How to become a Swiftie: The Ultimate Guide to Taylor Swift by shunti

how to become a

Swiftie the ultimate guide to taylor swift

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a special thanks to Beth Garrabrant, Getty Images, adn Theo Wargo for images

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1- Turn on the Radio 2- The Casual Listener 3- “She’s OK I guess” 4- Whole Album Shuffle 5- Venturing Out 6- “She’s making songs she’s already made?” 7- Blast From the Past 8- Blast From the Past (Part Two) 9- It’s Gettng Deep Out Here 10- It’s Like Quicksand Baby 11- The Easter Bunny 12- Sleep is for the Weak 13- The MOST Important Step

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 1- Turn on the Radio To begin your life down this endless rabbit hole, you will simply hear a song or 2 on the radio. This is essentially unavoidable. Taylor is everywhere.

Step 2- The Casual Listener Now that you’ve heard her on the radio once or twice you and Taylor are no longer strangers. At this point, the next step is to add a song to your playlist. “You Belong With Me” is a classic, so what?

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 3- “She’s OK I guess” After hearing a couple songs of hers on your playlist every now and again plus the occasional radio song of course you’ll begin to like her music. For this step you simply have to admit to liking her. Only a couple songs though, wouldn’t want to get too crazy it is Taylor Swift after all.

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Step 4- Whole Album Shuffle Now that you’ve admitted to liking her music, the next step in your journey is listening to a whole album, beginning to end. This can be any album; I recommend starting in the genre you are most familiar with. She has released albums in 3 different genres, so you have a few to choose from. So, what the heck just listen to the whole thing, just for funzies. Don’t stop listening to the album. You didn’t expect to become addicted to it, but you should be physically unable to stop playing it at this point. Somehow every time you hear it, it gets better. The lyrics, the music, everything is just too good.

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 5- Venturing Out Next, after finally breaking away from that album you need to branch out to other albums. You’ll never believe that you didn’t listen to this sooner. Me either! It’s gold! Albums: Taylor Swift (2006) Fearless (2008) Speak Now (2010) Red (2012) 1989 (2014) Reputation (2017) Lover (2019) folklore (2020) evermore (2020) Re-recordings: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021) Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021)

Whether you like Taylor or not you have to admit it is impressive how many albums she has put out in the past couple years. Not to mention the re-recordings!

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Taylor Swift (2006)

Fearless (2009)

Speak Now (2010)

Red (2012)

1989 (2014)

Reputation (2017)

Lover (2019)

folklore (2020)

evermore (2020)

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 6- “She’s making songs she’s already made?”

The next step is learning about the re-recordings. What are the re-recordings? “She’s making songs she’s already made right?” Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Basically, most of the artist you know of don’t own the rights (also called masters) to their own music. Taylor made it very clear that if the rights to her music were being sold, she wanted to buy them. They were then sold behind her back to a man named Scooter Braun, who Taylor was not exactly fond of. After much debate he refused to sell them to her. Come to find out in November of 2020 he sold them to a firm called Shamrock Holdings. That would be the second time her masters were sold without her knowledge. So, for the sake of owning her own art she decided she was going to remake her first 6 studio albums. The re-recordings have all the songs from the original albums completely remade to sound the exact same from scratch. Of course, her voice is more mature now and there are minor differences in the tracks, but most unassuming casual listeners would never know the difference. To make the re-releasing of these albums more exciting for her fans, she has also included in them what she calls ‘vault tracks’. These are songs that were written in each album’s respective era that were good, but just didn’t make it on the original record.

“When something says in parentheses ‘Taylor’s Version’ next to it, that means I own it, which is exciting!” -TS

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021)

Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021) 9

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 7- Blast From the Past

Now, dive into her past. Somehow you missed a TON of drama. Who knew she dated Harry Styles?? Life-long Swifties have known all of this for a long time but you’re new so you have a lot to learn. The boys and their songs: Joe Jonas- broke up with Taylor in a 27 second phone call “Forever and Always” (Fearless) “You All Over Me (From the Vault)” (Fearless Taylor’s Version) “Mr. Perfectly Fine (From the Vault)” (Fearless Taylor’s Version) “Last Kiss” (Speak Now) Taylor Lautner- she broke up with him and wrote an apology song “Back to December” (Speak Now) John Mayer- 32 when they dated (she was 19) (gross) “Dear John” (Speak Now) “Ours” (Speak Now) “Superman” (Speak Now) Jake Gyllenhaal- WE HATE HIM “All Too Well” (Red) “All Too Well” (10-minute Version From the Vault) (Red TV) “We Are Never Getting Back Together” (Red) “I Almost Do” (Red) “State of Grace” (Red) “The Moment I Knew” (Red)

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Harry Styles- many Swifties are still sad about this breakup “Out of the Woods” (1989) “I Know Places” (1989) “Style” (1989) “Wonderland” (1989) Calvin Harris“I Did Something Bad” (Reputation) “Getaway Car” (Reputation) Tom Hiddleston- dated him to get out of relationship with Calvin “Getaway Car” (Reputation) Joe Alwyn- her current boyfriend (heavily inspired Lover) “King Of My Heart” (Reputation) “Call It What You Want” (Reputation) “New Years Day” (Reputation) “Lover” (Lover) “Cornelia Street” (Lover) (many other songs on Lover as well) There are other songs about some of these guys and there are also a few more guys who have a song about them here and there but those are the major ones. ( Another thing to note is Taylor Swift is NOT only known for her exes despite how the media portrays her. The purpose for listing them was to shed light on her past not on the boys themselves. )

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Step 8- Blast From the Past (Part Two: Tay VS. ‘Ye) While we’re here in the history, let’s dive into one of the biggest beefs of the 21st century*: Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West. Basically in 2009, Tay won an award for the “You Belong With Me” music video in a category that a music video of Beyoncé’s was also nominated. As she was delivering her acceptance speech, Kanye interrupted by saying, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” So yeah pretty much everyone agreed that was a jerk move. Following that and all the hate he received from it, Kanye tweeted an apology and everyone more or less moved on. Fast forward to 2016, Kanye releases the song “Famous” with inappropriate lines about Taylor. He claimed that he called her and she gave him permission to release the song. Taylor’s team revealed he did call but there was no such mention of the lines he was going to use. Ultimately, the feud inspired many songs on the album Reputation, including the famous music video “Look What You Made Me Do”. Long story short**- we hate him. end of story. * may or may not be accurate ** “long story short” (evermore)

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

9- It’s Getting Deep Out Here

Next, you need to get into the deeper meaning behind each song and album. In the past you may have thought of TS as some pop artist who wrote songs about shaking it off and her ex-boyfriends (it’s ok, don’t be embarrassed, everyone has been there). Behind their catchy melodies, her songs have some very carefully written lyrics that can tell some intricate stories. In her album evermore, she tells the song of a murder mystery in the song “no body no crime”. In her album folklore, she uses 3 different songs (“cardigan”, “august”, and “betty”) to tell different perspectives of the same story. Also in that album, she tells the story of Rebekah Harkness who previously owned Taylor’s Rhode Island coast mansion. There are plenty other great stories in her albums but it’s more fun to find them on your own so I’ll leave you to it. Some notable deep lyrics: (TELL ME THESE AREN’T STRAIGHT POETRY) “Take the words for what they are: a dwindling mercurial high, a drug that only worked the first few hundred times” -illicit affairs (folklore) “You are not like the regulars, the masquerade revelers, drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten” -mirrorball (folklore) “If I’m on fire you’ll be made of ashes too” -my tears ricochet (folklore) “I rewind the tape but all it does is pause On the very moment all was lost

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Sending signals To be double crossed” -evermore (evermore) “I made you my temple, my mural, my sky Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life” -tolerate it (evermore) “Did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us did the love affair maim you too?” -All Too Well 10-Minute Version (Red Taylor’s Version) “Break my soul in two looking for you but you’re right here” -coney island (evermore) “So you were never a saint and I loved in shades of wrong We learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts” -State of Grace (Red) “All we are is skin and bone trained to get along” -Treacherous (Red) “Our songs, our films, united we stand Our country, guess it was a lawless land” -Death By A Thousand Cuts (Lover) (Of course, these are only a few of the many but as previously mentioned, it’s more fun to find them on your own)

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 10- It’s Like Quicksand Baby The next step on this journey is to let it take over. Don’t fight it anymore. So what? You’re basic now? So what? You’re addicted? So what? You listen to TS for 23 of 24 hours of the day? We’ve literally all been there so it’s ok. You are in good company.

Step 11- Sleep is for the Weak Never sleep peacefully again FUN FACT: Taylor Swift typically releases music on Friday. As of late, she has started doing surprise releases so on any Thursday you have to be ready for a surprise announcement just in case. So, you’ll never sleep peacefully on Wednesdays or Thursdays ever again.

“Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” -peace (folklore) Of course, Taylor. We have accepted this peace-less lifestyle.

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

Step 12- The Easter Bunny Okay we have a lot of good groundwork down. You are caught up on her history and now you have a good healthy obsession. Now we need to learn about Easter eggs. Taylor loves to drop hints for coming albums and songs. She drops hints days, weeks, months, and even years in advance. (Pro Tip: QUESTION EVERYTHING SHE SAYS AND DOES WE MUST FIGURE OUT WHAT SHE’S UP TO) In an interview TS said, “I love to communicate via Easter eggs. I think the best messages are cryptic ones.” Here is some Tay Classics: 1. CD booklets Back in the day of CD’s Taylor would capitalize random lyrics in the booklets with the capital letters spelling out messages. This lasted up until the release of Reputation (she wanted the album to speak for itself).

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

2. Music Videos As we previously learned, she used the “Look What You Made Me Do” to make digs at Kanye and the Kardashians but another great example of hidden messages in her music videos is in the “ME!” music video. The title of her upcoming album (Lover) was cleverly hidden in the video. In the music video for “The Man” there are many digs at Scooter Braun. In the “I Bet You Think About Me” music video from the recently released Red (Taylor’s Version) fans have already found many clues. To what? That is unclear at the moment, but we know it will all make sense someday.

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

3. @taylorswift Another way Taylor drops hints is through her social media accounts. Fans often pick up on changes in the style of her feed to predict new eras. She hinted at her surprise album folklore by posting a photo with the caption “not a lot going on at the moment” in April 2020, just a few months before its release. She later used the same caption for a photo in November 2020 just one month before the surprise release of evermore. She also used her social media to release scrambled letters of the vault tracks for her re-recorded albums. One popular activity among Swifties is trying to decipher which album is going to be re-recorded next. Anything from manicures to hairstyles to Instagram filters could be a clue. (I REPEAT: QUESTION EVERYTHING ALWAYS)

h ow to b e co m e a Swiftie

Step 13-The MOST important step FUN FACT: 13 is Taylor Swift’s lucky/favorite number She was born on December 13th Her drummer put a number 13 on his drum Whenever she is seated in row 13 or M (13th letter) at award shows she wins.

the ultimate guide to taylor swift

The 13th step is NEVER stop talking about Taylor. You are now a committed Swiftie. You need to let the world know. Continuously tell your friends and family about her Even if they don’t appreciate it now, they will someday.

“I don’t know why but with you I’d dance in a storm in my best dress,” -Fearless

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