\n\n\n\nFor real though, it wouldn\u2019t come to that. Like, okay she might be a master manipulator supervillain who\u2019s trying to dominate all of humanity and subjugate it to her ego, and she might pretty openly be a black widow who only takes mates for the purpose of draining their life energy, and honestly when she\u2019s not being styled by the best artists in the world she\u2019s a pretty unremarkable not-fat 29 year old white girl, but Taylor Swift could absolutely get it.
\u2026which seems like another layer of the work she\u2019s running, too, that it doesn\u2019t matter whether you see what\u2019s happening.
\nLike, obviously the baseline pitch for going into a doomed relationship is\u00a0\u201ca fling with me is better than a healthy relationship with somebody else\u201d. Hence relationship sabotage as a thing to brag about, hence songs about being the ex who tarnishes all your future relationships. But that\u2019s nothing new or Swift-exclusive. Break Up With Your Girlfriend is an overt, chart-topping expression of the same idea, but we\u2019re not talking about Empress Ariana here. Why? Well, Ariana\u2019s pitch is essentially \u201cI\u2019m hot and you should take whatever I offer\u201d. Put it next to\u00a0\u2018thank u next\u2019 with all her famous exes, and it\u2019s pretty clear that things won\u2019t last, and it\u2019s because she doesn\u2019t think you\u2019re good enough.
\nTaylor Swift, though\u2026 Like you said, what\u2019s striking is that the thing portrayed in her music isn\u2019t\u00a0\u201cbeing with Taylor Swift\u201d but \u201cbeing with a character played by Taylor Swift\u201d. The changeable identity is part of the package, the fantasy is quite explicitly to have one of the world\u2019s most talented actresses play your personal dream girl for a while. Which is obviously a popular song topic in its own right, but it also helps sell the rest of the story. The relationship won\u2019t last, but that\u2019s not a measure of you, that\u2019s just how Taylor Swift\u2019s relationships always go. In fact, it\u2019s how they inevitably have to go, because your dream girl\u2019s identity probably isn\u2019t even coherent, much less sustainable.
\nEven the black widow thing becomes a selling point. Seeking out someone so desperate for validation that she\u2019ll mold herself into your fantasy would be fucked up, but this doesn\u2019t count because she\u2019s\u00a0using you! Sure, she\u2019s going to trash you on her next album, but that\u2019s just going to get you sympathy. I\u2019ve heard plenty of people talk about the\u00a0\u201cpoor guys\u201d she dated, but they\u2019re talking about Calvin Harris, John Mayer, and a Kennedy. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you smarten up and realize you\u2019re being used, because you\u2019re going to come out ahead anyway.\u00a0
\nPeople say the best magicians can make a trick look real even after they explain how it\u2019s done. Well, Taylor Swift wrote Blank Space, then kept up the persona even with an analysis of it sitting at the top of the charts. And of course, there\u2019s no bottom to the metatextual stuff, it just oscillates between sincere and ironic, the same way Blank Space knocked down Shake It Off. Here she is talking about the song:
\n\n\n\n\nIs that you, Ozy? That\u2019s Empress Taylor Swift. Enjoy!
\n\nThat is not my approach to relationships. But is it cool to write the narrative of a girl who\u2019s crazy but seductive but glamorous but nuts but manipulative? That was the character I felt the media had written for me, and for a long time I felt hurt by it. I took it personally. But as time went by, I realized it was kind of hilarious\u2026
\n\n\nSo I created this whole character and I had fun doing it. Half the people got the joke, half the people thought I was really owning the fact that I\u2019m a psychopath. Either one\u2019s fine. It was #1 for eight or nine weeks, so I have no complaints.
\nIt\u2019s all a bit, she\u2019s not really like that. Except she really will dump you, then write a #1 song about it. But that\u2019ll be a bit too, even while she really does it, because you knew it was coming. And she\u2019ll write a #1 song about that too.
\n
So it\u2019s gonna be forever
Or it\u2019s gonna go down in flames
You can tell me when it\u2019s over
If the high was worth the pain
Got a long list of ex-lovers
They\u2019ll tell you I\u2019m insane
\u2018Cause you know I love the players
And you love the game
Maybe that\u2019s the missing Fdom dynamic that balances the world.
Though from experience, no, the fantasy, when you\u2019re engaging at that level, is that you could be the one that breaks through and is able to hold your own with her. It could be the \u201cforever\u201d option.
This is, remember, how Nick finally \u201cwins\u201d over Amy in Gone Girl
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