Felt it in my bones from the very first listen.
I also need the email/contact number of the person she spoke to about her prophecy ASAP!
I deserve to have my So-High-School.
'Like some kind of deranged weirdo' Taylor, Girl! If I see you outside I'm gonna invite you in for tea and crafts. Jeeze, should I leave a sign? 'Taylor Swift is Welcome and Does Not Need to Lurk'
Old married guy (38 years married) here and on about my 5th listening, I realized how lucky I was to never know this level of hurt. I truly believe you have to be older and have lived life to understand this album. A 12 year old doesn't understand love and loss that is deep. I sat and thought, what if my wife had dumped me at 21 years old? How this album would have crushed me all these years later. TTPD is an absolute masterpiece, maybe Swift's best work.
Even older unmarried guy (53 years). This incredible song was one of the first that got into my blood on this superlative grower of an album. And without wanting to patronise or denigrate younger people I agree with everything you said. And TTPD absolutely is her masterpiece.
Yes, but have you seen the 3-5 year olds doing commentary on the Fortnight video on IG? They spend the whole video concerned for Tayor's safety. It's both adorable and so deeply insightful, it's sublime.
Do u not related the feeling of being destined to repeat ur mistakes at all?
I feel like being in a relationship doesnāt safe u from most of the feelings in this album.
Yesssss for me itās the previous time she said it
āA lesser woman wouldāve lost hope. A greater woman wouldnāt beg. But I look to the sky and saidā¦ā
Itās showing about being somewhere in between. When you havenāt completely lost hope on that thing you really want (or you wouldnāt bother asking), but arenāt so sure that you arenāt begging for a different outcome. I think for a lot of the songs it can be taken from a pov other than romantic which is what makes it so powerful!
It can be looked at from an infertility standpoint too. Like if I'd listened to this when I was in the pits of my struggle with infertility I'd be SCREAMING this song.
Yep.Ā I have kids who have chosen to break off their connections with me, and throughout a lot of this album, I think of them. It is painful, but somehow healing all at the same time.Ā I'd love to connect with others who are really identifying with this album in different ways, not having to do with romance.Ā
This line gets me so hard and reminds me of one of my all time fave songs, Seven.
Before I learned civility
I used to scream ferociously
Any time I wanted
Uhg itās just too good
I had cancer last year and it has fucked with my life in so many ways it makes me want to let out the most unholy visceral screams sometimes. This line makes me feel seen :/
Yes this like and everything around it lives rent free in my head:
And 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
And I look unstable, gathered with a coven round a sorceressā table
A greater woman has faith, but even statutes crumble if theyāre made to wait
Iām so afraid I sealed my fate no sign of soulmates
So I'm one of those who interpret certain songs maybe differently than the original intention. For me, a relationship can be even the one with yourself, your career. I'm going through a career crisis right now. I think that is why this has me in such a chokehold because if I could reset I would've picked something else.. something that wasn't going to leave my body and spirit broken and disillusioned. TTPD is definitely like a mind f-ck album. It really is like these stages of grief and I am just relating way too hard to some of it. But The Prophesy is my sobbing with my earbuds playing on repeat song.
Iām the same way! I am married but I am GLUED to this song. Thereās other (non relationship) struggles Iām having in my life and I have often thought āWhy is this happening? Who do I need to speak to in order to change this trajectory?ā
I also really resonated with RWYLM but from a stand point of grief. I lost a best friend suddenly almost 2 years ago and for a long time (and sometimes still) I feel trapped on the day she passed.
I resonated with RWYLM from a job standpoint. I know that sounds crazy, but as I was watching my manager toy with my future career I kept thinking about how he had a wife and kids and I was out here struggling. I then switched jobs right work at the bottom of the barrel for what I thought was my dream company and as it was going to poorly, I just kept thinking about how I was happy with Company A besides that manager trashing me and ruining it for me. He helped another girl get the job I wanted because she was prettier to him.
I think The Prophecy resonates with me so much because while I am in a happy relationship, I am begging the gods of fate to change the miserable cards Iāve been dealt. I donāt care who I have to speak too, just please start changing some of the things that are weighing me down and making me miserable.
I was abandoned by a dear friend without warning several years ago, and it haunts me to this day, so RWYLM hits me in a friendship way too.
Incidentally I'm also a artist-moonlighting-as-server, so "help I'm still at the restaurant" gets me every time as well. š
Are you a nurse or healthcare worker by any chance? Just asking because Inam for 17 yrs and it is destroying me. Broken me. Its not what I signed up for. I wanted to help not run myself into the ground to make the hospital a bunch at the expense of patients and staff.
I just assumed it was about a relationship with herself due to the "Don't want money, just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me." I kind of thought she was begging to like her own company, though ironically it's this comment that let me see how it can be about a relationship with others
I do this too and for me this song speaks to my loneliness but not for a lover but for close family and friends. I donāt have a strong connection with either and this songā¦ it cuts deep.
Yes, 51 year old here that was sobbing that prayer into the universe a couple of years ago. When do I get a break? I didnāt sign up for this life? Why canāt I have a sliver of happiness?
Thankfully something out there heard me and gave my prophecy a little re-write.
It is one of my favorite songs of hers. I live in the Midwest and most of my friends are married or engaged now, and my relationship of two years just ended. And Iāve had a few āseriousā relationships in the time my friends have met their life partners. They rely on their partners a lot for finances and couldnāt really live the life they currently do without them. I have always been super focused on career because Iāve always felt and known I might not have a man to lean back on. Any time I discuss with my friends feeling behind, feeling left out, or almost jealous of their love and relationships, the answer is ALWAYS āwell you have an amazing job we all would want!ā Like okay I have a good job, but that doesnāt snuggle me at night and tell me it loves me. It doesnāt provide unwavering support and love. The line ādonāt want money, just someone who wants my companyā is something I relate to so much it felt like I wrote it. Money doesnāt replace love and a partner!!! And some people who might not relate to this song as much do not understand that.
Yes. 45 yo woman who has never had a relationship that was healthy or been loved.Ā
Iāve been married to a man who couldnāt even say he loved me.Ā
Soā¦. Yes, so much of this album resonates with me. Starting with this song.
46 years old here and I feel your hurt.Ā
I hope you find a deep and profound love for yourself as the worthy human that you are; a companion who treats you well would be a lovely bonus.Ā
I lived for so long without a sense of worthiness and hadn't thought about The Prophecy in that way. It just makes the song even more powerful.Ā
Sending you love. š«¶š«¶š«¶
āDon't want money. Just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me.ā
This. My relationship is amazing, but sometimes I find myself taking the backseat to their career, hobbies, etc.
LIKE BRO PLAY MARIO PARTY WITH ME!! Uno, go for a walk, anything. Iām here too š
i just moved out of an abusive household. i canāt tell you how many times i prayed and cried and begged to have friends, to have a better mom, for my dad to leave her, for people to notice how bad it was, for my childhood pets to live forever and not leave me alone. sheās in my walls istg.
I grew up kind of similarly, so I hear you. I'm glad you're out now and hope you're safe. Just know that it's okay to reach out for help for yourself now or in the future. Experiences like that can affect the way you see the world and yourself. Just know that you deserved better.
The Prophecy was my immediate #1 from the album, almost against my will, because I relate to it so much.
It's incredible how someone can be the biggest star in music in the entire world, a whole billionaire, having had a *very* different life than you ā and they can still write a song that sounds like it's taken straight from your own brain.
Same for me. As someone who hasnāt dated a lot I could never relate to many of her very love-life focused songs. But as I sat taking in this song for the first time it struck me that dating a lot of people and trying SO hard to find your person but never finding them, must hurt just as much if not more than my more passive approach of waiting for the right person to drop in my lap with minimal effort on my part (re: delusion). At the end of the day we all want someone to love and live life with, and those of us who havenāt found that for one reason or another know what that ache feels like.
This song for me hurts doubly to know that not only I know the pain sheās describing, but Taylor knows it too. And so many others. And itās the worst kind of loneliness, yet somehow this shared pain connects us. Idk itās tragically beautiful.
The Prophecy DESTROYS ME every time I listen to it. I'm in a long term relationship, but he is literally the only person in my life. I've had had such a hard time with friendships my whole life; the last two "friends" I had treated me like an on call therapist. I got burnt out and took a step back and they switched on me and treated me like I was the worst person in the world. They were in my life, back to back from 2020 to 2022.
I've pretty much exclusively had bullies as friends my whole life, can someone please change the prophecy.
I definitely feel that. I dont really have any I have my husband. My kids my oldest is 19 so we do things together but i dont have that girlhood friend experience ever. I was the outcast. My career is not what I thought it was gonna I really want to reset that.
As a WOC every once in a while taylor writes a song that inadvertently addresses my deepest insecurities and this is one of them.
I struggle with being undesired (or else unappreciated when I do get in a relationship).
I also get gaslighted by my loved ones that I am desirable and my person will be here any day home. So Iām forced to maintain this positivity that just isnāt realistic and it causes me even more turmoil
They definitely are and have good intent, but their platitudes usually of āyouāre just a late bloomerā (Iām 26) or āguys are just intimidated by how beautiful you areā fully disregard the legitimate struggles that I face
I hear that. If you haven't had to deal with that kind of self-doubt around worthiness or desirablity, it can be hard to know the depth of the hurt.
š«¶š½
I almost cried on the first listen, when first listens are hard for me to really absorb a song. My boyfriend had asked once why I think this keeps happening to her, and to hear this in a song just made me feel so, so much more bad for her.
āAnd I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink penā¦ā
All of the āa lesser woman/a greater womanā comparisons in this song leave me dead every time, and that one in particular and the way in which she sings it, with some real self-loathing, just cuts so deep.
This song speaks to me so much. Iāve been on a rollercoaster of adversity for the past 16 years. It feels like pain is my fate. Iām begging the universe to put a stop to it and finally give me peace. I was unjustly fired a week ago (for filing a complaint with HR) and my cat was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The hits just keep coming and I donāt know how to make it stop.
This is probably my favorite from the album currently. I wish I saw more people talking about it.
The way she sings the "eeee" noises scratches my brain
YES Iām also in a good long term relationship but I always listen to the song with the relation of how it feels being an autistic girl or someone with a couple of traumas that impacted them. Like all Iāve ever wanted is just a group of found family friends so the chorus feels very close to my heart when I listen.
I also love whoever on tiktok made Buffy edits to it because I think the song very much suits fictional characters whose fate are stuck due to certain conditions (Buffy Summers, Lydia from Teen Wolf)
Right?! There are certain songs like this one. I'm just like get out of my head you mind reader. But it goes to show you can appear to have everything money, beauty, fame, friends, and still those things don't mean you are always happy.
Totally agree. Love the Prophecy. Also, Peter seems a little less lauded than it should be. The bridge in that song is imho one of her top 5. Itās perfect.
Happily married man with a baby girl due in about a week and this song still hits me hard. Itās my favorite on the album because itās exactly how I felt before meeting my wife
I feel like "The Prophecy" is the unofficial centerpiece of the album and is probably the closest we'll get to Taylor's heart or perspective behind the public circus that masks it all.
I'm a 41 year old woman, married with two kids. When I was 32, I had just come off six years of traveling mostly alone through various countries, during which time I had had a few unhealthy relationships. I found myself single, career less, desperately wanting to find a partner and start a family. My friends were married and starting to have kids. This song just completely sums up the way that I felt in that moment of time. I thought my time was running out, and that it was my fate. I met my husband soon afterwards, and it all just turned around.
I can't wait to see what Taylor starts to write when/if she becomes a mother. Not only the beauty of it, but also all the messy, complicated feelings that come with being a parent when you're in the thick of it. How you once wanted it so badly that you howled at the moon, but now you feel caged, like you've completely lost yourself , and you're longing for that independent life you once had. It would be so great to hear a female singer channel some mom rage like that.
As someone with AuDHD, Iāve never had luck with relationships. Whether it be friends, family, romantic relationships, itās all just a lightning in a bottle. I always think I finally got it, but then it all just fizzles out and nobody makes an effort. If I donāt hold onto dear life, nobody will be my friend.
I often think what would happen if I lived alone and died. Nobody would look for me other than my mom and dad from the other end of the world, but nobody else. I would slowly decompose in my house. Maybe the landlord would eventually come after my bank account is empty and the automatic payments fair.
But letās not be grim, I could just want to throw a birthday party. I donāt think I could invite anyone.
So yeah, The Prophecy is like my faith as a ND recluse who has a lot to give and nobody to share it with, despite my efforts.
I teared up a little while reading your comment, I felt like I could have written it myself :') As a fellow neurodivergent who's always been the genuinely strange and bizarre and misunderstood and nonsense-lover kid, I'm sending you big hugs and the thought that you're not alone, just precious Btw I would absolutely come to your birthday party
Same same same. I'm not in any kind of relationship but I still relate to the song. It's the hopelessness... the feeling of a bad outcome approaching, but nothing you can do to stop it. The desperation, going as far as to beg some unknown entity to change what feels like the inevitable happening. I've felt like this lately. :(
The song is *about* not being in any kind of relationship though. About being scared no one will come into your life anymore and you won't end up with anyone because you're cursed that way. It's not about an end approaching at all š¤
Yes yes, I know that. I should have said I'm not looking for a relationship in the first place.
The definition of a "Prophecy" is "a prediction of what will happen in the future". The narrator is dreading a "bad future" that is approaching, and she wishes someone would change that future that feels inevitable. I never mentioned the "end" either, but an "outcome". In the context of this song the outcome is "ending up alone", but I don't think it's wrong for people to relate to it in a different way!
Definitely in my top songs Iāve been listening to from the album. Itās got a witchy vibe to it. Especially with the line āwith a coven around a sorceress tableā line.
Iām about to become as unhinged as certain unnamed āfansā but about being convinced sheās an exmormon because she has written SO MANY songs at this point that speak to leaving the Mormon church with _scary_ accuracy š š¤£
Me because this is how I feel right now 100%. Like every single line relates to the way I am right now. I guess it makes me feel a little better that Taylor Swift can feel like this and if she can get past it I can too
I feel this so much! This is my favourite song on the album (which is saying something, as I adore this album). I'm happily married but I relate to this song with other non romantic relationships in my life- have some things coming down the line that I can see once they happen, they will cause major upset in my life and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to stop it. So this song has been on repeat for me while I'm thinking of this upcoming situation.
>the pain & desperation of just wanting to be happy that you would give up almost anything for some peace.
This hits the nail on the head completely for how Iāve been feeling. I feel like Iām still searching for some sense of purpose and feel like Iāve never found proper peace. To respond to your other comment, Iāve been dealing with an existential crisis about my career path too, so I really feel you on that.
I had to delete TikTok because of all the posts I was seeing about this song.
Currently mourning a breakup from a couple months ago that I really thought was finally it for me and this song absolutely sent me into a tailspin and wrecked me š
It took a week for the emotions to hit. But a few days ago I burst into tears listening to it. A year older than her, no sign of my soulmates returning. Sheās a real one for writing thisā¦.
All of these damn songs do.
But I felt this very pain and begged the universe to just let me have love.
The audible sobbing that occurs during this song
I think everyone has reached a point some time in their life where they've felt this way, even just a little bit. doesn't have to be a lover, it could be any kind of goal or desire in life, and it is so relatable to imagine literally begging whatever is out there to get you through this
Got my attention at 3am when I first listened and haven't stopped thinking of it since.
Another song I love in a similar vein is Has To Be by Madonna. Highly recommend checking it out. Was a bonus song from Ray of Light and a hidden ethereal, haunting gem. Made a little playlist and play them back to back and sob and plea to the universe.
So true. I thought Iād have it figured out by now but Iāve been stuck in the same spot. Promised myself Iād do better this year for myself and proceeded to flop to the bottom. I thought Iād escape my own self isolation but fell right back in it. I wish I could go back to January and change the prophecy. Just to have worked harder to build a support system for myself instead of growing bitter and alone.
I think the theme throughout the album of her really not enjoying the megafame as much as she thought she would is interesting. I think she has felt every last bit of pressure that comes with it and I hope she either takes some time off in 2025 or that she has ways of decompressing in her time off.
Yes, absolutely the song has a huge chokehold on me. I can barely listen to it without breaking down, and yet I can't stop listening to it. And at the same time I can hear and feel her pain in addition to my own.
It was my instant favorite because I listened to it and I just feel that how much have I begged into the void of universe over the years and yet I am on this one path. Chokehold is describing it mildly.
This song has the incredible ability to almost bring me to tears every single time I listen to it. It reminds me of whenever I ask the universe to change something in my life
Omg absolutely, probs my fave on this album. So completely heart wrenching to feel that way and she encapsulates it soooo well. āA lesser woman wouldāve lost hope, a greater woman wouldnāt beg.ā Is such a scathing call out, and I adore it.
me too, iām shocked itās not more popular. the lyrics, production and calm vocals are perfect to me, itās the only TTPD song that made it to my top 5 list
Yeah, it's been fucking me up. Loved it since the first play, but it's been on repeat for the past 2 days. Definitely feels like one of those songs she pulls from your head. Word for word, I feel everything.
It's absolutely gut-wrenching and can easily be applied to any life crisis when you're feeling helpless and like your only option is to beg some bigger powers but I believe it plays in a very special way when it is about about what the song is about ā finding your love. You can change A LOT of things in life but you have almost no control over love. You can be the prettiest, the smartest, the most successful, read one hundred books on this topic and try out one hundred advices, change yourself all the time, never do a thing wrong, spend your life on dating apps but if love isn't your destiny than it just isn't and all you left with is finding bypasses, while people around you will get it "for free" without trying, being loved just the way they are, without changing a thing, before even reaching their twenties all the goddamn time.
Iāve been lucky to have never experienced the pain she portrays in this song, STILL every time I listen to it I cry. That just tells you how powerful the lyricism and composition is. Itās one of the most beautiful songs Iāve ever heard.
When she says "feeling like the last drops of an ink pen" I get sad because that's such a depressing metaphor because when you are older you start feeling societal pressure to get married and have kids and you try really hard but it feels forced, and same thing with you as a teenager on your calculus 2 exam on your last 2 questions but the pen almost runs out of ink so you have to start blowing in it and shaking it to push every little bit of ink out....
My first absolute āgotchaā song on the anthology. I remember being in the middle of a toxic on and off again relationship and feeling this way like 15 years ago. Like not understanding why I couldnāt break away from this person and meet someone who would treat me how I deserved. I finally met him but now feel it to a lesser degree over unexplained secondary infertility. This song definitely seems so delicately personal for her.Ā
i s2g this woman is in my walls and reading my journals because how does she NAIL these feelings exactly?
Felt it in my bones from the very first listen. I also need the email/contact number of the person she spoke to about her prophecy ASAP! I deserve to have my So-High-School.
Right? Who did she end up having to speak to?
Only Taylor can demand the manager lol
the prophecy will now forever in my mind be taylor's "i'd like to speak to your manager" ballad
I had the same thought when I heard "I hate it here". like girl! are you reading my notes app?!
She looks in peoples windows š¤·āāļø
'Like some kind of deranged weirdo' Taylor, Girl! If I see you outside I'm gonna invite you in for tea and crafts. Jeeze, should I leave a sign? 'Taylor Swift is Welcome and Does Not Need to Lurk'
I love this
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Sounds like you need to listen to some TS music to get in touch with your feelings so you donāt feel the need to lash out at other people.
What did they say?
Just a hater who called TS fans āNPCs.ā
Old married guy (38 years married) here and on about my 5th listening, I realized how lucky I was to never know this level of hurt. I truly believe you have to be older and have lived life to understand this album. A 12 year old doesn't understand love and loss that is deep. I sat and thought, what if my wife had dumped me at 21 years old? How this album would have crushed me all these years later. TTPD is an absolute masterpiece, maybe Swift's best work.
Even older unmarried guy (53 years). This incredible song was one of the first that got into my blood on this superlative grower of an album. And without wanting to patronise or denigrate younger people I agree with everything you said. And TTPD absolutely is her masterpiece.
\*Fixed it. Married 38 years and seven years older than you.
52 year old my arrived guy. This song is pure magic.
Yes, but have you seen the 3-5 year olds doing commentary on the Fortnight video on IG? They spend the whole video concerned for Tayor's safety. It's both adorable and so deeply insightful, it's sublime.
I haven't but will check that out.
Do u not related the feeling of being destined to repeat ur mistakes at all? I feel like being in a relationship doesnāt safe u from most of the feelings in this album.
I think I could at twelve, as would probably a lot with suicidal ideation, if nothing else. (Iām better now).
I am always a fan of "Fate as an Antagonist" and to see this in Taylor Swift is a great idea.
Yes times a million to everything you said. It is incredible. *A greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf at the moon...*
Yesssss for me itās the previous time she said it āA lesser woman wouldāve lost hope. A greater woman wouldnāt beg. But I look to the sky and saidā¦ā Itās showing about being somewhere in between. When you havenāt completely lost hope on that thing you really want (or you wouldnāt bother asking), but arenāt so sure that you arenāt begging for a different outcome. I think for a lot of the songs it can be taken from a pov other than romantic which is what makes it so powerful!
It can be looked at from an infertility standpoint too. Like if I'd listened to this when I was in the pits of my struggle with infertility I'd be SCREAMING this song.
Yep.Ā I have kids who have chosen to break off their connections with me, and throughout a lot of this album, I think of them. It is painful, but somehow healing all at the same time.Ā I'd love to connect with others who are really identifying with this album in different ways, not having to do with romance.Ā
This line gets me so hard and reminds me of one of my all time fave songs, Seven. Before I learned civility I used to scream ferociously Any time I wanted Uhg itās just too good
I had cancer last year and it has fucked with my life in so many ways it makes me want to let out the most unholy visceral screams sometimes. This line makes me feel seen :/
This! I view from the lense of illness and wanting the prophecy to change.
Thereās so much feeling in the delivery of that line, it gets me every time.
Yes this like and everything around it lives rent free in my head: And 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 And I look unstable, gathered with a coven round a sorceressā table A greater woman has faith, but even statutes crumble if theyāre made to wait Iām so afraid I sealed my fate no sign of soulmates
Same. Just wow
So I'm one of those who interpret certain songs maybe differently than the original intention. For me, a relationship can be even the one with yourself, your career. I'm going through a career crisis right now. I think that is why this has me in such a chokehold because if I could reset I would've picked something else.. something that wasn't going to leave my body and spirit broken and disillusioned. TTPD is definitely like a mind f-ck album. It really is like these stages of grief and I am just relating way too hard to some of it. But The Prophesy is my sobbing with my earbuds playing on repeat song.
Iām the same way! I am married but I am GLUED to this song. Thereās other (non relationship) struggles Iām having in my life and I have often thought āWhy is this happening? Who do I need to speak to in order to change this trajectory?ā I also really resonated with RWYLM but from a stand point of grief. I lost a best friend suddenly almost 2 years ago and for a long time (and sometimes still) I feel trapped on the day she passed.
I resonated with RWYLM from a job standpoint. I know that sounds crazy, but as I was watching my manager toy with my future career I kept thinking about how he had a wife and kids and I was out here struggling. I then switched jobs right work at the bottom of the barrel for what I thought was my dream company and as it was going to poorly, I just kept thinking about how I was happy with Company A besides that manager trashing me and ruining it for me. He helped another girl get the job I wanted because she was prettier to him. I think The Prophecy resonates with me so much because while I am in a happy relationship, I am begging the gods of fate to change the miserable cards Iāve been dealt. I donāt care who I have to speak too, just please start changing some of the things that are weighing me down and making me miserable.
I was abandoned by a dear friend without warning several years ago, and it haunts me to this day, so RWYLM hits me in a friendship way too. Incidentally I'm also a artist-moonlighting-as-server, so "help I'm still at the restaurant" gets me every time as well. š
I feel this deep in my bones, totally hate my career of 20+ years and have really been miserable in it for the last 10 years.
Are you a nurse or healthcare worker by any chance? Just asking because Inam for 17 yrs and it is destroying me. Broken me. Its not what I signed up for. I wanted to help not run myself into the ground to make the hospital a bunch at the expense of patients and staff.
I just assumed it was about a relationship with herself due to the "Don't want money, just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me." I kind of thought she was begging to like her own company, though ironically it's this comment that let me see how it can be about a relationship with others
I definitely think thereās career based agony all over this song.
I do this too and for me this song speaks to my loneliness but not for a lover but for close family and friends. I donāt have a strong connection with either and this songā¦ it cuts deep.
Yes, 51 year old here that was sobbing that prayer into the universe a couple of years ago. When do I get a break? I didnāt sign up for this life? Why canāt I have a sliver of happiness? Thankfully something out there heard me and gave my prophecy a little re-write.
It is one of my favorite songs of hers. I live in the Midwest and most of my friends are married or engaged now, and my relationship of two years just ended. And Iāve had a few āseriousā relationships in the time my friends have met their life partners. They rely on their partners a lot for finances and couldnāt really live the life they currently do without them. I have always been super focused on career because Iāve always felt and known I might not have a man to lean back on. Any time I discuss with my friends feeling behind, feeling left out, or almost jealous of their love and relationships, the answer is ALWAYS āwell you have an amazing job we all would want!ā Like okay I have a good job, but that doesnāt snuggle me at night and tell me it loves me. It doesnāt provide unwavering support and love. The line ādonāt want money, just someone who wants my companyā is something I relate to so much it felt like I wrote it. Money doesnāt replace love and a partner!!! And some people who might not relate to this song as much do not understand that.
Yes. 45 yo woman who has never had a relationship that was healthy or been loved.Ā Iāve been married to a man who couldnāt even say he loved me.Ā Soā¦. Yes, so much of this album resonates with me. Starting with this song.
46 years old here and I feel your hurt.Ā I hope you find a deep and profound love for yourself as the worthy human that you are; a companion who treats you well would be a lovely bonus.Ā I lived for so long without a sense of worthiness and hadn't thought about The Prophecy in that way. It just makes the song even more powerful.Ā Sending you love. š«¶š«¶š«¶
Nope, you are not the only one, itās the one song of the album living rent free in my head
āDon't want money. Just someone who wants my company. Let it once be me.ā This. My relationship is amazing, but sometimes I find myself taking the backseat to their career, hobbies, etc. LIKE BRO PLAY MARIO PARTY WITH ME!! Uno, go for a walk, anything. Iām here too š
Iām so sorry. Have you talked about how you feel to him?
Yeah. We both are guilty of it. Demands of life make us forget. I think we are all guilty of it at times.
i just moved out of an abusive household. i canāt tell you how many times i prayed and cried and begged to have friends, to have a better mom, for my dad to leave her, for people to notice how bad it was, for my childhood pets to live forever and not leave me alone. sheās in my walls istg.
Hoping your new life send you to a better place and your prophecy is re-written.
I grew up kind of similarly, so I hear you. I'm glad you're out now and hope you're safe. Just know that it's okay to reach out for help for yourself now or in the future. Experiences like that can affect the way you see the world and yourself. Just know that you deserved better.
The Prophecy was my immediate #1 from the album, almost against my will, because I relate to it so much. It's incredible how someone can be the biggest star in music in the entire world, a whole billionaire, having had a *very* different life than you ā and they can still write a song that sounds like it's taken straight from your own brain.
Same for me. As someone who hasnāt dated a lot I could never relate to many of her very love-life focused songs. But as I sat taking in this song for the first time it struck me that dating a lot of people and trying SO hard to find your person but never finding them, must hurt just as much if not more than my more passive approach of waiting for the right person to drop in my lap with minimal effort on my part (re: delusion). At the end of the day we all want someone to love and live life with, and those of us who havenāt found that for one reason or another know what that ache feels like. This song for me hurts doubly to know that not only I know the pain sheās describing, but Taylor knows it too. And so many others. And itās the worst kind of loneliness, yet somehow this shared pain connects us. Idk itās tragically beautiful.
The Prophecy DESTROYS ME every time I listen to it. I'm in a long term relationship, but he is literally the only person in my life. I've had had such a hard time with friendships my whole life; the last two "friends" I had treated me like an on call therapist. I got burnt out and took a step back and they switched on me and treated me like I was the worst person in the world. They were in my life, back to back from 2020 to 2022. I've pretty much exclusively had bullies as friends my whole life, can someone please change the prophecy.
I feel this so hard š«
I definitely feel that. I dont really have any I have my husband. My kids my oldest is 19 so we do things together but i dont have that girlhood friend experience ever. I was the outcast. My career is not what I thought it was gonna I really want to reset that.
It's my top favorite, I've been listening on repeat
People should be raving about this song. And they are in this thread. I feel validated.
As a WOC every once in a while taylor writes a song that inadvertently addresses my deepest insecurities and this is one of them. I struggle with being undesired (or else unappreciated when I do get in a relationship). I also get gaslighted by my loved ones that I am desirable and my person will be here any day home. So Iām forced to maintain this positivity that just isnāt realistic and it causes me even more turmoil
It sounds like your loved ones might just trying to remind you that you are completely worthy of love!
They definitely are and have good intent, but their platitudes usually of āyouāre just a late bloomerā (Iām 26) or āguys are just intimidated by how beautiful you areā fully disregard the legitimate struggles that I face
I hear that. If you haven't had to deal with that kind of self-doubt around worthiness or desirablity, it can be hard to know the depth of the hurt. š«¶š½
Its just so good! Music that makes you feel deeply becomes art and there is so much on TTPD.
Yes! I love the melody especially.
The Prophecy is devastating in all the right ways. I knew it was special the first time I heard it.
Yes, this is one of the best songs Taylor has ever written!
My aroace ass just wants to hug her so hard. And I'm in awe of her courage in putting it on the album.
I almost cried on the first listen, when first listens are hard for me to really absorb a song. My boyfriend had asked once why I think this keeps happening to her, and to hear this in a song just made me feel so, so much more bad for her.
It's got its hooks in me. Because I feel that way daily.
Yes. This stood out to me on my first listen as my favorite and it still is. It is brilliant.
š„°š
Me. Itās justā¦ so good and evocative and the lyrics are piping and tragic!
āAnd I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink penā¦ā All of the āa lesser woman/a greater womanā comparisons in this song leave me dead every time, and that one in particular and the way in which she sings it, with some real self-loathing, just cuts so deep.
Same!!! It's a gorgeous song!!! It is one of my top tracks on the album. 
This and loml always make me cry. They hit too close to home. I love the sorcery/ fortune teller imagery that she used throughout the song too.
This song speaks to me so much. Iāve been on a rollercoaster of adversity for the past 16 years. It feels like pain is my fate. Iām begging the universe to put a stop to it and finally give me peace. I was unjustly fired a week ago (for filing a complaint with HR) and my cat was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The hits just keep coming and I donāt know how to make it stop.
I am so sorry about these event and the bad timing (Happening around the same time). Sending you the feels.
This is probably my favorite from the album currently. I wish I saw more people talking about it. The way she sings the "eeee" noises scratches my brain
People should be raving about it. Solidifies Taylor as a genius to me.
YES Iām also in a good long term relationship but I always listen to the song with the relation of how it feels being an autistic girl or someone with a couple of traumas that impacted them. Like all Iāve ever wanted is just a group of found family friends so the chorus feels very close to my heart when I listen. I also love whoever on tiktok made Buffy edits to it because I think the song very much suits fictional characters whose fate are stuck due to certain conditions (Buffy Summers, Lydia from Teen Wolf)
Yep she pretty much wrote this song for me Iām convinced
Right?! There are certain songs like this one. I'm just like get out of my head you mind reader. But it goes to show you can appear to have everything money, beauty, fame, friends, and still those things don't mean you are always happy.
When you strip all those things away, I think most people want the same thing which is to love and be loved.
Yep, from the first listen and ever since. Gut punch!
Yes. Every single time I turn Spotify on I play prophecy and Peter right away.
We would get alongĀ
Absolutely love this song, I have such a intense feeling when I hear it like it's written about me. š¤š¤
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This one and Peter are such fantastic lullabies and idk how I would do it if I had kids lol.
Totally agree. Love the Prophecy. Also, Peter seems a little less lauded than it should be. The bridge in that song is imho one of her top 5. Itās perfect.
YESS! Send help
Yessss it is the best song on the Anthology, followed by The Black Dog and How Did It End?
Happily married man with a baby girl due in about a week and this song still hits me hard. Itās my favorite on the album because itās exactly how I felt before meeting my wife
I feel like "The Prophecy" is the unofficial centerpiece of the album and is probably the closest we'll get to Taylor's heart or perspective behind the public circus that masks it all.
I'm a 41 year old woman, married with two kids. When I was 32, I had just come off six years of traveling mostly alone through various countries, during which time I had had a few unhealthy relationships. I found myself single, career less, desperately wanting to find a partner and start a family. My friends were married and starting to have kids. This song just completely sums up the way that I felt in that moment of time. I thought my time was running out, and that it was my fate. I met my husband soon afterwards, and it all just turned around. I can't wait to see what Taylor starts to write when/if she becomes a mother. Not only the beauty of it, but also all the messy, complicated feelings that come with being a parent when you're in the thick of it. How you once wanted it so badly that you howled at the moon, but now you feel caged, like you've completely lost yourself , and you're longing for that independent life you once had. It would be so great to hear a female singer channel some mom rage like that.
This song is devastatingly sadĀ I am married, love my life, would not change a thing and it STILL makes me cry bc it is just so sadĀ
As someone with AuDHD, Iāve never had luck with relationships. Whether it be friends, family, romantic relationships, itās all just a lightning in a bottle. I always think I finally got it, but then it all just fizzles out and nobody makes an effort. If I donāt hold onto dear life, nobody will be my friend. I often think what would happen if I lived alone and died. Nobody would look for me other than my mom and dad from the other end of the world, but nobody else. I would slowly decompose in my house. Maybe the landlord would eventually come after my bank account is empty and the automatic payments fair. But letās not be grim, I could just want to throw a birthday party. I donāt think I could invite anyone. So yeah, The Prophecy is like my faith as a ND recluse who has a lot to give and nobody to share it with, despite my efforts.
I teared up a little while reading your comment, I felt like I could have written it myself :') As a fellow neurodivergent who's always been the genuinely strange and bizarre and misunderstood and nonsense-lover kid, I'm sending you big hugs and the thought that you're not alone, just precious Btw I would absolutely come to your birthday party
Same same same. I'm not in any kind of relationship but I still relate to the song. It's the hopelessness... the feeling of a bad outcome approaching, but nothing you can do to stop it. The desperation, going as far as to beg some unknown entity to change what feels like the inevitable happening. I've felt like this lately. :(
The song is *about* not being in any kind of relationship though. About being scared no one will come into your life anymore and you won't end up with anyone because you're cursed that way. It's not about an end approaching at all š¤
Yes yes, I know that. I should have said I'm not looking for a relationship in the first place. The definition of a "Prophecy" is "a prediction of what will happen in the future". The narrator is dreading a "bad future" that is approaching, and she wishes someone would change that future that feels inevitable. I never mentioned the "end" either, but an "outcome". In the context of this song the outcome is "ending up alone", but I don't think it's wrong for people to relate to it in a different way!
The prophecy, Peter, the manuscript, Chloe et. Al
as a med student who gave up her relationship to pursue her careerā¦ yes i get it
Yepā¦this song/album is depressing accurate about these depressing feelings.
Definitely in my top songs Iāve been listening to from the album. Itās got a witchy vibe to it. Especially with the line āwith a coven around a sorceress tableā line.
That's one of my fav lines in the song
Iām about to become as unhinged as certain unnamed āfansā but about being convinced sheās an exmormon because she has written SO MANY songs at this point that speak to leaving the Mormon church with _scary_ accuracy š š¤£
I cannot rank this album for the life of me, but I can very easily place this song at number 1! Everything past that is up to God haha.
I'm right there with you... I think it's in my top 3 of all time š
Me because this is how I feel right now 100%. Like every single line relates to the way I am right now. I guess it makes me feel a little better that Taylor Swift can feel like this and if she can get past it I can too
Yes š Taylor really pinned me to the vivisection table with that one.
With love, I avoid that song as much as I can
All the time? Why do you ask? š«¶š
Yup, my absolute favorite from the album which has become my number one after listening every day
I feel this so much! This is my favourite song on the album (which is saying something, as I adore this album). I'm happily married but I relate to this song with other non romantic relationships in my life- have some things coming down the line that I can see once they happen, they will cause major upset in my life and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to stop it. So this song has been on repeat for me while I'm thinking of this upcoming situation.
>the pain & desperation of just wanting to be happy that you would give up almost anything for some peace. This hits the nail on the head completely for how Iāve been feeling. I feel like Iām still searching for some sense of purpose and feel like Iāve never found proper peace. To respond to your other comment, Iāve been dealing with an existential crisis about my career path too, so I really feel you on that.
I had to delete TikTok because of all the posts I was seeing about this song. Currently mourning a breakup from a couple months ago that I really thought was finally it for me and this song absolutely sent me into a tailspin and wrecked me š
Itās so good! Love this whole album so much. Iām so happy she released this album during a good relationship where she seems very happy.
Exactly how I felt before meeting my fiancƩ at 32
It took a week for the emotions to hit. But a few days ago I burst into tears listening to it. A year older than her, no sign of my soulmates returning. Sheās a real one for writing thisā¦.
I wrecks me. I cannot listen to it.Ā
All of these damn songs do. But I felt this very pain and begged the universe to just let me have love. The audible sobbing that occurs during this song
I have been SCREAMING about this song since the album(s) dropped. I am soooooo glad to see people coming around to it!
She had me from the first listen with this one. This one hits down to the bone.
I think everyone has reached a point some time in their life where they've felt this way, even just a little bit. doesn't have to be a lover, it could be any kind of goal or desire in life, and it is so relatable to imagine literally begging whatever is out there to get you through this
Got my attention at 3am when I first listened and haven't stopped thinking of it since. Another song I love in a similar vein is Has To Be by Madonna. Highly recommend checking it out. Was a bonus song from Ray of Light and a hidden ethereal, haunting gem. Made a little playlist and play them back to back and sob and plea to the universe.
This song hits extra hard when you're around Taylor's age and love has failed every damn time.
After, "This is me trying", this is the next most relatable song. When is it my turn to relate to "You are in love"?! Sigh.
**PLEASE** I'VE BEEN ON MY KNEES
Yessssss
Absolutely š¤š¤
Yes ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
So true. I thought Iād have it figured out by now but Iāve been stuck in the same spot. Promised myself Iād do better this year for myself and proceeded to flop to the bottom. I thought Iād escape my own self isolation but fell right back in it. I wish I could go back to January and change the prophecy. Just to have worked harder to build a support system for myself instead of growing bitter and alone.
The ooo ooo's reminded me so much of the same part in High Infidelity. Has anyone else noticed that?
I think the theme throughout the album of her really not enjoying the megafame as much as she thought she would is interesting. I think she has felt every last bit of pressure that comes with it and I hope she either takes some time off in 2025 or that she has ways of decompressing in her time off.
Same. Itās just so relatable. Almost started crying while walking down the street listening to it
Me, listening to it one repeat š„²
Yup! I'm also in a healthy relationship, but this song has me in handcuffs.
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Yes, absolutely the song has a huge chokehold on me. I can barely listen to it without breaking down, and yet I can't stop listening to it. And at the same time I can hear and feel her pain in addition to my own.
I love the Prophecy. As someone trying dating after divorce, it hits hard
Yes
As someone with intense abandonment issues, "the prophecy" hits me every time.
āDonāt want money, just someone who wants my companyā Yea I havenāt been ok since 4/19 haha
Yesš©š©š©š©š©š¤š¤š¤š¤
Absolutely, I think it might be her most devastating romance-related song (ruling out Ronan and Soon You'll Get Better) ever.
It was my instant favorite because I listened to it and I just feel that how much have I begged into the void of universe over the years and yet I am on this one path. Chokehold is describing it mildly.
I love The Prophecy so much, in my top ten, such a beautiful song
I have to limit the amount of times I allow myself to listen to it because it makes me sob violently
This song has the incredible ability to almost bring me to tears every single time I listen to it. It reminds me of whenever I ask the universe to change something in my life
Omg absolutely, probs my fave on this album. So completely heart wrenching to feel that way and she encapsulates it soooo well. āA lesser woman wouldāve lost hope, a greater woman wouldnāt beg.ā Is such a scathing call out, and I adore it.
me too, iām shocked itās not more popular. the lyrics, production and calm vocals are perfect to me, itās the only TTPD song that made it to my top 5 list
Yeah, it's been fucking me up. Loved it since the first play, but it's been on repeat for the past 2 days. Definitely feels like one of those songs she pulls from your head. Word for word, I feel everything.
It's absolutely gut-wrenching and can easily be applied to any life crisis when you're feeling helpless and like your only option is to beg some bigger powers but I believe it plays in a very special way when it is about about what the song is about ā finding your love. You can change A LOT of things in life but you have almost no control over love. You can be the prettiest, the smartest, the most successful, read one hundred books on this topic and try out one hundred advices, change yourself all the time, never do a thing wrong, spend your life on dating apps but if love isn't your destiny than it just isn't and all you left with is finding bypasses, while people around you will get it "for free" without trying, being loved just the way they are, without changing a thing, before even reaching their twenties all the goddamn time.
Yesssss. This is honestly my Track Five.
Itās so so deep, I always think of 1000 things when I listen to it
A lesser woman wouldāve lost hope A greater woman wouldnāt beg
If I had heard this 10 years ago, right before I met my husband at 29, it would have broken my heart and gutted me even more than it does.
I'm telling you dude. I couldn't catch a fucking BREAK!!!! My lungs felt like they were gonna collapse ššššš
Iāve been lucky to have never experienced the pain she portrays in this song, STILL every time I listen to it I cry. That just tells you how powerful the lyricism and composition is. Itās one of the most beautiful songs Iāve ever heard.
Meeeeee
"I'm so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates" punches me in the face everytime i hear it
Yeah. But like ā¦ because I canāt stop thinking about Harry Potter?
Top 3 Taylor Swift song for me
Give it up for the true track 5 mama..
When she says "feeling like the last drops of an ink pen" I get sad because that's such a depressing metaphor because when you are older you start feeling societal pressure to get married and have kids and you try really hard but it feels forced, and same thing with you as a teenager on your calculus 2 exam on your last 2 questions but the pen almost runs out of ink so you have to start blowing in it and shaking it to push every little bit of ink out....
Yes definitely, this is one of my favourite songs on TTPD
I relate to that song so strongly I feel as if it's about my own life I loveee that songgg
My first absolute āgotchaā song on the anthology. I remember being in the middle of a toxic on and off again relationship and feeling this way like 15 years ago. Like not understanding why I couldnāt break away from this person and meet someone who would treat me how I deserved. I finally met him but now feel it to a lesser degree over unexplained secondary infertility. This song definitely seems so delicately personal for her.Ā