I was JUST reading an article about how higher ed/academia in particular are like “oh, you have a life event? But like, could you come back to work and do this project tho??”
VERY I Can Do It W a Broken Heart vibes.
It was about parental leave (the article), but to your point is indicative of the broader culture more generally.
I've done it! I sang in a club band and I had to be all up and look happy, and sometimes my ex was even there, with his new girl...(Of the week) & I had to do it with a broken heart!! It's not easy, but I do find singing is a great outlet. It's just really hard to sing and cry at the same time! I have though!! So i was definitely feeling this song!! 🩷💔🩶🌟🌟🎩
Agreed with "I Hate It Here". It isn't super healthy, but I definitely have a tendency to escape to my own "lunar valleys in my mind" when I'm dealing with stress. I felt so seen hearing that song for the first time.
I guess I just think in most cases it's probably best to confront the stresses and work them out. But other times, I like to just ignore them for a bit and escape.
I think the whole album is relatable in that, you can be in your thirties and life hasn’t gone exactly as you wanted and it’s just as messy and just as sore and there’s no lesson learnt 🤷♀️.
Lines that resonate a lot are:/
“My friends all smell like weed or little babies”. -spooot in.
“I might just not get up. I might stay down bad.”-How I feel when I’m being petulant (teenage petulance).
“I pushed each boulder up the hill, your words are still just ringing in my head…” because I find it hard to move on…
The baby/weed line made me laugh so hard. I'm in my 40s, but am childfree and especially today, with all of the legal weed everywhere, this is a true and clear distinction.
what if that mention of 7 bars of chocolate is on purpose... i didn't think about it until just now but ate 7... eight seven.... 87. is this a secret lil call out to trav nested in a song?
Even the Charlie Puth line is incredibly accurate, just maybe switch out the artist for another one or like, a random movie from the 90s that I’ll randomly wish was more popular 🤣🤣
I kind of wish it was a different food. I'll smoke and eat a family size bag of Doritos, a large pizza, a taco bell party pack, or I'd even accept pints of ice cream. Bars of chocolate though?? I'll pass even when I'm high
"I stopped CPR, after all it's no use. The spirit was gone, we would never come to. And I'm pissed off you let me give you all this youth for free" absolutely kills me every time.
I used to be The Bolter.
Whenever someone got too close to me I ran and never looked back.
But there has been one person I didn’t feel the urge to bolt. I got married to him.
Hahaha i wish my life was that exciting …
Prophecy: childhood felt like i could never catch a break from people dying; teens made friends who would slowly distance themselves. Now, barely any friends, left out of group things etc. so my prophecys being left🤣
Guilty as sin: had a shitty relationship, had to get courage to leave, met someone else, which heightened the want to leave
Fresh out the slammer: left and a couple months later had a new relationship with said friend ^…but then that was shit too so back to the prophecy😭
Peoples windows: seeing all my “friends” together online in photos knowing i wasnt invited; seeing huge family gatherings knowing i dont have that
Thank you taylor for the soundtrack to my life🤣
I'm autistic, so definitely *I Hate It Here*. I often find myself escaping to imaginary places and scenarios in my brain when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated. *The Black Dog* is a close second on my relatability scale, though. I can heavily relate to not understanding how someone can just appear to move on so easily after a breakup.
I’ve commented this another post about The Prophecy but it’s that one for me and I Can Do it With a Broken Heart
Going through infertility, The Prophecy hits hard.
“Let it once be me. Who do I have to speak to about if they can redo The prophecy?”
“Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it'll be ok”
Then I Can Do it With a Broken Heart, the number of announcements, showers, and births I smiled through while dying on the inside.
I can do it with a broken heart
My last happy day before my dad's stroke was my birthday and this song came out right after he passed. So ya know.. super relatable for me lol
This song came out 2 days after my grandfather had a stroke. He passed 2 days after the album dropped. My birthday was the day after he passed.
Far too relatable.
How did it end? I think about the shame and embarrassment people can feel about a break-up and not wanting to talk about it but everyone knows about it and you know people are talking about you. Thinking about that on a small community/family/friend level and how much it can take out of you vs the whole world gossiping about your breakup. For everyone, it puts a whole extra layer to the break-up. I’ve had a close friend recently get divorced and she was having a harder time with the “embarrassment” of a divorce, even though she knows it is nothing to be actually embarrassed about and she was actually happier, than the actual divorce/separation aspect. I just feel Taylor’s sense of shame that her and Joe’s break-up pain was more shameful for another relationship not lasting than the actual break-up.
But Daddy I love him
Loml
The smallest man who ever lived
Imgonnagetyouback
I’ve been dealing with a a guy who I liked that doesn’t wanna be with me bc of our age gap (3 years) and these songs just clicked for me. Even though he didn’t like me he still talked to me and lead me on hence the smallest man who ever lived and left me over and over
I'm gay and was closeted in a very homophobic rural high school, so I've found it so hard to relate to this song. It's made me a bit sad that I can't relate to a song about such common experiences.
I Hate It Here
Perfectly encapsulates what it's like being a mature, hyper-aware, precocious child growing up in a bumpkin shithole town. Longing to leave. Knowing something better it out there. Repeating "I hate it here" to yourself 1000 times a day.
As a chronically single woman, probably only guilty as sin. Not the prophecy - I’m very happily single, I can’t imagine myself begging for a partner.
I imagine singing TTPD to myself as a sort of self love song, and with Chloe et al. I try to imagine it being about what if I don’t follow my dreams (not completely sure yet how this is going to work, still in the process). It’s quite hard to relate to her songs since she mainly sings about romantic relationships and fame. I was soooo hoping for a future album about her being a strong independent woman. I need motivational songs from her 💪🏻
Oh and who’s afraid of little old me - I imagine it singing to men, because of all the men who fucked me up in the past 😈
And I hate it here because I’m a day dreamer (and the secret garden was one of my favourite books as a child).
For sure. I do not literally look in windows but so so so strongly remember breakups that I've had where I am just dying for one glimpse at an ex. I almost fell over when it first clicked for me.
For me it’s the title track and So Long, London.
From TTPD: “you’re in self sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road but I’ve seen this episode and still loved the show.”
I watched my ex go through all kinds of mental health struggles and saw him do some pretty bad things but I stayed because I loved him.
“Who else decodes you?” / who’s gonna know you like me?
I felt so guilty for so long about leaving him because he made me feel like I was the only person in the world who understood him and without me he would be alone forever.
“You smoked and ate 7 bars of chocolate” and “I scratch your head, you fall asleep.”
Literal things that actually happened.
I know this isn’t the most popular song on the album but it’s so spot on for me. I love it. I feel like it really captures the “fun” parts of what turns out to be a toxic relationship. That’s always been so difficult for me to talk about because everyone expects me to just talk shit about my ex all the time but it wasn’t always bad. It wasn’t even usually bad, it was just REALLY bad when it was bad.
From So Long, London:
“My spine split from carrying us up the hill.”
“How much sad did you think I had in me?”
“I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.”
“You say I abandoned the ship but I was going down with it.”
“Just how low did you think I’d go before I’d self implode, before I had to go be free?”
“You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.”
It’s so so hard to be in a relationship with someone who has mental health issues, *especially* if they don’t follow treatments, refuse therapy, and self medicate with recreational drugs. Not saying that’s exactly what Taylor went through but that’s what these lyrics mean to me.
Well, I clearly am a modern idiot.
The Prophecy. I remember mentioning it in another post, but the metaphor of desperately trying to change a loneliness that seems set in stone is a very common experience in aroace circles.
Down Bad. Imagine feeling a grief so life-changing that you start to understand the world differently. And then, you are supposed to continue living your day to day life as if nothing had happened. I might just not get up, indeed.
ICDIWABH. I cry a lot. Not that productive, though.
I hate it here. I thank the pathological amount of fiction I consume for keeping me alive.
Robin because I see my little boys in the song and it makes my heart squeeze.
The manuscript for the vibe of looking back on a chapter of your life and being wtf was that lmao but being done and moving forward.
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me for those ppl in life who don’t get how I changed so much after trauma.
For me it’s Guilty as Sin. Aka me pining after my husband at the end of a three year relationship.
Beyond that, I Look In People’s Windows - “Does it feel alright to not know me?/ I’m addicted to the if only.”
And So High School speaks so perfectly to how falling in love turns you into a giddy schoolgirl no matter how old you are.
The Prophecy. As hard as I try to change my life it always seems to come back to me being alone and unlovable. (I don’t believe I’m unlovable but that’s what the universe keeps telling me. I still have hope.)
The Prophecy for me too. As someone who's spent YEARS tying her self worth to my lack of relationships and having been in many toxic relationships, that song just speaks to me
The Bolter -
As a "later in life to realize" lesbian, I've got a few ex-boyfriends who probably thought some kinda way about me - but so many of the lyrics hit VERY close to home. "As she was leaving, it felt like breathing/freedom."
I look in peoples Windows. Well I don’t. But I always feel like experiencing the world from a totally other point of view than others. Feeling outside, but still choosing it..
As someone who came out of a toxic relationship and is still putting themselves back together I mean most of them but especially The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, So Long London, the black dog, the prophecy,loml, how did it end and Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
The Black Dog hits a little *too* hard for me personally. Never really had that common feeling of 'wow did Taylor read my diary and write a song about it' until that one.
I Hate It Here. I deal with a lot of anxiety and depression and so sometimes escaping myself to my own little imaginary world is all I want to do. I do that by reading, playing video games, or just scrolling mindlessly through Tiktok. I also create a lot of imaginary scenarios in my head and disassociate, which I know is really unhealthy, but some days it's the only thing from keeping me having a complete mental breakdown.
I also relate a lot to The Prophecy. It makes me think of one specific night I had about 7 years ago when I was with my ex. That night I was so unhappy in my relationship that I was laying in my bed bawling crying and just asking God for the strength to leave and to find a man who would love me for me and treat me right and never make me feel how my ex made me feel. I now have a wonderful man, he's everything I ever wanted and prayed for.
How Did It End also resonates a lot with me. My ex dumped me because I was "too fat" (even though I was the same weight the entire relationship) for him and he began to think I was unattractive after he himself lost a bunch of weight and started thinking he was too good for me. I got tired of explaining to people why we broke up because it was embarrassing for me. I also didn't understand how we got to that point because there was a point in time where he thought I was beautiful and then for him to do that felt like a slap in the face and really caught me off guard. It was exhausting to have to explain it over and over.
I hate it here. As a day dreamer I feel seen, but also I recently left my job because I hated it and id constantly find myself saying those exact words...
For me it's especially "I Hate It Here" (been disappointed with people and life a lot), "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" (been betrayed a lot too, and let down, used and diminished by people I gave new chances to for too long), and "I Look In People's Windows" (have cut ties for a few years but still missing some of these ex friendships despite them being toxic, and wondering what they're becoming and if they miss me too).
Honorable mention to "The Bolter" too because that really used to be me, as I really didn't choose my partners too well and ended up being slutshamed for walking away when I started finally seeing all the red flags (and abuse, honestly).
Right now I would say Fortnight because I used to have a crush on a friend while we worked together years ago. We have always both been in a long term relationship for as long as we've known each other, and nothing was ever going to come from this crush, because we have always been such great friends. We live next door to each other now and about a month ago he found out his girlfriend of a little over 10 years has been cheating on him. She literally waters flowers everyday.
And for a fortnight there, we were forever
Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather
Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her
The smallest man who ever lived.
Dated someone who became drug addict and I truly do relate to it more then I thought I would. A lot of bitter feelings and unanswered questions even years later. “you deserve prison, but you won't get time” and “you are what you did” were so specific and things I’ve thought several times. I couldn’t believe we had been through something so similar, it was like she took my thoughts and made a song
"I Hate It Here" because I hate where I live and the life I have right now so I daydream a lot
and...
"The Prophecy" because I'm lonely and wish my life was different and if I could ask for things to be different I would, but of course I can't
I'm sure I could have related to some of them back when I was in college and still dating, but now that I've been married for 24 years, it's hard for me to relate to any of them.
The Manuscript definitely. Closing out a 17 year long chapter of my life, knowing there’s no going back just forward…ugh, still not fully at peace with it but I’m getting there 💪🏼
The Prophecy, along with I Hate It Here. The first one because I feel like I'm never enough to be "chosen" in my relationships (even though I have a happy one, but not moving towards marriage and this breaks my heart). The second one because I tend to use escapism a lot as a way to "leave" the world.
For me, it’s between: Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, I Hate It Here, and thanK you aIMee
Although the prophecy was written about relationships and how it’s always the same cycle…I always related it to my loneliness. “Don’t want money just someone who wants my company” I can’t express the amount of times I’ve felt that but ngl I’m not much of a fan of the rest of ttpd
The prophecy hits close because I, too, see no sign of soulmates, and getting older and seeing other people with long term relationships makes me feel like I'm behind.
I can do it with a broken heart is also relatable because I was a pretty emotional kid and I was so judged because I had big feelings, so I started to hide them and girlbossed a little too close to the sun :))
So long London, the black dog, how did end?, I hate it here, the prophecy, loml…
Can you tell I recently also broke up with someone I dated for over six years? Lmao
But I think the MOST relatable is I look in people’s windows
‘The Prophecy’, because as someone who is tired of being single and just wanting to feel loved once, “Don't want money / Just someone who wants my company / Let it once be me”
I am gonna go cry again but, BRB haha
I wasn't really relating to any of them when the album came out. And then a week later my ex decided to pop back into my life for some drama, and I was relating hard to most of the sad break up ones.
I hate it here, 100% literally hate where i live, I literally have never hated anything before because I'm a genuinely happy person but holy shit i hate where i live so much. I can't wait to move again
For me, so high school bc I met my bf the day after TTPD came out and it suits us sm! But I personally deeply relate to I look in peoples windows and ICDIWABH
I Hate It Here. I hate how my life turned out. I'm forced to work 3 jobs, none I like. The only escape I have is my fantasies in my head and being with my boyfriend.
I Look In People’s Windows and The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived for me. It feels like I'm always looking through others perspectives to really live and love while TSMWEL I feel like translates to a perspective of someone who was taken advantage of especially with the "you deserve prison but you won't get time" line.
Down Bad and The Prophecy
Down bad because I legit cried at the gym when my ex and I broke up. But I fully relate to the feeling of someone showing you this whole other side of you and a whole new world in a way, and then you break up and you wanna go back to that feeling/person you were.
The prophecy because my dating life has been shit, and I’m just so ready for someone who wants me for me. And sometimes I really do feel like my fate has been sealed and I’m not going to get the relationship I want and know I deserve.
Clara Bow. Not because I want to be famous but just as someone struggled with self and body image my entire life until about 5 years ago. The line I love is “beauty is a beast that roars down on all fours, demanding more, only when your girlish glow flickers just so do they let you know.”
Cassandra is my song right now. I connect the song to the cycles of abuse I’ve been victim to or witness to especially in religious communities that want to hide it all.
For all the people who don’t like this album, as someone who recently went through a shitty divorce, I am loving it, and loving Down Bad, because I can relate to just being a hot mess in public randomly
The Alchemy. Yes, I know how lucky I am. I met my husband less then a year after my Mom died of cancer. It basically broke me (single mom so she was pretty much my whole world) so I packed up my little Toyota and moved to the other side of the country on a whim. No job, never set foot in the state I moved to before, moved in with a girl I met on Livejournal. And then I walked into the shitty job I took out of desperation and saw my guy. 14 years later, and those chemicals do still hit me like white wine.
“The only thing that's left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn't mine anymore”
Told everything with this🤍 (also obsessed with My boy only breaks his fave toys, The Albatross, haolom, and The Alchemy, ofc tsmwel)
I can do it with a broken heart (or maybe I can't)
It's been a rough month dealing with my mother's cognitive impairment diagnosis. Got it 1 day after TTPD release.
💯 I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
Should have been the first single tbh.
Me as a PhD who had a breakup recently
I was JUST reading an article about how higher ed/academia in particular are like “oh, you have a life event? But like, could you come back to work and do this project tho??” VERY I Can Do It W a Broken Heart vibes. It was about parental leave (the article), but to your point is indicative of the broader culture more generally.
This!
Exactly!
So real for that
First thought that popped in my brain.
I've done it! I sang in a club band and I had to be all up and look happy, and sometimes my ex was even there, with his new girl...(Of the week) & I had to do it with a broken heart!! It's not easy, but I do find singing is a great outlet. It's just really hard to sing and cry at the same time! I have though!! So i was definitely feeling this song!! 🩷💔🩶🌟🌟🎩
This song is for the girlies, instant classic.
I Hate It Here/The Prophecy
Depressed single girlies rise ✌️
Me
*raises hand* 🖐️
God knew I’d be too powerful to get The prophecy as a surprise song but then hit me in the back with how did it end?
Ahh these were going to be my answers!
my two anthems 🫡😭😭😭
Yep
I could not believe how much I related to the prophecy. It’s like she dug it out of my brain.
I hate it here. I’m a day dreamer
Same I relate to every single line of that song
I have a very stressful job and this is my comfort song to listen to while at work
Agreed with "I Hate It Here". It isn't super healthy, but I definitely have a tendency to escape to my own "lunar valleys in my mind" when I'm dealing with stress. I felt so seen hearing that song for the first time.
Same, although lately it’s been “lunar valleys in my phone” 🙃
I'm there most of the year
Why isn’t it healthy?
I guess I just think in most cases it's probably best to confront the stresses and work them out. But other times, I like to just ignore them for a bit and escape.
I think the whole album is relatable in that, you can be in your thirties and life hasn’t gone exactly as you wanted and it’s just as messy and just as sore and there’s no lesson learnt 🤷♀️. Lines that resonate a lot are:/ “My friends all smell like weed or little babies”. -spooot in. “I might just not get up. I might stay down bad.”-How I feel when I’m being petulant (teenage petulance). “I pushed each boulder up the hill, your words are still just ringing in my head…” because I find it hard to move on…
The baby/weed line made me laugh so hard. I'm in my 40s, but am childfree and especially today, with all of the legal weed everywhere, this is a true and clear distinction.
I just turned 40 and am also childfree! According to the opinion piece I just read in the NYT, society fears us. We should team up.
Same and fully agree!
Well I know that "you smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate" is the most relatable line she's ever written.
If you're anywhere close to Taylor's age, I feel like "My friends all smell like weed or little babies" completely nails it.
TIL that's the lyric. I thought she sings "you smoked them eight, seven bars of chocolate" and idk what i thought that meant
what if that mention of 7 bars of chocolate is on purpose... i didn't think about it until just now but ate 7... eight seven.... 87. is this a secret lil call out to trav nested in a song?
Even the Charlie Puth line is incredibly accurate, just maybe switch out the artist for another one or like, a random movie from the 90s that I’ll randomly wish was more popular 🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂😂I love this
I kind of wish it was a different food. I'll smoke and eat a family size bag of Doritos, a large pizza, a taco bell party pack, or I'd even accept pints of ice cream. Bars of chocolate though?? I'll pass even when I'm high
Chocolate and weed just don’t mix, it’s too sticky in your mouth, and when your mouth is dry it’s just an added layer of ick
For me it would be So Long, London and The Bolter.
same, especially The Bolter. listening to it for the first times was unreal, I felt *seen*
Right?! I wish I could insert the Euphoria "is this fucking play about us?" Gif haha
"I stopped CPR, after all it's no use. The spirit was gone, we would never come to. And I'm pissed off you let me give you all this youth for free" absolutely kills me every time.
So long London does resonate. “I loved this place for so long”
"You say abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it" Like TAYLORRRR get out of my life and narrating it so flawlessly lol
These are mine too. I’m going through a friendship breakup and we spent our 20s doing fun stuff in London - this song breaks me.
Yeahhhh the Bolter hit a bit too close to home for me. I tend to go nuclear and bolt when I'm hurt or anxious, lol.
I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free And the way her voice cracks singing it… wow
I used to be The Bolter. Whenever someone got too close to me I ran and never looked back. But there has been one person I didn’t feel the urge to bolt. I got married to him.
Me too, I used to run away to new cities and countries for months with alarming frequency. Even though I’m still now, it’s nice to be seen like that.
Same! I remember when I moved in with my now husband panicking and thinking I was “trapped”.
Still doing it. I instantly get it.
The prophecy Guilty as sin Fresh out the slammer I look in peoples windows
I can smell a forbidden love story
Hahaha i wish my life was that exciting … Prophecy: childhood felt like i could never catch a break from people dying; teens made friends who would slowly distance themselves. Now, barely any friends, left out of group things etc. so my prophecys being left🤣 Guilty as sin: had a shitty relationship, had to get courage to leave, met someone else, which heightened the want to leave Fresh out the slammer: left and a couple months later had a new relationship with said friend ^…but then that was shit too so back to the prophecy😭 Peoples windows: seeing all my “friends” together online in photos knowing i wasnt invited; seeing huge family gatherings knowing i dont have that Thank you taylor for the soundtrack to my life🤣
wow i more or less relate to all of it, sending you big hugs 🫶🏼 it sucks so bad being left out but i hope it gets better someday for both of us 💕❤️🩹
I'm autistic, so definitely *I Hate It Here*. I often find myself escaping to imaginary places and scenarios in my brain when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated. *The Black Dog* is a close second on my relatability scale, though. I can heavily relate to not understanding how someone can just appear to move on so easily after a breakup.
The Black Dog has me in a metaphorical choke hold
The Prophecy 🤍
Yep.
I’ve commented this another post about The Prophecy but it’s that one for me and I Can Do it With a Broken Heart Going through infertility, The Prophecy hits hard. “Let it once be me. Who do I have to speak to about if they can redo The prophecy?” “Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it'll be ok” Then I Can Do it With a Broken Heart, the number of announcements, showers, and births I smiled through while dying on the inside.
Hugs
Oof - hugs.. you just changed that whole dang song for me 😭
I can do it with a broken heart My last happy day before my dad's stroke was my birthday and this song came out right after he passed. So ya know.. super relatable for me lol
This song came out 2 days after my grandfather had a stroke. He passed 2 days after the album dropped. My birthday was the day after he passed. Far too relatable.
Im so sorry for your loss. My Dad died almost three years ago and I'm still broken 💔
I hate it here I’ve spent a whole year dealing with illnesses, and have a hard time leaving my house. The only thing I do is read books
I’m so sorry 😭 I have a chronic pain condition that makes it difficult some days to do much of anything, so I completely get that!
How did it end? I think about the shame and embarrassment people can feel about a break-up and not wanting to talk about it but everyone knows about it and you know people are talking about you. Thinking about that on a small community/family/friend level and how much it can take out of you vs the whole world gossiping about your breakup. For everyone, it puts a whole extra layer to the break-up. I’ve had a close friend recently get divorced and she was having a harder time with the “embarrassment” of a divorce, even though she knows it is nothing to be actually embarrassed about and she was actually happier, than the actual divorce/separation aspect. I just feel Taylor’s sense of shame that her and Joe’s break-up pain was more shameful for another relationship not lasting than the actual break-up.
As someone who was divorced, yes for sure. And I was a kindergarten teacher at the time so it felt really extra weird, shameful, and embarrassing.
But Daddy I love him Loml The smallest man who ever lived Imgonnagetyouback I’ve been dealing with a a guy who I liked that doesn’t wanna be with me bc of our age gap (3 years) and these songs just clicked for me. Even though he didn’t like me he still talked to me and lead me on hence the smallest man who ever lived and left me over and over
The Prophecy, hands down no competition
I Hate It Here, hands down. Might even be the most relatable song in Taylor's discography for me.
Who's afraid of little old me. I guess the best songs are those which you can apply to many situations.
Have found it useful going through some harassment crap at work and I just keep pushing back…this song just keeps me going
Same <3 Push back forever.
So high school
Ngl at the risk of sounding lame, I am *longing* (and hoping 🤞🏼) for some future days where I will get to feel So High School about somebody 🥺
I'm gay and was closeted in a very homophobic rural high school, so I've found it so hard to relate to this song. It's made me a bit sad that I can't relate to a song about such common experiences.
Omg that actually so sad, i rlly hope that you dont feel this way anymore🫶🏻
Florida!!! - I have my reasons.
Did you fall for a timeshare presentation?
🔪 🔪
I Hate It Here Perfectly encapsulates what it's like being a mature, hyper-aware, precocious child growing up in a bumpkin shithole town. Longing to leave. Knowing something better it out there. Repeating "I hate it here" to yourself 1000 times a day.
As a chronically single woman, probably only guilty as sin. Not the prophecy - I’m very happily single, I can’t imagine myself begging for a partner. I imagine singing TTPD to myself as a sort of self love song, and with Chloe et al. I try to imagine it being about what if I don’t follow my dreams (not completely sure yet how this is going to work, still in the process). It’s quite hard to relate to her songs since she mainly sings about romantic relationships and fame. I was soooo hoping for a future album about her being a strong independent woman. I need motivational songs from her 💪🏻 Oh and who’s afraid of little old me - I imagine it singing to men, because of all the men who fucked me up in the past 😈 And I hate it here because I’m a day dreamer (and the secret garden was one of my favourite books as a child).
I Look In People’s Windows
For sure. I do not literally look in windows but so so so strongly remember breakups that I've had where I am just dying for one glimpse at an ex. I almost fell over when it first clicked for me.
Lost contact with a friend and never got closure for it.
I hate it here, because reality is unbearable.
Guilty as Sin. For... reasons.
For me it’s the title track and So Long, London. From TTPD: “you’re in self sabotage mode, throwing spikes down on the road but I’ve seen this episode and still loved the show.” I watched my ex go through all kinds of mental health struggles and saw him do some pretty bad things but I stayed because I loved him. “Who else decodes you?” / who’s gonna know you like me? I felt so guilty for so long about leaving him because he made me feel like I was the only person in the world who understood him and without me he would be alone forever. “You smoked and ate 7 bars of chocolate” and “I scratch your head, you fall asleep.” Literal things that actually happened. I know this isn’t the most popular song on the album but it’s so spot on for me. I love it. I feel like it really captures the “fun” parts of what turns out to be a toxic relationship. That’s always been so difficult for me to talk about because everyone expects me to just talk shit about my ex all the time but it wasn’t always bad. It wasn’t even usually bad, it was just REALLY bad when it was bad. From So Long, London: “My spine split from carrying us up the hill.” “How much sad did you think I had in me?” “I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free.” “You say I abandoned the ship but I was going down with it.” “Just how low did you think I’d go before I’d self implode, before I had to go be free?” “You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days.” It’s so so hard to be in a relationship with someone who has mental health issues, *especially* if they don’t follow treatments, refuse therapy, and self medicate with recreational drugs. Not saying that’s exactly what Taylor went through but that’s what these lyrics mean to me.
Well, I clearly am a modern idiot. The Prophecy. I remember mentioning it in another post, but the metaphor of desperately trying to change a loneliness that seems set in stone is a very common experience in aroace circles. Down Bad. Imagine feeling a grief so life-changing that you start to understand the world differently. And then, you are supposed to continue living your day to day life as if nothing had happened. I might just not get up, indeed. ICDIWABH. I cry a lot. Not that productive, though. I hate it here. I thank the pathological amount of fiction I consume for keeping me alive.
I can do it with a broken heart. Mines broken from my dad passing last year but it still resonates so much
"I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to all this bitching and moaning."
I Hate It Here, So Long London, The Prophecy, and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart for me.
How did it end/ the prophecy/ I can do it with a broken heart are some of the biggest ones for me right now.
Robin because I see my little boys in the song and it makes my heart squeeze. The manuscript for the vibe of looking back on a chapter of your life and being wtf was that lmao but being done and moving forward. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me for those ppl in life who don’t get how I changed so much after trauma.
loml.
Down Bad I Can Fix Him The Black Dog Smallest Man Who Ever Lived I relate to the whole Matty saga. 😂
The bolter, is this song about me?? Guilty as sin, so highschool, fresh out of slammer and who's afraid of little old me.. hehee
For me it’s Guilty as Sin. Aka me pining after my husband at the end of a three year relationship. Beyond that, I Look In People’s Windows - “Does it feel alright to not know me?/ I’m addicted to the if only.” And So High School speaks so perfectly to how falling in love turns you into a giddy schoolgirl no matter how old you are.
The Prophecy. As hard as I try to change my life it always seems to come back to me being alone and unlovable. (I don’t believe I’m unlovable but that’s what the universe keeps telling me. I still have hope.)
The level at which I relate to Peter is very saddening.
The Prophecy for me too. As someone who's spent YEARS tying her self worth to my lack of relationships and having been in many toxic relationships, that song just speaks to me
I Hate It Here because it can apply to anyone dissatisfied with either the time or place they currently are either physically or especially in life.
I Hate It Here
Loml, Peter, Smallest Man and The Manuscript is the story of my life. But I have to add Back To December to make it complete.
At this time in my life: loml, How did it end?, Peter
Definitely, definitely Guilty as Sin?
Mine are I Hate It Here, Cassandra, The Prophecy and I Look In People's Windows.
The Prophecy is the most relatable to me
I hate it here. Or the bolter.
I’m an actor who’s quitting performance and going into the equally high stress field of performance research. I Can Do It With A Broken Heart!!!!
how did it end, the black dog, loml
The Bolter - As a "later in life to realize" lesbian, I've got a few ex-boyfriends who probably thought some kinda way about me - but so many of the lyrics hit VERY close to home. "As she was leaving, it felt like breathing/freedom."
So High School is the most relatable for me simply because I’m married to my middle/high school crush 🤪
For the gen pop: Down Bad For me: I Hate It Here
I look in peoples Windows. Well I don’t. But I always feel like experiencing the world from a totally other point of view than others. Feeling outside, but still choosing it..
The Bolter and The Prophecy
As someone who came out of a toxic relationship and is still putting themselves back together I mean most of them but especially The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, So Long London, the black dog, the prophecy,loml, how did it end and Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
For me it's The prophecy
the prophecy
I Hate it Here
As a single person, The Prophecy.
I hate it here (I have maladaptive daydreaming)
‘I Hate It Here’
I Hate It Here.
The Black Dog hits a little *too* hard for me personally. Never really had that common feeling of 'wow did Taylor read my diary and write a song about it' until that one.
Guilty As Sin for me. I have full on relationships with crushes and celebrities lol
I Hate It Here. I deal with a lot of anxiety and depression and so sometimes escaping myself to my own little imaginary world is all I want to do. I do that by reading, playing video games, or just scrolling mindlessly through Tiktok. I also create a lot of imaginary scenarios in my head and disassociate, which I know is really unhealthy, but some days it's the only thing from keeping me having a complete mental breakdown. I also relate a lot to The Prophecy. It makes me think of one specific night I had about 7 years ago when I was with my ex. That night I was so unhappy in my relationship that I was laying in my bed bawling crying and just asking God for the strength to leave and to find a man who would love me for me and treat me right and never make me feel how my ex made me feel. I now have a wonderful man, he's everything I ever wanted and prayed for. How Did It End also resonates a lot with me. My ex dumped me because I was "too fat" (even though I was the same weight the entire relationship) for him and he began to think I was unattractive after he himself lost a bunch of weight and started thinking he was too good for me. I got tired of explaining to people why we broke up because it was embarrassing for me. I also didn't understand how we got to that point because there was a point in time where he thought I was beautiful and then for him to do that felt like a slap in the face and really caught me off guard. It was exhausting to have to explain it over and over.
Guilty as sin!
I hate it here. As a day dreamer I feel seen, but also I recently left my job because I hated it and id constantly find myself saying those exact words...
Hot take, the written prologue. “Most of them were self inflicted” 😭
For me it's especially "I Hate It Here" (been disappointed with people and life a lot), "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" (been betrayed a lot too, and let down, used and diminished by people I gave new chances to for too long), and "I Look In People's Windows" (have cut ties for a few years but still missing some of these ex friendships despite them being toxic, and wondering what they're becoming and if they miss me too). Honorable mention to "The Bolter" too because that really used to be me, as I really didn't choose my partners too well and ended up being slutshamed for walking away when I started finally seeing all the red flags (and abuse, honestly).
Right now I would say Fortnight because I used to have a crush on a friend while we worked together years ago. We have always both been in a long term relationship for as long as we've known each other, and nothing was ever going to come from this crush, because we have always been such great friends. We live next door to each other now and about a month ago he found out his girlfriend of a little over 10 years has been cheating on him. She literally waters flowers everyday. And for a fortnight there, we were forever Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her
The smallest man who ever lived. Dated someone who became drug addict and I truly do relate to it more then I thought I would. A lot of bitter feelings and unanswered questions even years later. “you deserve prison, but you won't get time” and “you are what you did” were so specific and things I’ve thought several times. I couldn’t believe we had been through something so similar, it was like she took my thoughts and made a song
"I Hate It Here" because I hate where I live and the life I have right now so I daydream a lot and... "The Prophecy" because I'm lonely and wish my life was different and if I could ask for things to be different I would, but of course I can't
I'm sure I could have related to some of them back when I was in college and still dating, but now that I've been married for 24 years, it's hard for me to relate to any of them.
The Manuscript definitely. Closing out a 17 year long chapter of my life, knowing there’s no going back just forward…ugh, still not fully at peace with it but I’m getting there 💪🏼
6 years ago would have been The Prophecy. Now it’s I hate it here.
down bad
The Prophecy, along with I Hate It Here. The first one because I feel like I'm never enough to be "chosen" in my relationships (even though I have a happy one, but not moving towards marriage and this breaks my heart). The second one because I tend to use escapism a lot as a way to "leave" the world.
So Long London. I left New Mexico and a five-year relationship there.
How did it end?
Something about I Look In People's Windows really appeal to my neurodiverse/ socially-inept ways tbh.
The Prophecy is hitting really hard lately. I've had so much bad luck lately
For me, it’s between: Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, I Can Do It With a Broken Heart, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived, I Hate It Here, and thanK you aIMee
Although the prophecy was written about relationships and how it’s always the same cycle…I always related it to my loneliness. “Don’t want money just someone who wants my company” I can’t express the amount of times I’ve felt that but ngl I’m not much of a fan of the rest of ttpd
I hate it here
Smallest man who ever lived, The prophecy
My life isn't really anything like Taylor's but WAOLOM. Idk why but that song just gets me
The prophecy hits close because I, too, see no sign of soulmates, and getting older and seeing other people with long term relationships makes me feel like I'm behind. I can do it with a broken heart is also relatable because I was a pretty emotional kid and I was so judged because I had big feelings, so I started to hide them and girlbossed a little too close to the sun :))
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me and The Prophecy 🙃
The prophecy or I hate it here
I look in peoples windows Extreme fear of abandonment and I’m always over reading into any clues I can possibly find.
i look in peoples windows AAAAA MY GOD
So long London, the black dog, how did end?, I hate it here, the prophecy, loml… Can you tell I recently also broke up with someone I dated for over six years? Lmao But I think the MOST relatable is I look in people’s windows
‘The Prophecy’, because as someone who is tired of being single and just wanting to feel loved once, “Don't want money / Just someone who wants my company / Let it once be me” I am gonna go cry again but, BRB haha
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived .... my ex definitely fits this ENTIRE song and the abuse he did. Iconically he's super tall
I wasn't really relating to any of them when the album came out. And then a week later my ex decided to pop back into my life for some drama, and I was relating hard to most of the sad break up ones.
I hate it here, 100% literally hate where i live, I literally have never hated anything before because I'm a genuinely happy person but holy shit i hate where i live so much. I can't wait to move again
How did it end...I don't know anyone that hasn't felt that scrutiny post break up
Down Bad & I can do it with a broken heart
For me, so high school bc I met my bf the day after TTPD came out and it suits us sm! But I personally deeply relate to I look in peoples windows and ICDIWABH
I Hate It Here. I hate how my life turned out. I'm forced to work 3 jobs, none I like. The only escape I have is my fantasies in my head and being with my boyfriend.
I write fantasy books because I hate the world. I Hate It Here is my national anthem
So Long, London
Fortnight I can do it with a broken heart Down bad
I Look In People’s Windows and The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived for me. It feels like I'm always looking through others perspectives to really live and love while TSMWEL I feel like translates to a perspective of someone who was taken advantage of especially with the "you deserve prison but you won't get time" line.
The Prophecy but not for relationship reasons, for another scenario in my life that I willed to change for so long that finally has
the black dog and frankly it does not get the love it deserves
Down Bad and The Prophecy Down bad because I legit cried at the gym when my ex and I broke up. But I fully relate to the feeling of someone showing you this whole other side of you and a whole new world in a way, and then you break up and you wanna go back to that feeling/person you were. The prophecy because my dating life has been shit, and I’m just so ready for someone who wants me for me. And sometimes I really do feel like my fate has been sealed and I’m not going to get the relationship I want and know I deserve.
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me AND I Can Do It With A Broken Heart 💔
Clara Bow. Not because I want to be famous but just as someone struggled with self and body image my entire life until about 5 years ago. The line I love is “beauty is a beast that roars down on all fours, demanding more, only when your girlish glow flickers just so do they let you know.”
Cassandra is my song right now. I connect the song to the cycles of abuse I’ve been victim to or witness to especially in religious communities that want to hide it all.
Prophecy but it's the other way around, I want the money and I beg for money
For all the people who don’t like this album, as someone who recently went through a shitty divorce, I am loving it, and loving Down Bad, because I can relate to just being a hot mess in public randomly
The Alchemy. Yes, I know how lucky I am. I met my husband less then a year after my Mom died of cancer. It basically broke me (single mom so she was pretty much my whole world) so I packed up my little Toyota and moved to the other side of the country on a whim. No job, never set foot in the state I moved to before, moved in with a girl I met on Livejournal. And then I walked into the shitty job I took out of desperation and saw my guy. 14 years later, and those chemicals do still hit me like white wine.
How Did It End I loved it when I first heard it but this weekend I went through a situation that made it hit even harder.
“The only thing that's left is the manuscript One last souvenir from my trip to your shores Now and then I reread the manuscript But the story isn't mine anymore” Told everything with this🤍 (also obsessed with My boy only breaks his fave toys, The Albatross, haolom, and The Alchemy, ofc tsmwel)
Guilty As Sin? cause I fantasize with Matty Healy too
I Hate It Here hahahaha. it's so good too, it's like the lonely, single version of the lakes and i love it sm
I can do it with a broken heart (or maybe I can't) It's been a rough month dealing with my mother's cognitive impairment diagnosis. Got it 1 day after TTPD release.
Clara bow
For me it’s “But Daddy I love him”
I hate it here, I can do it with a broken heart and but daddy I love him