4 — Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Taylor Swift has been widely hailed
as one of the greatest songwriters
of her generation. Not only are her
songs catchy and meaningful, but
they almost always tell an incredible,
lively story. In particular, the songs
that describe beautiful relationships
and heart-wrenching breakups reach
a level of storytelling that is difficult
to find elsewhere. And because these
songs tell such descriptive stories, it’s
only natural that fans might apply
the songs to other circumstances —
other characters, other couples, other
stories. With The Swiftie Project
series, Swifties within Daily Arts
break down every romantic Taylor
Swift song from every released
album and match them to fictional
couples. The second part in this series
contains songs from the re-recorded
version of Swift’s sophomore album:
Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Most
songs from this album have been
included, although “The Best Day”
has been omitted, due to its more
personal,
non-romantic
story.
Furthermore, her song for “Hannah
Montana: The Movie,” “Crazier,” has
been added to this list, due to its place
in her discography timeline.
Warning: Spoilers for various
TV shows, movies and books are
included in the following article.
“Fearless” — Jane Villanueva
and Rafael Solano, “Jane the
Virgin”
I’m not usually this way but / You
pull me in and I’m a little more brave
Ah, friends. There is no better
word than “fearless” to describe
Jane (Gina Rodriguez, “Someone
Great”)
and
Rafael’s
(Justin
Baldoni, “Con Man”) rollercoaster
of a relationship. Their love story
is a complicated one — this is a
telenovela, after all. Jane was
accidentally
inseminated
with
Rafael’s
sperm,
they
briefly
dated and got caught in a vicious
cycle of unrequited love while
co-parenting, before finally ending
up together. Even when they
weren’t together, Rafael was always
in Jane’s corner when she needed
him. It all stemmed from the first
time they met, when Rafael told
Jane to “be brave” and go after her
dream of being a writer. The road
to their happily ever after was not
without struggle: Being a parent
isn’t easy, each person has their
own traumas to work through and
falling in love can be terrifying. But
watching the pair play different
roles in each other’s lives gave us
new insights into how they lived
out that bravery. Sometimes the
only way to overcome your fears is
to dive headfirst.
“Fifteen” — Ricky Bowen and
Nini
Salazar-Roberts,
“High
School Musical: The Musical:
The Series”
Back then I swore I was gonna
marry him someday / But I realized
some bigger dreams of mine
In the first scene of “High
School
Musical:
The
Musical:
The Series,” Nini (Olivia Rodrigo,
“Bizaardvark”) tells Ricky (Joshua
Bassett, “Stuck in the Middle”) she
loves him, and he … runs out of the
room. Ah, young love at its finest.
An aptly named song, “Fifteen,”
is about a specific type of teenage
romance, the kind where everything
feels so new and exciting that you
swear it’ll last forever — the naivete
of thinking every person you kiss is
the person you’ll spend the rest of
your life with. For Nini and Ricky,
an inopportune “I love you” was
earth-shattering enough to incite
their breakup, “cause when you’re
15 and somebody tells you they love
you / you’re gonna believe them.”
They thought they were an end-
all-be-all relationship because it
was all they’d ever known. Several
breakups and makeups later (it’s
high school), Nini realizes that even
though her relationship with Ricky
was once everything she wanted,
it is okay to want more. No longer
the starry-eyed 15-year-old we first
met, she leaves Ricky to pursue
her dreams of becoming a singer-
songwriter
because
sometimes
(most times), your first love isn’t
meant to last beyond high school;
you just “didn’t know it at 15.”
“Love Story” — Gnomeo and
Juliet, “Gnomeo & Juliet”
This love is difficult, but it’s real /
Don’t be afraid, we’ll make it out of
this mess
“Love Story” is one of Swift’s
most iconic songs, so we had to
pair it with an equally iconic movie:
“Gnomeo & Juliet,” a version of
“Romeo
and
Juliet”
featuring
gnomes. Despite the goofiness
of an alternate universe where
“RIP” stands for “rest in pieces,”
as
pointed
out
by
Gnomeo’s
(James McAvoy, “X-Men: First
Class”) mother, Lady Bluebury
(Maggie Smith, “Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”),
this animated retelling brings its
own charm by fully embracing
the backdrop of being snarky
clay fixtures in two neighboring
gardens, while still maintaining
the rivalry and general plot of the
original play. Gnomeo and Juliet’s
(Emily Blunt, “The Girl on the
Train”) love story thus proceeds in
the same way as the original. Even
though they meet while both racing
to snatch an orchid rather than at a
party, they fall in love at first sight.
From there, they continue to meet
up. It’s exactly as Swift sings, “So I
sneak out to the garden to see you
/ We keep quiet ‘cause we’re dead
if they knew.” Amid the fighting
between the Montague gnomes —
the Blues — and the Capulet gnomes
— the Reds — when Juliet gets
stuck and is about to be crushed
by a lawnmower, Gnomeo refuses
to leave her. They don’t actually
end up dying, but this is enough for
Lady Bluebury and Juliet’s father,
Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine,
“Youth”), to stop their feud. Unlike
the original, and what the statue
version of Shakespeare (Patrick
Stewart,
“X-Men”)
predicted
would happen, Gnomeo and Juliet
get their happily ever after ending
when Juliet “pick(s) out a white
dress” and “just say(s) ‘yes.’ ”
“Hey Stephen” — Louisa Clark
and Sam Fielding “After You”
Hey Stephen, boy, you might have
me believing / I don’t always have to
be alone
Most people who watch “Me
Before You” are left with the
story’s bittersweet ending. What’s
more, most people who read the
book resort to crying, watching
the film adaptation, crying some
more and refusing to read the
rest of the trilogy because they’re
too heartbroken. I’m here to let
those people know what they’re
missing out on. In “After You,” the
sequel to “Me Before You,” Louisa
is inconsolable. Meeting the love
of your life and losing them all in
the span of six months would take
a toll on anyone, and it certainly
takes a toll on Louisa after she
loses Will (Sam Claflin, “Love,
Rosie”). That is, until she has an
accident that forces her to return
home to her family and leads her
to meet Sam Fielding, a charming
paramedic who just might be able
to understand this new version of
Louisa. Sam, convinced that she
is destined for a life of loneliness,
makes his way into Louisa’s life
when she needs it most, making
her feel seen and that she doesn’t
always have to be alone — just as
Stephen did for Swift.
“White Horse” — Meredith
Grey
and
Derek
Shepherd,
“Grey’s Anatomy”
Maybe I was naive, got lost in
your eyes / And never really had a
chance
Meredith
(Ellen
Pompeo,
“Friends”) and Derek’s (Patrick
Dempsey, “Can’t Buy Me Love”)
relationship was one of the most
beloved relationships of “Grey’s
Anatomy.” For 11 seasons, fans
watched as Meredith and Derek
fell in love, had a few children
and became a badass doctor duo.
What started out as a one-night
stand turned into an iconic love
story, and boy was it messy during
the first few seasons. In the
beginning, there was this weird
power dynamic between the two
— Meredith was Derek’s intern
when they met. Then, we learned
that Derek was married to Addison
Montgomery (Kate Walsh, “Emily
in Paris”) while dating Meredith
throughout season one. In season
two, Meredith begged Derek to
choose her over Addison by saying,
“Pick me. Choose me. Love me”
— a moment that Pompeo herself
was “horrified” by. “White Horse”
vocalizes the realization that
the great love you thought you
had with a person won’t happen.
It’s kind of heartbreaking, and
I think that captures Meredith
and Derek’s relationship well,
especially considering how it
ultimately
ended.
Derek
was
certainly Meredith’s knight in
shining armor throughout their
time together, literally saving her
from drowning at one point. But as
Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw,
“Holidate”) once said, “Derek was
epic for her. They were the great
love story. I mean, that girl’s heart
beat for Derek Shepherd” — what
else can I say?
“You Belong With Me” —
Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart,
“Love, Rosie”
If you could see that I’m the one
/ Who understands you / Been here
all along
Romance, especially fictional
romance, is nothing without the
friends-to-lovers trope. If you
couldn’t tell by that intensely
charged statement, I’m a big
friends-to-lovers gal, and “Love,
Rosie” is my favorite friends-to-
lovers movie. Rosie (Lily Collins,
“Emily in Paris”) and Alex (Sam
Claflin, “Me Before You”) have
been best friends since childhood,
believing their relationship is
purely platonic. When they reach
high school, these feelings start to
seem like something more. They
decide to overtly ignore the shift in
feelings they’re both experiencing,
even if the jealousy they feel when
they see each other with their
respective romantic partners is
painfully evident. The intensity
of
their
miscommunication
reaches the point where they just
keep missing each other, even
though they both know they
belong together but are reluctant
to admit it. Both of their inner
monologues sound like Swift’s
iconic, quintessential song “You
Belong With Me,” reflecting the
pain of knowing someone else is
your soulmate but being unsure
how to communicate it.
“Breathe” — Marianne and
Héloïse, “Portrait of a Lady on
Fire”
Music starts playin’ like the end
of a sad movie
“Breathe” perfectly captures the
gut-wrenching end to Marianne
(Noémie Merlant, “Tár”) and
Héloïse’s (Adèle Haenel, “Love
at First Fight”) relationship in
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which
I recommend watching before
reading this blurb to save yourself
from spoilers. The two women,
though desperately in love, cannot
stay
together
for
numerous
reasons (primarily because the
film is set in 18th-century France),
and while Swift likely did not
intend for “Breathe” to capture
the pain of a mutually unwanted
(lesbian) breakup, the song nails it.
The lyric “Music starts playin’ like
the end of a sad movie,” practically
represents the film in a single
line — if you know, you know —
though other lyrics are uncannily
spot on as well: “And we know it’s
never simple / Never easy / Never
a clean break, no one here to save
me.” The end of their relationship
is devastating, and there’s nothing
either of them can do about it. They
can never see each other again, let
alone save each other from their
fates. All they’ll have left of each
other is a song, a memory stored
deep inside of them that only
emerges when the music swells.
“Tell Me Why” — Eric Miller
and Bela Malhotra, “The Sex
Lives of College Girls”
You took a swing, I took it hard /
And down here from the ground, I
see who you are
As a viewer, I was passionately
rooting for Bela (Amrit Kaur, “The
D Cut”) and Eric’s (Mekki Leeper,
“Two Joysticks and a Couch”)
new relationship. I’m a sucker for
an enemies-to-lovers arc, and I
thought they had hilarious banter.
Bela, however, broke my heart as
well as Eric’s when her insecurities
led her to cheat on him. She
was in the midst of shadowing
a professional comedian and —
desperate for him to like her — slept
with him in the hopes of earning
an internship. Not only that, but
when Eric approached her about
it, she attempted to lie and gaslight
him into thinking she didn’t cheat,
adding salt to the wound. This is
just one of many times throughout
the show that Bela has shown
everyone how much maturing she
has left to do. She pushes away
nearly everyone who cares about
her because she fails to see how her
actions harm others until it’s too
late — hence why Swift’s “Tell Me
Why” perfectly encapsulates this
series of events from Eric’s point of
view. He opened himself up to Bela
and trusted her with his feelings,
only for her to turn around and
stomp on them, revealing to him
and everyone else who she really
is. I’m rarely one to side with the
man in relationship drama, but
I’m team Eric all the way. Bela has
some serious cleaning up to do.
“You’re Not Sorry” — Ross
Geller
and
Rachel
Green,
“Friends”
I’ve been giving out chances, and
all you do is let me down.
I don’t think Ross (David
Schwimmer, “Six Days, Seven
Nights”) was sorry. I watched
“Friends” on repeat throughout
high school, the feeling of loss
when the six friends walk away
from the camera at the end
inevitably forcing me back to the
beginning every time. Had all the
characters been like Ross, I would
have been glad to see them go.
Swift sings, “You can tell me that
you’re sorry / But I don’t believe
you, baby,” and Rachel (Jennifer
Aniston,
“Murder
Mystery”)
shouldn’t
believe
him.
Ross’s
insistence that the two were “on a
break” from their relationship just
hours before he slept with another
woman, which he refuses to admit
was wrong, is reason enough to
dislike him. Swift sings, “Now
you’re asking me to listen.”
DAILY FILM WRITERS
The Swiftie Project Part Two: Fearless
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
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SUDOKU
WHISPER
“Have a great
day!”
“I hope it’s
sunny
tomorrow.”
WHISPER
By Prasanna Keshava
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/15/23
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
03/15/23
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2023
ACROSS
1 Meal
7 Near mist?
10 Old PCs
populous city
15 “Blessed __ the
offer
23 Windy City
commuter org.
Margaret
singer Anita
residents
abbr.
username from,
on social media
52 Areas that may
be irritated by
shirt tags
reproducing
signatures
64 __ star
destination
DOWN
who calls Charlie
4 Cathedral
niches
5 Add interest
etc.
soap
tradition, and
four longest
answers literally
treaty, perhaps
shout
43 Center
couple nights, say
49 Inherent
character
greeting
55 Clueless
specialty
By Beth Rubin & Will Nediger
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/08/23
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
03/08/23
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2023
ACROSS
1 Roughly
5 Skin blemish
9 Poetic contraction
12 Inheritance
recipients
14 Slurpee-like
drinks
16 Astronaut
Jemison
17 Parade with strict
precision
19 Body shop fig.
20 __ Lanka
21 Conclusion
22 One providing
misguided
support
24 Milan opera
house
26 Pull up stakes for
one’s co.
27 Hint
30 Starbucks size
31 Gains a lap
32 “Stay right there!”
34 Fuel economy
meas.
35 Tropical storm
36 More inclusive
40 See red?
41 Sorting factor in
some directories
42 Blessing
44 British noble
45 “Saving Private
Ryan” event
46 Medical pros
47 Opens, as a gift
49 Sound bite, e.g.
51 Sked info
52 April 15 payment
55 Original Beatle
Sutcliffe
56 Metaphor for
something that
can’t be changed,
and what’s found
five times in this
puzzle?
59 Keystone figure
60 Lofty nest
61 Shrub that may
be toxic
62 Informer, maybe
63 Saxophone insert
64 Repair
DOWN
1 Electrical units
2 Caboose
3 Virtual assistant
on Apple devices
4 Goblinlike fantasy
creature
5 South Dakota
national park
known for its air
currents
6 Rm. coolers
7 Share again, as
a joke
8 “Ooo La La La”
singer __ Marie
9 Brunch dish
10 Stands in a studio
11 Nostalgia-
inducing
13 “__ Butter Baby”:
Ari Lennox/J.
Cole song
15 Hydrotherapy spot
18 Not negotiable
23 Bandits
24 Live it up
25 Pub choice
27 Public health
agcy.
28 Poet Mina or
actress Myrna
29 Chapel Hill sch.
31 Ad
33 Like freshly cut
lawns
34 Fred Flintstone’s
boss
36 Raced (along)
37 Family man
38 Horvath of “The
Rings of Power”
39 Marina del __,
California
41 Bar code?
42 Cereal eater’s
proof of purchase
43 Keep busy
44 Unabridged
46 Secretaries, e.g.
47 __ Peninsula:
Michigan home
of Yoopers
48 Cushions
50 Pretoria’s land:
Abbr.
52 Umpire’s cry
53 Mathematician
Turing
54 Randall
Munroe’s
webcomic of
“romance,
sarcasm, math,
and language”
57 Two truths and
a __: icebreaker
game
58 Autumn flower,
for short
’
“
’
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