AP Taylor Swift

"I think I've seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending" This week we're going line-by-line through "Exile" (evermore, 2020), Taylor Swift's duet with Justin Vernon. We start with what exile actually means, exploring its meaning from the Ramayana to Napoleon, then work through both speaker's perspectives, two unreliable narrators, and a bridge full of signs nobody read. Plus a little post-colonial feminist theory on what it means to be someone's "homeland."

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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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

The Odyssey 

The Ramayana 

Episode Highlights:

[03:56] What exile actually means

[07:38] Holding all this love out here in the hall

[14:26] You're not my homeland anymore

[20:39] Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me

[26:25] I'm not your problem anymore

[36:07] I gave so many signs

[54:27] Our purposes: a duet about two people who can't communicate

Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social!

TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift

Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift

YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift

Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

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Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

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.

“You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now.” It’s spooky season! So this week, we’re exploring how horror shows up in Taylor Swift's songwriting, even when the songs are not explicitly horror songs. Jodi, Maansi, and Jenn break down the genre's core ingredients, then each bring in a Taylor Swift song to test that lens and show how fear, suspense, foreshadowing, and eerie atmosphere can reshape the way the lyrics feel. If you enjoy hearing literary concepts applied to pop music, this one maps horror, thriller, mystery, and gothic tension onto Taylor Swift in a fun and engaging way.

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 Hunger Games

This Story Might Save Your Life

The Golden Spoon

The Clockmaker’s Daughter

The Merge

Rebecca

Grendel

Beowulf

Doctor Faustus

Werewolves Within

The Cabin in the Woods

Wicked

Books from this season: https://bookshop.org/lists/season-4-books

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] The five elements of horror: fear, setting, suspense, foreshadowing, mystery
[13:01] Don’t you dare look out your window “Safe and Sound”
[22:41] I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending “Exile”
[34:19] I attend Christmas parties from the outside “I Look in People’s Windows”

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

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

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’d be a fearless leader, I’d be an alpha type." This week we're going line-by-line through Taylor Swift's "The Man" (Lover, 2019), written by Taylor Swift and Joel Little, in a literary analysis deep dive on masculinity and the gender double standard. We pick apart the conditional mood, the alpha wolf myth, the "they" who write the narrative, and how a woman's personal life gets tangled up with her professional reputation. Then we compare the music video with the Eras Tour staging and share our purposes for the song.

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:

APTS Episode 21: Show and Tell - Musicals

APTS Episode 100: Taylor Swift Songs That Transcend Time - Blank Space, New Romantics, The Man

APTS Episode 130: Alliteration in Taylor Swift's Music | "Our Song," "Call It What You Want" & More

APTS Episode 19: Show and Tell - Satire

The Canterbury Tales (the Wife of Bath), Geoffrey Chaucer

Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

Fiddler on the Roof

She's the Man (2006)

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Revenant

12 Angry Men

Miss Americana

Rudolf Schenkel's 1940s captive wolf research

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] Welcome to "The Man" (Lover, 2019), and the title: She's the Man and Beyoncé's "If I Were a Boy"

[05:14] I would be complex, I would be cool: the conditional mood, "conquest," and who the "they" are

[12:25] I'd be a fearless leader, I'd be an alpha type: personal life vs. professional reputation, and the alpha wolf myth

[21:38] When everyone believes you, what's that like? and the chorus, I'm so sick of running as fast as I can

[33:38] What I was wearing, if I was rude: verse two and the hustle double standard

[42:40] I'd be just like Leo in Saint-Tropez: Leonardo DiCaprio and "let the players play"

[47:48] It's okay if you're mad: the bridge

[55:58] The satirical music video vs. the Eras Tour performance

[1:05:28] Our purposes: permission to be mad, the personal-professional blur, and the "they"

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

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

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’ll be your father figure. In this Show and Tell episode, Jenn, Jodi, and Maansi unpack masculinity as a cultural construct, from powdered wigs and heels in 18th century France to Travis Kelce happily playing the less famous partner on New Heights.

Jenn kicks things off with Better Man, flipping every one of the ex's flaws to sketch the man Taylor actually wants (grateful, consistent, kind, and secure enough not to talk down to anyone). Jodi brings The Man and gets real about the double standards that turn a woman's "edge" into a man's ambition, plus why leaning in never quite worked. Maansi closes with Father Figure, tracing every Jaguar, chateau, and glass of brown liquor back to the patriarch. (And yes, she researched the history of dick measuring contests. For science.)

Along the way, the hosts map R.W. Connell's hegemonic masculinity, Aragorn versus Commodus, the Byronic hero, Hemingway's code hero, and the colonial baggage packed into a single word like "conquest." Pour yourself a whiskey (or don't, it tastes like fire) and press play.

Episode Highlights

00:59  Intro to the topic

11:36  Jenn's pick, Better Man, plus its Little Big Town backstory

22:35  Jodi's pick, The Man, and the rebranding of female ambition

37:48  Maansi's pick, Father Figure, and the patriarch in the title

Mentioned in This Episode
Books

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

Masculinities by R.W. Connell

When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Browse every book we've mentioned at our Bookshop.org storefront.

Films

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 

Gladiator 

Casino Royale 

The Godfather

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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

 

Intro music by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

AP Taylor Swift is an independent podcast and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Taylor Swift, her management, or her record labels.

"I took your matches before fire could catch me" This week we're going line-by-line through Taylor Swift's "Dear John" (Speak Now, 2010). We go through the WWII-era history behind the title, the epistolary letter form, and how a breakup letter becomes an act of reclaiming her own story. And surprisingly, we walk away realizing (spoiler alert) maybe this song isn’t as sad as we thought!

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 episode

Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Dear John, Nicholas Sparks (novel)

Dear John (2010 film)

"A Dear John Letter" — Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky (1953)

The Correspondent, Virginia Evans (novel)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone — wizard's chess scene

"Your Song," Elton John

AP Taylor Swift: "Dear Reader" episode 

Episode Highlights:

[01:19] Why "Dear John" is such a track five 

[01:42] What a Dear John letter actually is — the WWII-era origin of the phrase 

[05:55] "Long were the nights" 

[10:39] "You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain" 

[17:48] "don't you think I was too young to be messed with" 

[36:33] "I took your matches before fire could catch me" 

[45:53] The turn from "I should have known" to "you should have known" 

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

Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com

Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Affiliate Codes:

Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!

Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro

 

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.