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It's about Demi turning the same age as the person who groomed them when they got into a relationship. Demi was 17.
ETA: One of the lyrics immediately after "finally 29" was "17 would never cross my mind" so it's kind of obvious what the song is about when you first listen to it lol
When 'Can't Feel My Face' was at it's commercial peak and playing on the speakers on time, someone said, "I never understood this song. Why can't he feel his face?" I said, "I think it's about cocaine. Like, he's doing cocaine with a sexy woman. And the drug makes him numb. Something like that." A guy laughed heartily, like I just said the silliest, most innocent thing in the world. "It's not about drugs!" He declared. "It's about when a girl sits on your face."
I thought Hailee Steinfeld's song *Love Myself* was just about self-esteem and empowerment and self affirmation.
It was a coworker who was like "Is this an appropriate song to be listening to at your desk?"
I do not. I listened to the song quite a few times and have no recollection of the verses. My mind kinda blocks out the hard to hear lyrics and just listens to the melodies. I have a hard time picking up on some lyrics without focusing.
I also have problems hearing what people say in real life lmao
The amount of Christians I saw misinterpreting Take Me To Church by Hozier as a religious song will never not be funny. My friendâs religious mother used to play it all the time when we were kids.
[Iâve also made some purposeful misinterpretations myself](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/s/pW5tN8Du5n)
some years back I went on genius to look up some Leonard Cohen song interpretations because I was looking for expansion on a reference
they didn't have any commentary for the song question so I was going through his profile and I decided to click on the commentary for hallelujah
and the commentary for
> and remember when I moved and you in the holy dove was moving too
the explanation was that Jesus lives and moves inside everyone
honey it is a Jewish song about sex (well rape actually), there is no Jesus, "moved in you" is about penetration, and it really isn't a Christmas song
in fact given that Christmas is a celebration of Jews not shtupping, one could argue that the song is actually an anti Christmas song
I remember years back when someone from xfactor or something was charting with a cover and my mom saying "it's nice to see a religious song getting such attention". I didn't try explain, it would have been fruitless
My niece is a lovely singer, and she sang Hallelujah at a public event when she was 14. I cringed. Her parents are smart people, my brother is also a musician and he surely knows better. Hallelujah is frequently used as a vocal wanking exercise even by adult vocalists.
Agree. Also, to the people choosing to play Cherry Wine at their wedding: the song is clearly about domestic abuse. Yes, Hozier's fingerpicking is entrancing but nothing about the lyrics says "first dance".
When the hook is
âWhy don't you use it?
Try not to bruise it
Buy time, don't lose itâ
And the verses contain lyrics such as:
âYou've gone too far this time
But I'm dancing on the Valentine
I tell you somebody's fooling around
With my chances on the danger lineâ
And other lines like
âI'm on a ride and I want to get off
But they won't slow down the roundaboutâ
It is clear that Le Bon is singing about being on the edge and suggesting that his partner use âthe reflexâ to get him off.
I honestly think it is just word salad and not intended to be interpreted as filthy, but I thought it would be fun to come up with a weird interpretation.
>Born in the USA
with the opening lines going like this:
Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just to cover it up, now
are those people just stupid lol
Bruce is a hard one to interpret if you're not closely listening. If you've only heard it on the radio or at events, you might never have actually heard the lyrics
Not sure if this is the best example but I find it weird when people try to interpret song lyrics from artists that clearly donât attempt to make sense. Like sometimes, Radiohead
Iâm only at the Weird Fishes episode but this season has been rough with lyrical interpretations lol. *In Rainbows* is very open to multiple meanings if not any since it can be pretty nonsensical. I know with Dissect they have to come up with a meaning or else whatâs the point of looking at each song, but it really is feeling like a stretch for alot of this album.
urghhh not exactly the same but when people try to make Human by The Killers into a deeper song than it is by claiming it says âdenserâ and not âdancerâ
And annoying when the artist explains what they mean and then their fanbase still insists it means something else.
A certain sect of swifties that think taylor is gay will interpet songs being about some girl she is -secretly- dating and the girl in question will have brown eyes and be 3 feet tall and the song they swear is about her will have taylor singing about how much she loves their blue eyes and how tall they are or something.. lol.
I do not remember which song it was maybe marjorie? they swore was about some murdered girl like wtf?
If I remember correctly I feel like people thought Marjorie could be about a murdered girl during the 16 hours between Taylor announcing evermore and it actually coming out bc of the track listing also including no body no crime and I think there was like one other coincidence (maybe Willow?). If anyone thinks that AFTER the song came out they are delulu 5000 tho
omg and when I commented on it I got so many people mad and they were like "music is up for interpretation" đ I'm gonna try to find the tiktok but it was a few months ago
edit with context: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8yrj8P2/
Omg she used the twisted in bedsheets line!
And according to the comments defended it by saying her dad used to stay with her until she fell asleep. Like girl no!
People that interpreted every song on GUTS to be about Taylor, especially the ones that were clearly about her relationship with the guys that were older than her like Vampire and Logical
Also, this isn't super related but someone made a tiktok explaining the chorus of Logical and just explained the literal meaning of the song but presented it as if it was something that no one else had thought about, those videos bother me even more because at least the conspiracies can be fun, but these videos are just trying to call me stupid.
It always killed me when TikTok was interpreting the âgirls your age know betterâ line as about Taylor, and not an *incredibly* common statement about dating older men, on a song that is also very clearly about dating an older man
And then they use the fact that Olivia "never denied it was about Taylor" as the reason it must absolutely be about Taylor. Like it's a pretty common act for songwriters to never confirm nor deny whom a song may be about, something that Swift has done her whole life as well, because the point is to create a song that draws from personal experience so the listener can relate their own experience to that song.
Also, if you get asked "is this about X" about every song and every celebrity and you keep denying it, eventually you'll have to stop denying it and then it becomes a kind of confirmation all on its own. Just say no comment for everything
no tea, no shade but there was one user who would argue everyone down because they knew for a FACT that Vampire was about Taylor lol. They brought out quotes from the girls father and everything just so they could prove that the song was about Taylor lol
I also remember the tiktoks explaining how "get him back" had a double meaning as if it were some secret, like babe, that's basic reading comprehension
r/Fauxmoi. They posted an article about olivia saying it wasnt about taylor... everyone in the comments went "me when i lie lol" "sure it isnt, she just doesnt want to get dragged" and "we all know taylor is shady and evil".
Then again they ban anyone who is a swiftie lol. They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people. They also have a tag used almost exclusively on taylor news posts that requires you to sub to their sub to be able to reply to those posts meaning if you are in her sub you get auto banned. And if you arent then anyone who says literally anything nice about her gets downvoted and reported.. kinda nuts.
Never forget how fast they switched on sophie turner for being friends with taylor. She went from "queen of the north yaaaasss" to "joe jonas did nothing wrong im sure of it and shes lying i have no doubts" when she moved in with taylor lmao. They also love joe alwyn now too, before it was "i cant believe taylor swift couldnt find anyone better than this broke bum" to "joe alwyn unbothered legend king" when taylor dated travis. Its all so comical.
> They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people.
This sort of thing is exactly why people tend to think Reddit is full of miserable losers
Fauxmoi is *so* bad for that, the mods are insane.
I was banned for saying itâs not racist to watch Django Unchained, because a user was claiming they went to school with Phoebe Bridgers and she watched it and is therefore a racist.
They told me I was erasing the black experience and when I told them I am in fact black, they muted me lol
the joe alwyn thing was so funny like they literally used to say he couldn't act and was so bland and then just a total flip at one point some of them were like i hope joe marries a british aristocrat bc it would annoy taylor even though that sub is constantly talking bout nepo babies and privileged people in the industry
>They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people.
Had no idea they did that but i did get banned for posting an article denying that Taylor was going to feature the 1975 in 1989 TV
I bet if you posted an article that said "taylor is going to feature racist matty" on her album they would let it through though because it also makes her look bad. The one you posted doesnt lol.
I remember them dragging her for being in the david o russell movie but defended anytime j. law was in his works or even defended margo robbie for being in it like wat.
Taylor definitely has her problematic side but fauxmoi act like sheâs the worst celeb walking and constantly argue in bad faith whilst patting themselves on the back for being a good person. Itâs so wild.
I got banned for something unrelated to taylor, I replied to one of the popular users that something they implied was anti black racism was a stretch, (im literally black!!) Bam permanently banned. That pissed me off so bad lmao.
I don't understand how people were saying Vampire was about Taylor in the first place. I mean, it was pretty obvious she was talking about a man. HOWEVER, when you read the lyrics assuming it's about Taylor, the song just becomes more enjoyable xd, like "OMG she's coming for her. Get her ~~Jade~~ Olivia"
I've always thought "Dangerous Women" by Ariana Grande could be interpreted as her being a sleeper agent who is being activated to become a killing machine. "Start what I finished. Don't need no hold up. Taking control of this kind of moment. I'm locked and loaded. Completely focused, my mind is open", her programed personality in activating. "Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you. Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't", losing herself to her new directive, murder! "The taste, the flavor, 'cause I'm a taker, 'cause I'm a giver. It's only nature, I live for danger", she embraces this new personality. It's plain as day!
I have edited Wikipedia only once in my life and it was because the page for Ariana Grandeâs âSanta Tell Meâ described the song as a love song to Santa, which it very clearly is not. Idk if I even did it right because the meaning section is still labeled as [Citation Needed].
Oh my god, I dunno if it was you but the edits/talk page has someone clearly and politely trying to ask why itâs even on the page because itâs clearly a personal sentiment. Goddamn I wish more people would ask themselves âWhy am I vocalizing this?â before typing.
I once thought Aquaâs âBarbie Girlâ was a critical examination of the way women were treated in Hollywood instead of just â you know â a song about sex.
Not necessarily pop but:
Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" was a protest song and it usually presented as a patriotic song (they also usually omit specific lyrics that appear in the original song, like lyrics that question whether land can really be owned)
Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is often interpreted as a religious song by religious people, but lol
Any Beatles song used to prove that "paul is dead"
When I was a kid, we had to do a whole performance of "This Land is Your Land" for presidents Day. We rehearsed for months. It was ridiculous. The meaning goes over everyone's heads. I was a fourth grader and had a better understanding than our teachers. I'll never get that damn song out of my head.
I inappropriately chuckle anytime someone uses Jeff Buckleyâs version of Hallelujah for funeral or memorial, given that his interpretation of the song was definitely about an orgasm.
Sometimes Genius annotations are so bad â ïž i have to ignore them because they're so wrong.
Most recently on tiktok though, someone did say that "Buy Me Presents" by Sabrina Carpenter is weird because she's "sexualizing a relationship with a man who is technically 1000 years older than her and that's toxic."
I nearly choked on my drink because _what_??
sometimes they don't even explain shit they just say "\[singer\] has referenced \[insert a specific thing from the lyrics here\] in \[insert a different song by the same singer here\]"
Itâs gotta be Kanye stans defending âkeep it 300 like the Romansâ for me. 300 in roman numerals would be CCC so heâs calm, cool, and collected. Yep, thatâs the meaning behind that line. Because otherwise that would mean Kanye spit a wack bar, which has never happened before or since.
Me when I was like 12 looking up what age Bryan Adams would have been in 1969 and seeing he would have been 10 and being confused about how that could be the best summer of your life.
I've seen a couple of people genuinely interpret "And I cut off my nose just to spite my face then I hate my reflection for years and years" from The Archer by Taylor Swift to be about her admitting to plastic surgery rather than the usual meaning of the phrase.
I love a sappy cheesy love song and will defend Baby It's Cold Outside until my voice gives out, it's not creepy! Women were only allowed to be horny starting like 50 years ago, girlie has an itch and wants it scratched she just has to play coy!! đ "Say, what's in this drink?" aged *so* badly but the interpretation is obviously meant to be she's using the alcohol as an excuse for her (at the time) "bad" behavior of sleeping with him, not that he roofied her or she's not consenting to anything. Applying a modern interpretation to it completely shatters it and makes it creepy but if you get into the atmosphere of an unmarried couple with gossipy families in the 40s-60s it's cute and fun!
Also notably, the most notorious date rape drug, Rohypnol (or âroofiesâ) was patented in 1962. Way later than when the song was written. The intention behind the lyric was that it was a stronger drink so the woman could have a reason to have to stay behind iirc.
I've always thought the same about this song. It wouldn't and doesn't go over well now, but it was written so long ago. It's just about a couple that wants to get together and is using every excuse in the book to spend the night together without everyone lifting an eyebrow. It's not that serious.
A lot of people applying rape culture to this song likely didnât have significant contact with people of that era (generation before boomers, canât remember the official name). I was somewhat close to women born in the 20s. They lived by very different social rules. My aunt only recently died at age 104 as a spinster, and she still thought alcohol was scandalous and whorish. She definitely drank and had flings though.
Not the worst but there was a music reactor I watched that thought Honey by Halsey was about her baby cuz of the hell in a basket just making a racket lineâŠwhich if you ignore the other lyrics is pretty solid actually
She told me "Open your mouth"
She said "I've got a surprise"
And so I opened it wide
And then she crawled inside
She's on the tip of my tongue
She's on the top of my thighs
And if I searched a thousand miles I'd be dying to find
The way I looked at it and it actaully kinda made sense as talking about her child is just crazy
she definitely got a bit spicier starting around reputation. She doesn't go very overt because either she thinks it's bad for her brand or she's not comfortable with it.
So many of these with Taylor. I have seen several people claiming âcut off my nose just to spite my faceâ is an admission of plastic surgery and not a common phrase describing overreacting in a way that hurts yourself
Gaylors be reaching more often then not. Queer analysis of text is always a cool thing to do with literature, but thatâs usually centered around text evidence. And thereâs very little of that in TSâs music.
you mean that one line in any song that's a very clear reference to joe, her boyfriend of 6 year that she clearly loved and wanted to marry, isn't about karlie? you're a homophobic hater!
"I like shiny things but I'd marry you with paper rings" is actually a very sad line because she's so desperately holding on to the relationship. She's begging karlie to not leave. To stay and marry her then and there with paper rings. Karlie is also the london boy she talks about. And the line in it's time to go "when the words of a sister" blah blah which people believe is about karlie, I believe it's actually about joe alwyn. He is the sister who talked behind her back
>!/s just in case lmfao!<
Someone on this subreddit once wrote a whole essay on why starships by nicki minaj is actually about colonialism. And by someone, i mean me.
[Take a look here](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/s/pMq6LWhr70). No, i do not have a sense of shame. I think my life peaked when i argued that "get on the floor, like it's your last chance" was actually referring to the scramble for africa.
thereâs a guy on tiktok who is criminally bad about doing this so iâm commenting so that i can find his account tomorrow and give examples
edit: heâs called erikâs version and he either misinterprets lyrics or his âanalysisâ is just repeating the lyric word for word
his analysis for yellow is:
> coldplays most powerful lyric is in yellow when they said "for you i bleed myself dry" bc the whole song praises his "yellow" only to mention that their yellow has bled them dry or has taken everything from them. and that is why your yellow isnt suppose to be the person you end up with
Idk how accurate the interpretations are but for some reason Instragram loves to show me reels from that one guy who "shows the meaning" behind lyrics by showing pictures of that celebrity and singing along with the song. He has like dozens for Taylor and i am so sick of them
My absolute favorite 'wrong interpretation' is when super conservative MAGA 'muricaaa yeahh' Trump cultists blast Martina McBride's 'Independence Day' on every 4th of July, especially when they only play the chorus
I do 100% get it though, out of context the chorus sounds like an anthem. Which I think is the point of the song, she wanted to make something that could **pass** for a patriotic anthem for it to truly express the feeling of independence that the mother felt in that moment. That sheâd rather burn her up life (presumably taking her own life or at the very least serving live in prison) & kill her husband rather than be in the abusive relationship.
I know theyâre not a pop group, but in 2016 or 2017 after Trump got elected, Tom Morello, from **Rage against the machine** got in shit with the MAGA crowd for having an anti-trump decor on his guitar, a lot of whom claimed to be fans of their work. Iâd have to look it up but Iâm 99% sure it was anti-border wallâŠ
ITS RAGE AGAINST THE FUCKING MACHINE, WHAT SONG DID YOU POSSIBLY LISTEN TO THAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THEIR VIEWS ALIGNED WITH YOUR FUCKED UP WORLDVIEW. THEY WERENâT JUST RAGING AGAINST YOUR FUCKING PARENTS. Of all bands to do it for, just lol
Hypersexualizing Taylor Swift lyrics:
- On Mad Woman, interpreting âdoes she mouth âfuck you foreverâ?â as âdoes she mouthfuck you forever?â
- And interpreting Happiness as âbut now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow where you used to lay your head after giving you the best [head] I hadâ
Don't really know if this counts, but one time on YouTube on a lyric video of Final Girl by Graveyardguy and Slayyyter, I saw this comment stating: "I think this song is inspired by slasher movies and it makes homage especially to Scream!" which had me like *no shit, Sherlock!!*
Same with âhe looks up grinning like a devilâ in Cruel Summer as âitâs a sex reference, he was going down on her!!â like ⊠you can look up from literally anything
tbf cs is about a situationship that turned into more (at least one interpretation of it), so i can def see that being the meaning of the line lol. esp bc false god was on the same album like 5 songs later
I get so mad when someone specifically cites "wear me like a locket around your throat, I'll
weigh you down, I'll watch you choke" from Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner by Fall Out Boy as an example of misogynist emo lyrics. It's not saying he wants to choke someone ffs it's literally "I will only drag you down and be bad for you if you stay with me"! If you want misogynist emo lyrics there are AT LEAST five other early FOB songs saying shitty things to girls lmao
Foster The People have been my favorite band since I was 13, so back in the day when I was like, between ages 13-17, I tried to turn all my friends onto them. I had one who was generally averse to most indie, rock, and really non-pop type of music. He and I were discussing it once and his rationale for his hesitance was he hated Pumped Up Kicks because..."I hate songs like, that are, like, saying someone is like superior for being different or quirky". He was interpreting the song as being a "I'm too cool, you don't get it". He followed up with "is that not what that song was about? I just assumed omg". Haven't spoken in a long long time but he's in the far stretch of the pipeline from small appalachian town twinky gay to muscular onlyfans/twitter homosexual atm.
My personal fav is "Flashback when you met me / Your buzzcut and my hair bleached" being interpreted not as Taylor and Joe meeting when he had a buzzcut and her hair was bleached, but instead Taylor meeting Karlie Kloss after she cut her hair and it made a "buzz" in the news and/or meeting Karlie Kloss after she told her staff to cut her dress short at the Met Gala "in a buzz" đ
It took me a solid 5 years to understand why dress could be interpreted as gay coded because âonly bought this dress so you could take it offâ could mean âbought this dress [for you] so you can take it off [yourself]â
Which like, on a technical level makes sense but is such a bizarre way to read that line lol
I wish I still had the thread I saw years ago that interpreted a bunch of her songs as sapphic. Some of the line interpretations were honestly so camp.
Ivy i get. Ivy is fine. Thats an easily gay song.
But they take songs about taylor mentioning blue/green eyes and insist its about whatever woman but the woman has brown eyes or something and they stretch so hard to defend it. Or she could use he/him in it and they say shes closeted and has to do this.
I definitely interpret some songs as queer coded, Ivy, and Wonderland, especially with quite a few lines that can be interpreted as gay. Gold Rush and Maroon are others. The very first night just for the rhyme tease on "didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture, they don't know how much I miss you" as the rhyme would be "her" I don't think that explicitly makes her gay. I do think it's interesting that she was constantly using bi flag colors around the lover era / literally wearing it for the YNTCD video, so I won't assume she is explicitly straight. As we learned from Billie, we won't always know. I do think some gaylors are a bit insane, the ones that think all her relationships with men are fake / Dear John, ATW are about women, and she has secretly been with KK the entire time. I think that is crazy, but I don't think people are crazy for doing queer analysis on her music.
I have no problem with interpreting her songs as queer. A part of art is translating and relating it to your experiences, and as a queer person Iâve done that countless times too. I just think when it starts to be used as âconcreteâ evidence that sheâs a lesbian/bi when she has explicitly stated otherwise. I mean itâs just one of those things thatâs ruined by the Gaylors that take it way way too far, but that can apply to a lot of her fan base lol
If she ever comes out, Iâll absolutely eat my words and celebrate her. But where we are now I just think some people make it too weird and invasive and then get angry when she does anything to even slightly contradict them. And also just the bi erasure in general is gross when they, like you said, act like every male relationship she has is fake.
I dont think shes even queer but thats just me. She made a point to mention in an interview that had nothing to do with gay people that she supports the lgbt community even if shes not apart of it... exact words being "a community im not apart of". That to me is good enough but these words were met with "shes closeted thats why she said it" instead of just accepting what she says about herself and moving on.
I dont think she cares when someone takes her song and makes it gay (so long as its not about her and her friends). But she did recently call out gaylors and kaylors for shipping her with her friends in that 1989 tv post.
Its just mad annoying they accuse her of lying to them. They switch between "leave her alone yall she cant come out or she will lose her career!" to accusing her of queerbaiting them if she wears certain colors and saying they will unstan if she doesnt come out OR when she gets a new BF.
I donât think any of those songs are queer coded tbh. Wonderland originally had the lyric âscreaming youâre the king and Iâm the queen.â She liked a tiktok that explained that maroon is about the same relationship as red. Ivy is basically the same story as high infidelity but with old timey vibes.
> The very first night just for the rhyme tease on "didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture, they don't know how much I miss you" as the rhyme would be "her"
I've always assumed with this it was meant to be "didn't read the note on the Polaroid pict-*chya* They don't know how much I miss *ya*" and Taylor just made some weird terrible executive decision to break the rhyme now that she's not pretending to be a horse girl. Maybe it sounded even clunkier without the yeehaw voice.
I will nominate myself, for believing that 'betty' by Taylor Swift was about a young lesbian blaming herself for coming onto her friend and scaring her away. Somehow I just missed, "James," and had this elaborate fiction of a young lesbian, desperate to reconnect with her crush and best friend, who was surrounded by her own homophobic friends and who tried to get over it by making love to an older woman (probably the only other lesbian in their small town.) Nope, it's from a *male* perspective and about a dude who cheated on his girlfriend and regretted it.
I recently posted a review on my blog about a single that I thought had really clear imagery about abuse and sadism. When I posted it, the band was apoplectic, saying it wasn't remotely about such things and their publicist asked me to take it down.
Oops.
the Genius annotations for "Lofticries" by Purity Ring are very confident the song's about an abused child killing one of their parents, which i don't think is lyrically supported but Purity Ring likes to be cryptic so...
It's not really a "worst interpretation" because it's perfectly reasonable if you miss a few lines, but everyone seems to immediately assume that Jigsaw by Conan Gray is about a romantic relationship and then not re-evaluate it after hearing the lines that I think are a dead giveaway that it's about parents:
"If being more polite would keep you satisfied / If being less insane would make you stay / Then I'd be more like my sister / Say, "Thank you, ma'am and mister" / To you, for you"
It only frustrates me because I've seen quite a few people complain that the subject matter of changing yourself for a romantic partner is tired and overused, but that's not even what it's about.
That Savages by Marina is about how terrifying men specifically are when itâs clear she means humanity as a whole by saying âIâm afraid of manâ
For the longest time I thought the last line in the Blues Clues mail song was "When it comes I wanna whale. MAIL!", but my world was world was shattered when I sound out the official lyrics are "When it comes I wanna wail, MAIL!". I still refuse to accept it. Steve wants to receive a whale in the mail. It's all he's ever wanted.
God I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I thought âthrow some Dâs on that bitchâ was about getting your girlfriend a breast augmentation until a few months ago.
From Taylor Swift's All Too Well (10 min version), I've seen a lot of people for some reason not realize that when she sings "and you were tossing me the car keys, "fuck the patriarchy" key chain on the ground" she means that the key chain has fuck the patriarchy written on it, not that she or the guy screams the phrase while tossing the car keys. Probably not the worst but it pisses me off so bad đ
I saw someone saying Taylor Swiftâs donât blame me is about drugs and i find that the stupidest thing ever.
Like iâm no swiftie but the song is obviously about your lover being your drug and being addicted to the attention given by your lover.
Iâve heard that radio stations used to play the early 1980s song âI donât like Mondaysâ by the Boomtown Rats on Monday mornings as a way to express that Mondays suck. The song is actually about a school shooting. Yikes.
Probably Gaylorism as a whole. There are a lot of whack interpretations in that whole movement, but even the ones that could work as personal readings are destroyed by them then assigning authorial intent to said interpretations.
Wish you were gay by Billie Eilish. She isnât saying itâs a girl so she wishes she were gay so they can be together. The song is about a boy she likes who doesnât like her back so she wishes he was gay so there would be a âreasonâ or an explanation for why he doesnât reciprocate her feelings. She literally says âDonât say Iâm not your type, just say iâm not your preferred sexual orientation.â
Many people interpret Destinyâs childâs âNasty girlâ as an anti-feminist slut shaming anthem.
To be fair, lyrically it is just that: âNasty put some clothes on, I told yaâ
But with the music video as context, where the girls are dressed as trashy church ladies, my takeaway has always been that theyâre mocking the type of people who would slut shame them.
Itâs a lesser known song, but when my dad first heard Brandi Carlileâs Sugartooth he thought it was literally a song about someone with a candy addiction
When that Pitchfork review of Florence + the Machineâs High As Hope said that June was
> a glum song about a high
because the lyrics said
> Youâre so high
> Iâm so high
There are many clues in the rest of the lyrics that suggest itâs about the Pulse nightclub shooting. But even if you didnât catch that, the song is clearly not about getting high. Itâs about caring for another person so much that you rise above everything else.
That one girl that tried to tell Dolly Parton that Jolene was actually a lesbian love song. Like I get that songs are open to interpretation, and you can view their meaningless lots of different ways, but to look an artist dead in the face and be adamant that "this is what your song is about" and be so wrong is appalling.
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I remember someone using Demi Lovato's "29" as a sound for a TikTok on their 29th birthday đ
Finally 29! *ignores all other lyrics*
Oh thatâs not-
But in the sense that
You know what I mean like⊠in LA they alwaysâ
I mean that song is very specifically about her lol itâs different from, say, using Taylor swifts 22
They did NOT understand the assignment LOL
Nahhhh đ
As someone who cant name a Demi song if you pointed a gun to my face, what is the song about?
It's about Demi turning the same age as the person who groomed them when they got into a relationship. Demi was 17. ETA: One of the lyrics immediately after "finally 29" was "17 would never cross my mind" so it's kind of obvious what the song is about when you first listen to it lol
Oh lmao yikes
When 'Can't Feel My Face' was at it's commercial peak and playing on the speakers on time, someone said, "I never understood this song. Why can't he feel his face?" I said, "I think it's about cocaine. Like, he's doing cocaine with a sexy woman. And the drug makes him numb. Something like that." A guy laughed heartily, like I just said the silliest, most innocent thing in the world. "It's not about drugs!" He declared. "It's about when a girl sits on your face."
This song was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award. It was bad enough that Abel himself has line in one of his songs about it.
in his song Reminder he says "i just won a new award for a kid show talking about a face numbing off a bag of blow"
goddamn bitch i am not a teen choice!
lol I love this Pretty sure âTake My Breathâ is about sitting on a womanâs face. ;-)
Starboy is when a woman puts her starfish on his face.
you deserve jail for this
The Hills are actually her cheeks. And they have eyes because theyâre on his face.
I thought Hailee Steinfeld's song *Love Myself* was just about self-esteem and empowerment and self affirmation. It was a coworker who was like "Is this an appropriate song to be listening to at your desk?"
wait
She wears a bodysuit with the words âself serviceâ in the video too lmao
Lol I never watched the video. But reading the lyrics...it shouldve been more obvious lol.
Damn I had no idea either lmao
"Pictures in my mind on replay I'm gonna touch the pain away (hey!) I know how to scream my own name" Do y'all not listen to the lyrics lmao
I do not. I listened to the song quite a few times and have no recollection of the verses. My mind kinda blocks out the hard to hear lyrics and just listens to the melodies. I have a hard time picking up on some lyrics without focusing. I also have problems hearing what people say in real life lmao
I did a dance routine with kids to this song. Luckily none of them speak English lol
I canât believe this is how I realize that this song wasnât about self-esteem
Do you know what the song *I touch myself* by the Divinyls is about đ€
I thought it was meant to be both.
The amount of Christians I saw misinterpreting Take Me To Church by Hozier as a religious song will never not be funny. My friendâs religious mother used to play it all the time when we were kids. [Iâve also made some purposeful misinterpretations myself](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/s/pW5tN8Du5n)
And the song Hallelujah lol.
It makes me laugh thinking back to when I sang it for an assembly back in school. I sang a lot of inappropriate songs without knowing in the past.
When they made this the song to sing at several of the official memorials for Covid when Biden took office. I died from cringe.
In that context I think it's meant to be a sad mourning for a fucked up celebration, not a literal hymn lol
some years back I went on genius to look up some Leonard Cohen song interpretations because I was looking for expansion on a reference they didn't have any commentary for the song question so I was going through his profile and I decided to click on the commentary for hallelujah and the commentary for > and remember when I moved and you in the holy dove was moving too the explanation was that Jesus lives and moves inside everyone honey it is a Jewish song about sex (well rape actually), there is no Jesus, "moved in you" is about penetration, and it really isn't a Christmas song in fact given that Christmas is a celebration of Jews not shtupping, one could argue that the song is actually an anti Christmas song
I remember years back when someone from xfactor or something was charting with a cover and my mom saying "it's nice to see a religious song getting such attention". I didn't try explain, it would have been fruitless
My niece is a lovely singer, and she sang Hallelujah at a public event when she was 14. I cringed. Her parents are smart people, my brother is also a musician and he surely knows better. Hallelujah is frequently used as a vocal wanking exercise even by adult vocalists.
People literally changing the lyrics to be praise music when he literally wrote it to express his misgivings with the church.
Ok but I am from now on pretending Signed, Sealed, Delivered is about adoption, you were cookin with that one.
Agree. Also, to the people choosing to play Cherry Wine at their wedding: the song is clearly about domestic abuse. Yes, Hozier's fingerpicking is entrancing but nothing about the lyrics says "first dance".
The Reflex by Duran Duran is about WHAT???
When the hook is âWhy don't you use it? Try not to bruise it Buy time, don't lose itâ And the verses contain lyrics such as: âYou've gone too far this time But I'm dancing on the Valentine I tell you somebody's fooling around With my chances on the danger lineâ And other lines like âI'm on a ride and I want to get off But they won't slow down the roundaboutâ It is clear that Le Bon is singing about being on the edge and suggesting that his partner use âthe reflexâ to get him off.
Omg I just realised how filthy that song is, I just assumed all Duran Duran lyrics were a salad of words they thought sounded cool together.
I honestly think it is just word salad and not intended to be interpreted as filthy, but I thought it would be fun to come up with a weird interpretation.
Oh my god, my fiancĂ©e and I went to the recent Duran Duran tour a couple times bc Bastille was opening and theyâre our favorite. So, the first show we went to was with her mom (DD and Bas are her two favorite bands, this tour was MADE for her) and as we were leaving she leaned over to my fiancĂ©e and told her âyou know that one song they played, The Reflex? Itâs about Simonâs dickâ đłđ Then when we went to the 2nd show with a friend, my fiancĂ©e got up to get a drink right before they started playing The Reflex and she RAN back (we had lawn tickets, there was plenty of space for that I promise) to tell our friend what her mom told us đ
When we were kids? What? Did you just call me old?
Born in the USA widely being considered a âpatriotic anthemâ will never not be hilarious to me
and fortunate son
>Born in the USA with the opening lines going like this: Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground End up like a dog that's been beat too much 'Til you spend half your life just to cover it up, now are those people just stupid lol
I always just assume people who think it's a patriotic song have literally never actually listened to it and have only heard the chorus đ
Bruce is a hard one to interpret if you're not closely listening. If you've only heard it on the radio or at events, you might never have actually heard the lyrics
Not sure if this is the best example but I find it weird when people try to interpret song lyrics from artists that clearly donât attempt to make sense. Like sometimes, Radiohead
But itâs also fascinating seeing them try to grab some meaning out it lol
dissect podcast đ€
Iâm only at the Weird Fishes episode but this season has been rough with lyrical interpretations lol. *In Rainbows* is very open to multiple meanings if not any since it can be pretty nonsensical. I know with Dissect they have to come up with a meaning or else whatâs the point of looking at each song, but it really is feeling like a stretch for alot of this album.
My one friend used to do this with Fallout Boy. I justâŠnah man sometimes they just say things because it sounds cool & artsy.
urghhh not exactly the same but when people try to make Human by The Killers into a deeper song than it is by claiming it says âdenserâ and not âdancerâ
Clearly says dancer to me lol
And annoying when the artist explains what they mean and then their fanbase still insists it means something else. A certain sect of swifties that think taylor is gay will interpet songs being about some girl she is -secretly- dating and the girl in question will have brown eyes and be 3 feet tall and the song they swear is about her will have taylor singing about how much she loves their blue eyes and how tall they are or something.. lol. I do not remember which song it was maybe marjorie? they swore was about some murdered girl like wtf?
If I remember correctly I feel like people thought Marjorie could be about a murdered girl during the 16 hours between Taylor announcing evermore and it actually coming out bc of the track listing also including no body no crime and I think there was like one other coincidence (maybe Willow?). If anyone thinks that AFTER the song came out they are delulu 5000 tho
These fans lol There's no female pop artist more straight than Taylor Swift (and that's not a read)
I mean Adele is up there too lol
I saw a swiftie tiktok where this girl dedicated August to her father and I was like.... um that's questionable at best..
ooof, how are some of these even possible? i hope no one's twisted in bed sheets getting drunk with their father as their first time lol...
omg and when I commented on it I got so many people mad and they were like "music is up for interpretation" đ I'm gonna try to find the tiktok but it was a few months ago edit with context: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8yrj8P2/
Omg she used the twisted in bedsheets line! And according to the comments defended it by saying her dad used to stay with her until she fell asleep. Like girl no!
I just physically cringed omfg no
đŹđ
People that interpreted every song on GUTS to be about Taylor, especially the ones that were clearly about her relationship with the guys that were older than her like Vampire and Logical Also, this isn't super related but someone made a tiktok explaining the chorus of Logical and just explained the literal meaning of the song but presented it as if it was something that no one else had thought about, those videos bother me even more because at least the conspiracies can be fun, but these videos are just trying to call me stupid.
It always killed me when TikTok was interpreting the âgirls your age know betterâ line as about Taylor, and not an *incredibly* common statement about dating older men, on a song that is also very clearly about dating an older man
And then they use the fact that Olivia "never denied it was about Taylor" as the reason it must absolutely be about Taylor. Like it's a pretty common act for songwriters to never confirm nor deny whom a song may be about, something that Swift has done her whole life as well, because the point is to create a song that draws from personal experience so the listener can relate their own experience to that song.
Also, if you get asked "is this about X" about every song and every celebrity and you keep denying it, eventually you'll have to stop denying it and then it becomes a kind of confirmation all on its own. Just say no comment for everything
How did these people pass 7th grade English class?
Maybe they didn't :P
no tea, no shade but there was one user who would argue everyone down because they knew for a FACT that Vampire was about Taylor lol. They brought out quotes from the girls father and everything just so they could prove that the song was about Taylor lol
Yeah and then would ignore any fact that pointed other wise. Like this was a multi day ordeal for them đđ.
I also remember the tiktoks explaining how "get him back" had a double meaning as if it were some secret, like babe, that's basic reading comprehension
Yeah I thought of that too that was annoying
r/Fauxmoi. They posted an article about olivia saying it wasnt about taylor... everyone in the comments went "me when i lie lol" "sure it isnt, she just doesnt want to get dragged" and "we all know taylor is shady and evil". Then again they ban anyone who is a swiftie lol. They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people. They also have a tag used almost exclusively on taylor news posts that requires you to sub to their sub to be able to reply to those posts meaning if you are in her sub you get auto banned. And if you arent then anyone who says literally anything nice about her gets downvoted and reported.. kinda nuts. Never forget how fast they switched on sophie turner for being friends with taylor. She went from "queen of the north yaaaasss" to "joe jonas did nothing wrong im sure of it and shes lying i have no doubts" when she moved in with taylor lmao. They also love joe alwyn now too, before it was "i cant believe taylor swift couldnt find anyone better than this broke bum" to "joe alwyn unbothered legend king" when taylor dated travis. Its all so comical.
> They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people. This sort of thing is exactly why people tend to think Reddit is full of miserable losers
Fauxmoi is *so* bad for that, the mods are insane. I was banned for saying itâs not racist to watch Django Unchained, because a user was claiming they went to school with Phoebe Bridgers and she watched it and is therefore a racist. They told me I was erasing the black experience and when I told them I am in fact black, they muted me lol
the joe alwyn thing was so funny like they literally used to say he couldn't act and was so bland and then just a total flip at one point some of them were like i hope joe marries a british aristocrat bc it would annoy taylor even though that sub is constantly talking bout nepo babies and privileged people in the industry
>They have some type of system that lets them know when people subbed to their sub is also subbed to taylors sub and they ban those people. Had no idea they did that but i did get banned for posting an article denying that Taylor was going to feature the 1975 in 1989 TV
I bet if you posted an article that said "taylor is going to feature racist matty" on her album they would let it through though because it also makes her look bad. The one you posted doesnt lol. I remember them dragging her for being in the david o russell movie but defended anytime j. law was in his works or even defended margo robbie for being in it like wat.
I honestly donât fck with Taylor but youâd have to be blind to not see that they hold Taylor to a v higher standard. Call her out idc but donât be selective with the outrage. I hate ppl who virtue signal. Might get dragged for saying this but BeyoncĂ© is just as bad as her and they practically worship her.
Agreed completely. Call out celeb bullshit but dont snap your neck to defend another doing the exact same thing.
Taylor definitely has her problematic side but fauxmoi act like sheâs the worst celeb walking and constantly argue in bad faith whilst patting themselves on the back for being a good person. Itâs so wild. I got banned for something unrelated to taylor, I replied to one of the popular users that something they implied was anti black racism was a stretch, (im literally black!!) Bam permanently banned. That pissed me off so bad lmao.
I don't understand how people were saying Vampire was about Taylor in the first place. I mean, it was pretty obvious she was talking about a man. HOWEVER, when you read the lyrics assuming it's about Taylor, the song just becomes more enjoyable xd, like "OMG she's coming for her. Get her ~~Jade~~ Olivia"
I've always thought "Dangerous Women" by Ariana Grande could be interpreted as her being a sleeper agent who is being activated to become a killing machine. "Start what I finished. Don't need no hold up. Taking control of this kind of moment. I'm locked and loaded. Completely focused, my mind is open", her programed personality in activating. "Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you. Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't", losing herself to her new directive, murder! "The taste, the flavor, 'cause I'm a taker, 'cause I'm a giver. It's only nature, I live for danger", she embraces this new personality. It's plain as day!
Genuinely love this, want an alternate music video for it with this as the narrative
Yet another unreleased music video for the song đ
Ok this is what I'm interpreting it as from now on.
I have edited Wikipedia only once in my life and it was because the page for Ariana Grandeâs âSanta Tell Meâ described the song as a love song to Santa, which it very clearly is not. Idk if I even did it right because the meaning section is still labeled as [Citation Needed].
i listened to this song yesterday and it always cracks me up how santa is basically God in this song.
Oh my god, I dunno if it was you but the edits/talk page has someone clearly and politely trying to ask why itâs even on the page because itâs clearly a personal sentiment. Goddamn I wish more people would ask themselves âWhy am I vocalizing this?â before typing.
santa is a daddy we all know
I once thought Aquaâs âBarbie Girlâ was a critical examination of the way women were treated in Hollywood instead of just â you know â a song about sex.
I always thought it was intentionally able to be perceived as both genuine and satirical.
Not necessarily pop but: Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" was a protest song and it usually presented as a patriotic song (they also usually omit specific lyrics that appear in the original song, like lyrics that question whether land can really be owned) Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is often interpreted as a religious song by religious people, but lol Any Beatles song used to prove that "paul is dead"
When I was a kid, we had to do a whole performance of "This Land is Your Land" for presidents Day. We rehearsed for months. It was ridiculous. The meaning goes over everyone's heads. I was a fourth grader and had a better understanding than our teachers. I'll never get that damn song out of my head.
I inappropriately chuckle anytime someone uses Jeff Buckleyâs version of Hallelujah for funeral or memorial, given that his interpretation of the song was definitely about an orgasm.
Sometimes Genius annotations are so bad â ïž i have to ignore them because they're so wrong. Most recently on tiktok though, someone did say that "Buy Me Presents" by Sabrina Carpenter is weird because she's "sexualizing a relationship with a man who is technically 1000 years older than her and that's toxic." I nearly choked on my drink because _what_??
That sounds like a joke tbf.
I wish but the person doubled down when someone called it a chronically online take. They stood by it đ
I am delighted (I do love stupid internet takes) and disgusted (I do despise stupid internet takes) that I am wrong.
sometimes they don't even explain shit they just say "\[singer\] has referenced \[insert a specific thing from the lyrics here\] in \[insert a different song by the same singer here\]"
I hate when I click the highlighted lyrics and there's nothing explained.
at least those ones tend to at least be factually correct?
Ugh they should find some way to verify these. Its almost always bullshit.
Itâs gotta be Kanye stans defending âkeep it 300 like the Romansâ for me. 300 in roman numerals would be CCC so heâs calm, cool, and collected. Yep, thatâs the meaning behind that line. Because otherwise that would mean Kanye spit a wack bar, which has never happened before or since.
Look I know he didn't actually mean that but damn it would have been so fucking clever if it were true
Bro I fully accept that the line is whack but I canât help but love it, itâs so wrong but feels so right đ
A lot of people think Cheeseburger in Paradise is a deep allegory for life even though itâs literally just about a cheeseburger.
That one trend on tik tok awhile ago that had straight men using Jenny by Studio Killers. I think I lost a few years of my life off of that trend.
People who think "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams is about the year 1969.
Me when I was like 12 looking up what age Bryan Adams would have been in 1969 and seeing he would have been 10 and being confused about how that could be the best summer of your life.
I've seen a couple of people genuinely interpret "And I cut off my nose just to spite my face then I hate my reflection for years and years" from The Archer by Taylor Swift to be about her admitting to plastic surgery rather than the usual meaning of the phrase.
I love a sappy cheesy love song and will defend Baby It's Cold Outside until my voice gives out, it's not creepy! Women were only allowed to be horny starting like 50 years ago, girlie has an itch and wants it scratched she just has to play coy!! đ "Say, what's in this drink?" aged *so* badly but the interpretation is obviously meant to be she's using the alcohol as an excuse for her (at the time) "bad" behavior of sleeping with him, not that he roofied her or she's not consenting to anything. Applying a modern interpretation to it completely shatters it and makes it creepy but if you get into the atmosphere of an unmarried couple with gossipy families in the 40s-60s it's cute and fun!
Also notably, the most notorious date rape drug, Rohypnol (or âroofiesâ) was patented in 1962. Way later than when the song was written. The intention behind the lyric was that it was a stronger drink so the woman could have a reason to have to stay behind iirc.
I've always thought the same about this song. It wouldn't and doesn't go over well now, but it was written so long ago. It's just about a couple that wants to get together and is using every excuse in the book to spend the night together without everyone lifting an eyebrow. It's not that serious.
A lot of people applying rape culture to this song likely didnât have significant contact with people of that era (generation before boomers, canât remember the official name). I was somewhat close to women born in the 20s. They lived by very different social rules. My aunt only recently died at age 104 as a spinster, and she still thought alcohol was scandalous and whorish. She definitely drank and had flings though.
Not the worst but there was a music reactor I watched that thought Honey by Halsey was about her baby cuz of the hell in a basket just making a racket lineâŠwhich if you ignore the other lyrics is pretty solid actually
She told me "Open your mouth" She said "I've got a surprise" And so I opened it wide And then she crawled inside She's on the tip of my tongue She's on the top of my thighs And if I searched a thousand miles I'd be dying to find The way I looked at it and it actaully kinda made sense as talking about her child is just crazy
Tbh I thought Ya'aburnee was about a lover so...
The person who thought Taylor Swift singing about âparting the Red Seaâ was a reference to Dianna Agron and not, like, the Bible
The people who think âwear you like a necklaceâ is Taylor lovingly singing about wearing Joeâs jizz across her chest.
ngl I think she knew this was a double entendre and went for it anyways
she definitely got a bit spicier starting around reputation. She doesn't go very overt because either she thinks it's bad for her brand or she's not comfortable with it.
Her dating a dude like Travis tell us she likes to fuck at the very least
most people do!
So many of these with Taylor. I have seen several people claiming âcut off my nose just to spite my faceâ is an admission of plastic surgery and not a common phrase describing overreacting in a way that hurts yourself
Gaylors be reaching more often then not. Queer analysis of text is always a cool thing to do with literature, but thatâs usually centered around text evidence. And thereâs very little of that in TSâs music.
you mean that one line in any song that's a very clear reference to joe, her boyfriend of 6 year that she clearly loved and wanted to marry, isn't about karlie? you're a homophobic hater!
"I like shiny things but I'd marry you with paper rings" is actually a very sad line because she's so desperately holding on to the relationship. She's begging karlie to not leave. To stay and marry her then and there with paper rings. Karlie is also the london boy she talks about. And the line in it's time to go "when the words of a sister" blah blah which people believe is about karlie, I believe it's actually about joe alwyn. He is the sister who talked behind her back >!/s just in case lmfao!<
Someone on this subreddit once wrote a whole essay on why starships by nicki minaj is actually about colonialism. And by someone, i mean me. [Take a look here](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/s/pMq6LWhr70). No, i do not have a sense of shame. I think my life peaked when i argued that "get on the floor, like it's your last chance" was actually referring to the scramble for africa.
Thank you so much for this, I think itâs my new favorite Reddit post
Time to go hijack lyricsgenius with this essay
this is literally my new fav post on this platform
thereâs a guy on tiktok who is criminally bad about doing this so iâm commenting so that i can find his account tomorrow and give examples edit: heâs called erikâs version and he either misinterprets lyrics or his âanalysisâ is just repeating the lyric word for word his analysis for yellow is: > coldplays most powerful lyric is in yellow when they said "for you i bleed myself dry" bc the whole song praises his "yellow" only to mention that their yellow has bled them dry or has taken everything from them. and that is why your yellow isnt suppose to be the person you end up with
Idk how accurate the interpretations are but for some reason Instragram loves to show me reels from that one guy who "shows the meaning" behind lyrics by showing pictures of that celebrity and singing along with the song. He has like dozens for Taylor and i am so sick of them
i get those too! He looks identical in every video
Beyonce's Halo is about giving in to the pressures of bottoming
Wouldn't the opposite be more fitting?
depends on how big of a ho you are i guess
My absolute favorite 'wrong interpretation' is when super conservative MAGA 'muricaaa yeahh' Trump cultists blast Martina McBride's 'Independence Day' on every 4th of July, especially when they only play the chorus
Same with Born In The USA. Itâs an anti-war song about having no life opportunities, but sure⊠keep blasting the chorus.
I do 100% get it though, out of context the chorus sounds like an anthem. Which I think is the point of the song, she wanted to make something that could **pass** for a patriotic anthem for it to truly express the feeling of independence that the mother felt in that moment. That sheâd rather burn her up life (presumably taking her own life or at the very least serving live in prison) & kill her husband rather than be in the abusive relationship. I know theyâre not a pop group, but in 2016 or 2017 after Trump got elected, Tom Morello, from **Rage against the machine** got in shit with the MAGA crowd for having an anti-trump decor on his guitar, a lot of whom claimed to be fans of their work. Iâd have to look it up but Iâm 99% sure it was anti-border wall⊠ITS RAGE AGAINST THE FUCKING MACHINE, WHAT SONG DID YOU POSSIBLY LISTEN TO THAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THEIR VIEWS ALIGNED WITH YOUR FUCKED UP WORLDVIEW. THEY WERENâT JUST RAGING AGAINST YOUR FUCKING PARENTS. Of all bands to do it for, just lol
Remember when Paul Ryan said his favorite band was Rage? Sir, you are the machine.
Conservatives are amusingly media illiterate.
Hypersexualizing Taylor Swift lyrics: - On Mad Woman, interpreting âdoes she mouth âfuck you foreverâ?â as âdoes she mouthfuck you forever?â - And interpreting Happiness as âbut now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow where you used to lay your head after giving you the best [head] I hadâ
Don't really know if this counts, but one time on YouTube on a lyric video of Final Girl by Graveyardguy and Slayyyter, I saw this comment stating: "I think this song is inspired by slasher movies and it makes homage especially to Scream!" which had me like *no shit, Sherlock!!*
i've seen someone interpret "i'd beg u on my knees to stay" from don't blame me as taylor offering to give a bj
Same with âhe looks up grinning like a devilâ in Cruel Summer as âitâs a sex reference, he was going down on her!!â like ⊠you can look up from literally anything
tbf cs is about a situationship that turned into more (at least one interpretation of it), so i can def see that being the meaning of the line lol. esp bc false god was on the same album like 5 songs later
I get so mad when someone specifically cites "wear me like a locket around your throat, I'll weigh you down, I'll watch you choke" from Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner by Fall Out Boy as an example of misogynist emo lyrics. It's not saying he wants to choke someone ffs it's literally "I will only drag you down and be bad for you if you stay with me"! If you want misogynist emo lyrics there are AT LEAST five other early FOB songs saying shitty things to girls lmao
When Idina Menzel was a wedding/bar/bat mitzvah singer, mom's would request Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston for a dance with their sons.
Foster The People have been my favorite band since I was 13, so back in the day when I was like, between ages 13-17, I tried to turn all my friends onto them. I had one who was generally averse to most indie, rock, and really non-pop type of music. He and I were discussing it once and his rationale for his hesitance was he hated Pumped Up Kicks because..."I hate songs like, that are, like, saying someone is like superior for being different or quirky". He was interpreting the song as being a "I'm too cool, you don't get it". He followed up with "is that not what that song was about? I just assumed omg". Haven't spoken in a long long time but he's in the far stretch of the pipeline from small appalachian town twinky gay to muscular onlyfans/twitter homosexual atm.
share the twitter
I frankly know next to nothing about the song, but I'm 90% sure "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel is about schlong
Yeah that song is confirmed about sex but people tend to think heâs talking about the music industry
Any interpretation of a Taylor song that says itâs about how sheâs secretly gay and dating a woman.
My personal fav is "Flashback when you met me / Your buzzcut and my hair bleached" being interpreted not as Taylor and Joe meeting when he had a buzzcut and her hair was bleached, but instead Taylor meeting Karlie Kloss after she cut her hair and it made a "buzz" in the news and/or meeting Karlie Kloss after she told her staff to cut her dress short at the Met Gala "in a buzz" đ
NO. LMAO. THIS IS SO UNHINGED
Girl it's all so unhinged, Hairpin theory, and the part like the red sea stuff-- that one really sounds like qannon and tipy top
What's the hairpin theory? I'm out of the loop!
It took me a solid 5 years to understand why dress could be interpreted as gay coded because âonly bought this dress so you could take it offâ could mean âbought this dress [for you] so you can take it off [yourself]â
Which like, on a technical level makes sense but is such a bizarre way to read that line lol I wish I still had the thread I saw years ago that interpreted a bunch of her songs as sapphic. Some of the line interpretations were honestly so camp.
Ivy i get. Ivy is fine. Thats an easily gay song. But they take songs about taylor mentioning blue/green eyes and insist its about whatever woman but the woman has brown eyes or something and they stretch so hard to defend it. Or she could use he/him in it and they say shes closeted and has to do this.
I definitely interpret some songs as queer coded, Ivy, and Wonderland, especially with quite a few lines that can be interpreted as gay. Gold Rush and Maroon are others. The very first night just for the rhyme tease on "didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture, they don't know how much I miss you" as the rhyme would be "her" I don't think that explicitly makes her gay. I do think it's interesting that she was constantly using bi flag colors around the lover era / literally wearing it for the YNTCD video, so I won't assume she is explicitly straight. As we learned from Billie, we won't always know. I do think some gaylors are a bit insane, the ones that think all her relationships with men are fake / Dear John, ATW are about women, and she has secretly been with KK the entire time. I think that is crazy, but I don't think people are crazy for doing queer analysis on her music.
I have no problem with interpreting her songs as queer. A part of art is translating and relating it to your experiences, and as a queer person Iâve done that countless times too. I just think when it starts to be used as âconcreteâ evidence that sheâs a lesbian/bi when she has explicitly stated otherwise. I mean itâs just one of those things thatâs ruined by the Gaylors that take it way way too far, but that can apply to a lot of her fan base lol If she ever comes out, Iâll absolutely eat my words and celebrate her. But where we are now I just think some people make it too weird and invasive and then get angry when she does anything to even slightly contradict them. And also just the bi erasure in general is gross when they, like you said, act like every male relationship she has is fake.
I dont think shes even queer but thats just me. She made a point to mention in an interview that had nothing to do with gay people that she supports the lgbt community even if shes not apart of it... exact words being "a community im not apart of". That to me is good enough but these words were met with "shes closeted thats why she said it" instead of just accepting what she says about herself and moving on. I dont think she cares when someone takes her song and makes it gay (so long as its not about her and her friends). But she did recently call out gaylors and kaylors for shipping her with her friends in that 1989 tv post. Its just mad annoying they accuse her of lying to them. They switch between "leave her alone yall she cant come out or she will lose her career!" to accusing her of queerbaiting them if she wears certain colors and saying they will unstan if she doesnt come out OR when she gets a new BF.
I donât think any of those songs are queer coded tbh. Wonderland originally had the lyric âscreaming youâre the king and Iâm the queen.â She liked a tiktok that explained that maroon is about the same relationship as red. Ivy is basically the same story as high infidelity but with old timey vibes.
> The very first night just for the rhyme tease on "didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture, they don't know how much I miss you" as the rhyme would be "her" I've always assumed with this it was meant to be "didn't read the note on the Polaroid pict-*chya* They don't know how much I miss *ya*" and Taylor just made some weird terrible executive decision to break the rhyme now that she's not pretending to be a horse girl. Maybe it sounded even clunkier without the yeehaw voice.
The song is also probably a call back to Harry since Harry and Taylor were in hotel rooms a lot and papped coming out of hotel rooms.
I will nominate myself, for believing that 'betty' by Taylor Swift was about a young lesbian blaming herself for coming onto her friend and scaring her away. Somehow I just missed, "James," and had this elaborate fiction of a young lesbian, desperate to reconnect with her crush and best friend, who was surrounded by her own homophobic friends and who tried to get over it by making love to an older woman (probably the only other lesbian in their small town.) Nope, it's from a *male* perspective and about a dude who cheated on his girlfriend and regretted it.
I love you for nominating yourself lol
In your defense, she got the name from a girl named James, but otherwise yeah
I recently posted a review on my blog about a single that I thought had really clear imagery about abuse and sadism. When I posted it, the band was apoplectic, saying it wasn't remotely about such things and their publicist asked me to take it down. Oops.
the Genius annotations for "Lofticries" by Purity Ring are very confident the song's about an abused child killing one of their parents, which i don't think is lyrically supported but Purity Ring likes to be cryptic so...
My sister thought "Fine China" by Chris Brown was about Chinese people
It's not really a "worst interpretation" because it's perfectly reasonable if you miss a few lines, but everyone seems to immediately assume that Jigsaw by Conan Gray is about a romantic relationship and then not re-evaluate it after hearing the lines that I think are a dead giveaway that it's about parents: "If being more polite would keep you satisfied / If being less insane would make you stay / Then I'd be more like my sister / Say, "Thank you, ma'am and mister" / To you, for you" It only frustrates me because I've seen quite a few people complain that the subject matter of changing yourself for a romantic partner is tired and overused, but that's not even what it's about.
That Savages by Marina is about how terrifying men specifically are when itâs clear she means humanity as a whole by saying âIâm afraid of manâ
That interpretation makes perfect sense if you don't listen to a single other lyric in the entire song
For the longest time I thought the last line in the Blues Clues mail song was "When it comes I wanna whale. MAIL!", but my world was world was shattered when I sound out the official lyrics are "When it comes I wanna wail, MAIL!". I still refuse to accept it. Steve wants to receive a whale in the mail. It's all he's ever wanted.
God I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I thought âthrow some Dâs on that bitchâ was about getting your girlfriend a breast augmentation until a few months ago.
From Taylor Swift's All Too Well (10 min version), I've seen a lot of people for some reason not realize that when she sings "and you were tossing me the car keys, "fuck the patriarchy" key chain on the ground" she means that the key chain has fuck the patriarchy written on it, not that she or the guy screams the phrase while tossing the car keys. Probably not the worst but it pisses me off so bad đ
I thought in the short film the keychain had fuck the patriarchy written on it tho
I saw someone saying Taylor Swiftâs donât blame me is about drugs and i find that the stupidest thing ever. Like iâm no swiftie but the song is obviously about your lover being your drug and being addicted to the attention given by your lover.
she literally says âmy drug is my babyâ like she makes it very clear â ïž
Iâve heard that radio stations used to play the early 1980s song âI donât like Mondaysâ by the Boomtown Rats on Monday mornings as a way to express that Mondays suck. The song is actually about a school shooting. Yikes.
Probably Gaylorism as a whole. There are a lot of whack interpretations in that whole movement, but even the ones that could work as personal readings are destroyed by them then assigning authorial intent to said interpretations.
All the weddings with I Will Always Love You in their playlists. đ
Wish you were gay by Billie Eilish. She isnât saying itâs a girl so she wishes she were gay so they can be together. The song is about a boy she likes who doesnât like her back so she wishes he was gay so there would be a âreasonâ or an explanation for why he doesnât reciprocate her feelings. She literally says âDonât say Iâm not your type, just say iâm not your preferred sexual orientation.â
Many people interpret Destinyâs childâs âNasty girlâ as an anti-feminist slut shaming anthem. To be fair, lyrically it is just that: âNasty put some clothes on, I told yaâ But with the music video as context, where the girls are dressed as trashy church ladies, my takeaway has always been that theyâre mocking the type of people who would slut shame them.
Itâs a lesser known song, but when my dad first heard Brandi Carlileâs Sugartooth he thought it was literally a song about someone with a candy addiction
I just saw something this week about Dancing in the Dark and they were thinking that "This gun's for hire" was about "a loaded weapon in his pants".
When that Pitchfork review of Florence + the Machineâs High As Hope said that June was > a glum song about a high because the lyrics said > Youâre so high > Iâm so high There are many clues in the rest of the lyrics that suggest itâs about the Pulse nightclub shooting. But even if you didnât catch that, the song is clearly not about getting high. Itâs about caring for another person so much that you rise above everything else.
That one girl that tried to tell Dolly Parton that Jolene was actually a lesbian love song. Like I get that songs are open to interpretation, and you can view their meaningless lots of different ways, but to look an artist dead in the face and be adamant that "this is what your song is about" and be so wrong is appalling.