I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift since… so long ago. I’m assuming I started listening around her Fearless Era, where Griffin would have been under one year old and Love Story was very popular on the radio. I know I was hooked. I loved that song (still do!).
I vividly remember watching the White Horse video where she just throws herself sobbing into the wall and that was so visceral and satisfying watching it in the moment. Such a great video.
There were SO MANY amazing songs in Taylor’s Fearless Era but here are a few favorite quotes. Although I can’t forget Fifteen and obviously Love Story.
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“There’s something about the way the street looks when it just rained.” …
“In this passenger seat, you put your eyes on me.
In this moment, now capture it, remember it” – Fearless
“Breaking down and coming undone
It’s a roller coaster kind of rush
And I never knew I could feel that much
And that’s the way I loved you” – That’s the Way I Loved You
“Music starts playin’ like the end of a sad movie,
It’s the kinda ending you don’t really wanna see
‘Cause it’s tragedy and it’ll only bring you down,
Now I don’t know what to be without you around” – Breathe
“Every time you smile, I smile
And every time you shine, I’ll shine for you” Jump then Fall
***
So needless to say when Midnights hit and she announced her Era’s Tour, I lost my mind, blacked out, and bought floor tickets and a ridiculous package.
Still not sorry and still TOTALLY WORTH IT.
We purchased in November and had to wait until August for Taylor to come to LA. Nicole flew out and joined me. Ainsley was SO sad she couldn’t come with us that night but she dressed up for the experience! I also let the kids each take a friend. Both kids are big Taylor fans and I was so excited to spend the evening with them.
We definitely agonized over our outfit selection for weeks. I had multiple shirts, different shoes. I argued with Sam over boots. Nicole picked out two different shirts for Griffin to wear, plus we had bought him something for his birthday. Delilah told me she had 2 different choices too.
But we were all VERY happy with out it turned out!
Speak Now was her next album. I also crushed over that one as well. I can still scream Long Live in the car any day of the week. Mean is a total bop. Enchanted… sigh. SO GOOD. Speak Now is just the best about regretting what you don’t say. Dear John? SO GOOD TOO. She writes about falling in love and also heartbreak but so many of the songs just speak to me (and everyone, really).
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“I used to know my place was the spot next to you
Now I’m searching the room for an empty seat
‘Cause, lately, I don’t even know what page you’re on” – The Story of Us
“There I was again tonight, forcing laughter, faking smiles
Same old tired, lonely place
Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes, and vacancy
Vanished when I saw your face” …
“This night is sparkling, don’t you let it go
I’m wonderstruck, blushing all the way home.
I was enchanted to meet you” – Enchanted
“Come on, come on, don’t leave me like this
I thought I had you figured out” – Haunted
“Long live the walls we crashed through
I had the time of my life with you” – Long Live
***
It was so fantastic to be with my babies at the concert. We immediately went for merch and spent 35m in line only to find out all the good sweatshirts were gone! Sam and I got our favorite, softest shirts ever so we were happy.
One of my favorite pics now (especially Emily’s face in the background!) but seeing them be with their friends, screaming the words to all the songs, and having the time of their life was the best night ever.
Continuing on my ERA theme… next is RED. When someone asks me, I usually say Red is my favorite album. I just don’t know if it’s TRUE though but the sheer artistry of this album is unparalleled. This is when Taylor started to really get famous. Her storytelling matured, country lyrics were gone, and of course had more themes about heartbreak. When she was talking to a musical outlet about this album, she quoted someone saying “Love is so short, forgetting is so long” (it was from poetry… forgetting where) but she put that as the theme to this album.
The songs.. oh the songs. State of Grace is a huge opener. Red, the title song, has so many beautiful lines that are later echoed in other future albums “Loving him was red”. I was much older than 22 when it came out but people STILL dance to this song on their 22nd birthday! We got All Too Well (and then later the 10m version – which… AHHH!)
It was 16 songs of PURE perfection and then she released the deluxe version which gave us The Moment I Knew and Come Back.. Be Here.
Also, Red was Sam’s first concert! We took a limo with Girl Scout friends and had the best time. She totally fell asleep at the end of the concert but what a fun memory.
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These are the hands of fate
You’re my Achilles heel
This is the golden age of something good and right and real
And I never saw you coming,
and I’ll never be the same – State of Grace
And it was like slow motion, standing there in my party dress
In red lipstick, with no one to impress
And they’re all laughing as I’m looking around the room
But there was one thing missing, and that was the moment I knew
The Moment I Knew
Losing him was blue, like I’d never known
Missing him was dark gray, all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met
But loving him was red – Red
And I know it’s long gone and that magic’s not here no more
And I might be okay but I’m not fine at all – All Too Well
And I guess we fell apart in the usual way
And the story’s got dust on every page
But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now
And I see your face in every crowd – Holy Ground
And time is taking its sweet time erasing you
And you’ve got your demons
And darlin’ they all look like me – Sad Beautiful Tragic
And this is when the feeling sinks in
I don’t wanna miss you like this
Come back, be here – Come Back… Be Here
And I just wanna tell you
It takes everything in me not to call you
And I wish I could run to you
And I hope you know that every time I don’t
I almost do – I Almost Do
***
It was so fun hanging out with Delilah, one of G’s good friends. She was a huge Taylor Swift fan and couldn’t get tickets so when G said he wanted to take her she was just over the moon. One of the best memories was looking over at her when Taylor came on stage and she had her hand over her mouth and was just sobbing and crying so hard. Her mom told me later she said it was “life-changing”. I totally agree! Listening to G and D just chat non-stop the whole way there, during, and back was such a fun time to be with them and hear it.
1989 Era was just another glorious Taylor Swift release in 2014. I remember watching it on the TV for her release night… she performed Welcome to New York and I remember just blasting that song when we went to New York a year later for Sam’s birthday! Shake it Off was just epic. The music video was amazing. Her f-you to all her haters. Blank Space is still one of my favorites. The click of the pen is perfection. Out of the Woods… I still ache at how she performs it.
The lyrics and songwriting was not my favorite but there were solid favorites for me in this album! We did get the bonus tracks of Wonderland, You are in Love, and New Romantics. All so good!
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I’m dancing on my own, I make the moves up as I go.. Shake it Off
So its gonna be forever or its gonna go down in flames.. Blank Space
Remember when we couldn’t take the heat?
I walked out, I said “I’m setting you free”
But the monsters turned out to be just trees
When the sun came up you were looking at me – Out of the Woods
We found Wonderland
You and I got lost in it
And we pretended it could last forever – Wonderland
I wish you would come back
Wish I’d never hung up the phone like I did
I wish you knew that
I’d never forget you as long as I’d live – I Wish You Would
Say you’ll remember me
Standing in a nice dress
Staring at the sunset, babe –
Someday when you leave me, I bet these memories follow you around. – Wildest Dreams
**
Ahh, Sam and her friend Emily. She immediately said she wanted to take Emily but she wasn’t even a Taylor Swift fan!! I almost felt a little outraged. Really? You can’t bring someone who doesn’t know the Taylor songs to this event? I actually told the kids that they couldn’t decide who to take to the concert until May (we purchased in November). Because the way they change the friends around… who knows, right? (They both didn’t really listen to me.) But I have to say, Emily applied herself. She listened to every single album, knew all the words, and became a huge fan. Sam would quiz her in the car on specific songs, what albums they belonged too and that girl LOVED Taylor. So I have to apologize for thinking that in my head at first.
They were so adorable. Videoing and screaming the words. We all made sure to remember the new concert chants. They have the funniest video of them trying to remember when Delicate came along when the chant started, but then they nailed it.
Reputation Era was such a weird time. Taylor was being vilified in the press, being called a snake, and everyone seemed to hate her. (I didn’t!) But here she came out with this amazing album that just embraced it all.
I didn’t think I liked this album. But every time I look at the song list, I go… oh yea. Delicate is my favorite, Getaway Car is a screamer, Dress is tortuous, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is hilarious. Are you Ready for It is such a great opener. But it’s still not my ultimate favorite. Similar to 1989, I didn’t love the songwriting but it still a few great lines.
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And I can’t let you go, your handprint’s on my soul
It’s like your eyes are liquor, it’s like your body is gold – End Game
Whisky on ice, Sunset and Vine
You’ve ruined my life, by not being mine – Gorgeous
The ties were black, the lies where white, in shades of gray and candlelight. I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason. – Getaway Car
Our secret moments in your crowded room
They got no idea about me and you
There is an indentation in the shape of you
Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo
Say my name and everything just stops
I don’t want you like a best friend – Dress
Please don’t ever become a stranger
Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere – New Year’s Day
***
I put together this 30m video that is basically just for me. I threw all my videos from the evening into it. However when I uploaded it to YouTube it immediately got a few thousand views. Crazy. I started getting a bunch of comments on it too that people loved watching it and felt like they were there.
So have fun, whoever watches it! But it was fun remembering the night.
The next album, coming back after Reputation was just perfection. Lover Era released in 2019 and I was there for it. It is definitely one of my favorites. It’s a crime that Cruel Summer was not a single (we finally got the single in 2023!) and it was a crime that Covid hit so soon after that we couldn’t sing this one in the stadium. So this was a highlight of the night being able to sing that bridge with 70k other people.
I still don’t know what my favorite song off this album is though. Daylight is gorgeous. Paper Rings and London Boy are both bops and so fun. Cornelia Street is beautiful. This album is basically a love story to Joe Alwyn (which is so sad they broke up) but anyway, it was just a gorgeous theme and I had so many favorites. The Archer is so compelling and I love the music behind it.
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I promise that you’ll never find another like me – ME!
Why’d I have to break what I love so much?
Tell me that you’re still mine, tell me that we’ll be just fine – Afterglow
“I’m drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, “I’m fine, ” but it wasn’t true
I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I screamed for whatever it’s worth
“I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?
He looks up grinning like the devil”
“It’s a Cruel Summer with you” – Cruel Summer
Can I go where you go?
Can we always be this close?
Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years? – Lover
I don’t want to look at anything else now that I saw you.
And I can still see it all in my mind,
all of you, all of me, intertwined – Daylight
I’ve got a hundred thrown out speeches I almost said to you – The Archer
I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends.
That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend – Cornelia Street
You said it was a great love, one for the ages
But if the story’s over, why am I still writing pages?
‘Cause saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts
Flashbacks waking me up
– Death By A Thousand Cuts
The next two albums were such a blur because we got them in the same YEAR! Thanks Covid.
Folklore was simply amazing though. I always wonder if it should now be my favorite album because out of the 16 songs, I have at least 8 that I can confidently say I absolutely adore. I can listen to Cardigan over and over again. But I also say same the same thing about The 1, My Tears Ricochet, August, Illicit Affairs, Exile, Peace, and Mirrorball. The rest are amazing too.
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Your heartbeat on the High Line
Once in 20 lifetimes…
You drew stars, around my scars, and now I’m bleeding
I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss.
I knew you’d haunt all of my what ifs.”- Cardigan
The way she sings that song just hits me in all the feels. Over and over again. Her songwriting is amazing.
I could literally read all these songs like a book. I want to take a college class on Taylor Swift poetry.
In Exile, the back and forth between Bon Iver and Taylor is heart-breaking.
‘You never gave a warning sign / I gave so many signs.’ – Exile
Oh August, I will literally sob.
To live for the hope of it all
Cancel plans just in case you’d call
And say, “Meet me behind the mall”
So much for summer love and saying “us”
‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose
You weren’t mine to lose, no
But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
‘Cause it was never mine – August
To add to that, also sobs:
And I can go anywhere I want
Anywhere I want, just not home
And you can aim for my heart, go for blood
But you would still miss me in your bones – My Tears Ricochet
“Isn’t it just so pretty to think, all along there was some invisible string tying you to me.” Invisible String
And if my wishes came true
It would’ve been you
In my defense, I have none
For never leaving well enough alone
But it would’ve been fun
If you would’ve been the one – The 1
Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me
You showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else
Don’t call me “kid,” don’t call me “baby”
Look at this idiotic fool that you made me
You taught me a secret language
I can’t speak with anyone else – Illicit Affairs
***
And then we got Evermore just 4 months later. It was shocking getting two albums in the same year. And wonderful. I probably liked Folkmore just a LITTLE bit better but the poetry of Champagne Problems, Ivy, Closure, Willow, Tis the Damn Season, Tolerate it, Happiness, and of course Long Story Short.
Such solid songs. Such epic songwriting.
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I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone
Trying to find the one where I went wrong
Writing letters
Addressed to the fire – Evermore
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it – Tolerate It
But you’ll find the real thing instead
She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred – Champagne Problems
The more that you say
The less I know
Wherever you stray
I follow
I’m begging for you to take my hand
Wreck my plans
That’s my man – Willow
And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I’m fakin’
And the heart I know I’m breakin’ is my own – Tis the Damn Season
Oh, goddamn
My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand
Taking mine, but it’s been promised to another
Oh, I can’t
Stop you putting roots in my dreamland
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I’m covered in you – Ivy
It’s been a long time
And seeing the shape of your name
Still spells out pain – Closure
Back to the concert. It was obviously amazing. We were so close. The crowd was electric. Everyone was so nice too. Compliments everywhere. And I felt so safe.
Being able to spend it with my bestie-loving Taylor Swiftie was also perfect. We had a great time and we will remember it always.
We got to close out the tour with the Midnight Era. The album came out October 2022 and I immediately got sucked into Maroon. The colors calling back to Red and Daylight from the Lover album just hooked me. All the mentions in the Maroon chorus are shades of red: hickeys, rust, wine, lips.
The fact that she released 13 beautiful songs and then 3 hours later released her 3AM edition with SEVEN MORE amazing tracks. Plus, Hits Different was the Target release that we had to wait over 6 months to get on Spotify. And then Losing Me was released a bit later. Ouch. So good. Seriously good.
Even though Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve was about John Meyer and clearly about him stealing her girlhood (such a great line), the heartache in it hit me so hard. Bejeweled is an anthem. Midnight Rain is haunting. Glitch is so weird and fun. Mastermind. Ohhhh. Sigh. Anti-Hero is obviously a winner (Hi, I’m the problem!) and I’m tied between the Great War and High Infidelity. It’s such an amazing album.
This is why it’s so hard for me to decide which album I love the most. I constantly switch back and forth and can happily listen to so many random songs over and over again depending on my mood.
Folklore? Red? Midnight? I don’t knowwwwww
**
He stayed the same
All of me changed like midnight
And I never think of him
Except on midnights like this – Midnight Rain
Burn all the files, desert all your past lives
And if you don’t recognize yourself
That means you did it right
Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart – Dear Reader
Baby love, I think I’ve been a little too kind,
didn’t notice you walkin’ all over my peace of mind.
Putting someone first only works if you are in their top 5.
And by the way? I’m going out tonight. – Bejeweled
How long could we be a sad song
‘Til we were too far gone to bring back to life?
I gave you all my best me’s, my endless empathy – Losing Me
You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love,
the slowest way is never loving them enough. – High Infidelity
And now that I’m grown, I’m scared of ghosts
Memories feel like weapons
And now that I know, I wish you’d left me wondering
God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be
The tomb won’t close, stained glass windows in my mind
I regret you all the time – Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve
Catastrophic blues
Movin’ on was always easy for me to do
It hits different
It hits different ’cause it’s you – Hits Different
Once upon a time, the planets and the fates,
and all the stars aligned, you and I ended up
in the same room at the same time. – Mastermind
It only hurts this much right now
Was what I was thinking the whole time
Breathe deep, breathe out
I’ll be getting over you my whole life – Labyrinth
Does it feel like everything’s just like
second best after that meteor strike?”
Cause I don’t remember who I was,
before you painted all my nights
a color I’ve searched for since. – Question?
Sobbing with your head in your hands,
ain’t that the way shit always ends?
And I wake with your memory over me
That’s a real fucking legacy to leave – Maroon
***
And just like that… it was over. But the memories remain. 🙂
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