Bow and Arrow 🏹
As the legacy of track 5 being a masterpiece goes on, so does the subtle theme of having insecurities about the situation around. Delicate gave us a first insight, more like a throwback to the first moments of a relationship, whilst The Archer has a different introspection. The lyrics is more intricate and complex than what we've seen in a long time and that's what makes it beautiful.
There's a duality in the song that covers both sides of life, a dichotomy that matches with the symbology of Sagittarius and Cupid, yes, but is far more than that. Everyone in life at some point has had the upper hand, hence the archer, but also has been chased to be captured (re: hunters and foxes in I Know Places).
She says that cruelty wins in the movies, so I take it as a statement that if there's something wrong, evil and messed up happening, the universe will rebalance itself and re-establish some kind of order.
Like a Centaur who was half man (the one holding the bow) and half horse (the prey) Taylor has felt both natures in the past, in relationships (love, friendship) but also work.
We know that there's something evil happening around her and the one she loved, and she's been loving since 2013, and the public downfall started a year ago, but even though she almost said whatever she wanted to say without thinking about it over and over, she didn't and she stayed.
She stayed like she promised in New Year's Day and she will hold on to her person, like the memories, but this time she asks for help to hold on because, newsflash humans can be fragile and a force from just one pole doesn't work as two forces on both sides.
Speaking of sides and the complexity of human nature, she searches for the dark side of someone who has been called "sunshine", who lately looks like has been eclipsed by opinions and business, yet Taylor thinks she's her dark side. That statement in my opinion looks more like an admission of guilt, when she's not the one turning off the sun. It's all about insecurities in a fragile, delicate moment of the relationship and it's just heartbreaking.
Just like it is Dancing With Our Hands Tied, the metaphor of being in a room on fire has always a strong meaning when you think about the difficulties of having a life you need to protect from cruelty and it gets attacked from all sides, leaving you to hold on tight to the only thing sure: love, for herself, and for the other person, who's very different from every knight she's been associated with, who would save her on their with horses, and did nothing, and very different from ex friends who turned out to be frauds.
Love as a concept and love as a feeling, which is the main theme of the album as she says, because she makes it clear how she sees through herself after hating for God knows how long her own reflection.
And this brings me to the thought I've had almost immediately: the reflection.
Disney fans, do you recognise this? As one of my favourite animated movies I couldn't help finding the parallelism between Taylor and Mulan. Yes, the concept is different, I know, but if you extrapolate the meaning behind in Mulan it's just a song about not fitting into the world, not being the person she wants to be and the reflection makes her think. That's why in my opinion is important to analyze this side of the meaning, because it has thousands and thousands and it's definitely not a Narcissus kind of story. It's about being someone you're meant to be, and not the one the others expect you to be, like she did it in the past, both for her music (when she was under BMR) and in the public eye as a straight girl.
If YNTCD was a nod to the LGBTQ community, and a way to open the door, this is something deeper because she's deliberately trying to make people understand who she is under the surface and inside. She can now see it, they see it and asks if the other person (this time she's not talking to the lover, but to the general listener) can see who she really is.
As always, she's trying to tell you.
