Latest / gasp! the pod / why the life of a showgirl is a play within a play

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why the life of a showgirl is a play within a play · gasp! the pod

0:00
Is this fucking play about us? Welcome back, Gaspers to Gasp
0:14
the Pod, the podcast for the gays, the girls, and especially
0:18
the gay girl. Taylor Swift's 12th album, The
0:20
Life of a Showgirl, was released last week and to the world
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surprise, for the first time in the history of Taylor Swift's
0:27
career, it did not impress. Fans had very high expectations,
0:33
including me for the album and Taylor touted this album as
0:37
quote lightning in a bottle hands and critics alike say
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otherwise between swifty's making edits mourning the old,
0:44
talented Taylor, The New Yorker writing quote Taylor Swift
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sounds stuck it's clear that this album does not live up to
0:52
the Taylor Swift Sander. Is Taylor really losing her
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craft? Is she becoming magnified, as
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some people are saying? Has Herman replaced her brain
1:00
with a football? Or is there more to this story?
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Today we're going to inspect this album through a different
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lens, an ironic 1. Is it possible that this new
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Taylor is simply reflecting back on society and culture, what it
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wants from her, That 1950s shit? Could she still be the
1:21
mastermind? And is Taylor performing a play
1:25
within a play, Perhaps an ironic 21st century rendition of the
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play within Hamlet? Are we actually seeing the life
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behind the showgirl or she actually still on stage
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performing for us, the heckling crowd?
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The reviews of this album are mixed.
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There are still, you know, major newspapers saying that this
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album is excellent. And I guess my question to those
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newspapers are, are you scared of Swifties?
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But the London Standard says, quote, Taylor Swift's The Life
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of a Showgirl review penis metaphors and poor little rich
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girl tales start to shave. Is this really the same artist
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that gave us Folklore and Evermore?
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The Guardian says quote, Dole Razzle dazzle, The fizzing
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electronic pop of Reputation in 1989 is conspicuously absent.
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Billboard says quote. Swift's eagerly anticipated
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return to bangers is not, say, 1989 Part 2.
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I mean, again, like I said, some good reviews.
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The New York Times says, quote, a deceptively modest set of
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songs about the facade of fame and what it takes to scrape it
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away and claw past it. But with all of this said,
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whether you like this album, whether you love it, whether you
2:40
are disappointed, whether you literally hate it, what is
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overwhelmingly clear is that this is her most mixed reviewed
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album in about 10 years. What I'm going to explore today
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is is the possibility that this is intentional and that we we're
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part of this play is this fucking play about us.
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Let me prove it to you before we get into my evidence points the
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music video with the lyrics with her media interviews that she's
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been doing first, just some updates.
3:09
If you are new to this and if you're not new, I'm also on
3:12
YouTube. So if you're listening to this I
3:14
also have this is on video right now and I have a YouTube I'm
3:18
trying to build my YouTube platform and it very much helps
3:22
me if you subscribe to my YouTube it's totally free.
3:25
So if you have have not subscribed to my YouTube and
3:27
you're just listening, please do that now.
3:29
It takes 2 seconds, it's free. Secondly, if you were looking
3:33
for a track by track review of this album, I have already done
3:37
it and I give you guys my completely honest opinions about
3:41
every single track on TS12 that's on my Patreon, So go
3:45
check that out. So go check out my bonus
3:47
content. And lastly, if you're a Patreon
3:50
#1 Gasper paid subscriber, you get a shout out.
3:54
So shout out this week to Colleen S Thank you so much for
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being a #1 Gasper and subscribing.
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You're the best. All right, let's go into the
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evidence behind this theory that I've seen a lot of people fizzle
4:06
out with this theory. And I think a lot of people are
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just resigned to the, I don't know, the fact that it's not as
4:12
good of an album as she's done before.
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And I just really think that I'm always inclined to think that
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she is smarter than people think that she is.
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First off, do you guys like my outfit?
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I'm wearing orange and like a little like turquoise blue
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ribbon. Hello.
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It matches perfectly. But when I first listened to
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this album, I was just so severely disappointed.
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And I think that it's frustrating, and I'm just talk
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about this very, very shortly, that people are upset at people
4:43
who don't like the album and vice versa.
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Like if you don't like the album and someone does like the album,
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like whatever. Like let people have opinions.
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You can be Swifty and have any opinion you want of this music.
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It doesn't mean you're not fun. It doesn't mean you're not
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happy, doesn't mean you're not in love.
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If you don't like this music, I think that the reason why there
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is such a lackluster response to this album is because of three
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different things. One, the lyrics fall so short of
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the Taylor Swift standard. Even her pop songs have better
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lyrics. When we say lyrics, we don't
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necessarily mean it needs to sound like Cowboy like me.
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OK, but she put out Lover, she put it in 1989, she put out
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Reputation and the lyrics just didn't sound as clunky and were
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more deep, right? They had more meaning.
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They had more to dig into to the melodies and like the production
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and the vibes. My question is, how is Max
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Martin and Shell back on this album?
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Because it sounds like The Lumineers.
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It doesn't even sound like really like bang or pop music
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and it doesn't really give showgirl vibes.
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Like that was the aesthetic. And even though it's supposed to
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be the life behind a showgirl, it still doesn't really like
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give what we were sold. And three, this doesn't sound
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like Taylor Swift. She doesn't, you know, live up
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to the standard that Taylor Swift put for herself.
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But also, the messages are a complete 180 from what Taylor
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Swift has said in the past in her music and in interviews.
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So I think all of this is intentional.
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The other option is like, what happened?
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Did you get so famous that you couldn't figure out what was
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actually good? Do not recognize what was good
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art of yourself and bad art for yourself.
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Did she get so famous that she lost sight of the fact that when
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people criticize her based on politics, it's not because
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they're trying to cancel her, it's because they want her to
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like speak up for gay rights, etcetera?
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Perhaps. I think that's one option.
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I think the other option is that she's a mastermind, and I think
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that she is the latter. That's just what I think.
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I don't think that she just lost her craft, suddenly became a
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trad wife and doesn't know how to make good music anymore.
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I think she knows how to do all those things and I think that
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she is reflecting the culture back on itself and is saying, if
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all you want is that 1950 shit from me, I'll give it to you.
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I think we are not only just like the viewers and the
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consumers of the music, but we are in the audience of a play
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that she is performing about the music industry and culture and
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how it treats women. That's what I think.
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So let me sell you on this idea. There's a lot of different
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components, and one component is this idea that she's trying to
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cancel herself. We can see that in this album
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because there's a song called Cancelled Exclamation Point and
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there's a lot of people that had this theory until she announced
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that she bought her master's back and that she would not be
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releasing the entirety of Reputation.
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And but we keep on forgetting that she has not released the
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Reputation vault tracks that is going to come at some point.
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This could be seen as like a Reputation Part 2 before
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Reputation Vault tracks. Is she trying to cancel herself
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in order to make way for a second reputation?
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Is this Karma Part 2? There was a lot of like karma
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theories going around. Obviously this album's orange.
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There's a lot of fire references in this album and the music
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video. She like lights a match and it
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explodes into fire. There's so much fire.
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Is she going to burn the Lover house down?
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Is this the 12th album before her 13th album TS13, in which
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she is finally like the real tailor and not the performer
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anymore? This is the showgirl.
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Is this like the precursor, the final major performance of her
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12 eras before she gets to be herself?
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There are also 12 songs, and Taylor said in the New Heights
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podcast that each track has its place and you couldn't take one
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out and have another. A lot of people have been
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thinking, is each track on TS12A track about an era that she's
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had before? I totally love this theory.
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I think it makes a lot of sense and I think it actually fits
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into this play within a play, performance art theory, because
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she is putting on a little song, a mini play about each era she
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had in her life and each performance she did.
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And when we say performance, it doesn't mean everything's a lie,
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but it means that it's her most constructed way to be Taylor,
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it's brand Taylor. It's again, what people want her
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to be or what people think that she is, and she is falling into
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that. If you think you're going to
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trap, you're already in. One also said that she's been
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wanting to make this album for years and that when she made
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this album, she just found lightning in a bottle.
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And a lot of people are like, wait, how is this album so bad?
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But she's promoting it like it's her best album yet.
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And I think all this is intentional, right?
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There's like a 180 with what she says and what we think we're
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going to get versus what actually happens.
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I'll get into this idea a little bit later, but I think that
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that's on purpose. You've been wanting to make this
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album for years because it's her last album before her 13th.
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Her 13th album, I think, is going to be her real Taylor.
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And you can extend this to Gaylor, that this is kind of
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part Gaylor, but kind of more so like performance art related.
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This whole theory. I think she been wanting to make
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an album that talks about each of her eras and how it all
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blends into and creates this story of brand Taylor Swift.
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Think that there's a lot of different ways to make this
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combination work. I haven't actually figured out
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personally which songs I think work to be each album.
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Like Cancelled feels very reputation, Ruin the Friendship
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feels very like Speak Now or Fearless.
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The life of the showgirl I think is TS12.
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The life of Showgirl and the fate of Ophelia, I think is like
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TTPD. Elizabeth Taylor sounds very
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1989 and so on. But I think she's been wanting
11:00
to make this album because it's an interesting concept, but it's
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kind of like a final stamp of these are my performances of
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Brand Taylor for each year, for each sorry album.
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And where does that all fit in? Into the Lover house and the
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house that holds all of her eras.
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She cannot fit her entire career into this house forever.
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And I think we're seeing so much fire and imagery.
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This is karma. Or maybe we're waiting on karma
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and it's going to burn it down and make way for the real Taylor
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TS13. That's not the showgirl.
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All of these eras, she was the showgirl.
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She was Brand Taylor Swift in the Lover house.
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She cannot be performing as Brand Taylor anymore.
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And I think this is her final play.
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OK, let's talk about this idea of like, reflecting the culture
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back on said culture. OK.
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So a lot of the criticism coming from this album for this album
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is that it is promoting trad wife culture.
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It is like very much with the times of the culture right now,
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which we have seen is demonstratably more conservative
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and focused on relationships. We see this in our pop culture
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music. We see this on social media.
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We see how people are being praised for getting engaged and
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it doesn't matter to who. I mean, it has to be a man,
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right? We are in the my man, my man, my
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man culture. We are in a culture that
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celebrates relationships and this newfound traditionalism of
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leaning into your femininity and letting this strong big man take
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over. That is the culture we are in.
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It is politically conservative culture and a socially
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conservative culture. So when people are saying that
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this album kind of like subtly promotes that or that this is
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like Maga Taylor, I don't think most people are thinking that
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Taylor Swift actually voted for Trump, Trump.
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And that's not really the point. Artists influence pop culture,
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especially Taylor Swift. She is pop culture and aligning
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yourself with friends that are MAGA and switching up on your
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own messages of being independent to all of a sudden
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wanting to be in a cul-de-sac house that we've never heard her
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say before that she's just been wanting to have kids this entire
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time. When that flip flip is made, it
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gives rise to MAGA and conservatives being like, oh, we
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knew it. This is good for her.
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At the end of the day, all independent women just want to
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be married with kids with a big man.
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It's not to say that having kids is MAGA, but MAGA wants you to
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have kids. So just because you say you want
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to have kids, that doesn't mean you see MAGA.
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But Taylor Swift, who has been known to be a feminist icon,
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someone that is very anti Donald Trump, I still think is anti
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Donald Trump, who then marries this, is engaged to this big
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football man who, yes, may be liberal too, but is not
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necessarily associated with liberals when talked about by
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pop culture. It's larger than their, like
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actual voting. All of this is happening.
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Then we see her saying I lied when I didn't want to get
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married. I don't want to be a complex
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female character or some people want complex female characters.
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I just want you. I want to be saved when we see
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this change, this flip with what she says she wants and then what
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she wants. Once she is married to a big
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strongman, that gives way to MAGA saying we knew it.
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This should, this is what is right.
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OK, so that's kind of a larger conversation.
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Not saying that if you want a family that that's MAGA.
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Let's use our thinking cups, OK? Taylor Swift had a song before.
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What is it called? It's called Mirrorball and shows
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us a how she can be anyone. She can reflect back what we
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want, what we want to see. She does that.
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And I think this song, this album is a huge mirror ball,
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especially for the cultural movement we're in.
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I want you to know I'm a mirror ball.
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I'll show you every version of yourself tonight and change
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everything about me to fit in. Think she's doing that with this
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album. She's been promoting this album.
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She's also been saying this sentence of the crowd is your
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king. There's also a Vine that's
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called The Crowd is Your King edition, and I think that's a
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very, very interesting thing to write.
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What does that mean? The king is in charge, right?
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The king has power. The king dictates what someone
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does. And again, all of this comes
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back to Midnight's. I think Midnight's was the
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beginning of her setting into motion this story.
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Midnight's versus Life of a Showgirl are contradictory
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albums. There's They're complete 180,
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what she says she wants in Midnights, she completely
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changes her tune and the life of showgirl, and I think that's
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completely purposeful. She has King imagery, talking
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about being trapped in a tower. Ophelia, she's talking about
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romantic ideas. Same thing with Midnights, the
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themes and the messages, completely different.
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So again, we'll get into that. But the crowd is your king.
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That means she's going to reflect back to the crowd what
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she knows the crowd wants. What does the king want?
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The crowd is in charge of her. It's not her.
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She knows that she needs to perform for the crowd.
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We are the hecklers. We are the people watching this
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play. What do we want?
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What did culture want from her? They wanted her to stop dating
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all of these random other men. They wanted her to settle down
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and finally find her Prince Charming.
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She did that. They wanted her to make a love
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album and stop being so mean and aggressive.
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She did that. They wanted her to not be like
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this mean feminist. That's like, you know, stressed
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out all the time and complaining.
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OK, great. She made a very simple, catchy
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pop album for you guys. They, the crowd and the culture
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wanted her to settle down and have babies with Travis Kelsey.
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I mean, that was literally said by comedians.
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Donna Kelsey retweeted it. Like everyone wanted that from
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her. Great.
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She makes an album called Wishlist saying I want to settle
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down and have kids with him. She is doing what the crowd and
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culture wants from her. Is that to say that she doesn't
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like want a family? No, but I think that the whole
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point of this album is to show that the crowd and the culture
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and the audience is controlling the narrative.
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And how do you win? You win by doing what the crowd
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wants you to do. The crowd is her king.
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The muse is not Travis. The muse is us in The Fate of
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Ophelia. When you first look at it, and
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even like all this media and all these publications, when they
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talk about this song, they're like Travis Kelce is saving her
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from the fate of Ophelia, right? You saved me from like the lack
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of love that I had before and saved me from the tower.
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Is Travis saving her from the tower or is it us or is it a
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different Taylor Swift? Is it the real Taylor?
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Is it the showgirl Taylor? I do not think that the muse of
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this album is Travis. I think the muse of this album
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is us, the fans and how Taylor, her relationship to the fame.
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I think the goal of this album is to make people realize that
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what we wanted of her, that there's a lot of people that
18:24
like loved her and Travis, to realize that that wasn't
18:28
actually what we wanted of her. Yes, the culture wanted all this
18:32
from her. She gave it to them.
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Now she's not the Taylor Swift we knew and loved.
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I think this is social and political commentary.
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I also think it's rage bait because Taylor Swift knows that
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if there's disagreement and controversy surrounding an
18:49
album, people are actually going to pay to stream that.
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Even though there are mixed reviews and some people, a lot
18:56
of people are saying this is her worst album.
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It's sold 2.7 million copies in 24 hours, which surpasses her
19:02
own 2024 record. Her own record.
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What is this showing? Yeah, she is making a maybe
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worse album, an album that promotes values that a lot of us
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don't agree with, at least values of like, you're going to
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change your mind once you find a good man on everything you
19:21
thought before, and that love can save you.
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Even with all of the disagreement, it is making
19:27
money. So I think she's doing this
19:29
intentionally for money, but also to show us the culture and
19:34
what we wanted from her. And then being like, oh, you
19:37
guys don't like that anymore. Oh, you guys don't want that?
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I think she's making a really interesting point.
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And even beyond just the culture points, I think it's also just
19:47
performance are of what being an artist is like.
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There is a very thin veil between most fans and realizing
19:56
that this is a performance, that this is brand Taylor and not the
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real Taylor. We still haven't met the real
20:04
Taylor. It's getting faker and faker and
20:07
faker until the whole thing kind of combusts.
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She's reflecting back. She can only be a mirror ball
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for so long until the mirror ball explodes.
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I think the other big clue that this is a play within a play and
20:19
just her showing what the performance.
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Performance of being a showgirl is really like in an album about
20:26
being a showgirl is the fact that these are complete 180's in
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her messages that she has with this album versus her past
20:34
album. And I think that's a really good
20:36
clue that this is Brand Taylor, that this is performance Taylor,
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that this is not the poet Taylor who is writing this album.
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It's the showgirl Taylor. It's the life of the showgirl
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Taylor, a whole other Taylor. Her messages have gone
20:51
completely 180. And again, either this is the
20:55
real Taylor and all of a sudden she just changed up her mind and
20:59
didn't realize the repercussions of just saying these things.
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And all of a sudden, just like, oh, flipping on them, especially
21:06
with the political backdrop that we have today, or that this is
21:10
intentional. And I really think it's just
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such a 180 that it just feels so obvious to me that this is such
21:17
a 180 because between TTPD that was recorded in 2024 versus now
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that was like a year and a half ago.
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This is all a flip. It's a complete the lip.
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We are in hell, OK? In lavender haze she says no
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deal. The 1950s shit they want from
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me. I just want to stay in that
21:37
lavender haze. All they keep asking me is if
21:39
I'm going to be your bride. The only kind of girl they see
21:42
is a one night or a wife. That's what she said in lavender
21:45
haze, that she didn't want this 1950s shit and everyone asking
21:48
if she was getting married bothered her.
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OK, in the past year how many media articles have been like
21:54
when are Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married and all of
21:57
a sudden she doesn't care about that?
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Not only doesn't care but writes the song Wishlist.
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Wishlist, which is all about loving someone and not wanting
22:06
anything else and all these complicated crazy things that
22:09
other people want, has $2.00 signs in it, which I think shows
22:13
that it's being fucking ironic and that actually this love is
22:16
pure profit. This album also, even though
22:20
she's saying, oh, everyone else wants what they want and they
22:23
can have they want what they want, but I just want you.
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It is kind of being condescending to people that say
22:30
their dogs are their kids and the people that don't want kids.
22:32
And she's being like, my dreams are better now.
22:35
Again, I don't think this is what Taylor Swift really thinks.
22:37
And the reason why this is opposite day and so
22:40
contradictory is how many times has she said, oh, my cats are my
22:43
kids. She doesn't just all of a sudden
22:45
hate herself for doing that. This is a complete 180.
22:54
She wanted a complex female character.
22:57
She wanted the Grammy, the award.
23:01
She wanted that. You don't want complex female
23:04
character. That's crazy.
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That's a complete 180 from Lavender Haze of I don't want
23:09
the 1950 shit, have a couple kids have the whole block
23:17
looking like you do. I think that that's
23:19
intentionally being like I want the whole block to look white.
23:21
No, but I totally see how people are seeing it that way.
23:26
Got me dreaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop.
23:29
Taylor Swift. When has Taylor Swift ever said
23:35
anything like this before? That's all you want.
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Now it's opposite day guys. She also says they want a
23:39
contract with Real Madrid. I just think it's funny that she
23:41
says contract because she loves a contract.
23:44
Taylor Swift goes from writing the most interesting songs about
23:48
sex like Guilty as Sin, to then making this very obvious song
23:52
about sex. It's a complete 180.
23:55
It's such a departure from what she's done before.
24:01
Does this sound like a song you would expect to be on a showgirl
24:05
album? No, it's like retro.
24:08
It feels like a song for people that watch Happy Gilmore, and I
24:11
think that that's intentional. That's completely different from
24:19
Lavender Haze. It's just such a departure.
24:22
This is not Taylor Swift. This is the showgirl.
24:26
Oh, what they want from me. You want me to be like a little
24:29
bit more like sexy with Travis Kelsey?
24:31
Fine, I'll give it to you. Now Taylor goes from you don't
24:41
need to save me, but would you want to run away with me?
24:44
Two, I sat alone in my tower. You dug me out of my grave and
24:49
saved me from the fate of Ophelia.
24:52
All of a sudden she wants to be saved before she said you put a
24:55
Locket around my neck, not because you own me, but because
24:58
you know me. And now it's you are saving me.
25:02
I would have sat all alone until you let my sky up, no longer
25:06
drowning and deceived, all because you came for me.
25:11
This man is saving her. Or is he?
25:13
Is there something deeper to this song?
25:16
Are we saving her? Is another tailor saving her?
25:20
Because remember, there's multiple tailors, right?
25:23
It's just a complete 180 in her messages of her songs.
25:26
She has completely changed her tune, her lyrics, her messages,
25:31
her voice. And I do think that that's
25:33
intentional. There's also a lot of Midnights
25:36
callbacks. And again, I think Midnights is
25:39
when she said that into motion. The whole like, oh, can I Easter
25:42
egg something three years from now?
25:44
And Midnights is the beginning of this story that she is
25:48
telling. And she, an antihero, tells us
25:51
about multiple tailors, right? There's the showgirl Taylor.
25:54
There's the larger than life Taylor that might be like the
25:57
combination of all of them or the narrator.
26:00
And then we have the poet Taylor.
26:02
So that's into motion. All of these themes, it's all
26:04
connected back to Midnights. I think this is Midnight's
26:08
turned on its head and we are in hell now.
26:11
OK, Bejeweled. She ghosts the Prince in this
26:14
music video. Bejeweled.
26:16
She doesn't need saving, right? She's Cinderella.
26:19
She works herself up to be a showgirl to then become the king
26:23
of the castle. But in the fate of Ophelia, she
26:26
is saved from the tower. There's these kingdoms, right?
26:29
There's like a romantic Kingdom vibe to it, but it's changed.
26:33
It's a complete 180, an antihero.
26:36
We also see the funeral of Taylor Swift, right?
26:41
And I do think that we are coming back to antihero a lot.
26:45
I think that there might be a chance that we see the funeral
26:48
of a showgirl, the death of a showgirl.
26:51
She's been wearing a lot of black outfits to all of her
26:53
radio appearances. And while we're fighting about
26:57
whether or not we like the album, whether or not she's
26:58
mega, whatever, whatever, where is she when they're fighting?
27:02
In the anti hero music video, she's in the coffin.
27:05
I think she's going to kill off the showgirl.
27:07
Also in the anti hero music video, the showgirl is the evil
27:10
1. She's the one saying everyone
27:12
will betray you. The bitch in the whatever.
27:14
This girl is drinking a lot like she's drinking at the Chiefs
27:18
games. She's the mean bitch in the
27:20
music video. The showgirl is the evil one.
27:22
We are seeing the showgirl in this era, the person that she
27:25
had to create in order to stay afloat in this industry.
27:29
And then of course we get Lavender Haze and we see a
27:32
bathtub scene like the cover for the life of Showgirl.
27:35
We also have the Karma music video that's very much related.
27:39
She has a dark underworld part of it where she's like in Hell
27:43
in the Karma music video and in Canceled, she says welcome to my
27:46
underworld where it gets quite dark.
27:48
I like him cloaked in Gucci and Scandal.
27:51
Canceled is like a play about a play.
27:53
This is a 180 version of Midnight's.
27:56
We are watching the showgirl put on her version of events.
28:01
This is what we're seeing in this album.
28:03
So we've covered Midnight's callbacks.
28:05
We've covered the fact that this album seems like a 180 and a
28:08
departure from what she has done before and how this could be her
28:13
trying to cancel herself. And again, what this all comes
28:16
down to is just the fact that this album is very distinct for
28:21
a reason. It's a 180.
28:23
It's a departure. Is this the glitch?
28:27
Is it a glitch that all of a sudden, what are we seeing right
28:31
now? I think there's a chance that
28:32
we're in the glitch right now. I felt like all the glitch
28:35
theories never really came to full fruition.
28:37
They never really made enough sense to me.
28:39
She kept on saying shiny bug vinyl version, and she swallowed
28:43
a bug three times in the arrows to her.
28:44
I think there's a reason for that.
28:46
I think the fucking glitch is like, what's going on?
28:49
What's happening? This isn't normal.
28:51
This isn't scheduled content. This isn't Taylor Swift's views.
28:54
This isn't Taylor Swift's lyrics.
28:56
This isn't Taylor Swift's standards.
28:57
Where's the old Taylor? Where is she?
29:00
It's the clutch. And the reason why I reference
29:02
this back to a bug is like because of a computer bug.
29:04
If that if that wasn't obvious. OK.
29:06
In the shiny bug poem she says perhaps someday they will
29:10
despise you again. She's talking about herself and
29:13
it's true. People have already started
29:15
doing it with this album. Perhaps it is not a matter of
29:17
if, but when did she predict this?
29:20
Does she know this was going to happen?
29:22
They'll reassess your merits and then take that's what's
29:25
happening right now, and then take a magnifying glass of the
29:28
shiny bug to flee all the heroes they decided she was.
29:32
And maybe they'll do it just because.
29:34
But you live by a strict code. Never believe your own
29:37
mythology. She does not stand by what she
29:41
is promoting. She's telling us this.
29:44
She does not stand by the messages she is promoting in
29:46
this album. Never type your name into the
29:48
search bar. Let the wolves howl all they
29:51
want. The moon should never howl back.
29:53
You know if you play as a using games so you keep yourself too
29:57
busy to ever learn what's their name's name.
29:59
And there are reasons you are still somewhat sane.
30:02
She has to protect her own mythology, her real mythology,
30:05
the real self. And she creates a different
30:08
shiny bug for us to shine our microscopes on.
30:12
She knew that we would see this. She knew that we would be like
30:16
we. Is Taylor Swift good at writing
30:18
music? Because she's doing this on
30:20
purpose. This is a bait and switch and I
30:24
want to play also glitch next to wishlist because they sound so
30:28
similar and I think wishlist is pretty much like the 180 from
30:32
glitch right? I think the Lavender Haze 180 is
30:35
the the fate of Ophelia, and there's some other ones that
30:40
kind of line up to being like the complete opposite.
30:56
So that's them combined because they're so similar.
31:00
I think Wishlist is just like the opposite of Glitch.
31:04
Wishlist is like conservative version of Glitch and not
31:07
because she wants kids, but because she doesn't want to be
31:09
female complex character and she's cheating on people that
31:12
and want dogs as their kids. And she used to be like the
31:15
single cat lady. And all of a sudden she's
31:17
abandoning things that she identified with because this is
31:21
not the real tailor and this is the brand.
31:24
Taylor doing what she needs to do to make money.
31:26
And I feel like it should be very obvious.
31:28
I got to be honest, I also didn't get it at first.
31:30
So Glitch she says we were supposed to be just friends in
31:33
wish list. She says please God bring me a
31:35
best friend who I think is hot. There's a similarity there.
31:38
I think Glitch is about what we are currently seeing with the
31:43
whole Travis Kelce Tavis era. OK, she says I think there's
31:48
been a glitch. 5 seconds later I'm fastening myself to you with
31:51
a stitch. All of a sudden she's just like
31:54
completely with Travis Kelce and I'm not even sorry.
31:57
Nights are so starry, blood moonlit.
31:59
It must be counterfeit. I think there's been a glitch.
32:04
It must be counterfeit. What does counterfeit mean?
32:06
Fake. The system's breaking down, says
32:10
a brief interruption, a slight malfunction.
32:13
Then I'd go back to wanting dudes who give nothing.
32:17
There was a malfunction, an interruption for the normal
32:20
Taylor Swift programming. She's going to go back after
32:24
realizing she likes girls or after being with, like, smart
32:28
man. She'd go back to wanting dudes
32:30
who give nothing. Travis Kelsey.
32:32
I thought we had no chance because why would they ever be
32:34
together? And that's romance, almost
32:37
ironically, Let's Dance glitch. It must be counterfeit.
32:41
I think there's been a glitch. I think we are currently in the
32:44
glitch. It's an interruption of the
32:47
normal programming. It's counterfeit because what
32:50
the fuck is going on? And if you think, OK, there's no
32:53
way that Taylor Swift would lie to us that much, she is a tail
32:56
liar. I can show you lies.
32:58
And I think we need to remember how many songs we don't actually
33:02
know who they're about. We have become so used to
33:05
thinking we know everything about Taylor Swift because of
33:07
what she shares with us over the last two years, but forget that
33:11
she also shares things that she wants to be publicized in order
33:15
to keep what she doesn't want publicized private.
33:18
When you have a deal with paparazzi and you like, tell
33:21
them all this information and give them so many photos, they
33:23
don't start digging for the things you actually want hidden.
33:26
And is that evil or is it just good marketing?
33:29
Is that evil or is she a mastermind?
33:31
I think it's the latter. She had a Pinocchio in the back
33:34
of the New Heights podcast before we thought that this was
33:37
her maybe lying about having 12 tracks in the album.
33:40
If she wasn't lying about that, then what is she lying about?
33:44
All of this performance that she did off screen with Travis and
33:48
Tavis and football and being this like new lover Taylor
33:53
that's finally healed because that's what America wants from
33:56
her is now being reflected in her album as well.
34:00
And she's telling us that that's the life of a showgirl.
34:03
That's show business, baby. I have to do it.
34:06
Go back to Dear Reader too. That's what and mastermind all
34:09
the wisest women had to do it this way because they were
34:11
forced to be the pawns. She had to take control of the
34:14
narrative and make money off of the narrative, but also make it
34:17
work for her. This also goes back to Elizabeth
34:19
Taylor as well. I had an Elizabeth Taylor
34:21
episode last week or two weeks ago if you want to check that
34:24
out. For the performance Artler
34:26
theory of all of this, because she's still performing even in
34:29
these lyrics. I think we have this idea that
34:32
if she's singing it to us that it must be true as if folklore
34:35
didn't exist. And maybe that's why she was
34:37
saying that this is a mix between 1989 and folklore
34:40
because folklore she says, oh, it's about all of these made-up
34:43
stories, even though they're probably true.
34:46
And then 1989, she has like pretty much this entire album
34:49
critiquing how people see her. And so many people didn't get
34:52
the message. That's why she wrote Blank
34:54
Space. And it's also a bearding song.
34:56
You can see signs of performance art lure all over this album in
34:59
father figures. She writes this love is pure
35:02
profit. What else could that mean?
35:04
So while everyone is so focused on how bad the album is, it's
35:07
almost like we are also kind of forgetting how gay and
35:11
performance artler the album is. And I think that that's
35:13
intentional as well. I don't think that she forgets
35:17
how to write a bad song. Like how could she have written
35:19
Eldest Daughter? Sorry, Wish List again has
35:22
dollar signs. That's performance in it, right?
35:26
And we also have, of course, this huge reference to Hamlet.
35:29
And if people don't, if people forgot Hamlet, there's a play
35:33
within a play for the music video of the fate of Ophelia.
35:38
She's on stage the entire time and she's when she's describing
35:42
the music video and how she made it, she's like, I wanted people
35:45
to feel like they were on a live performance.
35:47
She is still in a live performance, OK.
35:50
This is a play within a play. There's also an exit sign at the
35:54
end of the music video that I think foreshadows her leaving
35:57
this performance finally, And I think there's an exit because we
36:00
are still in the performance. We're still in the stadium.
36:04
We're still in the theatre hall watching her perform with this
36:08
album. This is not stripped back.
36:10
This is not real. Taylor.
36:12
She's literally doing a play about a girl that escapes her
36:14
fate as a girl who wants to escape her fate and the lyrics
36:18
of the life of a showgirl as well.
36:20
The last song in the album, the ending is US applauding, right?
36:26
Her fans applauding and her being like, thank you, that's
36:29
our show, we love you so much, goodnight.
36:31
She's just saying at the end of the album, that's our show.
36:35
We are in a play about. We are in an album about
36:38
performance. She's performing a performance.
36:41
We are the audience. There's also an orange bird that
36:45
flies onto her hand at the beginning of the life of a show,
36:48
show girl music video or sorry, the fate of a feeling music
36:50
video. And then towards the end, it
36:52
flies out the window. And I think that's foreshadowing
36:55
as well that, you know, she still has to leave this house.
36:58
She still has to leave the performance.
37:00
She has to leave the stage, right?
37:02
And then at the end of this music video that's all about,
37:05
or, you know, the real meaning is supposed to be that she is
37:09
being saved from the fate of a feeling which was drowning and
37:13
death. Yet at the end she's in the
37:16
bathtub and she still drowns. So what is the fate of Ophelia?
37:20
Has she escaped the fate of Ophelia?
37:22
Cause the fate means that it is bound to happen.
37:26
Can you escape fate? So there's a play within a play,
37:29
of course. And then I do think there are
37:31
gay lyrics. With this album, everything is
37:34
kind of turned upside down. And I think she hides these gay
37:36
lyrics with these songs that are supposed to be like, ironic and
37:39
like, funny. And I think the songs that are
37:41
taken as like, sarcastic are actually truthful.
37:44
And the songs that are like, seem truthful are actually
37:47
sarcastic, but like actually romantic Is this song that's
37:50
like, Oh my God, it's about Charlie XCX.
37:52
Like, of course she's not actually turned on by Charlie
37:55
XCX. And it's like not of course, why
37:58
not? You know, she is using this idea
38:01
so that she can actually talk about how no man has loved me
38:05
the way you do, not even your fiance can you?
38:08
What? That a girl is mad at you?
38:10
She now gets to say that in a song because she uses the guise
38:16
of Charli XCX with father figure.
38:19
She's like, I'll be your father figure.
38:21
I'll protect the family. This is kind of a gay phrase.
38:25
And I think it reminds me of drag families and drag mothers
38:30
of like, I'll protect the family.
38:31
I'm the mother of the family. She's the father figure.
38:33
And I don't know if this song is about Joe Alwyn and like kind of
38:36
protecting him from like his gay scandals or Karlie Kloss and
38:40
protecting her from scandals. But I think that it's like an
38:43
inside look into Hollywood and kind of like people protecting
38:46
each other and knowing how to perform in a way that hides
38:50
their scandals, right? Their scarlet letters.
38:53
I also think that that's like one of the only very, very good
38:56
songs on this album, Elizabeth Taylor.
38:58
And also, of course, father figure as a reference to George
39:00
Michael. George Michael who wanted to
39:03
come out and his label didn't let him.
39:06
I think that is very relevant to this.
39:09
OK. The artist that she mentioned
39:11
and was like inspired by for this album are both queer or at
39:15
least queer coated. Elizabeth Taylor may have been
39:18
queer and very pointly inspired. The Seven Husbands, 11 Hugo.
39:23
And then we have George Michael, who I just referenced, wanted to
39:25
come out and then couldn't. So there's a reason for that,
39:28
right? But for some reason, like her
39:30
being like, 'cause my Dick's bigger, everyone's like, ha ha.
39:33
That's so crazy. And it's like guys.
39:35
I think she's talking about protecting other queer artists
39:39
and how they kind of betrayed her.
39:41
And then Elizabeth Taylor, she's like very much tying herself to
39:44
Elizabeth Taylor who inspired the seven husbands 11 you go.
39:48
She said things that Elizabeth Taylor went through.
39:50
I really relate to be my NY when Hollywood hates me.
39:54
You're the West Village Taylor Swift.
39:57
Karlie Kloss's middle name is Elizabeth.
39:59
That's interesting as well, the song Elizabeth Taylor.
40:02
And then also again, if you want more like a song by song
40:06
analysis, I'm going to be doing like bonus episodes and all
40:08
those, but I also already have a bonus episode going track by
40:12
track. But all the right guys promised
40:15
they'd stay under bright lights. They withered away.
40:17
But you bloom. Yeah.
40:20
And then we have wood, which, I mean, I was at first thinking,
40:24
like, OK, this is like, so Travis focused to be like, oh,
40:28
you want me to be so obsessed with how big and manly Travis
40:32
is? Fine.
40:32
I'll write a song about his fucking wood, which is
40:35
disgusting. But also, it's such a retro
40:37
song. It doesn't even fit on this
40:38
album. It doesn't even make any sense
40:39
for this album. It makes me so upset.
40:41
But again, that's the 180 of it. All right, some people are
40:44
making really good points about Wood's lyrics and how are they
40:48
actually about a real wood? Or are they about man made wood
40:53
like Opalite the strap Rather, it also starts with Daisy's bare
40:58
naked. I'll be your Daisy galer.
41:02
Huge, huge galer. ISM there.
41:04
Redwood tree. It ain't hard to see.
41:06
His love was the key to open my thighs.
41:08
First of all, it's disgusting. But Redwood tree, Where do they
41:11
grow? Big Sur.
41:12
OK. And then another.
41:14
The curse on me was broken. First of all, I think that's
41:17
really fucked up to be saying the curse on me was broken by
41:19
your magic wand, making it seem like your mental health can just
41:21
be solved by like a Dick. But the curse on me was broken
41:24
by your magic wand. What's a magic wand?
41:27
Everyone says people on the Internet, gay people on the
41:30
Internet either refer that to being like a dildo or like a
41:33
magic wand vibrator or like what?
41:37
Queer people when queer people have Dicks, not like straight
41:40
man and their magic wands. I don't believe it.
41:44
I like, totally can see this being like about the strap.
41:47
We're just being so sarcastic it sounds like.
41:49
But I'm a cheerleader. And her convincing herself she's
41:52
straight, like what? But yeah, just like everything
41:55
in this album is turned upside down.
41:58
And I think that's why it's a huge shock.
42:00
I think we are in a glitch and we are in a play watching how
42:04
she interacts with fans. But we are the fans that she's
42:07
talking about. The fucking plays about us.
42:09
We are watching Brand Taylor write her songs, not poet
42:13
Taylor, not real Taylor. The showgirl aesthetic is so
42:17
distinct yet the songs are like retro poppy doesn't make any
42:22
sense. The fate of Ophelia is supposed
42:24
to be like, you know the fate and what happens to her and that
42:27
you can't escape your fate, yet she escapes it somehow but then
42:31
doesn't. And then the music video for the
42:33
fate of Ophelia, she's trapped in all these ropes.
42:35
But I thought he saved her. It's like the opposite of the
42:38
prophecy. And she's rewriting A feminist
42:41
figure to be saved by a man AKA herself.
42:45
In the same way that Ophelia has been viewed as this like,
42:48
feminist icon. And like, the one decision she
42:50
made that was like, out of her own will that she actually
42:55
decided to do was drown herself. And I don't think anyone should
42:59
drown themselves. Now she's rewriting that story.
43:02
She's Ophelia. She's now rewriting the story
43:04
that people said about Taylor Swift being like this feminist
43:07
to them being saved by a man. It's fucked up, but I think that
43:10
it means something. And at the end of the music
43:13
video, she drowns. Anyways, her attempt to perform
43:17
and put on this play that is like making money and this
43:22
attempt to, like, do what the culture wants.
43:25
You can do all of these things. You can be like, yes, this man
43:29
saved me. But it doesn't actually happen
43:31
in real life because this is a play.
43:33
This isn't actually really Taylor Swift.
43:36
This is the showgirl. She ends it with that show
43:39
business, baby. That was our show.
43:40
Thank you. Goodnight.
43:42
Showing like the end of his cigarette.
43:43
Wow. She came out.
43:44
I said you're living my dream. Taylor Swift wants to come out.
43:48
This is the only song that's actually telling us what's
43:50
happening in this play. It's actually telling us about
43:53
the show that we are seeing and consuming right now.
43:57
That's not what showgirls get. They leave us for dead.
44:00
She's telling us what actually a showgirl is like.
44:03
Is she going to be left for dead?
44:04
Is there going to be the death of a showgirl?
44:06
Then all the headshots on the walls of the dance halls are of
44:08
the bitches I am. I want something to help me come
44:12
up with like why she keeps saying bitches bitchin that
44:15
means something. I don't know if it's because
44:17
like she's supposed to be the bitch in this.
44:18
Like the showgirl is like a bitch and has to be a bitch in
44:21
order to, like, be successful. I don't know, but yeah, someone
44:25
let me know their theory. But the bitches who wish I'd
44:27
hurry up and die. But I'm immortal now, baby
44:30
dolls. I couldn't if I tried.
44:31
So I say thank you for the lovely, lovely bouquet.
44:34
I'm married to the Hustle, not to Travis.
44:37
I'm married to the Hustle. And now I know the life of
44:39
showgirl babe, and I'll never know.
44:40
Another pain hidden by the lipstick and lace.
44:43
Pain is hidden by the lipstick and lace of this Glitter E
44:47
album. And I wouldn't have it any other
44:49
way. Thank you for the lovely
44:50
bouquet. Now I make my money being pretty
44:52
and witty. And then there was also
44:54
something that someone showed me that said from West Side Story,
44:58
Maria sings I feel pretty, oh so pretty.
45:01
I feel pretty and witty and gay. She makes her money feeling
45:05
pretty and witty. When are we going to get the
45:07
gay? Maybe next album.
45:09
But she says, I that's our show. We love you so much.
45:13
Goodnight. That is our show.
45:15
This album was a show and I think her talking about being
45:20
left for dead is what showgirls get.
45:22
And we are going to see that perhaps in the death of
45:26
showgirl. I think she's cancelling
45:28
herself. She's going to kill off the
45:30
showgirl. She's kicking the bucket.
45:33
Like in that one of the videos that she posted for promo, she
45:37
kicks the bucket. What does that mean to die?
45:39
And at the end of the life of showgirl she says that's our
45:42
show. Goodnight, what a showgirls get,
45:44
they get left for dead. I think we are witnessing a show
45:49
in this album and performance Artler reflects back performance
45:54
art that she says that she loves to do.
45:56
She said she did on the air. As to her performance art,
45:59
Performance art by definition is meta art.
46:04
Not just the show we see, but it's meta about the show and how
46:09
that is such a specific point in culture and history and how that
46:12
is the audience can only witness that if they are in tune to what
46:16
the culture of the day is saying.
46:19
She's making performance art about her being the showgirl for
46:23
America. And I think she's going to kill
46:25
off the death of I think she's going to kill off the showgirl
46:29
so she doesn't have to do this play within a play and have to
46:31
tell us what it's like to perform as a showgirl.
46:34
And then she can just be Taylor. I don't see real Taylor in this
46:39
anywhere. I will be awaiting and hoping
46:42
that I am right. Let me know if you were
46:45
convinced by this theory. I think there's a chance we get
46:48
something on Halloween like the death or funeral of of a
46:52
showgirl, like 31 is 13 backwards and 30th is a Friday
46:57
or you know, some people think we're going to get something in
46:59
like a week or so, who knows. But let me know what you think
47:03
of this theory. I think Taylor Swift is very
47:08
smart and loves to have a lot of different references in her art.
47:11
And this wouldn't be the first time she had like a meta meeting
47:14
for songs or an album. So reminder to subscribe on
47:17
YouTube. If you haven't done that yet,
47:18
please go to my YouTube and subscribe.
47:20
It's free and let me know your thoughts.
47:24
I'll be continuing to make content about this for a very
47:26
long time. And then of course, I'll resume
47:29
other pop culture content as well.
47:31
But we are in a Taylor Swift era, obviously.
47:33
So OK, love you guys, see you next time.
47:36
Bye.