My interpretation of the album (of which there are fifty million floating around but I’m trying to be confident in my own voice) is that she’s going through all the stages of grief (as evidenced by the Apple Music playlists narrating the five stages of grief, the debut and Reputation songs are conspicuously missing because the rerecordings haven’t been released yet), and all the crazy crap that people attempt to do and go through in their attempts to process that grief.
It’s her angriest album yet and it terrifies me…but it’s also meant to hold up a mirror to the kind of grief and rage many people (in this case, women) are afraid to feel for fear that it will tarnish their sweet pop star image. Or in my case, their sweet church girl image. Or good girl image. Whatever it is. I was shocked and kind of terrified the first time I heard Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, and I felt bad for relating to it…which is the point, I think.
We can of course go through all the things we can do to healthily manage those giant feelings (a relationship with Jesus, counseling, real friendships), and that’s real for me too! But it’s challenging in that it challenges me personally to not look away from that. Especially when all I want to do is listen to 1989 for the millionth time. Great piece!
I agree with so much you said here. I definitely expected this to be a break up album and while it certainly is, it seems very introspective and a more holistic view than in the past considering our origins, societal pressures, and how she/we have come to be at the place we are now.
Her critiques of religion are all the reasons I left. The sanctimonious soliloquies, the need to cage people, the insistence on control in the name of caring and then subsequent refusal to provide help when it’s needed. Within a system that was supposed to be founded on love, caring, “saving”, and community I felt abandoned, judged, less than, discarded, and never enough. I tried so hard, I followed the rules, I really gave it everything and finally had to break up with the idea of a supposedly safe space that was never that in actuality.
There are a lot of parallels between my break up with my evangelical roots and an actual breakup. There are places you no longer go, rituals that were once sacred that you don’t want to do, but also miss, people you no longer interact with or who actively see you as a villain.
In Down Bad the lyrics
“Did you really beam me up?
In a cloud of sparkling dust. Just to do experiments on me.
Tell me I was the chosen one.
Show me this world is bigger than us. Then send me right back where I came from.”
Very much embodies my experience as the daughter of a pastor who lost his church. I love that she actively encourages people ascribing their own meaning to her words. For me this is very much a deconstruction album that hits in a way she probably never intended but I’m grateful for this group therapy processing session that I didn’t even realize I desperately needed.
Thank you for your time in sharing this! I think her focus on religion in this album conveys both the depth of her love and the magnitude of her pain. The negative references seem to suggest judgment and shame, which personally have had a large place in my own personal faith experience. I see her, as always, representing a broad feminine experience while sharing her personal details.
I love art, like this music. And your breakdown of her newest album. Ironically, if anything, I think it is supposed to represent a process that is incomplete. I like what whomever in your comments said, how it is the stages of grief. Confession: I haven't listened to the album, but as I at times viewed myself as a tortured poet, I keep thinking I should. I am also very entertained by your indepth analysis of the lyrics, you could definitely teach a literature class with this one!
I love that you started this conversation, because I feel like there is so much that could be said about the religious themes in her music (especially TTPD, but now I really want to go back and look at her previous work, too).
Some thoughts I had:
1. But Daddy I Love Him - I’m almost afraid to say this out loud because it’s such a triggering topic, but I can’t help but see the ties to the much more political/religious issue of ab0rt1on. Especially when she combine the line “it’s just my choice” and a pregnancy joke (for the record, I’m absolutely not saying she had one, and therefore that’s why she’s not having the baby, although I’m slightly terrified conservatives will come out at her for it). That said, in a year when this has been such a huge topic, it feels like she’s woven it into a song that is already questioning the control the religious right is attempting to wield over others.
2. Not any song in particular, but you’re discussion of control had me going back to the “In Summation” and my original reading of it as her realizing she can’t always control and, dare I say, “Mastermind” her relationships. I feel like this loss of identity and grappling with her own humanity is a theme throughout the album.
3. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? - This song evokes so much witch imagery for me, which has also been explored in her previous works and general Taylor-lore on sorcery allegations. And while witches are not technically biblical, they do represent a faith (?) system thought to challenge traditional Christianity.
4. Clara Bow - I’m curious about how you see the line “you’re the new god we’re worshipping”? It kind of reminded me of the Lover song “False god,” although there the false god is her love/lover, whereas here it refers to her celebrity.
5. So Long, London - Ok, so my previous point had me going back to this one and the altar, sacrifice, spirit, and gods references. I get the wedding association, but it feels like there may be a religious layer there, too. Similar to your analysis of love as salvation.
That’s it for now, but the more I listen, I’m sure more things will pop up. And thank you again for this space to dig in to the lyrics 🫶🏼
I love that you’re seeing the searching. So many of the Christian critiques of this album have been horrified and, well, pearl-clutching. I’ve always seen searching in Taylor’s lyrics. Longing and honesty. If we as Christians are afraid and condemning of everything someone who is perhaps more of a cultural Christian says, why would they ever listen to us? Plus what better way to check our own behavior than by listening to outside critiques?
My interpretation of the album (of which there are fifty million floating around but I’m trying to be confident in my own voice) is that she’s going through all the stages of grief (as evidenced by the Apple Music playlists narrating the five stages of grief, the debut and Reputation songs are conspicuously missing because the rerecordings haven’t been released yet), and all the crazy crap that people attempt to do and go through in their attempts to process that grief.
It’s her angriest album yet and it terrifies me…but it’s also meant to hold up a mirror to the kind of grief and rage many people (in this case, women) are afraid to feel for fear that it will tarnish their sweet pop star image. Or in my case, their sweet church girl image. Or good girl image. Whatever it is. I was shocked and kind of terrified the first time I heard Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, and I felt bad for relating to it…which is the point, I think.
We can of course go through all the things we can do to healthily manage those giant feelings (a relationship with Jesus, counseling, real friendships), and that’s real for me too! But it’s challenging in that it challenges me personally to not look away from that. Especially when all I want to do is listen to 1989 for the millionth time. Great piece!
I agree with so much you said here. I definitely expected this to be a break up album and while it certainly is, it seems very introspective and a more holistic view than in the past considering our origins, societal pressures, and how she/we have come to be at the place we are now.
Her critiques of religion are all the reasons I left. The sanctimonious soliloquies, the need to cage people, the insistence on control in the name of caring and then subsequent refusal to provide help when it’s needed. Within a system that was supposed to be founded on love, caring, “saving”, and community I felt abandoned, judged, less than, discarded, and never enough. I tried so hard, I followed the rules, I really gave it everything and finally had to break up with the idea of a supposedly safe space that was never that in actuality.
There are a lot of parallels between my break up with my evangelical roots and an actual breakup. There are places you no longer go, rituals that were once sacred that you don’t want to do, but also miss, people you no longer interact with or who actively see you as a villain.
In Down Bad the lyrics
“Did you really beam me up?
In a cloud of sparkling dust. Just to do experiments on me.
Tell me I was the chosen one.
Show me this world is bigger than us. Then send me right back where I came from.”
Very much embodies my experience as the daughter of a pastor who lost his church. I love that she actively encourages people ascribing their own meaning to her words. For me this is very much a deconstruction album that hits in a way she probably never intended but I’m grateful for this group therapy processing session that I didn’t even realize I desperately needed.
Thank you for your time in sharing this! I think her focus on religion in this album conveys both the depth of her love and the magnitude of her pain. The negative references seem to suggest judgment and shame, which personally have had a large place in my own personal faith experience. I see her, as always, representing a broad feminine experience while sharing her personal details.
I love art, like this music. And your breakdown of her newest album. Ironically, if anything, I think it is supposed to represent a process that is incomplete. I like what whomever in your comments said, how it is the stages of grief. Confession: I haven't listened to the album, but as I at times viewed myself as a tortured poet, I keep thinking I should. I am also very entertained by your indepth analysis of the lyrics, you could definitely teach a literature class with this one!
You should listen! But you need to listen several times to actually appreciate it.
I love that you started this conversation, because I feel like there is so much that could be said about the religious themes in her music (especially TTPD, but now I really want to go back and look at her previous work, too).
Some thoughts I had:
1. But Daddy I Love Him - I’m almost afraid to say this out loud because it’s such a triggering topic, but I can’t help but see the ties to the much more political/religious issue of ab0rt1on. Especially when she combine the line “it’s just my choice” and a pregnancy joke (for the record, I’m absolutely not saying she had one, and therefore that’s why she’s not having the baby, although I’m slightly terrified conservatives will come out at her for it). That said, in a year when this has been such a huge topic, it feels like she’s woven it into a song that is already questioning the control the religious right is attempting to wield over others.
2. Not any song in particular, but you’re discussion of control had me going back to the “In Summation” and my original reading of it as her realizing she can’t always control and, dare I say, “Mastermind” her relationships. I feel like this loss of identity and grappling with her own humanity is a theme throughout the album.
3. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? - This song evokes so much witch imagery for me, which has also been explored in her previous works and general Taylor-lore on sorcery allegations. And while witches are not technically biblical, they do represent a faith (?) system thought to challenge traditional Christianity.
4. Clara Bow - I’m curious about how you see the line “you’re the new god we’re worshipping”? It kind of reminded me of the Lover song “False god,” although there the false god is her love/lover, whereas here it refers to her celebrity.
5. So Long, London - Ok, so my previous point had me going back to this one and the altar, sacrifice, spirit, and gods references. I get the wedding association, but it feels like there may be a religious layer there, too. Similar to your analysis of love as salvation.
That’s it for now, but the more I listen, I’m sure more things will pop up. And thank you again for this space to dig in to the lyrics 🫶🏼
I love that you’re seeing the searching. So many of the Christian critiques of this album have been horrified and, well, pearl-clutching. I’ve always seen searching in Taylor’s lyrics. Longing and honesty. If we as Christians are afraid and condemning of everything someone who is perhaps more of a cultural Christian says, why would they ever listen to us? Plus what better way to check our own behavior than by listening to outside critiques?