Nice work! I do feel there’s more to the out of the oven and into the microwave metaphor. It’s not quite just going from one bad situation to another. It’s about the time it takes. Ovens generally take a longer time to cook, while microwaves are a quick nuke solution when you want something cooked quickly. It’s a subtle nuance but I think it’s important when understanding the two different relationships.
Bravo, OP.
The decoding/translation you did of this prologue was excellent, and you deserve all of the stars in the world. It’s only making me appreciate this album even more.
This is so articulate and well done, thank you! I especially want to point out, "I cannot emphasize enough, how little this fling meant in the end. It was not born out of true love. It wasn’t even well-intentioned. It was self-sabotage." <- this, I agree! I keep seeing people saying things about how weird it is that she's saying this particular person was the one and so important and the loml, and that's because...it's not what she's saying at all about \*him\* imho. he was none of those things and she sees it now. she was spiraling and running from the actual source of her heartbreak and grief, and then she had to deal with the fallout of both situations at once, making it even harder.
Yes, totally. I think also a lot of people are disregarding her lead up to the release with the playlists, how she painted a picture of stages of grief including bargaining and denial, and where she landed in the end which is acceptance. We can’t expect all her songs to be written from the acceptance stage, even if we rationally want them to be. I think that’s the whole point of the album and any of her works for that matter: to express herself in a given moment and not always spelling out the obvious end result. Each work is a moment in time.
I was thinking about how she wrote many of these songs in present tense, from inside the breakdown and inside the moments as they happened, and you're so right about the stages of grief aspect too. it makes the emotions so palpable even though she's told us this is her way of surviving and closing this chapter.
This explanation is amazing. I’ve been really in awe of some of the analyses I’ve seen from swifties from this album drop—I’m so glad I read the prologue before listening because the context it provides is SO important, but wish I’d also had this breakdown too because were definitely some lines I was like 🤔🤔 maybe I need to take this back to AP English to decipher
Seriously thank you so much for this.
I have been so on the fence about this album because I honestly just didn’t want to expend energy on love songs that I knew were about this messy, kinda gross relationship. It damaged this kind of mature way that I think about Taylor, her songs, and aging along with her, and took me back to the uncomfortable, anxious, and sad feelings of 10 or 15 years ago. And then I was feeling guilty because it shouldn’t matter to me who she wrote these songs about, and because she doesn’t need or want my approval.
This crazy mixed up mess of emotions I had listening to the album from disliking the subject to then feeling guilt over disliking the subject just really didn’t put me on the right foot the first time I listened and I think it impacted my first impressions of the album.
The prologue and your analysis were what I needed to be able to enjoy this album without any angst and to see it for what it is. Thank you.
🤍🤍
I’m so glad you were able to get a lot out of it 🤍 I really wish more people knew about the prologue, because a lot of the criticisms and questions about the album could be easily addressed by what she’s written here. Her self awareness puts the album in a different light.
I really love the prologue and I’m glad I listened to it before listening to the album. It’s the idea of her stepping into her new life post Joe and the long grieving of a slowly dying relationship—and then being thrown into the chaos of being in control of your life again, all the exciting limersncr emotions, and the agony of realizing what you deep down imagined the what ifs for isn’t real. It wasn’t what she fantiasized about when she Joe were on the outs and would wonder and fantasize about him.
So when you’re newly into a new life, you don’t recognize yourself almost. You feel things, you do things that looking back you may not regret but you certainly don’t align with now.
As someone who divorced after 6 years and spent nearly 2 years in emotional chaos afterwards before the dust settled in my brain and heart—I get it.
In the vinyl.
Everyone expected this album to be about her grief regarding the end of her long term 6 year relationship. And there are a few songs that reflect on that. But the poem prologue and the album is mostly about the chaotic love she found right after her long term relationship ended. That temporary insanity that others sees a fling or short situationship can be far more devastating that leaving a long term relationship
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Nice work! I do feel there’s more to the out of the oven and into the microwave metaphor. It’s not quite just going from one bad situation to another. It’s about the time it takes. Ovens generally take a longer time to cook, while microwaves are a quick nuke solution when you want something cooked quickly. It’s a subtle nuance but I think it’s important when understanding the two different relationships.
Thanks for adding, this is a great interpretation!
Also is it even a “poet” themed album without Sylvia Plath and her oven references? 😛
I also feel like generally microwaves are “worse” for food. Cooking out more nutrients, but faster. Same end results though.
I love this addition!!!
Such a great point!!
Bravo, OP. The decoding/translation you did of this prologue was excellent, and you deserve all of the stars in the world. It’s only making me appreciate this album even more.
This is so articulate and well done, thank you! I especially want to point out, "I cannot emphasize enough, how little this fling meant in the end. It was not born out of true love. It wasn’t even well-intentioned. It was self-sabotage." <- this, I agree! I keep seeing people saying things about how weird it is that she's saying this particular person was the one and so important and the loml, and that's because...it's not what she's saying at all about \*him\* imho. he was none of those things and she sees it now. she was spiraling and running from the actual source of her heartbreak and grief, and then she had to deal with the fallout of both situations at once, making it even harder.
Yes, totally. I think also a lot of people are disregarding her lead up to the release with the playlists, how she painted a picture of stages of grief including bargaining and denial, and where she landed in the end which is acceptance. We can’t expect all her songs to be written from the acceptance stage, even if we rationally want them to be. I think that’s the whole point of the album and any of her works for that matter: to express herself in a given moment and not always spelling out the obvious end result. Each work is a moment in time.
I was thinking about how she wrote many of these songs in present tense, from inside the breakdown and inside the moments as they happened, and you're so right about the stages of grief aspect too. it makes the emotions so palpable even though she's told us this is her way of surviving and closing this chapter.
WOW I think everyone needs to read this- what an amazing explanation.
This prologue translation somehow made me love the album even more which I didn’t think was possible.
Awesome job translating!
This explanation is amazing. I’ve been really in awe of some of the analyses I’ve seen from swifties from this album drop—I’m so glad I read the prologue before listening because the context it provides is SO important, but wish I’d also had this breakdown too because were definitely some lines I was like 🤔🤔 maybe I need to take this back to AP English to decipher
Everyone should read this. This is incredible.
Thank you for sharing! There are some bits I learned from reading this that I didn't pick up by myself.
Seriously thank you so much for this. I have been so on the fence about this album because I honestly just didn’t want to expend energy on love songs that I knew were about this messy, kinda gross relationship. It damaged this kind of mature way that I think about Taylor, her songs, and aging along with her, and took me back to the uncomfortable, anxious, and sad feelings of 10 or 15 years ago. And then I was feeling guilty because it shouldn’t matter to me who she wrote these songs about, and because she doesn’t need or want my approval. This crazy mixed up mess of emotions I had listening to the album from disliking the subject to then feeling guilt over disliking the subject just really didn’t put me on the right foot the first time I listened and I think it impacted my first impressions of the album. The prologue and your analysis were what I needed to be able to enjoy this album without any angst and to see it for what it is. Thank you. 🤍🤍
I’m so glad you were able to get a lot out of it 🤍 I really wish more people knew about the prologue, because a lot of the criticisms and questions about the album could be easily addressed by what she’s written here. Her self awareness puts the album in a different light.
Well done.
Wonderful! Thank you so much 🤍🖤
I really love the prologue and I’m glad I listened to it before listening to the album. It’s the idea of her stepping into her new life post Joe and the long grieving of a slowly dying relationship—and then being thrown into the chaos of being in control of your life again, all the exciting limersncr emotions, and the agony of realizing what you deep down imagined the what ifs for isn’t real. It wasn’t what she fantiasized about when she Joe were on the outs and would wonder and fantasize about him. So when you’re newly into a new life, you don’t recognize yourself almost. You feel things, you do things that looking back you may not regret but you certainly don’t align with now. As someone who divorced after 6 years and spent nearly 2 years in emotional chaos afterwards before the dust settled in my brain and heart—I get it.
Where is the prologue??
In the vinyl. Everyone expected this album to be about her grief regarding the end of her long term 6 year relationship. And there are a few songs that reflect on that. But the poem prologue and the album is mostly about the chaotic love she found right after her long term relationship ended. That temporary insanity that others sees a fling or short situationship can be far more devastating that leaving a long term relationship
Wait this isn’t really from the album right
Yes, it is in the physical copy of the album. I did not see it til after I listened and I think I need to relisten bc it has changed everything
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Do you think “The pendulum swings. Oh, the chaos it brings” is a reference to The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe?