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Fear itself: Inaction in Fearless
Taylor Swift Scholar investigates whether Taylor Swift is actually fearless in the song fearless. Spoiler: she's not.


I Knew Everything When I Was Young: TS01 Full Analysis
Taylor Swift introduces herself to the world through a collection of songs that consider the nuances of what it means to know.


A Perfectly Good Heart: Heartbreak or Brainbreak?
Through A Perfectly Good Heart, Swift thus illustrates how the human body is altered at the end of a relationship.


See the Light : Love as Mutual Sight in Invisible
In Invisible Swift thus reemphasizes the point she made in I’m Only Me When I’m With You. Love, like friendship, is knowing and being known.


Better Together: Knowing and Being Known in I’m Only Me When I’m With You
In IOMWIWY, friendship is the cycle of one self reifying and being reified by another self through the effortful exchange of knowledge.


Swift's Theology of Noise Music in Our Song
In Our Song, noted music theorist Taylor Swift grapples with the question “What is Music?”


The Time Traveler's Wife: Visiting the Past in Mary's Song (Oh My My My)
Swift, a metaphysician, uses Mary’s narrative as an opportunity to revisit the theme from a universe where the relationship did not end.


Should've Said Know: Swift's Socratic Masterpiece
Swift, a Platonic philosopher, transforms a story of infidelity into a brilliant illustration of the Socratic idea that Virtue = Knowledge.


Missed Connections and Crossed Wires: Communication Breakdowns in Stay Beautiful
The Basics Like Tied Together with a Smile , Stay Beautiful is addressed to a young person who doesn’t know that they are beautiful. This...


A Penny for your Thoughts: Epistemology of the Self in Tied Together with a Smile
The Basics Taylor Swift addresses Tied Together with a Smile to a young woman who doesn’t know (oh-oh) that she’s beautiful. In the...


Two Roads Diverged in a TSwift Song: The Outside's Meta-Analysis of Robert Frost
Word cloud with the lyrics from The Outside The Basics On the surface, The Outside is the third in a trio of songs that use place as a device for exploring themes of loneliness. Like the narrator in A Place in this World , Swift is searching for something undefinable: “I didn’t know what I would find / when I went looking for a reason.” Like the narrator in Cold as You , she is currently in a desolate location that mirrors her own loneliness: On the outside looking in / I've


The Cold Does Bother Her Anyway: Inaccessible Men in Cold as You
Word Cloud for Cold As You The Basics Cold as You is the fifth song on Taylor Swift’s debut album — a slot that Swift generally reserves for a particularly emotional track. The previous song left our narrator yearning for A Place in this World. By the beginning of Cold as You, Swift has found a place, but it is cold, gray, and rainy. The verses depict an unhealthy relationship where one person seeks closeness (or any reaction) from another who is emotionally unavailable. Swi


Taylor's Shift to Geospatial Analysis: A Place in this World
Word Cloud with the Lyrics: The Basics: The verses of A Place in this World depict a narrator who is seeking despite not knowing precisely what she hopes to find. She opens the song by stating: “I don’t know what I want.” According to the chorus, the only thing she does know is that she’s “alone, on [her] own.” She repeatedly states “I’m just a girl Trying to find a place in this world.” References to sunshine and rain hint at Swift’s mixed emotions towards her search. Lite


Look but don't See: Teardrops on my Guitar
Word Cloud with the Lyrics from Teardrops on My Guitar: The Basics: Taylor Swift is in love with Drew. Drew doesn’t know how Taylor Swift feels and tells her about his beautiful girlfriend. Taylor Swift reveals that he’s the reason for the teardrops on her guitar. Each verse of Teardrops on my Guitar starts with Drew performing an action: “Drew looks,” “Drew talks,” and “Drew walks.” Each action prompts two reactions from Taylor Swift: 1) a visible, deceptive response designe


Swift Vengeance Waits: Picture to Burn
Word cloud for Picture to Burn: Words Taylor Swift ONLY uses in Picture to Burn: Obsessive, Redneck, Concerned, Planning, Stopping, Health Recap: Picture to Burn is Taylor Swift’s second song and first revenge anthem — the first foray into a genre that will become a Swiftian signature. In Picture to Burn, a narrator brainstorms how she will get revenge on a man from a past relationship, including spreading rumors to prevent him from dating her friends, dating all of his frien
![Tim[e] McGraw: A Deconstruction of Music and Memory in Taylor Swift's first song](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1e64bf_aa12740c9c8c43ca8665af08f9684dd0~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_333,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_35,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/1e64bf_aa12740c9c8c43ca8665af08f9684dd0~mv2.webp)
![Tim[e] McGraw: A Deconstruction of Music and Memory in Taylor Swift's first song](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1e64bf_aa12740c9c8c43ca8665af08f9684dd0~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_95,enc_avif,quality_auto/1e64bf_aa12740c9c8c43ca8665af08f9684dd0~mv2.webp)
Tim[e] McGraw: A Deconstruction of Music and Memory in Taylor Swift's first song
Swift’s first song, Tim McGraw, uses a complex structure to reflect on whether past relationships stay in the past or live on in memories.
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Diogenes the Dragon: Battling Cynicism in Long Live
We know from Swift’s later work that she was a noted scholar of Greek philosophy during this era of her life “You know how to ball / I know Aristotle” (So High School). It is thus worth digging into Swift name dropping a group of people who were deeply upset by her success – the world-denying philosophers known as the Cynics.


Saint Stephen I just wrote you a paean: Signifier and signified in Hey Stephen
Swift, a philosopher of language, explores the relationship between a name and what it signifies by fully exploring the meaning of 'Stephen'


Swift's Theology of Noise Music in Our Song
In Our Song, noted music theorist Taylor Swift grapples with the question “What is Music?”
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