lowkeyfangirl

What has been Taylor’s public narrative for almost her entire career? That she is a serial man-eater.

This song is literally her admitting that she has found someone to step in as a long-term partner to a) change the narrative and b) protect what she really has.

The verses contain line after line about finding a dude to “join the HEIST” aka join this elaborate joke on the media & the public. It is a GAME and she asks if all players are ready to begin.

My favorite lines are: “Every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure / I forget their names now / I’m so very tame now”

You think the bitch who wore a snakeskin outfit on the anniversary of ~the phone call~ and pissed on a 🛴 sign is happily admitting to being tame?! Do you even know her?!

These lines are Taylor preempting and mocking the narrative that followed after she entered into a serious, long-term “relationship” about her finally settling down.

Another favorite: “I keep him forever like a vendetta”

You think that’s a cute way to talk about a partner?! That you’re dating him to get back at someone?! Her vendetta is against the people who have called her a serial man-eater, and she’s basically admitting that she’ll keep him around for a long time to take revenge on them.

Also see: “He can be my jailor”

Y’all. That is not how you would talk about someone you actually love. He is the jailor that prevents her “gold cage hostage” feelings from making it out into the world. He is HER BEARD.

In the chorus, she sings about what she is protecting by playing this game. Remember the original lyrics? “That’s when I get to be with you...”

Isn’t it interesting that she spends the rest of the album singing about a secret love?

LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had set their books out into the world like ships onto the sea. These books gave Matilda a comforting message: “You are not alone.”

Taylor playing Tyler was literally The. Point. The Man, by its lyrics and her own words, is at its core “this is what my life would be like if everything was the same but I had been born a cisman.” And she’s right. There’s not a male equivalent of her success. If Taylor actually were Tyler, they’d be calling Tyler Swift an actual god descended from the heavens to save the music industry.

If the role had been the protagonist was NB or trans, I could see why people would be upset because there’d be a host of amazing people who could authentically be themselves on a major platform. But that wasn’t the point. The video and premise of the song all hinge on Taylor but if she were a man. There was not going to be a way to do that effectively without getting hamfisted (and people sounding off she didn’t go deep enough on a fun song that yes it political but is also a pop single is another topic altogether) or convoluted.