AP Taylor Swift

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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Linktree

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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!

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Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift

Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts

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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.

I wanna be your end game. Roll the dice, pick your teams, and pull up a chair, because this week is all about games (decidedly not sports). Taylor reaches for game metaphors constantly, and once you start looking, you find chess boards, poker hands, and team rosters all over her catalog.

Jenn kicks things off with the big thinkers of play, from Johan Huizinga’s magic circle to Roger Caillois’s four types of play to game theory, the field that treats every board game as a tiny model of human decision making. Then Jodi takes us inside the chess game of “Dear John,” where somebody else keeps changing the rules. Jenn lays her cards on the table with “Foolish One” and explains why showing your hand first is a classic game theory mistake (hello, sucker’s payoff). Maansi closes with “End Game,” tracing “end game,” “first string,” and “A-Team” back to chess, medieval archery, and the US Army, and landing on a very different kind of game where both players finally sit on the same side of the board.

Along the way we detour through Jumanji, Lord of the Flies, Alice in Wonderland, The Queen’s Gambit, a Garry Kasparov masterclass, and the ancient Indian roots of chess. Grab your game pieces and play along!

Episode Highlights

[01:27] Jenn sets the stage with games as a core part of being human

[09:44] Jodi on “Dear John”

[22:46] Jenn on “Foolish One”

[37:28] Maansi on “End Game”

[52:57] Honorable mentions lightning round

Mentioned in This Episode

Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga

Man, Play and Games by Roger Caillois

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Mahabharata

Browse all our picks at bookshop.org/shop/apts

Film and TV

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Jumanji (1995)

The A-Team (1983)

Follow Along

Website aptaylorswift.com

Instagram @APTaylorSwift

TikTok @APTaylorSwift

YouTube @APTaylorSwift

Linktree @APTaylorSwift

Email aptaylorswift@gmail.com

Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen, and tell us your favorite game reference in the comments!

Extra Credit on Substack
We barely scratched the surface on games (we didn’t even get to video games). Find more extra credit on our Substack at aptaylorswift.substack.com, and join After School, our paid tier, for bonus content from all three of us.

 

Intro music by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

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

"They say the road gets hard, and you get lost when you're led by blind faith." This week we're going line-by-line through "False God" (Lover, 2019). We trace the blind faith, the confession and forgiveness, and the New York City vs. West Village metaphor to figure out who's the deity and who's the devotee in this relationship.

Check out more at aptaylorswift.com 

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 107: State of Grace Deep Dive

"Like a Prayer," Madonna

Arrested Development

Episode Highlights:

[00:15] What is a “false god”?
[02:27] "We were crazy to think, crazy to think that this could work" 

[08:29] "Like I'm not your favorite town... I'm New York City" 

[15:38] "You get lost when you're led by blind faith" 

[25:46] "Even if it's a false god, we'd still worship this love"

[40:09] "Heaven's a thing... hell is when I fight with you" 

[46:18] "You're the West Village"

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.

And the God's honest truth is that the pain was heaven" This week we're looking at Taylor Swift's lyrics through the lens of God as a literary symbol — the ultimate judge, the absent silent one, and the lover. Maansi brings in "Soon You'll Get Better" (Lover, 2019), Jodi covers "False God" (Lover, 2019), and Jenn digs into "Would've, Could've, Should've" (Midnights, 2022).

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:

Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Silence

Silence (2016, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Night, Elie Wiesel

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume

Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age, Fiona Maddocks

The Song of Solomon, The Bible

The poems of Emily Dickinson

Female Painters Episode

Odyssey Episode

Greek Mythology Episode

Episode Highlights:

[01:00] God as a literary symbol:

[13:23] "Soon You'll Get Better"

[26:46] "False God"

[37:29] "Would've, Could've, Should've"

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.