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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 24 minutes

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#- HK #reminds me I was listening to Relatable yesterday (catching up) and Allie was talking about a merch idea #and she said 'we should have a shirt that says 'Hope you're having a wonderful day. dot dot dot.'#and producer Bri was like 'dot dot dot...so far?'#and Allie was like 'no just dot dot dot.' and Bri said 'that's kind of ominous'#and Allie said 'what's ominous about that??' and I was like ALLIE. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A MILLENNIAL

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 31 minutes

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heart to heart—

last day of edwin week :((( I wanted to at least get this one out, even though I’m still two days behind……..

this was for day four: heartbeat

@503week

#- HK #awww bbs #FMA #EdWin

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 1 hour

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my future husband will ahve to say stuff like. " i stand with my cancelled wife"

#- HK #tbqh

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 14 hours

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I don’t remember where I read it but I think that Guilty as Sin is about her emotionally cheating on her longtime boyfriend with Matty Healy

That's what some of the notes added on Genius said, but I don't think that interpretation of the song holds up when you look at the broader context of the album (which is clearly what she wants us to do), or the "What if" questions she asks in the song.

However, if that were the meaning of the song, it might be a point in its favor. Would cast it in a much more self-critical light.

#- HK #TSwift #Christianity #x #analysis

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 15 hours

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Now for Guilty As Sin?

This song is obviously about Matty Healy, because the first line references The Blue Nile (which is his favorite band) and their song "Downtown Lights" (which the 1975 has sampled before).

In the context of the larger album (particularly BDILH), this song would seem to be about a buttoned-up girl abstaining from pursuing the man she desires for fear she's imagining his feelings for her. So in lieu of making a move, she fantasizes about the physical relationship they could have. Here's the chorus:

(The hedge-maze being her mind.) We should be clear, though--these fantasies are not merely romantic but certainly sexual. The second chorus is pretty clear about that. Christians know perfectly well by Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 that it is not merely sinful action that makes us guilty before God, but sinful thought and desire.

So yes, Taylor, your lust, even though it remains in your mind, does make you guilty as & of sin.

But the bridge is what really spread like a wildfire:

Now, although her fantasies are sexual, we should remember the beginning of the song, and that she has not actually initiated anything romantic with this guy yet. So her "rolling away the stone" would be that initiation, and this bridge--because it introduces a mysterious "they"--is a full callback to the context of BDILH. "Rolling away the stone" is a pretty common metaphor, and if we're gonna slam Taylor for it, we're also gonna have to slam Mumford & Sons back in 2009, along with countless others. "They're gonna crucify me" is also a pretty common metaphor, which here represents the public criticism she described in BDILH. We know she's not trying to paint herself as Jesus, because her stone is necessarily rolled away before her crucifixion even occurs.

"What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?" The "actually" implies that whatever the public is telling her is holy is a red herring. If the public is telling her that sexually fantasizing in her mind is unholy, the public is right. But I find that to be a highly implausible scenario. More likely, the public is telling her she should not initiate a romantic relationship with this guy. Of course, the Christian view is that ROMANCE AND SEX CAN BE HOLY. There, I said it. We have a whole book of the Bible describing holy romance and sex. There is a reason there are so many songs out there that liken sex to a religious experience, because it fundamentally is one, for good or bad.

(Paul phrases this prohibition in the same way he phrases the prohibition against idolatry in chapter 10.)

HOWEVER, if Taylor is intending to have a pre-marital sexual relationship with this guy (and I'm sure she is), then no, the way he holds her is not holy. So in order to fully defend this line, we would have to sever it from the rest of the song, and I'm not sure that's intellectually or artistically honest.

There is one line, if we wanted to be UBER charitable, that might suggest a married relationship:

But I'd say the hinge which hangs the whole song upon this one line is called Naivete.

"I choose you and me religiously," is a great example of how the human heart is a factory of idols, and nothing makes a better idol than sex. But Taylor is hardly the first singer to write about it, and all I ask for from her critics is consistency.

Fortnight But Daddy, I Love Him

all right, buddies, we are analyzing The Tortured Poets Department from a Christian perspective that makes sense.

Disclaimer 1! We are NOT analyzing whether TTPD is appropriate for young girls, or whether Taylor Swift is a good role model for young girls! The answer to those questions is NO. Moving on!

Disclaimer 2! TTPD is a super long album! So I will ONLY be looking at lyrics with overt religious imagery or which have stoked the ire of Christendom!

#- HK #TSwift #Christianity #analysis #x

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 17 hours

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apparently all 6 seasons of Reba is now on Netflix....which is wild because I thought Reba was a childhood fever dream

#- HK #what do you mean reba mcentire's acting career is real #that was just the commercial that came on while I ate my microwave taquitos #x

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 19 hours

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The “you're so wise for one your age” to “how is a gal like you not married” pipeline

#- HK #OOF #it is real #like even if it's incidental for me (I am not wise) I know so many girls who are SO wise and Ultimate Wife Material #and they just be watching all their friends get hitched for the past 10 years #I think part of it is that their wisdom precludes their finding husbands in the ways that many of their peers do #they don't frequent bars or try to have the biggest social circle or get on tinder or any of that #but a man as wise as they are will see them someday even if nobody else does

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 19 hours

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they should give you a paid leave if you're in love

#- HK #frankly #honestly when I was working the registers at World Market having THEE WORST DAY I would fantasize about my crush coming in to say hi #just to say hi #because he had done it before and it made me float for the rest of my shift #so gentlemen do not underestimate the power of initiative alone

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 19 hours

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finally decided to sit down and watch the incredibles again. there will be no commentary because i’m gonna be too busy watching it

#- HK #The Incredibles is a great movie #I remember rewatching it as a teen and thinking 'dang the worldbuilding is fantastic'#the way the soundtrack worked SO well with the setting #*cough*stillbitteraboutBigHero6*cough*#I'd love to rewatch it as an adult #Pardon the French #Disney #analysis

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 19 hours

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i am 1800s friend for real i think

#- HK #Live Laugh Love sign but it says Department of Health & Safety instead

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 1 day

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anyone else find the lyric

If you let me I will catch fire To let your glory and mercy shine

extremely sobering considering the direction Paramore has gone in?

#- HK #When I consider how we basically all live in the public sphere on social media and everyone has the opportunity for 15 minutes of fame #I think about the power of words to influence. both the world and ourselves.#because. the verse will come true. undeniably it will.#but will God be glorified by her salvation or her judgment?#will it be a holy fire; a tongue of fire; the martyr's fire? or a destroying fire; the lake of fire?#is it a refining fire or the fire of Icarus?#His glory and mercy shine through both #if those 15 minutes come for me will I prophesy against myself?#x #Paramore #analysis #Christianity

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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gotta say I'm with the pilgrims when it comes to domestic abuse. men who beat their wives should be publicly flogged.

#- HK #and Delaware law agreed with me until 1972 btw #why we ever got rid of it I'll never know #x #justice system #respublica

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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prayer request for a family friend; her parents' house was just destroyed by a tornado

#- HK #in her words 'the house is gone'#her parents were trapped but have been rescued and are (afaik) unharmed #prayer request #x #it's a bad time for weather in the central U.S. rn--my friend had to miss a wedding yesterday bc all the roads to the venue were flooded #we had a tornado a mile away bout 3 weeks ago but it only turned over a car

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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I have an end-of-life patient to whom I spoke today. She burst out laughing and said, "It was all such fun. I just had so much fun." I wish this for everyone. I wish that we each would meet death laughing, with little regret and even less fear.

#- HK #I was watching a hospice nurse show footage (with permission) of peaceful deathbeds #and she was explaining what was happening in the videos and why #and she explained that actively dying patients seem sedated without meds because the body raises calcium levels to put you to sleep #so you don't feel all the changes occurring as your body shuts down #which is why the mouth is usually open (too relaxed to close it) and why the 'death rattle' happens (too relaxed to swallow saliva)#and I was like wow. God is so good. He built in a death protocol even though death was not part of His original design for us.

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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that thing you feel God is calling you to do, but which you are not physically capable of doing right now? it is possible God is not calling you to do it.

#- HK #not me realizing that being sick in this moment means God is calling me to be sick in this moment #whaaaat #x #Christianity

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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Next up: But Daddy, I Love Him

There is a bit of confusion over exactly what this song is about; whether it's self-contained or it concerns her relationship with Matty Healy of the 1975; whether it's only about one guy (Healy) or two (Healy and Travis Kelce); etc., but I'm going to stick to the most face-value explanation:

It's about the public's scrutiny of her personal life, and her own fans are not exempt. She uses a series of illustrations for this, and "church" is but one of them.

The anti-Swift contingent is framing this as if Taylor is characterizing the universal church (ALL Christians, or at least orthodox Christians) this way. Maybe that is how Taylor views Christianity writ large--I wouldn't be surprised if it were--but she doesn't say so in this song. That is being read into it. All this song communicates is a specific experience that I think many of us orthodox Christians have experienced, too. The Bible Belt culture is frequently a legalistic one of whitewashed tombs and broods of vipers (and I would encourage Christians who find themselves caught up in such a church culture to find a different church).

Personally, I'm surprised the first verse is what everyone lost their minds over, because things get WILD later in the song.

Given the conclusion to the song (I'm getting there), I think it's fair to say the unbuttoned dress represents an unfulfilled/interrupted desire, as in the Disney's Little Mermaid scene from which the song gets its name. It's been noted by others that the "I'm having his baby" is reminiscent of "I'm keeping my baby" in Papa, Don't Preach by Madonna. Except Taylor throws in a little SIKE, indicating that the gossips (or "saboteurs," as she puts it) are sensationalizing her relationship with this guy, and it's not actually as torrid and taboo as they're making it out to be.

There are, however, a few lines that would indicate it's not been an entirely above-board affair:

(And why should we expect that a global pop sensation like Taylor Swift would value virginity in a culture like today's? Absolutely no reason at all.)

This is an interesting line. On its face, I don't think we could say this is a biblical concept, but within context it could be a different story. If the context is meta--meaning the song is about her relationship with Matty Healy--the "disgrace" in question was her association with someone who has said controversial things and whom the fans viewed as being "right-wing" (whether or not he actually is I have no idea). In this case, Taylor is falling out of the good graces of arbitrary public opinion, and yeah, arbitrary public opinion is not a good measuring stick for one's "good name." If the context is narrative--meaning the song is telling a story about truly legalistic and judgmental saboteurs--the "disgrace" is her breaking a community's arbitrary & man-made rules about what constitutes a good name. For example, if I decided to date a man who wore skinny jeans, nobody in my community would respect me anymore (I kid, I kid. mostly).

Here's another bit that got the barflies and the Baptists talking:

Certainly there's some irony intended here, but "God save the most judgmental creeps" is a pretty charitable line if you ask me.

The "soliloquies I'll never see" seems like a reference to fans on TikTok, but it could also refer to gossips in general.

Of course, Christians know that the beats of our hearts and the chemistry of our bodies are ALSO very poor compasses by which to make decisions about relationships, much less to divine destiny. It's always unfortunate when Taylor mentions fate or destiny, because as we all know, every relationship she's ever been in has ended. NEVERTHELESS, God is sovereign, so in that sense, you go right ahead and invoke destiny, Taylor. And in the narrative sense, she does seem to be telling a story of The One:

This part mirrors the plot of Love Story, which is such a great song for this exact reason. The lovers don't flee from accountability, they don't scorn their parents and loved ones, they stand on their convictions and earn the father's blessing straightforwardly. But Daddy, I Love Him is a bit different of course, in that the gossips & busybodies are featured along with her father, but are not participants in the lovers' triumph. and there's an F-word.

Blasphemy alert! Rating: Common. Featured in about 80% of pop songs, and 60% of conversations with unbelievers.

Now, normally, I would advise one not to spurn prayer:

But if the saboteurs in question are praying against the will of God, then yeah, their prayers are useless. And if they are praying for arbitrary things ("Please make her leave him for a man who wears bootcut jeans instead"), then their prayers are unnecessary.

I'll close this analysis with a few verses I think would have been helpful for Taylor and her fictional mans in this scenario:

Fortnight

all right, buddies, we are analyzing The Tortured Poets Department from a Christian perspective that makes sense.

Disclaimer 1! We are NOT analyzing whether TTPD is appropriate for young girls, or whether Taylor Swift is a good role model for young girls! The answer to those questions is NO. Moving on!

Disclaimer 2! TTPD is a super long album! So I will ONLY be looking at lyrics with overt religious imagery or which have stoked the ire of Christendom!

#- HK #etc etc #Christianity #TSwift #analysis #x #the most meta take on this song for me is that Taylor has no business complaining about gossips #when she herself has a reputation for publicly airing her exes' dirty laundry on every album

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rabbits-of-negative-euphoria · 2 days

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Every now and then some deeply weird and insular English tradition gets quietly discontinued and they say “Oh of course we had to discontinue that, that was silly and old and has no place in Modern Society.”

I would have infinitely more respect for the English if they embraced their silly traditions. Let the island sink under the weight of their silly traditions, Hot Penny Day and clown eggs and horse hair wigs and cheese rolling. I constantly think of that clip of house of commons members frisbeeing a collapsible top hat across the room in obedience of some venerable and ancient tradition

#- HK #honestly I was thinking yesterday the reason the Brits are in many respects more conservative than Americans #is because they have HAD a strong national identity by which many of their traditions & classical values have been inadvertently preserved #and the more they chip away at those traditions and that identity the more American-style progressivism invades their ranks #it's why even though King Charles is their most liberal monarch he is still more 'temperamentally' conservative than many Republicans #people just think it's because he's an old fuddy-duddy but it's more conscious than that

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