#gaylor swift is rising

[zot3-flopped]

"Because of her massive success, in this moment there is a Taylor-shaped hole in people’s ethics,” a person close to the situation, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, told CNN. “This article wouldn’t have been allowed to be written about Shawn Mendes or any male artist whose sexuality has been questioned by fans.”

Oh really, Taylor Swift? You are one ignorant twat, aren't you? The very same writer, Anna Marks, wrote a piece for NYT speculating about Harry's sexuality back in August 2022!

#harry styles #taylor swift #gaylor swift #kaylors #anna marks #taylor: cries and screams over every 'mean' article or TV show #harry: rises above it all

[gayloringinplainsight]

It's been more than a week and I'm still not over the fact that Lily Donaldson showed up at the eras tour in the VIP tent right next to daddy swift exactly 2190 days after the release of rep

#tily nation rise #gaylor #tily #gaylor swift #Taylor swift

[utterlymealicebean]

SPOTIFY ????!!!????

#taylor swift #gaylor swift #gaylor #swiftie #folklore #lgbt #sapphic #evermore #spotify is one us y’all!!!! #gaylors rise

[maddykomtrikru]

YOURE TELLING ME THERES REPUTATION MERCH AND I CANT BUY IT BC THE WEBSITE FUCKING CRASHED ? ! ? !

YALL PLEASE THATS MY FAVORITE ALBUM I NEED IT

#im actually dying #losing it #i died dead #rip me #feeling like taylor in the beginning of the lwymmd mv #as in dead in the ground #like before she rises #i cantttttt #taylor swift #gaylor #maddys rambles

[straightfromthetorturedpoetsdept]

I have so many fucking memes and receipts ready for when midnights drop.

#gaylor #GAYLORS RISE #13 DAYS UNTIL WE GET TO EXPOSE THE HOMOPHOBES #midnights #taylor swift

[rainbowdaisy13]

Hello! I re read the riddles. I think there was even one that noted steps forward and back? I read the large volume of recent articles. The picture in London of candle melting down? It seems to me there is overall movement. I know in the past there seems to have been talk of movement too…my question, have you ever felt this much movement of the walls coming down…the fires starting…in the past compared to where we are now?

Yes and No. Yes in that all of Lover Era was like holy fuck she is coming out—if you haven’t seen the discourse on the Christian Siriano rainbow dress, he basically confirmed it with a Tik Tok—he posted a pic of a giant rainbow dress being all coy that he was making it for someone famous—it was heavily hinted that Taylor was gonna wear it the last day of Pride and come out officially. The Masters Heist was announced and then Taylor pivoted hard. That dress was then repurposed and Billy Porter wore it—but you can clearly see the under layer was made for a white person not a person of color—Christian is a pro he would never fuck that up

No—in that we have never seen so much destruction imagery before—IMO Midnights started in motion a plan to burn it all down. Then we get the Lover house burning during Eras—she’s taking out the last 2 decades of T Swift the Performer/Brand to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix

Midnights, the Toe breakup confirmed for me the coming out plan was back on. folklore and evermore I was convinced she panicked and was gonna stay closeted forever

So long way to say yes we’ve been here before, but no never quiet this aggressively—she holds a grudge forever and I think that Masters Heist fueled her to come up with a way to take the people who have wronged her down with her when she lights it up

[lithopsy]

Controlling the Narrative: Analysis of Taylor Swift's "...Ready For It?"

I wrote a short personal essay about my time in the closet, the inherent queerness of Taylor Swift's Reputation, why I will defend the album to my last breath, and why I think that track one could be about bearding. (2,186 words)

Personal note: Throughout this essay and analysis, I use the word “queer” to describe members of the LGBT+ community for ease of language. While I, personally, am not entirely comfortable with the reclamation of this slur in all contexts, especially by people who are not members of the LGBT+ community, I have found no better alternative for this purpose. This serves as a disclaimer and a warning for those who are also uncomfortable with its use.

When Taylor Swift dropped her sixth studio album Reputation in 2017, I was a nineteen year old Baptist seminary student coming to terms with my identity as a lesbian. I made a lot of strong choices that year; I went no-contact with my childhood best friend, I secretly dated a woman who was five years older than me and lived in a different state, and I ultimately dropped out of seminary college over a winter break. I felt like an outcast and I had trouble relating to straight Christian girls while I was actively losing my religion.

After Taylor dropped Reputation, I felt less alone. All of the gossip and personal drama that surrounded this tumultuous time in my life started to feel much less like a personal failing and a lot more like a Reputation Era.

I leaned into it. I blasted I Did Something Bad in my car after arguing with a conservative professor, posted lyrics from Look What You Made Me Do to my Snapchat story where I knew my ex-friends would see it, and — though I wasn’t able to swing body guards carrying me out of my apartment in a suitcase — I became elusive on campus. Hiding in my dorm room, leaving home, and losing friends all while listening to Reputation, I was able to come to terms with the idea that being my most authentic self might cause some people to dislike me.

Because of this, Reputation has always been a queer album to me. It’s always been about building a life that you’re proud of despite hatred and judgement from people on the outside. It’s always been about telling lies and crafting narrative for the sake of one’s personal safety. It’s always been about secret, and often forbidden, love. Whether or not Taylor herself is queer (and I personally believe that she could be), she understands the experience of hiding her ‘true’ self and she understands the danger of being authentic in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I’m turning twenty-four this week and I am out to my friends and family. I am happy and surrounded by a bright community of people who I don’t have to lie to. Being that I am no longer Baptist and quite comfortable in my lesbian identity, one of the few things that connects twenty-four-year-old me to nineteen-year-old me (and thirteen-year-old me and sixteen-year-old me, etc. I am a life-long swiftie) is my love for Taylor Swift's music.

Out of excitement for Taylor’s tenth(!!) studio album Midnights, I’ve been listening to her music pretty constantly over the past month. And, due to a rise in #gaylor-ism online, I have been revisiting her old lyrics with a fine-toothed comb and a queer perspective.

To be fair, I did a bit of this when Reputation came out. Posting something to the effect of “dress is the gayest song on rep” to my close friends Snapchat story during release week. But my current life experience and knowledge of LGBT history and culture deepens my readings much further now.

To start, many of her love songs — even songs from her country eras, though these are sometimes overlooked by queer fans who prefer her pop — are gender-neutral. She uses the pronoun “you”, speaking directly to her love interest, more than any other pronoun. While this stands as evidence of queerness alone to some gaylors, it is, at the very least, a happy coincidence for swifties who don’t date men.

What I’ve become most obsessed with, though, lately, are the songs in which she switches between “you” and “he” or “him” throughout. I wondered if, as an experiment in lyrical-analysis, I could extrapolate some deeper meaning by imagining that these two sets of pronouns delineate between two muses. Track one on my beloved Reputation, “…Ready For It?” is a perfect specimen for this and is the subject of my experiment for the end of this essay.

Before I begin the analysis, a disclaimer. LGBT people who read their own experiences into Taylor’s work get a lot of guff online for doing so. Often, gaylors are criticized for “outing her” or “speculating about her sexuality” or “assigning labels to her”. So, before anyone gets mad, I am not doing that. At the end of the day, I don’t think Taylor Swift’s real life sexuality has anything to do with the experiment I’m about to do. You don’t have to know who any of her songs are about to relate to them. It is also my personal belief that alternate readings of texts are valuable, even if there is no objective truth to them.

For my purposes, though, I’m not going to name names or speculate about who I think these disparate muses are, and I am not going to tie anything to specific events in Taylor’s life. I don’t know her like that and I think it only complicates analysis here.

(However, in this vein, Taylor Swift is a multi-million dollar brand and I am not not doing these things out of some desire to protect her honor or maintain any parasocial relationship with her. Most of the time, speculation about her on the internet is harmless and serves as free publicity to her. People who shame gaylors for “speculating about her sexuality” are usually doing so because of an internal homophobic rejection to the idea of her being queer. I’m neutral to a little harmless speculation, when it comes to Taylor Swift.)

-

[Verse 1]

Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted But if he’s a ghost, then I can be a phantom Holdin’ him for ransom Some, some boys are tryin’ too hard He don’t try at all, though Younger than my exes but he act like such a man, so I see nothing better, I keep him forever Like a vendetta-ta

What’s interesting to me about this description of The Man (capitalized because I’m using The Man in place of a name, not to be confused with “The Man”, track 4 on Taylor’s album “Lover”) in this song is that it has nothing to with him on a personal level or how he treats her as a partner. It lacks the intimate descriptions of the relationship or individual’s characteristics that are present in most of her earlier love songs. She’s singing in a fast-paced lower register (we’ll come back to this) about how this man appears to other people. He’s a heartbreaker, he’s effortlessly cool, he’s independent and ideal.

Showing my hand, I want to analyze this song as if the relationship with The Man is a fake, public relationship formulated in order to hide some part(s) of Taylor’s true self and the relationship with The Listener (“you”) is a real, yet secret relationship. I think that this is, at least in some form, an intentional choice made in the song. Whether the listener and the man are the same person is up to interpretation, though. While I personally am going to be making the argument for the song being about bearding, I think it’s possible that the same separation could exist within a relationship between Taylor and one man with whom she has a clearly delineated private and public relationship with. (I’m not going to pander to this point because it’s probably been done, but I think that this is a valid reading.)

[Pre-chorus]

I-I-I see how this is gonna go Touch me and you’ll never be alone I-Island breeze and lights down low No one has to know

I think the pre-chorus reads as a general statement and could be said to both The Man and The Listener interchangeably.

The line, “Touch me and you’ll never be alone” could speak either to her own loyalty in a private relationship or a material benefit of being publicly affiliated with a woman as powerful as her. 

“No one has to know” speaks to the private nature of either relationship, that there is some planned duality or arrangement with The Man or a secret relationship with the listener.

[Chorus]

In the middle of the night, in my dreams You should see the things we do, baby In the middle of the night, in my dreams I know I’m gonna be with you So I’ll take my time Are you ready for it?

The chorus is the first full pronoun switch, Taylor begins speaking directly to The Listener while singing at a higher register than the rest of the song. The delineation between each set of pronouns is accented by the production as well as the architecture of the song itself. The chorus is the most important part of any pop song, it’s also where she’s carefully placed her secret love.

The lines, “In the middle of the night, in my dreams/You should see the things we do, baby” speak to a private relationship that, for whatever reason, isn’t possible within her current circumstances.

In footage of the songwriting process, Taylor sings the original lyric, “In the middle of the night, in my dreams/That’s when I get to be with you, it’s so sweet”, which isn’t entirely relevant to analysis about the finished song but, I think, lends credence to the idea that this muse is an unattainable other relationship, different from the one referenced in the verses.

“I know I’m gonna be with you/So I’ll take my time” reads, to me, like Taylor is reminiscing on a past relationship with The Listener that was tumultuous and full of uncertainty. When she fantasizes about being with this person, she fantasizes about stability and asks them at the end, “Are you ready for it?”

Are you ready to commit to this, should I change my plans?

[Verse 2]

Knew I was a robber first time that he saw me Stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry But if I’m a thief, then he can join the heist And we’ll move to an island, and And he can be my jailer, Burton to this Taylor Every lover known in comparison is a failure I forget their names now, I’m so very tame now Never be the same now, now

This verse, in comparison with verse 1 places Taylor and The Man on equal footing, positions them both as killers and thieves, pulling something over on everyone else. I personally think that this is euphemistic language to describe that there is something fundamental about Taylor that she shares with The Man, she recognizes him as like her and he recognizes the same in her. Possibly, they are both gay, possibly they have some similar experience in the industry or shared feelings about fame.

With all of Taylor’s references in this era to her fame and success being a gilded cage, “And he can be my jailer” raises red flags to me. The Man being someone who keeps her inside the cage aligns very well with the narrative of a fake public relationship that hides her sexuality and keeps the status quo.

“Burton to this Taylor” references the volatile public relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who met on set of the film Cleopatra in 1963. The couple was married and divorced in 1964 before getting back together for just ten months in 1975. The relationship was a messy public spectacle and the reference in this song alludes to all of it: the acting, infidelity, and public drama included. The imagery is incongruent with the tender love song to The Listener of the chorus, but, in my opinion, this line is the most damning evidence of the idea of bearding in this song. Paired with the “jailer” comment, it fits perfectly the narrative of the spectacular public relationship between two actors. The relationship isn’t successful or ideal, it’s a distraction.

I think “I forget their names now, I’m so very tame now” references another frequent theme in Taylor’s work: a rejection of her ‘crazy’, ‘promiscuous’ image. She’s forgotten the names of all of her exes and we should, too. And while the Reputation era is anything but “tame”, she’s going to change the narrative that surrounds her dating life.

[Refrain]

Baby, let the games begin Let the games begin Let the games begin (now) Baby, let the games begin Let the games begin Let the games begin … Are you ready for it?

It’s the opening song of an album that is about her Reputation in the media. She is playing with the media, controlling her own narrative. “Let the games begin” walked so that “Every bait and switch was a work of art” (willow, evermore) could run.

#gaylor #gaylor swift #taylor swift #swiftie #reputation #evermore #ready for it #getaway car #look what you made me do #lwymmd #gold rush #gaylor theory #kaylor #swiftgron #karlie kloss #lover #folklore #taylor swift lyrics #midnights #ts #tsmidnights #lithopsy

[bruhmantics]

karlie kloss is really running a code-a-thon where she's teaching them to make an app in SWIFT. stem gaylors rise up

#kaylor #karlie kloss #taylor swift #gaylor swift #gaylor #king of my heart

[cursed-man-prayers]

did you see the hetlors got diickvandyykes tiktok taken down?

homophobes

i did. i’ve followed Mia for a long time now. she was my introduction to gaylor. i really hope she wins the appeal and gets her account back.

and yeah. it’s homophobia. the taylor swift subreddit is being actively homophobic which at least partially led to the mass reporting of diickvandyke. hetlor twitter is also nasty af.

i feel like the rise of homophobia in the swiftie fandom is just proving their own point. if Taylor is queer, why hasn’t she explicitly come out? this is why. it’s not the only reason, but it’s definitely a factor imo.

if diickvandyke is lost for good, that is a loss for all gaylors. whether or not you (general, not the person asking) personally like Mia, this was an attack on all of us focused on one target because she happened to get a Taylor notice on a fruity ass tiktok. Mia is still active on twitter (@/unhingedlore) if you’re interested in following her.

#gaylor #diickvandyke #hetlors are homophobic #and they’re cowards

[dnallohleoj]

When I was a freshman in High school was I think the first time I heard Taylor Swift's name, would have been 14 in like 2010, Romeo & Juliet was played twice on the bus ride to school for some insane reason, and like, yeah I wasn't a fan of her music at the time, which is fine, not the target audience obviously, but like, that was the theme through high school, I just didn't like her music but didn't really think about her more than I had to. Thought it was weird that she could go on an interview claiming she never had a boyfriend but it was also weird that everyone made sure I knew about every new boyfriend she had, you know?

That changed when she pulled out of Spotify. And I've had various different reasons for hating that over the years but for every justification I heard, some of which were very good, I could never wrap my head around one thing: If Spotify's terms were so bad, especially for the small artists her fans insisted she was standing up for, why was she the only one leaving?

And now that I no longer believe in capitalism and also because for the past 3 years I can barely go a day without hearing about some thing she did, the good, the bad, the framed-as-good, I have come to understand the issue is that Taylor Swift, who... when did that Spotify thing happen? Like 10 years ago at this point, right? Anyway who was already one of the most iconic pop stars of our era when she did that, didn't even make a display of solidarity. She didn't try and organize with her fellow top 40 musicians, she didn't publicize how little she was making in comparison to other streaming services or digital sales, (probably because even if her cut was significantly worse it was still mind-mindbogglingly large), there was nothing. She pulled her music from the platform and that was the end of it. Her fans were already the type to follow her anywhere so her fortune was secure.

And if that doesn't summarize every single other issue she's spoken out on, I don't know what does. If you SEE her speaking out on something, it's almost guaranteed to be an attempt to center herself so that she can get what she wants, even if nobody else gets it, and as soon as she has what she wants, she's out.

Most famously, her incredibly tone-deaf gay pride song in 2019 lead to the rise in popularity, if not formation, of the Gaylor conspiracy. Which, like with many things, is dependent upon you believing that one of the most savvy businesswomen and influential public figures of our era could be TOLD not to do something, like she's a child that needs to be managed. Meanwhile she got exactly what she wanted out of it - a one-time statement that her conservative fans can easily ignore, and the undying support of closeted gay kids who are CONVINCED that she must be one of them. And all she had to do was ride that wave until it was big enough it started negatively impacting her public image.

[itgoeso]

i can’t see the taylor swift is the straightest person i’ve ever seen comment and not instantly rise as The Gaylor

#like maybe she is straight maybe she isn’t but… saying she’s the straightest? #i’ve seen worse come on #dan be talking

[largemargo]

Taylor Swift is the like, best candidate for president of tumblr and like most of her fans arent even on here but its the gaylor truthers and the fact that she has kissed the onceler that will make her rise to the top

#taylor swift #onceler

[fangirlingintheprocess]

It’s a wonderful week during Pride month:

Dan Howell came out with a 45 minute video titled “Basically I’m Gay” that is probably the best coming out video in the history of YouTube platform (it’s so important and everyone should watch!!!) and then Phil Lester came out with a tweet (plus Dan outed him with permission by mentioning their “beyond just romantic” “real best friends” “first time I felt safe” “soulmate” life-partnership in the video but not specifically labeling their relationship or commenting on monogamy)

Queer icon Harry Styles’ 2nd solo album is in the works. We’ll be getting a single from the lovely Louis Tomlinson this summer. But we’ll be getting content before any music because they’re both on the Late Late show next week (these two have been following each other around the world for awhile: on the same street in LA, both in Italy, at home in London, at an event together, etc and it’s interesting in light of their history and the radio silence we previously had from their relationship)

Now Taylor Swift (who I believe is slowly inching herself out of the closet) drops this brilliant song:

Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)//Sunshine on the street at the parade//But you would rather be in the dark ages//Makin' that sign must've taken all night [Pre-Chorus] You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace//And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate//'Cause shade never made anybody less gay [Chorus] So oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh//You need to calm down, you're being too loud//And I'm just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh (Oh)//You need to just stop, like can you just not step on his gown?

Even GLAAD is SHOOK

THE QUEERS WIN 🏳️‍🌈 My gay heart has almost exploded so many times in the last 24hrs

#gaylor swift #taylor swift #dan howell #dan and phil #phan #hs2 is coming #gaylor swift is rising #lt1 #hs2 #ts7 #harry styles #louis tomlinson #larry stylinson #kaylor #queer artist #public coming out #closeted celebrities #yntcd #queer music #coming out #lgbt pride

[bezdddakota]

Remember how last week everyone was upset with Taylor for doing that stunt in Paris and look how it has paid off?

#gaylor swift is rising #gaylor swift #kaylor #swiftgron #taymily

[pleasantatmost]

This album is planted evidence for the new public narrative of Kaylor

(The “folklore”, if you will)

Taylor and Karlie had an unnnamed fling when they were friends.

Taylor’s always been bisexual

Karlie chose to stay with Josh instead of being with Taylor, who fell in love with her (this would make YAIL official Kaylor canon)

Taylor and Karlie broke off their fling, ended their friendship, and parted ways

Taylor was with Joe and loved him, but it (vaguely) didn’t work out

Karlie realized her marriage with Josh wasn’t working and went to the west coast

Taylor has realized that she still loves Karlie

And I’m predicting the gist of the rest of story will be that Karlie and Taylor reunite (possibly because of Taylor’s beautiful album about her), the public break ups happen, the public finds out Karlie and Taylor have reunited...

And then eventually it is revealed that they are a couple

#gaylor swift #taylor swift #kaylor #ts8 #ts8 theories #ts folklore #folklore #cardigan #betty #ts cardigan #ts betty #gaylor #kaylor rise #boyfriend karlie #karlie kloss #pr