“My baby’s fit like a daydream
Walking with his head down
I’m the one he’s walking to.”
These might be the most underrated and importuhnt lines on the song.
I’ve personally seen a lot of articles/posts/comments how this line is used as evidence that the song is about Joe because she used the word fit (British term for good looking). To be fair, Joe is good looking and sort of seem like the reserved type too. Given the lyrics, sure that does fit if we take it literally. But before we do, please be reminded how this song is actually worded. This song was not written to be taken literally. If so, then we would have read articles about how Taylor is bad at arson and bridge burning 101 or seen a picture of her casually tinkering with her knife while walking away from a gunfight. Tree is a good publicist but she isn’t that good to hide those lol. I digress. Anyway, see how crazy that sounds?
Going back, since we agree to not take the lines literally here are my key points:
Daydream - A pleasant visionary usually wishful creation of the imagination (Websters). Given the comparison to a daydream, this leads us to assume that this person is surrealistically beautiful/gorgeous. Based on the album this person has a big reputation and everyone thinks they know them. So maybe their reputation involves their physical appearance?
Keep (One’s) Head Down - To actively avoid conflict or attention (Farlex); to continue doing something quietly especially when there is trouble around you (MacMillan). This seems like a better fit to the whole Reputation sneakathon vibe rather than the literal interpretation; being shy and just walking with your head down.
So, we have a really gorgeous person trying their best to hide their gorgeousness and sneak around to see Taylor. Why all the sneaking around tho? Reputation talks about a forbidden secret love wherein Taylor expresses conflict about feelings of it being wrong yet so right; like using drugs as she described it. But I feel like her internal conflict is ending. Anyway… I digress once again.
With these three lines alone, we are painted with a picture to begin to comprehend why amidst her own reputation being publicly killed, Taylor has remained blissfully alive, in the private comforts of her lover.
Well, turns out under all our noses, she was able to maintain a healthy and thriving relationship with someone who is equally and completely enamored by her. Someone who is so smitten who’s willing to forego all their common sense and undergo all the lengths to conceal their relationship thus protecting Taylor. Someone who chooses to fight for her by taking each calculated step of a meticulously laid out plan just to get the chance to hold Taylor at her worst moments and tell her that “it’s okay, everything’s going to be okay”. Starry eyes sparkin’ up her darkest night.
Against avalanches of reasons why they cannot be together, her lover, again and again, chooses her.
A pair of star crossed lovers met
Finally, a Romeo to our Juliet. 💫
We’re asked to call it what we want
To that, I say, I call it love.
This post is unapologetically written for the magician. 🌞
Salute to the illusionist. 🐍