#cornelia street live

[midnightsslut]

religion is one of the most prominent recurring themes on the album, and it has been present in some capacity for quite a few records now. taylor previously compared love to religion: her saving grace, her belief system, and a fated divine intervention (false god, cornelia street, and cruel summer are the best examples of this). ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ and ‘we’d still worship this love even if it’s a false god’ are two of the defining statements about her philosophy on the lover album.

taylor doesn’t want to leave all of that behind on ttpd, at least not at the beginning. the first supernatural force she mentions is the spaceship on down bad, which she compares to a skylight of freedom in the epilogue. *something* has finally come to save her from her life of suffering. she doesn’t care if it’s a force of good at first; if anything, she’s just fine being taken away by aliens. she views this man as her destiny. it isn’t until guilty as sin? that taylor starts to ponder the moral implications of what she’s doing. is she guilty as sin for wanting to leave her previous religion and relationship behind? she comes to the conclusion that, even if she rolls the stone away and gets resurrected/redeemed, she cannot avoid the fallout. she is okay with the thought of having to wait, as long as both lovers vow to be together forever, just as she once did with someone else in false god. ‘I choose you and me religiously’ finishes the bridge of the song in a direct callback to cornelia street.

the next mention of religion has murkier imagery. she claims that she does not need the Lord’s help to save this man. she sees the halo that he has, and she can fix him herself. now that she feels free of her prior cage, she isn’t looking for divine intervention anymore. she wants control. she is their route to salvation.

when the relationship falls apart, she retreats back into the position of a believer rather than a divine figure. she compares him to a Holy Ghost who promised to save her and take her to heaven. instead, she is in hell in every sense of the word: she’s down bad and feels guilty for digging up the grave. he was a jehovah’s witness who promised that she could break free of the cage imposed by love without changing her religion altogether; she would’ve just had to switch denominations. she could still have a marriage and kids! she could still have a blue tortured poet! the man was different, but not the dreams they had together. the story of the first part of the album ends here. her faith has been broken, and she has only found any semblance of sanity by refusing to mention these belief systems altogether.

side b/the anthology blends the christian imagery of side a with goddesses, sorcerers, and prophecies. she bargains with these powers to let her have the future she wants (the prophecy). she doesn’t sound like someone believing in salvation. if anything, she feels cursed. she decides that the concept of divinely ordained timing will never work in certain relationships (‘the goddess of timing once found us beguiling / she said she was trying / peter, was she lying?’). this disdain extends onto her perception of other people’s faith (‘bet they never spared a prayer for my soul’). she does position herself as a prophet in cassandra, but even then, she admits that the role has hurt her. perhaps the pain in thank you aimee was meant to be, or perhaps she was just strong enough to build a legacy in spite of it, boulder by boulder. is she a martyr? does she want to be? or did she save herself?

the only real love song on this half of the album makes no mention of fate or any divine forces. it wasn’t meant to be. it’s not a supernatural invisible string or lightning in a bottle. she is just in love.

the album ends with the manuscript, which revisits an old story of a defining, formative heartbreak. as she sings ‘at last, she knew what the agony had been for’ while describing the legacy of her writing, she seems to revert to thinking about the purpose of trauma. the only exception is that, in this case, she is the one who found meaning in her pain by turning it into a manuscript. writing is her belief system now, and she proselytizes by telling her stories and thus giving up the manuscript.

ultimately, her belief in destiny has chewed her up and spat her out. she so desperately clung to her existing belief systems that she was fooled by a conman, which left her feeling cursed. religion is supposed to be with someone even in their darkest moments, but the album explains that taylor often felt abandoned. the only constant in her life was, well, herself. she’ll be okay, but her pen will be her saving grace.

#idk why I wrote this essay but it needed to be said #this could be taken further by actually unpacking each mention of religion on midnights and lover but i ain’t doing all that #the manuscript #cassandra #Cornelia street #false god #cruel summer #lover #the prophecy #the smallest man who ever lived #but daddy I love him #I can fix him #guilty as sin #ttpd #thank you Aimee #peter

[hope-ur-ok]

not the song I thought she would play when she said she saw people begging for one specific song

#my first thought was 'finally marys song' #taylor swift #the eras tour #lover #cornelia street #live audio

[mmemirrorball]

nobody talks about the “sacred new beginnings became my religion” to “burn all the files, desert all your past lives” pipeline

#holding onto ​the idea that self reinvention will save you to the point of destruction #the parallels #are painful atp #cornelia street #dear reader #cornelia street live from paris #lover era #midnights 3am edition #ts midnights #taylor nation #swifties #taylor swift #taylors version #tswiftnation #ts eras tour

[tayloralison]

taylor releasing those two random live versions of suprise songs really makes me think she's planning on releasing them all at some point. other than being a perfectionist, it would also make sense why she wants to repeat songs she's messed up on or wants to perform again in a different key. I love when artists release live versions so it'd be so cool <3

#cornelia street and dbatc live from paris my beloved

[johannamason07]

"I'll never walk Cornelia Street again..."

— Lucy Gray probably

#the hunger games #hunger games #lucy gray baird #lucy gray #coriolanus snow #coryo snow #you get it #like cornelia sounds like coriolanus #and she hates him #and she's so real for that #live laugh love lucy gray #bosas #bosas spoilers #i'll never walk Cornelia street again #btw i'm going to the cinema to see bosas movie tomorrow and i'm FREAKING OUT

[the-geeky-fangirl]

okay but if IF the rumors are true and taylor swfit did break up with joe alwyn what if maroon is about him???? what then??? the one i was dancing with in new york, no shoes???? barefoot in the kitchen sacred new beginnings???? im gonna be sick

#the first time i heard maroon i thought it was a love song about joe #why is this such a big deal to me good god im being so cringefail and i can't help it #taylor swift #joe alywn #jaylor #midnights #that's enough tags i don't want people to actually find this and see me acting unhinged about a celebrity breakup #ITS NOT ABOUT THEM THOUGH ITS ABOUT MY UNDYING LOVE FOR CORNELIA STREET #I PROMISE #i refuse to live in a world where cornelia street came true in the worst way possible

[titsthedamnseason]

i’ve seen a lot of people saying that since taylor didn’t sing cornelia street in new york she’ll probably never play it (or a lot of her other joe love songs) ever again and i just don’t think that’s true at all. i think maybe for right now and definitely for this leg of the tour it would probably be really painful to sing lines like “i’m so terrified of if you ever walk away” and “would it be enough if i could never give you peace” and “i’d marry you with paper rings” etc etc with the breakup so fresh but over time the wound is going to heal and i’m positive they’ll go back into the surprise song or setlist rotation. right now is not forever and one day this will stop being so painful for her, just like has happened with all her love songs and break up songs of albums past (all too well is the classic example of a song that brought her pain and tears to sing on the red tour every night but now she happily sings it for 10 minutes on the eras tour)

#taylor swift #mine #thinking about this because we need cornelia street performed again like it was in paris and i just know that one day it will be #also me seeing daylight live is a need in life

[whenthegoldrays]

the fact that one my favourite Tumblr users ever likes one of my favourite dramas is sending me. anyway, how's your day so far and do you feel just as perplexed as me by the fact live up to your name has literally three fics on ao3? Like I dunno a more fanfic worthy couple but like noooo this drama is ignored. a literal crime I swear

UM the fact that you called me one of your favorite Tumblr users is sending me, but anyway!! (tysmmm)

My day is good, thank you for asking, and I KNOW!! And of those three fics only one is a written work in English!! They are disgustingly under appreciated. That's why I'm taking matters into my own hands,,, can I take this ask to mean that you'll read my fic when I start to post it?????

#can't believe my cornelia street post led to me finding another member of the lutyn fandom on here #live up to your name #lutyn #ask elly

[evermore-deluxe]

Sat on the roof, you and I // And at every table I'll save you a seat // Sit with you in the trenches // Now I just sit in the dark and wonder if it's time //

I'm searching the room for an empty seat // I’m sitting here thinking it through // Sitting eyes wide open behind these four walls, hoping you’ll call

cornelia st//lover//peace//youre losing me

x

the story of us // cold as you // I dont wanna live forever

#ahhh such a story #i find it really interesting the canon sort of timeline w all the songs off the albums that this makes and then also the sort of aftermath #of musings that the surprise songs get to dive into #both tell a story #but also add to a larger picture toether #the eras tour #taylor swift #my littel ts lyric parallels #my littel taylor swift rants #surprise songs #cornelia street #lover #peace #youre losing me #the story of us #cold as you #i dont wanna live forever

[mymagician-yourillusionist]

we need to alltoowell-ify cornelia street

#I don't want to live in a world where cornelia street isn't played live #taylor swift

[doorlene]

do you cry to the archer (live from paris) on a daily basis or are you normal

#and cornelia street (live from paris) #they DESTROY me #taylor swift #swiftie #the archer

[charlatte1989]

can we agree that cornelia street the live from paris version is better

#taylor swift #taylornation #taylor swift 13 #taylors version #cornelia street #parisfrance #live version

[espresssobean]

#crying sobbing throwing up #cornelia street #taylor swift #audio #lover live from paris #Spotify

[havealastkiss]

i honestly could listen to taylor playing the guitar for hours and i wouldn’t get tired because i’m obsessed with any performance of hers where she’s playing the guitar

#taylor swift #the cornelia street live in paris performance for example is beautiful #she makes me want to play the guitar but lmao i could never #.txt

[madamescarlette]

Your sense of belief! In the good! in the world! You once believed in ME

#lyrics #yesterday was like the floodgates i kept walking around today trying not to cry over this one line crashing against me like a wave #maybe if i have one single favorite lyric from this album it's this #aksdjfhakshfjh catch me making a breakup song about me and my old self like the self-absorbed idiot i am! #my revealing thought for you today is that maybe hits different is so special to me because it's like the funny version of cornelia street #(funny like black humor like the grim humor you feel when you almost pass out on the floor of your house) #(and you can't do anything about it so you have to laugh at it otherwise how will you get up again) #remember when she was like i don't know if i can write breakup songs anymore when i'm happy? and then she wrote cs & the rest of lover #and they were like. the blueprint for the webspinning of folkmore #i loved (still love) cornelia street for a very long time because to me it's like it holds eternity in it even when admitting #to the reality of loss. it's almost like a breakup song because it carries within itself that vow of never-recovering #never moving past this. always returning and turning this in your soul because nothing will ever be this again #and i think hits different is so special because it IS that moment in cornelia street; her running out not knowing if he'd ever come back #it's her living if i ever lose you i can never return to the home that we shared #it has that same gravity because it contains now the same reality of loss and that loss in real time #but at the same time it's so precious and sweet because it still carries the same love that made that vow real! #she can't move past it because it will be with her forever! it is the gift given to her and she doesn't know #what to do or where to go when she's got to let go of it! so she's reeling and trying to figure out where on earth to set the love down #anyway. this turned out much longer than it ought to be. i hope you're doing well tumblr and thank you for reading if you did <3

[astrqnomy]

What would I do without Lover - Live From Paris

#the live from paris playlist is everything to me !!! <3 #< lover album 3 #cornelia street live from paris is essential to my happiness