something some people miss in this song is the deeper meaning of the line: "use my best colors for your portrait" Sure, it can mean she is painting real pictures of him with her best oil colors, but my interpretation is also the picture of him she paints to other people, meaning she only uses her best descibtions of admiration for him when she speaks about him to other people. She only portraits him with her best compliments to other people and never says a bad word about him. Love your reactions to Taylors music😍

"I sit and watch you" at the end is such a subtle, heartbreaking lyric. Like the whole song is a train of thought while she's watching this person sleeping. Having all of these thoughts about how she's merely tolerated, and about how she could just run away from it all, but she doesn't. She stays.

I like it when people pause while reacting and share their opinions rather than talking over and missing stuffs.

This was literally my marriage for 10 yrs... he didn't want me to even speak to him, actually got annoyed if I talked to him---I divorced him, against the wishes of everyone around me. He wasn't "beating me" or cheating so no one, even my family, thought I was making a good decision to leave. But he was making me feel worthless.

The fact that the line in the song is “I sit and watch you” is just so heavy because even thou in the bridge she considers leaving this person , she’s not doing it , she’s just sitting there and watching him.

Unimportant sidenote: In the novel "Rebecca" (a classic 20th c. Gothic novel) that inspired Taylor, the "tolerated" wife knows her older husband is a widower--she mistakenly believes Maxim, her husband, still pines for his deceased wife and only tolerates his new young bride. But actually, he had (sympathetically) murdered his previous, nefarious wife when she had blackmailed him. In the end, we find out Maxim absolutely adores his new bride but had been consumed by his secret. He does tell her, to quote Taylor, "that she had it wrong somehow." Whatever. Totally inconsequential to Taylor's brilliant song. But ""Rebecca" is an awesome novel (plus a couple decent film versions over the years). And as I'm a long-ago English major, it does my heart good to know Taylor consumes good literature--which also helps you understand her great lyricism. In the final Folklore song (deluxe version), Taylor has lovely allusions to 19th c. English poetry. Go Taylor! And go Nick! -- thanks very much for your delightful reactions.

The folklore and evermore albums helped so many people, by taking their minds off of Covid. Great reaction, you are doing fine.

She never said this but I believe it could be about how she felt when she was with Jake Gyllenhaal since he was much older than her and in the song all too well she says “ I am a soldier who is returning half her weight” and here she said “ gain the weight of you then lose it”

This song kills me every time I listen to it. For me it relates to all relationships. Romantic, platonic, and even family. You put so much of yourself into someone but they don’t give you the same.

But the final line, she doesn't leave, still clinging to hope. Its heartbreaking.

This ballad is emotionally wrenching (or just wrecking, depending on my mood when I hear it). Couple the heartbreaking lyrics with her affecting vocal delivery, and you have the makings of a classic Taylor track 5.

The fan edit/music video of this song over The Crown clips showing Charles’s & Diana’s relationship totally encapsulates this!

Watching you slowly but surely become the biggest swiftie has really turned my week around, thank you.

I love how much you pause! I really like your attention to the lyrics

Taylor Swift notoriously makes her tract 5 the most emotional song on the album 😅

I tend to like her pop albums more but this song is one of my favorite songs of all time. I've been in relationship like this when I was much younger and just as you said this song is both sad and strong as the same time.

I read Rebecca when I was 12 in the 80s. It definitely pulled me in. It’s such a hauntingly dark story. Now knowing she wrote this song inspired by this book it really matches the theme. So creative. Taylor is such a master lyricist. Nice reaction. ❤

I really love and relate to this song. I think it can speak to many different types of relationships where one goes unappreciated. It's also interesting that while the narrator does talk about what if "I break free and leave us in ruins." It ends with "I sit and watch you." Which makes me question if the narrator is still stuck in this uneven relationship. It's so hard to leave and really appreciate your own worth sometimes.

this is one of my favorite songs of Taylor. its so hurting but in a beautiful way. my favorte phrase is "I made you my temple, my mural my sky, now I´m begging for footnotes on the story of your life

the last "I sit and watch you" makes me think that she's sat there with him while she was contemplating all of these thoughts that she sang about. It really rounds up the song because she starts by sitting and watching him as he was reading a book ignoring her.

Her storytelling and the way she manages to articulate feelings lyrically is unmatched in the music industry. She is truly one of the best songwriters ever! You should listen to 'The Last Great American Dynasty' from Folklore and 'No Body No Crime' from Evermore. Two of my favourites that tell stories so well just like in 'Tolerate it'.

Don't apologize for pausing I actually really appreciate that you do. There's some lyrics I don't understand and you have helped me with it! Thank you for doing these videos. 😊

What's also really cool about her music is that she has a lot of references to the same situations and themes and other songs in all her albums, like a callback. Once you've listened to her whole catalog, a lot of the songs take on such deeper meanings because of building on the ones that came before. She even sometimes puts the same melody on a line in a song that is a callback to a song on a previous album.

I always think of Prince Charles and Princess Diana when I hear this song

It’s a track 5 (historically in her discography the 5th track in her albums are particularly sad and vulnerable)

ive been watching a lot of your videos today, and i’ve been throughly enjoying them! if you haven’t seen it yet, you should check out her performance of tolerate it on the eras tour. it’s absolutely amazing. keep up the good work, can’t wait for more vids!

about possible influences to her writing tolerate it, many fans have different theories on which relationship she drew from and honestly there are quite a few that fit- so some think it's elements of multiple. In terms of the age difference paired with the unappreciated love it could be linked to John Mayer/Jake Gyllanhall as she's written in songs like Dear John about the age gap and fighting for his approval in the relationship all the time as well as the line about drawing reminds people of a famous interview with John before they dated when he commented on watching her drawing like a little kid. As well as for Jake songs like All too well (10MV) and we are never getting back together of the struggle of the age gap being used against her and how he never liked her music and she was fighting for him to even call it love in the relationship. Other links fans have found are Calvin Harris as she talks in getaway car and high infidelity of how ungiving he was in the relationship and how it felt like she wasn't receiving any love. Just in general there's been a pattern of her experiencing this kind of situation, like even in Teardrops on my guitar and story of us from her earlier work she continues to reference this kind of pain of her feelings being tolerated and not embraced/reciprocated. Even in her newest song about her relationship with Joe ending (you're losing me) she writes of how she feels like giving up on the relationship because she's not getting the energy back that she needed.

You should see this on her "Eras Tour.." Holy shit.

i love your reactions, ur amazing

This song is different from all other of Taylor's songs in that it's in 5/4 time signature. Whereas 4/4 songs have a rhythm to them and 3/4s are waltz beats, the awkwardness of 5/4 with a brooding piano adds exponentially to the emotions in the lyrics and melody. And I totally agree with your opinion on ranking her songs. I liken that to ranking one's kids in order of the love you feel for them.

So glad I found this channel. Love these reactions

I love that you’ve been enjoying Taylor Swift. Please do ‘Bigger Than The Whole Sky’ next!

If you like folklore album, you need to listen to Carolina on the soundtrack Where the Crawdads Sing. Taylor's voice is beautiful but also eerie.

Absolutely bkew that subscriber goal out of the water 😂 Congratulations!

I think the line "if it's all in my head tell me now" is about gaslighting. You're just crazy, You're blowing things out of proportion, etc.

I'm a cryer of this track. this screams pain!

You must react to Augest this song about side chick persecutive.Side chick also have feelings even if the situation wrong.I don’t think I ever heard artist sing about woman who is trying to take boyfriend or husband in good way which is true she also has feelings not just gf or wife.

Are you going to go back and do The 1 from Folklore? I know you said you were doing them in order and I saw #2 Cardigan, #3 Last Am Dynasty… but, I don’t see #1 The 1.

Fellow Swifties, I had a thought: could this song be connected to bejeweled? Like, Bejeweled could kinda be part 2 of “Tolerate it”? 👀 Can you see it? Like how they could be correlated ? ☺️

Oh this song is so good. Evermore. Oh. The forgotten sister of folklore. FYI. Most, not all, but most like evermore better than folklore. Tolerate it is sooo good. The highs on evermore are higher. The title track evermore is lovely. But Marjorie is special , it is a lyric video but with home movies of her grandmother, Marjorie. Folklore & evermore are 50% autobiographical. This is one of them. Her grandmother Marjorie. She passed away when Taylor was 13 traveling to Nashville trying to make it. It’s a gem. Please, listen to it.

You should react cowboy like me

lots think this is also reminiscent of her relationship with Calvin Harris

I disagree that it ends on a positive, hopeful note. She knows things aren't right, knows she should leave, but still sits there watching it still happen. I think the "Believe me, I could do it" is her trying to convince herself she could.

I personally love evermore more.. I think the album was heavily overshadowed by folklore's success as folklore was released in July and evermore was released December of the same year. And Taylor barely mentions evermore which is kinda sad as it is one of my favorite albums of her 😭

Building other world , does it not mean like having another separate life like having an affair with someone else .,

You know the song is good when you apologise for PAUSING on a reaction video hahaha.

Literally the story of my marriage that ended in 11 mos. after I asked him if I had the problems in our relationship wrong. I didn't, he wasn't in love with me... I "removed the dagger and she'd those pounds. So painful, but so good. 😭🫶💯