#taylor stan dean is valid and important is all i'm saying

[septembersghost]

okay but what ARE dw's top 13 ts traxx?

oh NO anon you can’t put me on the spot like this, I...

okay, I refuse to set this in stone because my choices might change in two days, she has so many good options, there are NO wrong choices, and also I feel like some of these are a ~vibe~ for him more than anything concrete, but (in chronological order with her discography):

1. Tell Me Why (I took a chance; I took a shot; and you might think I’m bulletproof, but I’m not... I'm sick and tired of your attitude, I'm feeling like I don't know you, you tell me that you love me then you cut me down. And I need you like a heartbeat, but you know you got a mean streak, makes me run for cover when you're around... Why, do you have to make me feel small, so you can feel whole inside? Why, do you have to put down my dreams, so you're the only thing on my mind?)

2. Dear John (probably self-explanatory, the “girl in the dress” doesn’t alter its significance for him. Well, maybe it's me and my blind optimism to blame. Maybe it's you and your sick need to give love then take it away. And you'll add my name to your long list of traitors who don't understand, and I'll look back and regret how I ignored when they said, "run as fast as you can." Dear John, I see it all now that you're gone, don't you think I was too young to be messed with?)

3. Haunted (sure, okay, it’s a little on the nose, he thinks, ‘haunted,’ but damn it, those lyrics. You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time, but I never thought I'd live to see it break. It's getting dark and it’s all too quiet, and I can't trust anything now, and it’s comin' over you like it’s all a big mistake...Come on, come on don't leave me like this, I thought I had you figured out ).

4. Treacherous (I can't decide if it's a choice getting swept away, I hear the sound of my own voice, asking you to stay, and all we are is skin and bone trained to get along. Forever going with the flow, but you're friction...Two headlights shine through the sleepless night, and I will get you, get you alone. Your name has echoed through my mind, and I just think you should, think you should know, that nothing safe is worth the drive, and I will follow you, follow you home.)

5. The Last Time (This is the last time I'm asking you this, put my name at the top of your list. This is the last time I'm asking you why, you break my heart in the blink of an eye.)

6. I Know Places ('Cause they got the cages, they got the boxes and guns. They are the hunters, we are the foxes and we run. Baby, I know places we won't be found, and they'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down. ‘Cause I, I know places we can hide... Lights flash and we'll run for the fences. Let them say what they want, we won't hear it. Loose lips sink ships all the damn time, not this time. Just grab my hand and don't ever drop it, my love. They are the hunters, we are the foxes, and we run...They take their shots, but we're bulletproof. “in the dead of night, your eyes so green” is admittedly self-indulgent. he does not care.)

7. New Romantics (as I said! the song! 'Cause baby, I could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me, and every day is like a battle, but every night with us is like a dream... It's poker, you can't see it in my face, but I'm about to play my ace. We need love, but all we want is danger. We team up, then switch sides like a record changer. The rumors are terrible and cruel, but honey, most of them are true.)

8. Don’t Blame Me (it’s the MOOD, the atmosphere, the total surrender of it. For you, I would cross the line, I would waste my time, I would lose my mind...For you, I would fall from grace, just to touch your face, if you walk away, I'd beg you on my knees to stay. Don't blame me, love made me crazy, if it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right. Lord, save me, my drug is my baby, I'll be usin' for the rest of my life.)

9. Dancing With Our Hands Tied (idk how to explain this one, just...go with me here. You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it, I had a bad feeling...I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted, oh, 'cause it's gravity, keeping you with me).

10. The Archer (Combat, I'm ready for combat, I say I don't want that, but what if I do? ‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies. I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you...I've been the archer, I've been the prey. Who could ever leave me, darling, but who could stay? Dark side, I search for your dark side, but what if I'm alright, right, right, right here? And I cut off my nose just to spite my face, then I hate my reflection for years and years. I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost. The room is on fire, invisible smoke, and all of my heroes die all alone. Help me hold on to you...All the king's horses, all the king's men, couldn't put me together again. 'Cause all of my enemies started out friends. Help me hold on to you. literally the entirety of this perfect song, copy/paste, cry.)

11. Afterglow (is this not every apology that has ever circled in his head? my baby. :(  Hey, it's all me, in my head, I'm the one who burned us down, but it's not what I meant. I'm sorry that I hurt you. I don't wanna do, I don't wanna do this to you. I don't wanna lose, I don't wanna lose this with you. I need to say, hey, it's all me, just don't go.)

12. this is me trying (this needs to no explanation, my HEART. I've been having a hard time adjusting, I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting, I didn't know if you'd care if I came back, I have a lot of regrets about that. Pulled the car off the road to the lookout, could've followed my fears all the way down, and maybe I don't quite know what to say, but I'm here in your doorway...They told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential, and my words shoot to kill when I'm mad, I have a lot of regrets about that...And I just wanted you to know that this is me trying. And maybe I don't quite know what to say. I just wanted you to know that this is me trying. At least I'm trying.)

13. hoax (which now makes me want to die myself, thanks. excuse me while I go break down for an hour again. My only one, my smoking gun. My eclipsed sun, this has broken me down. My twisted knife, my sleepless night. My winless fight, this has frozen my ground. Stood on the cliffside screaming, "Give me a reason." Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in. You knew the hero died so what's the movie for? You knew it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart. You knew the password so I let you in the door. You knew you won so what's the point of keeping score? You knew it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart, but what you did was just as dark. Darling, this was just as hard as when they pulled me apart.)

(shout out to betty because “tell me to go f*ck myself” is delightful and even “straight to hell” in the clean version, to mirrorball because it just HITS CLOSE, and honestly the whole of folklore has moments that resonate a bit too much to admit aloud. to Cold as You and You’re Not Sorry and DBATC on bad days, to Safe and Sound because if only they were, to Clean if only they could be, to Bad Blood and I Did Something Bad on full blast, to IFTYE and YNTCD as annoyed bops but LWYMMD and TIWWCHNT for the same reason, to State of Grace for the drum intro, to Red and Getaway Car because they are SUCH good driving songs, to False God and ...So It Goes because they’re sexy as hell, to I Wish You Would for the bridge, to OOTW for “the monsters turned out to be just trees, when the sun came up you were lookin’ at me.” His favorites rotate, romantic ones included, depending on the day and the events in his mind and whatever is lingering with him in the night, but I feel like those 13 would have very specific, constant places).

edit: I cannot believe I forgot seven, my brain is so scattered, but it is ESSENTIAL and “just like a folk song, our love will be passed on” is how I feel about him personally. - I’ve been meaning to tell you, I think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad, and that must be why...please picture me in the weeds, before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously, any time I wanted...passed down like folk songs, our love lasts so long.

#WELP #this is my life now #anonymous #letterbox #you can disagree like i said there are basically no wrong choices with this particular headcanon #taylor stan dean is valid and important is all i'm saying #dean feelings #taylor swift #* #in your car the radio up #swiftie!dean