#i don't know much lore but i assumed his mind would be incredibly chaotic at that point in time and he'd be doubting his place in the world

[liesmyth]

Would you be willing to summarize the swiftcourse for those of us who don't have any on our dash. I feel like I'm missing out on some 'in the hall of the mountain king' type event

DISCLAIMER!! I'm a true chaotic neutral re: swiftcourse. I skim ONTD for breakfast and drama makes me strong. If you have strong opinions about this poetic songstress please don't click

the lore

she wrote an entire album about an embarrassing racist edgelord who many fans liked to pretend she never dated because, again, he's a racist edgelord. for context: this isn't the guy she was in a 6-years-relationship with (btw. there's. some overlap. at least emotional. between the end of that relationship and the edgelord). it's also NOT about the guy she's currently in an over-the-top very public relationship with, in what now appears to be a rebound after the edgelord.

It's just funny to me because. the jump from longterm boyfriend to problematic guy who made her fans worry to breaking up with problematic guy was AN EVENT among many fans, who were happy and relieved when he was gone so they wouldn't have to parasocially justify him. the narrative among fans has been now for months that's she's soso happy with current guy and that the edgelord was barely a blip on the radar, and there's been SO much "preparatory" hatred directed towards the other ex-boyfriend, who people expected the album to be about. instead... now it came out that edgelord fling was way more serious than anyone expected, and she's mad at fans who criticised that relationship. also turns out, HE dumped HER, when people had been assuming for months that she'd broken up with him because he was an image liability.

Anyway I know all of this because the lore is BLATANT down to namedropping their friends in common. (Including Lucy Dacus of boygenius who publicly embarassed edgelord into deleting his twitter account after he made an ableist joke and probably isn't loving being dragged into this)

it's just. funny to me. that the whole album is about the man who many many fans want to ignore completely because again. he's a shitstain. Halsey warned us ten years ago.

(relatedly: badlands by halsey >>>> this album)

the album

I didn't like it. no hate! it leaked yesterday so I tried to listen to it and it was all an overwrought synthpop haze. the lyrics are ridiculous in parts and I legit couldn't understand most of them until they came out officially today. it's like the song equivalent of GRRM writing ADWD, except more bloated and at a faster rate. she needs editing and a different producer. some of my favourite bits of lyrics: x, x, x,

MIND!!! i know some people liked it. good for them! it'll still break records and win grammys. i think it's an incredibly lazy effort from someone who's surrounded by yes men. I'd save like, maybe 2 songs out of 18. I've been told it gets better on second listen but I don't care enough to verify that.

HOWEVER. there are "13 surprise tracks" that were revealed as b-sides and apparently they have a different production sound for the most part (different producer, one who IMO is better!) and people whose tastes line up with mine more said they liked them better. I haven't listened to them yet and probably won't for a few weeks. No idea if the lyrics are better.

this is a post about the whole album that made me sagdfagfgdsfdgf- wow people are having Strong emotions about it

album adjacent drama

the only part I care about, ngl. I shared this post

and prompted like 3 different people to ask me what was going on, lol, which is why I'm answering this publicly so I can point people to it. This is the only part of this entire #discourse I actually real feelings about it, because idc about the music or the boyfriends but I DO care about songwriting drama!!

tldr is that when Olivia Rodrigo (rising pop rock princess, ex Disney Channel girl) was first blowing up, she was very quick to cite Taylor as one of her major inspirations and specifically mentioned a song she liked. A while after, Taylor sued her asking for credit on one of Olivia's songs arguing that it sounded similar to hers — imo the resemblance wasn't enough to warrant credit, but Olivia settled out of court because the fact that she'd been so vocal about it kind of put her on shaky legal grounds.

EYE think it was a shitty move to pull on a teenager who's been very vocal about looking up to you etc etc and is about to become the next big thing and therefore threatening; especially because the whole "folding up and coming artists into your circle as a preventive move" has been A Trademark of TS for years + her recent albums have had some shade of... making it clear she's worried about becoming an "older" popstar and the new wave of girls who might raise up to eclipse her, and it all felt like. preventive strike. In light of that, I find it. very ????? that TS is now releasing a track called "imgonnagetyouback" a few months after Olivia released "get him back!" on her second album, and there ARE some vague lyrical similarities. I feel like it's enough of a similarity for TS to sue someone over, should the situation be reversed.

here are some writeups — I've just skimmed them quickly bc I followed this on real time on ONTD back when it first happened and it's hell to search that comment section, but at a quick look they have most of what I remember seeing: x, x, x, x.

Here's Liv's salty song about Taylor which is frankly better than most of Taylor's new album.

#chaos-has-theories #I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU'D ASK ME TO PUBLICLY ENGAGE IN SWIFTCOURSE #<- i say this knowing fully well that i could choose not to post the ask but i still did #this is popcorn drama if you feel strongly about it. pls don't open #ask #tswift

[octoberheights]

You’re back, now. You want to go home.  

There’s a house at the intersection of two highways. It used to be yours. A multitude of flowers sway in the wind along the cobblestone pathway leading up to your house, far more than the three rosebushes and the cluster of alliums you’d first planted when you made your home here. Someone else has taken residence in the dirt shack you dug into the side of a hill. You wonder if the recipient of your endowment would find the hidden rooms you’d blocked off prior to—. Do they use the railway to move from place to place, as you did? Would they repair the pathways around the house, make use the quarry you’d dug out years(?) ago for their own projects? Have your chests been emptied out in favor of their own possessions?

A hotel sits empty just a few blocks away, bright-red roof stark and imposing against the greenery surrounding it. You had it built to prove to yourself (everyone, really) that you could have a legacy, a kind one, but he stole it, your own prescribed salvation, when you—.

Your best friend built a new community in the snow just after your brother’s own legacy had finally resigned itself to collapsing. (You had declined his invitation to settle there. Had you done so you’re sure the cycle would have only shifted, instead of cracked. And you wanted it pulverized) He has a husband, a child. A new home on the way, courtesy of a god. You learned, earlier, when you found yourself breathing in briny ocean air, that he had made himself a little family while you were, you were—.  

Fuck.

Your brother is dead and you’ve chosen to bury what good you’d known of him. Sam protected you, gave you the space to heal and engage in childish activities and he kept you in the fucking prison—. You don’t dare reach out to anyone else. Not now, maybe later. You hear someone opened a therapy office.

You walk past your house and avoid looking past the bridge spanning the quarry.  

Nothing much has changed uptown. The buildings stand quiet. Someone rebuilt the community house. The castle still stands tall and empty and the streets are so very empty the world is swelling and pressing against your ribcage and you’re alone he didn’t love you there’s a hole where your heart once stood and maybe it shattered into pieces whey he looked into your eyes and told you it was never meant to be we were the bad guys it was for the good of the people a betrayal it was all for fun you’re just so much fucking fun—.

You have to sit down. The static’s getting to be a bit much. Someone’s got a hand on your shoulder and you flinch away with your whole body.

“Tommy?”

#i don't know much lore but i assumed his mind would be incredibly chaotic at that point in time and he'd be doubting his place in the world #again not accurate to the cc's story i just wanted to write something #not as proud of this one as i am the others #context: tommyinnit returns to the living world after his time in the prison #dsmp #tommyinnit