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I also love the fact that Taylor released Would've Could've Should've as track 19 when she was 32-years-old. No detail escapes her when she decides she's going to make a point.

“I don’t usually get personal on my page, but…” This is the Taylor Swift effect!

Heartbreaking fact: John Mayer’s condo at the time they dated was an old church, with stained glass windows. “Stained glass windows in my mind, I regret you all the time”.

You've gotta watch the live version of Dear John- Her facial expressions are top notch

Her growth between these two songs is incredible. Dear John is her revenge song to hurt him. WCS is her song for herself to process what happened

The 'I regret you all the time' line really hit me, when I heard it first. It just came to me in the very dark time of falling out of an unrequited deep crush . I just felt so stupid when I slowly figured out all the little things in which they are kinda cruel. It wasn't even unhealthy or toxic, I just needed to find something to not gloryfy them anymore and to concentrate on myself first. And this was like the ultimate emotion at this point, because I was only starting to being only myself again and then I noticed how much I would've changed possibly to make it work and I really honestly knew better...

as a child I was sexually abused and that "give me back my girlhood" line makes me cry every time. And you saying that letting go is what is needed got me. I try to do that everyday but it's so fucking hard because I don't know what person I would've been if that didn't happen to me, and I like to daydream about an innocent child just having childproblems. it's stupid but healing at the same time

Taylor said in an interview once that “you don’t have to forgive and forget to move on” and I think you expressed that as well. I think it really fits. As far as the regret goes, I saw a creator on TikTok (I think it was Mayte?) say that it’s okay to regret certain things. She said “every lesson I learned from that relationship I could have learned a different way. That man was toxic.” That felt really powerful.

Taylor is so good with the accelerating, "looping" lyrics in her song to bring us into the way the anxious mind gets stuck in these repeating thought spirals. She does it in a lot of songs, but most notably "Out of the Woods," which always just *sounds* like anxiety to me ("are we out of the woods yet are we out of the woods yet are we out of the woods yet are we out of the woods?"). I think that "I'm scared of ghosts" means she's still haunted by the memories of what happened, and that "memories feel like weapons" means both that those memories are painful and that she then takes them and uses them to hit back, putting them into songs, "living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts." But these lines could also reference the fear of repeating patterns-- and if we look at the songs that seem to be about Jake Gyllenhaal, who was *also* significantly older, a lot of the same themes come up again. I'm glad that, recently, before she played "Dear John" on tour, Taylor took a moment to say that all of this was a long time ago and that she's grown and she's not still mad about anything that happened when she was 19-- so it seems like she's at the stage of having let go and moved on now, and maybe "Would've Could've Should've" helped her do it.

I'm not gonna lie, this might be my favorite reaction from you. Don't get me wrong, I love your reactions as a vocal coach, but I love when people get into the lyrics and relate it back to themselves and empathize with the artist, and show little pieces of their soul. I hope to see more of this type of reaction. You're such a beautiful person, and so thoughtful with what you have to say. ❤❤❤

So WCS is from Midnights, and it totally fits and makes sense with the theme of "things that keep you up at night". That said, I do think that her releasing this song when she did was a very calculated move on her part. After Red TV came out, John Mayer saw the widespread backlash Jake Gyllenhaal got from ATW10 and as I understand it, he sort of hinted he was gonna try and somehow...sabotage the release of Speak Now TV or at the very least Dear John TV, a song he already deeply hated to begin with, so that wouldn't happen to him too when it was "his turn". I think Taylor was basically like "oh okay, well in that case here, have another one. A way worse one that's gonna make Dear John look tame by comparison". And keep in mind, WCS is one of the 3AM tracks, no one had any clue those were even coming until three hours after the main Midnights album had already dropped, only the main 13 and Hits Different had been announced in any way prior to that. So I definitely think it was a way to preempt him from trying to oppose Dear John TV when the time came. Wouldn't really matter anymore at that point when WCS is sooooo much worse. 😈😈😈 And making it track 19 on an album she released when SHE was 32, the age he was back then...I mean come on. God I love her mind.

In Miss Americana, Taylor talks about this desire of always being a "good girl". And I think even though she's grown and for the majority, has moved on from this relationship, the memory and thought of something that robbed her of her innocence and caused her to commit a "sin" probably still haunts her. This album is called Midnights, and includes songs about what she thinks of at midnight. So, I think it's such a personal and emotional song. I'm sure she thinks sometimes at night, if she never gave in to the devil or to this relationship, what would've or could've happened.

The way I cannot listen to this song without crying and yet I've never lived anything like this, the line "Give me back my girlhood it was mine first" hits so hard

The fact that Taylor told her fans not to give him hate when Speak Now (TV) came out just shows how classy and mature she is, especially after how badly he treated her.

How I interpret "memories feel like weapons" is like intrusive thoughts of that time. I relate to this a lot, as I sometimes have intrusive thoughts of things in my past that I actively try to forget, but I can never forget them.

This lady has been a genius level songwriter since the beginning of her career. She is a once in a generation level talent. I’m 53 and it’s one been one of the great joys of my life to see this talent flower…

When I heard the lyric 'Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" I broke down. My younger self is crying. My older self is giving my younger self a hug and Taylor's music is a balm that placed into words.

Would LOOOVE to see more content like this from you Audrey! I'm a single 24-year-old gal who has not yet been in a relationship and it's so valuable to hear advice and perspectives from someone who has gone through it and has learned the hard lessons ♥ Wisdom deserves to be shared!

Taylor really has a lot of songs that make me sad and even cry But WCS? That is the song that broke me, it makes me absolutely sob. It gave me the ability to cry on command It's the kind of song that I can't always listen to because it can be quite overwhelming The way she brings up trauma and describes it so perfectly.... It hits hard and the bridge- Her screaming "give me back my girlhood it was mine first" and it sounds like a child stomping her feet throwing a 'tantrum' because "it's mine first!" And she nails it. The emotions. The vocals. The vocals to match that emotion she wants to deliver. Oof just oof. This is her saddest song imo (and then she released You're Losing Me 😂)

So apparently this song came about after the 2021 Grammys (where Taylor won album of the year for Folklore) because John Mayer was performing there. People noted at the time that he looked kinda out of it, speculating that he was drunk or high. I can only imagine Taylor sitting there in the audience, almost the same age he was when they were together, having this trigger and onslaught of bad memories. I hope that she’s healed, but I can see how that could lead to this sort of intense surge of anger/regret bc you were ok but suddenly remember and go “y’know, that was actually so fucked up, I hate that it still bothers me”. Bc she probably never got the chance to express true anger at the situation back then bc she was stuck in the ‘America’s Sweetheart’ image. Hope she got it out of her system now tho and can truly put it to rest. On a lighter note tho, I wonder if that was the night Aaron Dessner found out about that whole thing or if Taylor just got home and was like “fire up a funky guitar riff, I got some shit to say!” with no additional context 😂

Notice how in Would've Could've Should've Taylor goes over all the Would've and the Could've.... But she doesn't mention "should've" Because that one she already expressed in Dear John "I should've known"

For me the lines "I'm scared of ghosts", "memories feel like weapons" and "stained glass windows in my mind" scream traumatized. The age gap is a part of the situation, but I think she also struggled a lot with the back and forth, the love and then the denying of that love. If you pay attention to the rest of her songs, the ones she wrote when they were together, you can see how deeply she believed in that relationship and in him, and then he left her and acted as if nothing happened (at least that's what I get from the songs). I think that must have been a big shock for her. You can see this in songs that aren't about him, from the archer to anti-hero and a million other songs, she's always talking about how hard it is for her to trust people and to trust that the relationships (not only romantic ones) will work.

Regarding the "Now that I'm grown, I'm scared of ghosts" line: The way I see it is that even though Taylor's older and wiser now, John still haunts her as an omnipresent ghost (emphasided with the "I fight with you in my sleep" line), his presence alone is something she's scared of, but the "memories" that come with him "feel like weapons", making the situation even worse.

Yes. Absolutely yes. Please be real like this more often. I come from a very abusive past and have PTSD, depression, and anxiety because of it. Talking about these issues, talking about painful and uncomfortable subjects, being open and honest, all of it, helps us to heal, to learn from each other, WITH each other. Taylor uses her music to heal. I have always loved how transparent she is, how unafraid she is to be herself

"memories feel like weapons" for me means that something that should be nostalgic and warm when you think about it makes you hurt instead. We all have this moment when you're just going about you day and suddenly something triggers a memory of some bad thing from your past and you almost feel attacked by this memory because you would rather forget it, but you can't.

OMG the motherhood energy of this VDO is off the roof 😂. I love your reaction sm.

What people don’t really know about Midnights is that the songs are written based on thoughts she’s had at Midnight over the years. Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve was based on thoughts she had when she and John broke up. She regretted him because of all the hurt she’d gone through with him. Now that she’s grown and moved on, she can look back and see all the problems and she can see how bad it was. She’s showing the emotion that Speak Now Taylor had while speaking from a current Taylor perspective.

ive always interpreted the line "memories feel like weapons" as a ptsd thing. one of the main symptoms is flashing back to the traumatic event and having it replay in your mind in a way that makes you feel like you have no control and are experiencing the same feelings over and over again. it makes you feel that your own memories aren't safe because they are the things hurting you and bringing you back to the most painful moments.

The guitar is purposely meant to sound like his song. She made Never Gettin Back Together super pop because that guy hated pop music. 😂

I feel like she writes about how this past relationship has impacted her in the present day in The Great War “and maybe it’s the past that’s talking, screaming from the crypt, telling me to punish you for things you never did”. She references tearing banners down in this song too, it feels like echos of past trauma.

She took the note further when she was younger, it was still fresh in her memory

The best part is that she keeps saying "should've" in Dear John but in Would've Could've Should've she says both would've and could've but never should've.

Not only is she using the stain glass analogy to talk about how she feels looking back, but also, at the time she was with John Mayer he was living in a remodeled church that still had the stain glass windows. It’s imagery that probably reminds her of John + her feeling of having upset god in some way for being with him. It’s a lot of guilt mixed in with sadness. This song hits so hard. And it’s even harder knowing that right after John she repeated the pattern dating Jake gyllenghal that was also older and also made her feel bad about their age difference. Probably John created a pattern in her mind that took years to break out of hence the “I miss who I used to be” and the “give me back my girlhood”.

So, Taylor had 2 bad relationships back to back and “give me back my girlhood it was mine first” I think refers to that idea naive romantic love- if you look at Red as an album, that is when the Cynicism comes in and the more realistic songs above love come in. It’s more grey and less black and white/optimistic. And “memories feel like weapons” - to me this means that both the good and the bad things in their relationship can be used to hurt each other.

You getting a bit more personal really hit home with me. I didn't grow up in an outright abusive home, but I always felt like something was missing. Over time I came to realise I learned to hide my emotions, my enthusiasm. Couldn't express myself as a fan of something if I couldn't explain why it was 'good'' or important to me. And you just made me realise that I haven't let it go yet. So thank you for sharing your thoughts. Now I will be aware of the fact that I could focus on letting it go and moving on, instead of hanging on to how unfair that felt.

The line "girlhood" "19" and "regret all the time" hit hard

The live version of this song is 🔥🔥🔥

It seems that "Superman" is also about him

She wrote would've could've should've after having to watch him perform during the 2020 Grammys I think. Such a powerful song. I hope it gave her closure for herself.

Taylor processes through her lyrics and that leads to healing.

When it comes to Swifties, we will always appreciate and enjoy going deeper and fleshing things out fully. It’s the core of why we love Taylor so much 🩵

memories feel like weapons because weapons hurt people and the memories are hurt.

these 2 songs are easily the best songs on the album and some of y favourite of all time

I happened to be at the Minneapolis show, night 2, and got to witness Dear John live! This was such a crazy thing for us Swifties, the crowd lost our minds!

I came for the reaction and stayed for the therapy session, loved that lol

This is the beauty of Taylor, her beautiful songwriting and storytelling, the way she delivers it, and her willingness to share her life which has been so beneficial to so many of us. I'm pretty sure their relationship only lasted a few months but the beginnings are the most heavenly part and then he did to her what he did to the other women he's been with, he just shuts off after he has gotten you to fall for him and you think it's your fault but he's done it many many times. I agree that he also has a past history with his demons and his fear of commitment. So in that way, he's a victim of his early life also. Loved your video and your letting us get to know you better and I'm so happy you are getting to know Taylor in depth.

This song hits hard. I was in a very difficult relationship at 19 to almost 23(he stalked me for years and threatened to kill me when I left) and it is def relatable. I absolutely understand the loss of innocence and regret, because it changed you forever. You move on, but getting back to who you were is not always possible. Our experiences shape us. To me the ghosts and memories like weapons are good descriptions of the Flash backs that are both scary and physically hurt.

wcs is one of my favorite taylor songs because of how relatable it is for me. my dad was very emotionally/verbally/physically abusive to me throughout my entire childhood and so many of these lyrics hit me in my soul. the first time i heard it, the bridge especially made me burst into tears. “i can’t let this go” “the tomb won’t close” “i fight with you in my sleep” “the wound won’t close” “if clarity’s in death then why won’t this die” “give me back my girlhood it was mine first” it’s like she’s saying she wants so desperately for this not to be a thing that still affects her, but she doesn’t know how to make that happen. like he hurt her so deeply it’s now become part of who she is. “god rest my soul” - help me let this go.

I never thought about not missing my inocent version. You saying that now we are wiser and aware really made sense to me. It helped

Thank you for showing your vulnerability ❤❤ I love when reactors talk about how they relate to a song and their perspectives. And with some artists, like Taylor Swift, that can lead to some deep conversations and I'm all for that!

Your little speech to her younger self was so fantastic and I was so excited you would get to hear would’ve could’ve should’ve right after and know she got it with time ❤️

Maybe this 2nd song was the catalyst that helped her heal! My hope is now she doesn’t feel that way anymore and can now see that she is who she is from what she learned from that messed up relationship!! ❤

One thing to point out is that in would’ve could’ve should’ve you hear the would’ve’s and could’ve’s but the should’ve’s are in dear John

She says it in her song about getting him where it hurts, but I believe that's just fantasy. Because she has made it clear to her fans to leave him alone.

3:48 SAID IT PERFECTLYYY

The girlhood line hits so close to home. Also would love a reaction like this to bigger than the whole sky, this is me trying, the great war and you're on your own kid

I don't normally comment on videos, but I absolutely loved this video. Your vulnerability speaks volumes. Being a long term swiftie, it has always pissed me off how the media never acknowledged that Taylor was a victim in this relationship. The way you straight up pointed that out with no hesitation, made my heart swell and my respect for you grow. This is probably my favorite video from your channel of all time. Thank you for taking a chance to show us this side of you

Both songs hit me super hard, honestly. When I was 22, I dated a 32yo. There’s a big difference between her age and mine-between 19 and 22-obviously, but still. I think it’s important that she wrote this when she was 32, the age he was. Like…she reached his age and looked back and it hit her how messed up it was. The same thing happened to me when I reached his age (…which is also when the song came out, because I’m Taylor’s age). I didn’t realize at the time that our relationship was unhealthy. With my family background, it all felt very normal. It wasn’t until I dumped him that I realized it was thoroughly fucked, y’know? Learned a lot, though, exactly like you said. For example, if a guy only has ‘crazy exes,’ that’s a 🚩 >_>;; And if a guy says that he has trauma around rejection and uses that to make you feel guilty about saying no to things, ummm… Yeah, that’s a him problem. Honestly, if I’d been in that relationship at 19, though, those lessons would have been MUCH harder. 😬

You need to watch the live concert of this. It is so much deeper to see her sing it.

i was never in an abusive relationship or anything like that, but when i was 13 i was harassed by my friend's older counsin who was like 20 something and had just had a baby. even now, five years later, i remember feeling terrified cause we were all sleeping in the same room during the trip, so when this song came out and i realized i could relate to the lyrics way more than i expected to, i broke down crying. the line "give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" always gives me the chills cause i remember how i had never been so scared before, at least not for a reason like this, and until then i hadn't realized that it was an actual possible thing to be scared of

The editing on this is top tier

'Give me back my girlhood ,it was mine first' is so sad. He was 32 and she was 19 when he stole her virginity. Taylor is so strong!

I love that you’re becoming a swiftie! Us older ladies love her too!

Dear John live from the Speak Now World Tour is INSANE

Your deep thoughts were so spot on. As a 43 year old woman who has healed from the past, I relate to what you said about letting go so much. ❤

this was profound... i'd love to hear you talk more about these deep topics... when does the podcast stars? 😂

It was a beautiful and reflective reaction, thank you for this and for sharing your feeling with us ❤

Stained glass windows- Mayer was living in a condo in a rehabbed church and his LR had stained glass windows in it.

Would've, Could've, Should've almost sounds like the stages of a breakdown about something. You go from being incredibly angry, which is that dark sound of the song, to completely breaking down about it which is the sound of the heartbreak in the bridge. I love all these reactions you're doing!!

So the way I see it, Would've Could've Should've is about how much the relationship affected her personality as a whole. 19 is the age where you're becoming an adult and saying goodbye to your childhood. I think for her, having a bad relationship at that age, meant having that transition ripped from her. So she never got the chance to make a decision over things that may be seen as indicative of innocence. I think it's a song about how he robbed her of that moment of finding herself as an adult, and the fact that it was very much public didn't help either. So when she mentions the "crisis of faith" she's both literally talking about how she used to be very religious and that relationship drove her away from that aspect of her life but also how her innocence was taken from her by someone else. I think the "give me back my girlhood" line isn't necessarily about her virginity like some say, but about her innocence. She's mourning now, because she couldn't mourn then. Also, "would've, could've, should've" can be a reference to the grief stages (would = negotiation, could = denial, should = anger)

PLEASE PLEASE REACT TO THE LIVE SPEAK NOW TOUR VERSION OF THIS! ITS STUNNING, HER VOICE IS SO THEATRICAL

To me “the tomb won’t close”, “stained glass windows in my mind”- to me that tells me that she has a mental altar to her pain that she can’t help but mourn before. So much that it’s become it’s own cathedral of pain born of that situation.

As an 18 year old currently living through the far end of exactly when you are talking about and relating so incredibly closely I LOVE this video it feels like I’m getting the loving mom talk I never properly got and it is SOOO healing ❤❤❤ I love this video and I do also watch your husbands content and would love more of these topics from you so so much ❤

26:40 this song talks a lot about trauma and describes it really well Both "I'm scared of ghosts" and "memories feel like weapons" are very telling of experiencing a traumatic experience, especially at such a young age But I think it also ties in to another element that is prominent in the song Me, I'm Jewish so I don't know a lot about it, but from a lot of reactors and my knowledge of Taylor and how she grew up religious- she might also be making references to Christianity purity culture She talks about god and religion multiple times throughout the song, she seems scared that she lost her way, I don't know enough about growing up in Christianity during that time in order to inform someone else about it specifically but it does seem like she might be referring to that and that is why she's scared of the past haunting her Multiple reactors mentioned it and talked about it and the subject at length via this song and shared their experiences... i highly recommend watching other people analysing this song bc sadly, me included, a lot of us can relate to it

“Stained glass windows in my mind” - John lived in a renovated church when dating Taylor, there were stained glass windows in the apt.

I really liked this deeper dive and the personal stories you shared. I would absolutely love to hear more stories if there are things that you're willing to share with us. So yeah, i vote for more videos like this. It was wonderful ( and sad) to hear how you could relate to the lyrics on top of us learning a bit about HOW she is singing the lyrics. I'm a random internet stranger but I really really enjoyed this video. Hope to see more videos like this, in the future, on this channel.

As someone who has just found out that she suffered from grooming, it was like a full pale of cold water was thrown at my face. Being young and naive, you're expected to be reckless and stupid at times because that's the point of growing up but to realize that someone has taken advantage of you just because you were young, forgiving, naive is deeply scary and heartbreaking. That line, when I heard it, was brutal and sad. I did not hear taylor singing it but I heard almost a war cry. It wasn't glorious to talk about something that inflicted trauma on you while growing up, it did not feel like she was taking on a fight and winning; it felt desperate almost. She was desperate to take back something that the relationship took from her and she knows she'll never get back. It was almost like she was bargaining to have it back. It was like "please, I had first. I meant to keep it and I know I believed you before but it was supposed to be mine to give to someone who would treat me the way I deserved to but you didn't do that so can I please have it back?" type of cry. I don't think people realizes how sad this line and how much this explains probably half of her personality. Out of all the messed up things that happened, this probably is the one that made her grow up the fastest when she was meant to enjoy her younger years like a normal teenager should. Acceptance is key but so is forgiving but how do you forgive someone who does not acknowledge their mistake?

This was amazing I would love to see more like this in the future!💕 Some that I would love to see would be Tolerate It and This is Me Trying if you haven’t reacted to those yet!

I think the line "I missed who I used to be" is referring to how that relationship kinda scarred her perception of love and her feeling of safety in relationships. Her early albums contain a lot of fairy tail love stories that are naive but also pure. Then In many songs after Dear John she touches on how she struggles with self sabotaging good relationships while also chasing the more toxic ones. Songs like 'Red' and 'All Too Well' talk about how she was addicted to the 'passionate' relationships that come with the fighting. And how then when she was in healthier relationships she would get bored or scared it would change. So she felt like her ability to love in a healthy way was damaged.

And yes, seeing this side of you was heartwarming, and loved and agreed with everything you said! Taylor does that to us, she makes us feel things. :)

I think when she says she misses who she used to be, she means the person she was before he came into her life

One thing I really like about Midnights specifically is that each song was written about, and possibly during, different times throughout her life. Not everything is current or recent. We don't know when this was written, but I do remember seeing her say that she didn't care anymore about what happened when she was 19. Obviously, I know that was mainly targeted toward swifties that feel the need to attack her exes online for her. But it's so nice to see her grown and able to reflect and be sad or resentful about it, but also have the maturity and grace to move from it. And it's good to see how happy she is with where she is now

This is the power of Taylor's lyrics!!!

“…When I was 32” GIRL I ASSUMED YOU WERE IN YOUR LATE 20’s 😩😂

Based on her most recent 4 albums, I'm pretty sure Taylor has moved on and let go of her bad past relationships. Would've Could've Should've comes from a sort of unique circumstance: a piece I think you were missing when you made this video is that Taylor is now 32, the age John Mayer was when he dated her at 19. So I would say she has moved on from it and healed, but turning 32 tore the wound back open a little bit, just having the confirmation of knowing that John knew exactly how predatory his behavior was, because at 32, reflecting on her 19-year-old self, it's crystal clear how young she was. There's no way that at 32, he didn't know the same thing. And that new perspective renewed her anger and grief over the relationship, just like how if you lost a parent when you were young, even if you have generally healed, you'd feel fresh grief at major life events, like graduation, marriage, and the birth of a child, that your parent should have been there for. By the way, the apartment John Mayer lived in at the time that they dated was part of an old church building, and there were stained glass windows in it. There definitely are religious themes, but the stained glass windows are probably doing double duty as imagery of what the places this relationship occurred in looked like in addition to being religious imagery. As far as anyone is aware, John Mayer was the first time she was in any kind of abusive relationship, so I don't think it was like your experience of seeking familiar things. The way I understand it is that in Debut and Fearless, she was legitimately innocent; she was very young, she loved romance novels and movies, and didn't have very much dating experience. When she wrote love songs and break up songs, some of it came from personal experience, but she's said that a lot of it came from the stories she heard, which is part of why there was so much storybook romance in those two eras. You'll notice that the album after this relationship - Red - has a much more complicated perspective on love and relationships. It feels more real, it talks not just about bad breakups, but about bad relationships. John Mayer was a guy she had really looked up to, as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, so of course she wanted to meet him and talk to him, and when he showed romantic interest, of course she was flattered! I wonder if her love of romance stories worked against her in this - there's a ton of glorification of abusive behaviors in romance novels. Some people think the "girlhood" she was talking about was her virginity, but I think it's probably about that innocent belief in storybook romances and love fixing people and that sort of thing. It could always be both, of course.

It pops up exactly 19 hours later. So I think I have to watch this, as a proud Taywitch daughter that I am

My favourite thing is that Dear John ( letter) is a term with the definition a wife or girlfriend that is informing him that their relationship is over. So technically she isn’t saying it’s about John but she is using the term dear John. And I just think that is so freaking smart!

I've been binging your videos all night & I love your reactions, vocal analysis, AND tidbits of your life. hearing these (unfortunately) universal experiences expressed in a song is so cathartic (thank you taylor for doing god's work). & on top of that, seeing other women relate & use these songs to heal from their own experiences is so therapeutic. also, hearing from you that it DOES get better as you get older, to not spend time holding grief & anger & sadness from past mistakes, is so healing as well. sorry I love your channel LOL 💗

OK so 1. I really appreciate your vulnerability and the genuineness of it. I really feel that Taylor‘s music brings that out in us because she writes things that so many of us have experienced before in someway shape or form and that it’s like having group, friggin therapy together, whenever you dive into her music and so while I appreciate your vocal analysis lots I don’t think that it’s unwelcome to also have a vulnerable side to your content if the mood strikes you. 2. The “now that I’m grown I’m scared of ghosts” she’s written in other songs about how she has carried the baggage and the fears and the hurts from her past relationships into new ones and kind of self sabotaged. She’s also a serial overthinker. 3. “Memories feel like weapons” is one of the most viscerally painful lyrics I think she’s written because there are memories that we (or people like me) to try bury because, when we remember them in detail, it’s like being stabbed by a blunt a blunt instrument 4. Side note: you can hear a stadium full of group therapy when you listen to the surprise song version of “would’ve could’ve should’ve”. The whole stadium is screaming these lyrics back at her at her sounds like a release of trauma. 😅❤ 5. Amazing reaction. Thank you so much.

Great reactions! As much as I appreciate the vocal coach take on performances, it is nice to incorporate personal reflections on the songwriting content, especially with a writer like Swift. “Memories feel like weapons” was a great way to refer to unresolved emotional trauma, which can weaponize memories and regrets. Worth noting that in Taylor’s Anti Hero MV, which she directed, there’s a ghost in her house on a sleepless night wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy gloves that looks pretty Mayer-like. Taylor wrote WCS with musical collaboration from Aaron Dessner after they saw JM performing at the Grammys when they performed the Folklore/Evermore medley. Understandable if that combined with her re-recording Speak Now led to processing some unresolved trauma. Mayer lived in a converted church with stained glass windows when he and Swift dated, hence the stained glass windows lyrics. And props for Swift for turning the “promising young man” trope around with “promising grown man”. Swift has a gift for conveying complicated emotions through her songs - from the anxiety, anger and religious guilt associated with WCS to the anxiety over relationships and people leaving that we hear on songs like The Archer and Labyrinth.

Dear John is my favorite Taylor swift song!!! 🥰

Fun fact: John Mayer used to live in a converted church building - his condo had stained glass church windows.

Taylor always makes us go deep and I love it ❤

The stained glass windows reference is to that he is to live in a refurbished church that had stained glass windows

i am loving to watch your dive into the taylorverse LMAO it's so cool

The song with the list is blank space btw

This song hit a huge nerve on me. It was extremally personal because I think most of us girls had that jackass that we wish we could scream "give me back my girlhood it was mine first", and ironically, mine was at 19 and I held onto that relationship for seven years... He wasn't older, but he had so much more experience than I did back then, and for a while I blamed myself for what happened, and then I blamed him, and now I just don't care. This song actually helped me a lot in getting over and realizing that he wasn't a saint or a villain, he was just a jackass who needs therapy to get over his own demons, and it opened my eyes, and yes, I miss the girl I used to be, but I'm happy that no one actually stays the same and I've grown so much and I'm thankful I was stubborn enough to hang onto my faith, because it was what kept me grounded and sane throughout that relationship even though he was a "crisis of my faith" many times. Also I can so relate to the anxiety of the song.

john actually lived in a church or something like that around that time and that’s were the “stained glass windows in my mind” comes from :)

the interesting connection with the “stained glass windows” is the fact that John (at the time he was with Taylor I think?) was living in former church turned into a flat. It quite literally has stained glass windows