AP Taylor Swift

"Nice to meet you, where you been? I could show you incredible things..." In this deep dive episode, we dissect one of Taylor Swift's most iconic satirical masterpieces. From the enchanted references that bookend her career to the Shakespeare allusions hidden in plain sight, we explore how "Blank Space" operates as both brilliant satire and surprisingly authentic commentary on complex womanhood. Join us as we unpack the magic, madness, heaven, and sin of a song that dared to ask: what if we owned the narrative instead of fighting it?

Subscribe for episode updates and After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe. After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!

Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com

Mentioned in this episode:

A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare

Pretty Little Liars (TV series)

The Office (TV series)

Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

"I'm only me when I'm with you" This week on AP Taylor Swift, we're diving into an AP Lit favorite: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813). We trace Elizabeth and Jane Bennet's unshakeable sisterhood through "I'm Only Me When I'm With You," relive Darcy's catastrophically bad proposal through "Haunted," and land on "Lavender Haze" for a look at gossip, reputation, and what it means to fall in love in a world where marriage is a woman's only real option. Along the way: the literary canon, Regency courtship logistics, Bridgerton comparisons, and a debate about whether Elizabeth would be a Hinge girl.

 

Two ways to get more of AP Taylor Swift:

Substack: free subscribers get episode updates. Paid subscribers get After School: bonus episodes, our full written archive, and a vote in what we cover next.

Subscribe: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe

First 50 people to grab a Substack After School annual plan get 40% off: aptaylorswift.substack.com/wishlistmemberdiscount

Apple Podcasts: paid subscribers get ad-free episodes, early episode access, and bonus episodes

 

Songs Discussed

"I'm Only Me When I'm With You"

Taylor Swift, Track 12 (2006)

Written by: Taylor Swift, Robert Ellis Orrall, Angelo Petraglia

"Haunted"

Speak Now (2010) / Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023)

Written by: Taylor Swift

"Lavender Haze"

Midnights, Track 1 (2022)

Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Jahaan Sweet, Mark "Sounwave" Spears, Sam Dew, Zoë Kravitz

 

Honorable Mentions

Songs that almost made the cut, mentioned in conversation:

"Better Man" — floated as an alternate for Darcy's proposal scene

"Why'd You Have to Be So Mean" — floated as an alternate for Darcy and Elizabeth's early banter

 

Episode Highlights

(all timestamps approximate — please verify against the final audio before publishing)

[01:01] Setting the scene: Pride and Prejudice, published 1813, and "a truth universally acknowledged"

[06:48] "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" — Jenn's pick and the case for Jane and Elizabeth as the book's real love story

[30:36] "Haunted" — Maansi's pick, staged around the infamous first proposal

[48:24] "Lavender Haze" — Jodi's pick, tied to the novel's opening line about marriage

 

Mentioned in this episode:

Books

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen — Bookshop.org

Emma, Jane Austen — Bookshop.org

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë — Bookshop.org

Film & TV

Pride & Prejudice (2005) — JustWatch

Bridgerton — JustWatch

Theater

& Juliet (musical) — Official site

 

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

Libro.fm → use code APTS30 — libro.fm

 

Contact us at 

aptaylorswift@gmail.com

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"It's nice to believe, when you think Tim McGraw." This week on AP Taylor Swift, we're going line-by-line through Taylor Swift's "Tim McGraw" (debut, 2006) — her very first single. We trace a Chevy truck down some back roads, argue about whether "that's a lie" means something different by the end of the song than it did at the beginning, float (and mostly reject) a death theory, and land on why a 16-year-old writing about one summer might be one of the most quietly ambitious songwriting choices of her career.

 

Two ways to get more of AP Taylor Swift:

Substack: free subscribers get episode updates.

Paid subscribers get After School: bonus episodes, our full written archive, and a vote in what we cover next.

 

Subscribe: http://aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe

First 50 people to grab a Substack After School annual plan get 40% off: https://aptaylorswift.substack.com/wishlistmemberdiscount

 

Apple Podcasts: paid subscribers get ad-free episodes, early episode access, and bonus episodes

 

Mentioned in this episode:

 

Anita de Monte Laughs Last, Xóchitl González — https://bookshop.org/p/books/anita-de-monte-laughs-last-xochitl-gonzalez/19987600

The Last Song (2010) — https://reelgood.com/movie/the-last-song-2010

Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) — https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/hannah-montana-the-movie

To All the Boys I've Loved Before — https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/to-all-the-boys-ive-loved-before

The Summer I Turned Pretty — https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-summer-i-turned-pretty

Dirty Dancing (1987) — https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/danse-lascive

Grease (1978) — https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/grease

[03:38] "He said the way my blue eyes shined put those Georgia stars to shame that night. I said, that's a lie."

[05:43] "Just a boy in a Chevy truck"

[08:01] "I was right there beside him all summer long"

[10:46] "When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song"

[11:35] "When you think happiness, I hope you think that little black dress"

[15:58] "September saw a month of tears"

[19:25] "In a box beneath my bed is a letter that you've never read from three summers back"

[33:55] Purpose of the song

 

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

 

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

 

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

 

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

“Why you gotta be so mean?”

In this week’s episode of AP Taylor Swift, we put “Mean” (Speak Now), “nothing new” (Red, Taylor’s Version), and “mirrorball” (folklore) under the lens of feminist literary theory. We talk about the male gaze, the ingenue, gendered violence imagery, the punishment of “unlikeable” women, and why a song written over a decade ago can still feel like it was written yesterday.

 

Two ways to get more of AP Taylor Swift:

Substack: free subscribers get episode updates. Paid subscribers get After School: bonus episodes, our full written archive, and a vote in what we cover next.

Subscribe: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe

First 50 people to grab a Substack After School annual plan get 40% off: aptaylorswift.substack.com/wishlistmemberdiscount

Apple Podcasts: paid subscribers get ad-free episodes, early episode access, and bonus episodes.

 

Mentioned in this episode

Middlemarch, George Eliot

Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate, Anna Bogutskaya

The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood

Mean Girls (2004)

Grease (1978)

It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World, Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, San Diego State University

 

Episode Highlights

[00:23] Welcome to the Show & Tell — Women’s History Month and a primer on feminist literary theory

[04:59] “Mean” (Speak Now) — gendered weapon imagery and “you, with your words like knives and swords”

[20:37] “nothing new” (Red, Taylor’s Version) — false empowerment and “girls go out and have your fun”

[37:32] “mirrorball” (folklore) — adapting yourself for others’ approval

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

Libro.fm (code: APTS30) → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

 

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

"I don't want to keep secrets just to keep you" This week on AP Taylor Swift, we're going line-by-line through Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer" (Lover, 2019). This episode turns into a deep dive into fever dreams, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, attachment theory, and the surprising twist that the real red flag in this song might be Taylor herself.

Two ways to get more of AP Taylor Swift: 

Substack: free subscribers get episode updates. Paid subscribers get After School: bonus episodes, our full written archive, and a vote in what we cover next. 

Subscribe: http://aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe

First 50 people to grab a Substack After School annual plan get 40% off: https://aptaylorswift.substack.com/wishlistmemberdiscount 

Apple Podcasts: paid subscribers get ad-free episodes, early episode access, and bonus episodes

Mentioned in this episode:

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Romeo and Juliet

A Midsummer Night's Dream 

Attached

 

***

 

Episode Highlights: 

[04:02] How we do a deep dive 

[06:48] “Fever dream high in the quiet of the night”

[11:34] “Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes”

[13:20] “It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got”

[19:20] “Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine”

[25:10] “Cut the headlights, summer’s a knife”

[29:47] “I’m drunk in the back of the car” 

[34:15] “He looks up grinning like a devil”

[40:08] Purpose of the song 

 

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.