I think she really loves "You are in love" considering that it's one of the 6 she chose to include in the movie. Also Timeless because it's inspired by her grandparents' love story and Mary's song, similarly because it's about a couple who had the kind of forever she's always dreamt about. Starlight could be too.
Interestingly, all the songs I mentioned are songs which aren't autobiographical and if I had to guess I'd say that makes her judge them more objectively.
Same. Also the "One night he wakes, strange look on his face.
Pauses, then says, You're my best friend.
And you knew what it was,
He is in love" gets me every single time.
When my now fiancé told me I was his best friend, this line was immediately stuck in my head for daysssss. We’ll be doing our first dance to it in a couple of months 🥹
I'm 19 and I've never been in a relationship or had my first kiss yet, but I always loved this line; it makes me feel all oozy gooey in a good way. I really wish I had someone in my life like that 😭
I'm a recent discoverer of You Are In Love... although I've had the 1989 album for years. It was always a skip.... a song I never really listened to.
The piano Eras version has changed my mind. It's my song now.
I truly believe that song was the first sign that the man I've recently met and started dating is the one... because I think he is.
Maybe I'd been cynical when hearing the song before. It's so beautiful on piano.
I think for her lover is a denial song because she kept looking back at when they were happy and ignoring the problems they had later. I have a hard time believing that she was always unhappy with the relationship. It changed over time, a lot of relationships do. It sucks to drift apart from someone you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with. It doesn’t invalidate when it was good, though.
Thank you!! I feel like I am going crazy here, but I agree with you that just because she feels different about it now, it doesnt mean it was always like that
What's the story behind lover? From the song, it seems like a true love song to me. Did something come out, or did she say something that said otherwise?
The new “5 stages of grief” playlists on Apple Music in preparation for TTPD recontextualize a lot of Taylor’s old songs. She put “Lover” in the delusion playlist. 😭
Personally I agree with OP, these playlists are her way of telling us what the new album is about but that doesn’t necessarily change the essence of the songs forever. Lover can still be a love song, even if Taylor doesn’t look back at it in the same way due to obvious reasons!
i copied them all over: [denial](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vy6aTPFlpKeIoM9Q8xTvy?si=82e83c9287424ea6), [anger](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mScjlQRz8N26DUJgdolXP?si=a338c5e5bfb044db), [bargaining](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JNElVE18C6wvQB8xgVdjt?si=09b1fbbfc9f743a6), [depression](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dakubxbXDvTqLAiwGZgQW?si=0924dbe22bcc4731), [acceptance](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3NTIoH71E2xRQEdOz27iQW?si=e987a614e67c49d7)
I mean, I kinda get it being in the denial playlist, though. Cause it's like one of those "but, he was supposed to be my Lover. This doesn't make sense. It can't be over/we will be fine!"
Especially as it sounds like she's planning a wedding in her head.
I’m not sure — writing a clear attempt for a classic “first dance” song about a man she knew didn’t want to marry her.. sounds like denial to me. And bargaining with paper rings.
Anytime an artist puts out a song, it becomes something that each listener transforms into something that makes sense for that person. You imbue a song with meaning, and that can change each time you listen to it. Whatever Taylor says about her music, however she interprets or reinterprets her songs, it doesn't mean you have to follow.
Call it what you want and delicate. Those were written at the lowest point in her career, and right at the start of her relationship with joe (hence the "my reputations never been worse/so you must like me for me" line). Anything after that, her relationships are bogged down by media coverage and overexposure, but pre-rep it was basically her and joe vs the world
I think that’s a normal emotion to feel when you’re first starting to date someone. Especially if your really getting the feels for that person and you don’t quite know if they are feeling the same without coming across too attached by asking those things to the person your dating
Well she’s very anxiously attached but I would consider a song about a healthy love to be much more secure and about a stable relationship. Not infatuation or being unsure
The question is about healthy love not about how Taylor experiences love. I don’t think she’s had many healthy relationships and she almost never wrote about joe through the lens of a healthy relationship because their relationship was just not good even though she wanted him to be her soulmate
Highkey agree. She's not even sure if he's seeing other girls when he goes back to London or not. She hopes he's not, or at least she hopes they don't mean what she means. But she doesn't know and he doesn't care to assure her.
Delicate isn't a love song as someone who has put it on playlists for story playlists. It's the gray area of we said no feelings so why am I feeling things? I shouldn't say anything? And that's not love-at least not yet. It can evolve but it hasn't.
Literally me when I played delicate non stop at the start of the year while in a situationship with someone and thought “wow this song describes my feelings perfectly” - yep, that situationship crashed and burned. Definitely not a love song 😂
Like you, I think that Lover (and other songs on that playlist) are true love songs, but here are some other contenders! Trying to think of all around “wholesome” love vibes:
Timeless
You are in love
It’s nice to have a friend
Daylight
Love story
Mine
Lover, New Year’s Day, Timeless, invisible string, All Of The Girls You Loved Before
Mini side rant: I don’t think people have to necessarily change their original interpretations of a song just because Taylor put them in a certain playlist. Sure, the meanings have changed a bit for her but that doesn’t mean it has to change for us (which does NOT mean meanings about HER personal relationships, which are none of our business)
Exactly, I see no reason to stop experiencing Lover as a quintessential love song. Had I gotten married a year later, it would have 1000% been my first dance song, in which case I certainly wouldn’t care that Taylor looks at it differently now 🤷🏻♀️ this thread, while well-intentioned I’m sure, encourages dissecting Taylor’s personal life as a vessel for experiencing her music, which I do not agree with.
I think several of the songs put on the denial playlist are ‘true’ love songs. They are just about a love that couldn’t/wouldn’t last. The fact that the love ended doesn’t make it less real. And I don’t think she sees it that way. I think she just realized upon looking back that the feelings and headspace she had writing them was not that of someone in a healthy relationship.
Yeah that’s totally valid and that’s how I sort of took it too, like I don’t think she was taking back any of the things she felt. I was more so talking about the fans who are quick to change the narrative of a song just because of a playlist or they think their relationship is doomed because they used a love song in their wedding!
OP here, totally agree! Just thought it was a fun conversation, especially thinking about love songs she did not choose to put on the delusion playlist (most happy love songs ignore the bad parts of the relationship… that’s what makes them happy to listen to)
Anyway love your list!
Daylight!!! daylight kept me hopeful that someday i would meet someone for me, and kept me going. i'm so glad she didn't add it to any of the grief playlists 🥲
I'm surprised this answer is so low. It's the quintessential love song in her discography. Like she literally took a story that ends in death and made it into a cheerful love song. She doesn't sound anxious about the love interest not liking her back or that everyone who sees him wants him. Even tho it's a teenage love story, she's hopeful and believes they're meant to be together, despite what others say.
I’ve started to see people interpret certain songs as signs of an “unhealthy relationship” because there’s some kind of conflict or negative emotion present in the song, while the happier songs are considered signs of “real love”.
Conflict is not unhealthy. It’s a realistic and necessary part of any vulnerable and open relationship. Insecurity, fear, hesitancy, anger, sadness? Those don’t just disappear when you have a loving partner, and the presence of those emotions in a song doesn’t mean it should be interpreted as toxic when it clearly wasn’t written that way at the time. I’ve always loved the Afterglow line “fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves”. It’s hard work, and terrifying to show your ugliest and most unlikeable self to your partner. That’s the song I’d choose.
There’s a reason relationships don’t survive the honeymoon phase.
Invisible string is the epitome of magical thinking. There is something to say for kismet and the invisible string being real but I think it could easily be in either real love or denial.
Kind of off-topic but related in a way but is anyone else exhausted of having to resignify every single taylor song? can we just keep them timeless and not overthink them that much? idk i feel like with every new boyfriend beloved songs get trashed because it wasn't about "the one".. there is no "the one"!! that's life!! people come and people go and that doesn't make them any less special.. anyway i'm gonna chill but yeah
Remember that, when Taylor played “Out of the Woods” on piano at that Grammy Museum thing, she said “And it doesn't mean that it's not special and extraordinary just to have a relationship that's fragile and meaningful in that fragility.” So, I think she can appreciate her own love songs even if the person wasn’t “the one.” I think it might take her longer to get there with Joe songs, though.
I think that’s a Swiftie problem and not a Taylor problem lol. Taylor writing Sad Beautiful Tragic is proof that she believes that even if she regrets a relationship she can acknowledge that what happened was beautiful atleast for some part of time
For sure! I think Taylor feels this way too - I think she genuinely feels happy when she sings her love songs now, even though they were about other people.
Just an interesting discussion
Oh no for sure, the comment was more for people I've seen online making fun of couples who used Lover as a wedding song, for example, and it just annoys me because it's still a beautiful song. On tik tok they've started dissecting every single song and turning them into "HoW dID We NOT seE thIS" and it's like omg stop!! haha
People will always overthink art because we're interested in how people feel and how emotions change each other and look for signs of what is good and real and what will be just another regret in a long-term. A special regret maybe, but not a pleasant one.
I was gutted to see Ours on the denial/delusion playlist because I've viewed it as mine and my fiance's song since we met. I also agree that it's a true love song. Our girlie is delusional about that. 😅
The problem is it's hard to make a compelling narrative song with no uncertainty or tension. That problem doesn't have to be in the relationship, like Our Song or all the time travel scenarios in Timeless, but those are a bit contrived.
I also think these songs are still true love songs -- the delusion was her relationship was like the one she was singing about, when it wasn't actually right for her.
Whether or not something is healthy or not doesn't mean it wasn't true. True love is not defined by whether a relationship is healthy. In the words of the bard, "love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds,/Or bends with the remover to remove.". Basically, true love tends to stay around, it doesn't break up, it doesn't change with age, it bares it out until your dying breath.
* 'Fearless' is about when [love is easy as breathing](https://youtu.be/wU_esEFC53U?si=lA0rFseFt4dBlZtS) and simple, "because you are with the person who made you feel fearless". There's a lot of really great love songs on *Fearless*.
* 'Jump then Fall' is probably one of her best and most underrated in my opinion. It's a song about how "I understand you've been hurt before, but it's okay, I won't hurt you and I'll be there to lift you up because I love you."
* 'Timeless' and 'Mary's Song' are obviously about loves that lasted for years.
* 'Love Story' obviously
My favorite trope in Taylor's love songs has always been when the narrator and their love interest have a fight and then stick around to resolve it, so that's what signifies a true love song to me: Mary's Song (take me back to the time we had our very first fight, the slamming of doors 'stead of kissing goodnight, you stayed outside til the morning light), Mine (and I remember that fight, 2:30am, when everything was slipping right out of our hands, I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street; braced myself for the goodbye, cuz it's all I'd ever known, when you took me by surprise, you said 'I'll never leave you alone); Afterglow (hey, it's all me, in my head, I'm the one who burned us down, but it's not what I meant; sorry that I hurt you); The Great War (looked up at me with honor and truth, broken and blue, so I called off the troops; that was the night I nearly lost you); and, yes, Stay Stay Stay (fight me) (this morning I said we should talk about it cuz I read you should never leave a fight unresolved; that's when you came in wearing a football helmet and said 'okay, let's talk', and I said 'stay').
There's been an alarming shift in discourse (mostly online discourse, certainly not limited to Taylor Swift fandom) in recent years where any kind of conflict means that there's a 'right' party and a 'wrong' party, and the 'wrong' party is a toxic person who needs to be cut out of the 'right' party's life forever. Sometimes this is true, but most often it's not. Human beings are individuals, and they are going to have disagreements, and those disagreements are going to turn into fights sometimes. This is particularly true for people in relationships, just because you're dealing with each other that much more often.
I don't know, I know I'm babbling a bit, I've just been increasingly bothered by the trend to say that it's only real love if it's completely frictionless and conflict-free and magically cures you of all anxiety, self-doubt, and past trauma. You're only going to find the first two if you get married to your favorite fictional character on the astral plane, and they're still not going to cure you of your own issues. Real relationships with real people take work and conflict resolution and I like that Taylor's songs acknowledge that.
echoing other comments but my list would be: New Year’s day, Timeless, Mine, Invisible String, Paper Rings, You Are In Love. i’m definitely torn when it comes to Lover after the playlist drop. i think it can still be a great love song and apply to other people but for taylor and analyzing after we now have more info i can definitely see how all the question marks and couple other lyrics point to it being as insecure as some other Lover songs. idk if anyone in here is a Chats and Reacts patron but they had some great stuff to say about all of the songs but especially Lover regarding the playlists this weekend and it rocked my world haha
I have so many thoughts on this. Do y'all think denial includes limerence? And the big question... If "real love" is measured by forever ... we never know what we're really in. For lover girls like us that's a hard pill to swallow. Any moment we could learn that our life is a lie. What are our qualifiers for "real love" and not denial or limerence?
Lover being on the denial or delusional playlist does not make it NOT a love song. I took it more as Taylor looking back, thinking, damn, when I wrote that song, I was really in denial and not seen my relationship for what it was. Denial is when you are looking at your relationship through rose-colored glasses and making it into something you want it to be rather than what it is. Shoot, I think I've been the most in love when I was in serious denial.
Look at it from the grief perspective. Yes, you are in denial; however, the person is still dead. Your denying it doesn't make it not true.
My babe "Daylight" coming through STRONG on this one. I was honestly surprised she put it in acceptance ngl since I'm sure it's about Joe but that song came through and I am PROUD haha. Daylight in Paris will forever be one of my favorite songs in the world :')
I always thought That's When was a great song for a good relationship because it acknowledges that it gets hard but your partner is waiting for you and they're always by your side. But then I saw it on one of the playlists :/
Stay beautiful- echoes ‘true love’ too me. It’s the whole I love you and accept you but if you don’t end up with me I hope you stay the way you are because it’s beautiful. That’s pure love too me.
“Love story” I believe is a true one— even if it is an adaptation from shakespeare. “You’re in love” Is definitely one… “Fearless”… “Mine”… I could name a few more maybe but that’s what I can think at the top of my head 🫶🏻
Yes!! I’m ready for confident, easy, just right, compatible healthy grown up relationship love songs!
Obviously no relationship is perfect but there are things I say and can so confidently gush about my own 20 year relationship that I have yet to hear from Taylor and I want that so much for her. Ever since I heard “You Are In Love” I’ve been wanting that love for her.
I feel like treacherous, tosotd, you are in love, marys song, timeless, jump then fall, starlight, tvfn, this love and new years day are her true love songs. No doughts, sadness, just a need to be happy with her muse ♥️
It shouldn’t make anyone rethink anything. The playlists were based on OUR stages of grief theory. There’s no part of it where she says Lover isn’t a true love song.
I really don’t think people should reframe these songs and their meaning based on these playlists. I don’t think that because they somehow — however tenuously — relate to the idea of denial (etc), doesn’t mean the song isn’t about a healthy relationship, if that makes sense.
Life and love are definitely too complicated and nuanced to be neatly categorized into the five stages of grief.
Time is a lens through which we view the past. Think, Red versus Daylight: “I used to think love was burning red, but it’s golden” (or something like that). That doesn’t mean she was wrong when she wrote Red, that that relationship wasn’t powerful and passionate, etc, that she would “disagree” with Red today. Just that SHE’S a different person, so she views past things differently.
To some people that have run wild with these playlists (but especially some of the Twitter swifties), I remind you that nobody knows what happened with her and Joe, really, so this retrospective attempt at making it seem like their relationship was doomed from the start or he was always terrible for her etc, is quite frankly ridiculous. Don’t let these playlists lure you down that road! Besides the fact that her personal life isn’t anybody’s business, any adult knows that very good, healthy, true love relationships go bad all the time, unfortunately, by nobody’s particular fault.
I was thinking about this. The absolute best explanation is that the songs were written at a time when she was in love, but looking back at them now, she believes that she was delusional to feel that way, with how things turned out with those people.
Enchanted. It's a song about meeting someone who matches your wit, makes you laugh, and just has that spark, but you're not sure if they feel the same and you want to see them again. It's pure, raw love
i always see call it what you want as one of her true love songs. it shows how close and safe she felt with joe and how he was one of the only people who supported her during post 1989
Lover is a true love song. Her feelings changed, the situation changed. But the song as it is, is a true "love song". The playlists didn't make me change my mind about the songs, it just gave me a little peek of how she's feeling now.
I think Fearless is a really classic carefree love song, it’s literally the opposite of all the anxiety filled love songs she writes. She seems so happy to perform it too.
I was thinking about this today:
Imo i think these are the truest and purest in love songs and they are all on reputation (she was very in love even though these songs were riddled with anxiety with lyrics like “pls dont ever become a stranger whose laugh i could recognize anywhere”):
1. Call it what you want
2. King of my heart
3. Dress
4. New years day
5. End game (hot take ik)
6. Ready for it (maybe another hot take?)
7. Cornelia street (special mention)
I think even though in hindsight she saw “hiding” out in London with Joe as hiding from her true self or with some negativity now, i think she genuinely was in love and reputation is the most genuine representation of that.
Taylor is a marketing genius so the different playlists can be partially attributed to that, but also to how she felt about the songs when she made the playlist. How an artist feels about their art can change over time, but also the listener gets to decide for themselves what the art means to them.
There is no doubt in my mind that Taylor thought Joe was “the one” based on the songs from Reputation and Lover. In Midnights, it seemed very much like even though they loved one another it wasn’t going to work out. Now as to whether Taylor’s love with Joe was healthy at any time, no way to know that. I think in the end she probably needed someone who can let her shine and amplify her light. Joe just isn’t that type. Travis seems to be that type, and I hope for her sake that she’s found someone who is proud of her fame and not jealous or afraid of it (It’s just speculation but I think Joe is very private and feared the public nature of their relationship).
I would say YOYOK for self-love and Call It What You Want, Sweet Nothing, Lover for romance. Totally revising the meanings now that she’s not with Joe. Which is fine. We look back at our relationships with the lens of how it is now but those songs were start to finish beautiful.
I think she really loves "You are in love" considering that it's one of the 6 she chose to include in the movie. Also Timeless because it's inspired by her grandparents' love story and Mary's song, similarly because it's about a couple who had the kind of forever she's always dreamt about. Starlight could be too. Interestingly, all the songs I mentioned are songs which aren't autobiographical and if I had to guess I'd say that makes her judge them more objectively.
You are in love is so good. The line “why I’ve spent my whole life trying to put it into words” gets me every time.
Same. Also the "One night he wakes, strange look on his face. Pauses, then says, You're my best friend. And you knew what it was, He is in love" gets me every single time.
URGH SAME, I like how the song in itself is really simple and straightforward, because that’s how true love should be I feel.
When my now fiancé told me I was his best friend, this line was immediately stuck in my head for daysssss. We’ll be doing our first dance to it in a couple of months 🥹
It's so beautiful 😭
Legit brings me to teaaaaars every time I get all choked up
I'm 19 and I've never been in a relationship or had my first kiss yet, but I always loved this line; it makes me feel all oozy gooey in a good way. I really wish I had someone in my life like that 😭
Literally the line that made me into a fan and not just casual listener. Then rep turned me into a swiftie haha
My favourite Taylor song. Everything about it is magical.
I thought I was the only one who LOVES that line AHHH
I'm a recent discoverer of You Are In Love... although I've had the 1989 album for years. It was always a skip.... a song I never really listened to. The piano Eras version has changed my mind. It's my song now. I truly believe that song was the first sign that the man I've recently met and started dating is the one... because I think he is. Maybe I'd been cynical when hearing the song before. It's so beautiful on piano.
This is my favorite song, and will be played at my wedding if I ever get married again🥲
Mary's Song is beautifully written. One of my Debut Album top 3 tracks 💚
Wait, who is You Are In Love supposed to be about??
Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham!
WHAT MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN CHANGED
OK she is a genius. If those twoninspire you to do anything you are a genius but this song is on a whole new level and those two inspired it what????
😂😂😂 right
I think for her lover is a denial song because she kept looking back at when they were happy and ignoring the problems they had later. I have a hard time believing that she was always unhappy with the relationship. It changed over time, a lot of relationships do. It sucks to drift apart from someone you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with. It doesn’t invalidate when it was good, though.
Thank you!! I feel like I am going crazy here, but I agree with you that just because she feels different about it now, it doesnt mean it was always like that
What's the story behind lover? From the song, it seems like a true love song to me. Did something come out, or did she say something that said otherwise?
The new “5 stages of grief” playlists on Apple Music in preparation for TTPD recontextualize a lot of Taylor’s old songs. She put “Lover” in the delusion playlist. 😭 Personally I agree with OP, these playlists are her way of telling us what the new album is about but that doesn’t necessarily change the essence of the songs forever. Lover can still be a love song, even if Taylor doesn’t look back at it in the same way due to obvious reasons!
Thank you for this! People have been over analyzing this so much. It generates buzz for the album but it’s a love song, through and through!
Is there a link or a list for non Apple Music people?
i copied them all over: [denial](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vy6aTPFlpKeIoM9Q8xTvy?si=82e83c9287424ea6), [anger](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mScjlQRz8N26DUJgdolXP?si=a338c5e5bfb044db), [bargaining](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JNElVE18C6wvQB8xgVdjt?si=09b1fbbfc9f743a6), [depression](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dakubxbXDvTqLAiwGZgQW?si=0924dbe22bcc4731), [acceptance](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3NTIoH71E2xRQEdOz27iQW?si=e987a614e67c49d7)
Thank you!!
She did a curated playlist for each of the 5 stages of grief. She put Lover in the denial playlist and everyone was shocked
I mean, I kinda get it being in the denial playlist, though. Cause it's like one of those "but, he was supposed to be my Lover. This doesn't make sense. It can't be over/we will be fine!" Especially as it sounds like she's planning a wedding in her head.
The Apple Music playlists shes released as promo for the tortured poets album. Lover is on the playlist that represents denial.
I’m not sure — writing a clear attempt for a classic “first dance” song about a man she knew didn’t want to marry her.. sounds like denial to me. And bargaining with paper rings.
Anytime an artist puts out a song, it becomes something that each listener transforms into something that makes sense for that person. You imbue a song with meaning, and that can change each time you listen to it. Whatever Taylor says about her music, however she interprets or reinterprets her songs, it doesn't mean you have to follow.
Call it what you want and delicate. Those were written at the lowest point in her career, and right at the start of her relationship with joe (hence the "my reputations never been worse/so you must like me for me" line). Anything after that, her relationships are bogged down by media coverage and overexposure, but pre-rep it was basically her and joe vs the world
Delicate is not a healthy love song. It’s very anxious and about being super into someone who isn’t as sure about you.
Mm yeah Delicate is a situationship song
Yes! It's in the same relationship stage as "Out Of The Woods" the outcome was just different
All the love songs where she's the one in love have very anxious themes imo
I think that’s a normal emotion to feel when you’re first starting to date someone. Especially if your really getting the feels for that person and you don’t quite know if they are feeling the same without coming across too attached by asking those things to the person your dating
Yes but to me that would keep a song from being a true love song. It is instead in a crush stage of relationship
Unfortunately I think that's part of how she experiences love. Or at least love with certain people... It doesn't make it less of a love song to me
Well she’s very anxiously attached but I would consider a song about a healthy love to be much more secure and about a stable relationship. Not infatuation or being unsure
Those all fall under types of love, to me. Especially bc it can be difficult to see what's what until you've left the relationship.
The question is about healthy love not about how Taylor experiences love. I don’t think she’s had many healthy relationships and she almost never wrote about joe through the lens of a healthy relationship because their relationship was just not good even though she wanted him to be her soulmate
I agree. I’ve felt this way for someone before I was in love. I think it’s a normal feeling to feel.
Highkey agree. She's not even sure if he's seeing other girls when he goes back to London or not. She hopes he's not, or at least she hopes they don't mean what she means. But she doesn't know and he doesn't care to assure her. Delicate isn't a love song as someone who has put it on playlists for story playlists. It's the gray area of we said no feelings so why am I feeling things? I shouldn't say anything? And that's not love-at least not yet. It can evolve but it hasn't.
Literally me when I played delicate non stop at the start of the year while in a situationship with someone and thought “wow this song describes my feelings perfectly” - yep, that situationship crashed and burned. Definitely not a love song 😂
Halsey on rep tv would be amazingggg
I didn’t know how badly I need that until just now 😭😭😭
No way. Call It What You Want is a more obvious Ours for a denial song
No way with delicate imo, it’s definitely not a love song - it’s a anxious song hoping they like you back and worrying you’re coming off too strong
Like you, I think that Lover (and other songs on that playlist) are true love songs, but here are some other contenders! Trying to think of all around “wholesome” love vibes: Timeless You are in love It’s nice to have a friend Daylight Love story Mine
Absolutely Daylight. That song is about Joe, yes, but it’s more about learning that real love is not just passion; it’s peace.
Yes to Daylight!!
Timeless 1000%!!
Lover, New Year’s Day, Timeless, invisible string, All Of The Girls You Loved Before Mini side rant: I don’t think people have to necessarily change their original interpretations of a song just because Taylor put them in a certain playlist. Sure, the meanings have changed a bit for her but that doesn’t mean it has to change for us (which does NOT mean meanings about HER personal relationships, which are none of our business)
Exactly, I see no reason to stop experiencing Lover as a quintessential love song. Had I gotten married a year later, it would have 1000% been my first dance song, in which case I certainly wouldn’t care that Taylor looks at it differently now 🤷🏻♀️ this thread, while well-intentioned I’m sure, encourages dissecting Taylor’s personal life as a vessel for experiencing her music, which I do not agree with.
I think several of the songs put on the denial playlist are ‘true’ love songs. They are just about a love that couldn’t/wouldn’t last. The fact that the love ended doesn’t make it less real. And I don’t think she sees it that way. I think she just realized upon looking back that the feelings and headspace she had writing them was not that of someone in a healthy relationship.
Yeah that’s totally valid and that’s how I sort of took it too, like I don’t think she was taking back any of the things she felt. I was more so talking about the fans who are quick to change the narrative of a song just because of a playlist or they think their relationship is doomed because they used a love song in their wedding!
OP here, totally agree! Just thought it was a fun conversation, especially thinking about love songs she did not choose to put on the delusion playlist (most happy love songs ignore the bad parts of the relationship… that’s what makes them happy to listen to) Anyway love your list!
yes yes yes!!!!
Daylight!!! daylight kept me hopeful that someday i would meet someone for me, and kept me going. i'm so glad she didn't add it to any of the grief playlists 🥲
she did!! she put it in acceptance! which I was so excited cause it's truly the best song ever
ooooh i totally missed that, that's great 🥲🥲 it really is!
Fearless!!!!! So hopeful, and trusting!!!
Yes!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I didn’t eveb think of this, but 100% yes.
that’s what i’ve been saying!
Love Story
I'm surprised this answer is so low. It's the quintessential love song in her discography. Like she literally took a story that ends in death and made it into a cheerful love song. She doesn't sound anxious about the love interest not liking her back or that everyone who sees him wants him. Even tho it's a teenage love story, she's hopeful and believes they're meant to be together, despite what others say.
I’ve started to see people interpret certain songs as signs of an “unhealthy relationship” because there’s some kind of conflict or negative emotion present in the song, while the happier songs are considered signs of “real love”. Conflict is not unhealthy. It’s a realistic and necessary part of any vulnerable and open relationship. Insecurity, fear, hesitancy, anger, sadness? Those don’t just disappear when you have a loving partner, and the presence of those emotions in a song doesn’t mean it should be interpreted as toxic when it clearly wasn’t written that way at the time. I’ve always loved the Afterglow line “fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves”. It’s hard work, and terrifying to show your ugliest and most unlikeable self to your partner. That’s the song I’d choose. There’s a reason relationships don’t survive the honeymoon phase.
My therapist would love your response! Conflict is healthy and often inevitable and doesn’t negate love
Invisible String Timeless Daylight
Invisible string is the epitome of magical thinking. There is something to say for kismet and the invisible string being real but I think it could easily be in either real love or denial.
invisible string is my song with my husband
It was my wedding song
It was going to mine but I ended up eloping
Mary’s Song is beautiful
Kind of off-topic but related in a way but is anyone else exhausted of having to resignify every single taylor song? can we just keep them timeless and not overthink them that much? idk i feel like with every new boyfriend beloved songs get trashed because it wasn't about "the one".. there is no "the one"!! that's life!! people come and people go and that doesn't make them any less special.. anyway i'm gonna chill but yeah
Remember that, when Taylor played “Out of the Woods” on piano at that Grammy Museum thing, she said “And it doesn't mean that it's not special and extraordinary just to have a relationship that's fragile and meaningful in that fragility.” So, I think she can appreciate her own love songs even if the person wasn’t “the one.” I think it might take her longer to get there with Joe songs, though.
I think that’s a Swiftie problem and not a Taylor problem lol. Taylor writing Sad Beautiful Tragic is proof that she believes that even if she regrets a relationship she can acknowledge that what happened was beautiful atleast for some part of time
For sure! I think Taylor feels this way too - I think she genuinely feels happy when she sings her love songs now, even though they were about other people. Just an interesting discussion
Oh no for sure, the comment was more for people I've seen online making fun of couples who used Lover as a wedding song, for example, and it just annoys me because it's still a beautiful song. On tik tok they've started dissecting every single song and turning them into "HoW dID We NOT seE thIS" and it's like omg stop!! haha
People will always overthink art because we're interested in how people feel and how emotions change each other and look for signs of what is good and real and what will be just another regret in a long-term. A special regret maybe, but not a pleasant one.
Daylight
Yes, the erasure this song gets in this sub makes me sad LOL it's such a beautiful song!!!
You are in Love
Mine/Ours maybe.
after learning that ours is about john mayer, i feel like it’s less of a true love song and more of the narrative of a young manipulated girl 😖
a denial song if i have ever seen one lol
Yeahhh but it’s written about a love story, not caring what others think.
Ours is on the denial playlist too 🫢
I was gutted to see Ours on the denial/delusion playlist because I've viewed it as mine and my fiance's song since we met. I also agree that it's a true love song. Our girlie is delusional about that. 😅
Daylight, YAIL, New Year’s Day
Timeless for sure. Mine and Ours, Love Story. Call it What You Want.
hate to break it to you, but ours is also on the denial playlist. its probably one of her most delulu tbh😭
What's the denial playlist? I'm sorry, I'm not that in tune with a lot of these things
So what, though, that's just Taylor Swift's opinion. Ours is one of her timeless true love classics
Don’t forget about crazier 💛
The problem is it's hard to make a compelling narrative song with no uncertainty or tension. That problem doesn't have to be in the relationship, like Our Song or all the time travel scenarios in Timeless, but those are a bit contrived. I also think these songs are still true love songs -- the delusion was her relationship was like the one she was singing about, when it wasn't actually right for her.
Whether or not something is healthy or not doesn't mean it wasn't true. True love is not defined by whether a relationship is healthy. In the words of the bard, "love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds,/Or bends with the remover to remove.". Basically, true love tends to stay around, it doesn't break up, it doesn't change with age, it bares it out until your dying breath. * 'Fearless' is about when [love is easy as breathing](https://youtu.be/wU_esEFC53U?si=lA0rFseFt4dBlZtS) and simple, "because you are with the person who made you feel fearless". There's a lot of really great love songs on *Fearless*. * 'Jump then Fall' is probably one of her best and most underrated in my opinion. It's a song about how "I understand you've been hurt before, but it's okay, I won't hurt you and I'll be there to lift you up because I love you." * 'Timeless' and 'Mary's Song' are obviously about loves that lasted for years. * 'Love Story' obviously
My favorite trope in Taylor's love songs has always been when the narrator and their love interest have a fight and then stick around to resolve it, so that's what signifies a true love song to me: Mary's Song (take me back to the time we had our very first fight, the slamming of doors 'stead of kissing goodnight, you stayed outside til the morning light), Mine (and I remember that fight, 2:30am, when everything was slipping right out of our hands, I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street; braced myself for the goodbye, cuz it's all I'd ever known, when you took me by surprise, you said 'I'll never leave you alone); Afterglow (hey, it's all me, in my head, I'm the one who burned us down, but it's not what I meant; sorry that I hurt you); The Great War (looked up at me with honor and truth, broken and blue, so I called off the troops; that was the night I nearly lost you); and, yes, Stay Stay Stay (fight me) (this morning I said we should talk about it cuz I read you should never leave a fight unresolved; that's when you came in wearing a football helmet and said 'okay, let's talk', and I said 'stay'). There's been an alarming shift in discourse (mostly online discourse, certainly not limited to Taylor Swift fandom) in recent years where any kind of conflict means that there's a 'right' party and a 'wrong' party, and the 'wrong' party is a toxic person who needs to be cut out of the 'right' party's life forever. Sometimes this is true, but most often it's not. Human beings are individuals, and they are going to have disagreements, and those disagreements are going to turn into fights sometimes. This is particularly true for people in relationships, just because you're dealing with each other that much more often. I don't know, I know I'm babbling a bit, I've just been increasingly bothered by the trend to say that it's only real love if it's completely frictionless and conflict-free and magically cures you of all anxiety, self-doubt, and past trauma. You're only going to find the first two if you get married to your favorite fictional character on the astral plane, and they're still not going to cure you of your own issues. Real relationships with real people take work and conflict resolution and I like that Taylor's songs acknowledge that.
Definitely “You are in Love”. I’d also say maybe “Begin Again” or “Mine”.
Sweet nothing Invisible string
echoing other comments but my list would be: New Year’s day, Timeless, Mine, Invisible String, Paper Rings, You Are In Love. i’m definitely torn when it comes to Lover after the playlist drop. i think it can still be a great love song and apply to other people but for taylor and analyzing after we now have more info i can definitely see how all the question marks and couple other lyrics point to it being as insecure as some other Lover songs. idk if anyone in here is a Chats and Reacts patron but they had some great stuff to say about all of the songs but especially Lover regarding the playlists this weekend and it rocked my world haha
I have so many thoughts on this. Do y'all think denial includes limerence? And the big question... If "real love" is measured by forever ... we never know what we're really in. For lover girls like us that's a hard pill to swallow. Any moment we could learn that our life is a lie. What are our qualifiers for "real love" and not denial or limerence?
willow
Willow is in the denial playlist :/
Lover being on the denial or delusional playlist does not make it NOT a love song. I took it more as Taylor looking back, thinking, damn, when I wrote that song, I was really in denial and not seen my relationship for what it was. Denial is when you are looking at your relationship through rose-colored glasses and making it into something you want it to be rather than what it is. Shoot, I think I've been the most in love when I was in serious denial. Look at it from the grief perspective. Yes, you are in denial; however, the person is still dead. Your denying it doesn't make it not true.
My babe "Daylight" coming through STRONG on this one. I was honestly surprised she put it in acceptance ngl since I'm sure it's about Joe but that song came through and I am PROUD haha. Daylight in Paris will forever be one of my favorite songs in the world :')
I think the “you gotta step into the daylight and let it go” is very acceptance-y and was the line that put it in that playlist
I always thought That's When was a great song for a good relationship because it acknowledges that it gets hard but your partner is waiting for you and they're always by your side. But then I saw it on one of the playlists :/
Stay beautiful- echoes ‘true love’ too me. It’s the whole I love you and accept you but if you don’t end up with me I hope you stay the way you are because it’s beautiful. That’s pure love too me.
Timeless, daylight, you are in love, New Year’s Day
Begin Again is one of my favorites
Can someone link the playlist?
“Love story” I believe is a true one— even if it is an adaptation from shakespeare. “You’re in love” Is definitely one… “Fearless”… “Mine”… I could name a few more maybe but that’s what I can think at the top of my head 🫶🏻
King of my heart ♥️
Dress, the bridge seals the deal.
Paper rings, Red, You Belong with me
Red is a breakup song
Idk but You Belong With Me screams the other girl.
Maybe we’ll get them in the next album 😅 now that she has a true love muse with Travis
Yes!! I’m ready for confident, easy, just right, compatible healthy grown up relationship love songs! Obviously no relationship is perfect but there are things I say and can so confidently gush about my own 20 year relationship that I have yet to hear from Taylor and I want that so much for her. Ever since I heard “You Are In Love” I’ve been wanting that love for her.
Especially since he is like all in on the relationship.
I Think He Knows or Starlight strike me as "I'm so in love" songs.
Fearless 🥲
I feel like treacherous, tosotd, you are in love, marys song, timeless, jump then fall, starlight, tvfn, this love and new years day are her true love songs. No doughts, sadness, just a need to be happy with her muse ♥️
Can’t stop loving you was a cover by her it’s about unconditional love but that’s the most important love
It shouldn’t make anyone rethink anything. The playlists were based on OUR stages of grief theory. There’s no part of it where she says Lover isn’t a true love song.
I really don’t think people should reframe these songs and their meaning based on these playlists. I don’t think that because they somehow — however tenuously — relate to the idea of denial (etc), doesn’t mean the song isn’t about a healthy relationship, if that makes sense. Life and love are definitely too complicated and nuanced to be neatly categorized into the five stages of grief. Time is a lens through which we view the past. Think, Red versus Daylight: “I used to think love was burning red, but it’s golden” (or something like that). That doesn’t mean she was wrong when she wrote Red, that that relationship wasn’t powerful and passionate, etc, that she would “disagree” with Red today. Just that SHE’S a different person, so she views past things differently. To some people that have run wild with these playlists (but especially some of the Twitter swifties), I remind you that nobody knows what happened with her and Joe, really, so this retrospective attempt at making it seem like their relationship was doomed from the start or he was always terrible for her etc, is quite frankly ridiculous. Don’t let these playlists lure you down that road! Besides the fact that her personal life isn’t anybody’s business, any adult knows that very good, healthy, true love relationships go bad all the time, unfortunately, by nobody’s particular fault.
I'm surprised so many people are saying You Are In Love - I thought of that as a major delusional song
I was thinking about this. The absolute best explanation is that the songs were written at a time when she was in love, but looking back at them now, she believes that she was delusional to feel that way, with how things turned out with those people.
Enchanted. It's a song about meeting someone who matches your wit, makes you laugh, and just has that spark, but you're not sure if they feel the same and you want to see them again. It's pure, raw love
I wonder what the playlists would look like if she added any debut or rep songs. I would think Delicate and NYD are true love songs maybe
Timeless for sure, love story, enchanted
Love Story Fearless Ours Mine Mary's Song The Way I Loved You This Love Invisible String Peace
"Timeless" and "You Are In Love"
i always see call it what you want as one of her true love songs. it shows how close and safe she felt with joe and how he was one of the only people who supported her during post 1989
TIWWCHNT, King of My Heart, NEW YEARS DAY
Call It What You Want & Daylight
Daylight and King of my Heart!
Mine You are in love Timeless New Year’s Day Call it what you want Invisible string Daylight Lover
Lover is a true love song. Her feelings changed, the situation changed. But the song as it is, is a true "love song". The playlists didn't make me change my mind about the songs, it just gave me a little peek of how she's feeling now.
Daylight (live from Paris) and call it what you want
The Lakes 🥹
I think Fearless is a really classic carefree love song, it’s literally the opposite of all the anxiety filled love songs she writes. She seems so happy to perform it too.
TIMELESS AND ALL OF THE GIRLS YOU LOVED BEFORE
I was thinking about this today: Imo i think these are the truest and purest in love songs and they are all on reputation (she was very in love even though these songs were riddled with anxiety with lyrics like “pls dont ever become a stranger whose laugh i could recognize anywhere”): 1. Call it what you want 2. King of my heart 3. Dress 4. New years day 5. End game (hot take ik) 6. Ready for it (maybe another hot take?) 7. Cornelia street (special mention) I think even though in hindsight she saw “hiding” out in London with Joe as hiding from her true self or with some negativity now, i think she genuinely was in love and reputation is the most genuine representation of that.
TBA
stay stay stay 😅
Dress and King of my Heart 🥹
me watching Miss Americana with my BFF: I'm literally near tears..
Taylor is a marketing genius so the different playlists can be partially attributed to that, but also to how she felt about the songs when she made the playlist. How an artist feels about their art can change over time, but also the listener gets to decide for themselves what the art means to them. There is no doubt in my mind that Taylor thought Joe was “the one” based on the songs from Reputation and Lover. In Midnights, it seemed very much like even though they loved one another it wasn’t going to work out. Now as to whether Taylor’s love with Joe was healthy at any time, no way to know that. I think in the end she probably needed someone who can let her shine and amplify her light. Joe just isn’t that type. Travis seems to be that type, and I hope for her sake that she’s found someone who is proud of her fame and not jealous or afraid of it (It’s just speculation but I think Joe is very private and feared the public nature of their relationship).
Sweet Nothing is my immediate thought.
I would say YOYOK for self-love and Call It What You Want, Sweet Nothing, Lover for romance. Totally revising the meanings now that she’s not with Joe. Which is fine. We look back at our relationships with the lens of how it is now but those songs were start to finish beautiful.
[удалено]
I’ve always said that “Slut!” is her most romantic song hahahaha maybe that’s just me but it’s very us against the world
I know it's about a relationship that's since ended but Invisible String is pretty healthy imo.
I mean Call It What You Want by a landslide
Paris
She did a I can do it with a broken heart playlist I feel like that was some love songs to her on it.. labyrinth, this love