There is always one celebrity that everyone (even if they do not care about celebrities) can relate to. In a weird way, I always felt that Taylor Swift and I are the same person. Never mind the fact that she is about eleven years older than me and has a true musical gift that I could never dream of possessing, I always felt connected to her in a way that I have never connected to another person. I have been an avid Taylor Swift fan for over ten years now, and both Folklore and Evermore have truly been some of her best displays of lyricism and emotion. She somehow always finds a way to deliver the exact album that I need to get through whatever I am dealing with at the moment. Reputation came at a time when I was dealing with negative outside opinions of myself and needed a confidence boost to remember that I am not someone else’s opinion of me. Lover came when I was starting college and my life was happier than it was when I was in high school, and Folklore and Evermore came out when I was going through the melancholy emotions that come with quarantine and a few failed situationships. Below are my top eight favorite songs from Evermore and some of my thoughts and feelings about them that absolutely no one asked for but I will deliver nevertheless.
“Tolerate It”:
“Tolerate It” is, in my opinion, the saddest song on Evermore. It is about the struggle of being in a relationship where one party is devoted and loyal to the other, but the other shows no appreciation for them. I think all of us at one point or another have felt the pain of knowing that we are giving more in a relationship than we are receiving and that if we pulled away from the relationship, it would fizzle out and the other person would not miss us at all. “Tolerate It” allows everyone to relate to its story because of how open the interpretation can be. It is not necessarily about a romantic relationship, although it most certainly could be.
“Happiness”:
“Happiness” is one of the multiple songs on Evermore that discusses the difficult feelings after a breakup in an extremely healthy way, and in my opinion, is the way we should think about failed relationships. It addresses the importance of moving on and accepting the fact that there will be others in the future and that this one relationship is not going to determine your happiness forever. Another aspect is that it reminds listeners to take the positives from their past relationships and acknowledge that there were good times along with bad ones since the tendency after relationships end is to try to forget the entire thing ever happened. It also addresses the urge to hate your ex’s next partner simply because they came after you, and in a way, it feels like they are replacing you. “Happiness” deals with all of the normal emotions that come with a breakup and teaches listeners how to deal with them in a healthier way.
“Willow”:
“Willow” was the perfect way to start off the album. To me, the song sounds so happy and joyful and captures the spirit of how people find their perfect partners despite the challenges and curveballs life brings them. I also loved the video that Taylor Swift came out with for this song because everything about it is so beautiful and happy. While the rest of Evermore is not this happy, it was a nice intro and a universally-liked song that even people who are not hardcore Swifties like. I will definitely be playing this song at my wedding, and do not be surprised if this is literally the song I walk down the aisle to.
“No Body No Crime” is one of the most interesting songs on Evermore because it is a double murder mystery as well as a tale of female empowerment. It was also a collab with Taylor Swift’s friends from the band, HAIM. When I first heard this song for the first time, I thought it sounded so powerful and I was immediately obsessed! It was really cool that she used a real-life story for inspiration and made such an incredible song about it. My recommendation is that you do not listen to it in the car because the beginning starts off with sirens.
“Long Story Short”:
In my opinion, “Long Story Short” is one of the most important songs on this album because it indirectly addresses multiple publicity scandals Taylor Swift has had in past years and contains important messages about how to deal with negative rumors and opinions of you. Fans can be fairly certain that she is alluding to her longstanding feud with Kanye West where she wishes she could advise her younger self to not worry about her nemesis because “they will defeat themselves,” which is essentially what happened in the aftermath of the phone call drama between the two. This song shows her teaching her fans to always take the high road because the truth will surface eventually.
“Ivy”:
“Ivy” is my third favorite song on Evermore because of its somewhat contradicting qualities. It sounds uplifting and happy, and almost like a fairytale when it references curses and spirits, but in actuality, it is describing an affair between a married woman and her lover. She talks about her lover as being an ivy branch that is covering her entire house, symbolizing that her lover has completely infiltrated her marriage and she will never desire her husband the way that she desires her new lover. Many of Taylor Swift’s songs have an almost magical quality to them as if they take place in a fantasy world, and “Ivy” is a perfect example of one of these songs.
“Champagne Problems”:
“Champagne Problems” has one of my favorite choruses on this album, and I love the story-telling aspect of this song. In a way, it reminds me of “The Last Great American Dynasty” off of her Folklore album because there is a storyline – and because they both start off with a character on a train. It is about a woman who rejects a proposal and knows that the other person will go on to find another girl who is a better match and will forget all about her. As much as the subject matter is rather depressing, the song still manages to sound somewhat uplifting and I love how well the sound of the piano in the background goes with it.
“Gold Rush”:
“Gold Rush” is my favorite song off of Evermore and has been since I started listening to the album about a month ago. To me, it just sounds so angelic and ethereal from the moment the instrumental music begins until it closes out at the very end. In other Evermore rankings I have seen, “Gold Rush” did not get the hype that I feel it deserves and the overall theme of the song seems to have been misinterpreted by some. It is not about Taylor Swift being jealous of someone else’s beauty, she is expressing awe at their beauty while struggling with the fact that they are an object of desire for the rest of the world and she can’t have them to herself. Regardless of who she initially wrote this song about, I can imagine that this would be a common experience for people dating high-profile celebrities. This is why I think “Gold Rush” could potentially be about Harry Styles since he is adored by millions of fans.
If you see me using exclusively Evermore-themed captions on all my Instagram posts for the next year, mind your own business.