Now I’d always suspected Taylor’s Elizabeth Taylor was at least a composite character song . . . leaning Harry . . . but I try not to dwell on TLOASG much. Hahaha.
In Elizabeth Taylor, Taylor Swift places herself very specifically at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris. The lyric is clear: she’s there when the call comes in.
“…when you called me at the Plaza Athénée.”
Her entire song circles the same question: whether a relationship surrounded by fame, headlines, and expectations could ever actually be permanent.
The Elizabeth Taylor imagery reinforces that theme: glamorous love that everyone watches, but that rarely lasts. (Hunters / Foxes)
Now jump to Taste Back by Harry Styles.
“Not quite ‘Here we go again’”
What relationship of Taylor’s and/or Harry’s is wildly infamous for crashing down and coming back every time?
But it’s not that again. Not yet. But they’re talking. Friendly. Finally.
“Must be lonely out in Paris if you talk like that.”
He’s clearly speaking to someone who is in Paris and who has just called him again after time apart. Years maybe. Time zones apart. Like someone who has been traveling all around for an Eras tour, perhaps. (Not sure when this was written. Maybe he was still on tour IDK).
The tone of the call skeptical, & teasing, almost challenging. Full of jest. Quips. Back & forth just like old friends. She’s for sure drinking. Maybe he is too. Braver than normal.
They never do really say what they mean after all. But maybe they did a little here.
He’s asking whether she’s calling because she finally left the relationship she was in, because she’s dating someone meaningless, or because she just needed to hear his voice again?
When you line the two songs up, it reads like two sides of the same moment:
She’s at the Plaza Athénée in Paris.
Later, she calls him back.
It’s like they both are giving us insight into this playful (maybe tipsy) conversation.
Taylor to Harry not in these words but how she translated part of the conversation into lyrics: “Be my NY when Hollywood hates me. You're only as hot as your last hit, baby”
Harry via his lyrics: “Where'd you find the confidence to call me baby?
Reasons I’d already thought ET was Haylor before hearing Taste Back:
- “Be my NY, when Hollywood hates me.” Haylor is synonymous with NY. As 1989 clearly tells us that story . . . Welcome To New York.
- “I’d cry my eyes violet.” Hello, red/blue | pink/blue = violet.
There’s definitely more but I can’t remember right now & I’m just jotting down my thoughts for posterity!
