#*religion

i LOOOVE this question so naturally my response got really long.

so first, some context: taylor has often spoken/sung about this fantasy of turning a bad guy good. she said it explicitly in this 2012 parade interview:

I think every girl’s dream is to find a bad boy at the right time, when he wants to not be bad anymore.

📌 to answer your first point: taylor knows her friend emma is a wonderful, beautiful person, anyone would be lucky to be with her. so taylor is saying if all these bad boys (players, guys who won't commit, charmers who play games, etc.) knew how good they'd have it with emma, they'd change themselves asap for a chance to be with her.

but you are picking up on some troubling gender roles, which are kinda the basis of the bad boy/good girl trope.

let's dive in!!

📌 the sexism in the trope: the good girl/bad boy trope is vividly present throughout taylor's discography, but it's not unique to her, or her original creation. it's common throughout all kinds of media and stories. the trope goes like this: there's a hot edgy guy who's confident and charismatic and dangerous (could be literal or figurative.) he has a list of people he's left haunted and wanting him, because he's sooo broken inside. he's misunderstood and he probably cheats. he's masculine and sexy. enter good girl. she's safe, relatable, average, except for her big heart. that desire for love, and loving, is where she stands out. she can be the one who fixes him! she can change him! he recognizes that she's special, and as a result, she gets him to settle down! she tames him! and now he loves her and they get the best of both worlds: he's still sexy and charismatic but he's committed to her (supposedly), and she gets to love him and be loved by him. what a fairytale!

it's a seductive fantasy because it makes girls feel special... and conveniently makes it romantic for men to be emotionally immature, self-centered, unfaithful, even manipulative or abusive, until they meet the right woman. he's sooo bad but the love of a good girl is all he needs to change! never mind the fact that his change will require her ongoing emotional labor/energy, and he will introduce pain and chaos into her life.

so that's some of the sexism you're seeing in this trope!

let's move on to the taylor universe:

📌 the trope in taylor's life/music: from a young age, taylor chose and had thrust upon her the role of a "good girl." bad boys naturally complement that. consider that early on, her idea of love was a fairytale - romeo choosing juliet - and some of her most significant brushes with love at that time were with older men who treated her badly. they charmed her but manipulated her or played games and never prioritized her. she couldn't change them--she was hurt and confused by them, deeply. and that informs so much of her later discography: "i am no one's exception," "i can make the guys good for a weekend," style, "we need love but all we want is danger," ready for it, end game, the story she told about joe "running with wolves" before he settled down with her...

she used to believe the fighting, chaos, drama, pain, etc. was essential for love to feel real (the way i loved you, red, the archer, daylight) because if you're a good girl trying to be with a bad boy, that's just a given. how could love be anything but painful and dramatic when you are with someone who is committed to being selfish? and how could you trust anyone if you believe they're always on the verge of hurting you?

that's why songs like the archer, daylight, cowboy like me, and long story short are so touching. she learned that she deserved more than pain, confusion, and heartbreak.

📌 the reformed bad boy: it's important to note here that for all of the "i want this man to choose me," taylor has always kinda known that she didn't want a bad boy. she wanted the reformed bad boy, who wouldn't hurt her, and would love her safely (with just enough chaos to be exciting.) also, taylor delights in telling men that she knows her worth, she won't stick around forever, he better treat her well (ayhtdws, ithk)... and if he doesn't, he better apologize for it (hygtg, betty.) she even describes herself as taking advantage of the playboys and narcissist who love her, and switching out these interchangeable kens.

this is why we got a song like foolish one in the sntv vault. taylor has long known she's clever, imaginative, and she's always had her blazing self-respect. but she also held on to her hopeless romanticism: sure, she's not the exception. but she could be. she hoped to be.

this manifests constantly in increasingly minute ways, like that one post that said “it’s interesting that the most common blueprint for a redemption arc emphasizes atonement for previous sins, bc it REALLY reminds me of christianity”, which forced me to really ask myself some questions about how i thought about forgiveness and what you inherently deserve by way of being human. 

I will not ask of malevolent beings who parade in the masks of purity.

I have been cast away from heaven.

I hate hearing people make Taeyang seem like your typical goody goody Christian. He went to school at Daejin University. It's a part of the Daesun Jinrihoe cult. They murdered someone who tried to leave last year. Even he has baggage.

IMPORTANT Admin Note:  As long there is no proof linking him to any illegal activities done by his church, we can’t make dangerous assumptions like this. As those are not ridiculous, harmless rumors or personal opinions but straight defamation and cannot only unfairly harm his image seriously but also can be sued.

i don't think it rules it out at all, i just wanted some specific examples because i didn't pick up on it! i know what religious trauma means in concept just didn't see it myself in her work necessarily. i have seen her make love her religion, and rejig it or dismantle it over time, though, as other anons have explained!