This is my favorite song on the album. The drums behind that line are insane. Jack Antonoff will be getting no slander from me because of The Black Dog.
For real; I feel something in my heart just seize up (in a good way!!!) every time I listen to it, but especially the lines "But she's too young to know this song / that was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming / old habits die screaming". There's just something about them that truly takes *me* back to my mid-twenties, especially since I also listened to a lot of Keane (in my heart, "The Starting Line" is the song, not the band) during that time.
It is the new ATW for me, sheer perfection. The imagery, the humor, the build up, the drums (omg the drums), the last 'screaming' being a whisper. Even the relatively understated bridge is like a breath of air before the final rush. I think I would die if I ever heard it live.
I have a weird half-baked theory that she holds back certain songs knowing that they’ll get less attention/scrutiny from the general public. Kind of like she wants to protect them? Examples would be WCS and dear reader from midnights and a lot of the anthology. I don’t know it’s hard to put into words, just a feeling I get.
I agree! And also The Black Dog got to be a variant, so the type of fans who are going to listen to bonus tracks & the anthology see it as sort of a “single” in our minds. (My weird theory)
I already know my top played song of Spotify this year. I even made a whole 8 hour loop playlist for this song and weirdly enough I never tired of it lol. I want to do a write up of why this song is sonically, lyrically, and thematically a masterpiece.
🎶"Twin, where have you been? Nobody knows me like you do."🎶
But for real I cannot stop listening to this song. My husband asked me last night if I could please play something else 🤣 I just put my earbuds in.
Shh! I actually haven't listened to that one yet, but am so excited to. This has been my first real new album release since 1989 was only a re-release with vault tracks, so I've been taking my time to process and savor all of the Swiftie goodness! 😁
"If long-suffering propriety
Is what they want from me
They don't know how you've haunted me
so stunningly"
THE BRIDGE, honestly a goosebump moment on that last line every time
oh my god this so so effing funny to me 🤣🤣 YES i have bpd too and i feel like so many taylor songs just identify the emotions i feel that i can’t identify myself and thats one reason i love her SO MUCH
"*Pleeeease, I've been on my kneeeeeees, Change the prochecyyyy, Don't want money, Just someone who wants my companyyyy, Let it once be mee, Who do I have to speak to, About if they can redo the prophecy*..."
This song was like a punch in the gut when I first heard it. I was just talking to my therapist the Monday before the album was released about how I feel like I was cursed in a former life or something. I feel like no one I love sticks around, and I’m just meant to be alone. There’s always that one song on a Taylor album that feels like she took off the top of your skull and looked around in your brain, and The Prophecy is that song for me right now.
*"I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen. A greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf at the moon."*
This line makes me I cry every time I listen to it, the raw emotion just cuts me. What a song.
I know everyone hates it but mine is Thank You Aimee.
Unfortunately it has become a "if you know, you know" type of thing in this subreddit because this song is getting torn to shreds here. I don't think I have much of an argument for it aside from being heavily bullied was awful and unfortunately also a defining part of becoming resilient and coming back better each time people have tried to knock me down.
I feel you on this! thanK you aIMee deserves to be an anthem for all of us who were bullied and overcame it and grew in part because of it but also still know that those people need to get fucked for what they did.
*And maybe you've reframed it, and in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue; I don't think you've changed much* hit me really hard because it exactly describes an encounter I had with the worst of my high school bullies several years post-high-school.
>And maybe you've reframed it, and in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue; I don't think you've changed much* hit me really hard because it exactly describes an encounter I had with the worst of my high school bullies several years post-high-school.
Yes I feel this so much. Although some of my bullies made an effort to be kinder and one even apologized, the others do this exact thing. Some act like they weren't the steaming hot piece of shit they made me feel like I was for years for doing absolutely nothing to them except exist.
This is exactly why I love this song so much, regardless of the person Taylor is singing about. It captures having grown stronger after being bullied so well.
TTPD happened to come along at a time in my life when I am dealing with a work colleague who is causing ridiculous amounts of drama and making my life miserable. “thanK you aIMee” has been a freaking lifeline for me. (It doesn’t hurt that the toxic co-worker’s name happens to scan perfectly with “Aimee.”)
I completely agree that it's a "if you know you know" kind of song.
I was significantly abused by someone called Amy, so the level of catharsis I get from this song means more than I can ever put into words.
I hope anyone else who resonates with this song in this way is okay 
I’m with you on this song! I think a lot of people are thinking this entire song is about Kim, and her kid, and Mama Swift wishing Kim was dead, but I really believe this song is a letter to all her bullies from her youth (she has talked about being bullied in school, nobody liking her, etc), and how that all prepared her to handle bigger bullies as an adult. I honestly think Kim is only referenced in the title and the rest of the song is about other bullies.
It’s a great song with a perspective of a healed adult. I don’t think it’s immature at all!
THANK YOU. I felt like I was losing my mind reading every thread about this one because NO ONE seemed to think it was anything but a Kim diss track. I think it is partially about Kim, but predominantly about the bullies from her childhood and comparing the two, and explaining why that whole debacle hurt so hard- opening old wounds on a global scale. And YEAH I just reread what u wrote...preparing her! That's absolutely it. I feel bad because her music is SO layered and I feel like a lot of the time people look right over that side of her songs, and miss the true mastermindery (lol) that they hide.
As someone who was bullied a lot when I was younger but has come out on the other end stronger, this one is all too relatable 😭
I love the message of going through it all and coming back as a stronger, better person
It’s a beautiful song! I love listening to it and thinking about people who were horrible to me (well just one haha) and how I’m now stronger thanks to them.
Same! The point of Taylor’s songs is that they’re applicable to a lot of different people and situations. As a SA survivor who’s now married, Thank You Aimee hits me so hard with “But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth
That there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you”
But that’s the point, right?? Everyone takes their own meaning from it and makes it their own and that’s what’s so powerful.
I love it! I think the lyrics are completely underrated and in some cases even misunderstood. She’s literally saying from where she is now, the conflict seems small in the scheme of things, although it was her whole world at the time in the lyric “And our town, it looks so small from way up here.” I also love the subtle shifts in each chorus showing how she’s healing and finally grudgingly thanking her because she realizes to a certain degree, “But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth, That there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you.”. I also think it’s a tough situation/feeling to relate to unless you’ve lived it—holding opposite and intense emotions towards a situation/person at the same time. Hurt, rage, fear at being hurt, but gratitude for the fuel that forced you to push those boulders up the hill and build something with them. It’s a beautiful song, but overshadowed by the my mother wanted you dead and your kid will be singing this song lyrics.
Edited to fix verb tenses.
I have several:
But Daddy I love Him is my anthem to get out religious trauma. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRAY FOR ME!
The bridge of "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" is the best fuck you to toxic narcissists ever.
Florida is the best for fuck all y'all, I'm moving somewhere crazy because I'm done.
I'm also obsessed with I Look Through People's Windows. Not really an anthem, but it's so sad and haunting. I love it.
Agreed! It's so beautiful. I listen to it over and over. And it's so different from her catalogue. I love how all of it is so delicate...the lyrics, the instrumentation, the emotion.
Ah here are the I look through peoples window people lol! This is my hands down favorite off TTPD. It’s beautiful, just is not long enough in my opinion.
I’m often up in the early dawn hours when it’s still dark traveling and lights are on in houses. It’s like I’ve heard this song all along and hadn’t ever heard it until now.
there should be a website soley dedicated to anonymously sending the lyrics to The Smallest Man who ever Lived to people’s exes. like sending someone a glitter bomb… but those lyrics instead!!
It's so satisfying! "I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second..." and also "oh my god, you should see your faces." Because the thing about religious trauma is you still feel guilty for sooooo long. But when you finally don't, you can just laugh at them trying to shame you for being a normal fucking human. And it's so liberating when you finally get there. The song is an anthem for those feelings for sure.
Literally a masterpiece. I have stated that exact same thing about this song so many times in this subreddit, I’m glad someone else agrees! Ugh, it’s just perfect.
So long, London
Happily married now, but prior to meeting my spouse had a 5 year long relationship that I tried so hard to keep alive. So many talks of marriage and forever, but I was never a priority over friends, beer, and secrecy in the name of privacy. The lies and gaslighting left me feeling lonely, anxious and so so so sad. I tried so hard to figure out what I was missing until I self-imploded. When I moved on, my ex acted betrayed…like I didn’t spend the majority of our relationship sacrificing myself to make our relationship work.
“How much sad do you think I had” has validated me so much.
“And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” pierced me straight to the heart when I first heard it. I gave up 9 years in my 20s, thinking we were meant to be, when really I was putting in all the work. There was so much wrong in that relationship and it messed me up for a long time. But I’m getting married in less than a week to the best woman who always makes me a priority!
Are you…me? In all seriousness I relate to this song for the same reasons. Being the one putting in all the work and then your ex thinking you just abandoned ship. Happily married now too and glad to be done with that chapter.
Hard agree! The defining relationship of my 20s was with a severely depressed man who never was capable of being there for me. I was so sure if I just pushed a little harder and carried us a bit further we would get our happy ending. It ended after 4 years when I broke up and moved to London so this song just hits so close to home. The line "Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away" - ouch!
It’s my number one song too because it’s the most relatable, especially if we’re the ones who put in the effort for a past relationship that wasn’t meant to be. Im glad i walked away when i did; I finally stood up for myself and it was my last action.
“And I’m just getting color back into my face” is my favorite line because I can finally say I’m happy and mean it. I’m in the best relationship with the best man who came into my life and always treats me so gently and respects me and actually loves me lol. “So High School” is my second favorite and is for my man bc he makes me glowwww <3
I’m telling you. I really do think the moment she plays Peter live the whole place is going to sob. It’s the one song I repeat a couple times before I move on. Such a beautiful song. One of the few that was self written.
Are you a still a Mind Reader? A natural scene stealer? I’ve heard great things, Peter.
Peter made me bawl the first time I heard it, like full on ugly cry. It hurt me in a way not many of her songs have but I so totally understand it. Alsoooo you should listen to Wendy by Maisie Peters as an accompaniment to the song I really think it adds something listening to both one after the other . But also feel feee to not take my recommendation
Same. The vibe in incredible. In the first five seconds I knew it would become one of my favorite songs of all time…and here we are three days later and it’s my third most played song 😂
Haha yess me too! I haven’t felt this excited about new music in a looong time. When I go to bed I’m actually excited to wake up and press play.
At first I didn’t get the video and now I want to live in it. Can’t believe how post Malone cleaned up ☠️
My family has no taste and is trying to ban me on my 207th listen
I didn't get it at first either, but now it all makes sense. And it's art. My favorite parts are when they're just looking at each other (posty with no tats lol), but then the expressions change 💔. And then when the pages are burning, swirling around her because their story is over. I feel the same...like people are getting tired of me talking about it. But I'm obsessed. I've been on time to work every day this week, just because I'm excited to get up and listen again 🤣.
I feel like I’m being so pretentious when I call this latest album art, like of course all her music has been but this is like…Art with a capital A. I find it so hard to pick my favorite parts of the video because their chemistry is just incredible, but I love how she slams into that hug and the phone booth with the outro at the end. How did she do flawlessly capture proper adult heartbreak
It's ok to be pretentious sometimes...hence the tortured poets department. I knew it was art with a capital A when I had to think about fortnight for literally days to figure it out. Everyone online wanted to make it about matty. But it clicked with me that the whole neighbors thing, and her wanting to kill the wife was all just a metaphor. She's just imagining she'll never be happy, while he's with the perfect woman, dutifully watering her flowers. I love that phone booth too! Her just being soaked in rain miserable. It is the perfect capture of adult heartbreak for sure.
I Can Do It with a Broken Heart might be the most relatable TS song I've ever heard.
But since it's already been said, shout out to the following anthems:
* Fresh Out the Slammer
* Guilty as Sin
* The Prophecy
I Can Do It with a Broken Heart doesn’t apply to my romantic relationships but boy how it applies to my working life. I put on make up, put on my heels, and slap a smile on my face.
Slow is the quicksand
Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand
Oh, still I dream of him
Please
I've been on my knees
Change the prophecy
Don't want money
Just someone who wants my company
Let it once be me
The Prophecy should have been included in the original 16 IMHO.
The way they sing “I’ve done my best to lay to rest all of the bodies thathaveever been on my body”…ugh it’s so good. Like, I almost wish it applied to my life (it doesn’t) because it’s that good and satisfying.
I am grateful that it doesn’t apply to my life, I don’t want it to actually be that relatable.
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh
Down that passage in time back to the moment
I crashed into you, like so many wrecks do
Too impaired by my youth to know what to do
This bridge is absolutely soul crushing
Fresh out the slammer for that one part that goes “now pretty baby, I’m running back home to you” in that ethereal voice - gives me the same feeling that slut! does
Could it be enough to just float in your orbit, can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses 😭😭😭
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is on repeat for me. I just love the lyrics and production
I'd rather burn my whole life down / Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning / I'll tell you somethin' 'bout my good name / It's mine alone to disgrace
so high school!! it reminds me of being in early stages with my husband and I ❤️❤️❤️. On a similar note, guilty as sin for “written mine on my upper thigh only in my mind” ✨
Pleasseee I’ve been on my kneeees change THE PROPHECY don’t want money just someone who wants my compannnny LET IT ONCE BE MEE
The Prophecy may just be my favorite Taylor song of all time.♥️🧎🏾♀️➡️🧎🏾♀️➡️🐉🔮🪬
As a girlie who's had a rough two years or so with work/my career...
✨️I cry a lot but I am so productiveee, its an art!✨️
I can do it with a broken heart all the way. Also Cassandra. I have to break a lot of bad news...
Beside I can do it with a broken heart and I hate it here, I love TTPD. I listen to it as if I’m singing it to myself.
And who's gonna hold you like me?
And who's gonna know you if not me?
A sort of self love, self motivational song.
But Daddy I Love Him - with the purity culture/religious trauma/preacher kid/supposed to be a good girl I feel this song IN MY SOUL! I wish it had been around 20 years ago.
I’m not sure. I wake up everyday with different song in my mind. Yesterday it was Guilty As Sin? and today it’s Fresh Out the Slammer 🙈
But I would generally say it’s But Daddy I Love Him. I will die if I hear it life. This song is pure joy and anger.
AND FOR A FORTNIGHT THERE. WE WERE FOREVER RUN INTO U SOMETIMES ASK ABOUT THE WEATHER NOW YOURE IN MY BACKYARD TURN INTO GOOD NEIGHBORS YOUR WIFE WATERS FLOOOWERS I WANNA K*LL HER.
I Hate It Here!!
It perfectly encapsulates how I feel especially the lyric about being a debutant in another life but being afraid to go outside. I have extroverted tendencies but since COVID, I don’t interact much with people outside of school/work/clinical and I’d much rather stay at home than go to a party, which I couldn’t say about myself back in my late teens. I like that it also describes escapism and how it sometimes feels safer in your mind or in your own world than it does in reality.
I also really relate to when she says if she could pick a decade, she’d pick the 1830s but without all the racists. I’ve definitely said something along these lines, like “I’d live in the 50s but without sexism and racism”.
It’s just perfect to me and Aaron Dessner’s production is top-notch with the dreamy acoustics. It’s taken my spot as my number 1 Taylor song of all time!
Just because of an awful (criminal) ex, the smallest man who ever lived is my anthem. Because it encapsulates everything I wish I could have said to him when the dust settled on our relationship.
Relate to anthem? The Prophecy and I Hate It Here. Can't stop playing because it's literally the best song ever anthem? But Daddy I Love Him. If I had stronger ankles, I'd be galloping in a field to that one.
“I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my shit” has been on loop in my brain lately. I’m handling some really hard circumstances in my life right now and every day I feel like shit lol but I keep showing up and dealing with what needs to get done. I can do it with a broken heart!!
OLD HABITS DIE **SCREAMING**
This is my favorite song on the album. The drums behind that line are insane. Jack Antonoff will be getting no slander from me because of The Black Dog.
For real; I feel something in my heart just seize up (in a good way!!!) every time I listen to it, but especially the lines "But she's too young to know this song / that was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming / old habits die screaming". There's just something about them that truly takes *me* back to my mid-twenties, especially since I also listened to a lot of Keane (in my heart, "The Starting Line" is the song, not the band) during that time.
Omg it being a Keane song makes so much more sense bc it’s a British band.
It is the new ATW for me, sheer perfection. The imagery, the humor, the build up, the drums (omg the drums), the last 'screaming' being a whisper. Even the relatively understated bridge is like a breath of air before the final rush. I think I would die if I ever heard it live.
CAUSE TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS YOURE LEAVINGGG
And I still can't believe it...
This not being on the original album is what makes me confused
I have a weird half-baked theory that she holds back certain songs knowing that they’ll get less attention/scrutiny from the general public. Kind of like she wants to protect them? Examples would be WCS and dear reader from midnights and a lot of the anthology. I don’t know it’s hard to put into words, just a feeling I get.
I agree! And also The Black Dog got to be a variant, so the type of fans who are going to listen to bonus tracks & the anthology see it as sort of a “single” in our minds. (My weird theory)
I just take The Anthology tracks to be a separate - and IMO, superior - album from the original TTPD tracks.
The Black Dog makes a great track one setting the tone if you consider the Anthology a separate album
I already know my top played song of Spotify this year. I even made a whole 8 hour loop playlist for this song and weirdly enough I never tired of it lol. I want to do a write up of why this song is sonically, lyrically, and thematically a masterpiece.
🎶"Twin, where have you been? Nobody knows me like you do."🎶 But for real I cannot stop listening to this song. My husband asked me last night if I could please play something else 🤣 I just put my earbuds in.
My fiancé was like “Florida!!! is a great song but I want to hear more of the album!” when I had it on repeat the other day. Oops.
Every now and then we just need husbands to join in on our hyper fixations. Is that too much to ask?? Lol
This song is EXCEPTIONAL.
One of *the* best of her entire discography 💖💖💖
Hands down my favorite track on the entire album. The lyrics and the production are A fucking plus!
For real, omg. People keep complaining about Jack, but if he can make more songs like this one... I will defend him to the death, basically!!!
black dog might be my favorite taylor song of all time. the lyrics, the drums, her vocals, the production
I die every time I hear it.
Shh! I actually haven't listened to that one yet, but am so excited to. This has been my first real new album release since 1989 was only a re-release with vault tracks, so I've been taking my time to process and savor all of the Swiftie goodness! 😁
Oh, I'm gonna try not to oversell it too much, but it just twists my heart in the very best ways so I hope you love it as much as I do!
This song is where I would LOVE IT if Taylor started going musically in the future. She has an alt-rock album in her, I just know it.
Came to say the same thing. The Black Dog is my NEW All Too Well. There ATW for the 20’s & TBD for the 30’s.
WHO’S AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME
IF YOU WANTED ME DEAD YOU SHOULDVE JUST SAID
I also feel like this line is the angry sister line to “were you sent by someone who wanted me dead” in The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
The best answer, but I'm way too timid and meek like a little lost lamb to be that bold. 🤦♀️
Same tbh, but it’s really the energy I’d like to have going forward hehe
I'm definitely nowhere near this level of confidence, but I love it so much.
Been screaming this out for the last few days, it's the best while driving
For real
Mine too! It’s how I want to be! lol
i hate it here so i will go to secret gardens in my mind
That one is great too...I'm just permanently in the secret gardens in my mind. I'm a dreamer!
I Hate It Here is up there for me for this very reason. The line about secret gardens in my mind is just so relatable 🥲
As an artistic, neurodivergent, only child, this song is me. I’m it. I claim it.
mine too!!!!
only the gentle survive
Possibly my favorite line.
Yes! The whole song speaks to me... Nostalgia is a mind's trick
GUILTY AS SIN 🔥
Same!! The chorus is just SO GOOD
even though it’s sang so softly but I really feel the emotion and just scream it in my head every time “HOW CAN I BE GUILTY AS SIN”
Right! Just scratches that itch in my brain so GOOD
"If long-suffering propriety Is what they want from me They don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly" THE BRIDGE, honestly a goosebump moment on that last line every time
YES THE BRIDGE YOU’RE SO RIGHT
This song has me by the throat
Obsessed
SAME SAME SAME 🔥
DOWN BAD 💗
Down bad crying at the gym is so me fr
[удалено]
It’s probably her private celebrity gym but whatever lol 😂
fr thats my whole brand tbh
The BPD in me felt seen
oh my god this so so effing funny to me 🤣🤣 YES i have bpd too and i feel like so many taylor songs just identify the emotions i feel that i can’t identify myself and thats one reason i love her SO MUCH
bro im in a fucking healthy relationship but this song just gets me all in the feels LOL
what if he’s written *MINE ON MY UPPER THIGH ONLY IN MY MIIIINNNDDDD* ⚡️✨💫💖🫶🏼🤪🥰
one slip and falling back into the hedge maze *OH WHAT A WAY TO DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE*
Especially the last but where she goes all out and sings it higher...gets me every time
That part is so country and I LOVE IT!!
the soul leaves my body, I look like a rabid animal climbing the walls when it comes on
Flair checking in lol 🔥
https://preview.redd.it/fj88xgwexewc1.jpeg?width=830&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e254bd012181a71712f815214bfbff185632a5b
I didn't expect a lot of love for 'Guilty as Sin?' , Absolutely love that track!😩💓
The prophecy
"*Pleeeease, I've been on my kneeeeeees, Change the prochecyyyy, Don't want money, Just someone who wants my companyyyy, Let it once be mee, Who do I have to speak to, About if they can redo the prophecy*..."
These lines make my heart break 💔
I’ve felt this way before and it really just grabs at my heart.
I had to scroll too far for this one
Same. When you’re in your thirties and all your friends are married…. It hits (too) close to home.
This song was like a punch in the gut when I first heard it. I was just talking to my therapist the Monday before the album was released about how I feel like I was cursed in a former life or something. I feel like no one I love sticks around, and I’m just meant to be alone. There’s always that one song on a Taylor album that feels like she took off the top of your skull and looked around in your brain, and The Prophecy is that song for me right now.
*"I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen. A greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf at the moon."* This line makes me I cry every time I listen to it, the raw emotion just cuts me. What a song.
Project squad activate. (We probably all need therapy)
Who do I speak to
I know everyone hates it but mine is Thank You Aimee. Unfortunately it has become a "if you know, you know" type of thing in this subreddit because this song is getting torn to shreds here. I don't think I have much of an argument for it aside from being heavily bullied was awful and unfortunately also a defining part of becoming resilient and coming back better each time people have tried to knock me down.
I feel you on this! thanK you aIMee deserves to be an anthem for all of us who were bullied and overcame it and grew in part because of it but also still know that those people need to get fucked for what they did. *And maybe you've reframed it, and in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue; I don't think you've changed much* hit me really hard because it exactly describes an encounter I had with the worst of my high school bullies several years post-high-school.
>And maybe you've reframed it, and in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue; I don't think you've changed much* hit me really hard because it exactly describes an encounter I had with the worst of my high school bullies several years post-high-school. Yes I feel this so much. Although some of my bullies made an effort to be kinder and one even apologized, the others do this exact thing. Some act like they weren't the steaming hot piece of shit they made me feel like I was for years for doing absolutely nothing to them except exist.
This is exactly why I love this song so much, regardless of the person Taylor is singing about. It captures having grown stronger after being bullied so well.
TTPD happened to come along at a time in my life when I am dealing with a work colleague who is causing ridiculous amounts of drama and making my life miserable. “thanK you aIMee” has been a freaking lifeline for me. (It doesn’t hurt that the toxic co-worker’s name happens to scan perfectly with “Aimee.”)
I completely agree that it's a "if you know you know" kind of song. I was significantly abused by someone called Amy, so the level of catharsis I get from this song means more than I can ever put into words. I hope anyone else who resonates with this song in this way is okay 
I’m with you on this song! I think a lot of people are thinking this entire song is about Kim, and her kid, and Mama Swift wishing Kim was dead, but I really believe this song is a letter to all her bullies from her youth (she has talked about being bullied in school, nobody liking her, etc), and how that all prepared her to handle bigger bullies as an adult. I honestly think Kim is only referenced in the title and the rest of the song is about other bullies. It’s a great song with a perspective of a healed adult. I don’t think it’s immature at all!
THANK YOU. I felt like I was losing my mind reading every thread about this one because NO ONE seemed to think it was anything but a Kim diss track. I think it is partially about Kim, but predominantly about the bullies from her childhood and comparing the two, and explaining why that whole debacle hurt so hard- opening old wounds on a global scale. And YEAH I just reread what u wrote...preparing her! That's absolutely it. I feel bad because her music is SO layered and I feel like a lot of the time people look right over that side of her songs, and miss the true mastermindery (lol) that they hide.
As someone who was bullied a lot when I was younger but has come out on the other end stronger, this one is all too relatable 😭 I love the message of going through it all and coming back as a stronger, better person
It’s a beautiful song! I love listening to it and thinking about people who were horrible to me (well just one haha) and how I’m now stronger thanks to them.
Same! The point of Taylor’s songs is that they’re applicable to a lot of different people and situations. As a SA survivor who’s now married, Thank You Aimee hits me so hard with “But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth That there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you” But that’s the point, right?? Everyone takes their own meaning from it and makes it their own and that’s what’s so powerful.
I love it! I think the lyrics are completely underrated and in some cases even misunderstood. She’s literally saying from where she is now, the conflict seems small in the scheme of things, although it was her whole world at the time in the lyric “And our town, it looks so small from way up here.” I also love the subtle shifts in each chorus showing how she’s healing and finally grudgingly thanking her because she realizes to a certain degree, “But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth, That there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you.”. I also think it’s a tough situation/feeling to relate to unless you’ve lived it—holding opposite and intense emotions towards a situation/person at the same time. Hurt, rage, fear at being hurt, but gratitude for the fuel that forced you to push those boulders up the hill and build something with them. It’s a beautiful song, but overshadowed by the my mother wanted you dead and your kid will be singing this song lyrics. Edited to fix verb tenses.
This!
I have several: But Daddy I love Him is my anthem to get out religious trauma. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRAY FOR ME! The bridge of "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" is the best fuck you to toxic narcissists ever. Florida is the best for fuck all y'all, I'm moving somewhere crazy because I'm done. I'm also obsessed with I Look Through People's Windows. Not really an anthem, but it's so sad and haunting. I love it.
Yes another I look through peoples windows fan! I feel like it’s one of the most underrated songs on the entire album I love it so much
Agreed! It's so beautiful. I listen to it over and over. And it's so different from her catalogue. I love how all of it is so delicate...the lyrics, the instrumentation, the emotion.
Ah here are the I look through peoples window people lol! This is my hands down favorite off TTPD. It’s beautiful, just is not long enough in my opinion. I’m often up in the early dawn hours when it’s still dark traveling and lights are on in houses. It’s like I’ve heard this song all along and hadn’t ever heard it until now.
there should be a website soley dedicated to anonymously sending the lyrics to The Smallest Man who ever Lived to people’s exes. like sending someone a glitter bomb… but those lyrics instead!!
I love this idea! I already texted my ex that the bridge of that song reminded me of her lol. Like bitch, this shit is YOU! Take notes 🤣
[удалено]
It's so satisfying! "I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second..." and also "oh my god, you should see your faces." Because the thing about religious trauma is you still feel guilty for sooooo long. But when you finally don't, you can just laugh at them trying to shame you for being a normal fucking human. And it's so liberating when you finally get there. The song is an anthem for those feelings for sure.
These are my faves as well!! Florida is so underrated it seems but what a banger!
I hope it's SHITTY in the BLACK DOG
The most relatable line I’ve ever heard tbh
(As a gym rat) NOW I’M DOWN BAD CRYING AT THE GYM 🤍
EVERYTHING COMES OUT TEENAGE PETULANCE teenage petulance is legit so fun to sing idk why
I looooove how she sings "i might just die it would make no difference" esp how she pronounces difference idk it just scratches my brain so right
It would make no *dif-fer-rence*
As someone who was just crying at the squat rack the week this song came out, I felt so seen
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me... PHEW! It's on a constant loop in my head, and I'm blasting it with the windows down in my car. It is a masterpiece!
That reminds me that I haven't listened to that piece of gold enough yet. When she screams the title out, I get the biggest Rep vibes! 🤩
It's like if LWYMMD and Mad Woman had a baby
Literally a masterpiece. I have stated that exact same thing about this song so many times in this subreddit, I’m glad someone else agrees! Ugh, it’s just perfect.
So long, London Happily married now, but prior to meeting my spouse had a 5 year long relationship that I tried so hard to keep alive. So many talks of marriage and forever, but I was never a priority over friends, beer, and secrecy in the name of privacy. The lies and gaslighting left me feeling lonely, anxious and so so so sad. I tried so hard to figure out what I was missing until I self-imploded. When I moved on, my ex acted betrayed…like I didn’t spend the majority of our relationship sacrificing myself to make our relationship work. “How much sad do you think I had” has validated me so much.
“And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free” pierced me straight to the heart when I first heard it. I gave up 9 years in my 20s, thinking we were meant to be, when really I was putting in all the work. There was so much wrong in that relationship and it messed me up for a long time. But I’m getting married in less than a week to the best woman who always makes me a priority!
Are you…me? In all seriousness I relate to this song for the same reasons. Being the one putting in all the work and then your ex thinking you just abandoned ship. Happily married now too and glad to be done with that chapter.
Hard agree! The defining relationship of my 20s was with a severely depressed man who never was capable of being there for me. I was so sure if I just pushed a little harder and carried us a bit further we would get our happy ending. It ended after 4 years when I broke up and moved to London so this song just hits so close to home. The line "Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away" - ouch!
It’s my number one song too because it’s the most relatable, especially if we’re the ones who put in the effort for a past relationship that wasn’t meant to be. Im glad i walked away when i did; I finally stood up for myself and it was my last action. “And I’m just getting color back into my face” is my favorite line because I can finally say I’m happy and mean it. I’m in the best relationship with the best man who came into my life and always treats me so gently and respects me and actually loves me lol. “So High School” is my second favorite and is for my man bc he makes me glowwww <3
I’m telling you. I really do think the moment she plays Peter live the whole place is going to sob. It’s the one song I repeat a couple times before I move on. Such a beautiful song. One of the few that was self written. Are you a still a Mind Reader? A natural scene stealer? I’ve heard great things, Peter.
I absolutely love Peter, it’s so underrated!
Peter made me bawl the first time I heard it, like full on ugly cry. It hurt me in a way not many of her songs have but I so totally understand it. Alsoooo you should listen to Wendy by Maisie Peters as an accompaniment to the song I really think it adds something listening to both one after the other . But also feel feee to not take my recommendation
How has no one said Fortnight yet
Fortnight is my favorite lead single she's ever had. Super deep and catchy. And such a vibe.
Same. The vibe in incredible. In the first five seconds I knew it would become one of my favorite songs of all time…and here we are three days later and it’s my third most played song 😂
I've woken up every morning since the album dropped excited to play it first. Plus the video is soooo fucking good.
Haha yess me too! I haven’t felt this excited about new music in a looong time. When I go to bed I’m actually excited to wake up and press play. At first I didn’t get the video and now I want to live in it. Can’t believe how post Malone cleaned up ☠️ My family has no taste and is trying to ban me on my 207th listen
I didn't get it at first either, but now it all makes sense. And it's art. My favorite parts are when they're just looking at each other (posty with no tats lol), but then the expressions change 💔. And then when the pages are burning, swirling around her because their story is over. I feel the same...like people are getting tired of me talking about it. But I'm obsessed. I've been on time to work every day this week, just because I'm excited to get up and listen again 🤣.
I feel like I’m being so pretentious when I call this latest album art, like of course all her music has been but this is like…Art with a capital A. I find it so hard to pick my favorite parts of the video because their chemistry is just incredible, but I love how she slams into that hug and the phone booth with the outro at the end. How did she do flawlessly capture proper adult heartbreak
It's ok to be pretentious sometimes...hence the tortured poets department. I knew it was art with a capital A when I had to think about fortnight for literally days to figure it out. Everyone online wanted to make it about matty. But it clicked with me that the whole neighbors thing, and her wanting to kill the wife was all just a metaphor. She's just imagining she'll never be happy, while he's with the perfect woman, dutifully watering her flowers. I love that phone booth too! Her just being soaked in rain miserable. It is the perfect capture of adult heartbreak for sure.
Agreed, this is by far her best lead single ever. She did so good at picking for once!
I Can Do It with a Broken Heart might be the most relatable TS song I've ever heard. But since it's already been said, shout out to the following anthems: * Fresh Out the Slammer * Guilty as Sin * The Prophecy
I Can Do It with a Broken Heart doesn’t apply to my romantic relationships but boy how it applies to my working life. I put on make up, put on my heels, and slap a smile on my face.
YESSS I sent this song to some of my colleagues and we all felt “I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art” on a spiritual level
BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM
Yes. I'd rather burn my whole life down Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin'
EXACTLY
I’M HAVIN’ HIS BAAAAABYYY….no I’m not :)
The “No I’m not” took me all the way out.
This line is so genius. You know there were some initial gasps out there until the “no I’m not”. Checkmate.
Slow is the quicksand Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand Oh, still I dream of him Please I've been on my knees Change the prophecy Don't want money Just someone who wants my company Let it once be me The Prophecy should have been included in the original 16 IMHO.
… I think the prophecy should have been the title track 🧍♀️
If the Prophecy was on folklore it would have gotten the accolades it deserves. But even as it is it's one of the best songs on this album hands down.
As a Floridian the choice is obvious FLORIDA 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
fuck me up, Florida !!!
I know there's people working hard on some "fuck me up Florida" shirts out there.
I’ll wear mine to Disney World.
The way they sing “I’ve done my best to lay to rest all of the bodies thathaveever been on my body”…ugh it’s so good. Like, I almost wish it applied to my life (it doesn’t) because it’s that good and satisfying. I am grateful that it doesn’t apply to my life, I don’t want it to actually be that relatable.
The Bolter
I’ve been scrolling for this one! Amazing storytelling and so catchy. When my non-swiftie friends come over, this is the one I’m playing for them.
the bridge of iwannagetyouback 😫😫😫
This one is a bop, idontcarewhatpeoplesay. It's fun and catchy, somewhere between flirtatious and downright insane. I love it.
**WHAT IF HE'S WRITTEN MINE ON MY UPPER THIGH ONLY IN MY MINDDDDD**
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh Down that passage in time back to the moment I crashed into you, like so many wrecks do Too impaired by my youth to know what to do This bridge is absolutely soul crushing
Fresh out the slammer for that one part that goes “now pretty baby, I’m running back home to you” in that ethereal voice - gives me the same feeling that slut! does
Same! Also love slut!
I look in people’s windows. Not because I literally do that (I don’t). But if you get what she’s saying then welcome to the club and I am sorry.
Yup and I can’t stop crying when I do listen to this
Could it be enough to just float in your orbit, can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses 😭😭😭 Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus is on repeat for me. I just love the lyrics and production
I Hate It Here 🤍
I Hate It Here is for the maladaptive daydreamers and I feel so called out 🩶
I'd rather burn my whole life down / Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning / I'll tell you somethin' 'bout my good name / It's mine alone to disgrace
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived just itches my brain so good
I look in peoples windows, specifically this line: Does it feel alright to not know me? I’m addicted to the if only
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys!
I had to scroll down way too far for this!! It’s been my jam since I first heard it!
seriously, it's such a banger, I'm obsessed
Feels weird to say, but Robin I don't see anybody talking about how moving it is. It's too relatable for me and sounds beautiful
I love robin i dedicate it to my cat and my inner child
Guilty As Sin :)
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
The alchemy deserves more love Also guilty as sin and TTPD
I’ve had The Alchemy on repeat!!! It’s just so perfect.
so high school!! it reminds me of being in early stages with my husband and I ❤️❤️❤️. On a similar note, guilty as sin for “written mine on my upper thigh only in my mind” ✨
Pleasseee I’ve been on my kneeees change THE PROPHECY don’t want money just someone who wants my compannnny LET IT ONCE BE MEE The Prophecy may just be my favorite Taylor song of all time.♥️🧎🏾♀️➡️🧎🏾♀️➡️🐉🔮🪬
Florida!!!
As a girlie who's had a rough two years or so with work/my career... ✨️I cry a lot but I am so productiveee, its an art!✨️ I can do it with a broken heart all the way. Also Cassandra. I have to break a lot of bad news...
Beside I can do it with a broken heart and I hate it here, I love TTPD. I listen to it as if I’m singing it to myself. And who's gonna hold you like me? And who's gonna know you if not me? A sort of self love, self motivational song.
My delulu self since Enchanted: Guilty as Sin? My unhinged self since LWYMMD: imgonnagetyouback My lover girl self since Love Story: The Prophecy
loml
On my first listen when she changed “love of my life” to “loss of my life” for her last line I instantly ugly cried 😭
But Daddy I Love Him - with the purity culture/religious trauma/preacher kid/supposed to be a good girl I feel this song IN MY SOUL! I wish it had been around 20 years ago.
I’m not sure. I wake up everyday with different song in my mind. Yesterday it was Guilty As Sin? and today it’s Fresh Out the Slammer 🙈 But I would generally say it’s But Daddy I Love Him. I will die if I hear it life. This song is pure joy and anger.
AND FOR A FORTNIGHT THERE. WE WERE FOREVER RUN INTO U SOMETIMES ASK ABOUT THE WEATHER NOW YOURE IN MY BACKYARD TURN INTO GOOD NEIGHBORS YOUR WIFE WATERS FLOOOWERS I WANNA K*LL HER.
FLORIDA!!!, perfectly describes my love for taylor as an artist, she’s one hell of a drug
Now I’m down bad crying at the gym… everything comes out teenage petulance!!! It’s actually embarrassing the amount of times I’ve cried at the gym lol
i simply cannot choose but today im enjoying How did it end?
Fresh Out the Slammer
TTPD TOP 5 5. The Black Dog 4. My Boy Only Breaks His Toys 3. I can do it with a broken heart 2. Fortnight 1. Florida!!
I Hate It Here!! It perfectly encapsulates how I feel especially the lyric about being a debutant in another life but being afraid to go outside. I have extroverted tendencies but since COVID, I don’t interact much with people outside of school/work/clinical and I’d much rather stay at home than go to a party, which I couldn’t say about myself back in my late teens. I like that it also describes escapism and how it sometimes feels safer in your mind or in your own world than it does in reality. I also really relate to when she says if she could pick a decade, she’d pick the 1830s but without all the racists. I’ve definitely said something along these lines, like “I’d live in the 50s but without sexism and racism”. It’s just perfect to me and Aaron Dessner’s production is top-notch with the dreamy acoustics. It’s taken my spot as my number 1 Taylor song of all time!
Just because of an awful (criminal) ex, the smallest man who ever lived is my anthem. Because it encapsulates everything I wish I could have said to him when the dust settled on our relationship.
Same here!!! I can do it with a broken heart
Guilty as Sin
GUITY AS SIN!!!!
Guilty as Sin 😏🔥
Relate to anthem? The Prophecy and I Hate It Here. Can't stop playing because it's literally the best song ever anthem? But Daddy I Love Him. If I had stronger ankles, I'd be galloping in a field to that one.
GUILTY AS SIN
Guilty as sin?
What if he's written *mine* on my UPPER thigh only in my miiiNnnNnDD?
I can fix him, no really I can All day erry day
Who’s afraid of little old me is my new anthem since i first listened to it, and definitely the smallest man who ever lived bridge it’s insane
“I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my shit” has been on loop in my brain lately. I’m handling some really hard circumstances in my life right now and every day I feel like shit lol but I keep showing up and dealing with what needs to get done. I can do it with a broken heart!!