Reveries II

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Soon this will feel like a distant dream. Until then, may you rest in a deep and dreamless slumber. - Elise, Westworld

The first Taylor Swift song I ever heard was when I was in 11th grade - I'm Only Me When I'm With You. The song didn't mean much, except for having a lovely tune. It was only after I came to college that I truly discovered Taylor Swift.

Friday night beneath the stars
In a field behind your yard 
You and I are paintin' pictures in the sky
- I'm only Me When I'm With You, Taylor Swift


I have a lot of problems with the singer herself - her yo-yoing on feminism, the appropriation of other identities in her songs... But her songs are often exactly what you need. 

The Way I Loved You was a ranty favourite - this one must have seen hundreds of repeat. When you seem to slip through the same kinds of situations over and over again, songs like this tend to come back into relevance. I'm not a fan of the gender normative rubbish in the song ("He's close to my mother/ Talks business with my father...") but most of it is pretty evocative. 

I'd listened to this song so many times in 2010-2012 that it sort of fell out of favour after that - only to be replaced with The Story of Us.

Starting to think one day
I'll tell the story of us 
How I was losing my mind
When I saw you here 
But you held your pride
Like you should've held me

I'm not sure what I loved about this song more - that Swift looks so hot (I'm a sucker for Catholic schoolgirl outfits) or that the guy is such a nerd. Maybe it had to do with the library and all the books. Maybe, just maybe, it was all of it. 

2012 saw a new addition to my standard break up repertoire - Cold As You - and honestly, I don't know that this song is ever going to stop haunting me. 

And you come away/ with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer/ with the nerve to adore you

Teardrops on my guitar, Our Song, You Belong With Me, and Love Story were all part of the standard playlist, but they didn't see much Repeat. Such was not the case with Mine and later, Ours when it came out. Ours was hilarious for T.S's attempts at recreating average 9-5 office life, but the song was valid all the same. Mine features a delicious Tom Felton look-alike and a boatload of heteronormativity. 

Why are all the love interests in her videos invariably white?

I didn't particularly relate to Picture to Burn until much later, but I loved the energy of the song all the same. I do wish she hadn't included that bit about her Daddy making him sorry though - Make him sorry yourself, girl. 

I hate that stupid old pickup truck
You never let me drive 
You're a redneck heartbreaker
Who's really bad at lying.

A good place to wind up a stroll down the Taylor Swift memory lane is one of her latest hits - and a song I cannot get out of my mind. (P.S. I recommend this song for when you need to stave off paranoid fear). 

I don't/ like your little games
Don't/ Like your tilted stage 
The role you made me play 
Of the fool
No, I don't like you

"There are no heroes or villains.
There's just what I want, and how I'll get it." - Magneto

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