How I made sense of Kaylor (v1 20171231)
This is not intended to create another Kaylor master-post
There are plenty and great ones around, primarily Kaylor master post I, Kaylor master post II, Kaylor Evidence, Reputation Era Master Post. Using existing master-posts and various Kaylor materials, this post is intended to share how I made sense of Kaylor, as well as what I consider equally important as looking through pieces of information and establishing evidences:
Connecting pieces of information and evidences in a coherent timeline to highlight (an established) pattern of events, and subsequently digesting them through a wider lens of reasons.
Drawing related pieces of information and interconnecting them within certain timeline or context – literally or mentally, always helped me to make a better sense of things. I used the same approach to make sense of Kaylor, and these are a beautified version of the doodles I did. It is not intended as a complete list of events since you can get it from digging through all the master-posts and all Kaylors’ archives. Rather, this drawing picked on some events with a key purpose to show the connection and pattern of things. By taking a less fragmented and more holistic take on things, I am hoping it will give us a better perspective to digest information with a clearer (and kinder) lens.
Building blocks to construct my thought process:
Kaylor-meter: the chronology of Kaylor events,
Gaylor-meter: the chronology of Tay’s gay footprints,
Beard-fest: bearding and PR stunts related to Kaylor / Gaylor
Word-orama: the closest narrative to what Taylor felt, saw and experienced throughout her journey. In some part, they are perhaps the most telling account of the emotional journey she went through the meter, the fest and her life in general.
As always, follow, go and dig through archives in these senior folks for abundant golden nuggets @jennyboom21 @tallcurlygirl @whaler13bg @taytaysbeard @kaydar @all-my-possessions. Aside from its general discourse on Kaylor/Gaylor the last two are particularly my go-to and great blogs for their fascinating perspective and essays on lyrics. Content credit goes to these folks and all Kaylors whose posts are included in this piece. There are plenty of other Kaylor blogs with great pieces and thoughts of which are no less important just because they are not mentioned or referred in here.
The Journey, and how I made sense of it:
The way I see it, Kaylor-meter, Gaylor-meter, Beard-fest and Word-orama are interconnected and interwoven fabrics of Taylor (professional) life as an artist. A fascinating - at times mind-boggling, interplay of staged and debunk. There were elements of real life person Taylor throughout the journey, however, in looking into this Kaylor journey I am using “Taylor the product/brand” lens. (Refer to this post for what I meant by “Taylor the product/brand” lens)
How to make sense of the graph? The post reference numbers are structured as such to help make an easy connection between Kaylor, Gaylor, beards and songs events. For example: Kissgate - ref# (6) is connected to Tayvin - ref# (6a1) and (6a2) to show that Tayvin events are a PR set up connected to (primarily) Kissgate event in Kaylor’s journey. Please note that I only included some of the events in Kaylor-meter, Gaylor-meter and Beard-fest for the reason that this post is intended to show an established pattern, and not an exhaustive list of events.
So what are the patterns that we can see?
When Dianna Agron case (D) was leaked, Harry Styles was emerged. However, chain of events indicate otherwise (Da1) (Da2).
When Kissgate (6) happened Calvin Harris was set up as a ‘boyfriend’. Once again, the PR stunt worked for the targeted audience, but not to others (6a1) (6a2). Read through the detail in the referred Kissgate and Tayvin master-post to understand why they were connected, and why Tayvin was considered as a stunt and not a real thing between Taylor and Calvin.
When the screaming rainbow Reputation was dropped (10), it was also raining beards on Taylor’s (10a1) (10a2) (10a3) (10a4) and Karlie’s part of the world (y1) (y2) (y3) (y4) (y5)
Plenty of posts about this PR stunts. In short, the beards are up and fly away whenever there is an album release, when the public caught wind of Tay’s gayness, or when materials or events that can be viewed as gay will be released, with a purpose to cover up and to retain the hetero-narrative.
(Note: on why beards are needed, refer to Sobering Thought section of this post, as well as search through these folks’ blog: @taytaysbeard @kaydar @paradisekisses)
Kaylor-meter: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)
Gaylor-meter: (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)
Beard-fest: (Da1) (Da2) (6a1) (6a2) (x1) (x2) (x3) (10a1) (10a2) (10a3) (10a4) (y1) (y2) (y3) (y4) (y5)
You may also want to check this Reference from @all-my-possessions for timeline/master post/general information. (note: this link does not work for mobile users)
The words that tell the (real) story…
Despite the abundant proof of disconnect or illogical events of Taylor’s hetero persona, Taylor official narrative on her albums - except for her two latest albums, still throw people off. However, in looking deeper into her lyrics, significant amount of ambiguity or timeline disconnect have weakened the narrative and indicated that the songs were anything but. Her latest album (Reputation) did so in an a even bolder fashion. As I noted in previous section, Word-orama is another aspect in the stage and debunk games.
Some great posts that I found helping in shedding the lights on ambiguity and anything but:
(a-e) a series of essays from @all-my-possessions (note: for mobile users, upon clicking on the link, you will be directed to her main page. Use the search bar on the right top pane of her blog and type in index list to access the essays)
(a-f) a collection of posts dissecting the subject of the song, debunking of the beards from songs angle.
Beard defying songs: (e1) (e2) (D-Da-e3) (D-Da-e4) (f3) (f4) (K-f5) (f6)
Media take on reputation: (f1) (f2)
So how did I identify the interplay patterns between the meters, beard-fest and word-orama?
When Kissgate (6) happened Calvin Harris was set up as a ‘boyfriend’. Once again, the PR stunt worked for the targeted audience, but not to others (6a1) (6a2). And (presumably) to muddle further of the public narrative and to encourage non-het reading, Taylor planted ambiguity through her songs (e1) (e2) (D-Da-e3) (D-Da-e4)
When the screaming rainbow Reputation was dropped (10), it was also raining beards on Taylor’s (10a1) (10a2) (10a3) (10a4) and Karlie’s part of the world (y1) (y2) (y3) (y4) (y5). Taylor ambiguity further the speculation that it is anything but hetero (f3) (f4) (K-f5) (f6)
Side note: Just an additional background for those who are not familiar with Taylor’s work - I didn’t, thus the information digging I did: you can view snapshots on Taylor’s album from wikipedia (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
Once the pieces are all connected, now what? How should I read it? How should I digest them?
When looking into the information and connecting the dots, one process that I always found important is to digest the connected pieces within its context, and the understanding of the mechanics of and the why behind things. What is the underlying mechanics behind an event? What possible stoppers, risks or ramification that could prevent - what many would see as a natural progression of things, from happening?
Selected perspectives I considered important to shed a different - and better, lights on the connected pieces:
The media and public lenses: selected posts to highlight what the media and public see and say about Kaylor (primarily). Outsider perspective always helped to balance the notion of subjectivity on things. It also shows that what internal Kaylors see as evidence were viewed through the same lens by the media/public (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
PR & celebrity PR games: selected posts on how things work and why certain events - in Kaylor/Taylor/other celebrities were done in such way. (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15)
Ethic and moral wrestling: privacy violation and outing are the controversies many touted in this fandom for various reasons and intentions. I put in selected posts to give (the needed) perspective on these crucial issues. (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21)
Kaylors’ words of wisdom: some sobering thoughts to ponder beyond all the excitement in the fandom discourse. (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30)
These kind of information and perspective are a crucial and inseparable part of my take on things, since it gave me a better perspective and discourse.
So that’s how I made sense of Kaylor and how I formed my opinion on events throughout the journey.
Note: aside from seniors mentioned earlier on, special mentioned of blogs with thoughtful discourse: @modellesbians-kaylor @thoseflashinggreeneyes @paradisekissess @kaylorcastle @howyougetthenerd.
Last but not least, the belle of the ball…
Karlie Kloss defies stereotyping in her own right
Many may see Taylor Swift-Karlie Kloss as just one of those cliche famous musician-model pair up the likes of Adam Levine-Behati Prinsloo, John Legend-Christy Teigen, David Bowie (RIP)-Iman, Mick Jagger-Jerry Hall - of which the list goes on. Who is Karlie Kloss? Is she just one of those pretty faces? The 6 foot giraffe from the Lou does pack a whole lot of punches in answering the stereotyping thrown at her.
Flexing her inner-geek muscle and unleashing her kookie-monster self, Karlie breakdowns stereotyping on those in fashion industry and elevates the platform she has to reach out and opening opportunities for young girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) whilst opening her heart to those in needs. Owning most of the processes and ideas, her stereotype-defying passion has earned her accolades and acknowledgement from heavy weighters alike.
Some of industries appreciation on her passions beyond fashion industry: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)
My go-to blogs for everything Karlie Kloss: @makistar @fuckthesoliddude @karlieklosschile
Folks whose work I draw from. Thank you! Fascinating and great insight!
@anotherday-anotherdrama-drama @karlitakloss @kaylor-evidence @larrienation @jennyboom21 @tallcurlygirl @kaydar @taytaysbeard @whaler13bg @all-my-possessions @modellesbians-kaylor @paradisekissess @thoseflashinggreeneyes @castle-of-brick @100percentsunshine @howyougetthenerd @femmetay @kayspiracy @kaylorcastle @ta-swifts @fuckthesoliddude @iloveanimalssavetheworld @karlieskupkake @svnshineswift @kaylorcastle @thoseflashinggreeneyes @broswiftie @xswhitetee @actyourshoesizegirl @thisiskatsblog @out-of-the-klosset @superspider7890 @raleighcat17 @ificoulddancewithyou @makistar @karlieklosschile
As I have noted in the first section of this post, there are plenty of other Kaylor blogs with great pieces and thoughts of which are no less important just because they are not mentioned or referred in this particular work. So, go dive in and find them!
PS. Update or correction will be structured as versioning
