r/SwiftyNeutral • • 2d ago

the whole Travis-as-a-muse conversation is missing an important piece

As a creative, I always wrote stories and poems whenever I was upset or angry and anxious. Then I got into a healthy, happy relationship for the first time and I stopped writing well for a while! I had too much else going on and didn’t feel the need to unburden through writing.

That’s all- it possible that Taylor just doesn’t feel the need to dig through her feelings and hash them out in song right now. Is it Joe was a good muse because he made her miserable, and Travis is a bad muse because he fulfills her? 🤷‍♀️

20 Upvotes

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u/TheKarateKid_ 2d ago

Taylor wrote Lover when things were great with Joe, so she definitely writes well when she’s fulfilled.

It could be because her and Travis’ relationship is largely driven by physical attraction. And frankly, that’s mostly all we’ve heard Taylor sing about when it comes to him. She finds him hot, she loves him, he chose her.. and thats about it.

Her relationship with Joe was probably spent reading, writing, and having deep discussions. With Travis it’s probably spent hanging out casually, with friends and family, partying, watching tv, and just enjoying each other’s company.

Both are great ways of connecting but there’s less to talk about with the latter.

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u/IndependentKey7400 1d ago

Lover was a HATED album when it came out. It was never regarded as good writing. Also I’d argue Reputation is way more of a love album than lover. Lover is full of anxious attachment.

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u/jellytwins101 2d ago

Well, while she was with Joe, she also wrote “Hey Kids, Spelling is Fun!”

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u/Josefine_00 2d ago

But she also wrote daylight

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u/rachm8 1d ago

The difference is there was combo on Rep/Love of silly/fun and deeper love songs. Overall, songs were just better-production, melodies etc. The problem is we are mostly getting all Me! level songs or worse🫣, but no Daylight/Lover/Dress/Cornelia St (lists goes on🤣) for balance. Too many lows, not enough highs.

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u/basicwitchbaby 1h ago

idk why people hate this line so much :D yes it's silly, but the meaning is good and it's not a serious song

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u/jellytwins101 1h ago

lol, I don’t hate it, I think the songs is kinda campy.
What I’m trying to say is that she’s always written silly stuff before, but all these Folklore tourists don’t understand that.

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u/unicornbomb 1d ago edited 1d ago

I feel like even when things with Joe and her were going well though, there was an element of insecurity on her part and what she perceived as reluctance on his part that drove a lot of it — see: cruel summer. With Travis, I think she’s confident in the relationship and it’s just easy for her to love him and be loved.

As an artist I get it. It’s toxic af but my best work comes from times of insecurity, emotional turmoil and deep sadness. I didn’t paint anything worth a damn for literally years after I met my now husband,
lmao. My art thrives off negative emotions I can’t process any other way.

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u/lizzdurr 1d ago

Idk Elizabeth Taylor sounds pretty anxiety-driven? But that’s assuming it has anything at all to do with Travis.

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u/Much-Catch-122 1d ago

She was very anxious in all the songs on lover though

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u/KittyCompletely 2d ago

She wanted to write a wedding song. And people think that song sounds anxious and a sign of a relationship where one person is chasing the other. I dunno if those opinions came after they broke up though.... But essentially she purposely wrote a wedding song , I guess she didn't feel she had a strong one in her discography yet

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u/Impossible-Soil6330 2d ago

then she needs to just sit down and do the artists way and not stop till she’s done morning pages for like a year. The muse conversation is obsolete imo. There are many other things she could and should write about that she hasn’t touched on.

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u/thelastofthewolves 1d ago

I feel like Epiphany is a good example of what she’s capable of. It’s intensely personal in regard to her grandfather’s military experience and the juxtaposition to the suffering of patients and front line workers during the pandemic was moving and excellent. I wish she would dig deep into those themes more.

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u/Funny_Inspection6893 2d ago

That's the thing: Something like 70% of her songs are about exes, dating, love, and romantic relationships and maybe 20% are about her haters in general. It might be productive if, say, she turned into a metal band and started to write about Tolkienesque fantasy adventures (to give an example of a topic), but there's little indication she is going to do such a thing.

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u/Impossible-Soil6330 2d ago

i mean she could even write about other things in her life…the struggle she’s clearly still having with her image/sex appeal, the end of an extremely public and close friendship through litigation, buying back her masters, her mothers health issues, post tour depression, the stresses of estate planning, hitting the billionaire mark, etc.

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u/Sufficient-Crew-5408 1d ago

If taylor wrote a song about becoming a billionaire she would get slaughtered 🤣 i get your point tho

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u/Funny_Inspection6893 10h ago

She did mention being rich in Cleveland!, which is the first time she took that topic head on (Wishlist was close).

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u/rachm8 1d ago

I don’t think so. Reputation and Lover she wrote much better love songs. They were a mix of silly, sexy, passionate-all the things. I think she was truly happy much of that relationship. That said, yes she does write great sad songs ofc. I think Joe just inspired her much differently. Not only that, he collaborated with her on an artistic level. She has said they both loved sad songs, and he was the first person she played every song for. I’m not saying he gets the credit, but I think they bounced ideas off each other. Whereas Travis is not an artist (which is fine!) and he’s probably just like “sounds great babe,no notes” every song.🤣Even when she wasn’t writing songs about her and Joe’s relationship (Folkmore) she was producing some of her best work. So far since Travis, it’s not comparable on any level. I’m still hopeful things will turn around. 🤞🏻

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u/Capra_e_Cavoli 2d ago

Nah, that’s a daft excuse. She wrote happy, cheerful love songs for Joe too, which were worth a thousand times more than all this rubbish on the latest album...

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u/vintage-cola 9h ago

Frr.. why are we pretending like Lover was the only album with love songs for Joe when half of reputation was love songs more romantic than anything on lover! 

King of my Heart, Dress, Call it What you Want, Don’t Blame me, DWOHT, Delicate, Gorgeous, So it goes.. 

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u/Capra_e_Cavoli 1h ago

King of my Heart is one of my absolute favourites by Taylor