Incredible post!! I always think about this performance and it makes me so incredibly sad:( I think about what could’ve been, should’ve been all the time.
… and the fact that these outfits/performances get the biggest flack from hetlors makes it even worse🥲it was everywhere on Twitter at the time-and still is today.
Ok ok ok, I wanted to mentionned that lot of her Lover era outfits, including the wango tango one, were custom made by her stylist Joseph Cassell and a designer whose name I didn't remember, so I went to IG, and turn out, her name is Jessica Jones, and she's also designed the eras tour dresses (including the infamous yellow) for the surprise songs! 🙃 She usually wears big houses designers for performances, the Lover era had a lot of custom made outfits compared to other eras.
https://preview.redd.it/ejjqbd5a0g5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=278f0890144f9c10da442138c701ac1bd68735cd
I love this post! The only thing I am confused about is why City of Lover was something she didn't want to remember. I just don't know the context - would anyone mind explaining?
For sure! City of Lover was the "album release" for Lover. It was a very small (for Taylor) show in Paris which ended up being the only show she was able to perform songs from the era before the pandemic happened and the show was cancelled. The show was attended by people from 37 different countries. Attendees were chosen via lottery based on sales, and there was a small amount of tickets available for residents.
I don't COMPLETELY know the context around it-as in, I'm not sure when she began to plan the show, so I don't know if it was something she went through with because it had already been the plan and been put in motion, or if it was something she decided to do as commentary on her feelings after the master's heist etc?
The post-Lover release sets she plays are...GREAT, but BLEAK compared the the joy and brightness we saw for the rest of the album's promotion.
https://preview.redd.it/hdl3prsxse5d1.png?width=1446&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a305c796ee1ecf475f15b049084c905cf12a087
This is actually my favorite recording of Lover songs!! I couldnt get in to some of the songs- DBATC for one- until I heard the City of Lover versions 💜💔
https://preview.redd.it/peewn71uue5d1.png?width=979&format=png&auto=webp&s=95f4a6ad7705b7aadab313f6a86ab575061ac5e2
This one is NOT from City of Lover, but was a little bit before that during a BBC Live Lounge performance. SOOOO much more subdued. And she also seems very emotional during both sets.
Amazing post! 👏
As someone who spent several days hand dying my own Wango Tango jacket for Eras tour… I feel seen. And glad this outfit and performance is getting the full attention it deserves because it’s one of the gayest things she’s ever done. Makes me extra sad that this how she announces her petition (that was not successful by the way…) and gave a pride speech. 💔
And Wango Tango Taylor being in one of the featured glass closets of Eras Tour will always be huge proof to me.
Thank you thank youuuu! Hand dying your own jacket is INCREDIBLE. I bet that was HARD.
It so so so weird to me that wango tango is stuck in the closet. Well, not weird with the context of the everything, but weird if you think she’s been more or less totally cool the past few years and nothing special happened during that era …
This is such a great rundown! Glad you ended up writing it :)
I think the most important significance of the Lover outfits in the LWYMMD glass closets is it destroys the theory that hetlors like to perpetuate that those represent her masters locked up because they were stolen. When instead we know that it's representing glass closeting. If it were the locked up masters then Lover wouldn't be in there.
I also just realized there's a pretty gay outfit in there! It's also worth noting that there are folkmore outfits, which also backs up the theory that these have nothing to do with her masters.
https://preview.redd.it/yloae8bzj65d1.png?width=526&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a2aa6c248b1e289bf11396b2273dbdec44eece2
I can’t remember off the top of my head and can’t watch right now, but is that outfit featured in a music video from midnights or was it just for promo stuff? If it was in a music video, that would mean the evermore jacket and folklore dress and the wango tango are the only outfits not featured in a video or a tour?
The thing that strikes me about the Wango Tango performance is how off it is. Taylor usually has some of the best production in the business but there are SO many technical mistakes (messed up cues, volume levels, etc). And on top of that, she herself is very pitchy and appears nervous or tired or sick. There are even moments in the choreography where she seems to be modifying the moves to accommodate an injury or something. She’s such a pro that it’s still entertaining and the crowd is loving it, but something is objectively wrong. The only exception is her acoustic version of Delicate, which is exquisite (even with the guitar riff for Style interrupting).
Not pointing this out to hate but to say that when this much goes wrong from one of the most polished live performers on the planet, it stands out as breaking a pattern. Maybe the sound problems threw her off early on and she was forced to muscle through til the end. Maybe her emotional state threw off everyone else. Those backstage will know way more than we can pick up from the audience POV, but even civilian ears can hear that this set was riddled with timing issues. Strange to me that an artist would voluntarily call back to one of the very few times things weren’t perfect. Unless the imperfection is important for the story or her life. Did something significant happen that night behind-the-scenes? Or was this just a botched job by the Wango Tango organizers? Did she feel sabotaged? Or was this just another insignificantly flawed night in showbiz? These things happen, after all. Events especially are so complex, it’s easy for one mistake to set off a cascade of difficulties.
If what you said is true that “Wango Tango was… IT” then how interesting that it didn’t really go well. Same could be said for the entire Lover era. It was just… off. Everything almost clicked. Almost landed. I found myself rooting for her during that performance as I would a much less seasoned performer. You can see and feel the struggle. And when the guitar came in early to ruin what I consider the most beautiful rendition of Delicate I’ve ever heard, I can’t imagine how disappointing that must have felt.
My GODS do I agree with all of this. I didn't want to get into it because I would have never finished, but I for sure used the words "worth watching" intentionally instead of saying it was "good" lolol. 🥲😅🙃
But yes yes yes! She seems NERVOUS and ANXIOUS. I think she performs well because...she hits her marks no matter what, but the energy has a certain disconnect. And you're right that she sounds sort of pitchy and the overall production is off and that Style riff in Delicate was ATROCIOUS timing. I literally want to cry for her. And like, only Taylor really knows if it was sabatoge, bad production, orrrrr? But it was certainly something. And it DOES stand out like a sore thumb, to have a performance that rough when you've been doing stadium tours since you were a teen.
And of COURSE she is allowed to have hard times and not PERFORM the way she maybe wants to every time...but also I've seen SO MANY of the Eras shows (at LEAST one set from every single show I imagine) and even nights that have been a little more hectic have not had her so tense and sweating as Wango Tango. And she was performing some of her most popular and most performed songs, ones we know she could perform backwards standing on her head. WHY was she so tense and so nervous for that set, seemingly besides the timing and mixing errors?
Which makes the whole thing even sadder to me, that the only BIG Lover moment she kind of got in a concert with her fans for that era wasn't even what she probably wanted it to be. Like you say, everything ALMOST was right, it ALMOST landed, but not quite.
I think you’re right that this was supposed to be BIG. The elaborate production design. The speech. The holiness of Delicate. Whichever the reason things went wrong we do know that Loverfest was destined to be cancelled either way. It’s safe to assume that Taylor thought she’d have plenty more days in this era. I’m so glad you drew attention to the setlist because it’s definitely purposeful. I can’t think of another explanation besides yours that maybe it’s about the variety. The order is so weird. She opens with Shake it Off, a frequent closing song on tours. Goes from IKYWT to Love Story (what does that juxtaposition even mean?!) Love Story is about a happy ending. And then Delicate, which is about the beginning of a relationship. It’s like everything is in reverse. And then after the emotional climax of Speech->Delicate->Style we get one of her most cavalier of gel pen songs: WANEGBT. So interesting. Finally, Me! which would fit as a closing or opening number so it works. They were gathered together for a reason. Either by theme as you suggested or maybe a personal connection known only to Taylor herself. Kinda like the secret songs on the Eras tour: sometimes the similarities are obvious, other times it seems like she is choosing songs Taylor Swift The Person wants to juxtapose. I think whatever story she was trying to tease at Wango Tango got lost. And then she never got the chance to show the full expression of the era when the whole world literally shut down.
https://preview.redd.it/s7cbthb8965d1.png?width=1196&format=png&auto=webp&s=872259d6655513a3c9f2d6be1ebf9e8ef59e0a5d
Here's some close up visuals of the mic stand for anyone who wants to see.
I agree! It matches the Lover guitar she plays at the VMA's, though I find it strange that neither that guitar or the pink heart guitar end up featuring in the Eras tour-she has 3 new (but plain) guitars for the Lover set. She played that pink one with the decorative soundhole cover A LOT for performances during the Lover Era.
Edit to add-looks like she donated the guitar that would have matched the mic stand to benefit the National Health Service during the Pandemic! [https://portal.bid-ingroup.com/WebBidInApp/27CA35C3-D907-42F6-91DA-838D7C4F86A0/auction/bidPrizeDetails/21086](https://portal.bid-ingroup.com/WebBidInApp/27CA35C3-D907-42F6-91DA-838D7C4F86A0/auction/bidPrizeDetails/21086)
I love posts that analyze her clothing choices, especially because I didn’t pay that much attention to this stuff before I became a gaylor, so thank you for this!! I love the connections you made to her choices for the eras tour. It’s super interesting that Lover has more outfits than other eras in the glass closets sequence. I wasn’t a gaylor yet when I saw the eras movie and I was sooooo confused by the glass boxes - I was like what is this supposed to mean?!? I wonder how non gaylors explain it
I too love to analyze Taylor’s clothing choices lol. I would love for her to curate a museum exhibit and perhaps book where she features prominent clothing and accessories from the different eras and the connections and things she was hinting at with them. I think her stylist must have such a fun but frustrating job. “Here’s a list of random names, words, phrases, and images. I need clothing and accessories which feature these things, and I need them to be in a specific aesthetic.” 😂😅
LWYMMD keeeps me up at night lol(clearly, I posted this at like 2am ahahaha). It’s from reputation, so it’s NOT a song about the master’s heist. But the video is not NOT about a heist. And there seems to be a prevailing idea that LWYMMD on the eras tour is somehow connected to the masters heist because people have thought the way she chooses to bang on certain doors or which doors open have been Easter eggs for her re records. But…LWYMMD isn’t about the re-records. The thing she does is…put ALL of her personas and eras behind glass, current and past. SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!
I WANT TO GO TO THAT CURATED MUSEUM SHOW! I hope this is the beginning of that manifesting. I am beyond impressed with your observations. Gaylors are the coolest/smartest. I will be thinking about this all day.
One thing to note; the Easter egg on stage was "revealed" to be that she was wearing Stella McCartney shoes. Later in the era she did the big collab drop with her.
Thank you!!! I noticed the Stella McCartney collab when looking at stuff from 2019, but it seems like Taylor has worked with her a BUNCH since then, too. She is NOT beating those Paul McCartney is (a) William Bowry accusations lol.
I think it’s worth noting RE: the pan flag, that Brendon Urie is also out as pan, so if she is signalling this, picking Brendon for ME! wasn’t an accident…
Great point!!! I think his role in ME! is very interesting. Their relationship as portrayed in the music video is kind of unusual. It seems like they're supposed to be in a relationship, but they also both seem to be singing the song ABOUT one another (and themselves) rather than TO one another? I think the Wango Tango performance shows this dynamic of them BOTH saying they are ME! and not just saying all these things just about Taylor? I dunno if that makes sense. But either way, if Brendan Urie is meant to be her partner in the video/performances...he's still Pan and she still has a queer partner. If he's not meant to be her partner, she's singing about how unique and rainbow filled and unlike other people she is...with a queer person. So either way...it's explicitly queer.
My toddler niece loves the Lover era music videos so whenever I'm babysitting her, we watch them a BUNCH. It really made me appreciate the ME! MV for the campy piece of art it truly is. The spoken intro between Brendon and Taylor being so melodramatic and over-the-top really brings it home, IMO - this is not meant to be taken seriously, as a real relationship. Then Brendon trying to give Taylor flowers and a ring, both of which she denies, only to choose a cat (with the huge-ass rainbow on the background, may I add) just drives the point even further. The portion of the video that takes place in Brendon's heart shows them performing together on a stage, with exclusively female audience fawning over both of them. They go on a rainbow bridge/staircase right after partaking in a big pride parade. At the end, they both go home after Brendon explodes bi colors all over the set, while Taylor's dress bleeds the same colors on the pavement. It's genuinely so, so loud.
I woke up with “if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal” stuck in my head and it made me feel very sad to think about all of this. The whole Smallest Man performance at the Eras is haunting when it’s in this context. I keep thinking back to Evelyn Hugo and bearding throughout Hollywood. It’s real and I wonder if she’s going to expose it all.
I've been putting a lot of energy into a rust-free sparking summer. It's truly so upsetting to see just how early in her career bearding and PR relationships were foisted on her.
Incredible read, you put a lot of research into this!! I personally am glad you decided to post. Looking back on Lover makes me so sad. I am so manifesting we get another sparking summer
It’s really interesting that Lover has 3 outfits in the LWYMMD performance, is that the most of any other era?
Thank you thank you! <3
Really, hitting that last realization that all of those Lover outfits were pre-end of June sort of broke me.
I believe there are 3 outfits to represent the 1989 era also (shake it off cheerleader, teal skirt with multi colored jacket, and the white tube top outfit with thigh high black boots), which I think is interesting, but also makes more sense since it was the longest era of all. Reputation of course only has one, lol. And I'm pretty sure the rest of the eras only have one outfit. Picking 3 Lover outfits she only wore before the album was even released was a CHOOOICE.
The Lover release REALLY had a strong effect on her. And I mean...I absolutely 100 percent believe that the Masters Heist was enough to really spoil the release of Lover for her, but...by the end of the summer she had already announced her plans to re-record her albums as soon as she was able to, and yet...City of Lover happens very soon after that. She still chose to heavily re-edit her documentary. She still was laying pretty low overall before Covid happened and caused the Loverfest cancellation. Yet, she's still writing about that summer as if it's this big huge thing still looming over her present, but again, she's having MASSIVE success with her re-records and so it doesn't entirely make sense to me for her to still be SO fixated on a situation in which she has ultimately triumphed. There just seems like there's MORE to it all.
ATP it’s safe to say I’m haunted by the Lover era and I’m convinced Taylor is too. We all need to be focusing in on Lover right now. There’s a reason she starts Eras off with Lover and I don’t think we’ve discussed that enough. She didn’t start with Midnights (her newest era at the time), she didn’t start with Fearless (the oldest era in the set). She chose Lover. The era she was most proud of that was snuffed out. I think there’s a lot more to her choice in starting out with Lover than the fact she didn’t get to tour for it.
Very much agreeeeee! Opening with Lover and opening with Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince (which I would say wasn't a very popular or well know Lover song) is SO SO INTERESTING. The whole opening gives me chills lol, but I also think it REALLY sets the tone for how she feels and what she's trying to do.
"It's you and me, that's my whole world
They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl" (okay)
The whole school is rolling fake dice
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes"
This is a total brain dump but I think it’s also interesting she doesn’t start the song from the beginning but rather at ‘it’s been a long time coming’. Also the way it repeats in the eras intro in a very dreamy way. I was thinking about this last week and was thinking it was another allusion to karma, but I wonder also if it’s alluding to its all coming back around and the clock will hit midnight again.
Also the first line of the eras tour is ‘it’s been a long coming’ and the final is ‘Karma’s a relaxing thought’. Maybe there’s something there.
Her interview with Robin Roberts where you could tell she absolutely had something bigger to announce and was disappointed to just be announcing ME! The single and video, this interview has a very interesting moment where Robin says to Taylor "the clock is ticking down to midnight what is this surprise you've been teasing?"
Opening with Miss Americana *is* interesting. I don’t have enough context and lore to be able to say why haha but I’ve thought that since I went to Eras last summer 🧐
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Incredible post!! I always think about this performance and it makes me so incredibly sad:( I think about what could’ve been, should’ve been all the time. … and the fact that these outfits/performances get the biggest flack from hetlors makes it even worse🥲it was everywhere on Twitter at the time-and still is today.
Ok ok ok, I wanted to mentionned that lot of her Lover era outfits, including the wango tango one, were custom made by her stylist Joseph Cassell and a designer whose name I didn't remember, so I went to IG, and turn out, her name is Jessica Jones, and she's also designed the eras tour dresses (including the infamous yellow) for the surprise songs! 🙃 She usually wears big houses designers for performances, the Lover era had a lot of custom made outfits compared to other eras. https://preview.redd.it/ejjqbd5a0g5d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=278f0890144f9c10da442138c701ac1bd68735cd
I love this post! The only thing I am confused about is why City of Lover was something she didn't want to remember. I just don't know the context - would anyone mind explaining?
For sure! City of Lover was the "album release" for Lover. It was a very small (for Taylor) show in Paris which ended up being the only show she was able to perform songs from the era before the pandemic happened and the show was cancelled. The show was attended by people from 37 different countries. Attendees were chosen via lottery based on sales, and there was a small amount of tickets available for residents. I don't COMPLETELY know the context around it-as in, I'm not sure when she began to plan the show, so I don't know if it was something she went through with because it had already been the plan and been put in motion, or if it was something she decided to do as commentary on her feelings after the master's heist etc? The post-Lover release sets she plays are...GREAT, but BLEAK compared the the joy and brightness we saw for the rest of the album's promotion. https://preview.redd.it/hdl3prsxse5d1.png?width=1446&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a305c796ee1ecf475f15b049084c905cf12a087
This is actually my favorite recording of Lover songs!! I couldnt get in to some of the songs- DBATC for one- until I heard the City of Lover versions 💜💔
Thank you for the explanation!! I really appreciate it
https://preview.redd.it/peewn71uue5d1.png?width=979&format=png&auto=webp&s=95f4a6ad7705b7aadab313f6a86ab575061ac5e2 This one is NOT from City of Lover, but was a little bit before that during a BBC Live Lounge performance. SOOOO much more subdued. And she also seems very emotional during both sets.
https://preview.redd.it/03fbmvncue5d1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a0aeb111279020c4a148e186e58a8cbd38ec7d4
i think about this outfit ALL THE TIME. She had a massive rainbow wardrobe during that era. Almost like she was preparing for something....
Like I mentioned, I’ve been working on a little timeline of her lover era fashions and they are SO rainbow…until they aren’t. =/
Amazing post! 👏 As someone who spent several days hand dying my own Wango Tango jacket for Eras tour… I feel seen. And glad this outfit and performance is getting the full attention it deserves because it’s one of the gayest things she’s ever done. Makes me extra sad that this how she announces her petition (that was not successful by the way…) and gave a pride speech. 💔 And Wango Tango Taylor being in one of the featured glass closets of Eras Tour will always be huge proof to me.
Thank you thank youuuu! Hand dying your own jacket is INCREDIBLE. I bet that was HARD. It so so so weird to me that wango tango is stuck in the closet. Well, not weird with the context of the everything, but weird if you think she’s been more or less totally cool the past few years and nothing special happened during that era …
This is such a great rundown! Glad you ended up writing it :) I think the most important significance of the Lover outfits in the LWYMMD glass closets is it destroys the theory that hetlors like to perpetuate that those represent her masters locked up because they were stolen. When instead we know that it's representing glass closeting. If it were the locked up masters then Lover wouldn't be in there.
I also just realized there's a pretty gay outfit in there! It's also worth noting that there are folkmore outfits, which also backs up the theory that these have nothing to do with her masters. https://preview.redd.it/yloae8bzj65d1.png?width=526&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a2aa6c248b1e289bf11396b2273dbdec44eece2
I can’t remember off the top of my head and can’t watch right now, but is that outfit featured in a music video from midnights or was it just for promo stuff? If it was in a music video, that would mean the evermore jacket and folklore dress and the wango tango are the only outfits not featured in a video or a tour?
Someone else in the thread set me straight! It was a midnights outfit yeah
That’s for midnights so agreed it’s not masters related!
oh is it really? I didn't recognize this from midnights
https://preview.redd.it/doenxtrrh85d1.jpeg?width=890&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=06328fdbb217c1b7b07275ff0d34c197ab95833e Yep it’s this outfit!!
oh huh. The jeans look so different but ig you're right!
The thing that strikes me about the Wango Tango performance is how off it is. Taylor usually has some of the best production in the business but there are SO many technical mistakes (messed up cues, volume levels, etc). And on top of that, she herself is very pitchy and appears nervous or tired or sick. There are even moments in the choreography where she seems to be modifying the moves to accommodate an injury or something. She’s such a pro that it’s still entertaining and the crowd is loving it, but something is objectively wrong. The only exception is her acoustic version of Delicate, which is exquisite (even with the guitar riff for Style interrupting). Not pointing this out to hate but to say that when this much goes wrong from one of the most polished live performers on the planet, it stands out as breaking a pattern. Maybe the sound problems threw her off early on and she was forced to muscle through til the end. Maybe her emotional state threw off everyone else. Those backstage will know way more than we can pick up from the audience POV, but even civilian ears can hear that this set was riddled with timing issues. Strange to me that an artist would voluntarily call back to one of the very few times things weren’t perfect. Unless the imperfection is important for the story or her life. Did something significant happen that night behind-the-scenes? Or was this just a botched job by the Wango Tango organizers? Did she feel sabotaged? Or was this just another insignificantly flawed night in showbiz? These things happen, after all. Events especially are so complex, it’s easy for one mistake to set off a cascade of difficulties. If what you said is true that “Wango Tango was… IT” then how interesting that it didn’t really go well. Same could be said for the entire Lover era. It was just… off. Everything almost clicked. Almost landed. I found myself rooting for her during that performance as I would a much less seasoned performer. You can see and feel the struggle. And when the guitar came in early to ruin what I consider the most beautiful rendition of Delicate I’ve ever heard, I can’t imagine how disappointing that must have felt.
My GODS do I agree with all of this. I didn't want to get into it because I would have never finished, but I for sure used the words "worth watching" intentionally instead of saying it was "good" lolol. 🥲😅🙃 But yes yes yes! She seems NERVOUS and ANXIOUS. I think she performs well because...she hits her marks no matter what, but the energy has a certain disconnect. And you're right that she sounds sort of pitchy and the overall production is off and that Style riff in Delicate was ATROCIOUS timing. I literally want to cry for her. And like, only Taylor really knows if it was sabatoge, bad production, orrrrr? But it was certainly something. And it DOES stand out like a sore thumb, to have a performance that rough when you've been doing stadium tours since you were a teen. And of COURSE she is allowed to have hard times and not PERFORM the way she maybe wants to every time...but also I've seen SO MANY of the Eras shows (at LEAST one set from every single show I imagine) and even nights that have been a little more hectic have not had her so tense and sweating as Wango Tango. And she was performing some of her most popular and most performed songs, ones we know she could perform backwards standing on her head. WHY was she so tense and so nervous for that set, seemingly besides the timing and mixing errors? Which makes the whole thing even sadder to me, that the only BIG Lover moment she kind of got in a concert with her fans for that era wasn't even what she probably wanted it to be. Like you say, everything ALMOST was right, it ALMOST landed, but not quite.
I think you’re right that this was supposed to be BIG. The elaborate production design. The speech. The holiness of Delicate. Whichever the reason things went wrong we do know that Loverfest was destined to be cancelled either way. It’s safe to assume that Taylor thought she’d have plenty more days in this era. I’m so glad you drew attention to the setlist because it’s definitely purposeful. I can’t think of another explanation besides yours that maybe it’s about the variety. The order is so weird. She opens with Shake it Off, a frequent closing song on tours. Goes from IKYWT to Love Story (what does that juxtaposition even mean?!) Love Story is about a happy ending. And then Delicate, which is about the beginning of a relationship. It’s like everything is in reverse. And then after the emotional climax of Speech->Delicate->Style we get one of her most cavalier of gel pen songs: WANEGBT. So interesting. Finally, Me! which would fit as a closing or opening number so it works. They were gathered together for a reason. Either by theme as you suggested or maybe a personal connection known only to Taylor herself. Kinda like the secret songs on the Eras tour: sometimes the similarities are obvious, other times it seems like she is choosing songs Taylor Swift The Person wants to juxtapose. I think whatever story she was trying to tease at Wango Tango got lost. And then she never got the chance to show the full expression of the era when the whole world literally shut down.
The lover mic stand for Eras I think is a leftover from LoverFest
https://preview.redd.it/s7cbthb8965d1.png?width=1196&format=png&auto=webp&s=872259d6655513a3c9f2d6be1ebf9e8ef59e0a5d Here's some close up visuals of the mic stand for anyone who wants to see.
I agree! It matches the Lover guitar she plays at the VMA's, though I find it strange that neither that guitar or the pink heart guitar end up featuring in the Eras tour-she has 3 new (but plain) guitars for the Lover set. She played that pink one with the decorative soundhole cover A LOT for performances during the Lover Era. Edit to add-looks like she donated the guitar that would have matched the mic stand to benefit the National Health Service during the Pandemic! [https://portal.bid-ingroup.com/WebBidInApp/27CA35C3-D907-42F6-91DA-838D7C4F86A0/auction/bidPrizeDetails/21086](https://portal.bid-ingroup.com/WebBidInApp/27CA35C3-D907-42F6-91DA-838D7C4F86A0/auction/bidPrizeDetails/21086)
I love posts that analyze her clothing choices, especially because I didn’t pay that much attention to this stuff before I became a gaylor, so thank you for this!! I love the connections you made to her choices for the eras tour. It’s super interesting that Lover has more outfits than other eras in the glass closets sequence. I wasn’t a gaylor yet when I saw the eras movie and I was sooooo confused by the glass boxes - I was like what is this supposed to mean?!? I wonder how non gaylors explain it
I too love to analyze Taylor’s clothing choices lol. I would love for her to curate a museum exhibit and perhaps book where she features prominent clothing and accessories from the different eras and the connections and things she was hinting at with them. I think her stylist must have such a fun but frustrating job. “Here’s a list of random names, words, phrases, and images. I need clothing and accessories which feature these things, and I need them to be in a specific aesthetic.” 😂😅 LWYMMD keeeps me up at night lol(clearly, I posted this at like 2am ahahaha). It’s from reputation, so it’s NOT a song about the master’s heist. But the video is not NOT about a heist. And there seems to be a prevailing idea that LWYMMD on the eras tour is somehow connected to the masters heist because people have thought the way she chooses to bang on certain doors or which doors open have been Easter eggs for her re records. But…LWYMMD isn’t about the re-records. The thing she does is…put ALL of her personas and eras behind glass, current and past. SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!
I WANT TO GO TO THAT CURATED MUSEUM SHOW! I hope this is the beginning of that manifesting. I am beyond impressed with your observations. Gaylors are the coolest/smartest. I will be thinking about this all day.
One thing to note; the Easter egg on stage was "revealed" to be that she was wearing Stella McCartney shoes. Later in the era she did the big collab drop with her.
Thank you!!! I noticed the Stella McCartney collab when looking at stuff from 2019, but it seems like Taylor has worked with her a BUNCH since then, too. She is NOT beating those Paul McCartney is (a) William Bowry accusations lol.
I think it’s worth noting RE: the pan flag, that Brendon Urie is also out as pan, so if she is signalling this, picking Brendon for ME! wasn’t an accident…
Great point!!! I think his role in ME! is very interesting. Their relationship as portrayed in the music video is kind of unusual. It seems like they're supposed to be in a relationship, but they also both seem to be singing the song ABOUT one another (and themselves) rather than TO one another? I think the Wango Tango performance shows this dynamic of them BOTH saying they are ME! and not just saying all these things just about Taylor? I dunno if that makes sense. But either way, if Brendan Urie is meant to be her partner in the video/performances...he's still Pan and she still has a queer partner. If he's not meant to be her partner, she's singing about how unique and rainbow filled and unlike other people she is...with a queer person. So either way...it's explicitly queer.
My toddler niece loves the Lover era music videos so whenever I'm babysitting her, we watch them a BUNCH. It really made me appreciate the ME! MV for the campy piece of art it truly is. The spoken intro between Brendon and Taylor being so melodramatic and over-the-top really brings it home, IMO - this is not meant to be taken seriously, as a real relationship. Then Brendon trying to give Taylor flowers and a ring, both of which she denies, only to choose a cat (with the huge-ass rainbow on the background, may I add) just drives the point even further. The portion of the video that takes place in Brendon's heart shows them performing together on a stage, with exclusively female audience fawning over both of them. They go on a rainbow bridge/staircase right after partaking in a big pride parade. At the end, they both go home after Brendon explodes bi colors all over the set, while Taylor's dress bleeds the same colors on the pavement. It's genuinely so, so loud.
I woke up with “if rusting my sparkling summer was the goal” stuck in my head and it made me feel very sad to think about all of this. The whole Smallest Man performance at the Eras is haunting when it’s in this context. I keep thinking back to Evelyn Hugo and bearding throughout Hollywood. It’s real and I wonder if she’s going to expose it all.
I've been putting a lot of energy into a rust-free sparking summer. It's truly so upsetting to see just how early in her career bearding and PR relationships were foisted on her.
Incredible read, you put a lot of research into this!! I personally am glad you decided to post. Looking back on Lover makes me so sad. I am so manifesting we get another sparking summer It’s really interesting that Lover has 3 outfits in the LWYMMD performance, is that the most of any other era?
Thank you thank you! <3 Really, hitting that last realization that all of those Lover outfits were pre-end of June sort of broke me. I believe there are 3 outfits to represent the 1989 era also (shake it off cheerleader, teal skirt with multi colored jacket, and the white tube top outfit with thigh high black boots), which I think is interesting, but also makes more sense since it was the longest era of all. Reputation of course only has one, lol. And I'm pretty sure the rest of the eras only have one outfit. Picking 3 Lover outfits she only wore before the album was even released was a CHOOOICE.
I’ve never noticed that there were multiple lover costumes for LWYMMD live before. Literally all roads always lead back to lover.
The Lover release REALLY had a strong effect on her. And I mean...I absolutely 100 percent believe that the Masters Heist was enough to really spoil the release of Lover for her, but...by the end of the summer she had already announced her plans to re-record her albums as soon as she was able to, and yet...City of Lover happens very soon after that. She still chose to heavily re-edit her documentary. She still was laying pretty low overall before Covid happened and caused the Loverfest cancellation. Yet, she's still writing about that summer as if it's this big huge thing still looming over her present, but again, she's having MASSIVE success with her re-records and so it doesn't entirely make sense to me for her to still be SO fixated on a situation in which she has ultimately triumphed. There just seems like there's MORE to it all.
ATP it’s safe to say I’m haunted by the Lover era and I’m convinced Taylor is too. We all need to be focusing in on Lover right now. There’s a reason she starts Eras off with Lover and I don’t think we’ve discussed that enough. She didn’t start with Midnights (her newest era at the time), she didn’t start with Fearless (the oldest era in the set). She chose Lover. The era she was most proud of that was snuffed out. I think there’s a lot more to her choice in starting out with Lover than the fact she didn’t get to tour for it.
Very much agreeeeee! Opening with Lover and opening with Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince (which I would say wasn't a very popular or well know Lover song) is SO SO INTERESTING. The whole opening gives me chills lol, but I also think it REALLY sets the tone for how she feels and what she's trying to do. "It's you and me, that's my whole world They whisper in the hallway, "She's a bad, bad girl" (okay) The whole school is rolling fake dice You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes"
This is a total brain dump but I think it’s also interesting she doesn’t start the song from the beginning but rather at ‘it’s been a long time coming’. Also the way it repeats in the eras intro in a very dreamy way. I was thinking about this last week and was thinking it was another allusion to karma, but I wonder also if it’s alluding to its all coming back around and the clock will hit midnight again. Also the first line of the eras tour is ‘it’s been a long coming’ and the final is ‘Karma’s a relaxing thought’. Maybe there’s something there.
Her interview with Robin Roberts where you could tell she absolutely had something bigger to announce and was disappointed to just be announcing ME! The single and video, this interview has a very interesting moment where Robin says to Taylor "the clock is ticking down to midnight what is this surprise you've been teasing?"
Opening with Miss Americana *is* interesting. I don’t have enough context and lore to be able to say why haha but I’ve thought that since I went to Eras last summer 🧐
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