TAYLOR SWIFT | KARMA

The Alcott Analysis

So now that The Alcott has officially been released I wanted to do an analysis of some of the lyrics and how I think they might relate to Taylor. Disclaimer: I know Aaron said Matt wrote the main parts of the song and Taylor only added the dialogue parts so many of these connections might be a coincidence, but I also think it’s possible Taylor could have had more input on the song than they’re letting on since there are so many themes and motifs that perfectly relate back to Taylor’s music. This is just meant to be a fun clown theory

Like many others pointed out, the whole first verse is very “Help I’m still at the restaurant, still sitting in a corner I haunt, cross legged in the dim light, they say ‘what a sad sight’” and seems like the opposite pov of RWYLM

“It’s the last thing you/I wanted, it’s the first thing I/you do, I tell you that I think I’m falling back in love w/ you” // “I love you ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard” // “Uh oh I’m falling in love, oh no I’m falling in love again”

“I had to do something to break into your golden thinking” // “Lost in the labyrinth of my mind…you would break your back to make me break a smile”— this is directly related to the following ⬇️

“And there you are sitting as usual w/ your golden notebook, writing something about someone who used to be me…I sit there silently waiting for you to look up” // “Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen, time moved on for everybody else, she won’t know it, she’s still 23 inside her fantasy, how it was supposed to be…and you’re sitting in front of me” -> Taylor is stuck in her own head reminiscing and writing about the past (the golden age) and this person sitting in front of her is trying to break her out of this nostalgic escapist mindset. I think this may be a direct reference to the film Midnight in Paris which is all about nostalgia and escapism–much like the song Paris on the Midnights 3am edition–and specifically to golden age thinking, a phrase used in that film. Here are some tidbits that I think are worth noting

@chickawah23​ made a really great post about the possible Midnight in Paris connections. Here’s a screenshot from that post that does a good job summarizing the important parallels

There definitely seems to be a connection between Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights, and the folklore chapters that were released in Aug 2020, specifically the sleepless nights and escapism chapters. I think it’s interesting that exile is the last track of the first chapter and first track of the second chapter–almost like the second chapter is a direct continuation of the first which again links Midnights to this escapism theme. And there’s been a lot of exile references lately (exile ends, doors, 8/3, etc)

Even though the back and forth dialogue between Taylor and Matt at first sounds argumentative, I think it could also be read in a positive way. This person is going to ruin and wreck Taylor’s plans and Taylor is going to gladly let them. She welcomes the curse on their house. “I’m begging for you to take my hand wreck my plans that’s my man” // “For you I would ruin myself a million little times” // “I wish to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed…He’s gonna burn this house to the ground…So yeah it’s a fire it’s a goddamn blaze in the dark and you started it” // “Dear reader, burn all the files, desert all your past lives” // Taylor is the one that chooses to burn the lover house down. She’s the one holding the lighter on the Midnights album cover and striking the match in the lavender haze mv (here’s a really great post about what that might signify). Furthermore, the willow performance and description make me think that the curse on Taylor’s house was actually her own doing–she’s not only letting this person wreck her plans but is helping them do so. So the burning, wrecking, ruining, cursing/spell casting are all metaphors for the same thing—destroying Taylor’s closet and possibly her career as a result of that

Honorable mention: The beat almost sounds like a heartbeat no? Wildest Dreams??

the little braid and the smol heart-shaped earring 🥹🥹♥️♥️

This is good news but I can't help but be pessimistic. What are the chances she gets a new beard?

Who knows. She has an easy excuse to be single. Free after six years and busy on tour.

But I get your concern because we went from CH to Tom in a matter of days.

i saw the scoreboard and ran for my life

looked up at the sky

so scarlet it was maroon

Reminder of the time that Karlie was happy to tell “baaaabe” about Dita being behind her. 🙈

🎶 I swear she’s destined for the screen, the closet thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you’ve ever seen 🎶

Vs

🎶 Your eyes are flying saucers from another planet, now I’m All For You like Janet, can this be a real thing? Can it? 🎶

at the show that her "ex-pal's" best friend/big brother attend...

...did she really say that Betty is the love of James life? And asked to the crowd to LITERALLY shout her name?

yeah, she did it...

and this ⬇️ btw lives rent-free in my mind so...

😂😂😂

Welp, Taylor has cause a new ship for the flaky gaylors who thinks she dates everyone she steps out with.

😏

Not that I would be against Sophie and Taylor, but damn, Gaylors are just as bad as hetlors and the media.

lord how many ships does tophie make 💀

Throwback to those times when Taylor would openly mention Karlie in her music video bts interview, and what inspired her 😭🥹

T: My friend Karlie, when she walks the runway, you can tell she grew up doing ballet. Like, there's something so incredibly disciplined about them.

Then down to this moment for Lover performance - AMAs November 24/25th 2019 - days after she released Lover remix on November 13th (the day they officially met/bonded) with the snowglobe and lyrics saying "The girl in my story has always been you"

Also I think this to myself all the time but, Karlie never gets to tell her side of anything, she just takes everything that comes her way. At least Taylor has a release through music. Imagine that must be hard on a person after a while.