Post by BogoGog24 on Jan 9, 2021 17:00:39 GMT
I realized I never got to write down my interpretations of each song on evermore like I did with folklore, so here's my personal interpretation of each track (or what it's actually about if Taylor talked about it) as well as favorite lyric from each:
1. willow - I think it's about that feeling when you first fall for someone. It's likely inspired by when she first met Joe, but it's general enough to be about anything or anyone.
Favorite lyric: "I come back stronger than a '90s trend" Iconic lol
2. champagne problems - it's clearly about a rejected marriage proposal. "Champagne problems" is a saying to mean "rich people problems" I guess. A lot of people have pointed out that the lyrics refer to the girl as having some kind of mental health issue and that's why she says no and everyone in town gossips that her issues are just "champagne problems," but I always thought maybe it was supposed to have a double meaning and that her issue was that she was an alcoholic.
Favorite lyrics:
"Your heart was glass, I dropped it"
"You had a speech, you're speechless/Love slipped beyond your reaches"
"Sometimes you just don't know the answer, till someone's on their knees and asks you"
"She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred"
"Crestfallen on the landing"
God there's so many good lines in this song to pick just one!
3. gold rush - I think it's about reluctantly falling for someone and being so tempted to get in a relationship with them but you don't because you know everyone else is thinking the same. She's comparing it to the actual gold rush of the late 1800s when everyone went out to California because they heard there was gold there, but of course, there wasn't any left because everyone took it all.
Favorite lyric: "My mind turns your life into folklore"
4. tis the damn season - I think this is about the character of Dorothea that we meet later on and about her coming back to her hometown for the holidays. She meets up with an old flame, knowing that it'll only last for the weekend, but she doesn't care because she's so lonely she'll take any kind of companionship she can get.
It could also possibly be inspired by Taylor's own experiences of coming back to her hometown after she became famous and seeing old friends and boyfriends and stuff.
Favorite lyric: I actually don't really have one from this song, I'm not a super huge fan of it like most people seem to be. It's just an ok song to me. If I had to choose the best lyric I guess it would be "So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends who'll write books about me, if I ever make it"
5. tolerate it - I've heard various interpretations of this song. Some think it could be based on Prince Charles and Diana's relationship. I personally think it could be about the character we meet later in the song "ivy." It's about a wife who tries so hard to please her husband but he's not impressed by her efforts and doesn't appreciate it.
Favorite lyric: "I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life" WHAT THE FUCK this is like one of the best lyrics she's ever written!!!
6. no body, no crime - So Taylor has said that she's really obsessed with true crime documentaries and stuff and that it inspired her to write one into a song. She knew that Este from HAIM would really love something like that and that's why she's the main character in the story as well as why HAIM is featured on the track. It's very obviously a fictional story about a girl who suspects her husband is cheating on her, then he murders her, then Taylor murders him but blames it on the mistress.
A couple notes I have about this song: First I think the structure is really well written and does a good job of telling a story. Each section shows someone suspecting something and saying "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it" - first starting with the cheating, then the wife's murder, then the husband's murder. The same lyrics are used throughout but apply to different parts of the story.
I also think it's quite brilliant how she used the line "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it" over and over. At first I found it repetitive, but then I realized she may have done that to emphasize the obsession when you think you know something happened but you can't prove it. I can imagine the characters pacing across the floor, ruminating over it, going "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it."
I also have a theory that the opening vocals with Este going "He did it, he did it" is her ghost, coming back to haunt the husband after he murdered her.
Favorite lyric: "She says, 'That ain't my merlot on his mouth,' 'That ain't my jewelry on our joint account'"
7. happiness - I think this song is heavily inspired by what happened between her and Scott Borchetta, but it's written more like a breakup song to make it more universal. But I think if you really read between the lines it's so obvious it's about her and Scott. She had to come to terms with the fact that while she was angry at him, it didn't erase the good times they had together. Without him, her career would have probably never happened, or at least not in the way that it did. And without her, Big Machine would have flopped as a label. They both gave each other what they needed and helped each other fulfill their dreams and that's something that will never just go away just because their relationship went sour. It's about the dichotomy of being able to reflect on good times you had with someone who's no longer in your circle.
Favorite lyric: "Across our great divide/There is a glorious sunrise/Dappled with the flickers of light/From the dress I wore at midnight"
I like this line in particular because I think she's making an obvious comparison to Cinderella. It's sort of like saying that the years she was with Scott at Big Machine were like a fantasy and she was having a great time, everything was so magical, but then the magic faded. As we know, Cinderella loses her magic once midnight hits and she has to face reality again. So once Taylor left Big Machine and the whole masters thing happened, it was like the magic was gone and faded away.
8. dorothea - As mentioned above, I think it's about the girl from "tis the damn season" who comes back to visit her hometown. It's from the perspective of the old flame who wants her to know he still loves her and is there for her, even if her friends in LA are just fake.
Favorite lyric: "Skipping the prom/Just to piss off your mom," "A tiny screen's the only place I see you now," "Ooh, you're a queen/Selling dreams/Selling make up and magazines"
9. coney island - I think it's about the juxtaposition of reflecting on a breakup in an otherwise happy and lively place like Coney Island. Except that during the time of the breakup, Coney Island is closed down so it hits even closer to home how sad and devastating it all is. It's like comparing the happy times of the relationship to when the park is open and there's fun stuff going on, to now when the breakup has happened and everything is closed and empty.
I read a theory that this one particular verse is a reference to Taylor's exes:
Were you standing in the hallway with a big cake?
Happy birthday
Jake Gyllenhaal not showing up to her 21st birthday
Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest gray?
John Mayer - "You paint me a blue sky then go back and turn it to rain" from "Dear John"
And when I got into the accident
The sight that flashed before me was your face
Harry Styles and the snowmobile accident they got into, which is referenced in "Out of the Woods"
But when I walked up to the podium
I think that I forgot to say your name
Calvin Harris, people are saying she forgot to thank him when she won an award or something? Not sure
Favorite lyric: I don't think I have a favorite lyric from this one, I guess I would say this: "'Cause we were like the mall before the internet/It was the one place to be"
10. ivy - As mentioned above, I think this is about the wife from "tolerate it" and how she has fallen in love with someone else because her husband won't pay attention to her and doesn't really love her. But she is reluctant to fall in love with this person because she still feels a sense of commitment to her husband, even if he doesn't love her. I've also read a theory that it is about a forbidden love affair between 2 women since people think there's some connection to the poet Emily Dickinson, who was a lesbian, and had written a poem dedicated to her female lover that ended with the line "for evermore." Apparently the day Taylor announced the album was Emily Dickinson's birthday, though frankly I think this is all just a coincidence. But it's an interesting theory I guess.
I've also read a theory that it could be about a widow who hasn't moved on yet.
Favorite lyric: "Oh I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland"
11. cowboy like me - I don't have much to say about this track as I find it so boring to listen to. But I think it's basically about 2 people who are used to swindling others for money and tricking people into falling in love with them just for their money, but they then fall in love with each other.
Favorite lyric: Don't really have one but I guess it'd be this: "Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon with your boots beneath my bed/Forever is the sweetest con"
12. long story short - I think this is one of the few tracks on the album that is completely autobiographical. It makes obvious references to the drama from 2016 and how she dated Tom Hiddleston before realizing she was making a big mistake and finally ended up with the right guy.
Favorite lyrics:
"Pushed from the precipice/Clung to the nearest lips"
"And my waves meet your shore/Ever and evermore"
"Past me/I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things/Your nemeses will defeat themselves before you get the chance to swing"
"Long story short, it was a bad time/Long story short, I survived"
13. marjorie - She has said this is about her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, who was an opera singer. I think it's brilliant they were able to incorporate some of her vocals from her opera recordings into the song. I get chills every time!
I think anyone who was close to their grandmother would heavily relate to this song and realizing as an adult that you wish you had talked to your grandparents more when they were alive and asked them questions.
Favorite lyrics:
"I should've asked you how to be/Asked you to write it down for me"
"Watched as you signed your name Marjorie"
"And if I didn't know better, I'd think you were singing to me now"
14. closure - At first I thought this song might have been about Scott sending Taylor some kind of letter to apologize after the masters drama happened, but then I thought it's possible it's about Kanye and how he tweeted he was going to help Taylor get her masters back. Maybe it's about them both, who knows. Either way it's definitely about something personal to do with that drama.
Favorite lyric:
"I know I'm just a
Wrinkle in your new life
Staying friends
Would iron it out so nice
Guilty, guilty reaching out across the sea
That you put between you and me"
15. evermore - So Taylor said that she was inspired to write this song when the election results were being announced. She had felt so down about the political landscape at the time and as we know she was heavily outspoken against Trump. I think she was worried about the election results and she was in the middle of shooting the willow music video when Biden was announced as the winner and she said she and others on set with her collectively breathed a sigh of relief. I also think it's heavily influenced by the drama from 2016, how she thought the pain she was experiencing at that time would last forever.
Some very particular lines that point to it are "I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost," "Sending signals to be double crossed" --> the infamous phone call with Kanye
"And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step" --> reference to when she disappeared for a year and retreated with Joe to The Lake district where they probably rented a cabin or some kind of secret hideaway. She needed to catch her breath from everything that happened and sit in isolation for a while.
I've heard some say the line "I was catching my death" is from an old belief that if you go outside without a coat, you'll be catching your death (aka dying from hypothermia). I think this could also be a reference to the drama in 2016 though, where her reputation "died" and the "old Taylor" died with it.
Favorite lyrics:
"I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where I went wrong"
"Barefoot in the wildest winter"
"I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost"
"Floors of a cabin creaking under my step"
"This pain wouldn't be for evermore"
16. right where you left me - I think this is mostly a fictional story about a girl who can't move on from a breakup and just stays frozen in time (as Taylor said it was yesterday when they were released), but it could also be about herself and her own experiences. Someone pointed out how in the Miss Americana documentary she mentioned that celebrities stay "frozen" mentally at the same age they became famous and she had a lot of growing up to do. Her breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal also happened when she was about 23, the age mentioned in the song, and she made many references in songs about how painful that was for her: "Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it."
Favorite lyrics:
"Friends break up, friends get married
Strangers get born, strangers get buried"
"She's still 23 inside her fantasy"
17. it's time to go - She said herself it's about knowing when it's time to move on from certain people or events in your life, but I think it's super obvious it's about her own experiences with leaving certain relationships, leaving Big Machine, etc. The first verse people say points to her friendship with Karlie Kloss, who apparently told Scooter Braun secrets about Taylor and her career.
Favorite lyric: "He's got my past frozen behind glass" --> the whole bridge is an obvious reference to Scott Borchetta and keeping her masters from her
1. willow - I think it's about that feeling when you first fall for someone. It's likely inspired by when she first met Joe, but it's general enough to be about anything or anyone.
Favorite lyric: "I come back stronger than a '90s trend" Iconic lol
2. champagne problems - it's clearly about a rejected marriage proposal. "Champagne problems" is a saying to mean "rich people problems" I guess. A lot of people have pointed out that the lyrics refer to the girl as having some kind of mental health issue and that's why she says no and everyone in town gossips that her issues are just "champagne problems," but I always thought maybe it was supposed to have a double meaning and that her issue was that she was an alcoholic.
Favorite lyrics:
"Your heart was glass, I dropped it"
"You had a speech, you're speechless/Love slipped beyond your reaches"
"Sometimes you just don't know the answer, till someone's on their knees and asks you"
"She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred"
"Crestfallen on the landing"
God there's so many good lines in this song to pick just one!
3. gold rush - I think it's about reluctantly falling for someone and being so tempted to get in a relationship with them but you don't because you know everyone else is thinking the same. She's comparing it to the actual gold rush of the late 1800s when everyone went out to California because they heard there was gold there, but of course, there wasn't any left because everyone took it all.
Favorite lyric: "My mind turns your life into folklore"
4. tis the damn season - I think this is about the character of Dorothea that we meet later on and about her coming back to her hometown for the holidays. She meets up with an old flame, knowing that it'll only last for the weekend, but she doesn't care because she's so lonely she'll take any kind of companionship she can get.
It could also possibly be inspired by Taylor's own experiences of coming back to her hometown after she became famous and seeing old friends and boyfriends and stuff.
Favorite lyric: I actually don't really have one from this song, I'm not a super huge fan of it like most people seem to be. It's just an ok song to me. If I had to choose the best lyric I guess it would be "So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends who'll write books about me, if I ever make it"
5. tolerate it - I've heard various interpretations of this song. Some think it could be based on Prince Charles and Diana's relationship. I personally think it could be about the character we meet later in the song "ivy." It's about a wife who tries so hard to please her husband but he's not impressed by her efforts and doesn't appreciate it.
Favorite lyric: "I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life" WHAT THE FUCK this is like one of the best lyrics she's ever written!!!
6. no body, no crime - So Taylor has said that she's really obsessed with true crime documentaries and stuff and that it inspired her to write one into a song. She knew that Este from HAIM would really love something like that and that's why she's the main character in the story as well as why HAIM is featured on the track. It's very obviously a fictional story about a girl who suspects her husband is cheating on her, then he murders her, then Taylor murders him but blames it on the mistress.
A couple notes I have about this song: First I think the structure is really well written and does a good job of telling a story. Each section shows someone suspecting something and saying "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it" - first starting with the cheating, then the wife's murder, then the husband's murder. The same lyrics are used throughout but apply to different parts of the story.
I also think it's quite brilliant how she used the line "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it" over and over. At first I found it repetitive, but then I realized she may have done that to emphasize the obsession when you think you know something happened but you can't prove it. I can imagine the characters pacing across the floor, ruminating over it, going "I think they did it, but I just can't prove it."
I also have a theory that the opening vocals with Este going "He did it, he did it" is her ghost, coming back to haunt the husband after he murdered her.
Favorite lyric: "She says, 'That ain't my merlot on his mouth,' 'That ain't my jewelry on our joint account'"
7. happiness - I think this song is heavily inspired by what happened between her and Scott Borchetta, but it's written more like a breakup song to make it more universal. But I think if you really read between the lines it's so obvious it's about her and Scott. She had to come to terms with the fact that while she was angry at him, it didn't erase the good times they had together. Without him, her career would have probably never happened, or at least not in the way that it did. And without her, Big Machine would have flopped as a label. They both gave each other what they needed and helped each other fulfill their dreams and that's something that will never just go away just because their relationship went sour. It's about the dichotomy of being able to reflect on good times you had with someone who's no longer in your circle.
Favorite lyric: "Across our great divide/There is a glorious sunrise/Dappled with the flickers of light/From the dress I wore at midnight"
I like this line in particular because I think she's making an obvious comparison to Cinderella. It's sort of like saying that the years she was with Scott at Big Machine were like a fantasy and she was having a great time, everything was so magical, but then the magic faded. As we know, Cinderella loses her magic once midnight hits and she has to face reality again. So once Taylor left Big Machine and the whole masters thing happened, it was like the magic was gone and faded away.
8. dorothea - As mentioned above, I think it's about the girl from "tis the damn season" who comes back to visit her hometown. It's from the perspective of the old flame who wants her to know he still loves her and is there for her, even if her friends in LA are just fake.
Favorite lyric: "Skipping the prom/Just to piss off your mom," "A tiny screen's the only place I see you now," "Ooh, you're a queen/Selling dreams/Selling make up and magazines"
9. coney island - I think it's about the juxtaposition of reflecting on a breakup in an otherwise happy and lively place like Coney Island. Except that during the time of the breakup, Coney Island is closed down so it hits even closer to home how sad and devastating it all is. It's like comparing the happy times of the relationship to when the park is open and there's fun stuff going on, to now when the breakup has happened and everything is closed and empty.
I read a theory that this one particular verse is a reference to Taylor's exes:
Were you standing in the hallway with a big cake?
Happy birthday
Jake Gyllenhaal not showing up to her 21st birthday
Did I paint your bluest skies the darkest gray?
John Mayer - "You paint me a blue sky then go back and turn it to rain" from "Dear John"
And when I got into the accident
The sight that flashed before me was your face
Harry Styles and the snowmobile accident they got into, which is referenced in "Out of the Woods"
But when I walked up to the podium
I think that I forgot to say your name
Calvin Harris, people are saying she forgot to thank him when she won an award or something? Not sure
Favorite lyric: I don't think I have a favorite lyric from this one, I guess I would say this: "'Cause we were like the mall before the internet/It was the one place to be"
10. ivy - As mentioned above, I think this is about the wife from "tolerate it" and how she has fallen in love with someone else because her husband won't pay attention to her and doesn't really love her. But she is reluctant to fall in love with this person because she still feels a sense of commitment to her husband, even if he doesn't love her. I've also read a theory that it is about a forbidden love affair between 2 women since people think there's some connection to the poet Emily Dickinson, who was a lesbian, and had written a poem dedicated to her female lover that ended with the line "for evermore." Apparently the day Taylor announced the album was Emily Dickinson's birthday, though frankly I think this is all just a coincidence. But it's an interesting theory I guess.
I've also read a theory that it could be about a widow who hasn't moved on yet.
Favorite lyric: "Oh I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland"
11. cowboy like me - I don't have much to say about this track as I find it so boring to listen to. But I think it's basically about 2 people who are used to swindling others for money and tricking people into falling in love with them just for their money, but they then fall in love with each other.
Favorite lyric: Don't really have one but I guess it'd be this: "Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon with your boots beneath my bed/Forever is the sweetest con"
12. long story short - I think this is one of the few tracks on the album that is completely autobiographical. It makes obvious references to the drama from 2016 and how she dated Tom Hiddleston before realizing she was making a big mistake and finally ended up with the right guy.
Favorite lyrics:
"Pushed from the precipice/Clung to the nearest lips"
"And my waves meet your shore/Ever and evermore"
"Past me/I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things/Your nemeses will defeat themselves before you get the chance to swing"
"Long story short, it was a bad time/Long story short, I survived"
13. marjorie - She has said this is about her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, who was an opera singer. I think it's brilliant they were able to incorporate some of her vocals from her opera recordings into the song. I get chills every time!
I think anyone who was close to their grandmother would heavily relate to this song and realizing as an adult that you wish you had talked to your grandparents more when they were alive and asked them questions.
Favorite lyrics:
"I should've asked you how to be/Asked you to write it down for me"
"Watched as you signed your name Marjorie"
"And if I didn't know better, I'd think you were singing to me now"
14. closure - At first I thought this song might have been about Scott sending Taylor some kind of letter to apologize after the masters drama happened, but then I thought it's possible it's about Kanye and how he tweeted he was going to help Taylor get her masters back. Maybe it's about them both, who knows. Either way it's definitely about something personal to do with that drama.
Favorite lyric:
"I know I'm just a
Wrinkle in your new life
Staying friends
Would iron it out so nice
Guilty, guilty reaching out across the sea
That you put between you and me"
15. evermore - So Taylor said that she was inspired to write this song when the election results were being announced. She had felt so down about the political landscape at the time and as we know she was heavily outspoken against Trump. I think she was worried about the election results and she was in the middle of shooting the willow music video when Biden was announced as the winner and she said she and others on set with her collectively breathed a sigh of relief. I also think it's heavily influenced by the drama from 2016, how she thought the pain she was experiencing at that time would last forever.
Some very particular lines that point to it are "I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost," "Sending signals to be double crossed" --> the infamous phone call with Kanye
"And I was catching my breath, floors of a cabin creaking under my step" --> reference to when she disappeared for a year and retreated with Joe to The Lake district where they probably rented a cabin or some kind of secret hideaway. She needed to catch her breath from everything that happened and sit in isolation for a while.
I've heard some say the line "I was catching my death" is from an old belief that if you go outside without a coat, you'll be catching your death (aka dying from hypothermia). I think this could also be a reference to the drama in 2016 though, where her reputation "died" and the "old Taylor" died with it.
Favorite lyrics:
"I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where I went wrong"
"Barefoot in the wildest winter"
"I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost"
"Floors of a cabin creaking under my step"
"This pain wouldn't be for evermore"
16. right where you left me - I think this is mostly a fictional story about a girl who can't move on from a breakup and just stays frozen in time (as Taylor said it was yesterday when they were released), but it could also be about herself and her own experiences. Someone pointed out how in the Miss Americana documentary she mentioned that celebrities stay "frozen" mentally at the same age they became famous and she had a lot of growing up to do. Her breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal also happened when she was about 23, the age mentioned in the song, and she made many references in songs about how painful that was for her: "Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it."
Favorite lyrics:
"Friends break up, friends get married
Strangers get born, strangers get buried"
"She's still 23 inside her fantasy"
17. it's time to go - She said herself it's about knowing when it's time to move on from certain people or events in your life, but I think it's super obvious it's about her own experiences with leaving certain relationships, leaving Big Machine, etc. The first verse people say points to her friendship with Karlie Kloss, who apparently told Scooter Braun secrets about Taylor and her career.
Favorite lyric: "He's got my past frozen behind glass" --> the whole bridge is an obvious reference to Scott Borchetta and keeping her masters from her