fun fact: Them

it’s so interesting that for years, men (and certain women) viewed taylor swift as a nasty and immature woman that only dated men to destroy them with a scathing song, when in reality, she writes about a lot of her boyfriends in such an appreciative way. if you treat her well, she’ll paint you as the most beautiful boy. (notable exceptions are tom and calvin, but i think she was so jaded about last love and newly obsessed with joe that she stopped caring about them) she fully embraces her role as the artist and her boyfriend as the muse.

and you’ve discussed this before but this is also why i get irked when some gaylors say shit like “why would she describe a man as gorgeous or beautiful.” bc she is a romantic!

and i also think there’s a good convo to be had about how her insecurity plays into her romanticism. “he’s the kinda flawless i wish i could be,” depicting john mayer as superman, “what must it be like to grow up that beautiful.” there’s so much yearning and adoration there

(sorry for the long ask, but as i’m writing this, i’m drawing parallels between stay beautiful and gold rush. the former is so childish and full of hope, whereas gold rush is a more mature and realistic version of the same scenario)

first of all, if you wanna write a stay beautiful / gold rush analysis post, i am HERE FOR IT.

secondly, exactly. she writes about her honest and vulnerable experiences in love. love that is often flawed and imperfect, but it's not her fault the other person isn't a songwriter or an author or something lmao. i've said plenty about how, in the past, taylor courted a lot of the media disapproval - it's the double-edged sword of being a woman, especially a woman writing about men, in the public eye - but at the end of the day, her lyricism and tenderness towards love, in theory and in practice, is really beautiful. and it's unique! there's not a lot of female songwriters writing about men in taylor's particular way, who are also at taylor's age.

i'd really challenge anyone who said it's weird that she calls men baby doll, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. to 1) ask why that wording seems SO bothersome to you, and 2) consider that... maybe you just don't know about a lot of other female songwriters writing about how in love they are with a specific man.

breakup songs are common. generic love songs written by 5+ professional songwriters are common. but tender love songs written by 1 woman about the love of her life? not entirely common. like, who are we comparing to? a man who's written a song for a woman about another man? not exactly one-to-one.

correct me if i'm wrong tho!