Taylor Swift's music has given a voice to millions of people who've found the narrative arcs of their own lives in Swift's endlessly engaging songs. With Swiftory, two Gen X besties - Alicia, from Trashy Divorces, and Melissa, from Love Letters To... - have a whole new take on Taylor's work, exploring the music as it is, but also as the duo sees it best: as a lens into history.
If Taylor's greatest gift is the universality of her experiences, join Alicia and Melissa as they follow those experiences to all the places, personalities, and eras where they lead - and share your takes along the way.
As always, we want your Midnights. Reach out at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com.
Sharing good things happening in the world is essential and in this episode Alicia wants you to know about the good thing going on with Brigid Kaelin. Brigid, talented out the wazoo, is breaking down Taylor Swift's songs on her YouTube channel, and you will never hear Taylor's music the same way again.
Check Brigid out here! And the entire Taylor playlist here!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
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This week Alicia is joined by author Misty L. Heggeness as
we discuss her new release SWIFTYNOMICS:
How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy. Join us for this far-reaching conversation on the dynamics of women on our local and global economies the with Taylor Swift as a muse.
Find out more:
https://www.mistyheggeness.com/
https://thecareboard.org/
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
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What a month to be a Swiftie! Alicia checks in with all the Taylor joy in December, including the Colbert appearance, the docuseries, and final film. And maybe a little clowning?
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
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Sharing good things happening in the world is essential and in this episode Alicia wants you to know about the good thing going on with Brigid Kaelin. Brigid, talented out the wazoo, is breaking down Taylor Swift's songs on her YouTube channel, and you will never hear Taylor's music the same way again.
Check Brigid out here! And the entire Taylor playlist here!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week Alicia is joined by author Misty L. Heggeness as
we discuss her new release SWIFTYNOMICS:
How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy. Join us for this far-reaching conversation on the dynamics of women on our local and global economies the with Taylor Swift as a muse.
Find out more:
https://www.mistyheggeness.com/
https://thecareboard.org/
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What a month to be a Swiftie! Alicia checks in with all the Taylor joy in December, including the Colbert appearance, the docuseries, and final film. And maybe a little clowning?
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dr. Alicia King Anderson joins Alicia this week as we continue our 12 Days of a Showgirl tour! It is time for the spotlight to shine on track one “The Fate of Ophelia’. There is so much layered into this one – from the real characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the twists of changing the course of fate, this bop really delivers.
Get to know Dr. Alicia King Anderson!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - The Fate of Ophelia (Official Music Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - The Fate of Ophelia (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
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Our December journey begins! This month we will be breaking down each track of Taylor Swift's twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl. Today, we start with track seven "Actually Romantic" which does promote a certain attitude, but becomes even more interesting when we view the song as an evolution through Swift's work on the theme of perception, feedback, and criticism.
Please join the fun this month with your thoughts on the game (introduced in the episode) we are playing with TS12. Send your themes and thoughts to swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave a message at 404-594-3658.
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Alicia's taking over *all* the podcasts this week, with the stories and spiderwebs of screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor. In this week's musically-themed episode, Alicia breaks down some of the lyrics in Taylor Swift's new track, Elizabeth Taylor, from her album The Life of a Showgirl. From Portofino to the very best table at Musso & Frank's, certain themes resonate across these two titanic figures in American pop culture - and leave our podcasts absolutely covered in spiderwebs.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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Alicia has now had a week to process album The Life of a Showgirl, and wow – there is a lot happening in 42 minutes of twelve straight bops. Taylor has done something incredible in this release, and this episode provides the foundation of how we are going to unfold the magic of TS 12 on Swiftory. It is a little bit Big Magic from Elizabeth Gilbert, and a little bit the Folklore track “Mirrorball” as we set up the themes of TLOAS and the evolution of Taylor Swift.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at
swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
Sources and Related Links:
Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
All 274 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling Stone, April 2024.
Mirrorball Lyric Version
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski
(Amazon.com)
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Welcome to the finale of the love affair of Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, today’s Trashy Royals crossover.
When Elizabeth assumed the throne in 1558, she made it clear to the members of her court that they shouldn’t plan to have their wives or female companions around the place. She intended to be singular as she consolidated power, but perhaps she had another motive as well; by banishing the wives, Robert Dudley, newly appointed Master of the Horse to Her Majesty the Queen, was not required to send for his wife, Amy Robsart, to join him in London.
Elizabeth and Robert were not overly discreet in their enjoyment of one another’s company, while the young queen’s advisors, especially William Cecil, her Secretary of State, grew more and more insistent that Elizabeth find a suitable strategic marriage to enter into with some titled European. This, of course, was not to be. Her relationship with Robert became such a scandal that Cecil himself decided it would cause her government to fall, and everything carried on very precariously until the morning of September 8, 1560, when Amy Robsart was discovered dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs at her home at Cumnor Place. The scandal banished Robert from court for more than a year, and while he and Elizabeth remained close for the rest of his life, the intense romance that characterized the beginnings of her reign was over.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory
stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com
or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
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While Queen Elizabeth I of England famously never married, her close relationship with Robert Dudley began when the two were small children together in the court of Henry VIII. Elizabeth was a princess who was downgraded to a lady after her mother, Anne Boleyn’s, death. Robert was the grandson of an advisor to King Henry VII who was executed for treason upon the ascension of Henry VIII, forcing the Dudley family to struggle mightily to rehabilitate its noble image at court.
All of which is to say that these two could really relate to each other, tossed about as they were by their families’ fortunes and the whims of a King both had reasons to love and hate. But when Mary I seized the throne in 1553, everything changed for both of them. Robert’s father had engineered the ascension of Lady Jane Grey, his daughter in law, to the throne over Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, and after The Nine Days’ Queen was deposed, the male Dudleys were imprisoned in the Tower of London, condemned to death.
Catholic Mary also imprisoned her protestant half-sister Elizabeth, fearing a credible challenge to her reign. Alicia imagines – with the help of some Taylor Swift lyrics – what the months Elizabeth and Robert spent together in The Tower must have been like, doomed as they both believed themselves to be, confidants since they were toddlers.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory
stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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Alicia takes it super high level this week for her best intuition about what might be going down on The Life of a Showgirl. Part of the fun of being in a Swiftie is the clowning, and Alicia has a feeling that each track may correspond to an actual era. Tune in for the maybe details of how it
all breaks down in Alicia’s heart, and wishing YOU the very best new era release possible!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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Swiftorians, what an episode this is! Alicia is finally catching up with Listener Letters from all the way back, with so many poignant themes. Sad songs, heartbreak songs, and a historical bend too! We always love a little Tudor action around here. Also included, the winners of our book giveaway of Dear Reader by Viktoria Capek too!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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In this surprise Swiftory episode, Alicia dusts off a vintage file to dig into the song “Happiness” from Evermore. This blast from the past, recorded with Stacie years ago, connects through the current storylines this week on both Trashy Divorces and Done and Dunne as the life, loves, and literature of F. Scott Fitzgerald were featured. This sad elegy to the past relationships has many references to The Great Gatsby and the lives of Scott and Zelda, but on a larger level provides a guiding light for getting through a breakup.
Check out the full Scott & Zelda saga at Trashy Divorces.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
All 274 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling Stone, April 2024.
Taylor Swift - happiness (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
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What a day, friends! In this episode, Alicia began with all the rumors surrounding a potential Taylor Swift movie coming to theaters, which happened by the time recording was done! Tune in to find out the rumored details, followed by the facts we know as of this moment. The Swift news is happening fast these days!
Tickets are on sale now for the limited showings of The Official Release Party for Life of A Showgirl! Also included in this episode is a listener giveaway! Send your name to swiftorypodcast@gmail.com to enter to win!
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In this episode, Alicia is joined by Viktoria Capek, author of Dear Reader: An Immersive Literary Journey Through Taylor Swift’s Lyrics - now available at your local bookseller! This book is a delightful gem of an interactive journal blending literature and lyrics, uniting Taylor Swift’s worlds of storytelling and songwriting in a new and unique way. In this episode, Viktoria gives us tour through her songs, eras, and inspiration into making this magical release.
Buy the Book! Dear Reader: An Immersive Literary Journey Through Taylor Swift's Lyrics, by Viktoria Capek
Sign up for the Class!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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In today’s episode, we harken back to November 2009 when Taylor Swift hosted Saturday Night Live with perhaps the very best musical monologue in SNL’s history, appropriately enough titled “Monologue Song (La la la).” Stacie joins Alicia in this one for the song’s history and lyrics, in anticipation of a special Trashy Divorces episode coming this weekend about the teenage breakup of Taylor and Joe Jonas, one of the guys that Swift sings about in this very polite diss track.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift Monologue Song - SNL (YouTube)
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This week we give a lot of love to grandmothers. Taylor Swift wrote a beautiful song for her grandmother Marjorie Finlay, released as Track 13 on Evermore. In this episode we explore a little bit about Marjorie’s life and legacy as well take a look at the lyrics of the song, full of literary devices, remembrance and love too.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift on writing "Marjorie" (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - marjorie (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
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On the heels of the last episode in which we explored the Folklore Love Triangle, this week seemed like the perfect time for a little surprise episode about 1989’s Track 10 banger, “How You Get the Girl”. This is Taylor Swift coaching every dumb boy on how to get the girl back after he broke her heart in the first place.
Taylor Swift: The Stories
Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski
(Amazon.com)
All
274 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling
Stone, April 2024.
HYGTG
Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnwD7veCoFQ
HYGTG, Grammy
Museum – September 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXMLz8VRU1w
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In today’s episode, we harken back to the Folklore album to get into all the messy teenage drama of Augustine, Betty and James. Taylor writes three songs that unfold this teenage love triangle, August, Betty and Cardigan. Alicia takes you through the details of each track and then details the lyrics for all of the angst and bad decision making. Also, many thoughts about James, who could have done better.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
All 274 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling Stone, April 2024.
Taylor Swift talking about august (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - august (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - betty (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - cardigan (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - august (folklore: the long pond studio sessions) HQ video (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - betty (folklore: the long pond studio sessions) (Live/2020) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - cardigan (folklore: long pond studio sessions) (Live/2020) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - betty (Live from the 2020 Academy of Country Music Awards) (YouTube)
Sources
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this super-fast emergency episode, Alicia is dropping everything we know about Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, so far! We all moved Monday night with the countdown, and from that moment it seems collective orange and green fever has swept the world.
Clever Taylor was dropping hints for years about this album that now make so much more sense. Join Alicia for this ride of what we know right now, and send your thoughts and theories to swiftorypodcast@gmail.com to be included in the follow-up episode!
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Crystal Haryanto joins Alicia and Melissa this week for a discussion about her book, The Glory of Giving Everything: The Taylor Swift Business Model. Crystal shares so much about the book as well as her work as the founder of UC Berkeley’s globally recognized course “Artistry, Policy, & Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version”.
THE GLORY OF GIVING EVERYTHING: The Taylor Swift Business Model
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It’s a mash-up episode this week, with Alicia bringing you all the details on “The 1” from Folklore, and its musical journey this summer with the Counting Crows. Adam Duritz is using this Taylor Swift song as a compliment to his “A Long December” on tour this summer. What is the story of these songs, and why do they blend so well together?
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
What does "the 1" by Taylor Swift mean? (popsongprofessor.com)
Counting Crows' 'A Long December' Is The Best Holiday Song (uproxx.com)
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets, by Rachel Feder and Tiffany Tatreau (Amazon)
Songs
Taylor Swift - the 1 (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
taylor swift - the 1 (folklore: the long pond studio session) (YouTube)
Counting Crows - A Long December (Jimmy Kimmel Live) (YouTube)
Counting Crows "The 1" and "A Long December" Live on the Stern Show (YouTube)
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Join us this week as we take a little tour of New York City through Taylor Swift’s songs. Taylor’s love for this city is well known and she references many locations in The Big Apple in her lyrics. Also included, a wonderful excerpt from Dorothy Parker about the city too.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
All the NYC Spots Taylor Swift Mentions in Her Songs (thrillist.com)
Dorothy Parker on New York: Autumn is the Springtime of Big Cities (polyarchive.com)
Places / Songs
Chelsea Hotel / Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Central Park Lake / Taylor Swift - The Bolter (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Cornelia Street / Taylor Swift - Cornelia Street (Live From Paris) Lyrics (YouTube)
Lovers of Today / Taylor Swift - Delicate (Lyrics) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer (Lyrics) (YouTube)
The High Line / Taylor Swift - cardigan (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Olive Garden / Taylor Swift - no body, no crime (Official Lyric Video) ft. HAIM (YouTube)
Coney Island / Taylor Swift - coney island (Lyric Video) ft. The National (YouTube)
Bus Stop Cafe / Taylor Swift - the 1 (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Housing Works Bookstore / Taylor Swift - All Too Well: The Short Film (YouTube)
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In today’s Swiftory journey, Alicia is joined by Alicia King Anderson Ph.D., our resident expert in all things mythology. The Mad Cassandra is our focus this week – the woman who was always correct in her prophecy but never believed. Dr. Alicia leads Swiftory Alicia through Cassandra’s story and then the script is flipped, as Swiftory Alicia reveals the song “Cassandra” from Taylor Swift from The Tortured Poets Department. This one contains multitudes connecting this ever-persistent theme through the centuries.
Find more of Alicia K. Anderson, Ph.D. in these links:
Alicia's Patreon
Her upcoming class on "The Dark Feminine for Dark Times"Fairy Tale Retellings now available for pre-order!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this little bit of a teaser episode for next week, Alicia is joined by her Trashy Divorces and Trashy Royals co-host Stacie, to break down “The Prophecy,” the track 26 bombshell from TTPD: The Anthology. With a little look ahead to our special guest next week breaking down the mythology of Cassandra, this is a bit of pre-requisite listening.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
All 274 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling Stone, April 2024.
Taylor Swift - The Prophecy (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Behind the Meaning of Taylor Swift's Plea to a Higher Power, "The Prophecy" (americansongwriter.com)
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In this kickoff to summer, Alicia and Melissa celebrate Taylor owning her Masters (finally)! But there is so much more. Play along with our quiz this week – Swift or Shakespeare?
Alicia brings thirty one lines that are packed with literary power for a quick with zero stakes whatsoever. It’s the playing along that is the fun!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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Alicia and Melissa were thrilled to have a chance to speak with Kevin Evers, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review and author of There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift. Kevin really brought the goods to Swiftory this week speaking about what makes Swift the savviest decision maker and disruptor of our time.
This conversation was truly a delight, exploring a variety of topics including Swift’s consistent ability to reinvent herself, devotion to the craft, and commitment to the fan experience. We fan out a bit too with theories and the Eras Tour experiences as well.
Swiftorians – we LOVED this work: it was a whole new way to get to know Taylor Swift.
Find the book here:
There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift (Bookshop.org)
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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In our BIG finale of All Songs Anne Boleyn week, there could be no other song to send this Queen of England into her afterlife. Our featured song this week is “My Tears Ricochet” from Taylor Swift’s 2020 Folklore album. Alicia breaks down this haunting, ghostly classic from Taylor’s point of view in the first half, and then switches the focus to Anne Boleyn for the second half. Truly Shakespearean in its themes and imagery, My Tears Ricochet could describe no other than this murdered queen.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets, by Rachel Feder and Tiffany Tatreau (Amazon)
Lyric Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWbDJFtHl3w
Long Pond Studio Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idjs-hw7Spg
My Tears Ricochet Long Pond Session Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xIm5mALut8
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In this continuing arc of Anne Boleyn’s Swiftory Playlist, Alicia continues with songs three and four of Anne’s traumatic 1536, "False God" and "If This Was a Movie". These choices, from Lover and Speak Now respectively, provide an insight into Anne’s thoughts and feeling through this very difficult year, taking her up to the final days of her life.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Who is Taylor Praying to? Complete "False God" Analysis (swiftlysungstories.com)
False God Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t63MeBe2xYU
False God Live SNL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjD3LoXp-Pw
False God Live From Paris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLZuAXAGEH4
If This Was a Movie Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh6a6vDOFzE
If This Was a Movie Lyric Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cf2J4BPEeM
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In this second installment of the Taylor Swift Playlist of Anne Boleyn, it's time to pull out the anti-Anne song Paper Rings from the Lover album. Alicia feels that Anne gets handed a terrible reputation through history as a scheming homewrecker, but the real story is quite a bit different. This episode takes us from Shrovetide 1522 all the way through the reluctant and rocky courtship of the Henry VIII and this lady of the court, right up to their marriage in 1532.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL3NKbMScco
Live from The Eras Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTYVM-Y1pyM
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In this episode, Alicia begins her Anne Boleyn/Taylor Swift playlist with The Archer, from the Lover album. This song is packed full of literature references along with self-sabotage, revenge and so much more! You will likely not ever think of Henry the VIII or Anne in quite the same way!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets, by Rachel Feder and Tiffany Tatreau (Amazon)
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
The archer Live From Paris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_2WyBcFbFY
The Archer Lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KpKc3C9V3w
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This week, Alicia takes us through her imagined Taylor Swift musical journey of Mary, Queen of Scots! Mary has been the focus of one of her other podcasts, Trashy Royals, recently, and there is so much more to say about Mary, a glamazon queen with a terrible picker. Talk about being born at the wrong time. Mary’s story is a ride through her three ultimate Taylor songs, according to Alicia.
Mary’s song’s include Anti-Hero, Cruel Summer, and Evermore, with the Taylor history included. It's time to go deep into this Tudor soundtrack, filled with a flawed character you root for, bad romances, and a complicated relationship with so many folks, including Mary's cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Official Music Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
[Enhanced 4K] "Cruel Summer" - Taylor Swift | THE ERAS TOUR 2023 | EAS Channel (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer (Lyrics) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - evermore (Official Lyric Video) ft. Bon Iver (YouTube)
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Hello Swiftorians, I want to tell you about a new show that I’m really excited about. My friend Rainbow Valentine has been collecting the stories of the first generation of women to have access to The Pill, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and LSD.
In her podcast Psychedelic Women, Rainbow talks to the women who lived and made the counterculture in 1960s San Francisco and, eventually, the world. It's a fascinating, beautifully crafted show featuring real-life stories that'll blow your mind.
Coming up is the trailer for Psychedelic Women, and Episode 1 lands today. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you’re listening.
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This week, Melissa takes us through The Swiftory of Queen Victoria, with seven songs to take this long-reigning Queen of England from childhood through her romantic entanglements.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Taylor Swift - I Hate It Here (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Enchanted (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Red (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Soon You'll Get Better (Official Audio) ft. The Chicks (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - We Were Happy (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) (YouTube)
right where you left me (bonus track) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Labyrinth (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
For more about Queen Victoria, check out Trashy Royals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.
Sources
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In this episode of Swiftory, Alicia and Melissa are feeling 22! From Taylor's RED album, 22 is a joyous glitter pen ride of a song. It is hard not to groove along to this one - this one is truly 22,000 times more fun than the actual age. Also included in this one, a TTPD ChatGPT listing which is a real hoot.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Taylor Swift - 22 (YouTube)
Sources
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This week, Alicia and Melissa reveal their love for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”, the standout track 13 from The Tortured Poets Department. This one has a real message within its infectious pop beat, and we are here for it!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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In this week’s Swiftory, Alicia and Melissa dissect this most triumphant diss song from Taylor Swift’s TTPD, The Anthology. Who saw thanK you aIMee coming? Not us.
There is a whole lot of alternate perspectives, past hot gossip, and joy included in this one.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - thanK you aIMee (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
A Triumphant Taylor Swift Rekindles The Kim Kardashian Rivalry With 'thanK you aIMee' (elle.com)
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This week, Alicia climbs right up on her soapbox about the song “Dear John” from Taylor Swift’s third album release Speak Now. Swift uses the Dear John letter device to express some strong sentiments, and we all have big feelings about it, and the song’s inspiration too.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
Dear John (Taylor's Version) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Dear John (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
[Remastered 4K] Dear John - Yarlow Swift - Speak Now World Tour Live 2011 - EAS Channel (YouTube)
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The Swiftory of the Gilmore Girls would not be complete with Rory Gilmore. In today’s episode, we visit the youngest Gilmore and journey in song about her friends, loves, mother, and community too.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - It's Nice To Have A Friend (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Fifteen (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Holy Ground (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Innocent (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - "New Year's Day" Fan Performance (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - dorothea (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - champagne problems (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Style (YouTube)
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This week, we turn our attention to Lorelai Gilmore and her catalog of Taylor Swift songs. It's a little complicated, just like Lorelai’s character.
With some opposing sun sign magic thrown in, we explore Lorelai’s journey, including youth, motherhood, daughterhood, and her love life too. We have so many feelings about the men in her life.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - You're On Your Own, Kid (Official Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Never Grow Up (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Change (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - exile (folklore: the long pond studio sessions | Disney+) ft. Bon Iver (YouTube)
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Travel with us to Stars Hollow this week as Alicia and Melissa begin The Swiftory of The Gilmore Girls. Of course, we must begin with the matriarch of all matriarchs, Emily Gilmore.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - Starlight (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - The Man (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Breathe (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) ft. Colbie Caillat (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Clean (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
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The Gabor sisters were some of the most iconic cultural figures in the second half of the 20th century, having arrived on our shores from Nazi-occupied Hungary, where they experienced loss and engaged in heroic resistance. Along with their mother, Jolie, sisters Eva, Zsa Zsa, and Magda, stormed the mid-century zeitgeist and lived through extremely complicated family dynamics, as well as complicated romantic entanglements - including, between them all - 23 marriages, 18 divorces, two widowhoods, and two annulments. They were allies and rivals, poly-linguists, artisans, and entrepreneurs. But mostly, they were women possessed of a drive to succeed and an eternal willingness to bend their stories to suit the moment at hand.
This month, Trashy Divorces is proud to present the lives and loves of The Glamorous Gabors, an eight-episode arc bringing these four amazing women into focus in the 21st century. Listen online or wherever you get your podcasts!
The Glamorous Gabors was researched and written by Melanie Shawn, with our deep gratitude.
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It's such a hard age, but it makes sense that Taylor Swift entirely nailed it when she wrote Fifteen for her 2008 album Fearless. After all, she was just a few years past it, and - because everything is copy - had a true-life anecdote from her friend Abigail to narrate. Our Swiftorians dive into their own fifteen-year-old experiences (and mistakes) and get into what it means to grow into yourself after all that teenage drama.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift - Fifteen (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs, by Annie Zaleski (Amazon.com)
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Today, our Swiftorians head back to 1989, pull out their dance cards, and dive into Taylor's 2014 bop Blank Space. To say this song was a monster hit doesn't really capture things - it was Taylor's first song to hit one billion streams on Spotify, and topped charts around the world on the way to numerous nominations and awards. As a piece of Taylor biography, Blank Space is unique in that it isn't about her, per se, but rather the caricature of her that had been formed in the public imagination. Rather than be annoyed by it, Taylor began to imagine what it would be like to be that person - and decided it might be fun.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift by the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets, by Rachel Feder and Tiffany Tatreau (Amazon)
Taylor Swift - Blank Space (YouTube)
Taylor performs "Blank Space" at The GRAMMY Museum (YouTube)
[Remastered 4K] Blank Space - Taylor Swift - 1989 World Tour 2015 - EAS Channel (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Blank Space (Official Eras Tour Music Video) (YouTube)
All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked, by Rob Sheffield. Rolling Stone, April 2024.
S8E7: Blank Space | Lana Turner (trashydivorces.com)
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From the vault, welcome to Swiftory's first ever episode! Notably, Welcome To New York was not released as Episode 1, but why not for Episode 13? In it, our Swiftorians - Alicia and Melissa - take a look at New York City, its real estate, and the power of place.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift superfan reveals everything he saw in the pop star’s $50M NYC home after being invited inside (pagesix.com)
34. Goodbye to All That, by Joan Didion (pressbooks.howardcc.edu)
Taylor Swift - Welcome To New York (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube link)
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Alicia and Melissa are back with a bonus episode this week to commemorate two significant Tudor-era murders. On February 13, 1542, Queen Catherine Howard of England, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, was executed on Tower Green, in the Tower of London, along with her lady in waiting, Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford.
As our Swiftorians ponder their stories, an array of Taylor's songs come into focus: Mad Woman, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Haunted, Fifteen, Long Story Short, and Guilty as Sin?, among others. Join us for a ride across the centuries and an ocean, back to the Tudor court and an out-of-control monarch!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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In this unexpectedly solo episode, Alicia announces the four winners of the Invisible Strings book contest (congrats!), and shares some of your reflections on Taylor's All Too Well (10 Minute Version).
The core of the episode centers around some neurological research pointing to why, and how, sad songs end up making us feel better. It turns out Taylor's not kidding about putting narcotics in her songs - sad songs have been shown to activate regions of the brain tied to emotional cues, processing, and regulation, which consequently flood the brain with various neurotransmitter chemicals tied to feelings of pleasure, comfort, and reward.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. What are your favorite Taylor Swift sad songs, and why? How about your favorite of Taylor's love songs? Help us craft a special upcoming episode with your musical gems from Taylor – we want to know.
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Why The Brain Seeks Out Sadness in Music (integrishealth.org)
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This week, Alicia and Melissa wander back in time as Taylor revisits a long-ago love affair that left her feeling like a crumpled up piece of paper lying here - and they remember it all too well. From Scarf Stealer's (Jake Gyllenhaal's) apparent continuing pattern of seducing women way too young for him - which is certainly one part of this song's origin story - to the glittering emotional clarity of these lyrics, our Swiftorians drink in this phenomenal and heartbreaking story set to music.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Rolling Stone: Taylor Swift (Amazon.com)
All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - All Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Verion) - Recorded at Long Pond Studios (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - All Too Well: The Short Film (YouTube)
The Movie Star and Me, by Domenica Feraud (medium.com)
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How does one even decide to own a million dollar couch? This week, Alicia and Melissa tackle I Bet You Think About Me, from 2012's Red and 2021's Red (Taylor's Version). Along the way, Jake Gyllenhaal gets a nickname (Scarf Stealer!), F. Scott Fitzgerald gets a shout out, and Stevie Nicks swoops in to play Fairy Godmother to Taylor. Is I Bet You Think About Me the spiritual descendant of Fleetwood Mac's Silver Springs? Our Swiftorians think so!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
Sources
Taylor Swift ft. Chris Stapleton - I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (Official Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift - If guys don't want me to write bad songs about them, they shouldn't do bad things (YouTube)
52nd Annual Grammy Performance with Taylor Swift (Facebook)
Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs (Official Live Video) [HD] (YouTube)
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Alicia and Melissa sit down with award winning poet Melissa Studdard, whose Invisible Strings contribution, When You Rise from the Dead, I Drive You to the After Party, responds to Taylor's song Karma. This is a heartfelt conversation about the power and joy of language that will leave you inspired to dig into your own creative process, and hand you some tools for that journey, too.
Email swiftorypodcast@gmail.com with the subject line Invisible Strings to enter our drawing to win your own copy!
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com.
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One of Taylor's more interesting compositions is from her 2022 release, Midnights. Karma, which also served as the Eras Tour closing song, was widely expected to be a thorough takedown of the many industry figures who've wronged Mother over the years - but it turns out to instead be a canny, upbeat, and lyrically fluid praise song for all the good things that have come into Taylor's life by, as she says, keeping her side of the street clean. As Alicia says - Karma's not just a song; it's a movement, and it's a lifestyle.
As always, we want your Midnights! Share your Swiftory stories at swiftorypodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 404-594-3658. We may use your Swiftories on a future episode!
Sources
Taylor Swift - Karma (Lyric Video) (YouTube)
Taylor Swift ft. Ice Spice - Karma (Official Music Video) ft. Ice Spice (YouTube)
Grading Taylor Swift's 'Karma' With a Buddhist-Studies Professor (vulture.com)
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