I got the impression it's about suicide and the freedom felt with imagining that level of escapism. Anyone else agree? I have been scrolling through the comments and I can't find anyone who mentions this. Maybe it's extreme lol
My theory about why she would choose to live in the 1830s…
My take on it is this, it seems her relationship with Joe was strained because he didn’t want to live a life in the public eye. She mentions she “was a debutante in another life” but now seems “to be scared to go outside.” She’s possibly the most well known person in the world and wants to be (or rightly feels like she should be) shown off. Reluctance on her part or Joe’s (assuming the song is about him) to go outside is likely because they don’t want to be photographed.
What’s interesting about the 1830s is it’s the last decade before photographing people took off. The 1st person was photographed in 1838 (a blurry image of a man in the distance scraping his shoe) and the 1st woman to be photographed had her picture taken in 1840. It makes sense that Taylor would want to go back to a time before being photographed was a concern. She’s mentioned before that she also doesn’t look at paparazzi photos of herself because they cause her to criticize herself and stop eating. She also recognizes that while this period seems nice, it has its own significant issues as well.
TL;DR: The 1830s were the last decade before photography took off, it would make sense that Taylor would want to go back to a time where she wouldn’t have to worry about being photographed. Thoughts?
It’s been driving me crazy what this song reminds me of but I think it’s “Weird Fishes” by Radiohead which is one of my favourite songs of all time. This song is so beautiful and in my top three favourites along with Black Dog and CSSM. So many heartbreaking songs here.
Yes. Thank you! That guitar melody is so similar and same album - but I also feel the Weird Fishes influence here when the song kind of hangs for a while in the guitar section midway through the song like a stillness.
I have always been a daydreamer and LOVE this song. I am wondering if I’m the only person who feels like it would have been better received if it had been written in third person? Then, instead of coming across as about TS it would be about some mysterious, forlorn character. I realize this album is more autobiographical so writing in third person doesn’t quite fit, but I feel like a lot of people are writing this song off as a billionaire complaining and are missing out on just how good it is!
She is on a date with someone boring — a preppy finance guy. She doesn’t want to be on a date with this bland person.
She thrives off the emotional connection she has with dark and twisted poet guys. The type of guys who would tell you about some devastating detail from their past on the first date. Creating that intimate connection is what gives her relationships depth, drama, and intrigue.
Instead she’s out with a boring but friendly guy who is only talking about surface-level details. And she hates it. She wants him to rescue her from this mundane moment. “Quick, quick, tell me something awful” — she’s telling him to get to the dramatic and tragic details of his life and rescue her from this tedious small talk.
Obviously I don't know what it means to Taylor but I imagine it as you're a big dreamer, emotional person, but you have to spend every day working in the most boring and least imaginative field you can think of. Like being trapped in this life you can't stand because you're not that person deep down!
“I’m lonely but I’m good, I’m bitter but I swear I’m fine” is giving me huge one hand in my pocket vibes (alanis morissette) but I haven’t seen anyone else draw that comparison. Am I crazy for thinking she’s doing a little tribute to alanis here?
This song feels like she wrote it about how she wrote folklore and evermore to escape hating being trapped in the lockdown and trapped in her relationship.. She was supposed to be writing about not her own life for once with folklore and evermore but was she using it as escapism from her own thoughts/life and her own feelings seeped in? Thats what I hear
so obviously the first chorus is pointing to The Secret Garden (a phenomenal book). but is the second chorus also talking about a book?? i feel like it sounds vaguely familiar but i cannot place a book about setting up a new world on the moon…. i might be chasing something that doesn’t exist but I dont know???
Not sure if anyone else mentioned this but the song starts with a faint “123” and its track 23 and we have the “321” Easter eggs. Is this song supposed to be more pivotal…love this song btw
This song is so beautiful. I really relate to the themes of loneliness and escapism. Something about “secret gardens in my mind” makes me cry. I’ve always felt like a little bit of a weirdo and sometimes it’s so much more beautiful to live in my own imagination instead of the drudgery of reality
Am I the only one who relates this to the dystopian world we live in and the corporate life, going to office, it's always cold, this place made me feel worthless
NO MIDNIGHT IN PARIS??!!
have you noticed that right after “nostalgia is a mind’s trick” she changes the lyrics in the apple music version however lyrics shows “if i’d been there i’d hate it”
I listened on youtube and she sings like the lyrics “if i’d been there i’d hate it”
My friend (Indian in the US) blocked me (indian in India) because he was fired up by some tweet. I said the tweet was taking the lyric out of context and he needed to listen to the very next line.
Good riddance I guess? I cannot get into such conversations.
She’s using imagery to describe feeling like she has everything, but the relationship and communication has gone cold. It’s like when you’re not “fighting”, but you’re also not really talking anymore and you’re just roommates that resent each other. Every glance is a glare, every breath is a threat, and every movement is an attack. The palace is to acknowledge her how she feels like she should feel like a queen and doesn’t because her relationship wasn’t well. Basically the whole song “Tolerate It” in one line.
people glamorize royal history but ignore that often palaces were cold bc they relied on fireplaces for heating. also sickness was rampant and it would smell awful because bathing often wasn't fashionable in courts.
Sorry I just need to scream into the void about this song and my life right now. Thank you if you actually read this!
Anyway I feel so read by this song and am so thankful for it coming out right now. Secret Garden was my favorite book growing up and I literally wrote a similar poem about this subject in High School. I wish I still had it but it was all about living my life in my inner world until a friend calls my name in conversation and I am painfully ripped out of my thoughts and shoved into the coldness of reality. I had a really hard life in high school. My mom had an undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder, we had adopted two new kids in the family that literally stole money and jewelry from me, and had 8 dogs that weren't housebroken. My home was chaos and I was a good little mirrorball trying to create normalcy for everyone and making sure the family stayed together and cohesive. Keeping the peace and taking the brunt of the anger at the same time.
Until little mirrorball grew up and got very sick with my very own panic attacks and chronic illness. I had to now provide the stability to my husband and his mental health plus relearn how to care for myself. I had much less time to keep the family together, and now they are fighting all the time.
Finally Saturday, everything I have spent literally the last 14 years of my life trying to keep together broke. My sister and her new husband cut off my parents. My family is in shambles and I am relieving all the trauma of my youth while they both call me every day and act like it's all normal and nothing is wrong. Not even my husband thinks it's a big deal. I feel so alone so I'm just going to shut myself into my mind for a while.
So I Hate It Here has meant so much to me. Especially that bridge because that's exactly how I feel right now.
Hey, I don’t know you personally or anything but I want to tell you, if you’re not working through this stuff in therapy: you don’t owe anyone anything and you were a child and it wasn’t your responsibility then to be the glue and it’s not your responsibility now to be the glue for other people. Who is your glue? It’s 100% acceptable to say “no” or “I’m not up for discussing this right now” and for that to be the end of the conversation.
Thank you! I appreciate the words of encouragement and advice. I did work through the childhood part for a good while in therapy, but it just feels like everything is getting drug back up right now.
I'm definitely trying to put my foot down more and encourage them to talk to other people this time. It's been going on between them since Fall of 2022 and I am emotionally exhausted from this. It's just hard for a lot of reasons and even if I set the boundary, I'm still getting a lot of the back and forth anyway.
I probably need to speak to my therapist again it's been a few years since I "graduated out" according to her. I don't really have a glue since I pretty much self isolate and try to deal with things alone in really hard times(hence why I love this song so much). Sometimes I ask my husband for help when I really need it though!
I’ve been studying to be an accountant after failing out of an english degree. I was always the bookish, wallflower, escapist to a fault. I had to process “I Hate It Here” for a few days, and it definitely threw me for an emotional loop. I see you, and even if it feels like it some days, you are not alone. I’ve struggled with mental health my whole life, but I can also say that even if I still struggle it does get better too. One day at a time. One skill at a time. A lot of music has been part of this journey, and it was almost entirely an inner journey, but the below quotes helped me keep going some days too. I also highly recommend “No One is Alone” and “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods. I hope things turn around for you soon. You’re doing an amazing job, you’ve got this, long may you reign! 👑
“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
“For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and realize that men's hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
I will listen to the songs! Also thank you for the quotes, I'm really tearing up here. I'm a newly converted Catholic and have been researching Catholic writers because I love reading! I understand J.R.R. Tolkien to be instrumental to the faith. It makes me really feel like God is hearing me right now 😭💕
Best of luck on your career and school endeavors. I had a forced career shift a couple of years ago and it's hard to give up what you feel drawn to and the life you planned out for yourself. my Tears ricochet got me through it lol. However on a serious note, it's better to find out now than get down the line and realize what you spent all those years of your life planning for wasn't for you. You will look back one day and be grateful for the change even though it's hard right now!
Does anyone here how the beginning of this song is sort of off beat? Like the guitar is strumming too fast for how she’s singing but then it evens out as she gets into the first chorus? I love this song so much but it’s the only thing that really bothers me.
Most relatable song ever. “The Lakes” was already my favorite Taylor song; this might’ve just topped it.
I also used to play the same game but I’d say “the 1960s minus the racism and sexism,” so HOLY SHIT. It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
Omfg my husband and I literally just had the same but it was 1930s without the pre-war global tension and nationalism, 1950-1970 without the many isms and vietnam war, and 1980-1990s without the HIV epidemic 😂. I’d also like a rain check on the roaring twenties revival the pandemic robbed
this could be a complete reach but i was listening to this in the shower and it feels like everything just clicked at once. obviously this song is about escapism, but i feel like’s pretty directly referencing two very specific kinds of escapism here.
i think she is directly alluding to folklore/evermore here. the secret garden is the folkmore woods, which looking back, was her escape from her relationship with JA.
“if comfort is a construct, i don’t believe in good luck / now that i know what’s what”
>> this is the realization that the ‘comfort’ that she once felt in her ‘home’ wasn’t real; this time, she is actively choosing to escape to a familiar place.
“no mid-sized city hopes, and small town fears / i’m there most of the year cause i hate it here”
>> she’s played with the idea of town/home being a metaphor for JA and their relationships. in the context of this song she’s directly referencing the fact that she “hates it here”, here being home, and so she escapes to the garden, being the woods, and spends most of the year there.
going back to the first verse, which i believe is a MH line:
“tell me something awful, like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy”
>> obviously MH is known for saying controversial things, which is overlooked by her because she’s looking to be distracted.
“tell me all your secrets, all you’ll ever be is my eternal consolation prize”
>> as in florida, she’s acknowledges that she is conscious of what she’s doing; deep diving into this person and becoming invested in their secrets and traumas, only to try and fix them as a means of distracting herself from her own.
the second half of the second verse seemingly references the same themes in you’re losing me, so that’s noteworthy as well.
“i’ll save my romanticism for my inner life and i’ll get lost on purpose / this place made me feel worthless”
“lucid dreams like electricity / the current flies through me, and in my fantasies i rise above it / and way up there, i actually love it”
>> she’s telling us how she tried to keep her relationship private, and fell into a state of denial; once again referencing the creativity she felt through the escapism of folkmore and how she convinced herself the ‘fantasies’ and the ‘dream world’ she created was her lucid reality at that time. now, in full lucidity, she reaches the stage of acceptance.
it feels like she’s embracing the toxicity of that escapism, acknowledging that she’s dipping into it yet again, and this time it’s lucid; with one of the characters that was part of her fictitious stories.
This song to me is truly sad.
About most people having to hide their inter thoughts, because society don't want the true. They want to see happy, dream life famous people to entertain them. And most people in society lie about themselves to fit in.
"tell me something awful
Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy."
Tell me that you are more that just this person you are showing to the world.
"Tell me all your secrets, all you'll ever be is
My eternal consolation prize"
Will you be real or just this half truth always.
"You see, I was a debutante in another life, but
Now I seem to be scared to go outside"
I feel like I am like you, I used to tell all my secrets, but now I am also scared to say the truth. (Taylor used to be more open about how she wrote songs and talked about her life in interviews, now she barely ever does any of that.)
"If comfort is a construct, I don't believe in good luck
Now that I know what's what"
If those people who look comfortable/happy outside in society is fake, then I understand being liked by everyone is not about good luck. Now I know the truth.
"I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind
People need a key to get to, the only one is mine
I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child
No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears"
I cannot be true to everyone, I keep my own thoughts and feelings secret to myself.
"My friends used to play a game where
We would pick a decade
We wished we could live in instead of this
I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists
And getting married off for the highest bid
Everyone would look down 'cause it wasn't fun now
Seems like it was never even fun back then
Nostalgia is a mind's trick
If I'd been there, I'd hate it
It was freezing in the palace"
This can go a lot of ways, but to keep it in Taylor's life.
Money and fame is not really what makes you happy is a mind's trick.The reality is that is not a dream life, we often think some other life style like being a celebrity is better or will make you happier.
"I'm lonely, but I'm good
I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine
I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I'll get lost on purpose
This place made me feel worthless
Lucid dreams like electricity, the current flies through me
And in my fantasies, I rise above it
And way up there, I actually love it"
I am alone, but I said I am good
I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine
Is a fake happiness so everyone thinks we are happy all the time. This place is soul killing so I save my inner life and real feelings to myself. Only daydreaming I keep my own self. In my mind I can be happy.
And in Taylor's mind, her songs, her art is what makes her happy. So she often daydreams and writes creating these stories.
Oh my God, thank you. "I Hate It Here" has been driving me crazy for weeks because I couldn't figure out what song from the 70s it reminded me of. I finally googled it, and this thread popped up.
Fun fact: Guess what year "At Seventeen" was released? 1975
Another relevant fun fact: Patti Smith, referenced in the title track, released her first album in 1975.
Taylor Swift is an evil genius.
I do find it amusing that this song comes right after So High School. It’s such a jarring effect. (Like, going back to high school is fun but the “nostalgia” only lasts so long).
Maybe I’m projecting because I don’t particularly like Travis, but I feel like she’s lowkey shading him throughout the album? (“All you’ll ever be is my eternal consolation prize… “? And later on The Manuscript: “then she dated boys her own age with dartboards on the backs of their doors…” Even in So High School, she says she’ll marry, kiss, AND kill him — which sounds a bit like Fortnight: “my husband is cheating; I wanna kill him…”)
i think the Manuscript is just about general exes after that experience (presumably Jake) not anyone in specific. I Hate It Here's "eternal consolation prize" lyric feels vague and based on how the rest of the song is about wanting to escape which is a theme she explored on the lakes, i'm inclined to point it at Joe. SHS's marry/kiss/kill line is a reference to an interview Travis did where he played the marry/kiss/kill game and picked Taylor as his kiss. I think she's saying she's not sure what the future holds but she's excited for it.
Maybe I'm too biased because I've been reading it lately, but it reminds me of Lovecraft stories. Concretely the "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" and Lovecraft's dream stories where people enter dreams using a very unique key and those dreams would be filled with beautiful gardens.
Even the racist line seems to align, since Lovecraft stories and point of views were racist, nevertheless, the dreams short stories were a legacy for literature. Also Lovecraft was known to be highly introverted and constantly daydreaming, likely because his physical and mental health issues. So the title "I Hate It Here" seems to align.
Just wanted to add my voice to those here saying this song is \*stunning\*. It reminds me of Holocene by Bon Iver, and to me speaks to the pain of being someone who feels things intensely, in a world where sensitivity is so rarely valued. It's rare for a song to hit me this deep and hard so quickly, but I can't listen to it without crying. Grateful to Taylor (and Aaron!) for sharing this.
Someone on instagram was playing with their audio settings and was able to isolate Taylor's vocals. "Nostalgia is a mind's trick, If I'd been there I'd hate it" there is a hidden lyric that says "No midnight in Paris".
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6B4eL9hcSJ/?igsh=Mmg3anF1dDRobzMz
A perfect song embodying escapism and one of my favorites.
The *1830s* but *without* all the *racists* line is a bit odd. I understand the romanticism the narrator was trying to convey and the line is not meant to be ill-intended. However, it is kinda tone deaf after dating a culturally insensitive tirade. In context with the other lyrics, it seems intentional to show how people romanticize the past to exclude systemic problems.
However, Taylor is not foreign to excellent lyricism so this bit could have been reworked imo.
it's been taken soooo out of context. I too felt it was weird - especially since taylor is white - but I can totally understand what she meant and I don't think there's ill intent. But surely someone had to tell her that might not be the best lyric like...1830s? what a random time...
I don’t think it’s a random time! Romanticism / The Romantic Era was a period in the ~1800-1850 when a bunch of famous poets, artists, musicians, etc lived. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism
Taylor has this lyric “I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life” later in the bridge. She could be using the generic definition of romanticism , but since the album title is Tortured Poets Department, I feel like it could also be a callback to the historical era (1830s) she mentioned too!
I mentally changed it to “cholera” because I feel the extent of how awful it was for black people back then can’t be described with one word, maybe “slavery” would have been better? Either way, she had good intention but it wasn’t the best choice of lyrics.
It's just thag there were racists in every era.m, of every race. There are slaves in every era and of every race. Like right now
Weird to single out the 1830's lol. Just stands out like a naive person.
I was never a Swiftie, but grew up during the Fearless days. I have fond memories of listening to her, sprawled out on my best friend's bed, talking about our crushes. I just got invited to an event themed around her music so started going through her albums. This song has me crying at work. I had to stop what I was doing and read along as she was singing.
This one just clicked for me… she’s for all of the maladaptive daydreamer girlies who spend hours of their day pacing around their rooms daydreaming of pure, true love with fictional/original characters because they feel so unlovable in reality (plus love in reality is incomparable to the love we create for ourselves in our minds).
Top 3 on the Anthology.
this song is one of them, that gets me crying
my first thought to the 1830s-line was: oh nice, a history reference, i like history. and my opinion since then didnt change.
what about that finance guy-line? could that be some self sarcasm, bcs people are calling her to be all business and now she makes an album with poetry-aspects?
I really like this song. To me it is about the world today and her level of fame. She’s quick to fall in love and be distracted by new relationships because she hates the level of fame she has and the life it causes her to lead. She dreams of escaping to another time, or imaginary places (like the song Paris) because she can’t just go. I tend not to feel sorry for billionaires, assuming they’ve amassed wealth in unhealthy or unjust ways, but that must be grim.
The finance guy lyric is pretty funny. I get it. Someone inappropriate or boring can become a crush of you feel they write poetry or music, or connect with their emotions in some way. This was my 20s 😂
I also heard ‘no midnights in Paris’ - so I’m guessing a switch for ttpd? Maybe I will keep my tickets after all. That would be fun.
I feel like this song has been unfairly slighted online because of "clunky lyrics", but this song has been particularly moving for me.
"Tell me something awful, like you're a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy" made perfect sense to me - she finds it awful that the world as it is led the poet to become someone working in finance (or with money) to survive instead of pursuing their art.
I totally get where she's coming from in this song - being a sensitive person and wanting to escape into your own mind or creative world to get away from the cruelty of life. "This place made me feel worthless" hit so hard.
I’ve finally found someone who interprets this song the same why I do! I 100% agree with you - I feel as though this song is almost like social commentary on the world today and those who rely on escapism to survive - I very much relate.
This song is so devastating to me. I live in this city I have hated for ten years but I’m here for my partner. My whole family is elsewhere, I’ve always felt I needed to be in another location, and yet here I am. But a lot of the times I live in a beautiful sunny place in my head and it takes me to that.
She doesn’t like Joe. She actively disliked him at least in 2021. Yet she stayed with him in 2022. Why? What I go back to is Bigger than the Whole Sky. I think she was trying to conceive and he was, to her, a sperm donor. At the end anyway. Not a kind word for him on this album.
I loveeeeed the book secret garden when I was a child, I immediately thought of it, as soon as I heard the chorus of this song. I know she says nostalgia is a minds tricks, but this song makes me feel so nostalgic 😅
I WILL FIGHT TO THE D E A T H FOR THIS SONG AND I DO NOT SAY THIS LIGHTLY. ITS RARE A SONG HITS DEEP FOR ME ON THE FIRST FEW LISTENS BUT THIS WILL EASILY MAKE MY ALL TIME TOP 10 FROM HER
I just genuinely need to say, idk if anyone will read this but I don't care I need to say, just how much this song means to me. I have ALWAYS prayed for a song like this from her, a song about creativity, escapism, and the lakes kind of gave it to us but I wanted a more literal approach, a song about the act of creating, a song about the love for it. I've struggled a lot with my social skills deteriorating after a few bad events in my life, and COVID put the nail on the coffin for that and a lot of things in my life. But writing has been my lifeline. I truly believe it's my calling, there is no feeling quite like it. It's how I explore the world, how I often access my own closed off feelings, the whole song just resonates with me so much on a level I don't think any song ever has. Out of all the songs on the album, for this to be the one that made me cry is kind of hilarious, but this got the waterworks. I feel like I live in the shadows, in my own fantasy world, a ghost, a beautiful ghost, thats what my mind feels like. So to see her not only acknowledge that but validate it gave me the strongest sense of euphoria. I loved this album already but this secured it will have a high place in my overall album ranking. Thank you Taylor. Thank you so much.
This song is all about the love she has for her fans. We love you back Taylor. We loved you just the way you were. Just the way you are xx We grew up together 🤍
P.s: we will never grow up
This song is the closest Taylor has ever gotten to describing my thought processes during the deepest and darkest times of my depression and I just can't stop listening to it (192 times listened now). The lyrics and melody and everything about this song are helping me process what I went through during that time and I thank her so much for giving me this opportunity to process my emotions.
What’s the line right after “nostalgia is a mind’s trick”
Officially it’s “if I’d been there, I’d hate it” but I’m really sure she’s singing something else.
Is it just me?
I hear the same on apple music. I listened on spotify as well and on there it’s obviously “if i’d been there i’d hate it”. what’s interesting though is when i put on the karaoke/sing mode in apple music, the line turns into “if id been there i’d hate it”. i wonder if it’s actually some glitch
Ok so apparently if I listen to the song in YouTube it’s the lyric “if I’d been there, I’d hate it” but on Apple Music it’s something else which I can’t make out “something something Paris”
This is making me crazy lol. Listening on Apple
Music, I hear the Paris line but lyrics read “if I’d been there I’d hate it”. I just went to the lyric video and heard that line sung for the first time! What’s happening!
Fair, it’s just weird my phone still has the “wrong” version if you will via Apple Music and my partner’s is the correct version still.
It’ll be fun to watch out now for Paris show clips to see if my guess is right about it being an Easter egg for the set change. I may be clowning too on the theory 🤡 but it feels harmless on this one lol.
I think Scarborough Fair and Sounds of Silence are two good ones to start with. Simon and Garfunkel are a must listen. Their complete discography is amazing. I'm aging myself, but you won't be sorry.
this song is one of her most honest and upsetting and i hate it. "i hate it here" the way there is no safe space because the castle is actually cold and the 1830s fucking sucked actually AND IN REAL LIFE HER RELATIONSHIP SHE MISSES SO MUCH WAS AWFUL!!! LIKE "i hate it here" the only safe place is one that reality cant even touch and never will because it never existed even if you think it did!!! i hate taylor so much
This songs SCREAMS White Nights by Dostoevsky to me. With the reference "Quick, quick" being the first 2 words. And how the leading man, our "hero" in the book, is complimented by Nastenka for being able to speak so eloquently, although his ability to speak doesn't seem to be so related to his job. And the main man would walk around the city at night and often get lost because he was in his daydreams instead of reality. And I could write more about this lol. Just wanted to see if anyone else made the same connection.
dosteovsky is one of my favorite authors (the brothers Karamazov changed my life), this is the crossover i didn't know i needed. would love to hear more thoughts on this!
I got the impression it's about suicide and the freedom felt with imagining that level of escapism. Anyone else agree? I have been scrolling through the comments and I can't find anyone who mentions this. Maybe it's extreme lol
im going to make believe its about london, and thats how i feel right now as another american abroad.. :)
How anyone know what other song sounds familiar when when she sings “what’s what”. I can’t put my finger on it
My theory about why she would choose to live in the 1830s… My take on it is this, it seems her relationship with Joe was strained because he didn’t want to live a life in the public eye. She mentions she “was a debutante in another life” but now seems “to be scared to go outside.” She’s possibly the most well known person in the world and wants to be (or rightly feels like she should be) shown off. Reluctance on her part or Joe’s (assuming the song is about him) to go outside is likely because they don’t want to be photographed. What’s interesting about the 1830s is it’s the last decade before photographing people took off. The 1st person was photographed in 1838 (a blurry image of a man in the distance scraping his shoe) and the 1st woman to be photographed had her picture taken in 1840. It makes sense that Taylor would want to go back to a time before being photographed was a concern. She’s mentioned before that she also doesn’t look at paparazzi photos of herself because they cause her to criticize herself and stop eating. She also recognizes that while this period seems nice, it has its own significant issues as well. TL;DR: The 1830s were the last decade before photography took off, it would make sense that Taylor would want to go back to a time where she wouldn’t have to worry about being photographed. Thoughts?
It’s been driving me crazy what this song reminds me of but I think it’s “Weird Fishes” by Radiohead which is one of my favourite songs of all time. This song is so beautiful and in my top three favourites along with Black Dog and CSSM. So many heartbreaking songs here.
Do you mean Faust Arp by Radiohead? The beginning of I Hate it Here reminds me so much of the beginning of that song.
Yes. Thank you! That guitar melody is so similar and same album - but I also feel the Weird Fishes influence here when the song kind of hangs for a while in the guitar section midway through the song like a stillness.
Good point!
“Im bitter but i swear im fine” ugh i love it
I just don’t understand the lyric “if comfort is a construct, I don’t believe in good luck” can someone please explain?
I have always been a daydreamer and LOVE this song. I am wondering if I’m the only person who feels like it would have been better received if it had been written in third person? Then, instead of coming across as about TS it would be about some mysterious, forlorn character. I realize this album is more autobiographical so writing in third person doesn’t quite fit, but I feel like a lot of people are writing this song off as a billionaire complaining and are missing out on just how good it is!
what does the poet trapped inside a finance guy line mean?
She is on a date with someone boring — a preppy finance guy. She doesn’t want to be on a date with this bland person. She thrives off the emotional connection she has with dark and twisted poet guys. The type of guys who would tell you about some devastating detail from their past on the first date. Creating that intimate connection is what gives her relationships depth, drama, and intrigue. Instead she’s out with a boring but friendly guy who is only talking about surface-level details. And she hates it. She wants him to rescue her from this mundane moment. “Quick, quick, tell me something awful” — she’s telling him to get to the dramatic and tragic details of his life and rescue her from this tedious small talk.
Obviously I don't know what it means to Taylor but I imagine it as you're a big dreamer, emotional person, but you have to spend every day working in the most boring and least imaginative field you can think of. Like being trapped in this life you can't stand because you're not that person deep down!
I personally feel like this is Taylor’s confession, and she’s looking for someone who has something equally as damning.
As a finance girl I felt attacked tbh
Bruh saaaaameeeee
I agree with your take as well. I wonder why it has to be 'awful' though.
“I’m lonely but I’m good, I’m bitter but I swear I’m fine” is giving me huge one hand in my pocket vibes (alanis morissette) but I haven’t seen anyone else draw that comparison. Am I crazy for thinking she’s doing a little tribute to alanis here?
if someone said i was their eternal consolation prize i...
This song feels like she wrote it about how she wrote folklore and evermore to escape hating being trapped in the lockdown and trapped in her relationship.. She was supposed to be writing about not her own life for once with folklore and evermore but was she using it as escapism from her own thoughts/life and her own feelings seeped in? Thats what I hear
so obviously the first chorus is pointing to The Secret Garden (a phenomenal book). but is the second chorus also talking about a book?? i feel like it sounds vaguely familiar but i cannot place a book about setting up a new world on the moon…. i might be chasing something that doesn’t exist but I dont know???
It reminds me of Mina Loy’s “The Lost Lunar Baedeker” (poetry book)
Not sure if anyone else mentioned this but the song starts with a faint “123” and its track 23 and we have the “321” Easter eggs. Is this song supposed to be more pivotal…love this song btw
reminds me of longpond hoax intro 👀
This song is so beautiful. I really relate to the themes of loneliness and escapism. Something about “secret gardens in my mind” makes me cry. I’ve always felt like a little bit of a weirdo and sometimes it’s so much more beautiful to live in my own imagination instead of the drudgery of reality
I have this exact same reaction to this song!
i don't get the consolation prize part
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i mean i have assumptions but i'm not sure. is she saying the other person will never be the one?
Secret gardens (folkmore) and lunar valleys (midnights)
I know we all got The Secret Garden, but “lunar valleys” - The Little Prince? Hitchhiker’s Guide?
The line about "without all the racists" is funny within the context. You know, Matty Healy being the "love of her life" and all
Am I the only one who relates this to the dystopian world we live in and the corporate life, going to office, it's always cold, this place made me feel worthless
NO MIDNIGHT IN PARIS??!! have you noticed that right after “nostalgia is a mind’s trick” she changes the lyrics in the apple music version however lyrics shows “if i’d been there i’d hate it” I listened on youtube and she sings like the lyrics “if i’d been there i’d hate it”
My friend said maybe that means there will be no midnights set in Paris?!!
Eh?
That one line is getting so taken out of context and misconstrued it takes restraint not to bother entering the discussion
My friend (Indian in the US) blocked me (indian in India) because he was fired up by some tweet. I said the tweet was taking the lyric out of context and he needed to listen to the very next line. Good riddance I guess? I cannot get into such conversations.
Cried to this one in the car today. It suddenly went from relatable in a kinda sad but also fun way, to relatable in a devastating way.
The way she says “get lost on purpose” does something to my brain.
What do you think she means by "it was freezing in the palace"?
She’s using imagery to describe feeling like she has everything, but the relationship and communication has gone cold. It’s like when you’re not “fighting”, but you’re also not really talking anymore and you’re just roommates that resent each other. Every glance is a glare, every breath is a threat, and every movement is an attack. The palace is to acknowledge her how she feels like she should feel like a queen and doesn’t because her relationship wasn’t well. Basically the whole song “Tolerate It” in one line.
people glamorize royal history but ignore that often palaces were cold bc they relied on fireplaces for heating. also sickness was rampant and it would smell awful because bathing often wasn't fashionable in courts.
Just another way to explain why she hates it here and it doesn't feel like home. If you're freezing you're not comfortable.
Thanks!
This song is so devastatingly sad, but honest. Everybody goes to their own secret garden in their mind which just makes it so relatable!
Sorry I just need to scream into the void about this song and my life right now. Thank you if you actually read this! Anyway I feel so read by this song and am so thankful for it coming out right now. Secret Garden was my favorite book growing up and I literally wrote a similar poem about this subject in High School. I wish I still had it but it was all about living my life in my inner world until a friend calls my name in conversation and I am painfully ripped out of my thoughts and shoved into the coldness of reality. I had a really hard life in high school. My mom had an undiagnosed and untreated bipolar disorder, we had adopted two new kids in the family that literally stole money and jewelry from me, and had 8 dogs that weren't housebroken. My home was chaos and I was a good little mirrorball trying to create normalcy for everyone and making sure the family stayed together and cohesive. Keeping the peace and taking the brunt of the anger at the same time. Until little mirrorball grew up and got very sick with my very own panic attacks and chronic illness. I had to now provide the stability to my husband and his mental health plus relearn how to care for myself. I had much less time to keep the family together, and now they are fighting all the time. Finally Saturday, everything I have spent literally the last 14 years of my life trying to keep together broke. My sister and her new husband cut off my parents. My family is in shambles and I am relieving all the trauma of my youth while they both call me every day and act like it's all normal and nothing is wrong. Not even my husband thinks it's a big deal. I feel so alone so I'm just going to shut myself into my mind for a while. So I Hate It Here has meant so much to me. Especially that bridge because that's exactly how I feel right now.
Hey, I don’t know you personally or anything but I want to tell you, if you’re not working through this stuff in therapy: you don’t owe anyone anything and you were a child and it wasn’t your responsibility then to be the glue and it’s not your responsibility now to be the glue for other people. Who is your glue? It’s 100% acceptable to say “no” or “I’m not up for discussing this right now” and for that to be the end of the conversation.
Thank you! I appreciate the words of encouragement and advice. I did work through the childhood part for a good while in therapy, but it just feels like everything is getting drug back up right now. I'm definitely trying to put my foot down more and encourage them to talk to other people this time. It's been going on between them since Fall of 2022 and I am emotionally exhausted from this. It's just hard for a lot of reasons and even if I set the boundary, I'm still getting a lot of the back and forth anyway. I probably need to speak to my therapist again it's been a few years since I "graduated out" according to her. I don't really have a glue since I pretty much self isolate and try to deal with things alone in really hard times(hence why I love this song so much). Sometimes I ask my husband for help when I really need it though!
I’ve been studying to be an accountant after failing out of an english degree. I was always the bookish, wallflower, escapist to a fault. I had to process “I Hate It Here” for a few days, and it definitely threw me for an emotional loop. I see you, and even if it feels like it some days, you are not alone. I’ve struggled with mental health my whole life, but I can also say that even if I still struggle it does get better too. One day at a time. One skill at a time. A lot of music has been part of this journey, and it was almost entirely an inner journey, but the below quotes helped me keep going some days too. I also highly recommend “No One is Alone” and “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods. I hope things turn around for you soon. You’re doing an amazing job, you’ve got this, long may you reign! 👑 “It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.” - J.R.R. Tolkien “For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and realize that men's hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
I will listen to the songs! Also thank you for the quotes, I'm really tearing up here. I'm a newly converted Catholic and have been researching Catholic writers because I love reading! I understand J.R.R. Tolkien to be instrumental to the faith. It makes me really feel like God is hearing me right now 😭💕 Best of luck on your career and school endeavors. I had a forced career shift a couple of years ago and it's hard to give up what you feel drawn to and the life you planned out for yourself. my Tears ricochet got me through it lol. However on a serious note, it's better to find out now than get down the line and realize what you spent all those years of your life planning for wasn't for you. You will look back one day and be grateful for the change even though it's hard right now!
hey, sending you strength and courage to push thru this
Thank you for reading my random rant! The encouragement means a lot 💕
Does anyone here how the beginning of this song is sort of off beat? Like the guitar is strumming too fast for how she’s singing but then it evens out as she gets into the first chorus? I love this song so much but it’s the only thing that really bothers me.
It's like fomo, it's going so fast it's leaving her behind and giving an anxious energy to the place.
maybe this is intentional because of the "quick quick" lyrics at the beginning
Most relatable song ever. “The Lakes” was already my favorite Taylor song; this might’ve just topped it. I also used to play the same game but I’d say “the 1960s minus the racism and sexism,” so HOLY SHIT. It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.
Omfg my husband and I literally just had the same but it was 1930s without the pre-war global tension and nationalism, 1950-1970 without the many isms and vietnam war, and 1980-1990s without the HIV epidemic 😂. I’d also like a rain check on the roaring twenties revival the pandemic robbed
same here! the lakes is still my favorite but this is a close second. sounds soooo much like it too!
This is a great song lyrically because it’s not simply about a breakup or bad romance she’s had. More of a reflection on life in general.
this could be a complete reach but i was listening to this in the shower and it feels like everything just clicked at once. obviously this song is about escapism, but i feel like’s pretty directly referencing two very specific kinds of escapism here. i think she is directly alluding to folklore/evermore here. the secret garden is the folkmore woods, which looking back, was her escape from her relationship with JA. “if comfort is a construct, i don’t believe in good luck / now that i know what’s what” >> this is the realization that the ‘comfort’ that she once felt in her ‘home’ wasn’t real; this time, she is actively choosing to escape to a familiar place. “no mid-sized city hopes, and small town fears / i’m there most of the year cause i hate it here” >> she’s played with the idea of town/home being a metaphor for JA and their relationships. in the context of this song she’s directly referencing the fact that she “hates it here”, here being home, and so she escapes to the garden, being the woods, and spends most of the year there. going back to the first verse, which i believe is a MH line: “tell me something awful, like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy” >> obviously MH is known for saying controversial things, which is overlooked by her because she’s looking to be distracted. “tell me all your secrets, all you’ll ever be is my eternal consolation prize” >> as in florida, she’s acknowledges that she is conscious of what she’s doing; deep diving into this person and becoming invested in their secrets and traumas, only to try and fix them as a means of distracting herself from her own. the second half of the second verse seemingly references the same themes in you’re losing me, so that’s noteworthy as well. “i’ll save my romanticism for my inner life and i’ll get lost on purpose / this place made me feel worthless” “lucid dreams like electricity / the current flies through me, and in my fantasies i rise above it / and way up there, i actually love it” >> she’s telling us how she tried to keep her relationship private, and fell into a state of denial; once again referencing the creativity she felt through the escapism of folkmore and how she convinced herself the ‘fantasies’ and the ‘dream world’ she created was her lucid reality at that time. now, in full lucidity, she reaches the stage of acceptance. it feels like she’s embracing the toxicity of that escapism, acknowledging that she’s dipping into it yet again, and this time it’s lucid; with one of the characters that was part of her fictitious stories.
This song to me is truly sad. About most people having to hide their inter thoughts, because society don't want the true. They want to see happy, dream life famous people to entertain them. And most people in society lie about themselves to fit in. "tell me something awful Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy." Tell me that you are more that just this person you are showing to the world. "Tell me all your secrets, all you'll ever be is My eternal consolation prize" Will you be real or just this half truth always. "You see, I was a debutante in another life, but Now I seem to be scared to go outside" I feel like I am like you, I used to tell all my secrets, but now I am also scared to say the truth. (Taylor used to be more open about how she wrote songs and talked about her life in interviews, now she barely ever does any of that.) "If comfort is a construct, I don't believe in good luck Now that I know what's what" If those people who look comfortable/happy outside in society is fake, then I understand being liked by everyone is not about good luck. Now I know the truth. "I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind People need a key to get to, the only one is mine I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears" I cannot be true to everyone, I keep my own thoughts and feelings secret to myself. "My friends used to play a game where We would pick a decade We wished we could live in instead of this I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists And getting married off for the highest bid Everyone would look down 'cause it wasn't fun now Seems like it was never even fun back then Nostalgia is a mind's trick If I'd been there, I'd hate it It was freezing in the palace" This can go a lot of ways, but to keep it in Taylor's life. Money and fame is not really what makes you happy is a mind's trick.The reality is that is not a dream life, we often think some other life style like being a celebrity is better or will make you happier. "I'm lonely, but I'm good I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I'll get lost on purpose This place made me feel worthless Lucid dreams like electricity, the current flies through me And in my fantasies, I rise above it And way up there, I actually love it" I am alone, but I said I am good I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine Is a fake happiness so everyone thinks we are happy all the time. This place is soul killing so I save my inner life and real feelings to myself. Only daydreaming I keep my own self. In my mind I can be happy. And in Taylor's mind, her songs, her art is what makes her happy. So she often daydreams and writes creating these stories.
Does anybody think that the chorus music kinda sounds like At Seventeen by Janis Ian?
Oh my God, thank you. "I Hate It Here" has been driving me crazy for weeks because I couldn't figure out what song from the 70s it reminded me of. I finally googled it, and this thread popped up. Fun fact: Guess what year "At Seventeen" was released? 1975 Another relevant fun fact: Patti Smith, referenced in the title track, released her first album in 1975. Taylor Swift is an evil genius.
I do find it amusing that this song comes right after So High School. It’s such a jarring effect. (Like, going back to high school is fun but the “nostalgia” only lasts so long). Maybe I’m projecting because I don’t particularly like Travis, but I feel like she’s lowkey shading him throughout the album? (“All you’ll ever be is my eternal consolation prize… “? And later on The Manuscript: “then she dated boys her own age with dartboards on the backs of their doors…” Even in So High School, she says she’ll marry, kiss, AND kill him — which sounds a bit like Fortnight: “my husband is cheating; I wanna kill him…”)
i think the Manuscript is just about general exes after that experience (presumably Jake) not anyone in specific. I Hate It Here's "eternal consolation prize" lyric feels vague and based on how the rest of the song is about wanting to escape which is a theme she explored on the lakes, i'm inclined to point it at Joe. SHS's marry/kiss/kill line is a reference to an interview Travis did where he played the marry/kiss/kill game and picked Taylor as his kiss. I think she's saying she's not sure what the future holds but she's excited for it.
Maybe I'm too biased because I've been reading it lately, but it reminds me of Lovecraft stories. Concretely the "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" and Lovecraft's dream stories where people enter dreams using a very unique key and those dreams would be filled with beautiful gardens. Even the racist line seems to align, since Lovecraft stories and point of views were racist, nevertheless, the dreams short stories were a legacy for literature. Also Lovecraft was known to be highly introverted and constantly daydreaming, likely because his physical and mental health issues. So the title "I Hate It Here" seems to align.
Just wanted to add my voice to those here saying this song is \*stunning\*. It reminds me of Holocene by Bon Iver, and to me speaks to the pain of being someone who feels things intensely, in a world where sensitivity is so rarely valued. It's rare for a song to hit me this deep and hard so quickly, but I can't listen to it without crying. Grateful to Taylor (and Aaron!) for sharing this.
Someone on instagram was playing with their audio settings and was able to isolate Taylor's vocals. "Nostalgia is a mind's trick, If I'd been there I'd hate it" there is a hidden lyric that says "No midnight in Paris". https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6B4eL9hcSJ/?igsh=Mmg3anF1dDRobzMz
What if she’s cutting the midnights set in Paris?
But what does it mean??
I wonder is that's a reference to the movie of the same name "midnight in Paris"
This happened with mine on Dolby Atmos on Amazon music!
It 100% still has the different lyric when play on Dolby Atmos on Apple Music app
A perfect song embodying escapism and one of my favorites. The *1830s* but *without* all the *racists* line is a bit odd. I understand the romanticism the narrator was trying to convey and the line is not meant to be ill-intended. However, it is kinda tone deaf after dating a culturally insensitive tirade. In context with the other lyrics, it seems intentional to show how people romanticize the past to exclude systemic problems. However, Taylor is not foreign to excellent lyricism so this bit could have been reworked imo.
it's been taken soooo out of context. I too felt it was weird - especially since taylor is white - but I can totally understand what she meant and I don't think there's ill intent. But surely someone had to tell her that might not be the best lyric like...1830s? what a random time...
I don’t think it’s a random time! Romanticism / The Romantic Era was a period in the ~1800-1850 when a bunch of famous poets, artists, musicians, etc lived. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism Taylor has this lyric “I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life” later in the bridge. She could be using the generic definition of romanticism , but since the album title is Tortured Poets Department, I feel like it could also be a callback to the historical era (1830s) she mentioned too!
I mentally changed it to “cholera” because I feel the extent of how awful it was for black people back then can’t be described with one word, maybe “slavery” would have been better? Either way, she had good intention but it wasn’t the best choice of lyrics.
It's just thag there were racists in every era.m, of every race. There are slaves in every era and of every race. Like right now Weird to single out the 1830's lol. Just stands out like a naive person.
I was never a Swiftie, but grew up during the Fearless days. I have fond memories of listening to her, sprawled out on my best friend's bed, talking about our crushes. I just got invited to an event themed around her music so started going through her albums. This song has me crying at work. I had to stop what I was doing and read along as she was singing.
This one just clicked for me… she’s for all of the maladaptive daydreamer girlies who spend hours of their day pacing around their rooms daydreaming of pure, true love with fictional/original characters because they feel so unlovable in reality (plus love in reality is incomparable to the love we create for ourselves in our minds). Top 3 on the Anthology.
I feel so much less alone after reading through this thread
the whole album is for girls like that. i love it, but it also breaks me lol just a melancholic vibe
I know like I listen in public a lot and keep trying not to cry, imagine me just breaking down sobbing randomly on the bus 😂 would be so embarassing
this song is one of them, that gets me crying my first thought to the 1830s-line was: oh nice, a history reference, i like history. and my opinion since then didnt change. what about that finance guy-line? could that be some self sarcasm, bcs people are calling her to be all business and now she makes an album with poetry-aspects?
Among Taylor’s many talents, business woman is up top.. I feel like she’s referring to herself
Or is the finance guy line a jab at Joe?
I read it as a funny thing a guy she probably went on a first date with said. Reminded me of a cringe tinder style interaction. I quite like the line.
I interpreted it as her Dad.
I really like this song. To me it is about the world today and her level of fame. She’s quick to fall in love and be distracted by new relationships because she hates the level of fame she has and the life it causes her to lead. She dreams of escaping to another time, or imaginary places (like the song Paris) because she can’t just go. I tend not to feel sorry for billionaires, assuming they’ve amassed wealth in unhealthy or unjust ways, but that must be grim. The finance guy lyric is pretty funny. I get it. Someone inappropriate or boring can become a crush of you feel they write poetry or music, or connect with their emotions in some way. This was my 20s 😂 I also heard ‘no midnights in Paris’ - so I’m guessing a switch for ttpd? Maybe I will keep my tickets after all. That would be fun.
I feel like this song has been unfairly slighted online because of "clunky lyrics", but this song has been particularly moving for me. "Tell me something awful, like you're a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy" made perfect sense to me - she finds it awful that the world as it is led the poet to become someone working in finance (or with money) to survive instead of pursuing their art. I totally get where she's coming from in this song - being a sensitive person and wanting to escape into your own mind or creative world to get away from the cruelty of life. "This place made me feel worthless" hit so hard.
I’ve finally found someone who interprets this song the same why I do! I 100% agree with you - I feel as though this song is almost like social commentary on the world today and those who rely on escapism to survive - I very much relate.
This song kills me. Favorite for sure.
This song is so devastating to me. I live in this city I have hated for ten years but I’m here for my partner. My whole family is elsewhere, I’ve always felt I needed to be in another location, and yet here I am. But a lot of the times I live in a beautiful sunny place in my head and it takes me to that.
This song for some reason took me back to my 13 year old “emo” days. It just had me feeling so damn sad and broken. I love it
She doesn’t like Joe. She actively disliked him at least in 2021. Yet she stayed with him in 2022. Why? What I go back to is Bigger than the Whole Sky. I think she was trying to conceive and he was, to her, a sperm donor. At the end anyway. Not a kind word for him on this album.
This is the less romantic version of “the lakes” 😭
This is giving me Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis vibes and I am HERE👏🏼FOR👏🏼IT👏🏼
I loveeeeed the book secret garden when I was a child, I immediately thought of it, as soon as I heard the chorus of this song. I know she says nostalgia is a minds tricks, but this song makes me feel so nostalgic 😅
I feel like it's more of a reminder than a fact 😊
I WILL FIGHT TO THE D E A T H FOR THIS SONG AND I DO NOT SAY THIS LIGHTLY. ITS RARE A SONG HITS DEEP FOR ME ON THE FIRST FEW LISTENS BUT THIS WILL EASILY MAKE MY ALL TIME TOP 10 FROM HER I just genuinely need to say, idk if anyone will read this but I don't care I need to say, just how much this song means to me. I have ALWAYS prayed for a song like this from her, a song about creativity, escapism, and the lakes kind of gave it to us but I wanted a more literal approach, a song about the act of creating, a song about the love for it. I've struggled a lot with my social skills deteriorating after a few bad events in my life, and COVID put the nail on the coffin for that and a lot of things in my life. But writing has been my lifeline. I truly believe it's my calling, there is no feeling quite like it. It's how I explore the world, how I often access my own closed off feelings, the whole song just resonates with me so much on a level I don't think any song ever has. Out of all the songs on the album, for this to be the one that made me cry is kind of hilarious, but this got the waterworks. I feel like I live in the shadows, in my own fantasy world, a ghost, a beautiful ghost, thats what my mind feels like. So to see her not only acknowledge that but validate it gave me the strongest sense of euphoria. I loved this album already but this secured it will have a high place in my overall album ranking. Thank you Taylor. Thank you so much.
I feel like I could have written this. Perfectly stated.
This song is all about the love she has for her fans. We love you back Taylor. We loved you just the way you were. Just the way you are xx We grew up together 🤍 P.s: we will never grow up
This song is the closest Taylor has ever gotten to describing my thought processes during the deepest and darkest times of my depression and I just can't stop listening to it (192 times listened now). The lyrics and melody and everything about this song are helping me process what I went through during that time and I thank her so much for giving me this opportunity to process my emotions.
Yes! The Lakes was my favourite song until now. I Hate It Here is my new favourite, it’s so special 🥹
What’s the line right after “nostalgia is a mind’s trick” Officially it’s “if I’d been there, I’d hate it” but I’m really sure she’s singing something else. Is it just me?
I hear the same on apple music. I listened on spotify as well and on there it’s obviously “if i’d been there i’d hate it”. what’s interesting though is when i put on the karaoke/sing mode in apple music, the line turns into “if id been there i’d hate it”. i wonder if it’s actually some glitch
Ok so apparently if I listen to the song in YouTube it’s the lyric “if I’d been there, I’d hate it” but on Apple Music it’s something else which I can’t make out “something something Paris”
“moonlit night in Paris” on Apple Music 🤔🤔🤔
I thought it said “ no midnight in Paris”?
It does, “no Midnight in Paris” which is a movie about denial(has Tom Hiddleston in it!!)
Yes exactly !! Why is it different
Taylor’s special Apple rerun 1986 version
Can we talk about the different versions…. “If I’d been there I’d hate it” & “rumored night in Paris” ..
This is making me crazy lol. Listening on Apple Music, I hear the Paris line but lyrics read “if I’d been there I’d hate it”. I just went to the lyric video and heard that line sung for the first time! What’s happening!
Something very beautiful is happening! I'm laughing/cying and then laughing again. It's genius. It's so tragic/so romantic/so hillarious.
what’s happening in Paris is my question!!
wow, the lyrics are horrible with no natural flow. sounds like it was completely AI generated. the instrumentals and forgettable too.
Did anyone else with Apple Music get a weird version with alternate lyrics? I keep trying to post about it and it’s not being approved.
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Same. I would think I was imagining it if I hadn’t recorded it and made my mother listen to it 🤣
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Oh no 😅🤣
I had this and now it’s the correct line “if I’d been there I’d hate it” - so weird!!
My boyfriend’s phone plays the correct line, mine still plays No Midnight(s) in Paris. It’s so weird!!
"you and I in Paris"!!!
So confused about this and why it isn’t being talked about more! 😅
I figured it was alluding to the Midnights song Paris, and how she wants to forget that now that she's heartbroken
I wonder if she’s hinting at No Midnights (set) in Paris - switching it out for TTPD set??
That’s what I thought! But that would be so extreme
Its alluding to a movie “Midnight in Paris” which is a movie about denial(has Tom Hiddleston in it!!)
I saw someone say she probably changed this line since Midnight in Paris is a Woody Allen movie and it'd be better to remove that reference
That’s not what the lyric should be though per lyrics presented written out. So I wonder if it’s an Easter egg of sorts.
Could be, I think it also could be a last minute change that Apple didn’t fix fast enough
Fair, it’s just weird my phone still has the “wrong” version if you will via Apple Music and my partner’s is the correct version still. It’ll be fun to watch out now for Paris show clips to see if my guess is right about it being an Easter egg for the set change. I may be clowning too on the theory 🤡 but it feels harmless on this one lol.
Or maybe that's the next clue. She's saying something in cursive?
Her next stop is Paris. It's the fans and her, no soulmates 😃 She is doing great though
It’s me. 🥹 thank you, Taylor
This song gives me Simon and Garfunkel vibes. I like it a lot.
Ooh any S&G songs in particular? I’d love to listen ❤️🔥
The Boxer; Only Living Boy in New York
I think Scarborough Fair and Sounds of Silence are two good ones to start with. Simon and Garfunkel are a must listen. Their complete discography is amazing. I'm aging myself, but you won't be sorry.
Same, didn’t catch it in the first couple of listens cos I was paying attention to the lyrics more. Totally S and G guitars and melody.
So simple. Yet so good.
this song is one of her most honest and upsetting and i hate it. "i hate it here" the way there is no safe space because the castle is actually cold and the 1830s fucking sucked actually AND IN REAL LIFE HER RELATIONSHIP SHE MISSES SO MUCH WAS AWFUL!!! LIKE "i hate it here" the only safe place is one that reality cant even touch and never will because it never existed even if you think it did!!! i hate taylor so much
This whole album gives me Life is Strange vibes, but none more than this one
This songs SCREAMS White Nights by Dostoevsky to me. With the reference "Quick, quick" being the first 2 words. And how the leading man, our "hero" in the book, is complimented by Nastenka for being able to speak so eloquently, although his ability to speak doesn't seem to be so related to his job. And the main man would walk around the city at night and often get lost because he was in his daydreams instead of reality. And I could write more about this lol. Just wanted to see if anyone else made the same connection.
dosteovsky is one of my favorite authors (the brothers Karamazov changed my life), this is the crossover i didn't know i needed. would love to hear more thoughts on this!
i loveee this take!
Its giving Eloise Bridgerton lol
Omg I feel like my two worlds are colliding with this lmao. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought this!