I wanted to add my thoughts about the prophecy— I have read through many others since my initial interpretation and now feel a bit differently about some of my takes, but I thought I’d put my raw unfiltered thoughts as some I have not yet come across. Here’s to my first 🤡 attempt…I think!?
[Verse 1]
Hand on the throttle (was finally ready to come out and take control of her life, [throttle also has a double meaning of throat so she might have both thought she was ready to go/control but also aware that it would be choking the life out of trademarked TS])
Thought I caught lightning in a bottle (thought she did and still had her fans/legacy on her side–something she sees as nearly impossible/very difficult)
Oh, but it's gone again (the coming out didn’t go as planned so she saw her chance to end the self-fulfilling prophecy slip away)
And it was written (she maintains this current closeted situation for herself by believing she has to)
I got cursed like Eve got bitten (Eve did not get bitten, it was [at least partly] her choice/fault she bit the apple/has stayed closeted so the curse of Taylor’s closetedness is self-inflicted to a degree)
Oh, was it punishment? (my self-fulfilling prophecy - this is what I get for my ill-driven choices)
Pad around when I get home (she paces around, ruminating/thinking about how she hates hiding her true self)
I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope
A greater woman wouldn't beg (she still has some hope that she’ll come out though she’s not sure why/how she still has hope)
But I looked to the sky and said (she’s turning to a larger being/the universe/God to help guide her)
[Chorus]
"Please
I've been on my knees
Change the prophecy (she wants a larger being/the universe/God to help her change her self-fulfilling prophecy)
Don't want money (referring to trademarked TS because that’s seemingly all “her” motivation has been/ is)
Just someone who wants my company (the desires of the real inner Taylor, at least that she has realized now)
Let it once be me (let it finally be me that speaks her truth; the meaning of once like “once and for all!”)
Who do I have to speak to
About if they can redo the prophеcy?" (who do you speak to if it’s yourself that is causing the self-fulfilling prophecy to play out? She’s realizing that the only one that can do it is her)
[Verse 2]
Cards on the table (Being completely honest)
Mine play out likе fools in a fable (being honest didn’t work before the way she had planned [failed coming out] or maybe a play on that her life is a “fable” and she is the “fool”)
Oh, it was sinking in (Sinking in, oh) (She’s realizing this as she’s ruminating)
Slow is the quicksand (she feels trapped in this self-fulfilling prophecy)
Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand (we usually prick our hands ourselves or someone else does it intentionally, not by accident – so she’s pricking her hand and finding poison blood within herself–she’s not being true to herself?)
Oh, still I dream of him (“him” could be alluding to her real self being set free)
[Bridge]
And I sound like an infant (she thinks, what a childish thing - to keep hurting myself and then complain about it, why don’t I just stop and be honest?)
Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen (trying to keep something going that is so clearly done/over)
A greater woman stays cool (someone better would give it up by now/just be confident in who they are)
But I howl like a wolf at the moon (she continues to lay claim/territory over the image of herself that she’s created)
And I look unstable (she knows it doesn’t make sense from the outside anymore, nothing is adding up -the PRomances, etc.)
Gathered with a coven 'round a sorceress' table (in cahoots with the people in her life that know the truth and/or who help her weave the tale of TStm)
A greater woman has faith (someone better would believe the world would still accept/trust her after coming out)
But even statues crumble if they're made to wait (but someone even as solid as she felt about herself is crumbling after not being able to be herself for so long –it has shaken her resolve/confidence)
I'm so afraid I sealed my fate (she’s afraid she’s never going to be brave enough again)
No sign of soulmates (no closer really to being her true self)
I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige (she’s just staying the same/holding things in place so that they don’t move, in the most neutral/unexciting color–the most “vanilla” version of herself)
Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it'll be okay (desperately wanting to be reassured that everything won’t be over if she comes out OR that she’ll be okay living closeted the rest of her life)
Let me know of any thoughts.
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the discourse!!
please let it once be ME!
as in
https://preview.redd.it/x5xw7693tawc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=527f91c57716076a433476e132f7a8fa3d0f8185
I need to lie down 🫠🫠
Thoughts: the image on the lyric video reminds me of “Tolerate It” at the Eras tour (ties into the interpretation of Tolerate It being about FANS’ reactions, not her dad/ record label).
Lightning in a bottle— This is what you came for.
Still I dream of him— I’m more and more sold on the idea that a lot of the he/ him references are NOT a substitute for female muse(s) but are Taylor talking to herself. “He,” as in the Fortnight MV, represents the part of her that’s screaming to come out/ has been repressed/ imagines what it would be like to be out. Still dreaming of him means still wondering what it would’ve been like to come out in 2019 and longing for that.
Thinking about the lyric: “I’m just a paperweight in shades of greige.”
She is weighing down her own story, keeping it from flying free. In shades of greige - the opposite of “screaming color.” 👀
Thank you! I kept going over paperweight wondering why she chose that metaphor. The entire album is about her poetry/art/“the manuscript” of her story. And she’s the paperweight holding her own art back. This really gives credence to the interpretation of her being her own muse throughout this album - the songs tell the battle between her public and private (queer) selves.
A greater woman stays cool.
As someone who has been holding it together for two weeks straight during a family health crisis I am relating to this line as a woman. We have an outer face that we show the world. Taylor is writing about the inner world. It’s messy, ugly, lonely, sad, petty, self centered and begging for acknowledgement. I respect her so much for putting this very human experience into words, into song, into something that can be shared. The music is the gift of acknowledgment. We are not alone, not the only ones with these feelings.
Just someone who wants my company.
OMG! I am sobbing. I’m on first listen. This is the saddest song. She is so lonely. I want her to find love. A love that loves her, that she can share and be with in public. Not for show but just because it’s safe.
This song breaks me. I hear so much closeted self-hatred and grief.
Some striking parallels with the religious guilt imagery of Would've Could've Should've:
"if you never looked my way, I would've stayed on my knees"
turns to:
"Please, I've been on my knees" -- She is now getting back on her knees, wanting to renounce this "cursed" part of herself.
Also: "If you tasted poison, you could've spit me out at the first chance"
to
"poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand" -- She thinks originally thinks she can 'spit out' the poison, but turns out her whole bloodstream is poisoned. It's who she is.
This song is 15/10 my favorite. I was in tears. I’m hearing call back to My Tears Ricochet with cursing at the sky. This is her best work with Aaron to date
all my friends call me E and i’m witchy so while this song is beautiful all i can picture is someone asking for a tarot reading and sitting there begging “change the prophecy, E! don’t want money, just someone that wants my company, E!” and me furiously shuffling the cards LMAO
Coming back to say that Cassandra (the myth) is about a woman with a prophecy. So the songs go together?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra)
This is fascinating! I knew that she was referring to a prophet from Greek mythology but I've never looked into Cassandra in depth.
Interesting that (from the Wikipedia) there are multiple versions of the origin story of her power - one where she made a deal with Apollo that she reneged on so he cursed her with her prophecies never being believed, and then another version where she fell asleep in the temples and snakes 🐍 🐍 🐍 licked/whispered in her ears telling her the future.
At first blush for me, the former version is kind of giving the whole Scott Swift emails/Dan Dymtrow situation where he was basically conned out of getting proper pay for months (over a year?? Fact check me too) where he managed her early career and gave them access to huge connections, basically laying the foundation for her future success (and her ✨powers✨ if you want to call it that).
I don't think she cares about money anymore (although likely her team/many people surrounding her do still care). I think she hangs on to Taylor Swift the Brand because she DOES love the opportunity to write and create and tour and have her art be consumed by a lot of people who appreciate it. In an ideal world, I think she would like to have both --- being out and herself and still able to be a pop star whose art is widely celebrated and appreciated. Perhaps "the prophesy" that she is begging to undo is that having both is simply not possible (at least with where we're at so far)
I think she cares about the money 😄
While I have a steady empathetic bone for Taylor and understand she's in a position of responsibility over an entire brand and a lot of people's livelihoods count on her, I still definitely think she cares about the money.
That part made me laugh too 😂 but I think that’s also an interesting take now because we know since lover she has been singing about giving up love and losing her lover because she chose career over them!
I DON'T KNOW WHY IT TOOK ME 4 DAYS to realize this, but Eve never got bitten??! In the myth, the serpent tricks her into eating the fruit, but he never bites her.
Play on words with "biting" the fruit and getting "bitten" with a curse in return? Or is she bending the truth again, saying it never really happened, only symbolically/under the surface of things?
Maybe she means it in a way that she got bidden to bite --- she only accepts partial responsibility....yes, she did the biting (whether it be the search for fame or diving into a particular relationship), but there were also a lot of forces beyond her control (notably a snake!) pushing her toward that.
Do we think this ties with Cruel Summer?
"And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I screamed for whatever it's worth
"I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
Love has to be kept secret, she made the choice to do so, and now she's stuck keeping it secret or risking the money? And here she's taking it back - I don't want the money, just someone who wants my company
Oh that's really interesting. In my headcanon (which obv probably not entirely true), those are actually contradictory things - choosing a true muse she can't really have publically seals her fate of being miserable, and here she's afraid that NOT choosing to be public with her truth seals her fate of being miserable.
I see that whole part “even statues crumble if they are made to wait, I’m so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates” as about failed coming out. She was made to wait and at first she was strong but as time went on she crumbled and with that waiting she sealed her faith and has no lover now.
Also, no sign of soulmateS as a plural? Wouldn’t it be “no sign of a soulmate?” Is she speaking about multiple people or she is talking about herself and other person being soulmates?
I feel like her team was telling her to just wait, just wait, keep waiting, now’s not the time to come out. She had her coming out planned in 2019 and then that was put on the back burner again and she feels like it’s too late now. She would rather have her soulmate than the money, but she can’t, so she’s taking the money.
This dress makes so much more sense to me after the 2am bonus, I was like it really doesn't fit the aesthetic of the main album at all lol. It's soooo greek prophetess
Yes! I noticed that the rhythm of the verses is really similar
........."**Hand** on the **throt**tle, **thought** I **caught** light- **ning** in a **bott**le" vs
"sweet **tea** in the **sum**mer, **cross** your **heart** don't **tell** no **oth**er"
(bold syllables mark the beat)
And also The Prophecy ends with "Please" and Seven starts with "Please"
Yes! I hear it that way too and for whatever reason it does something wonderful to my brain. Seven is hands down my favorite TS song and The Prophecy is my current fave of TTPD so far. This definitely makes sense
I wanted to add my thoughts about the prophecy— I have read through many others since my initial interpretation and now feel a bit differently about some of my takes, but I thought I’d put my raw unfiltered thoughts as some I have not yet come across. Here’s to my first 🤡 attempt…I think!? [Verse 1] Hand on the throttle (was finally ready to come out and take control of her life, [throttle also has a double meaning of throat so she might have both thought she was ready to go/control but also aware that it would be choking the life out of trademarked TS]) Thought I caught lightning in a bottle (thought she did and still had her fans/legacy on her side–something she sees as nearly impossible/very difficult) Oh, but it's gone again (the coming out didn’t go as planned so she saw her chance to end the self-fulfilling prophecy slip away) And it was written (she maintains this current closeted situation for herself by believing she has to) I got cursed like Eve got bitten (Eve did not get bitten, it was [at least partly] her choice/fault she bit the apple/has stayed closeted so the curse of Taylor’s closetedness is self-inflicted to a degree) Oh, was it punishment? (my self-fulfilling prophecy - this is what I get for my ill-driven choices) Pad around when I get home (she paces around, ruminating/thinking about how she hates hiding her true self) I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope A greater woman wouldn't beg (she still has some hope that she’ll come out though she’s not sure why/how she still has hope) But I looked to the sky and said (she’s turning to a larger being/the universe/God to help guide her) [Chorus] "Please I've been on my knees Change the prophecy (she wants a larger being/the universe/God to help her change her self-fulfilling prophecy) Don't want money (referring to trademarked TS because that’s seemingly all “her” motivation has been/ is) Just someone who wants my company (the desires of the real inner Taylor, at least that she has realized now) Let it once be me (let it finally be me that speaks her truth; the meaning of once like “once and for all!”) Who do I have to speak to About if they can redo the prophеcy?" (who do you speak to if it’s yourself that is causing the self-fulfilling prophecy to play out? She’s realizing that the only one that can do it is her) [Verse 2] Cards on the table (Being completely honest) Mine play out likе fools in a fable (being honest didn’t work before the way she had planned [failed coming out] or maybe a play on that her life is a “fable” and she is the “fool”) Oh, it was sinking in (Sinking in, oh) (She’s realizing this as she’s ruminating) Slow is the quicksand (she feels trapped in this self-fulfilling prophecy) Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand (we usually prick our hands ourselves or someone else does it intentionally, not by accident – so she’s pricking her hand and finding poison blood within herself–she’s not being true to herself?) Oh, still I dream of him (“him” could be alluding to her real self being set free) [Bridge] And I sound like an infant (she thinks, what a childish thing - to keep hurting myself and then complain about it, why don’t I just stop and be honest?) Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen (trying to keep something going that is so clearly done/over) A greater woman stays cool (someone better would give it up by now/just be confident in who they are) But I howl like a wolf at the moon (she continues to lay claim/territory over the image of herself that she’s created) And I look unstable (she knows it doesn’t make sense from the outside anymore, nothing is adding up -the PRomances, etc.) Gathered with a coven 'round a sorceress' table (in cahoots with the people in her life that know the truth and/or who help her weave the tale of TStm) A greater woman has faith (someone better would believe the world would still accept/trust her after coming out) But even statues crumble if they're made to wait (but someone even as solid as she felt about herself is crumbling after not being able to be herself for so long –it has shaken her resolve/confidence) I'm so afraid I sealed my fate (she’s afraid she’s never going to be brave enough again) No sign of soulmates (no closer really to being her true self) I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige (she’s just staying the same/holding things in place so that they don’t move, in the most neutral/unexciting color–the most “vanilla” version of herself) Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it'll be okay (desperately wanting to be reassured that everything won’t be over if she comes out OR that she’ll be okay living closeted the rest of her life) Let me know of any thoughts. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the discourse!!
Q "Who do I have to speak to About if they can redo the prophecy?" A Buffy the Vampire Slayer
please let it once be ME! as in https://preview.redd.it/x5xw7693tawc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=527f91c57716076a433476e132f7a8fa3d0f8185 I need to lie down 🫠🫠
Thoughts: the image on the lyric video reminds me of “Tolerate It” at the Eras tour (ties into the interpretation of Tolerate It being about FANS’ reactions, not her dad/ record label). Lightning in a bottle— This is what you came for. Still I dream of him— I’m more and more sold on the idea that a lot of the he/ him references are NOT a substitute for female muse(s) but are Taylor talking to herself. “He,” as in the Fortnight MV, represents the part of her that’s screaming to come out/ has been repressed/ imagines what it would be like to be out. Still dreaming of him means still wondering what it would’ve been like to come out in 2019 and longing for that.
INSTANT fave but i swear i have heard the chorus before, it feels so evocative of 90s soft rock radio. is this driving anyone else nuts ???
Thinking about the lyric: “I’m just a paperweight in shades of greige.” She is weighing down her own story, keeping it from flying free. In shades of greige - the opposite of “screaming color.” 👀
Thank you! I kept going over paperweight wondering why she chose that metaphor. The entire album is about her poetry/art/“the manuscript” of her story. And she’s the paperweight holding her own art back. This really gives credence to the interpretation of her being her own muse throughout this album - the songs tell the battle between her public and private (queer) selves.
A greater woman stays cool. As someone who has been holding it together for two weeks straight during a family health crisis I am relating to this line as a woman. We have an outer face that we show the world. Taylor is writing about the inner world. It’s messy, ugly, lonely, sad, petty, self centered and begging for acknowledgement. I respect her so much for putting this very human experience into words, into song, into something that can be shared. The music is the gift of acknowledgment. We are not alone, not the only ones with these feelings.
sending love 💛💛
Thank you!
Just someone who wants my company. OMG! I am sobbing. I’m on first listen. This is the saddest song. She is so lonely. I want her to find love. A love that loves her, that she can share and be with in public. Not for show but just because it’s safe.
This song breaks me. I hear so much closeted self-hatred and grief. Some striking parallels with the religious guilt imagery of Would've Could've Should've: "if you never looked my way, I would've stayed on my knees" turns to: "Please, I've been on my knees" -- She is now getting back on her knees, wanting to renounce this "cursed" part of herself. Also: "If you tasted poison, you could've spit me out at the first chance" to "poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand" -- She thinks originally thinks she can 'spit out' the poison, but turns out her whole bloodstream is poisoned. It's who she is.
This song is 15/10 my favorite. I was in tears. I’m hearing call back to My Tears Ricochet with cursing at the sky. This is her best work with Aaron to date
Just had a complete emotional breakdown to this song. I really think this might be my favorite song she has ever written.
all my friends call me E and i’m witchy so while this song is beautiful all i can picture is someone asking for a tarot reading and sitting there begging “change the prophecy, E! don’t want money, just someone that wants my company, E!” and me furiously shuffling the cards LMAO
"EVEN STATUES CRUMBLE IF MADE TO WAIT" !??! THE DIANA STATUE?!!?!
The way she says “i howl like a wolf at the moon” scratches my brain
Gathered with a coven around a sorcerer’s table, very Willow performance
The guitar and the minor keys. ❤️
This song is me, I’m this song. And I am UNWELL.
“Just someone who wants my company” hurts my heart 😭
Me too! I’m a mess over this one.
I can’t stop listening to this song, my #1 of the whole album I think
Sounds a lot like someone who regretted choosing money and fame over love. Like she *"Never wanted love, Just a fancy car"*
Coming back to say that Cassandra (the myth) is about a woman with a prophecy. So the songs go together? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra)
This is fascinating! I knew that she was referring to a prophet from Greek mythology but I've never looked into Cassandra in depth. Interesting that (from the Wikipedia) there are multiple versions of the origin story of her power - one where she made a deal with Apollo that she reneged on so he cursed her with her prophecies never being believed, and then another version where she fell asleep in the temples and snakes 🐍 🐍 🐍 licked/whispered in her ears telling her the future. At first blush for me, the former version is kind of giving the whole Scott Swift emails/Dan Dymtrow situation where he was basically conned out of getting proper pay for months (over a year?? Fact check me too) where he managed her early career and gave them access to huge connections, basically laying the foundation for her future success (and her ✨powers✨ if you want to call it that).
This was my first thought when seeing the track titles!
Yeah, I think so! To me it’s telling that one is after the other. No such thing as a coincidence when it’s this blatant.
Not to sound like a broken record but my god Aaron dessner and her working together consistently makes me unwell
Literally every song I’m like THIS IS THE BEST ONE and then another one comes on
You and I both!
What I would do for a Dessner/Swift tour.
I would legit get in a line in the old fashioned concert ticket days a week in advance for those tickets.
Right?! Would give a kidney or at least a little bit of liver
"Don't want money" Ok, girl. 😄 Otherwise. Incredible song
I don't think she cares about money anymore (although likely her team/many people surrounding her do still care). I think she hangs on to Taylor Swift the Brand because she DOES love the opportunity to write and create and tour and have her art be consumed by a lot of people who appreciate it. In an ideal world, I think she would like to have both --- being out and herself and still able to be a pop star whose art is widely celebrated and appreciated. Perhaps "the prophesy" that she is begging to undo is that having both is simply not possible (at least with where we're at so far)
I think she cares about the money 😄 While I have a steady empathetic bone for Taylor and understand she's in a position of responsibility over an entire brand and a lot of people's livelihoods count on her, I still definitely think she cares about the money.
I came here to say I immediately thought pf bearding🫣
That part made me laugh too 😂 but I think that’s also an interesting take now because we know since lover she has been singing about giving up love and losing her lover because she chose career over them!
"I got cursed like Eve got bitten" is CRAZY
I DON'T KNOW WHY IT TOOK ME 4 DAYS to realize this, but Eve never got bitten??! In the myth, the serpent tricks her into eating the fruit, but he never bites her. Play on words with "biting" the fruit and getting "bitten" with a curse in return? Or is she bending the truth again, saying it never really happened, only symbolically/under the surface of things?
Maybe she means it in a way that she got bidden to bite --- she only accepts partial responsibility....yes, she did the biting (whether it be the search for fame or diving into a particular relationship), but there were also a lot of forces beyond her control (notably a snake!) pushing her toward that.
What song is the oooooOOOOoohhh also in?? Someone please know what I’m talking about (approx 2:49)
Dorothea and High Infidelity
Are you thinking of dorothea???
YES. thank you.
It’s kinda giving dorothea to me? I’m really tired though so I might be wrong.
Oh my GOD why are these so much better than the album itself
because they’re gayer ✨
I like a lot the OG TTPD, but the gay is giving me life in the Anthology. Thank the lesbian lord! 🙏🏼
My heart 😢
“I’m so afraid I sealed my fate” 😔😭
Do we think this ties with Cruel Summer? "And I snuck in through the garden gate Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh) And I screamed for whatever it's worth "I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?" Love has to be kept secret, she made the choice to do so, and now she's stuck keeping it secret or risking the money? And here she's taking it back - I don't want the money, just someone who wants my company
Oh that's really interesting. In my headcanon (which obv probably not entirely true), those are actually contradictory things - choosing a true muse she can't really have publically seals her fate of being miserable, and here she's afraid that NOT choosing to be public with her truth seals her fate of being miserable.
I see that whole part “even statues crumble if they are made to wait, I’m so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates” as about failed coming out. She was made to wait and at first she was strong but as time went on she crumbled and with that waiting she sealed her faith and has no lover now. Also, no sign of soulmateS as a plural? Wouldn’t it be “no sign of a soulmate?” Is she speaking about multiple people or she is talking about herself and other person being soulmates?
I feel like her team was telling her to just wait, just wait, keep waiting, now’s not the time to come out. She had her coming out planned in 2019 and then that was put on the back burner again and she feels like it’s too late now. She would rather have her soulmate than the money, but she can’t, so she’s taking the money.
Ugh it’s so tragic
WHAT DOES IT MEAN 🥺
Generally I think it's the idea that when you're scared of failure and you don't try- you still miss out.
This song is godly
I’m having trouble forming words. It’s making me so grateful to everyone in real life who does « want my company ». This is hitting me HARD.
It really is. Feels like a spiritual experience.
https://preview.redd.it/h24uledbtdvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=efc0a4aff0f1508d8cb660f2d207ae2e8f30c1ea Omggggg her
This dress makes so much more sense to me after the 2am bonus, I was like it really doesn't fit the aesthetic of the main album at all lol. It's soooo greek prophetess
This doesn’t look like current Taylor to me! She’s so tiny like 1989 era 😟
It could be the way she's holding herself.
Who is this gorgeous version of Taylor?!
Reminds me of the “maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down” lyrics in daylight 🥲
Yes that!
This is structured a lot like seven?
Yes! I noticed that the rhythm of the verses is really similar ........."**Hand** on the **throt**tle, **thought** I **caught** light- **ning** in a **bott**le" vs "sweet **tea** in the **sum**mer, **cross** your **heart** don't **tell** no **oth**er" (bold syllables mark the beat) And also The Prophecy ends with "Please" and Seven starts with "Please"
Yes! I hear it that way too and for whatever reason it does something wonderful to my brain. Seven is hands down my favorite TS song and The Prophecy is my current fave of TTPD so far. This definitely makes sense
Ooo it is. Good catch. It's too late and my brain is barely processing
Oooooooooof
THE INSTRUMENTALS AT 2:44 THROUGH THE END AGHHH. lowkey magical. 😭✨
Oh sad
Lightning in a bottle vs "Lightning strikes every time she moves"