ok - so the basically theory is that the entire album is about tay’s inability to grow up because she is forced in the closet, a motif that we saw in The Archer with the line “I never grew up, it’s getting so old”, but that we see recurring in folklore - in the way that most songs are reliving youth or mourning loss.
On the album cover we have taylor standing amongst the trees, dwarfed by them, looking up at them - as if they have had the opportunity to grow up to the sky, but she is still on the ground, much smaller:
We also have several kid songs, like seven and then obviously the teenage trio in Betty, cardigan, and august - but these characters show up over and over throughout the album, just not as teenagers.
Illicit Affairs seems to be about the August woman (”meetings in parking lots”/”meet me behind the mall”), James seems to be the narrator in this is me trying (”if I showed up at your party”/”I’m here in your doorway” and “the rust on your door I never needed anything more”/”had the shiniest wheels now they’re rusting”), and betty’s cardigan shows up in invisible string (”wool to brave the seasons”).
The love triangle story is told over and over again from different points of view during different periods of life. This mirrors what Taylor has had to deal with in her relationships, as everything feels like a love triangle when she and her lover are also juggling beards. So instead of growing out of this messy, love triangle phase Taylor is trapped in it.
There are also a TON of references to her old music in this album (I will post a list eventually but dang it is going to be so long), as she rehashes the past and examines this pattern.
Oh wow, yeah... this year will make SEVEN years from when they first met officially in November. There are too many things happening all at once. How can people say they are not together. I mean. How can people believe that. They started their closeness on a trip in the f*cking woods y'all!! 😭
Clandestine meetings, illicit affairs... yeah I’m totally fine... NOT
Taylor has literally been like:
maybe reputation’s themes of love in secret and secret moments no one knows about and stolen stares and pining for someone gorgeous will convince them. no?
okay maybe lover’s crystal skies, rainbows eeeverywhere, gay pride parades, gaylor park, marrying your childhood friend, and stepping into daylight motifs would work. no? that didn’t do it?
fine. here’s an album about childhood love, about loving a girl with braids who has to hide in closets and a girl named betty who I just want to kiss in the garden in front of her stupid friends. how about now? do you get it yet?
🐿 It's because Taylor openly exposed the 🛴 every chance she got that I think Karlie still has a beard, just for the protection of their private lives, and nothing more. Both are multi-millionaires, money is not the issue here, but physical security and lack of psychological preparation to expose such a significant part, what is most precious in their lives, the their family.
Imagine the fear Taylor must have felt of losing another important part of her life, her privacy and maybe even her relationship, because of all the repercussions this story will have, if made public, after the sale of her masters. I think all the courage and preparation Taylor has built up to come out of the closet over the last few years has been totally shaken after Scott's betrayal. That's why she didn't come out in 2019, and Karlie must be finishing her contract, or else why would she celebrate the end of her 7-year contract (tweet of 🏈), only to sign an extension next month or before? It makes no sense! I've talked to some mutuals and I'm on the team that believes Karlie is in that sunset clause that Todrick and Ashley talked about and hoping the end is near.
It's not money or blackmail, it's just protection. You saw that, even though she exposed the dirty way SB2 acted, Taylor was still criticized harshly, many saying that she was complaining with a full pocket and wanting to play the victim once again. Do you think that even after showing that she was betrayed and having little support with her masters, she would venture to say that she has somehow lied and deceived everyone for years and and she would let speculation increase about her real connection to Karlie Kloss in last years?! The hatred for Karlie would be 10 times greater than today, that even those who once supported KK are now throwing stones at her for keeping her wife and child safe.
I think the plan before was for Taylor to come out while Karlie was still married, so no one would say Taylor turned gay because of KK. However, after the masters pivot, she said in The Lakes, now she's just going to come out with her muse. That's why they both still have beards, to protect their family, although I don't think Karlie's will last much longer. I don't think she'll turn 10 years bearded. I hope.
I don't agree that Taylor was not supported with the masters sale. I feel like she received a lot of support. Sure there will always be naysayers, but I don't think Taylor was judged harshly for her reaction to the sale.
Karlie could also have gotten divorced and found a new beard if their goal was protection. There is no ethical justification for what Karlie is doing. She is bearding for an organized crime family. There is no sugar coating it. She is getting blasted for her public actions. She cannot expect anything less based on how she is presenting herself to the world.
Please be vigilant about your vote, especially so in battleground states like Florida and Georgia with Republican governors who have explicitly shown that they have no compunction about suppressing the vote.
Source
Taylor & Karlie backstage at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
6 years of 1989 / october 27, 2014 - october 27, 2020
we begin our story in new york. there once was a girl known by everyone and no one. her heart belonged to someone who couldn’t stay. they loved each other recklessly. they paid the price. she danced to forget him. he drove past her street each night. she made friends and enemies. he only saw her in his dreams. then, one day, he came back. timing is a funny thing, and everyone was watching. she lost him, but she found herself and somehow ... that was EVERYTHING.
folklore tracklist [pt 2]
cornelia street (and lover as an album) are a way to change the ending, to turn the life together into folklore. in this essay i will…
Happy anniversary, girls!!!
Karlie was fascinated from the first moment. See the stage assistant take her out of her hypnotized little moment. 😍
☀️❤🌼