Personally, about the features with Bon Iver, I prefer the one from folklore... love his low tone in Exile and how the POVs describe the relationship so different for each one
Taylor said that his part (the bridge) represented the "clutter of anxieties in your head and they're all speaking at once". To her it's like the process of finding hope and/or a light at the end of a tunnel.
Yes! I love that Megan is dividing them into characters, bc in a way our anxieties can feel like their own person. It’s absolutely brilliant what Taylor does in this song. And I’ll honestly take this collab with Bon Iver over Exile any time. It’s brilliant.
I’ve seen a lot of reactors say they hate the bridge because it’s too chaotic and too much is happening and I’m like yeah…that’s what you’re supposed to feel because that’s what she felt when she was experiencing it. Like all the anxiety happening all at once and in the midst of the storm was finding the calm and the peace. Taylor talked openly in miss Americana about finding and fling in love with Joe when her world was falling apart and this song so obviously to me refers to that. I remember in one of her piano talks on rep tour how she tHought she was never gonna be able to play music again or be around anymore after 2016 and to me evermore especially the parts about being barefoot in the wildest winter catching her death calls back to that feeling. She was on the edge of the end and thought no one wanted her round. I’ve a,ways wanted more people to see that in this song. But most people don’t relate it to 2016 at all. But the whole song points to that so blaring,y clear for me.
One thing I somehow just realized about the "whether weather be the frost, or the violence of the dog days" line is that it plays back to the first line when Taylor says "i've been down since July"
@@adrianneziri4522 hoping she does it. Never got this song. Even after watching an analysis (from the same person who made me understand most of Folklore and Evermore) and with it having one of the best lines Taylor wrote (talking about me relating/personal experience), "...if I pushed you to the edge, but you were to polite to leave me?" (me being the person who's been asked this) Adding just because it might make a difference: English's not my first language
@@carolinamansur113 No worries. English isn’t my first language either. I’m sorry had to experience this. I hope you got out of this situation. Coney Island is probably one of my favorite songs of all time. I already have multiple interpretations of it. It is that good :D
yes!! it also shows some usage of unreliable narrators, since the two perspectives kinda contradict each other (“you never gave a warning sign”/“i gave so many signs”). Lots of literary elements in this song, I hope she reacts to this one if she hasn’t already!
If you’re unsure about their voices together, I cannot recommend Taylor’s acoustic performance of this from the eras tour enough. It’s one of her more chilling performances. A crowd of 60k+ and not a murmur from the audience.
ABSOLUTELY ❤ her best eras tour performance and one of her best live performances ever and I would love a studio version of this song (especially bc evermore gets no love 😭)
All of her thoughts and feelings expressed are the essence of being a human who doesn't flee from feelings, the wonderful and the awful. I'm 70 this year and her words so resonate with my life experiences . I find it comforting. Our emotions are universal.
Great analysis! I think that maybe the cabin floor at the end, in contrast to the barefoot in the wildest winter, may represent a feeling of achieving comfort (or warmth) after a difficult emotional situation. The window is seeing the winter from a distance, the moment in the woods is comfronting it head on, and the cabin is the calm and peace afterwards. Idk, maybe haha
Love your insights! To provide some contextual “lore” - the song reflects on Taylor’s 2016 cancellation, perseverating over where she went wrong, mourning the loss of her reputation, and ends with her fans’ support giving her hope that she’d get through it. Taylor spoke out against Kanye calling her a b*tch in his song, but in July 2016 (“been down since July”), Kim posted a secretly recorded phone call edited (signals double crossed) to look like she had previously approved those lyrics (motion captured me in a bad light). The world turned on her and cancelled her, and she hid from the public for a year during the time when she would have normally put out a new album (catching my breath), wasn’t sure whether she could get back in the public’s good graces or if her career was over (couldn’t be sure if this pain would be for evermore, think of all the cost, all was lost). And then the bridge talks about how her fans (some think it refers to Joe but I think fans make more contextual sense) standing by her gave her hope that this pain wouldn’t be for evermore. And it makes sense that she’d be reflecting on this during 2020 while writing the evermore album, because in March 2020 the full unedited audio of the phone call was leaked vindicating her revealing she never approved of the lyric thus was set up and “canceled” for something she never did
I really appreciate your breakdown of "motion capture put me in a bad light". My personal favourite interpretaion of it, is that it could be a very direct reference to the Cats movie where they did her so dirty with the CGI 😂
@yara5502 Lyrics can always be interpreted in multiple different ways despite the writers intention. I wasn't saying the possible Cats interpretation was right or wrong, just that it's my personal favourite because I find the idea funny. 😊
You do an amazing job at analyzing her lyrics! It’s very insightful! I recommend listening to the love triangle songs: Cardigan, August, and Betty and analyze those lyrics as one story!
These two have another dual perception song called Exile. It's one of my fav songs ever, you might like it more sonically as well. There are two versions, studio and longpond sessions, I like them both, but would recommend the longpond version.
This song is SO underrated. I love all the lines you appreciated!! 😁 it makes me happy when someone points them out. My FAVORITE line that always gives me chills is the “floors of a cabin creaking under my step” because to me it indicates that she’s going inside out of the cold and starting to come out of this depression. Then she follows it up with “this pain *wouldn’t* be forevermore” instead of *would* like it was earlier in the song. Love a good hope after the depression song. The bridge is a little disorienting at first but it’s definitely meant to be. I love it just like I love the chaos in her song Closure haha I always felt like this was all one person’s thoughts. If speaking specifically, Taylor after the Kanye phone call video. Lots of “video” references and being betrayed and the timeline fits. I feel like the two voices represent the juxtaposition of what was going on in her life, bon iver representing the chaos and anxiety and her “cancellation” and her voice representing seeing through all that when she found Joe, her boyfriend at the time.
Hi I love your videos! I think a cool idea would be if you listened to “sweeter than fiction” and then “the lucky one” right after! It talks about the same but from the perspective of 2 different people (someone on the sidelines supporting and someone going through it) but in two completely different ways! I’d love to see you compare the two 💫
Yaaaay! Another TS lyrics analysis from you! I just love them ❤. And on one of my fav songs nonetheless. Great analysis Megan! I was SO depressed in 2020 when this came out (starting even before the pandemic and culminating then), so the lyrics in the end were actually too hopeful for me and I would sing the initial version for the end too😂. I felt no hope watsoever. I gotta tell you.. that bridge hits different when you’re struggling with depression. “Why can’t we just get a pause” & “Is there a line that I could just go cross” I still feel them in my gut because those are the exact questions you ask yourself when you have been in a depression so long you don’t know how or when it will ever end. So glad I got better in the end, but it was a journey. For all of you battling with depression, remember that time heals and to keep trying! Try all kinds of therapies and treatments, you never know what will work for you, but something will! For me it was ThetaHealing after conventional medicine failed. Sending love and hope to everyone! 🤗❤️
Oh, you made me fall in love with this song again. Or it is just winter time when seasonal depression hits a little bit more. This song is very special. I do not listen to it when it's autumn/summer/spring.
7:11 Omg! I just realized, she’s used this before! They say “all’s well that ends well”, but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind -ATW 10MV
I grew to really love this song, and i think you might also grow to like how it incorporates two disparate voices and points of view. I love your breakdown and discussion of this. Another song she sings on and added another voice and character to that was written by a male friend/musical collaborator is called "The Alcott." It was written by Matt Berninger of band "The National" and was written about and to his wife. Then the musical producer/band member of the national Aaron Dessner who mainly wrote Evermore with Taylor sent it to her and she wrote small responses from the perspective of Berninger's wife into the song and they added those. Its beautiful to me, and I think yiu might enjoy it. i would love if you would listen and react to that song if you had time and interest.
Another interpretation ive heard of this song is its about the summer of 2020, and going into all the uncertainty of the election season and how the mood of that point of history ended up. The lines about motion capture and video could have also been about the movie Cats which Taylor starred in and was a flop at the box office and was panned by critics, which "put her in a bad light".
Really enjoying your analysis! Exile ft. Bon Iver on Folklore I think their voices blend beautifully. Would love to see you react to All To Well (10 minute version), My Tears Ricochet, and No Body No Crime!!
I always interpret this song as if Taylor's character is suffering depression and having su1cid4l thoughts (jumping from a window, getting frozen in the forest), but then comes Justin's character, who could be just a thought of hope inside all her mind's chaos (in the cracks of light I dreamed of you), or could be a representation of going to therapy, which finally gives her the strength needed to get through it 🥺
Hey!! i've been binge watching your videos for days now, ever since you posted your first taylor swift lyrics video i've been waiting for what else you could talk about and i just love the way you think and analyze them, i also just joined your patreon!!!! i was wondering if you could do a cowboy like me reaction? i would do anything to support that video i really really want to know what do you think, i'm also just very interested on how you analyze and talk about writing you inspire me a lot ! it's been such a joy to watch you speak about lyricsm and writing with such excitement ❤️ have a good day !!!
Oh damn I always thought dog days meant worst days, so now “the violence of the dog days” means CRUEL SUMMER. I think the song is documenting 2016 when she was at her worst point and she found Joe Alwyn. She says in another song “I recall late November” so they got serious around that time, while she reflects on how bad the summer of 2016 was.
The Bon Iver part of this song is not a different character - to me, that’s the personification of her mental state itself. It’s the desperation of wanting to get better - no matter the season, out on waves being tossed, is there a line I can go cross so that this ends?
This song is so frustrating to me. I love The album evermore and i love the first half of the song, especially since I can relate to a lot of things Taylor says in that song like feeling fixated on moments in your past that feel like they are weighing down your life, but something about Bon Iver's vocal performance just doesnt sit well with my ears. I honestly listen to Taylors part and then skip to the next song
@@meganmaclaine It was intended to sound chaotic and unpleasant to portray the way Taylor was feeling during that time of her life. Then her true fans/Joe pulled her out of that rough time and gave her hope..
I daresay Emily Dickinson was Taylor's inspiration in this song. As for the meaning, I read somewhere that the song was about her depression when she imagined Trump winning the 2020 election (the song had obviously been written before the election). Btw, I think it would be much better if you let the whole song play, or at least a verse, instead of commentating after EVERY SINGLE line. It's because I'd like to enjoy BOTH the music AND your reaction to it. :)
If I do that, I get copyright claims ^.^ it’s tough to balance. If it were up to me, I would defs let longer snippets play (sometimes I do anyway and just suffer through the appeal process 😝)
When she writes “motion capture put me in a bad light” I think Taylor is referring to the fact she was in the CGI heavy movie Cats and it was critically panned.
Which is your fav? Folklore or Evermore? 😜
Folklore
Personally, about the features with Bon Iver, I prefer the one from folklore... love his low tone in Exile and how the POVs describe the relationship so different for each one
evermore🫡
evermore 🥰
i love evermore
Taylor said that his part (the bridge) represented the "clutter of anxieties in your head and they're all speaking at once". To her it's like the process of finding hope and/or a light at the end of a tunnel.
Yes! I love that Megan is dividing them into characters, bc in a way our anxieties can feel like their own person. It’s absolutely brilliant what Taylor does in this song. And I’ll honestly take this collab with Bon Iver over Exile any time. It’s brilliant.
@@andresbecerra1183i love this one. Even if you never been depressed, everyone has been in this place of sadness.
And its so mature.
❤
I’ve seen a lot of reactors say they hate the bridge because it’s too chaotic and too much is happening and I’m like yeah…that’s what you’re supposed to feel because that’s what she felt when she was experiencing it. Like all the anxiety happening all at once and in the midst of the storm was finding the calm and the peace. Taylor talked openly in miss Americana about finding and fling in love with Joe when her world was falling apart and this song so obviously to me refers to that. I remember in one of her piano talks on rep tour how she tHought she was never gonna be able to play music again or be around anymore after 2016 and to me evermore especially the parts about being barefoot in the wildest winter catching her death calls back to that feeling. She was on the edge of the end and thought no one wanted her round. I’ve a,ways wanted more people to see that in this song. But most people don’t relate it to 2016 at all. But the whole song points to that so blaring,y clear for me.
One thing I somehow just realized about the "whether weather be the frost, or the violence of the dog days" line is that it plays back to the first line when Taylor says "i've been down since July"
SO TRUE - nice catch!
I can't remember if you already reacted to it, but Exile from folklore is another great example of showing multiple perspectives
And The Last Time!
And Coney Island :)
@@adrianneziri4522 hoping she does it. Never got this song. Even after watching an analysis (from the same person who made me understand most of Folklore and Evermore) and with it having one of the best lines Taylor wrote (talking about me relating/personal experience), "...if I pushed you to the edge, but you were to polite to leave me?" (me being the person who's been asked this)
Adding just because it might make a difference: English's not my first language
@@carolinamansur113 No worries. English isn’t my first language either. I’m sorry had to experience this. I hope you got out of this situation.
Coney Island is probably one of my favorite songs of all time. I already have multiple interpretations of it. It is that good :D
yes!! it also shows some usage of unreliable narrators, since the two perspectives kinda contradict each other (“you never gave a warning sign”/“i gave so many signs”). Lots of literary elements in this song, I hope she reacts to this one if she hasn’t already!
This is my favorite song from Evermore, I just love how it starts with such a negative point of view but it ends with hope.
If you’re unsure about their voices together, I cannot recommend Taylor’s acoustic performance of this from the eras tour enough. It’s one of her more chilling performances. A crowd of 60k+ and not a murmur from the audience.
ABSOLUTELY ❤ her best eras tour performance and one of her best live performances ever and I would love a studio version of this song (especially bc evermore gets no love 😭)
All of her thoughts and feelings expressed are the essence of being a human who doesn't flee from feelings, the wonderful and the awful. I'm 70 this year and her words so resonate with my life experiences . I find it comforting. Our emotions are universal.
you REALLY NEED to hear exile, it's a feat with bon iver too and its just amazing
Great analysis! I think that maybe the cabin floor at the end, in contrast to the barefoot in the wildest winter, may represent a feeling of achieving comfort (or warmth) after a difficult emotional situation. The window is seeing the winter from a distance, the moment in the woods is comfronting it head on, and the cabin is the calm and peace afterwards. Idk, maybe haha
Love your insights! To provide some contextual “lore” - the song reflects on Taylor’s 2016 cancellation, perseverating over where she went wrong, mourning the loss of her reputation, and ends with her fans’ support giving her hope that she’d get through it.
Taylor spoke out against Kanye calling her a b*tch in his song, but in July 2016 (“been down since July”), Kim posted a secretly recorded phone call edited (signals double crossed) to look like she had previously approved those lyrics (motion captured me in a bad light). The world turned on her and cancelled her, and she hid from the public for a year during the time when she would have normally put out a new album (catching my breath), wasn’t sure whether she could get back in the public’s good graces or if her career was over (couldn’t be sure if this pain would be for evermore, think of all the cost, all was lost). And then the bridge talks about how her fans (some think it refers to Joe but I think fans make more contextual sense) standing by her gave her hope that this pain wouldn’t be for evermore. And it makes sense that she’d be reflecting on this during 2020 while writing the evermore album, because in March 2020 the full unedited audio of the phone call was leaked vindicating her revealing she never approved of the lyric thus was set up and “canceled” for something she never did
Has this come out from herself or is this a theory?
Exactly.
I really appreciate your breakdown of "motion capture put me in a bad light". My personal favourite interpretaion of it, is that it could be a very direct reference to the Cats movie where they did her so dirty with the CGI 😂
hahahah oh my gosh I forgot about cats XD
No, it´s clearly about the "Phone call video" by kimye and her "Cancellation" .The whole song is about that period.
@yara5502 Lyrics can always be interpreted in multiple different ways despite the writers intention. I wasn't saying the possible Cats interpretation was right or wrong, just that it's my personal favourite because I find the idea funny. 😊
You do an amazing job at analyzing her lyrics! It’s very insightful! I recommend listening to the love triangle songs: Cardigan, August, and Betty and analyze those lyrics as one story!
Thank you tons! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it :) and yesss I can’t wait to do those!
These two have another dual perception song called Exile. It's one of my fav songs ever, you might like it more sonically as well.
There are two versions, studio and longpond sessions, I like them both, but would recommend the longpond version.
No doubt that TS is the best songwriter of our generation.
So true.
This song is SO underrated. I love all the lines you appreciated!! 😁 it makes me happy when someone points them out.
My FAVORITE line that always gives me chills is the “floors of a cabin creaking under my step” because to me it indicates that she’s going inside out of the cold and starting to come out of this depression. Then she follows it up with “this pain *wouldn’t* be forevermore” instead of *would* like it was earlier in the song. Love a good hope after the depression song.
The bridge is a little disorienting at first but it’s definitely meant to be. I love it just like I love the chaos in her song Closure haha
I always felt like this was all one person’s thoughts. If speaking specifically, Taylor after the Kanye phone call video. Lots of “video” references and being betrayed and the timeline fits. I feel like the two voices represent the juxtaposition of what was going on in her life, bon iver representing the chaos and anxiety and her “cancellation” and her voice representing seeing through all that when she found Joe, her boyfriend at the time.
Great analysis. I know and love this song, but you shed some new light on it for me.
I’m so glad!
You are brilliant at comprehension.
Please please please Di do folklore love triangle. All three songs in one video. Please.
It’s coming!! ❤️
@@meganmaclaine 🤩So excited
I have been waiting for this song reaction by you for ages nowww!!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ thank you for sharing this🎉
You're so welcome!
Omg this is my 2nd favorite Taylor songs ever. 🎉🎉🎉 i won
Yayyy!
Hi I love your videos!
I think a cool idea would be if you listened to “sweeter than fiction” and then “the lucky one” right after!
It talks about the same but from the perspective of 2 different people (someone on the sidelines supporting and someone going through it) but in two completely different ways!
I’d love to see you compare the two 💫
" Cowboy Like Me " next :)
Yaaaay! Another TS lyrics analysis from you! I just love them ❤. And on one of my fav songs nonetheless. Great analysis Megan!
I was SO depressed in 2020 when this came out (starting even before the pandemic and culminating then), so the lyrics in the end were actually too hopeful for me and I would sing the initial version for the end too😂. I felt no hope watsoever.
I gotta tell you.. that bridge hits different when you’re struggling with depression. “Why can’t we just get a pause” & “Is there a line that I could just go cross” I still feel them in my gut because those are the exact questions you ask yourself when you have been in a depression so long you don’t know how or when it will ever end.
So glad I got better in the end, but it was a journey.
For all of you battling with depression, remember that time heals and to keep trying! Try all kinds of therapies and treatments, you never know what will work for you, but something will! For me it was ThetaHealing after conventional medicine failed.
Sending love and hope to everyone! 🤗❤️
Oh, you made me fall in love with this song again. Or it is just winter time when seasonal depression hits a little bit more. This song is very special. I do not listen to it when it's autumn/summer/spring.
Aw I'm so glad! And love that you save it for the winter season
7:11 Omg! I just realized, she’s used this before!
They say “all’s well that ends well”, but I’m in a new hell every time
you double-cross my mind
-ATW 10MV
You're so right!! She also repeats the Shakespeare reference in Lover :D I'M CATCHING ON! lol
Noah Kahan‘s songs have really good lyrics. I’d love if you make a video about them.
THISSSS ❤
I grew to really love this song, and i think you might also grow to like how it incorporates two disparate voices and points of view. I love your breakdown and discussion of this.
Another song she sings on and added another voice and character to that was written by a male friend/musical collaborator is called "The Alcott."
It was written by Matt Berninger of band "The National" and was written about and to his wife. Then the musical producer/band member of the national Aaron Dessner who mainly wrote Evermore with Taylor sent it to her and she wrote small responses from the perspective of Berninger's wife into the song and they added those. Its beautiful to me, and I think yiu might enjoy it. i would love if you would listen and react to that song if you had time and interest.
I love how their voices come together 🤔
Nothing wrong with that! :)
Another interpretation ive heard of this song is its about the summer of 2020, and going into all the uncertainty of the election season and how the mood of that point of history ended up.
The lines about motion capture and video could have also been about the movie Cats which Taylor starred in and was a flop at the box office and was panned by critics, which "put her in a bad light".
Really enjoying your analysis! Exile ft. Bon Iver on Folklore I think their voices blend beautifully.
Would love to see you react to All To Well (10 minute version), My Tears Ricochet, and No Body No Crime!!
This song is so underrated
It’s lovely!
Great video, I liked the break down, I wan't really into the mesh of rhythms in the song though.
Glad it wasn't just me!! ;)
I always interpret this song as if Taylor's character is suffering depression and having su1cid4l thoughts (jumping from a window, getting frozen in the forest), but then comes Justin's character, who could be just a thought of hope inside all her mind's chaos (in the cracks of light I dreamed of you), or could be a representation of going to therapy, which finally gives her the strength needed to get through it 🥺
Oh my gosh. You have to listen to Sticks That Make Thunder by The Steeldrivers now! You’ll have so much to talk about when it comes to perspective
Hey!! i've been binge watching your videos for days now, ever since you posted your first taylor swift lyrics video i've been waiting for what else you could talk about and i just love the way you think and analyze them, i also just joined your patreon!!!! i was wondering if you could do a cowboy like me reaction? i would do anything to support that video i really really want to know what do you think, i'm also just very interested on how you analyze and talk about writing you inspire me a lot ! it's been such a joy to watch you speak about lyricsm and writing with such excitement ❤️ have a good day !!!
And that reminds me I have to reread The Lunar Chronicles😂
Hahaha I support this
I love this song so much. I thought he said "dark days" not "dog days" lol
Bestie when are we doing Cardigan , Exile, RIght where you left me and and .....
Oh damn I always thought dog days meant worst days, so now “the violence of the dog days” means CRUEL SUMMER. I think the song is documenting 2016 when she was at her worst point and she found Joe Alwyn. She says in another song “I recall late November” so they got serious around that time, while she reflects on how bad the summer of 2016 was.
Ohhh haha yes a cruel summer for sure!
always thought "motion capture" was a way to refer to the lockdown. don't know if that makes with the rest of the lyric but yeah
Would your brilliant mind spare us 10 minutes for All Too Well? ❤
You are too sweet. Hoping to have this up next week!! 🤫 🤓
The Bon Iver part of this song is not a different character - to me, that’s the personification of her mental state itself. It’s the desperation of wanting to get better - no matter the season, out on waves being tossed, is there a line I can go cross so that this ends?
This 100%
I could see that for sure!
why couldn’t it be a different character? songs can be interpreted multiple ways
This song is so frustrating to me. I love The album evermore and i love the first half of the song, especially since I can relate to a lot of things Taylor says in that song like feeling fixated on moments in your past that feel like they are weighing down your life, but something about Bon Iver's vocal performance just doesnt sit well with my ears. I honestly listen to Taylors part and then skip to the next song
Bon Iver is also good 😭
I'm glad it's not just me!!
Could not disagree more - the bridge is one of most beautiful parts of this whole album
@@meganmaclaine It was intended to sound chaotic and unpleasant to portray the way Taylor was feeling during that time of her life. Then her true fans/Joe pulled her out of that rough time and gave her hope..
I daresay Emily Dickinson was Taylor's inspiration in this song. As for the meaning, I read somewhere that the song was about her depression when she imagined Trump winning the 2020 election (the song had obviously been written before the election).
Btw, I think it would be much better if you let the whole song play, or at least a verse, instead of commentating after EVERY SINGLE line. It's because I'd like to enjoy BOTH the music AND your reaction to it. :)
If I do that, I get copyright claims ^.^ it’s tough to balance. If it were up to me, I would defs let longer snippets play (sometimes I do anyway and just suffer through the appeal process 😝)
@@meganmaclaine Oh God you are right. Totally forgot about the copyright claims. Disregard the second part of my comment please :)
When she writes “motion capture put me in a bad light” I think Taylor is referring to the fact she was in the CGI heavy movie Cats and it was critically panned.
LMAOOOOO
No. She means the Kimye "Phone call video"
Songs are def subjective but I can’t imagine a song as serious as Evermore being about cats lollll
You should've done exile from folklore instead. Much better song overall.
I was waiting for this one 🩵
You need to be more depressed to get it 🥲
Haha oh I’ve been there, trust me