The Swiftie and The Scholar - The Satire of Blank Space

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

In this episode, we are covering the fourth song that Taylor Swift submitted to be considered for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame—Blank Space. This 1989 track was one of her first pop hits, and Uncle Jerry finds the humorous and feminist lenses the poem was written through to be interesting to dissect. We’ll wrap the conversation up and talk about the songs as a whole collection next week.Works Cited:Tabula RasaDactylIambYellow Rose of TexasThe Ballad of Jed ClampettGilligan’s Island Theme SongBallad MeterThe Gallic WarsThe Twelve Caesars – Suetonius – Aff LinkThe Madwoman in the Attic – Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar – Aff LinkJane Eyre: Deluxe Painted Edition – Charlotte Bronte – Aff LinkThe Yellow WallpaperBlank Space Music VideoBlack Space Voice MemoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

Welcome to the Swifty and the Scholar, the podcast where we examine the lore, lyrics, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. I think it just messed that up. I'm Angela McDowell, the Swifty. And I am Dr. Jerry Coates, the scholar. I don't remember how to do this, apparently. Hello, Uncle Jerry. Hello there, Angela. How are you doing today?

I am living the dream here. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I'm ready. Social media star. Social media is my bag now. YouTube star, Instagram star I am telling you I am on it

Hello there, fans Um, okay Today Not yesterday, but today Today We are continuing Talking about the five songs That Taylor submitted for

Yes we are Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame Yes We just talked about Anti-hero We have previously talked about Love story And Alta Belle 10 minute version

That's right Okay And today we've got blank space From 1989 Which is from 2014 And this is a Taylor Max Martin and Shelbach song Which is all of showgirl

Is by these three So yeah It's kind of all I have I mean I have other things but Gosh I hope you do Because I'm skimpy today Okay. All I can tell you is, where shall I start with the title?

Yeah. Blank space. Yeah, what does blank space make you think when you see it? A blank dance card. What? A blank dance card. You know, they used to fill out dance cards. No.

Oh, yes. Okay, now don't. Yes, I'm from the 19th century. In distant antiquity, people used to have dance cards. So women in particular used to have dance cards. And they would carry them a little band on their wrist with a writing utensil. And they would fill in the name of someone who would be their next dance partner.

Oh. What era is this from? Didn't you ever watch any of those Jane Austen movies? I guess not. You have my first two dances, Mr. Darcy. Okay, okay. Yeah. So, yeah, it makes me think of that that these are her dance partners.

Okay. Right. And, you know, I assumed it was going to be a blank space for a new bow to come along. And I was not disappointed at the bottom of the chorus where she says, oh, I've got a blank space, baby, and I'll write your name. Yes. And so she's talking about bringing on this endless line of lovers. Yes. And, of course, it's satire. Yes.

She is satirizing, parodying her own life, as it were. her own public persona. Yes. Of course, it also makes me think of blank slate. Okay. Right? A tabula rasa, the something that is starting over, right, or completely open. Okay.

Any of those work for me. So the literal blank space for her boyfriend or the blank dance card or the blank slate. How long did it take you to understand that it was like satire? Oh, um... I'm just curious because I don't know that I ever... Like, I understand that in my head, but I don't know that I ever would have, like, said this is a satire unless Taylor told me what she did. Yeah, I think it's the very... I mean, I read through it once and I thought this looks like a satire on her public persona.

Okay. The very first line is a little cheeky. Nice to meet you where you've been, right? It's flippant. Okay. The whole tone, I would say, reeks of flippancy. Yes, for sure. Right.

And so that flippancy gave me that idea that, oh, she's satirizing her own life, or at least the public perception of what her life is. Yeah. I think I mentioned last time, you know, that as we have talked and gone through the songs previously, she kind of moves from being American sweetheart to being the serial dater, the, you know, man-devouring woman, you know, that kind of thing. And probably neither of those perceptions are accurate and true. Right.

I'm always curious when I read someone who says, you know, in our own comments, you know, when thank you very much for writing. But I am curious when someone writes something like, you know, I know Taylor's not really like this. And I'm thinking, but how do you know? Yeah. This is not a person that we actually know. Right. I mean, I'm reading her songs. I have now sat through a movie, the Ophelia movie, with you and then the Fam Fam.

Yeah. You know, I watched maybe eight minutes of the ERIS tour film. Yeah. People do want to know if you're going to watch the documentary. Yeah, I mean, I think I will. And I've told people I'm going to make you. I don't know when. You know, I've been reluctant because I do like to look at the lines from a literary aspect.

So I want to look at it as literature. I don't really want to have a song in my head. I mean, you know, there are times when you can be persuaded by a song that this is a great work. And the truth is, the language doesn't hold up. Yeah, all the time. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

It's so funny. Do you know what you've done to me? Oh, dear. It's like I listen to music now. I think I mentioned to you the other, that several weeks ago, I was watching some performer on like Jimmy Kimmel. And the words were coming across my screen. because I am old and hard of hearing, and I always put the close caption up.

I just do. And it's like I'm sitting there going, well, that's not a very clever lyric. And, you know, I think it's funny because now I do it when I listen to anything. You know,

like I've got my Pandora station on and I'm listening to Buddy Holly and the crickets. And it's like, you know, Peggy Sue, I love you. You know, it's like, uh-huh. That's not very good, buddy. But you love the song. That's a great song.

Yeah. And that's how some of these are. Like, I mean, I think I knew that doing the podcast in this way where we look at them poetically, like they're all not going to be great poetic works of art, you know? Right. What could be a really fun song that you do want to listen to in your car might not hold up under, like, the scrutiny that we're putting on it here. But that doesn't take anything away from the song, you know. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like the last song we listened to. I mean, I rather liked the music, you know. But, you know, for me, the lyrics were just okay, you know. I think a little bit of the same for this one, actually. But I don't know what the song's going to sound like. But the lyrics, you know, interesting to read through from a literary standpoint.

Let's do it. Go for it. Okay. So, yes, it's a bit of a parody. Nice to meet you. Where you been, a little flippant. I did look at the rhyme scheme, Ben, things, Sin, Thought. A, B, A, C.

You know, we have a pretty consistent rhyme scheme, although she varies a little bit. Rhythmically, it's very strong, rhythmically, almost, for my taste, too strong. Okay. You know, there are times when a poet pushes the rhythmic power of the piece to being where it's sing-songy.

Okay. And she pushes that. She uses a lot of dactals and I-Ms. that is, you know, where you have one stress syllable and one unstressed syllable. So nice to meet you where you've been. Yeah, very. Yeah. And I wonder if that's a, because I feel like the songs that we talk about that,

sometimes you're like, there's like a vague rhyme scheme or it's like varied enough where it's really fun. And those I think are the more like, you know, pianoy, you know, really lyrical ones. Whereas this is very much like pop hit Max Martin. And it's going to be like completely like syncopated, you know, the beats or the beats. Well, see, that's kind of what I wondered is if we're, are we matching the music here? I think so, yeah. I think that's just a function of that, of this being like a pop song.

See, that's what I think that the, rather than the lyrics being, rather than being a lyric driven song, this is a music driven song. I think so, yeah. So can I jump to the chorus? Sure. I know. I know. I know it's a hugely, but I mean, look at the rhythm. So it's going to be forever.

Oh, it's going to go down in flames. You can tell me when it's over if the high was worth the pain. Got a long list of ex-lovers. They'll tell you I'm insane because you know I love the players and you love the game. Yeah. It's like bumpa-dumpa-dump-dump-dump-tum-dump-tum-tum. Yeah, is it? No.

So because of the way it's rhythmically driven, you could actually sing the song to the Yellow Rose of Texas. Oh. Yeah, you know, ba- bum-pum-pum-pum-pah. So it's going to be forever or it's going to go down in flames.

You can tell me when it's over if the hive was worth the pain. Okay. Right? Yeah. Or you could also sing it to the, what's the song with the

Come and listen to him a story about a men named dead. Poor Mountaineer barely kept his family fed. So it's going to be forever or it's going to go down in flames. You can tell me when it's over if the high was worth of pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

So you could sing it to any of those tunes. Hilarious. Okay. You just slide them in. Okay. What if that's what it was? Like when I played it for you, it was just that dead clamped. It was the Jed clampett song.

Yeah. You can also, that means you realize that's ballad meter. And so you could also sing it to the HMS Minow song. Oh, okay. Just sit right back in here a tale. of a faithful trip so it's going to be forever or it's going to go down in flames you can tell me when it's over if the high was worth the pain oh beautiful i was worth the pain um okay consequently um i had a little trouble reading it with a level of seriousness that maybe the lyrics otherwise demand i mean i don't know i mean i think if it's if if we already know like this is satire does it really is it really that serious

It's okay. You know? I know. It's... Yeah. You want me to try the Adams family song? No, okay. I'm not going to.

All right. So go back to the top. Yes. Nice to meet you where you've been. I could show you incredible things. Okay. So for me, that's a vague line. Like, you know, one of the things she does so well in some of the other works is she uses great imagery.

Uh-huh. Right? She uses, she touches on our sense of smell, taste, touch, you know, hearing. she says I could show you things yeah okay so that that lacks the level of imagery that I think I've grown to expect in yeah in her better work do you think that's a function of the so if we're saying this song is like a satire of what the media made her be right she's just in it for breaking hearts and writing new music and getting new albums out of these dating these voice. You know, and that's kind of like a 2D caricature of who she actually is.

Oh, that's a perfect way to put it. Yeah. And so I can show you incredible things also sounds very like flat. It's not like, like this person doesn't, this person who people think she is is not, it doesn't have any of that depth, that emotional depth. And that's kind of where I went on my sixth reading. You know, I mean, I had to get over the shallowness of it. And then I began to realize, oh, wait a minute, the shallowness is intentional. Yeah.

Right. So you look at the third line, magic, madness, heaven, sin, you know. And now, first of all, the alliteration with magic madness, you know, is kind of nice. Yeah. Heaven's sin. So you get the S's and the M's that all can. And, you know, I do love alliteration. It's not too obvious.

It's kind of nice. And so I began to really imagine her as a carnival barker. Okay. You know what I mean? Someone's trying to sell you something. It's the vacuum cleaner salesman at the door. Yeah. You know, nice to meet you where you've been, you know.

Yeah, that's interesting. I could show you incredible things, magic, madness. Yeah. Right. So it's like she's got something to sell you. And so she's parodying that public persona of the salesperson. Howdy everyone, I am Taylor Swift. I've got skimpy outfits and lots of sparkles and sequins and we're going to have big fans and lots of music, right?

And so I thought, oh, you know, I mean, it took me a while to warm up to the idea that not only is it a parody, it feels like this carnival Barker salesman personality, and it's all intentional. Interesting. Yeah. So secondarily, I had a better appreciation of the work. Okay. Yeah. Saw you there and I thought, oh, my God, look at that face.

You look like my last mistake. You know, I just, I do like the flippancy, the faux shallowness, right? The physical evaluation of the other. It's like all I care about is that you're cute. Yeah. All you are is cute. Loves a game, want to play, right? And she truncates the lines, which is to say she clips off grammatic bits.

So it should be nice to meet you where have you been, right? Loves a game, do you want to play? Right. But she's like that rapid barking salesperson. She's got to catch attention. Right. So she's catching a, and she's catching a game. And she says magic madness, heaven's in.

You know, she doesn't even manage to put those all in a sentence context. No, it's just words. It's just words. It's just this tumble of words where she's selling something. Yeah. So the whole first eight lines is her selling her faux shallowness. Okay. You know, she's selling that persona.

You know, notice the metaphor in Love's a Game. Uh, want to, want to play. New money, suit, and tie. I can read you like a matter. Isn't it funny? Okay, so she can read them like a magazine simile. But also, where are you going to read about her next love affair? Yeah, in the magazines.

In the magazines. Yeah, in cheap tabloids. And she says, oh, you look perfect. You're rich. Yeah. You look good. You look cute. You dress well.

I can just see our pictures in the magazine. Yeah, you're wearing your suit and tie. They're going to talk about us. Right. Ain't it funny? Yeah. Rumors fly in the magazine. magazine, right? And I know you heard about me in the magazine. Yeah, also still in the magazines.

Right. So, or on the TV or over the radio or something, you know, through some media where where the life of Taylor Swift is splashed everywhere and we all think we know her. And we really don't. Right. So, hey, let's be friends. I'm dying to see how this one ends. Grab your passport in my hand, I can make bad guys good for a weekend. You know, I'm dying. It's hyperbolic. It's also cliched. And I think that's intentional.

Again, the shallowness, usually she does something with the cliche. Yeah. Doesn't even try here. Yeah. Right. Just dying to see how this one ends. Dying to see how it is. I think also this is kind of the first album.

So this is her fifth album. And, well, so I guess this wouldn't be the first. Maybe this is like the second album where we find. finally hear her talking about like all these relationships like aren't forever. So she's like on another song on this album, she says, um, I can see it end as it begins. So she's like on this album,

she's kind of exploring like that exactly what the media says about her is that like, the relationships I get into never last. And so she starts like exploring that from the beginning. So it's like I'm dying to see how this one ends. Like I know this isn't forever because. I'm just doing this to, you know, get another album, get another hit song. Right. Yeah.

This is just one more fun ride. I'm going to take you on and then I'm going to write about it. Yeah. Yeah. I did like the word choice. Grab your passport, right? Not get your passport, pick up your passport. Yeah.

Grab it. We're going to go quick. Right. We're going to go quick. You better hang on because how long do her relationships last? The weekend. A weekend. I know.

It's like, at least that's the public perception, right? The public perception is she deals through guys like you, shuffle a deck of cards and, you know, and he's the joker. So grab your passport, you know, why passport? Well, the jet set her image, right? She's going to be traveling from country to country. Grab her hand. She can make even bad guys look good for a weekend. So, yeah, you know, the first time through.

I was a little daunted by the by the rhythmic elements of it, almost the sing-songy rhythmic elements. But it took me a few times to read when I thought not only is she being satiric here, she's parodying her own lifestyle. And she is, you know, I think she's having fun with it. Yeah, I think so too. She's like a salesperson because she knows essentially what she does is sell an image. and this is all part of the image. She actually said while we're on that note, let me say, let me just,

in talking about this song when it came out, this was like from 2014. So she said writing that song was a journey. It was one of those things where I'd be writing lines years before I ended up constructing the song. I'll be going about my daily life and I'll think, wow, so you only have two real options in relationships.

Like it's going to be forever or it's going to go down in flames. I'll jot that down in my notes. And then she says, I'll come up with a line that I'll, think is clever like darling i'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream i just pick them and put them where they fit and construct the bridge out of more lines um she sings like a crossword puzzle blank space was like the culmination of all my best ones one after the other and then she says from 2012 to

2013 they they thought i was dating too much because i had dated two people in a year and a half but whatever we'll leave it there oh she's a serial dater she only writes songs to get emotional revenge on guys. She's a man hater. Don't let her near your boyfriend. It was just kind of excessive. And, you know, at first it was hurtful. And then I kind of found a little comedy in it. The character is so interesting, though. If you go and read these gossip sites and they describe how I am, it's so opposite of my actual life. And then she says, then there were the people who didn't find the irony in Swift's lyrics. She said, half the people got the joke. Half the people really think that I was really owning the act that I'm a psychopath, which is fine. Either one is fine as long as they know the words, even if they're incorrect. So she's just kind of like saying they're like, I kind of don't care anymore, you know. Whatever. Yeah, like, I don't care what they think. Like, as long as they're streaming the music, like, who cares, you know?

As long as I get my dime. Just leave me alone. Yeah, you know, I mean, it's so funny what we do know about people. So I've taught history, you know, and I'm especially interested. and classical and medieval history. It's so difficult to discern what lives were really like. Yeah. You know, I mean, you can read a biography of Caesar, a very famous personality,

you know, Julius Caesar, and everybody knows a lot of dates associated with Caesar or acts, or you can read his book, The Gallic Wars, or other works by or about him. But everyone has an opinion, you know. When Swaytonius writes the 12 Caesars, he's a senator, and he's very prejudicially, disposed against the Caesar. So can you take him at his word? Right. You know, and what did Caesar like for his breakfast cereal?

You know, I mean, you know, what does Taylor Swift? What's her favorite kind of pajama? Right, right. You know, we don't know those things. Yeah. Unless she's selling some right now. She's not. Okay.

Yeah, in which case we would find that out really quickly. But, but yeah, I mean, we just don't know. You know, you don't know. You see a million pictures of her in a tabloid and you think, wow, she's out with all kinds of guys. Well, I'm sure she accompanies a lot of guys and guys accompany her, but how many people are she seriously dating? Right, exactly.

You know, and obviously she's dating one right now. Right. And you named my favorite line in the work, but I'll get to that. Oh, okay, yes, okay. So, okay, the chorus. Now we're back at the chorus again. I promise not to sing it this time. So it's going to be forever or it's going to go down in flames.

And she says it, again, with such flippancy, it's like she could care less. Yeah, it's like this is going to be one of two things and I'm going to have fun either way. Right. Yeah. Yep. This is my forever guy or not. You can tell me when it's over. And you, again, who's the you she's addressing?

Well, the guy, but also us, the people who perceive her public. persona, the people who write about her, everyone will tell her what they think about it when it's over. If the high was worth the pain, you know, did the guy get what he needed out of it? Did we get what we wanted out of it? Yeah, people get their clicks and their headlines. Yeah, does anybody ask, did she get what she needed out of it? Yeah.

You know, that's a harder question. They'll tell you, so she's got a long list of ex-lovers. They'll tell you, I'm insane. So the lovers will say it, the magazines will say it, they'll all say she's crazy. So it's time to pause for one of Jerry's book introductions. One of my favorite books on feminism, it is one that I read that turned me into a feminist reader. Okay. That anytime anyone mentions insanity or madness, I always think about is.

It's a big, fat book. Don't get intimidated. Oh, dear. Oh, my goodness. Oh, the mad woman in the attic. It is the mad woman in the attic. Okay, so can we see. Yeah, they can see that.

I know, it's big, but it's not that intimidating. I mean, it is dense when you read it. It's by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gabar. They were pioneering. They taught a course in women's literature in 1974. Wow. Yeah, it's dated. So this came out in the early 80s or so.

I read it in the 80s, and it turned me into a feminist reader. I mean, it's just so enlightening on the nature of how writers express the nature of being woman. Yeah. You know, and how women writers write that way. Yeah. You know, if you are at all interested in Charlotte Bronte or Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights or Emily Dickinson or Jane. or Jane Austen. You know, what's fun about this book is you don't have to read the entire massive thing.

It's about 700 pages with notes. But the chapters are great. You know, when I was first introduced to it, I didn't read the whole book. I went back and read it after I had time when I got out of class. But I was interested in Jane Austen. And so I read the introduction of the chapter on Jane Austen. And you can do that. So you can pick whoever you want to read up.

If you're interested in Emily Dickinson, just go, you know, read the intro and then go right to the chapter on Emily Dickinson. It really takes a hard look at the way women writers have been evaluated for the last two centuries about how women write, sometimes how they were required to write culturally, you know, or how they were evaluated as writers. Interesting. Yeah. And it's, I cannot help but think of it often. Yeah. You know, when I was reading Peter, one of the respondents responded about Peter and mentioned Jane Eyre, the quote from Jane Eyre, where she feels it under her rib. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, I mean, I thought about the chapter on Jane Eyre in Mad Woman in the Attic. Yeah. In Jane Eyre, you know, the woman is actually incarcerated in an attic. And why don't we blame Mr. Rochester for that? Seriously, dude? You put your wife, you imprisoned your wife in the attic because she had a mental issue. And you think about the number of works.

I don't know if you've ever read the yellow wallpaper or... Oh, I remember the yellow wallpaper. Yeah, you remember that? I mean, she's crawling around, scratching at the wallpaper. You know, let her out of the room for goodness sakes. Yeah, there's something going on in there. Yeah. Get somebody to sit with her.

Maybe a little analysis. You know, those, I guess it forever changed the way that I read women's writing and think about women characters. And I thought of this book again after I read through this poem a number of times. And I'll link that in the description. Yeah, I mean, it's great. Yeah, I might have to use my own link and buy that one. Yeah. So if you haven't read or hadn't seen, it's pretty great when you're considering women writing.

And the idea is anytime you step out of the norm or some culturally devised sphere, then you're insane, you're crazy, you're mad. You know, clearly in both her writing and in her life, Taylor Swift, steps out of that norm. And so she gets tagged with this turn. She's insane. You know, I love the players and you love the game. So she's just, she's playing with players. Yeah. Right. You know, what I think is interesting about her is she embraces that, a little bit like Jane Eyre. Okay, now I'm going to go back to, you know, Jane Eyre says, all right, I'm short, I'm plain, you know, but I can, I have agency too. I have power too, right? And she, you know, Charlotte Bronte was criticizing for writing that. Read about it in the book. She was criticized for some of the attitude of Jane.

in Jane Eyre. I think that Taylor Swift gets some of that criticism. I think she is in some way the mad woman in the attic. And so this tag of insanity, people are quick to jump on it, you know, because she's wealthy, because she's powerful, she's self-motivated, she wants to control her own life, she wants to control her own music, as I have now learned from you. You know, something that I just have this eminent respect for her for wanting to control those things. You know, I think I want to do that.

I think we all want to do that. And it doesn't make her crazy. Yeah. But the joy of this poem is she plays with that insane. Yeah, she's reveling in that, the crazy. Yeah. So they'll tell you I'm insane because, you know, I love the playas, which is irony, you know. She doesn't like the players.

Yeah. You know, she doesn't like being played with. Yeah. But she's, she's, again, embracing a satiric public persona. So she says, and you love the game. You love the game. You, the boyfriends who love playing around, but also you, you, you, her followers. Yeah, the specific, like the people, the Swifties, the media, the people who ride about Taylor, all of it.

Everybody who rides and reads, and, you know, I'm going to say Swifties, you love that game. Absolutely. You love the game of figuring out, oh, which guy is this? know, what she's saying about him now? Yeah, this is like the first time she called us out. Oh, is that right? In a nicer way. But there's more later on where she calls people out.

Yeah, that was one of the first things that I was kind of amazed by is, why are we worried about what guy she's with? Let's just read the lyrics. Yeah. You know, and you would tell me, oh, this is Jake Gillinghal. And I would go, all right. Yeah. You know, I don't.

So he's a rat. Yeah. Shocker, right? It's okay. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So we all love that game of playing who's who in the life of Taylor Swift.

Yeah. Because we're young and we're reckless. Okay, clear allusion to a soap opera, the young and the restless. Yeah. So she's literally saying this whole thing is a soap opera. All right, people. Are soap opera's real? Probably not.

No. Only like 75% of it's real. I'm just kidding. Okay, so I do have to pause for an autobiographical note. Uh-oh. My grandmother coats. Okay. She was a tiny, skinny, wrinkled lady.

She smoked all the time. And the older she got, the more her entire life revolved around soap operas. Oh, yeah, she got to watch her stories. Oh, she would, yeah, my stories. She would call them my stories. That's what they always said in a story. And we would go, we would visit her. She lived down in Beaumont.

We would go down Beaumont way. So I got to use occasional. She'd go down Beaumont way down in Port Artour and down in the Golden Triangle. And I mean, she wouldn't ask me how my studies are going or how my playing basketball is going. She wanted to tell me about the young and the restless. Yeah, I don't know. They were her life. Yeah.

And I think that that's one of the things Taylor Swift is talking about in this song. Yeah. Yeah. Like we can just use me as an example. Right. Like, you know, people are like, what are your hobbies? What do you do? And I'm like, Taylor Swift is my hobby.

You know? Like. And that's why we're here today. Yes. Yes. And so it is like, I mean, I'm fine with admitting it. Like I'm part of the problem, you know. It's me.

Hi. The problem. It's me or whatever she says. But like, it's like, that's like when people, when talking, for instance, talking about 2025, I'm like, what a crazy year. Like, that was a terrible year. There was so much terrible going on in the world. But I'm like, but Taylor gave us so much. I had a good time because Taylor gave us the new album and the dockey series and all these things, you know.

And it's like silly because that's, that has nothing to do with me. Right. I know. Well, you know, I said that last time, you know, that we have so many people who listen who are all over the world. And there are so many things, so many violent, sad things going on. And I hope everyone's safe. Yes. And, you know, those are the important things.

But we find joy where we can find it. Yeah, yeah, that's very true. Right. And this is a place where you can find it. Yeah. I mean, I thought this was fun. Yeah. Okay.

So, yeah, when I started out and saying, ah. You were like, mm. Yeah. I was being satiric. or ironic. I actually think this is a really funny song. I do too. Kind of a fun song.

And she is saying, you know, my life, according to you as a soap opera, that's fine. Yeah. That's the way you want to view it. We're just going to keep going that direction. Just keep going. We'll take this way too far. Yeah. Again, calling us out.

Again, you want to find those Easter eggs. You want to find which guy matches which song. Yeah. That's fine. mine too, take it out that direction. I'll leave you breakfast. Breakfast. I'll leave your breakfast.

I'll leave you breakfast. I'm breathless. Or with a nasty scar. So either completely run around worn out or completely overwhelmed by sex or with a nasty scar, you know, however you want to take it. Got a long list of ex-lovers. They'll tell you why I'm insane. But I've got a blank space, baby. and I'll write your name.

Come on in, whoever's next. Yeah. Yeah. So blank space is just next up. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of fun. Yeah.

You know, she's, again, she's faux, shallow. She's making a list. It doesn't really matter who's on the list. She's just filling in names. Yeah, just the next name that shows up. That's right. It's going to be written down. And it may or may not be someone she's actually with.

Right. Right. It may just be sheer conjecture on the part of the magazine or on some fan who, you know, puts it on their Instagram and it goes viral. Yeah. It may be a real person. It may not be. Yeah. Verse two. Verse two. Cherry lips, crystal skies.

I could show you incredible things. Okay. So we're beginning to round out that incredible things. Uh-huh. Right. Nevertheless, cherry lips is a bit of a cliche. Crystal skies I kind of like Stolen kisses

Pretty lies You're the king baby I'm your queen Very cliche She just is bold and matter of fact about it Doesn't even want to play with the cliche You know we're back to this carnival barker Who's just trying to sell an image Yeah just saying this good thing

And this good thing and this pretty thing And this fun thing Here's my I'm cute It's beautiful let's go Yes you're the king I'm the queen. Find out what you want. Be that girl for a month. So she'll be that girl for whatever you need. Yeah, I'm going to change myself into her. That's right. You need me to go to London and be a demure English gal. I can do that for a month. Yeah. You want me to go to New York or off to Nantucket Beach? I can do that for a month.

Yeah. She's mercurial. She's changeable. She's above all, flippant. Yeah. Right. So I think that she does have a consistent personality, and I'm sure she knows she does. Yeah. This is a song about the way we characterize her. Wait, the worst is yet to come. And, of course, now she is playing with the cliché.

Yes. Yeah, the best is yet to come. Nope, I can be bad. I can be good. 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? So I just, I don't know, I thought that was really funny. She has an inconsistent reputation, and she's going to live up to that inconsistency. But no matter what, it's going to, we're going to, I'm going to throw fits, and we're going to scream and cry. Cry and fits, but it's going to be entertaining. Yeah, we're going to be fun. It's pretty, though, because it's a rose garden, but there are thorns. But there are thorns.

I know, you know, every rose has its thoughts. Yeah, I've heard that before. Yeah. Every cowboy sings a sad, sad song. Yeah. Can we sing it for you? No. Oh, okay.

They probably do, though. Every rose. Okay, no, I want them. Not actual rose. But that's a great song. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

I get drunk on jealousy. Now, of course, she's being ironic. You know, when you're ironic, you say, you say one thing but mean the other. Yes. So, no, she's not out there drunk on jealousy, playing games with boyfriends. It's a public persona that people make of her. You'll come back each time you leave. So, yeah, you may say, that woman's crazy.

I will never listen to her music again. And then you do, because, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream. Favorite line. Okay, yes. Yeah, I do. This is one of, like, this is like such a classic. Taylor line. Like this is so Taylor to me.

Yeah. You know, I do, I love that. She is the mad woman. Yeah. Who everyone wants to say is mad, but she is controlling her image. And she is building, you know, building a musical career based on that image, you know. And whatever it is you want to say about her, she's going to keep going. Yeah.

So, um, uh, the chorus. You know, is a lot like the next chorus. Yeah, it's basically the same. Yeah, so it's going to be forever, going to go down in flames. You can tell me when it's over, if the high is worth the pain. So it's, you know, I think that, again, she plays into the idea that this is a song. And so the choruses tend to be redundant. Right.

I love the game. We're young and restless. I leave your breathless. It's the same. Yeah. Yeah, all the same. The bridge, I thought, was. was funny.

I mean, the first time I read throughout, I kind of laughed out loud. Boys only want love if it's torture. And the first thing I wrote was, well, that's pretty reductive. Uh-huh, yes. Oh, what just happened there? I know. Reductive about boys. About boys, I know.

And you know what she's doing is she's reversing the role. Yes. Right? Everybody thinks of her as the hot starlet who's out there playing games and now it's like you know boys also play those games you know don't say i didn't don't say i didn't warn you boys only want love if it's torture don't say i didn't warn you do you think that there is yeah so she's just changing it from like these are the kinds of things that people normally say about women i'm going to say it about boys right um do you think there's

anything in with her saying boys instead of men oh yeah i think that she's infantilizing Okay, just like how we call women girls. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, again, it's not something, I'm sorry, I do this to my wife from time to time. She'll say, some of the girls at church, I say, have you been hanging out with the girls? How old are they?

Are they 10 or 12? I always try to do that to chase to them. Like, girls, those girls are that you work with? Yeah. No, she means women. Those are ladies. Those are women. But, yeah, she's playing the inverted.

game of, you know, diminutizing boys to men. Yeah. Oh. Okay. Want to do major themes or you want to listen to music? Yeah, let's do the themes. Yeah, because then we just have the chorus and it's the same again. Yeah, major themes.

Yeah, the next chorus is the same. Major themes are public versus her private persona. You know, clearly the public persona is that crazy carnival Barker all over the place, serial dating, hawk in her music, and about half crazy. Uh-huh. Right. Her private persona is her private persona. Yeah, we don't know.

Right. You really don't know. Fame, the nature of fame and media. You know, how media is going to control that persona. And sometimes it's out of your control. Once you become famous, it can be out of your control. I think that she tries to control it. For sure.

Like she tries to control her music. She tries to control her image, but you can't always control it. They're always going to be the sun and the daily mirror who are going to take a story and run with it. It's also, I think, a little bit about romance and power. I really thought that this was a kind of a subtextual theme. you know, because her many romances are a subject of this poem, and who's got the power and control in those romances? You know, sometimes she does and sometimes the boys do.

Uh-huh. You know, and so I felt that the nature of female power, desire, and manipulation in romance are an interesting subtextual theme in this. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. And I'd really like to go back and the more I thought about it, you know, after I wrote it, I'd like to go back and reread it 18 more times for that theme, for the subtextual idea of, you know, the nature of female power and manipulation in romantic relationships. You know, things like there are certain phrases like screaming, crying, perfect storms, you know, do women use these.

in a manipulative way, or do they have to use them? Yeah. Are kisses always stolen, you know, or do they have to be? Do your lips always have to be cherry, you know? Interesting, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting to think about, like playing with the, not only the public perception, but actually once she's in these relationships,

who has the control in the relationship. Right. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that was a really an interesting theme that runs under the text that I'd like to take another look at. Or one of you could take a another look at. But there you go.

Some major themes to think about. Okay. Okay. You ready to listen? Yeah, I'm really curious to know what this sounds like. Okay. I would think the music would match the kind of joyful flippancy of the work. Yeah, for sure.

Okay. Let's listen to the song. We're going to watch the music video. listen to the song. Then maybe let's listen to them riding it. And then maybe we'll watch the air as tour performance. Okay. Lots to do. Yes. Okay. Okay. We'll be back. I'm gonna be back. So, Anna Mena. And like my music, my The hair can't

with me and has been able to keep a Rhythm. For that's a new first of

Sebastian Professional, has all the my my cabel needs. Nutrition Profound

Protection against the encrespa 90% less of rotura and Puntas

Abirtas under control. New Potion Nine of Sebastian Professional, the

secret professional of who who don't who do you don't

do you do your passion in a business, and You've heard it. The Merevergion of the world. The incredible system of

Pago of Shopify facilitates the online in your site web, in the reds and in any other music for your ears. No, you'll do more your new your new

your new a super-exito with Shopify. It's a period of per year per year at Mesh at Shopify. . .

All right. Okay then. What you thought? Um, she... plays it for all the comic value it's worth. Yeah. Yeah.

The music video. The music video is funny. And it's obviously full of sexual humor, right? White horses. The apple. Yeah. Yeah. The apple.

I didn't remember that that was even in there. Yeah. So we have lots of imagery that's pretty funny. She gets pretty angry. Yeah. One thing that I honestly have not noticed and just watching that video just now made me notice

in the second verse and she says, keep you second guessing like, oh my God, who is she? I get drunk on jealousy. I always thought that that was just her saying,

or that was the guy being like, you're like a totally different person now. You totally switched. Like something changed. Like, oh my God, who is she? But when you take it with the,

I get drunk on jealousy and when watching the video, she's, it's like when he's texting somebody else, and she's like, oh my God, who is she? Like, she's like, who are you texting? And that's when she gets drunk on jealousy.

So I feel like that line works with both the line ahead of it and the line after it. Yeah, I did too. I like it that all it takes is a text. Yeah, yeah, and then she loses her mind. Sets her off and that's it. She's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, I like the angry way she said.

I like the way she said, I'm a nightmare dressed as a daydream. That was fun. I liked the, she almost speaks. I can make bad guys good for a week. weekend. Yes. Yeah. That's fun.

And then the, it was interesting to hear her talk about it. I said it sounded like she was playing an mandolin there with the... Yeah, I don't know if that was just like really high up on the guitar or what, but... Yeah, it's interesting to hear the, um, the process of making the music and, and devising the lyrics. And of course, it reminds us that, um, she's not some demonic figure working in the castle at night. She's just a music artist trying to figure out the next song. Figure out the words to this song.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. It sounded exactly what you were expecting it to sound like I assume.

Yeah. Kind of fun, pop. She really stresses the satire and really hits the heavily ironic lyrics. Yeah. So it was fun. Okay. Let's grade it. Blank Space from 1989.

Lyrical Strength. Lyrical strength. You know, I think she's playing a game with the sing-songy rhythmic pattern that I was making fun of by singing a variety of ballads with. You know, I think that she is playing a musical game, you know, and saying that this tawdry bit is just that fictitious persona that emerges out of some, you know, some media sort. So I'm going to say it was it was pretty good at a 97. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I liked it. Next, we have narrative and structure.

The narrative was strong and consistent. So 97. And then we have production and atmosphere. I love the way that she, I do have to say I love the video. You know, so many of the videos that you've shown me are just the lyric videos. Yeah. Or all you can see are the words going by and you otherwise have some kind of nature scene with a bit of ambience.

So it was fun to see and I thought they caught the sense of the narrative. So a 98. Yeah, it really like fleshes out what she's singing. Lore and literary. Goodness gracious. Lore and literary references. You know, not a lot of specific literary references in this. I mean, there are some devices used but not a lot of references.

So 92. Okay. And then emotional impact. Right. I did wonder about the subtextual messages concerning, you know, the feminine power and the nature and manipulation of romance. I also did empathize with the idea that this persona is generated, is a public persona and not necessarily anything that's close to her personal persona or her choice. You know, it's almost as though choices is taken from her. Yeah, yeah.

And I guess it made me think of one of those seminal feminist works, the Gilbert and Gubar, Mad Woman, The Attic. Yeah. And, you know, I thought about how patriarchal society views women's writing, especially women writing about women's lives. Yeah, writing about your own experiences. Well, right. It's not allowed.

Yeah, no, we can't have that. I go to Hemingway for that, for goodness sakes. Who, by the way, is awful with women. But, yeah, so I guess I had a strong personal reaction. So 98. Oh, my goodness. This one's getting much higher score than I was expecting. Okay, that's 96.

There you go. Yeah. Solid. Good song. Yeah, this one's very fun. I bet Oliver likes this one. I bet Jonathan might even like this one in your family. Okay.

Travis Kelsey's favorite, Taylor. with song until she started writing them about him, then those are probably his favorite now. Yeah. Well, you know, boys only love it if it's torture. Yeah, exactly. As the great poet once said. That's right. Okay.

Anything else? I don't think so. Fun. Thank you for this one. This was fun. More fun than my first few readings. Yeah. So I just, to bring it back to why we're doing these, which why I think she picked this to be

considered for the Hall of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. is that I think this is the first time that she kind of played with satire and played with, like, this also maybe was like her very first pop hit. And so I think that goes along with like Love Story being her first like country hit and then this being her first pop hit. But I think it's kind of deftly handled the way that she deals with like the satirizing of her own life. So I don't know. I think that's a. You know, I will say that there have been others that we have covered so far that we're,

poetically more interesting. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But I like the way this one puts together a lot of different aspects, including the fact that it's a pop hit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just like totally different than like how you're going to write like, you know, Peter or So Long London or something, you know. Right. Yeah. Okay. Then that is all. Yes. Yes. Okay.

So come back next week and we will kind of round out this discussion and then we'll move on to something else. but make sure you're following everywhere and subscribed on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can find us on Instagram and TikTok so you can stay up to date at Swiftie and ScholarPod.

You can now find Uncle Jerry on Instagram at your Uncle Jerry, Dr. Uncle Jerry, and you can find me on Instagram at Angela Wyatt McDow. All right. Thank you. Bye.