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 few other art-
ists can aspire to. 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 sto-
ries. And so, with The Swiftie Proj-
ect series, Swifties within Daily Arts
break down every romantic Taylor
Swift song from every released album
and match them to various fictional
couples. The sixth part in this series
contains songs from her sixth album:
reputation. Most songs from this
album have been included, although
“I Did Something Bad,” “Look What
You Made Me Do” and “This Is Why
We Can’t Have Nice Things” have
been omitted, due to their more per-
sonal, non-romantic stories.
Warning: Spoilers for various TV
shows, movies and books are included
in the following article.
“…Ready For It?” — Emma
Swan and Captain Killian (Hook)
Jones, “Once Upon a Time”
Knew he was a killer first time that
I saw him / Wondered how many
girls he had loved and left haunted
Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison,
“House”) and Captain Hook (Colin
O’Donoghue, “The Right Stuff”)
are hands-down (pun intended) the
best couple of “Once Upon a Time.”
When Emma and Hook first met, she
was a savior, the ultimate represen-
tation of goodness. He, on the other
hand (again, pun intended), was a
pirate, a scoundrel who knowingly
went after a married woman in his
past. “…Ready For It?” is undoubt-
edly a sexually charged song, which
fits Hook, whose sly comments and
innuendos in season two solidified
him as a memorable character. In “…
Ready For It?” Swift sings, “Knew
I was a robber first time that he
saw me.” Emma had a dark past of
her own, which involved stealing
her iconic yellow Volkswagen and,
of course, her short-lived relation-
ship with Neal (Michael Raymond-
James, “True Blood”). Hook and
Emma’s first adventure together
was stealing a compass from a giant.
By the end of the series, these two
were thick as thieves.
Mina Tobya: Daily Arts Writer
“End Game” — Peter Parker
and MJ, Marvel Cinematic Uni-
verse
Reputation precedes me, in rumors
I’m knee deep / The truth is it’s easier
to ignore it, believe me
No one’s reputation is as “knee
deep” in rumors as Peter Parker’s
(Tom Holland, “Uncharted”) after
he’s revealed to be the face behind
the Spider-Man mask. Luckily, the
brave and brilliant Michelle ‘MJ’
Jones (Zendaya, “Euphoria”) isn’t
deterred by the swarms of people
flocking around him or the bricks
thrown through his window. When
their world is thrown upside down,
MJ is always by Peter’s side, ready
to face whatever threat comes their
way. Their love story was built on a
solid foundation of friendship and
mutual trust, but a wrecking ball
destroys that when MJ’s memory
is wiped of all traces of Peter Park-
er. With “words on the tip of (his)
tongue,” he walks out of her life.
Instead of choosing to refresh her
memory of him, Peter chooses to let
her go so she can have the happiness
she deserves. Without him, she is
free to excel at Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology and live with-
out the imminent danger of being
Spider-Man’s girlfriend, but she
feels the absence of her first love.
The many iterations of Spider-Man
affirm these two to be legitimate
endgame. They’ll get through this
trial, like all the rest, because they’re
just meant to be.
Lola D’Onofrio: Daily Arts Writer
“Don’t Blame Me” — Anakin
Skywalker and Padmè Amidala,
Star Wars franchise
I would fall from grace / just to
touch your face
Love can make you crazy. When
you really fall for someone, you’ll
do pretty much anything to keep
them safe. Jedi prodigy Anakin
Skywalker (Hayden Christensen,
“Little Italy”) takes this logic to the
extreme. Padmè Amidala (Nata-
lie Portman, “Black Swan”) is the
love of his life. When Anakin starts
getting premonitions of her death,
he turns toward to the dark side
to protect Padmè. This leads him
directly toward his eventual trans-
formation into the sinister Darth
Vader. It’s ultimately a tragedy —
Anakin becomes so consumed by
the dark side that he forgets his love
for Padmè, killing her in the pro-
cess. But before the two eventually
fall apart, there’s a brief and undeni-
ably awesome period of time where
Anakin is wildly in love and indis-
criminately destructive because
of it. Enter “Don’t Blame Me” by
Swift — a song all about that thin
line between love and insanity. As
Anakin paces the Jedi Temple, plan-
ning the lengths he will go to save
Padmè, he walks this very line. He
struggles to maintain the appear-
ance of an upstanding Jedi knight,
a “halo hiding (his) obsession”. But
as things escalate, Anakin ends
up cracking, turning against the
Jedi. You can picture him thinking
wildly that “love made me crazy.”
All of it is worth it for Padmè. Every
time he sees her, his eyes soften. He
“falls from grace” without a second
thought just to “touch (her) face.”
Sabriya Imami: Daily Arts Writer
“Delicate” — Kat Stratford and
Patrick Verona, “10 Things I Hate
About You”
My reputation’s never been worse
/ So, you must like me for me
Swift was painted as a bad girl
during her reputation era — she
was canceled, derided and misrep-
resented. And yet, during this time,
as she faced the #TaylorSwiftIsO-
verParty, the fallout of her feud with
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian,
and cutting remarks about being a
boy-crazy, heart-breaking “serial
dater,” she was actually falling in
love. “Delicate” encompasses this
dichotomy perfectly. The world
looked down on her, but the per-
son she loved was only looking at
her. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles, “O”)
was similarly misunderstood in “10
Things I Hate About You”; on the
surface she seemed cutthroat and
bitter, but she actually harbored a
painful secret. Patrick (Heath Led-
ger, “The Dark Knight”) may have
used deception to get into her good
graces, but it didn’t take long for
him to actually fall for her. And, yes,
things do get worse before they get
better, in terms of their relationship,
but there is a moment where Kat has
to be very vulnerable in front of him.
In some ways, Kat reading her poem
in front of Patrick and the rest of the
class is her “is it cool that I said all
that?” moment, and we couldn’t be
happier about it. Patrick looked past
Kat’s reputation-era facade, and as a
result, Kat let him see who she really
was.
Lillian Pearce: Daily Arts Writer
“So It Goes…” — Eve Polastri
and Villanelle, “Killing Eve”
You know I’m not a bad girl / But I
do bad things with you
“Killing Eve” puts a whole new
spin on the enemies-to-lovers trope.
Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, “The
Chair”) is a British intelligence
investigator who is obsessed with
female serial killers — and especial-
ly with the assassin Villanelle (Jodie
Comer, “Help”). Their relationship,
born from violence and crime, is rid-
dled with enticing and infuriating
will-they-won’t-they energy. Eve’s
obsession with Villanelle is further
complicated by an attraction to her,
which Villanelle uses to her advan-
tage. “But when you get me alone,
it’s so simple / ‘Cause baby, I know
what you know / We can feel it.” The
chemistry between the two women
is just as poignant as the blood on
Villanelle’s hands: Swift’s “So It
Goes…” is eerily reminiscent of this
peculiar relationship, with lyrics
like “You know I’m not a bad girl /
But I do bad things with you” that
speak to Eve and Villanelle’s dys-
functional relationship dynamic.
Graciela Batlle: Daily Arts Writer
“Gorgeous” — Seth Cohen and
Summer Roberts, “The O.C.”
And I’m so furious / At you for
making me feel this way / But, what
can I say? / You’re gorgeous
Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson,
“Take Two”) is the epitome of the
typical popular girl that the nerdy
guys in her grade are intensely
drawn to. In Summer’s case, her
“cool mean girl” charisma man-
ages to make the gawky Seth Cohen
(Adam Brody, “Shazam!”) fall madly
in love with her, while she doesn’t
even bother to bat an eye in his
direction. However, it takes Sum-
mer roughly six episodes to notice
that Seth’s quirks are not so repul-
sive after all … they’re actually very
cute! However, she’s still mad that
a nerd like Seth was able to win her
over, which dooms their relation-
ship to an endless rollercoaster of
ups and downs. The playing field
eventually becomes leveled, with
Seth breaking Summer’s heart the
same amount of times that Summer
breaks his, but, in the end, no one is
as gorgeous for the both of them as
they are to each other. Even if Sum-
mer was furious that an uncool nerd
like Seth managed to enamor her,
she was left helpless because what
can she say? Seth is, in Summer’s
eyes (and mine), gorgeous.
Lillian Pearce: Daily Arts Writer
“Getaway Car” — Joe Gold-
berg and Love Quinn, “You”
It was the best of times, the worst
of crimes
What song could capture the
love shared between two psychotic
serial killers better than Swift’s
“Getaway Car”? “It was the best of
times, the worst of crimes” — how
lovely it must be to not have to hide
your true homicidal self — “I struck
a match and blew your mind” —
because there’s no stronger sign
of devotion than killing someone
for your beloved. “While he was
runnin’ after us, I was screamin,’
‘Go, go, go!’ ” Ah, the memories.
But, although one might think that
Joe (Penn Badgley, “Gossip Girl”)
and Love (Victoria Pedretti, “The
Haunting of Bly Manor”) deserve
each other, love is never so simple.
Joe, though a murderer himself,
starts to fear the lethal tendencies
of Love (hypocrite, much?) and
starts to plan his escape. (And by
escape, yes, I mean his plan to kill
her.) “We were jet-set, Bonnie and
Clyde (oh-oh) / Until I switched to
the other side, to the other side / It’s
no surprise I turned you in (oh-oh)
/ ‘Cause us traitors never win.” It
really does write itself.
Ava Seaman: Books Beat Editor
“King of My Heart” — Amelia
(Mia) Mignonette Thermopolis
Renaldi and Nicholas Devereaux,
“The Princess Diaries 2: Royal
Engagement”
And all at once you are the one I
have been waiting for
“The Princess Diaries 2: Royal
Engagement” has something the
first film does not, and that is Chris
Pine (“Star Trek”).
Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway,
“The Devil Wears Prada”) must
marry a man in 30 days or she can-
not become the queen of Genovia.
Eligible for the throne, Pine’s char-
acter, Lord Nicholas Devereaux, is
(supposedly) attempting to steal the
throne from Mia. Mia and Nicholas
have a meet-cute turned flirtatious
rivalry throughout the film — it’s
enemies-to-lovers excellence. By
the end of the film, Mia takes back
her power and moves to abolish the
law that states she needs a husband
to rule, and she is crowned queen.
As a native San Franciscan, Mia is
literally an “American queen,” but
more importantly, Nicholas was
the king of her heart whom she was
waiting for. Here’s hoping for a third
film where these two are happily
married.
Annabel Curran: Senior Arts Editor
“Dancing With Our Hands
Tied” — Kaz Brekker and Inej
Ghafa, “Six of Crows”
I could’ve spent forever with your
hands in my pockets / Picture of your
face in an invisible locket
If you thought I was done talk-
ing about the masterpiece that is
Leigh Bardugo’s “Six of Crows”
duology, you thought wrong. And
since one masterpiece deserves
another, there’s no better song than
“Dancing With Our Hands Tied”
to capture the palpable tension and
trauma that characterizes the tragic
yet beautiful relationship between
Kaz and Inej. Both characters have
pasts that are fraught with suffer-
ing and trauma that have left them
wary and closed off to closeness or
romance in any shape or form. Each
haunted by their own histories and
yet both inexplicably drawn to the
other, they have no choice but to
tiptoe around each other, playing
a complicated game of avoidance
that is very much like a complex and
alluring dance. Emotionally guard-
ed against love and intimacy and
each wearing their own armor and
masks, it’s safe to say that these two
hopeless lovers are indeed dancing
dangerously with their hands tied.
Hannah Carapellotti: Daily Arts
Writer
“Dress” — Kate Sharma and
Anthony Bridgerton, “Bridger-
ton”
Our secret moments in a crowded
room / They got no idea about me and
you
Dearest reader (yes, I just did
that),
There are few things more excit-
ing to watch unfold than an ene-
mies-to-lovers relationship: The
obvious denial of feelings and the
sweet payoff when a couple finally
admits them is worth it every time.
Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, “Broad-
church”) and Kate (Simone Ashley,
“Sex Education”) get off to a rocky
start because of a misunderstand-
ing, but the connection that exists
between them — despite being the
bane of each other’s existence —
is hard to deny. Apart from their
clear sexual chemistry, these two
are far more alike than they real-
ize. They have both lived their
lives for other people and the one
time they want to do something
for themselves, it puts everything
at risk. “Dress” captures both the
excitement and the complexities
of Kate and Anthony’s relation-
ship. In fact, this author would
argue that it’s one of Swift’s most
romantic songs, despite the chorus
being, “Only bought this dress so
you could take it off” (although if
you’ve seen the show, you know
that line applies here, too). Great
love requires great vulnerability,
great risk. Swift understands that
when she sings, “If I get burned,
at least we were electrified.” Kate
and Anthony both know they
could get burned by taking that
risk and being with each other, but
they ultimately do, and it’s electric
in all the best ways.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The Swiftie Project Part Six: reputation
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Wednesday, April 5, 2023 — 5
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