that Taylor couldnβt have possibly written two songs on Red about a mere two-week fling with Harry in April 2012β¦. hereβs proof that she can. And she did.
From USA Today interview, 17th October 2012 (keep in mind Taylor was already dating Harry by this time):
Another track, Treacherous, written with Wilson, is one of the most overtly sexual songs Swift has ever written and includes the line, "Iβll do anything you say if you say it with your hands.βΒ
"That song is about a person that I knew, from the minute I saw him, that it would end in fiery, burning wreckage,β she says. βThereβs something about that magnetic draw that doesnβt really let up. You walk toward it anyway.β
The line about Treacherous being the most sexual song on the album is interesting, because Taylor would then go on to write similar risque-ish songs in 1989, like Style and Wildest Dreams, which happens to be about Harry as well.
Then the lineΒ βit would end in fiery, burning wreckageβ in here reminds me of the line in StyleΒ βwe go crashing down every time/could end in burning flamesββ¦ Thereβs definitely parallels in Taylorβs description of her relationship with Harry with the lyrics in Treacherous, and I donβt think itβs a coincidence.
Taste of Country interview, 22nd October 2012 (keep in mind Taylor was already dating Harry by this time):
I wrote βTreacherousβ with Dan Wilson, and we came up with a way to say, you know, βThis is dangerous and I realize that I might get hurt if I go through with this, if I move forward with you. Butβ¦ but I want to.β You know? Itβs like that kind of conflicted feeling of it being a risk every time you fall in love β especially with certain types of people [laughs].
That was a song that Iβm really proud of, because itβs got this bridge that sounds like a second chorus. Itβs got all these big vocals, and itβs kind of the intensity of that moment when youβre deciding to let yourself fall in love with someone.
And again, Taylor is basically describing her relationship with Harry, as we would later find out in 1989.
Other Taylor quotes about Treacherous, albeit unsourced:
I wrote βI Knew You Were Troubleβ about the same person. Thatβs the before and after: βTreacherousβ is the before. βI Knew You Were Troubleβ is the after. [βTreacherousβ] is a song that Iβm really proud of. It kind of covers ground that I havenβt covered before, that feeling of, even if itβs ill-fated, you want to pursue it to the very end. Even if weβre going down, I want in.βΒ
Okay so NOW weβve already established thatβ¦
Secret message of the song:Β βWonβt Stop Till Itβs Overβ = Haylor
Timeline of the song creation with the Haylor fling matches up
The lyrics and theme of Treacherous, as well as Taylorβs words about the song matches the Haylor fling/relationship
Can we NOW finally accept the interpretation that Treacherous COULD be about Harry? Iβm not saying itβs definitely about him, but Iβm just gonna leave my case here and let you decide on your ownβ¦.