Taylor Swift & Putting the Humanities into Practice

[MUSIC] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Dairy of an X English major, the show that discusses literature and media looking your favorite English seminar course. I'm your host, Deja Abuelgar at cityofdasia.com, and in today's season two premiere, I discuss putting the humanities into practice and reading Taylor Swift lyrics as poetry. Happy listening. [MUSIC] Hello, everyone. Welcome to season two of Dairy of an X English major. I'm so excited to be back. I took a few months off at the end of 2023, but the show is back in business now. I'm so excited to be here and recording this episode for you all. Before we get started, I wanted to thank each and every listener out there. This podcast has been such a passion project for me. The fact that there are people out there that tune into each episode and have been anticipating new episodes just honestly means the world to me. I know it sounds so crazy to think, but when I had the idea of starting a podcast, I didn't actually know people would actively tune into it. I knew I might get a few listeners here and there, but just the fact that people have followed the show on Instagram and followed it on Spotify and Apple Podcast, and all these different places is so cool to me. It makes doing this all the more fruitful and enjoyable, and it just really satisfies me. Thank you so, so much to every single listener out there. A few updates on myself, I'm hoping to return back to school. Yes, so I applied to a graduate program, which I've been thinking about for quite some time, but honestly doing this podcast really put grad school back at the forefront of my mind. So I submitted an application to an English master's program, and we'll see how everything pans out. So this podcast has done so much just for me and in my future. So thank you again, and I'm excited to see what the future holds. On another note, I think it's time for a quick reading update. I have shared in my favorite books of 2023 in a new blog post, which you can read on cityofdasia.com. No spoilers here. I'll have to direct you to the blog if you are interested in reading my babes or reading about my babes. A little quick overview. I did read less than I did in years past, although that's kind of been a trend for I, through the last two or three years. But in 2023, I put out a lot of reviews that I am still extremely proud of. So like my review of Yellow Face, my RF Quang, which is probably one of my best performing reviews on the blog. And my review of the Atlas Paradox by Olive Lake, which is the second book in the Atlas trilogy. And also my series review of The Last Hours by Cassandra Clare. Those are all reviews that I am just really proud of, and I am happy that people like to find them and read them. So yeah, I'm glad that even though I may not have read the most books like I kind of used to back in the day, the way that I've been interacting with my reading the last couple of years is just, it's exactly where I want to be. And I'm just really happy with that. You can always keep up with my reading by becoming a subscriber of the blog. I know I used to say to follow me on good reads, and I am on good reads with the same username, City of Dacia. But I have been less active on there and just kind of prioritizing the blog as a place that I will reflect my reads. So you can become a subscriber and get my blog post to your email. I also recently rebranded with like a new logo and a color scheme. And I'm just excited for what's to come with my blog in website. So definitely give me a follow if you're interested in keeping up with my book reviews. Now the reason you're all really here, the P.S. to resistance, Ms. Taylor Swift. So Ms. Taylor Swift, the country singer-songwriter, turned Megapopstar, turned Savior of the Humanities. No, I'm just joking. But seriously, as I record this episode, we are still living in the era of Taylor Swift. Her influence on everything this past year in 2023, and now even into 2024, from live entertainment, to movie theaters, to the NFL. She has made her mark and is only getting bigger by the second. I didn't actually think it was possible for Taylor Swift to become more famous than she already was, but I was proved wrong because that is definitely what has happened over this last year. I think it is important for me to mention at the top of the episode that I am an unapologetic Swiftie. Okay, I attended the era store in 2023, and I went into in Arlington for those, for those who know. And I also went to her reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. I own quite a bit of merch, like every other Swiftie on the planet. I have the Pink Popcorn bucket from the era store movie. I love all my merch cardigans, my favorite. My favorite is honestly probably a tie between the red TV cardigan and the Speak Now TV cardigan because that one's purple, and it's my favorite color. And I also have Taylor Swift themed ornaments for my Christmas tree. So I'm a big fan. I'm not, I'm like, I can't pretend like I'm not in approach this topic of today's episode as if I'm not a fan because I am. However, even for the non-fans out there, I believe this episode has just a lot of interesting information about how music can translate into what we do in the humanities. So, you know, I hope that you'll give me and the Swifties a chance, but the disclaimer is over now. So let's jump back into talking about Taylor. So Taylor Swift announced her newest album, Not a Record Project, so new music during the acceptance of her 13th Grammy win. And that is an Easter egg. That's a deliberate Easter egg. For the Swifties or the uninitiated, 13 is Taylor's lucky number. She was born on December 13th and 13 is just been a constant throughout her career. The new album is called the Tortured Poets Department. And the visual theme seems to be like a light academia tortured creative soul. And from what I gathered from the track list, which was released a mere day later after she announced the album, this is feeling like a confessional album. And by that, I mean, confessional in a way we have not gotten from her since red in 2012. And words cannot describe how excited I am as a fan. Also words cannot describe how excited I am as an ex-English major. When I tell you my little English major heart soared when I heard the album title, the Tortured Poets Department, as it seems to be like using academia as some kind of backdrop for its structure and not its theme, but definitely like the album, well maybe the album theme, with the visual theme of the album and the structural theme. She posted a note to her Instagram. I think this was on the post that announced the album. It was like a carousel. There was a note that referred to herself as the quote, "chair of the Tortured Poets Department," which I believe is driving that kind of academia vibe home. And it's funny because when all of this dropped, I texted my friend a joke that the humanities would receive a 30% increase in enrollment, and I'm only partly joking. Because I mean, Taylor has already inspired various university level literature courses that cover her music, which is a dream. I'm so upset that I have not been able to take one of these myself. But according to bestcolleges.com, they posted and they published an article to their site in January 2024. That included a list of colleges that offered courses on Swift in the past, and more that have already announced that they will be offering them like the next semester. So in 2024. So from Stanford to Harvard to UT Austin and the United States, as well as universities abroad in the UK and Belgium, according to an article published by English Literature Luxure, Cleo Doyle of Queen Mary University of London, Swift's diaristic lyrics are being brought to the classroom and analyzed alongside the grades. So specifically, we see this in an article that was posted about UT Austin's Taylor Swift Literature course. And this was one that was first taught in 2022. The professor Elizabeth Schala, I believe, wrote that quote, "Swift draws on richer literary traditions in her songwriting both topically but also formally in terms of how she uses references, metaphors, and clever manipulations of words." Schala went on to mention how she wanted the course to formalize what Taylor Swift fans are already doing with her music, seemingly referring to that slew thing and close reading that Swifties are already really known for. And like I think that that's just the beauty of being a Taylor Swift fan today. You're already putting some of the English major's most valuable skills into practice. So like close reading like I mentioned, annotation, you know, creating broader connections the world around us and just playing in Taylor Swift's playground of lore that she herself buys into. She's like just known for taking those efforts that the fans are already like digging for in her music to the next level with Easter eggs. Like that's that's her thing and like fans know that and I think that that's that's so English major coded. I I love it so much. So now with the torture poets department, she seems to be playing on that academic approach a little bit more, which has me like beyond excited. So Taylor's new album will be out in April. However in the meantime, I thought it'd be fun to dissect some of her most poetic lyrics to date prior to its release. So as a fan, you know, before we really jump in, it is interesting to point out just how ubiquitous Taylor Swift is in the contemporary moment. Even those that aren't fans of her music have seemed to like begrudgingly giving her a stamp of respect at the very least after the mega years she had in 2023 and the fact that she was just everywhere though fans know that this was not always the case. And to quote Taylor herself, "Trends change and rumors fly through newsguides as we are all aware." So Miss Swift is definitely on trend right now and you know as the underpollegedic Swift I am, I have to bring up my experience being an unapologetic Swiftie in the year 2019 in what do you know a poetry class. So a brief little story time, I guess this is my diary of an X-A-List Ranger podcast. We were in this poetry class reading poetry one, I believe. We were looking at song lyrics as poetry and conducting close readings. And this was so exciting for me. This is like my first introduction to reading song lyrics as poetry and like knowing that that was okay and like you could totally do that. So I was really excited. So the professor had us go around the class and say what song we thought was the most poetic and everyone was like listing out lots of different songs that I really hadn't heard of, maybe from artists I was familiar with, but you know I didn't actually know the song. So I thought this was cool. Like we were all kind of giving each other a song recommendations in a way. So when it got to me, my answer was automatic all too well by Taylor Swift. This is a perennial favorite among fans and it's just an all around sad but so thoughtfully written song. And this was before the 10 minute version was released like guys I didn't I only had five minutes of all too well and I will still like this is my automatic answer. So I set all too well to the class and that garnered a few laughs from some of my classmates. And the interesting part is that like whether they had heard the song or not was a non starter. It was the fact that the name Taylor Swift was brought up in conjunction with the words serious poetic lyrics. That was the part that evoked humor from my classmates. So that was the culture that we were working with back then. While I'm sure Taylor Swift as a cultural topic of discussion will always be kind of delegated to the camp of quote what girls enjoy. Which of course comes with its own connotations and there are a million and one video essays on this topic on YouTube. It is great to see that she is more respected as an artist than she was even five years ago because to me 2019 doesn't seem like that long ago. This was her lover era for those familiar. And yeah I mean she just wasn't as she was still a cultural phenomenon but not in the way that she is right now. But honestly I am grateful to be a girl living in the age of Taylor Swift both now and then onto the poetic Taylor Swift lyrics. So while I'm sure there are poetic lyrics found in songs from each of Swift's albums I took the closest look at folklore and read for this episode. So folklore was her first official foray into indie alternative music and both sound and writing and that sentiment was the next in it to evermore which is the follow up sister album to folklore and it was released I think about like six months later ish somewhere around there. On folklore Taylor's approach to songwriting was less merry to the idea that it needed to be autobiographical as most of her music had been up to that point. So the album is very playful and musical and it's use of metaphor and similarly on songs like cardigan and august and mirrorball. However it has this other side to it where it explores darker themes so it uses like a funeral as a backdrop and as a theme madness and gender stereotypes and mental help on songs like my tears ricochet madwoman and this is me trying. Red on the other hand is in my opinion her most confessional album. This album truly feels like a diary of songs in the absolute best way. I'm so happy that we have this album. It's emotionally it has like a lot of emotional volatility to it but that really lends itself to like sharp and scathing lyrics on songs like all too well of both the original and the ten minute version and thought for reflections on songs like begin again and of course of course the fun catchy hooks on like we are never ever getting back together and I knew you were troubled. So on red she really takes us on a journey through her emotions the highs and the lows and everything in between that she experienced during the past relationship and then when she did her re-record which released in 2021 so almost 10 years later which is really crazy I think about she had these same cult vault tracks and so these were songs that didn't make the album the first time but it's kind of like an incentive to listen to the Taylor's version re-recorded version of the album because you have these new songs that you weren't exposed to on the original so she kind of uses that same confessional style on a lot of those tracks but I wanted to highlight nothing new where the theme of you know fleeting youthful success and being replaced by a fresher and more pliable version of herself is what haunts her during the night and that is just like that that's a lot of emotions and it is just so well done. So I'm going to stay with Bokehler and Red for now I think these are both great sites for lots of good fun in reading her lyrics as literature and I also kind of wanted to find what that means to me reading lyrics as literature so the definition of literature refers to you know any written work that has artistic value. So my goal is to examine Taylor Swift lyrics that I believe can be read as poetry which thus means they can be read as literature. I find that her words her written words are doing more than just being layered on top of music that's enjoyable to listen to instead Taylor is her word-hold artistic value and either the devices that they use or the overall picture that's being painted and I'm just I'm such a fan of how she does it so let's jump into the first song. From folklore we must first begin with the lakes written by Taylor in Jack Antonov thematically the lakes is Taylor Swift's most prominent callback to poetry. She writes take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die in the chorus and she uses the name Wordsworth eluding to the English romantic poet William Wordsworth as a play on words in the line I've come too far to watch some name-jopping sleaze tell me what are my words worth with a capital W however my favorite my favorite callback to poetry in the lakes is in the opening line Swift poses the question is it romantic how all my allergies you look at? me. So let's take a closer look at what that means. Is it romantic? How all my allergies, you'll ageize me? First I define what an allergy is. An allergy is a lamenting poem according to the making of a poem in Norton Anthology of poetic forms. I actually used this in that aforementioned poetry class. This was one of the required texts. I'm so glad I still have it because it proved the very useful for the making of this episode. So the book states that quote, "In allergy sets out the circumstances and character of a loss in mourns very dead person, list his or her virtues, and seeks consolation beyond the momentary event." And to eulogize is to give something high praise through words. It's essentially the verb form of the noun eulogy. So in this first line, Swift is seemingly posing to the reader in ironic question. Is it romantic, she asked? And here I'm thinking of romantic as in romanticizing or idealizing something rather than an expression of love similar to how she uses the word in her song, New Romantic. She's not just talking about romantic things that are done, but being a romantic in that song. And so I'm thinking of that sentiment or that definition of romantic is how she's using it here. So thus, Swift seems to be asking, "Is it charming how all my lamenting poems that mourn the loss of something are praising me?" And so, like, Swift is kind of pointing out the irony of her work. This could be read, her work could be read as like her songs, not like her songs in her music, not like an actual elegy. That's what I'm getting from it in the first line. And that first verse goes on to read, "I'm not cut out for all of these cynical clones, these hunters with cell phones." So here she seems to reveal to the reader a listener at the gravity in that irony. She's saying, "I'm not, she's not cut out for cynicism." Or those with a more critical view of the world. She then goes on to liken this cynical clone, quote unquote, to a hunter with a cell phone. So the device is the weapon that, you know, a little handheld device there is what's causing damage or what she thinks can potentially cause damage. And I'm reading this is not taking criticism of her work well. And Swift's realization that she is painted in the most positive light when she is the one holding the pen. In this first verse, Taylor seems to express discomfort with others writing about her. So maybe, you know, she feels the most control when she is the one holding the pen. Although, naturally, she kind of praises herself even in these songs that are about the loss of something or someone. And so the someone, you know, could be those relationships, but also the something could be losing her recorded masters, which then prompted her to do with the re-recordings. I love this first line. It is so, so interesting. All that's being said in like just just a good just this verse verse. So, so interesting and just chock full of fun interpretations. It's just a brilliant opening to a song that is full of poetic lyrics. And I'm sure they have so there are lots of interpretations of this song, but we'll leave it there for now. Moving on to the red album I chose, of course, all to well, the 10 minute version written by Taylor and Liz Rose. I love like the actual name of all to all 10 minute version. It's all to well, 10 minute version, Taylor's version from the vault. Lots, lots going on in the Mirror Title of the song. But I love it. And I also love that there are so many lines from this song that just hit me every single time. So poetic, so pretty, so emotional, so a few of those are you kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath. And I forget about you long enough to forget why I need it to. And of course, time won't fly. It's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it. All of those are magnificent singers. I love it so so much. But specifically for all to well, I wanted to zero in on the lyrics in the outro. What I love about this song is the close attention to detail. Red was still, I think genre-wise kind of shoehorned as a country album. However, it had like, you know, country songs. And then of course those pop hits. But the writing is still very much lent itself to like that traditional storytelling that we find in in country music. So in the song, we get explicit glimpses into the good and bad of this relationship. And so much is conveyed through details that just focus in on the mundane. So I'm going to go ahead and read the outro that I'll be looking at. And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us did the love affair. Main you too. And in the cities bearing cold, I still remember the first fall of snow. And how it glistened as it fell. I remember it all too well. Okay. So to start off with that first line, that quote, twin flame bruise seems to convey how deeply she connected with Jake. We don't know. This is the DJ Jill and Hall. So well, I don't want to say the there's multiple Jake Jill and Hall songs. But this is the one everyone knows. This was this is about Jake. So yeah, this first that first line about twin flame bruise seems to talk about like that deep connection that she and Jake had to point where that like connection became almost destructive for them both. So like they were twin flames or they were soul mates cut from the same cloth, but at what cost? And so she's you know posing this question of you know, did that twin flame bruise hurt him just as much. This sentiment is extended into the next line. She continues on with this word main just between us that the love affair main you to so like that the relationship wound and disfigure him. And the same way that it did her, you know, she's kind of posing that as another question. I love that these are like questions back to back. They're good. And the final lyrics of this entire song, this is the outro again, are just my absolute favorite because of that detail. So I read that first like quote all that first fall of snow as that like serene and beautiful calm that the beginning of the relationship had like that is the aura that they were operating and and swift writes that she remembers the glisten of that snow. I love the word there. So like the glisten is that newness and how it's it's untouched and unmarred by anything. So she seemingly remembers what it was like before this relationship left the scars that it did before he did the main thing before the twin flame bruise. And the final line about remembering it all too well conveys that pain is in the act of remembering it would be so much easier to forget. But she remembers it still. And then it just it fades out with a little bit of repetition. I know we're not talking sonically like about the actual music and the melody and everything. But when you actually listen to this song, the fact that she kind of remembers it and ends the song with our remember it all too well. It's to me really conveying the finale, the finale of that. The remembering is where the pain still lingers. And it is fantastic. I love this song so much. I love both the legs and all 12-minute version. And I love how they sound nothing alike. That is one of the things that has kept me coming back to Taylor's music year after year after year. Also, I kind of wanted to shout out like my favorite Taylor split podcast. They don't need a shout out at all. But it's called the evolution of a snake. And it's two Taylor Swift fans who have been in the fandom for so, so long. And they kind of go through her career year by year. So that's been really awesome for me to kind of fill in gaps of who certain songs are about or what was she kind of dealing with as a celebrity while writing some of these albums. So that did inform a lot of what I brought to my reading her lyrics as literature today because I have so much information about the author. So shout out to evolution of a snake. I'll link it in the show notes. If you are a Taylor Swift fan, also dying for more content from her. But yeah, like I was saying, I love that folklore and red sound so completely different. I love that she's constantly reinventing the whale. Part of that seemingly was out of necessity, but it keeps me coming back as a fan and as a listener. And so I am beyond excited to see what she brings us in the Tortured Poets Department. And there we have it, reading a few Taylor Swift lyrics as poetry. There's so many other songs I want to dive into, but I'll leave it there for now. Future episodes could possibly be on the horizon on the same topic. I hope I reached you know a few Swifties and even some non-fans out there. All of my sources will be linked in the show notes, so definitely check them out. Dissecting lyrics is in this way. It's just so fun for me and that's just why Taylor has remained one of my top artists for so long. I sometimes crave a lot more out of what I'm listening to, just like I crave a lot more out of you know whatever book I'm picking up. And she delivers on that front, which is why I am just such a big fan. Thanks for listening to Dary of an X English major. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you follow the show on your chosen podcast listening platform, leave a review on Apple podcast, and follow the podcast Instagram at Dary of an X-ing major that's ENG. And I'll see you all soon.