I'm Testing out this theory that there is a song in each of the 'Multiple Taylor's Series' that talks about the same situation from each different perspective. We're remembering the physical portrayals from the Anti-Hero music video that gave us the map to Taylor's plan of introducing each persona. See my other posts about it:
https://kit10phish.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/meet-the-3-taylors-in-the-anti-hero-music-video/
https://kit10phish.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/how-do-the-three-taylor-personas-influence-her-work/
https://kit10phish.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/the-last-three-taylor-swift-albums-are-three-strands-of-a-braid/
Obviously not every song has a 1:1:1 match, because the tracklists are different lengths. But I thought it would be a fun exercise none-the-less, and might be enlightening.
Lavender Haze talks about being under scrutiny and the heteronormative expectations the world puts on Taylor. She rejects both whore and Madonna and feels safer in that more ambiguous space.
MBOBHFT uses toys, games, plastic, boxes, and the like to describe her public persona. It's fake. Public-facing, brand-Taylor isn't real. She's a plastic doll the public buys to entertain themselves. Public/brand/product-Taylor lives in the imaginations of the player. And the relationships shown to the press are also pretend. The song shows how not only the public regards Taylor as something unreal, that they can project all their fantasies onto, but she has to play the part of this doll. This song is important to the bearding story, because Taylor admits all the guys are just Kens who haven't actually made her feel anything. The dolls are for the audience, the inanimate plastic doesn't feel love, or anything else. Taylor is only playing pretend games to appeal to her audience.
Wi$hLi$t shows the tug-of-war celebrities have with their goals, dreams, and benefits of fame with the yearning for something down-to-Earth and real. And one thing that enables these celebrities to have it all--the fame/persona and an authentic personal life--is bearding and lavender relationships. The Lavender Haze with Kens gives the public what they want (access and agreeable image and heteronormative love stories) while the famous person/brand can misdirect eyes to what they want to show, while doing, on a personal level, what they actually want. But quietly, and behind the scenes.
Midnights' Giant Taylor feels overwhelmed and angry at the public's dictates. She is constantly watched, speculated about--when will she marry? Is she pregnant? And Taylor just wants to be a person, not the embodiment of patriarchal notions of womanhood. She doesn't want to give in to all the pressure and mandates, instead opting to stay in a cloud of mystery.
TTPD's Poet Taylor talks about how playing the fame game hurts her spirit. She never feels good enough, can never exemplify enough attributes to satisfy everyone. Whenever her real self (heat of touch vs. cold plastic narrative) materializes, it displeases at least one faction. She has to maintain the perfect, facade by staying boxed up. But that leaves her lonely and broken inside.
TLOAS' Showgirl Taylor is pragmatic. She lays out several examples of other celebrities who successfully maintained a double-life with the help of bearding/lavender marriage. She talks about career (Oscar), fun (yacht), and love (3 dogs they call their kids) as three divergent aspirations. One, unfortunately negates the other (lit beach party vs. family-friendly persona). But things can be done behind the scenes: Scrubbing pictures/videos off the internet to maintain the ruse, and have it all. For those who want all of those things at once, the practical solution that Showgirl-Taylor describes is a magic trick. Sleight-of-hand can obscure one of the objectives by showcasing the other. The surfing ocean pictures capture the headlines, instead of the dirty, Saudi money.
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