It’s safe to say we weren’t “…Ready For It?” Boom Boom Boom – Pow! Taylor Swift and The Starlights (fan-given name to her backup singers – Melanie Nyema, Kamilah Marshall, Eliotte Nicole and Clare Turton Derrico) took the stage at SNL to give two amazing performances of two songs off Swift’s new album Reputation. First up was “…Ready For It?” where they busted out amazing vocals and sultry dance moves.
You can watch the full performance below!
Swift also gave an acoustic performance of “Call It What You Want” where she picks up the guitar. She is accompanied by Agency (band) members) Paul Sidoti on Guitar and Mike Meadows on Cello. It’s so wonderful to see the gang together again! It’s getting us very excited for the Reputation Tour which will be announced closer to Swift’s 28th birthday! We can’t wait to find out when we can see all this live ourselves!!!!
WATCH TAYLOR SWIFT PERFORM “CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT” ACOUSTIC
Even the super great media outlets don’t understand the depth that is Taylor Swift on their own. Most superfans (despite what they would be willing to admit) don’t either. The truth is, someone sees something and helps people connect the dots. Someone else shares something different and even more is connected. It’s not a competition about who can be the best, or understand the most, but coming together collectively and allowing everyone to understand the meaning, should be a goal.
There is so much in Swift’s videos that will probably go unnoticed by everyone, that is how in-depth she is. We all need each other and instead of tearing people down, or trying to be competitive, it’s best to just be honest.
Look, as a big Taylor Swift fan, we all know the media gets information from her fans by following them on social media. The bad theories the media comes up with on their own, or they get it from people tweeting about Swift, who aren’t actually fans of her.
The “…Ready For It” Music Video does not attack the media, so let’s all cool our jets, and look at the imagery and metaphors we’ve been able to piece together. When the song came out, I wrote a piece about the lyrics and Swift herself even liked it on Tumblr! It was pretty cool and if you didn’t see it, check it out below and then let’s discuss the video!
The video is pretty amazing and I saw one piece on the internet that was attacking the video for not being more about her amazing relationship with her boyfriend, and instead attacking the media. Well, the video is all about her amazing boyfriend and living carefree, and that my friends is why instead of judging something at surface level, you look below the surface to see what is really going on.
There are so many hints about her amazing angel of a boyfriend, Joe Alwyn as she is walking down the hallway filled with cyborgs (which could represent the media). Just run with me on this idea for a second. Ok, so let’s say the hooded version of Taylor is the version that people perceive her to be (the ones who don’t really know her and yes who the media helps to create with their angry think pieces of how they think her life should be lived).
So here she is walking down this creepy hallway with spiders coming down and everything, but along the walls, covered in graffiti are words. Some in English and others in Chinese. Here’s what the Chinese symbols reveal:
Fame, Eddie (Possibly Ed Sheeran maybe a nickname for Joe), Saint Joseph (Joseph Kahn – Director), Taylor, Forever, love, The Year of the Snake, Future (possibly like the Rapper, or maybe just whatever the future holds and hoping it’s a lasting one with Joe) and Reputation.
There has been a rumored collaboration on the album, but since I have zero percent confirmation on that, we won’t weigh into it that much. But an Ed Sheeran/Future collab could be amazing.
Here’s what’s written in English:
All eyes on us, UR Gourgous, This is enough, I love you in secret, 13. They’re burning all the witches. There are also 89 + 91, written which most likely represents Taylor and Joe’s birth years. 13, of course, is her favorite/lucky number. I love you in secret, could take us to the song Gorgeous where she hated Joe so much because she couldn’t have him and wanting him, which follows along with UR Gourgous. All eyes on us is relevant because the media always is! This is enough is Taylor finally standing up and just showing that she’s not going to let others control her life. She is going to live and be happy no matter what. (More on “They’re burning all the witches” later).
Taylor isn’t trying to attack the media and she is not playing a victim. She is simply standing up for who she is as a person and not allowing the media to dictate her narrative. Standing up for yourself, being brave, is not attacking.
Apart from what the video physically says, let’s get into the metaphors and what they could mean. Since I don’t know the true back story of the song or the concept of the video, all I can offer is some personal insight.
So we first see this hooded version of Taylor who seems pretty bad ass, walking past all these cyborgs and everything with no cares. That can be interpreted a lot of different ways. It could be the version of her that people have seemed to create, and that this version of her has become hardened to the media and what others say about her. This version of her turns out to be a robot so it could be just this role she was playing. This person she thought she needed to be. That she wasn’t able to really be herself because of the backlash. She has to present herself in a certain way, dress a certain way, talk a certain way, not do certain things so she wouldn’t get an even worse reputation. But this version of her was wearing a hood because it’s not her true self.
Her true self was contained, vulnerable and see through. She got knocked down a few times by the other version of her, telling her she wasn’t ready to truly be free. But the real her had to get stronger, she built up her own protection and rose up to fight back.
She became her own savior showing up on a white freaking horse. She had to fight back against this bad reputation she had gotten and destroy it, completely erasing that narrative and now she is working her way back up to tell her story and be her true self.
She discovers the wonders of the world for the first time as she discovers what it’s like to live more carefree, not be trapped behind everyone’s ideas about her and just live.
But the version of her that’s been out living in front of everyone wants to know, if she’s ready for it. She knocks her down and then her true self has to fight back and prove she is in fact, ready for it. Ready to start living.
Once she breaks free, she is able to start climbing her way back to freedom. Where the other version of her stands atop a staircase that says “They’re Burning All the Witches.” Taylor is one of the kindest, most genuine and purest of hearts. When you asked someone why they don’t like her, they can’t really give you a good reason. Mostly, because there isn’t one. Yet still, she has been attacked over the course of her career no matter what she does (in secret even) to give back, help more, be generous. She gets crucified for headlines, everything is twisted and taken out of context. There’s no rhyme or reason for it and there doesn’t have to be any sort of real proof to destroy a person. There is no justice system and for many witches in the earlier centuries, it was enough to just be believed to be a witch to be burned at the stake.
Women don’t have a voice and ones who do get silenced and destroyed. I’ve never seen a true story about Taylor that has proven her to be a horrible person or someone who deserves any kind of bad treatment shown to her. Miscommunication happens, but ask yourself, what has she ever done, to make her hated?
Does the amount of people she has dated affect your love life? Has she personally hurt you? Why is she attacked for relationships not working out and why are the males who have dated so many or had one-time hookups not put on display? Why are women so easy to get attacked, yet men glorified for looking so good with their shirt off? Taylor wears a nude colored body suit and the whole world loses their mind.
But she is free now, she doesn’t care what anyone else says and instead of doing interviews to promote her new album, she’s out there inviting fans who have never had the chance to meet her before, to her house. So far, there’s been at least 500 of them in the last couple of weeks. This woman is human, she’s a person. Think about that the next time you go to write an article about how you think she should be.
Swifties are such an incredible fanbase to make music videos for! Taken straight out of Joseph Kahn‘s (The Director of the “…Ready For It?” Music Video) mouth!
Taylor Swift‘s 2nd single off her much-anticipated 6th studio album Reputation will in fact be, “…Ready For It?” The song was originally released as a promo single but will serve as the second official single. Although it is rare to get an official second single before an official album drop, since “Look What You Made Me Do” already reached #1, she might as well go for that next one!
Swift just posted a trailer for her second music video off the album, and it’s straight out of The Fifth Element or something! Some crazy Sci-Fi effects happening! Just when you thought nothing could beat the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, which by the way shattered every record possible, Swift comes up with a light up nude looking body suit which could quite possibly resemble how naked and bare she feels having her private life on display all of the time.
This video has such strong parallels to previous work! Take a look at the trailer and be prepared to be blown away! We’ll get into all the details once the full video is released!!
Taylor Alison Swift just dropped a new song off her album Reputation and it’s safe to say we weren’t “…Ready For It?” Swift first posted a hint about the song, (that no one realized was a hint at the time) when she posted about “Look What You Made Me Do” being out! I MEAN IT WAS JUST SITTING RIGHT THERE, AS PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON MY FACE!
She captioned it “…ready for it?” New single #LookWhatYouMadeMeDo out now.”
LISTEN TO “…READY FOR IT?” NOW AND CHECK OUT THE LYRICS/ANALYSIS
“…Ready For It?” starts off with a loud booming bass sound…. you know that sound, when you’re standing front row at a concert and you can’t even really hear what the artist is singing because you just get the bass in your ears and then you can’t hear anything once the concert is over? Yeah, that sound!
After Swift clears her throat, she prepares for her Pop/Rap song. Let’s get into the lyrics, a song we believe to be about her relationship with actor Joe Alwyn, whom she has been dating for over 10 months. <3
To watch this article in video format see video here:
Lyrics for “…Ready For It?” *Parts in bold are explanations*
[Verse 1]
Knew he was a killer
First time that I saw him
*Swift first saw Alwyn in 2016. The pair had at least previously met in October during a private concert for Kings of Leon. Alwyn was seen entering the same after party behind model Martha Hunt, BFF of Taylor Swift. Killer here could also just mean good looking. 🙂
Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted
But if he’s a ghost then I can be a phantom
Holdin’ him for ransom
*This line seems to be thoughts Swift had when she first saw him, as continuing on from her opening lines. She probably knew very little about him, so it’s natural to wonder if he is single, or taken, what his love history has been like. He is an actor after all, but Swift has also had her fair share of heart break and knows what the pain of that is like. Sometimes, when you go through really bad breakups, they take parts of you away. People can be left emotionless and it takes a very long time to break through that wall. So if he isn’t capable of much love at the moment, she would totally understand because she has also been through the ringer. (I can be a phantom). But she won’t let that get in the way, she’s going to be there no matter how long it takes to break through that wall he may have up (holdin’ him for ransom).
Some, some boys are tryin’ too hard
He don’t try at all though
Younger than my exes but he act like such a man, so
*These lines are everything. People may try to impress her, whether it be lavish gifts, jet-setting around the world, private planes. Alwyn is just himself, a boy standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him. <3 (Ok, we added that last part in). Although Alwyn isn’t the youngest ex (Conor Kennedy, Harry Styles and Taylor Lautner have him beat), he’s still younger than her past two, Calvin Harris and Tom Hiddleston. Even though he is younger than them, he acts like how a man should act. Not like a boy, not childish (cough Harris). Sometimes it takes men longer than women to grow up. A lot of times females can be ready for a committed relationship at a younger age, but it takes some males longer to get there. They need more time to mature.
I see nothing better, I keep him forever
Like a vendetta-ta
*Here, the meaning would appear to be that he is really the best man to have come along. Like when you think you’ve truly known what love is, when you’re in high school and you tell your parents you’re in love, but they really know better. During that time though, that’s all the love you’ve known, there isn’t much to compare it to, but as you age and you realize what’s important and how hard relationships can be when you don’t get to see the person every day out of convenience (like going to the same school) and how jobs and life just get in the way. Anyway, tangent over. She’s keeping him like a vendetta (which pretty much never ends since feuds/revenge will always continue).
[Pre-Chorus]
I-I-I see how this is gonna go
Touch me, and you’ll never be alone
*This line is particularly sad and disguised to the average person who doesn’t understand what is being said here. Swift knows all too well about the media attraction her dating life gets. In fact, after Harry Styles, she didn’t date anyone for two years. It’s hard to date her, it’s probably why most of her relationships have failed. So here, she is saying that as soon as they get together (touch me), he’ll never be left alone. There will be paparazzi following him, taking his pictures, interviewers asking about their relationship. He will be thrust into the limelight.
I-Island breeze and lights down low
No one has to know
*Islands are symbolic of a place that is generally more secluded and harder to get to. So here, although she could mean that they have been on vacations together, I think the more symbolic meaning is that they are going to be keeping their relationship on the down low. A little more secluded and out of the limelight (lights down low). In fact, the media didn’t know about their relationship for at least 6 months, and to this date they still don’t have any actual pictures of them together (minus one very grainy picture/or them hiding behind umbrellas).
[Chorus]
In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby
In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I’m gonna be with you
So I take my time
*A lot of people think these lines are about sex, and although they can be, it could also just be about the way she is dreaming about their life together. The future, maybe a wedding, children, a life away from the media. She seems to be saying that she knows they are going to be together (I know I’m gonna be with you), so there is no need to rush the relationship (So I take my time).
(Are you ready for it?)
Then she asks the infamous question, “Are you ready for it?” Meaning, all the attention and new fame that comes with dating her. She goes on to explain in the next verse.
[Verse 2]
Me, I was a robber
First time that he saw me
Stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry
*Here Swift switches gears and talks about how Alwyn must have perceived her the first time he saw her. Saying she was a robber is referring to hearts and past relationships. Basically, he only knew the media version of her, not the real version. In the media version of her, she just dates guys for a few months and then breaks up with them, after getting material for new music. That she doesn’t really care about these men (never saying sorry).
But if I’m a thief then
He can join the heist
*So here Swift is saying that if all the things the media says about her are true, and she’s just a robber of hearts (a thief) he can join in on it because the reward is their love.
And we’ll move to an island-and
He can be my jailer
*They are going to keep their relationship private (not actually move to an island, but who knows that could happen someday) and he’ll be the one to keep her (jailer) out of the limelight. She doesn’t care because she believes in their relationship.
Burton to this Taylor
*Richard Burton was married to Elizabeth Taylor so Alwyn can be the Burton to this Taylor (Swift). Elizabeth Taylor was married 8 times and Swift has 8 exes! But despite that, their love spans across a decade. Elizabeth had lost her youth in early fame (much like Swift) and when she got together with Burton, he also took off. He was talented and a success, but was taken to the next level of fame due to their union (It’s no doubt Alwyn is talented and successful on his own, but like Swift said earlier, now he’ll never be alone). Together they made it big and always loved each other.
Every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure
I forget their names now
*Can we take a moment to laugh at how great this line is?! Her past relationships, as great as they may seem don’t add up to what she has now. SO MUCH, THAT SHE DOESN’T EVEN GIVE THEM A SECOND THOUGHT, SHE HAS FORGOTTEN THEIR NAMES! lol
I’m so very tame now
Never be the same now, now
*Swift is not the boy crazy, dating machine the media makes her out to be. She’s ready to really give love a chance, to keep her private life private. She’s not the same person she was before him, and now that she has seen so much that has failed, she’s going to protect what she has. There’s no need for show boating, lavish expenses or anything even close. Like she said earlier, he doesn’t even have to try (to impress her).
[Pre-Chorus]
I-I-I see how this is gonna go
Touch me and you’ll never be alone
I-Island breeze and lights down low
No one has to know
(No one has to know)
[Chorus]
In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby
In the middle of the night in my dreams
I know I’m gonna be with you
So I take my time
(Are you ready for it?)
(Ooh, are you ready for it?)
Post-Chorus]
Baby, let the games begin
Let the games begin
Let the games begin
Baby, let the games begin
Let the games begin
Let the games begin
*This is the only other lines that are new for the rest of the song. Let the games begin, let everything that comes with dating her come their way. Again, she is asking are you ready for it? We think he is. 🙂
[Bridge]
I-I-I see how this is gonna go
Touch me and you’ll never be alone
I-Island breeze and lights down low
No one has to know
[Chorus]
In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby
In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I’m gonna be with you
So I take my time
In the middle of the night
[Post-Chorus]
Baby, let the games begin
Let the games begin
Let the games begin
(Are you ready for it?)
Baby, let the games begin
Let the games begin
Let the games begin
(Are you ready for it?)
This is only the second song off Reputation and we can’t wait for the rest!!
Fans are wondering if the next song will be called “A Second Glance” or now that we’ve caught on to Swift’s trickery is she trying to out play us?
