Taylor Swift's Fame & Anxiety: A Deep Dive Through Her Discography
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Welcome back divas!! Today we are diving deep into the heart of Taylor Swift's discography as we explore her complex relationship with fame and the anxiety it brings. From her early days as a country music darling to her reinvention as a pop powerhouse, Swift's musical journey is marked by her candid exploration of fame, its challenges, and its impact on her personal and artistic life.
In this video, we explore how Taylor's experiences with fame and its accompanying pressures have shaped her music, from the confessional storytelling of her early albums to the introspective narratives in her later works. We also touch on the Taylor's Version of it all, discussing how Taylor not only revisits her past but also redefines her relationship with her fans and the music industry, offering a fresh perspective on her legacy and the intricacies of artist-fan dynamics in the social age. Enjoy!!
Don't be a stranger!
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If your past 100 videos on Taylor weren’t proof enough, this video is truly a testament to your deep love and understanding of her public persona & dare I say it - of her overall character and personhood. A master class of an essay 👏🏻
Could not agree more! The convergence of journalistic prowess and intimate knowledge of the TS canon is SOOO satisfying and this video essay demonstrates it particularly well.
thank you raph
I just discovered him and WOW. So incredibly impressive!! You said it all!!!
Taylor is the definition of “it takes 20 years to become an overnight success” ❤
yup yup yup
Exactly
Drop everything now THE Swiftologist has posted
the realest comment ever
Best part of my Sundays
Where is the pouring rain when you need it 😭
@@somethingseriouslyserious420I just want someone too kiss me on the side walk and take away the pain from my stubborn toe 😭
Listen in the pouring rain?
I think mirrorball is an insane song because it truly is quintessentially taylor: talking about her experiences in a romanticized way, yet somehow being able to stay relatable enough for the fans... "i'm still a believer, but i don't know why, i've never been a natural, all i do is try try try" in hindsight is about her fame and having to rebrand herself for every album to stay fresh, but people pleasers (or people who have experimented some kind of abandonment by friends/family) can relate to that line because of the pain of not feeling good enough for the people they care about.
So true haha. And I think that's because Taylor *is* a people-pleaser--and Mirrorball, like The Archer, is about her relationship to fame/the audience, but also about her relationship to love/her romantic partner.
Mirrorball is so incredibly amazing to me for that reason. With it she’s perpetuating the very same things she talks about in the song, in trying to be vulnerable she finds herself performing even further. It’s paradoxical and beautiful and 100% intentional.
"she can't promise the turkey..." said so casually TOOK ME OUT. I didn't see that one coming
Funniest thing ever,
I love zach's nonchalant serves, he's so funny 😭
I was cackling😂
yes and with a dead serious face 😭 I bursted out laughing
I'm SO glad you talked about dear reader properly. I think it was a very smart way to close midnights as it questions her entire body of songwriting. I think that the bolter will be the newest contribution to her archeresque body of work
Ohhh you think she’s the bolter and not Joe? Interesting!
went from watching your eras tiktoks to this yt notification HOW ARE YOU SO PRODUCTIVE JESUS
RIGHT!!!!!
Learning from the master, Mother Taylor Alison Swift who keep feeding us content.
You can really hear the journalism in this video! Soooo impressive and wise
thank you for noticing!
@@theswiftologist of course!
i love when u post, it's so rare to find a taylor swift fan who is sane
WELL YES!!! Seated for the gospel
PREACH!
Please do a whole video breaking down dear reader! Listening to that for the first time made my jaw drop, I feel like there is still so much to parse through and discuss about it
Yesssss I would eat that uppppp
To this day I’m still perplexed with that song, I just love it
Echoing this!!
omg yes, that song was so mindblowing
9:40 “this is a very polarizing scent. you either love it or you hate it, just like me and my content in the swiftie community!! 😃” OMG IM GAGGEDDDD 😭😭😭 I LITERALKY ALMOST SPIT OUT MY WATERRRRR
Did I lie ??
This might sound a bit unhinged but she's giving me the kind of person that has horrible insomnia having a breakdown obsessively asking herself why can't she be content with what she has like i just know she's malding over the fact that she can't be careless and effortless. Like there's a weird void that won't go away no matter what you do. As you pointed out, which is a really interesting idea to me, she's a STUDENT. Things don't come naturally to her and I relate so much to that. (This might be just me projecting my own shit but she def strikes me as being the same kind of person)
I wonder if she sleeps much because she has an album called Midnights, so many lyrics about being up at night, and she gives off someone who stays up thinking/writing/working into the early morning
Student was an interesting observation. There is a model called the Empowerment Triangle, where it's considered to be empowering if you act/behave as a Student/Learner, Guide/Teacher, & Creator in various atmospheres (void Drama behaviors - victim, savor, prosecutor).
Taylor is so relatable.
Well, after all, “life is just a classroom”.
When I heard mirrorball, I remembered Rachel Berry saying " I'm like Tinkerbell, I need applause to live "
I LITERALLY THOUGHT OF THAT
like i write songs just as my personal therapy to deal with all my shit and i literally just wrote a song that didn’t have a title i just called it tinkerbell/mirrorball
“You weren’t at the creek gathering tadpoles and milking the goats that’s for sure” 😂
I think she has a ton of songs we may never hear. However, she may be like Ed Sheeran and "will" them all to us after she's gone, as he's stated he will do.
I've been obsessing over Dear Reader since that very first listen. The depth that it has is highly overlooked. Also the distortion just adds to the chaotic thought spiral it feels like. The breakdown and disillusionment of what we thought her life was is all in there. I think it will hit heavier with people only after Tortured Poets comes out
You’ve really mastered this format. The fact that the intro is seven minutes in and you still gave us such an engaging beginning is truly impressive. No one is doing it on TH-cam like the swiftologist.
thank you for noticing!! I've been working on my 'hook' for a long time
@@theswiftologistof course!
Taylor being so perpetually anxious in her relationships has always stood out to me and something that’s really spoken to my heart over the years but seeing that anxiety through this lens of the loss of sense of self through fame is definitely something I’ll be listening closer for now.
The tightrope she walks between specificity and vagueness is truly the most masterful part of her brand.
I just love love love your takes
Yes! It makes sense that Slut! was a vault track. She had to give that "I don't care" image at the time. Songs like I Know Places, Blank Space, and Shake It Off talked about her dating while in the public eye but, those weren't emotionally vulnerable.
The way "you should find another" sneaks in and out of Dear Reader before being fully stated.....exceptional songwriting. And the fact that she's so prolific and churns these out like others write grocery lists....
Dear Reader is one of my favorites on Midnights, its just soooo thought provoking!
I always interpreted the "they're burning all the witches even if you aren't one" as her being ambigious to whether she is a witch or not. She lets the listener decide if she's guilty or if she's innocent. And she ends it with "so light me up" which adds to the ambiguity even more.
Thank you for giving dear reader the credit it deserves
Great video! I Would add Castles Crumbling and Mastermind. I think you are The Swiftologist for a reason. You have watched Taylor for so many years and really you can analize and see things about her that almost nobody can do it. Your video broadened my perception of Taylor's character-her way of thinking.
I agree with both of those! I also wonder if I Can Do It With a Broken Heart might end up in this category, like talking about having to put the public persona on despite what is going on in her personal life.
cant wait for some vlogging about the Singapore concert
Same!!!👍🥰
coming soooooon@@Desiree-Laine
@@theswiftologist 👍❤️👏🥰
"the manuscript" could be about a manuscript that outlined their fate
"the bolter" being about her running away from the hands of fate
'the albatross" might allude to how he was turning into a heavy burden to her heart
"the Black Dog" can be about how she was destroyed by him in some way
me when I'm delusional
my first thought upon learrning that there was gonna be a bonus track called "the bolter" was that it's the turkey who bolted
Or maybe The Black Dog is similar to You're Losing Me. It's about what she felt as it was falling apart
I thought maybe albatross is about fame being so heavy that it weighs down the relationship/ruined it. She just couldn’t get over her fame.
Bolter I thought bc she basically proposed to him on Lover with the paper rings and all… and then she was like, “ok… it’s Joe-ver, I gotta bolt…”
Taylor Swift is, I think, very good at hiding in plain sight. She's a master at keeping her real feelings under lock and key while still giving these tantalizing little glimpses into her psyche that feel like open windows, but really the curtains are always drawn. It's fascinating to watch but I think I'm always aware that, on some level, she is deeply unknowable and that is on purpose.
Another level to this discussion- the debut songs like A Place in This World and The Outside that show how deeply ingrained her anxieties and insecurities are, especially because they were written from age 14-16. Love the video essays, this was one of your best!
The beginning of your commentary on Dear Reader made me giggle and by the end of it I was literally nervous for what you would say next. Please, we need you and Madeline on the horn with more thoughts
Pleaaaaase make that video focusing on Dear Reader!!! This song is my Roman Empire. Love the video as always!
Would loooove a full dear reader video
zach you are so smart for connection all of these songs. i swear you are the only place we can find this type of content about taylor
ur channel is TOO UNDERRATED im confused why every swiftie isnt subbed to this, u rly do be talkin about the REAL SHIT that swifties gotta hear :) i love her too
YES to a whole video about Dear Reader!
“whether it be destroying girl at home” LMAOOOO too real like was this your eras tour vocal warmup take?
I could watch your ts video essays everyday. As a new fan (since folklore and cemented by the eras tour), your thoughtful analyses of her life and work have been invaluable. She really is such a fascinating, complex woman and artist.
swiftologist always coming in with the most thought provoking takes. Like just so well written and analytical. Brilliant
thank you sm!!
this is such interesting topic that rly only zach can talk abt, i always feel so smart listening to ur videos but at the same time i can completely understand what ur saying, ur so clear and informative yet so entertaining at the same time, i always learn so much listening to ur videos not to mention u have made me laugh so many times it’s not even funny- it makes me so upset when ppl literally THREATEN u to be un-alived just for having an opinion like srsly wth ur such an amazing person and i really hope u take that none to heart bc those ppl are srsly deranged- i love ur videos so so much and genuinely just enjoyed watching u -I HOPE U CAN GET THE 22 HAT RN BC U DESERVE IT
I am also super interested to see if/how the Reputation vault tracks will give us more insight & deeper introspection like how the Red and 1989 TV ones did
Can't wait for TTPD first though
Please do a song analysis on Dear Reader! This honestly became my favorite song after first listen because it confused me.
YESSSS ZACH!!! I NEVER MISS AN UPLOAD!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION!! Don't EVER let the haters chase you away!! We love and appreciate you!! ❤
I actually think castles crumbling couls be added to the list !
Definitely
This video was SO good! Also… it just gave me this epiphany for TTPD: “He looks up grinning like a devil!” -> “When you aim at the devil, make sure you don’t miss.”
As a semi-swiftie, this is INCREDIBLE. I don't think I've truly understood the storytelling and parasocial investments in celebrities lives through their music this well before. It's like, I can really understand how people felt they came to know TS through her songs, but at the same time how did you discern all this??? I am concerned and blown away.
Thank you so much!
i personally understood the lyric "you should find another guiding light, but i shine so bright" as Taylor telling that to herself. And the guiding light in this case is the turkey/romantic partner. And the fact that she shines so bright is her ruminating over the fact that her fame makes it difficult for her to have a normal relationship. Or, more specifically, that her fame was a major reason her relationship with Joe ended.
has anyone else read it this way? I now see how this could also be her telling the fans that, and I like the layers in this song.
this just doesn’t make sense at all grammatically.
@@cosmicspark6772just use your imagination
@@katlavender2806 no i’d rather use logic 🤗
I understood in that way too, that's why she uses a voice effect, but you can hear a little bit of her own voice on the background. It's the most epic moment on Midnights for me, it's like she's trying to convince herself after everything she just said
PLEASE! do a full video on Dear Reader...PLEASEEE!!!
SWIFTOLOGIST THIS IS NOT FAIR
how dare you casually drop this bomb of dear reader being the antithesis to mirrorball on a random monday!
i fricking love this channel
Im right now so excited for TTPD (The Tortured Poets Department) I feel like its going to be the most heart breaking and raw album in her discography. The concept and all the covers are all so unique! I feel like "Guilty As a Sin" is going to be a gaging and intriguing song..
"The turkey she loves most in the world" DYING. But also, yet another great deep dive video-- and I love the incorporation of the Vault tracks where they belong in the timeline.
Ugh wow my original comment was before I watched this video. You truly do this like no other. You’re so well spoken your extensive knowledge on Taylor combined with your ability to think critically is truly like no other. Please never stop making these videos
I love love love your videos and I really hope that you don’t stop keeping it real/ including critical takes of Taylor just bc some of her fans are insane. Please keep doing you it’s the only thing that keeps me sane being in this fan base.
this is not really related to the video but your hair looks just AMAZING
thank u
i guess "i can do it with a broken heart" will be her next talk to fame......
The way you connect her life to the lyric she writes is very interesting and impressive. Loved the video, keep up the great work!
Thank you so much!!
Common Swiftologist SLAY 💅✨
Incredible work! Your research, your eloquence, your amazing ability to link things together - truly work to be admired!
Would love any more vids like this, linking her stories together through her lyrics. Love love love ❤.
thank you so much!!
Not you talking about long story short and evermore and then getting those surprise songs 😂
Please literally talk about anything! I say it each time but you have a serious way with words!! Beyond articulate, could listen to you forever!!!
please do a video about dear reader! would love to hear all your thoughts
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEE do a video on dear reader. this song has always been a bit mysterious to me and I would love your take on it!!
YES!!!! I've been requesting this video!!! Maybe i had something to do with it being made 😏. Either way I'm so excited! Zach posted just in time for breakfast too!
Edit: Fantastic video! I loved your insights into Dear Reader. But I CAN'T BELIEVE you didn't touch on YOYOK! There os so much there! I wrote a whole essay on it in the comments on the YOYOK official lyric video! I also was hoping you'd break down the bridge of Mastermind, especially as it compares to certain songs on Debut like The Outside and Invisible.
God's work is you talking about Dear Reader...I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that inspite of the low-key and laid back nature of its sonic pallet, it is, potentially, the most revealing Taylor Swift track this far
Thank you, Swiftologist. We have been hungry as we wait for Thanksgiving: April 19th. We very much needed this appetizer. As the queen once said: “Baby. Let the Games Begin. Now-ow.”
Yessss
Wow, this was fantastic, thank you so much! It added so much depth and shading to some of what I’ve been thinking about the progression of Taylor’s Version of her life story. Mirrorball and Dear Reader to me are two hugely profound and revealing songs but I didn’t really link them together until you did. Also I do agree that Anti-Hero is too precious and tidy in describing a serious, messy state of being. It’s not exactly trite but to me it’s hugely unsatisfying. I have a feeling the theme will come up again and hope she finds a deeper and more compelling way to talk about it. Love your analyses.
thank you for watching!!
Off topic sorta of. Anti-Hero from first listen was one of the few Taylor songs I do not like. At all. I almost feel bad about it. lol
She can’t promise the turkey that she loves the most was so unexpected omg😭 and during a serious moment too it was so funny. Great video as always!
Your journalism background is why your analytical videos like this ALWAYS hit different 11/10
Dear Reader is one of my favourite songs from Midnights, and it was the bookend of the 3am edition, so I loved this discussion. One song that I could debate about adding would be Castles Crumbling. I could argue that it's about her fear of her fame turning against her, of all that love turning to hatred. But I'm not the best at analyzing lyrics.
Beyoncé is great and all but I really don’t get the hype of saying she’s the greatest artists ever and now at least 3 different times people have said she deserves a reward over someone else. It’s tacky and annoying . Beyoncé ain’t saying anything, but y’all feel the need to speak on her behalf at award shows? Ma’am she has 32 Grammys! She’s been appreciated in the music Industry plenty.
beyoncé is iconic, noone is better than anyone else. but she alongside Taylor, madonna even Micheal Jackson, they are iconic ppl in music and pop culture. it's just that as stans we feel like she's disrespected & undervalued by the general public.
@@BEYONCEOLOGIST I guess but isn’t she a household name, at least in America? I grew up hearing nonstop about Beyoncé so idk. And people will compare any woman artist to her. She’s great, I just don’t understand why we can’t appreciate other artists without the constant comparisons, or saying this person deserved it over this person. We all know these awards can be bias. Esp fan voted ones. Some of the most influential artists don’t even have Grammys or get appreciated much (like classical rock bands that have influenced so many major acts) but we all know they have great influences on the music we hear today.
@@kianna270 i live in South Africa, across the globe from where u r & all i hear is non stop beyoncé. i agree with u though, we shouldn't constantly compare artists, i stan both beyoncé & Taylor & i get annoyed at the who's better debate it's just stupid, i honestly choose to just shake it off & ignore it.
@@kianna270 yes she’s definitely a household name especially in America, you are also right how these award shows be bias (that’s also the reason The Weekend been boycotting Grammys ) and lastly yes we shouldn’t be comparing artist ever since Taylor blew up more last year there’s been so many comparisons with her and Beyoncé and I’m like “just smile and wave y’all” . But it’s not new when we see people compare female artist it’s so harmful to compare and it’s disappointing how fans will do that so they can prove how influential their favs are just to lift up their fav. But yeah like you said artist today have an influence and people should stop fighting really
Dear Reader full analysis video essay puhlease!! (And, excellent work here, as always 👏.)
im do excited for ttpd. i feel like its another shift, much like 1989 was a shift. "the eras" was taylor swift's first cycle, and this new album is the start of taylor swifts second cycle. im so excited to see what she does with it, like how deep and personal she gets
oooh i have been waiting for a video like this
The friendship bracelet matching with your tshirt ✨✨✨
I absolutely love that type of deep dive on lyrics interpretation ❤
We absolutely need a haylor deep dive video including 1989's vault tracks and harry styles unreleased songs, also Harry's taylor easter eggs in his videos such as satellite.
It's canon yall..
Every time she refrences harry styles, it relates to colors:
The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming color
Question: I don’t remember who I was Before you painted all my nights
A color I’ve searched for since
Out of the woods: The rest of the world was black and white
But we were in screaming color
Illicit affairs: You showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else
Taylor always refrences a wine stain in relation to harry styles:
Clean: You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore
Cardigan: marked me like a blood stain
Maroon: The burgundy on my t-shirt
When you splashed your wine into me
Harry in response in the song Olivia (Taylor's cat): This isn’t the stain of red wine, I’m bleeding love
Damn. Your last few videos in particular have been SO good and SO thought-provoking that I gave a thumbs up and left no comment, b/c anything I was going to say felt like it'd fall flat. This one is the same. Thanks for this.
thank you so much for watching!
Funny how you made a link between Long Story Short and Evermore and then she played them both for you
I think Mean and Castles Crumbling could also be included on this subject. April is going to be such an exciting month-Can't wait for your videos about TTPD once we all get to hear it.
Zach really makes my life so much better. Love you sm. I'm drunk to boot watching this😘🤗
1) Yess, I would ABSOLUTELY watch an entire video dedicated to “Dear Reader”! It’s by far my favorite Midnights track, and it caught my attention for the very reasons you describe! It’s definitely a puzzle, and the fact that it usurped “Mastermind” as the album’s final track 3 hours after release……💀💀💀
2) I definitely agree with your characterization of “Anti-hero” as not being reflective enough to truly count, and your point about the bridge is the thing that REALLY stood out to me, especially since my first time hearing it was when I watched the music video after it dropped. Taylor clearly was trying to make it into a joke, casting comedians as her kids and daughter-in-law, etc, but even so, I feel like I haven’t seen as much conversation as I would have expected about how deeply cynical the bridge itself and the entire scene truly are? And in that sense, that felt like the most revealing part of the song to me - Taylor Swift, the professed hopeless romantic, has a distinct vision of a future where she dies, with no spouse or romantic partner in sight, and the kids she raised are horrible enough that she only left them 13 cents each out of spite. The implication seems to suggest that she has or had no faith in her ability to raise a child responsibly given her level of fame? And that she had a hard time picturing a future with a happy, long term romantic relationship? Yeah, "Anti-hero" is supposed to be jokey and self-effacing, but it did make me wonder if she was having relationship problems, and tbh it almost seems like an echo of "I wouldn't marry me either."
Love your reading of " I bet you think about me" and the hierarchies in Hollywood
I hope your having an amazing week with Taylor in Australia! Thanks for giving us all of the content🫶
Yes please do a video about Dear Reader!!!!
Clara Bow is gonna be insane😵💫
OK already! I Subscribed Zac! 😊
I'm a crossover from KCC fandom and I'm SO glad I found your channel. Refreshing opinions and a bouncy reality springboard for me to launch into my own Swifty deep dives. I love a deep dive.
Welcome aboard!
This is the exact type of video that makes the Swiftologist's content UNIQUE. loved loved loved this video. I wish you had added You're On Your Own Kid, 'i looked around in a blood-soaked gown and I saw something they can't take away' is such a beautiful lyrics to discuss when it comes to her relationship with fame.
This video is a MASTERPIECE. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Listening to this makes me so excited (and scared too! 😱) for TTPD. What interesting nuggets will we glean about what her past few years have been about. I still contend that she had been crying when she left the studio the past couple of times. I wonder what song(s) did that to her.
I am not being hyperbolic when I say I NEED a deep dive on Dear Reader. It’s been my Midnights favorite from day one.
GIIIIRL why is no one talking about the quality and depth of your analysis?!
I can really hear the journalist in this video, each word is so well thought out and perfectly chosen!
I just have to say I love your videos /you are so smart ,well spoken and grounded but I also loved seeing you fan girl out at the concert!
Thank you so much!!
As someone relatively local to Taylor Swift's childhood "farm" I literally laugh every time I hear I bet you think about me because the farm went up for sale several years ago, and it's a 5 bedroom house worth 800,000 dollars
And it's a Christmas Tree Farm not a dairy farm
Listening to Dear Reader is gonna hit different now!!!
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I would actually love and kinda need a Swiftologist video entirely on just Dear Reader 👀
wake up babe new swiftologist video just dropped
Yes! I'd love a video dissecting "dear reader" the song is so interesting
Yes pls make a video about “Dear Reader”
thank you for dissecting the "I grew up on a farm" part of I bet you think about me. I've been here since teardrops on my guitar and admit I fell for the simple humble farm girl narrative and felt so stupid when I learned the truth.
Phenomenal video essay as always, Zach! 👌🏽
Glad you liked it!