Rebecca Fergusonas Chrissy Eriksson In Episode 09 Of ‘Ocean Ave’ (2002)

the thing about haylor is i dont want them together i dont think they were the pinnacle of a perfect relationship i just find their dynamic and the way they write about each other SO ENDLESSLY INTERESTING. like i am a fan of the art of haylorism not shipping these two humans together as actual end game. does this make sense?

can we make a pact to use tayrry for taylor russell and haylor for taylor swift i’m getting so confused 😭

Taylor performing “You Belong With Me” at the Eras Tour, Glendale

I feel like fine line vault will have the most experimental songs. He was gravitating towards pop with adore you and WS while staying near his comfort zone that was rock. Sunflower was probably a turning point in deciding hsh sound.

sonical things aside I want to listen to his bitter songs about camille's nepo boyfriend and his art gallery lmao

there's a lot of fusion across sounds and genres that happens on fine line and i am in love with it forever. the initial high and glitter and infatuation and freedom and revelation of the first four tracks, the groovy guitar and the gospel choir, swooping down into the sweetbitter sting of cherry and its delicate acoustics and its tinged pink atmosphere (pathetic was his word, regretful is mine), and then the full scale piano soaring vocals drowning heartbreak ballad of falling (that plea: what am i now? i cannot), and then the cheeky/resentful self-deprecating ukulele match strike of to be so lonely, and then the more hs1 old-fashioned rock epic in she, and then sunflower comes in and goes, "hi, so we've been moping for a while, it's time to get psychedelic with it."

sunflower is the light switching back on (lights up and you know who you are, do you know who you are?), some recovery, some happy memories, still the yearning, but it's giving way to something else. the genius of "does he take you walkin' 'round his parents' gallery?" transforming into "i've got your face hung up high in the gallery." HELLO? nepo boyfriend can take you to SEE the art, but to harry...you ARE the art. he's still self-criticizing and reflecting, but in a less harsh way (not the wandering hands or arrogant son of a bitch, just trying hard not to act a fool). kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor! keep it sweet in your memory! we're finding our way through! the silly bizarre nonsense mushroom noises because his humor is sparkling back into view. and then! suddenly! bursting onto the scene in screaming bright color, guitars and dulcimer and whistling and sunshine, is canyon moon, and we're going home!!! an old lover's hippie music! you do not understand (actually you probably do), i love the storytelling that happens there SO much. i LOVE the way sunflower was a turning point in the writing and sits as a turning point on the album itself, where it's like, we've grieved, we've paced, we've been lost and questioned everything, we've felt it all, and now it's time to find the sun again. (take me back to the light...i've been thinking back to a time under the canyon moon. golden is answered in sunflower and canyon moon.) i'm going home and looking to treat people with kindness, in spite of everything. go home and take a deep breath and reflect on everything that's happened, and feel that hurt and that mysterious pull, and remember the love that was there, in six minutes and eighteen seconds of catharsis, and it's all just such a fine line. crisp trepidation (the vocal layering and harmonies there. then the horns at the end!), because the fear is crystalline, but we keep going anyway. that's what we always are, constantly walking along it. we'll be a fine line, over and over, in different ways. maybe that's okay. maybe we'll be alright.

perfect album i am so serious.

ALL that said, because it is such a perfect album and told in such a specific way and follows a story, anything extraneous or that didn't directly enrich it, or was TOO cutting or too sorrowful, he took out, which objectively i understand for the sake of the art, but subjectively and selfishly, i want to know what it was. I NEED. i'll take the even more experimental ones, the bitter and angry songs, or sad ones, or earlier adoring ones, please give them all to me immediately. the fact that this will probably never happen??? i can't think about it!

*jenny slate meme* i had to stop thinking about fine line because it made me too crazy! harry would just be like, "loving you's the antidote -> you've got my devotion, but man, i can hate you sometimes." or "i know that you're scared because i'm so open -> spreading you open is the only way of knowing you..." and i was like, "SCREAMS!!!"

So it goes

So it goes tells the story of the 2014 Victoria Secret After Party: ''All eyes were on Harry and Taylor when they turned up. [...] The drinks were flowing until 3am, when they snuck out of a rear exit five minutes apart to avoid being pictured together." In context of the 2015 timeline 1989 (I know places established they wanted their relationship to go private) and 1D’s Four (with Stockholm Syndrome) had just been released. They were photographed the after party:

This was a pivotal night:

this outfit from that VS Show is also at 3 mins in I don’t wanna live forever (and cardigan refers to this sequin smile) and

In Only Angel Harry says he doesn't have eyes for the VS angels “She's an angel, My-my-my only angel”

So it goes has only been played live 8 times and not yet on the Eras tour. The last time it was played was in the last Rep show in Tokyo, (9:38) with 2 other rare songs for the Rep Tour: I Know Places and Wildest Dreams. Harry Styles was in Japan that month and wrote Little Freak before he left Tokyo.

It was most likely recorded in September 2016 with Shellback in Sweden along with other reputation tracks. Shellback had the melody and Taylor addd lyrics:

Fun fact: Taylor's only lyrics "so it goes" are in Haylor songs, the very first night, So it goes, Style and You are in Love.

Lyrics

[Verse 1] See you in the dark All eyes on you, my magician All eyes on us You make everyone disappear, and Cut me into pieces Gold cage, hostage to my feelings Back against the wall Trippin', trip-trippin' when you're gone

The first verse sets the scene, similar to the articles Harry and Taylor are the focus of many, drawn to each other and wanting to keep their connection secret.

In Hoax, Taylor has a similar lyric to magician "Your sleight of hand"

'Gold cage, hostage to my feelings' refers to being trapped by love. Similar to Stockholm Syndrome, which was released only 2 weeks before the VS party, Taylor is trapped in a gold/gilded cage (a luxurious prison) by love.

[Pre-Chorus] 'Cause we break down a little But when you get me alone, it's so simple 'Cause, baby, I know what you know We can feel it [Chorus] And all the pieces fall right into place Getting caught up in a moment Lipstick on your face So it goes I'm yours to keep And I'm yours to lose You know I'm not a bad girl, but I Do bad things with you So it goes

So it goes is a lyric in Style. In the chorus Taylor lets us know that when they are away from others they have great chemistry. She also refers to lipstick, referred to in many 1989 songs. Taylor is described as a 'bad/good girl often, she talks about it in Miss Americana and also in:

Style: And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt

Question...?; Good girl, sad boy

Only Angel: That she's gonna be an angel, just you wait and see, When it turns out she's a devil in between the sheets

[Verse 2] Met you in a bar All eyes on me, your illusionist All eyes on us I make all your gray days clear And wear you like a necklace I'm so chill, but you make me jealous But I got your heart Skippin', skip-skippin' when I'm gone

The afterparty was in Basement bar. The illusionist/magician references are enjoying knowing that she and her muse will leave together without others knowing. 'Make all grey days clear' tells us the muse is British.

[Bridge] You did a number on me But, honestly, baby, who's counting? I did a number on you But, honestly, baby, who's counting? You did a number on me But, honestly, baby, who's counting? Who's counting? (One, two, three)

The bridge tells us more about her relationship with her muse, they have a history, have hurt each other before and are wanting to move on. Though she says she is letting it go she is also keeping score. At this point the events of Red, 1989 and most of the one direction songs about TS had transpired between them.

the thing about haylor is i dont want them together i dont think they were the pinnacle of a perfect relationship i just find their dynamic and the way they write about each other SO ENDLESSLY INTERESTING. like i am a fan of the art of haylorism not shipping these two humans together as actual end game. does this make sense?

what’s with m4ylors wanting m4ylor to be like haylor so bad 😭 first trying to steal our songs and now twin flame

A few comments (with some likes) on that reading you posted about TF are saying it's ratty. what's with all the maylor shippers 🤢

He’s not an air sign lol

tbh i can see this being the way haylor ended but i think they broke up and didn’t try again because they never found the right timing and always went in circles with no improvement. i think they both gave up because of outer circumstances and they were at their wits end the last time they “tried”/crossed paths again. i think the song “two ghosts” explains pretty much how it ended and how they were both exhausted from trying to make it work and how they didn’t feel like “them” anymore. they both felt the same way but it’s clear that deep down, taylor wished harry fought harder for her, even if she also gave up.

well i have settled on a full story of haylor’s end. like not a “here’s a couple ideas but we’ll never know the full story.” question gave me the whole story

in january after the party, she asked him to try again. for real. because she was in a better place and she wanted to try, she didn’t want to live her life the way she had resigned herself to only having casual hookups.. she wanted to try something real again. And he basically said that he couldn’t. that he was willing to be her “good time guy” (stealing phrasing from private practice). And she was like “I want more than that” and he was like “I can’t,” which is where we get Perfect. He might never be the guy who is there for something real, but he can be the guy who can deal with the camera flashes and the songs for some troubled fun confined to the liminal spaces of hotels. And then she was like “okay well no” and then he didn’t think she would move on………… but she did. and fast, even. and that’s why calvin was so devastating for him. Because he genuinely thought he was calling her bluff. and then there’s this song where she’s like “you know what you little twerp. you healed something in me for half a second and I saw colors I’d never seen before and not seen since. I thought we had something. but when it was too much for me, you let me walk out, and then you never fought even when I wanted to try again so where do you get off getting upset that there was no bluff to call? I hope it feels nice to settle, because you chose this.”

The Lakes

The lakes is about escaping the challenging aspects of Taylor Swift's life with her muse to form an artist community like Wordsworth and Keats had in the Lakes district in the 19th century.

Above, the Lyric video shows wildflowers, LK has referenced this song and Harry also has for a Pleasing campaign. In the vertical video Taylor is on a swing, reminiscent of the swing in Seven, possibly about Harry. Finally a photo with a swan in The Lakes District.

In the Long Pond Session Taylor said (I've shortened it)

'The Lakes is a testament of what I wanted to escape from and where I saw myself escaping to. We'd gone to the Lake District in England a couple years ago. In the 19th century you had a lot of poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats. There was a poet district. They had their own community of other artists, which I've always in my career.' Jack: 'it's not just I've found something worth escaping to it’s a person to escape with.” Taylor agreed "That's a huge sincere statement of hope, everything I'm naming is completely small compared to this love.” “Hoax as the ending song was interesting for a couple weeks but then I wanted the real last song. The Lakes shows you exactly what the overarching theme of the whole album of trying to escape and having something you want to protect, protect your own sanity and saying look they did this hundreds of years ago, I'm not the first person who's felt this way.

Taylor said they had gone to the lakes "a couple of years ago", and she described a poet district with an artist community, meaning fellow songwriters. She had been to the Lakes with a couple of years ago with on her first trip there with Harry Styles on her birthday in 2012. At the time Taylor said it was her best birthday since she was 6. Like Taylor, Harry has a similar experience of fame and is a lyricist. Harry has also sung about being in an artist community with Taylor, in Canyon Moon, which has a very similar idea as The Lakes.

I have seen people refer to the Invisible String Lyric "Our three-year trip / Getting lunch down by the Lakes" to point to Joe. While not photographed, their 3rd anniversary was October 2019, or 6 months before this song was recorded. 'A couple of years ago' rather than 'last year' implies the earlier trip. Joe is also not a lyricist, she spoke about an artist community. He is credited as a producer on Folklore. Taylor described how William Bowery wrote the melody's not lyrics.

Lyrics

Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me? I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones These hunters with cell phones

An elegie is the speech at a funeral, her songs, particularly those she is reclaiming are like diary. She lost her eulogie, the story of her life.

The last line refers back to 'I Know Places' "They are the hunters, we are the foxes" where she and Harry ran from paparazzi, now they hide from every person with a cell phone.

Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse

Taylor is saying she is not cut out for the music industry life, she lost the rights to her diary, constantly photographed. In the Long Pond she referred to having this plan for years, which she foreshadowed for Lover, and I think Harry's Peace ring. I think they may have shared this plan when they first visited for when she turned 30 and into 2020. Folklore is about communication and how life differs to what a 23 year old planned.

The final line is so lovely, her muse is Harry Styles. No other partner has inspired so much work or so much success, they have inspired and encouraged each other to do their best work. Even when they are with others for years they still write about each other. When they see each other they are prolific. Harry has even sung about how he writes too much about her. I could list what proportion of awards and hits are about this relationship, but let's stay in the Windermere peaks.

Despite their success Taylor does not think they are cut out for this life. Taylor has sung about Harry's anxiety in New Years Day and Now that we don't talk, it's also apparent watching him at award shows in his solo career. This song and many (Mirrorball, I know places, Slut!, You're on your own kid) are about how fame impacted Taylor.

What should be over burrowed under my skin In heart-stopping waves of hurt I've come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze Tell me what are my words worth

The first line I think could have 2 meanings, one that the relationship should be over but it is not and the waves are hurt of not being together. Or, and I think this because of the second half, Taylor cannot let her masters go. The last line is a pun on the worth of her words and the poet William Wordsworth.

I want auroras and sad prose I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet 'Cause I haven't moved in years And I want you right here A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground With no one around to tweet it While I bathe in cliffside pools With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief

I want auroras and sad prose, refers to Harry Styles. She describes his eyes as “aurora borealis green” in Snow on the Beach. She also describes him as sad boy in Question..?, he does write sad prose.

In the Long Pond Session Taylor said "I could see this you know you you live in a cottage and you've got Wisteria growing up the outside of it and you just why you know of course they escaped like that." William Wordsworths cottage (below) has wisteria growing on the side, which is a slow growing purple plant, almost a lavender haze!

I love the imagery of 'Red rose grew out of rose in frozen ground', because it refers to Rose, which is a Haylor theme. But also because it refers to the track before Hoax: "My winless fight, this has frozen my ground" It also refers to a theme of hiding their love, "I would die for you secret" in Peace, that something beautiful and no one needs to know about it.

The last lines are so poetic and dramatic I love them. Calamitous love refers to a love that’s “built to fall apart (and back together)” in OOTW or "a crooked love in a straight line down” in IWYW. Taylor used a similar word discussing SOTB, calling it cataclysmic love. Taylor describes her dramatic and passionate relationship with Harry rather than staide and safe one described with Joe.

Her insurmountable grief is all she’s lost, her masters, the things she gave up in your own your own kid and things she has to pine about.

Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm setting off, but not without my muse No, not without you

Love this chorus, such beautiful poetry about poets and love.

Say Don’t Go: Why’d you whisper in the dark, Just to leave me in the night?

Question…?: Did you leave her house in the middle of the night? Did you wish you put up more of a fight?