Image and Persona [Queer Lyrical Easter Eggs- Pride 6]

 Blank Space

I love this music video so much! It says everything, and leans into every rumor and insinuation, and is funny.

In Blank Space, Taylor mocks the media’s image of her as a crazy ex-girlfriend.  She simultaneously shares her bearding modus operandi. 

bearding

I’m not going to get into this as much, because it’s not really in my personal experience, but bearding is a good way to remain in the closet.  Because if you’re dating the opposite sex you obviously can’t be gay-says the public at large.  

Nice to meet you, where you been?

I could show you incredible things

[Taylor is showing the audience this situation is fantastical. She has horses in the bedroom. Like the scene, the relationship is a farce/fantasy.]

Magic, madness, heaven, sin

Saw you there and I thought

"Oh, my God, look at that face

You look like my next mistake

[This part is evoking Mastermind, she picked him out.]

Love's a game, wanna play?"

Ay

[Love’s a game, a PR game.]

New money, suit and tie

[He has new money and clothes because Taylor has paid him money to participate in the “relationship”. Isn’t it weird how Travis bought a new house after he and Taylor started dating???]

https://nypost.com/2024/03/19/entertainment/travis-kelces-8m-cost-of-dating-taylor-swift/

I can read you like a magazine

[She mentions magazine, because the media and public can’t get enough! Everyone is publishing and talking about this high profile romance. Both Taylor and the boyfriend are more popular and likeable due to the pairing. The general public knows more about them as a couple and each individually. Their projects are getting printed, and their fanbases are crossing over, extending, and blending.]

Ain't it funny? Rumors fly

And I know you heard about me

So hey, let's be friends

[Taylor tells this potential bearding partner that their “relationship” would be mutually beneficial. Aside from the publicity it would help quell any queer rumors each person had.]

I'm dying to see how this one ends

[Taylor already knows this relationship isn’t forever because there is a specific time written into the bearding contract.]

Grab your passport and my hand

I can make the bad guys good for a weekend

[Taylor’s good-girl all-American image gives guys with rough edges or bad publicity a better public perception by association. If a dude wants to clean up his image, he can date Taylor Swift.]

[Chorus]

So it's gonna be forever

Or it's gonna go down in flames

You can tell me when it's over, mm

If the high was worth the pain

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

'Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

'Cause we're young, and we're reckless

We'll take this way too far

[Everything is over the top. It’s not realistic. This relationship is Taylor’s fan-fiction she put out.]

It'll leave you breathless, mm

Or with a nasty scar

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

https://people.com/music/taylor-swift-exes-talk-about-relationships/

But I've got a blank space, baby

And I'll write your name

[She’s got a blank space. Like a contract? A check for services rendered?]

Cherry lips, crystal skies

I could show you incredible things

Stolen kisses, pretty lies

[Now are these ‘stolen kisses’ with this boyfriend or with another person? Because I see a ton of kisses in pictures and videos, they aren’t covert. The opposite really. But what if the stolen kisses are with the actual partner?]

You're the king, baby, I'm your queen

[This scene can be taken 2 ways: 

1.Taylor is painting the boyfriend out of adoration. 

2.Taylor is literally creating the boyfriend. She’s showing the audience that she’s crafting this guy and the relationship. She’s showing the media and public the product she authored.]

Find out what you want

Be that girl for a month

[This sounds more like fulfilling an order than dating.]

Wait, the worst is yet to come

Oh, no

Screaming, crying, perfect storms

I can make all the tables turn

Rose garden filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh, my God, who is she?"

I get drunk on jealousy

But you'll come back each time you leave

'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream

[Chorus]

Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn ya

[This orchestrated breakup is very dramatic. If you didn’t get that the crying and crazy makeup/hair, and smashing of the car were fabricated to be ‘extra’ then Taylor shows us how she is standing on a horse–this is an authored drama. None of it is real–everything has been manufactured for maximum impact]

Boys only want love if it's torture

Don't say I didn't, say I didn't warn ya

[Chorus]

But I've got a blank space, baby

[One leaves, another one comes in right away.]

[Taylor trades out those Kens.]

And I'll write your name

[And she winks because she just told everyone what the real story is, and people still didn’t pick up what she was putting down–because braided lyrics.]