November 26, 2025 • 32 mins
Our witchy madwoman is back in top form, and this time she’s created a clap-back to cancel culture! Do you dare enter this dark underworld, where it gets quite dark, and they’re burning all the witches (even if you are one)?
In Cancelled!, track 10 from The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift uses satire to poke the bear of the patriarchy. With all of her girlfriends getting cancelled, she decides to do what she does best: lean in. If you can’t beat em, join em!
In this episode of the Swiftly Sung Stories Podcast, we’re taking a nerdy deep dive into Cancelled!, one line (and one witch) at a time. We’ll look at Taylor’s past strictly satire songs - Blank Space and Anti-Hero - and see how Cancelled updates this crafty tactic.
We’ll also pull apart Macbeth’s witch quote - “something wicked this way comes” - and see how it informs the rest of the song. Because if they’re burning all of the witches, then you can light these bad girls up. Just don’t say ‘I told you so’ when you get marked with the scarlet ‘C’, too.
✨ Swiftly Sung Stories dives deep into Taylor Swift’s storytelling craft, exploring her lyrics through the lens of literature, emotion, and the art of songwriting.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey everyone.
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Swiftly Song Stories podcast.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacher, and today we are tackling Track 10 in my track by track analysis of the life of a showgirl.
And we're diving straight into canceled.
Are you ready to get nerdy? Because this one's gonna get real, real nerdy.
In canceled.
Our showgirl narrator seems to be telling all of her other celebrity friends that she will still stand by their side when this inevitable cancellation comes to burn them down.
(00:24):
And in an album full of controversial and polarizing tracks canceled might just be the most polarizing of them all.
But I have a theory about this track that ties into the upcoming nerdiness that might just make it make more sense.
In my last few episodes, I analyzed Taylor's prologue poem and the first nine tracks of this album.
So go check those out because it really lays a lot of groundwork for the themes that Taylor is discussing in this album.
(00:48):
All of this content is available on my website if you want the text version with annotated lyrics, and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can also find me wherever you get your podcasts and vice versa.
Okay.
First, let's lay a little bit of groundwork for all of the themes that are going on within the song, and then we'll roll into our dissection of canceled line by line Welcome to swiftly sung Stories where we unpack the Taylor Swift Universe one era album and lyric at a time.
(01:13):
Think of it like English class, but it's all Taylor Swift and none of the boring stuff.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacher and classes in session, so come on in and meet me in the margins.
Before we go into detail, quick caveat, I only discuss Taylor's personal life in my lyrical analysis when we really need to, when it's essential to understanding the text or when it helps us clarify some things.
(01:34):
So I'm not here to discover what Taylor Swift did.
I wanna see what the art does and what the art says.
Also, this is my lens and my opinion, and it's not gonna be your lens and your opinion necessarily.
So that's what's cool about dissecting art is that we all have different lenses.
We all think it means different things.
And this is a conversation.
This isn't me telling you that this is the correct interpretation, so take what resonates and leave the rest.
(01:58):
So let's lay a little bit of foundation number one.
This song is satire.
Satire is when writers use humor, exaggeration, irony, to comment on something that has a larger implication in our society.
It's being critical or offering cultural commentary without doing it directly.
So it's kind of a covert way of saying what you wanna say, but packaging it in a more cheeky, palatable way.
(02:21):
It allows artists to say what they wanna say without saying it outright.
Taylor's written fully satirical songs before, like blank space, where she uses hyperbole, just exaggeration to bite back at all of her critics.
In blank space.
She pretends to be this vicious man eater who chews up men and spits them out, jumping from chaotic relationship one to another, never caring who she hurts, just living for the drama.
(02:46):
In Anti-Hero, she just pretends to be this unlikeable protagonist who is always the problem.
But in doing this, she's pointing out that it's our culture that's the problem.
She's saying something bigger than just what the lyrics entail.
So she's embodying these tropes, both the man eater and the anti-hero to point out the problem with the tropes and the labels that our culture puts on powerful women.
(03:10):
So it's really her way of biting back on these larger issues in this kind of.
Underhanded way, it's, I know exactly what you're saying about me, so I will lean in instead of fighting back, and I will make fun of you for making fun of me.
So what is she biting back at and canceled? Cancel culture.
Of course.
She's not saying, oh good, another one of my friends is canceled.
(03:32):
She's saying that in our modern world, cancel culture is a thing.
And sometimes it's not deserved, sometimes it completely is, but she's using satire for purpose.
If she wrote a strictly vulnerable and honest song of.
About how much cancel culture hurts, we would likely reject it outright.
It would feel too poor me or poor Little billionaire isn't popular anymore, so she wraps it in these layers of narrative and satire, and she puts it in a prettier package.
(04:03):
We also have to remember that this album is the Life of a Showgirl, not the life of Taylor Swift.
So we kind of have to view canceled through that lens.
And so many songs on this album are pointing out that dark side of fame and celebrity.
The fate of Ophelia Elizabeth Taylor father figure the title Track Life of a Showgirl, this Dark Reality that the Showgirl Facade is meant to Cover Up and Canceled is in this vein of songs that are telling us that the pedestal of fame is not something to covet.
(04:31):
It's something you can fall off of one wrong move and you fall to your career death and canceled is directly addressing this precarious nature of fame and it's using satire to do it.
But I think there's another layer to the song and we need to jump ahead for a minute so I can loop it back around.
In the end of the first pre-chorus, Taylor says Something wicked this way comes, and this is a direct quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
(04:59):
Is it just an interesting lyric, an interesting phrase? Sure.
Yes.
But we all know Taylor is intentional in everything that she writes.
And on this album she's already used Shakespeare's Ophelia as a central metaphor.
So she's intentionally pointing to Macbeth and we have to dig into this.
Let's do a very quick synopsis of Macbeth, just like we did for Hamlet in my fate of Ophelia episode.
(05:23):
And then I'll tie it all back together as we go through.
Canceled line by line.
The tragedy of Macbeth centers around a Scottish nobleman Macbeth, who is told by three witches that he is destined to ascend the throne.
He was already blindly ambitious, and then he hears this promise of destiny from the witches, and he charges forward in this epic quest for power.
(05:45):
Macbeth's three witches, who are also called the weird sisters, and are probably based on the fates are evil and chaotic.
They're feeding into Macbeth's ambition and delusion because they simply enjoy causing trouble.
But Macbeth doesn't see this.
He doesn't see their scheming, and he takes it as gospel.
It's his destiny.
(06:06):
He's supposed to be king.
In the play, the three witches, speak one at a time and then speak some lines in unison.
This is important and we'll come back to it, but just keep it in mind.
So many of these lines are iconic and you've heard them even if you don't know where they're from.
Double, double, toil and trouble.
Fair is foul and foul is fair, and of course, something wicked this way comes.
(06:30):
The witch's job in the play, their desire is to get Macbeth to come to the dark side and to move the plot along as it progressively gets darker and darker.
But there's not only three witches.
There is also a fourth witch who's kind of the mother witch, and that's Hecate.
She is the goddess of spells and witchcraft, and she appears in the play as kind of a boss of these three witches.
(06:52):
She pops in, she gets jealous that they're manipulating Macbeth without her.
She wants to play their evil little games too.
And her infamous line is Security is mortals, chiefest enemy.
So the witches come to symbolize chaos and evil, and fate and destiny, and they manipulate the will of men and exploit their vanity and their egos to perpetuate their agenda.
(07:15):
What does this all have to do with canceled? Some of you have already seen where I'm going with this, but my theory is that canceled is narrated by the characters of Hecate in the three witches, which I will explain further as we go through the song line by line.
But it's not just the single something wicked this way comes that points to the witches of Macbeth.
It's the entire format and layout of canceled that is reminiscent of the witches and how they speak in the play.
(07:41):
So in canceled, there are three verses.
Like the three witches.
And after each verse, each pre-chorus asks three questions in the audio.
Each of these questions is asked in a different octave, in a different tone, which makes it sound like three distinct voices.
And all of these voices are tempting the subject over to the dark side, just like the witches do.
(08:06):
But there's also a leader or central narrator in this track who I interpret as the voice of the head witch, the character Hecate who by the way in most iconography is portrayed as triple bodied with three faces.
All these voices in canceled are essentially encouraging evil and tempting this newly canceled character to come join them in the underworld.
(08:31):
Am I stretching? Maybe.
But that's how I read the song and that's how I'm going to dissect it.
Whether it's correct or not, whether it's what Taylor intended or not isn't the point.
The point is analyzing art and making connections between texts is interesting and fun.
So whether you agree with my Macbeth interpretation or not, I have to emphasize that this song is satire canceled is really critical.
(08:56):
Commentary on the patriarchy, cancel culture and faceless internet mobs, but it is not meant to be taken literally.
She doesn't only like canceled friends, just like she doesn't want a bouquet of poison thorny flowers.
The real critique of cancel culture is there because she's experienced it herself and it's an integral part of this showgirl life.
(09:18):
Once you make it to the top of the pedestal, the only way to go is down.
But that doesn't mean she wants or likes it when her friends get canceled.
So let's get into canceled line by line.
I'm going to dissect it through the lens of Macbeth and the witches because.
That makes the most sense to me.
And also because I'm a really big nerd and it's fun.
I'm not saying Taylor wrote it deliberately as the witches.
(09:39):
I'm just interpreting the lyrics that way.
So if you wanna have some nerdy fun too, come along.
So the first verse begins, you thought it would be okay.
At first, we are beginning in medias res or right in the middle of the action with little to no context through my lens.
The first verse is narrated by the first witch, and she is alluding to some sort of scandal or obstacle that is creeping up on the subject, the you.
(10:04):
We don't know who the you is yet, but we will later learn that it's someone in the public eye.
Fictional or not, doesn't matter.
Someone who's sitting on this.
Precarious ledge of public opinion, the situation could be saved.
Of course, the first witch continues, and this is sarcastic.
The situation can't be saved.
It's already too late.
(10:26):
And in the larger context of cancel culture, the situation really means.
Your reputation, they're coming for her.
But whatever the subject has done, it has been predestined.
She is about to be burned at the stake she goes on, but they'd already picked out your grave and hearse.
They is the public at large or the faceless mob.
(10:46):
They will metaphorically bury her reputation and it's already too late to be saved.
They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one.
The grave and hearse is another common metaphor in Taylor's cancel culture universe.
Her cancellation pre reputation as her metaphorical death and then rising from the ashes as her comeback.
(11:06):
So think of all the imagery in the, look what you made me do.
Music video.
It's the same here except they're coming for this unknown subject.
Instead of Taylor herself, this person's career and or reputation is about to get buried in the grave.
So she goes on.
Beware of the wrath of masked crusaders.
The masked crusaders are the faceless mob of the internet.
(11:29):
It's cancel culture personified.
We sit behind our computers spouting off opinions about people we don't know.
We hear one piece of news out of context, and without knowing the full story, we pass judgment.
Celebrities and people in the public eye are the defendants, and we are the judge, jury, and executioner.
So up until now it's been one narrator, but here's where I think it gets very Macbeth coded and all of the witches sound off in this pre-chorus.
(11:57):
If you can go listen to the audio real quick, I can't play it for you obviously, 'cause I don't own the rights, but just go listen to this pre-chorus so you can hear these different voices.
It's all Taylor, of course, but it does sound like different people because it sung so distinctly in each line.
So the first witch asks, did you girl boss too close to the son? Did this person gain too much power for a woman? The second witch asks, did they get you having far too much fun and too much fun? Is anything that the public deems as excessive for a woman? Was she too slutty, too visible, too loud? These are all punishable offenses.
(12:37):
Then the third witch adds come with me.
When they see us, they'll run.
She's beckoning.
She's saying, come join our coven on the dark side, where we've all been burned at the stake.
And this line is very blank space coded.
You're calling me a maneater, so I'll.
Be a maneater.
It's, they're calling us witches, so let's go be witches.
Let's embody that archetype.
(13:00):
If you can't beat 'em, join them.
So these three witches each have set their lines just like they do in Macbeth.
And then the fourth quotes from Macbeth directly, something wicked this way comes.
This is who I see as the head witch Hecate, AKA Taylor Swift herself, or the showgirl character of Taylor Swift, the one who is all powerful but has to hide behind a curtain to maintain her image.
(13:24):
So it's something wicked this way comes and in this context, the witches and their newest.
Canceled member of the club are what's wicked.
But what she's really saying is that cancel culture itself is wicked.
That's the satire.
They're not really wicked, but society paints them to be so they lean in.
(13:44):
What's really wicked is the witch hunt.
And this is a narrative that Taylor has used in the past emerge as the quote unquote bad girl in the face of controversy.
Instead of trying to beat the masked crusaders at their own game, she'll join in and satirically embody what they accused her of.
She did it in blank space.
Of course I did something bad.
(14:05):
Who's afraid of little old me? Here as her friends undergo the cancellation ritual of 2025, instead of fighting back, she leans in by imagining them all as members of this dark and twisted coven.
And she's Hecate herself, master of the Dark Arts.
She's mastered this showgirl life perfectly, curating her image and public opinion, so she'll be the father figure for these new recruits and teach her proteges how to survive this bonfire.
(14:36):
We move into the chorus, which is, I believe, narrated by Hecate slash Taylor, and we're about to learn what it's like in this underworld full of witches and heathens.
So it begins.
Good thing I like my friends canceled.
I like them Cloaked in Gucci and in Scandal.
Does she really like her friends? Canceled? No, this is satire.
(14:56):
Layered with sarcasm.
She's really saying, God damn it seems like everyone I know is getting canceled and it sucks.
But if you can't beat 'em, join them.
And she continues the satire by painting this glamorous, dangerous world where the naughty witches are all dressed to kill.
They'll wear these designer duds just like they wear their scarlet letters.
(15:16):
Like my whiskey sour.
She goes on.
So she's comparing her canceled friends to a whiskey sour, this brown liquor cocktail that's both sweet and sour, but it's also a double meaning because it's not only the name of the cocktail, but she's saying satirically that she only wants.
Bitterness.
She doesn't want sweet saccharine friends or a sweet saccharine life because this whole world that she's creating is bitter and dark.
(15:43):
So this whiskey sour is the themed drink of this coven where they worship the dark side.
It's bitter just like them.
So she likes her liquor sour and poison thorny flowers.
She doesn't want a lovely bouquet, which is a prominent recurring metaphor on this album, and that represents adoration and recognition.
She doesn't want that.
(16:03):
She wants deadly plants.
Sharp plants, beauty, that can also be the beast.
She's embracing this dark side of fame, welcome to my underworld, where it gets quite dark.
So she's welcoming this new member into the coven and the underworld is the dark side of fame and success.
And in this ominous lighting, it's hard to see clearly.
(16:23):
You might get lost, you might not find your way back out again.
Your reputation might not make it back out into the daylight.
And this is, by the way, exactly what the witches are trying to do in Macbeth.
They're trying to bring 'em over to the dark side where evil and chaos rules, it's the same thing here.
At least you know exactly who your friends are.
And then she ends the first chorus with, they're the ones with matching scars.
(16:48):
So this is a members only club, and it's the Club of Celebrity Cancellation.
All the witches, the canceled friends, and Hecate, the head witch.
The survivor of cancellation are true friends because they've been through the same witch trials, they've been through the same metaphorical fires.
And matching scars means that they all bear the same wounds of being canceled.
(17:09):
And this is another common metaphor in Taylor's universe.
Physical scars representing emotional wounds.
She's even used this particular metaphor in her sort of cancellation universe of songs before in hoax.
I still have my scars from when they tore me apart.
So they've all been marked by the same Scarlet letter, and this time it's probably a C instead of an A.
(17:34):
They are essentially trauma bonded.
Moving on to the second verse, which for my purposes is narrated by the second witch.
It's easy to love you when you're popular.
She says the optics click, everyone prospers.
So it's easy to be in the public eye when everyone approves of you, and it's easy to be in celebrity friendships.
(17:55):
When everyone approves of both people, you can enhance each other's images and what might start as a real genuine friendship can turn into a PR dream scenario.
Everyone prospers and we see this all the time on social media, right two internet personalities collab on a project, and they both boost their following, but it won't last.
(18:17):
She's saying, but one single drop, you're off the roster.
So in this hierarchy of fame or hierarchy of friendship, if you do something that pushes you down one notch, you're no longer eligible for friendship.
You're no longer on the same level.
It could be a small slip up or an offhanded comment or a bad interview, and poof, you're gone.
(18:39):
You're no longer my friend, and we can't be seen together because our images take precedence over our loyalty.
The roster isn't just a friendship list either.
It's a list of celebrities and public figures that society and social media approve of, and it's this mercurial list that changes like the tides.
Everyone's up and down and on and off all the time.
(19:03):
Then she zooms into the headspace of the faceless mob tone, deaf and hot.
Let's fucking off her.
This is she imagines what we're thinking when we cancel someone, they're too pretty or too successful, or too out of touch, whatever it is.
It's like we suddenly get the ick and that person is done.
So if you get too successful or make any blunder small or large, this mob will come after you and they will have your head.
(19:28):
This is her commentary on cancel culture, but tone deaf can also be read in two ways.
There's the common meaning of tone deaf, which means just not reading the room unaware of the larger context in which your words and your actions exist.
But then there's tone deaf in singing and music.
Early on in her career, it was a common criticism.
Lobbed at Taylor, they said she couldn't sing, and in the Speak now Taylor's version prologue, she told us exactly how much that hurt and how she course corrected between fearless and speak.
(19:58):
Now with this extensive vocal training, she still gets this criticism, by the way, all the time that she can't sing, which is mind boggling.
But now in the later stages of her career, we lobbed this other grenade at her.
She's out of touch, she can't read the room.
And this has been a huge critique, especially with this album, but it's key to remember that this entire song is satire and its aim is to point out real emotional and social truths.
(20:26):
So does she really think the faceless mob, the masked crusaders, are coming to kill her? No.
Not physically, but culturally.
Socially, yes.
And that's something she's really grappling with this album in a very real way.
Will she get canceled again? It's a big worry and she can cloak it in satire in this track and in other tracks like Elizabeth Taylor and the title track.
(20:49):
We can see it's something she's pretty earnestly worried about.
She just hides it behind this facade of a showgirl, and in this track she hides it behind the facade of satire.
Moving into the second pre-chorus, the three witches sound off again this time with different questions.
Did you make a joke that only a man could? the first witch chimes back in Did you stretch the limits of what the patriarchy will tolerate? Did you not stay in your lane as a woman? Punishable offense.
(21:19):
Were you just too smug for your own good? Was your tone wrong? Did your facial expression show anything but goodwill towards all? Did you even seem the slightest bit ungrateful for everything you have? A punishable offense.
Or bring a tiny violin to a knife fight? The third witch says, which is probably the funniest line of this whole song, playing a tiny violin is what you do when someone is playing the poor me card.
(21:45):
So if a celebrity brings a tiny violin to a metaphorical knife fight, they either don't care enough, they didn't take this threat seriously, or they were pitying themselves instead of being sincere.
The knife fight is the public coming after you, after you've been to smug for your own good, or made a joke that only a man could.
They're coming at you armed and they cut you off the roster of fame with just one blow.
(22:09):
You're the only one with something to lose and they have nothing to lose.
Then our head witch comes back in and closes out the pre-chorus (22:13):
baby, that all ends tonight.
The coven is here to show you how to fight back properly.
She's the master of the Dark Arts, and she's here to show you how it's really done.
It is a dark art of manipulating your image for public approval, and Taylor Swift is the master, but what exactly is ending? What ends tonight? It's either their reputation as in they cave, they fold accept this cancellation, or they stop being unprepared for the knife fight.
(22:46):
They learn how to properly fight back and come back with weapons.
Either way, our head witch and the coven, all of these women who have been canceled, they're here to show her how it's done.
The chorus then repeats word for word, and then we reach the bridge.
Taylor's Bridges are known to be the emotional climax of any song, and this one is no different, but in a song that is satire, it's not going to be nearly as vulnerable as an earnest song, but still it does have a few moments of real vulnerability.
(23:16):
So it begins, they stood by me before my exoneration, so her true friends were there during the good and the bad, even when her reputation was obliterated.
They knew the real person underneath the witch burned at the stake exoneration brings in this courtroom language that she's going to continue with.
So we're inside the court of public opinion or the witch trials for Taylor.
(23:40):
That witch trial was her cancellation that happened between 1989 and reputation and her exoneration was her comeback after reputation.
I covered all of this in my timeline of Taylor Swift's career videos, if you want more on the specifics, but she goes on, they believed I was innocent.
Her true friends were never convinced that she was a snake.
(24:01):
And the courtroom jargon here, exoneration and innocent is just adding another layer to the satire.
There was no real trial and conviction in the case of Taylor Swift, but there was a trial in the court of public opinion, and we know that Taylor believes she was falsely convicted.
I'm not here for judgment.
No.
And she goes on with more courtroom language.
(24:22):
She won't pass judgment on others the way that she was judged in this court of public opinion, she's always been the defendant and she will never be the judge, jury, or executioner.
She will always be on the side of the defense.
That's the bridge.
And while the rest of the song is taking on this tough girl persona, we can see that there's a real worry underneath because there's real pain underneath all the satire.
(24:45):
The third verse, which we could say is narrated by the third witch begins.
But if you can't be good, then just be better at it.
If you're gonna be evil, then you have to get better at disguising your true motives or hiding your misdeeds.
And this is another come to the dark side moment.
Come join us over here where we get away with stuff all the time.
(25:06):
Everybody's got bodies in the attic, she says.
So we all have our skeletons, we all have our secrets that we're hiding, and we all have information that would destroy us if it got leaked.
So we have to learn how to disguise ourselves and hide our secrets really well, and that is the dark art of being in the public eye or took somebody's man we'll take you by the hand.
(25:27):
She continues, and soon you'll learn the art of never getting caught if you are marked with the scarlet A, which is another common metaphor in Taylor's writing.
You're part of this coven too.
It's not possible, of course, to steal somebody's man.
There's cheating, which takes two.
But she's pointing out that it's usually the women who are given scarlet letters in cheating scandals and not the men.
(25:52):
And part of the satire is that none of them are doing anything particularly egregious.
It's just things that the masked crusaders, the public perceives as egregious.
So what do they do? They learn to hide and cover up anything that could be questionable.
And this is the life of a showgirl, which looks shiny and perfect from the outside, but is incredibly secretive and manipulated behind this facade.
(26:18):
It's curated to look that way.
We have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, and that's the central duality of this album.
The Showgirl versus The Girl, and how the show is used to cover up the girl. 298 00:26:31,959.7782613 --> 00:26:36,759.7782613 As we roll into the final chorus and outro our head, witch comes back in to narrate. 299 00:26:37,239.7782613 --> 00:26:37,989.7782613 It's a good thing. 300 00:26:38,19.7782613 --> 00:26:44,169.7782613 I like my friends canceled, but then the next line changes instead of, I like 'em cloaked in Gucci and Scandal. 301 00:26:44,169.7782613 --> 00:26:47,199.7782613 It's, I salute you if you're much too much to handle. 302 00:26:48,609.7782613 --> 00:26:56,579.7782613 Women, no matter who we are, are always judged for being too much or not enough in the patriarchy, we have to walk this line or be canceled or dismissed. 303 00:26:57,179.7782613 --> 00:26:59,969.7782613 But here she's saying, be too much. 304 00:27:00,479.7782613 --> 00:27:01,409.7782613 It takes guts. 305 00:27:01,409.7782613 --> 00:27:06,529.7782613 You have to be who you are that's admirable to be who you are and not care what others think. 306 00:27:07,549.7782613 --> 00:27:10,369.7782613 Can't you see, my infamy loves company. 307 00:27:10,789.7782613 --> 00:27:11,599.7782613 She asks. 308 00:27:11,599.7782613 --> 00:27:19,309.7782613 Her infamy is essentially her reputation, her scandals, her celebrity, her cancellation. 309 00:27:20,119.7782613 --> 00:27:25,189.7782613 The dark road I've gone down is one that many, many more will walk is what she's saying. 310 00:27:25,279.7782613 --> 00:27:28,9.7782613 And she's saying that cancel culture is pervasive. 311 00:27:28,69.7782613 --> 00:27:28,879.7782613 It won't stop. 312 00:27:28,879.7782613 --> 00:27:29,779.7782613 It's widespread. 313 00:27:30,349.7782613 --> 00:27:38,839.7782613 Many, many more will join her on the side of the canceled because no one is forever marked safe from scrutiny, not even her. 314 00:27:39,244.7782613 --> 00:27:42,394.7782613 She'll always have company in the cancel culture club. 315 00:27:43,654.7782613 --> 00:27:45,604.7782613 Now, they've broken you, like they've broken me. 316 00:27:45,604.7782613 --> 00:27:48,544.7782613 She goes on, but a shattered glass is a lot more sharp. 317 00:27:49,714.7782613 --> 00:28:00,664.7782613 They've broken me, again, refers to Taylor's own cancellation, which she's often described as being broken or wounded or metaphorically killed, but now they're doing the same thing to this new person. 318 00:28:01,654.7782613 --> 00:28:04,114.7782613 All the scrutiny will eventually wear you down. 319 00:28:04,174.7782613 --> 00:28:11,734.7782613 They broke her emotionally, but you could also read this as they broke her, like to break a horse like tamed. 320 00:28:12,214.7782613 --> 00:28:13,414.7782613 They tamed the shrew. 321 00:28:14,224.7782613 --> 00:28:17,314.7782613 Society has put in place these rules that are impossible not to break. 322 00:28:17,314.7782613 --> 00:28:19,114.7782613 So in turn you get broken. 323 00:28:19,519.7782613 --> 00:28:22,759.7782613 You behave according to their standards and not according to your nature. 324 00:28:22,759.7782613 --> 00:28:27,679.7782613 Like a beaten horse, you learn through trauma, you obey the rules 'cause you're terrified. 325 00:28:27,679.7782613 --> 00:28:31,69.7782613 They've beaten all of your originality and personality out of you. 326 00:28:31,459.7782613 --> 00:28:35,299.7782613 So now you perform according to their standards and not your own. 327 00:28:36,439.7782613 --> 00:28:38,719.7782613 But a shattered glass is a lot more sharp. 328 00:28:38,749.7782613 --> 00:28:48,679.7782613 She goes on, which means that after all of these trials, she hopes that this new witch will be smarter, tougher, a lot more deadly to deal with. 329 00:28:48,679.7782613 --> 00:28:53,179.7782613 She might get broken, but those edges, those lessons will make you tougher. 330 00:28:54,109.7782613 --> 00:28:59,889.7782613 And Taylor has used this particular broken glass imagery and metaphor before in Mirrorball. 331 00:29:01,84.7782613 --> 00:29:11,284.7782613 I'm a mirror ball and when I break it's in a million pieces and this faceless mob of canceled is drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten. 332 00:29:12,574.7782613 --> 00:29:24,64.7782613 Her pain has always been used as entertainment, but what she's saying here is that after that happens, after the fascinating shiny disco ball shatters, the shards become armor. 333 00:29:24,409.7782613 --> 00:29:27,619.7782613 The shards become both lessons and weapons. 334 00:29:28,489.7782613 --> 00:29:40,489.7782613 Kind of like when did all our lessons start to look like weapons from happiness? Those tough lessons you learn, transform into a new armor that can hurt others, but can also hurt yourself. 335 00:29:41,659.7782613 --> 00:29:43,639.7782613 And now you know exactly who your friends are. 336 00:29:43,639.7782613 --> 00:29:46,459.7782613 She concludes with all of the witches chiming back in. 337 00:29:47,449.7782613 --> 00:29:48,889.7782613 You know who we are. 338 00:29:49,504.7782613 --> 00:29:51,844.7782613 We are the ones with matching scars. 339 00:29:52,444.7782613 --> 00:29:53,914.7782613 Now they're all members of club. 340 00:29:53,914.7782613 --> 00:29:59,584.7782613 They never asked to join, and they have to learn to navigate this new underworld, this dark side of fame and celebrity. 341 00:29:59,584.7782613 --> 00:30:03,124.7782613 They are all mirror balls shattered into a million pieces. 342 00:30:03,124.7782613 --> 00:30:06,364.7782613 It's cut them and wounded them, but at least they have that in common. 343 00:30:06,454.7782613 --> 00:30:11,224.7782613 Infamy loves company and they have this new coven where there's power in numbers. 344 00:30:11,854.7782613 --> 00:30:13,744.7782613 And though they've all been burned at the stake. 345 00:30:14,794.7782613 --> 00:30:21,94.7782613 It's only helped them prepare for when it inevitably happens again because they're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one. 346 00:30:21,784.7782613 --> 00:30:26,284.7782613 And what the song is saying, as Taylor has said before, is light me up. 347 00:30:27,184.7782613 --> 00:30:29,704.7782613 Light my friends up, it's going to happen anyway. 348 00:30:29,974.7782613 --> 00:30:33,64.7782613 So the only thing you can do is get smarter and harder. 349 00:30:33,64.7782613 --> 00:30:37,594.7782613 The only thing you can do is toughen up because baby, that's show business for you. 350 00:30:37,594.7782613 --> 00:30:39,184.7782613 That's the limelight for you. 351 00:30:39,214.7782613 --> 00:30:41,644.7782613 It has an underworld that the public doesn't get to see. 352 00:30:41,914.7782613 --> 00:30:45,124.7782613 And if we did, we would not covet this life. 353 00:30:45,394.7782613 --> 00:30:47,914.7782613 We would not think that this celebrity life is glamorous at all. 354 00:30:48,814.7782613 --> 00:31:00,574.7782613 And she's saying that in this song, in this album, it's really hard and it's precarious, and I'm always bobbing and weaving and hiding behind the curtain so as to not get canceled again because the show must go on. 355 00:31:01,574.8553495 --> 00:31:07,754.8553495 That's it for my long-winded and possibly entirely too detailed and crazy analysis of Cancelled. 356 00:31:08,504.8553495 --> 00:31:16,304.8553495 Please let me know in the comments how the satire reads to you, because it's a really interesting track that I think is saying a lot more than it seems on the surface. 357 00:31:16,304.8553495 --> 00:31:22,394.8553495 But does the satire land the same way as blank space and antihero to you? I don't know. 358 00:31:22,394.8553495 --> 00:31:24,104.8553495 Those were very different albums. 359 00:31:24,104.8553495 --> 00:31:27,224.8553495 They both have very different messages, and those were different eras. 360 00:31:27,239.8553495 --> 00:31:37,439.8553495 For Taylor, but in an album that's all about the show and how it gets in the way of the girl Cancelled does fit quite nicely into this theme, in this larger narrative. 361 00:31:37,499.8553495 --> 00:31:40,679.8553495 And I do love a Taylor satire song so much. 362 00:31:41,459.8553495 --> 00:31:52,79.8553495 If you want more lyrical analysis, check out my website where I have over 250 tracks all annotated it, and I've also got lyric quizzes, breakdowns of each album and era, and my entire Taylor Swift 1 0 1 series. 363 00:31:52,829.8553495 --> 00:31:56,429.8553495 If you are a big Taylor Swift nerd like I am, please just like and subscribe. 364 00:31:57,209.8553495 --> 00:32:05,519.8553495 Wherever you're seeing or hearing this, I'm just starting this podcast and it's taken so much courage and growth for me to even get in front of this camera. 365 00:32:05,519.8553495 --> 00:32:07,379.8553495 I appreciate you so much. 366 00:32:07,409.8553495 --> 00:32:08,279.8553495 Every single one of you. 367 00:32:08,279.8553495 --> 00:32:09,719.8553495 Thank you for watching. 368 00:32:09,749.8553495 --> 00:32:10,949.8553495 Thank you for listening. 369 00:32:11,609.8553495 --> 00:32:17,969.8553495 Stay tuned for my next episode where we are diving into, call it What You Want, the sequel, AKA. 370 00:32:18,449.8553495 --> 00:32:20,819.8553495 Honey, thank you so much for being here. 371 00:32:21,29.8553495 --> 00:32:21,599.8553495 See you next time. 372 00:32:21,922.2868713 --> 00:32:24,232.2868713 That's it for this chapter of Swiftly Sung Stories. 373 00:32:24,292.2868713 --> 00:32:28,12.2868713 If you enjoyed this deep dive, please don't forget to follow, subscribe, or leave a review. 374 00:32:28,72.2868713 --> 00:32:30,112.2868713 It helps other Swifties find their way here. 375 00:32:30,262.2868713 --> 00:32:33,82.2868713 I'm Jen and I had a marvelous time reading everything with you. 376 00:32:33,202.2868713 --> 00:32:33,712.2868713 See you next time.
Hey everyone.
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Swiftly Song Stories podcast.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacher, and today we are tackling Track 10 in my track by track analysis of the life of a showgirl.
And we're diving straight into canceled.
Are you ready to get nerdy? Because this one's gonna get real, real nerdy.
In canceled.
Our showgirl narrator seems to be telling all of her other celebrity friends that she will still stand by their side when this inevitable cancellation comes to burn them down.
(00:24):
And in an album full of controversial and polarizing tracks canceled might just be the most polarizing of them all.
But I have a theory about this track that ties into the upcoming nerdiness that might just make it make more sense.
In my last few episodes, I analyzed Taylor's prologue poem and the first nine tracks of this album.
So go check those out because it really lays a lot of groundwork for the themes that Taylor is discussing in this album.
(00:48):
All of this content is available on my website if you want the text version with annotated lyrics, and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can also find me wherever you get your podcasts and vice versa.
Okay.
First, let's lay a little bit of groundwork for all of the themes that are going on within the song, and then we'll roll into our dissection of canceled line by line Welcome to swiftly sung Stories where we unpack the Taylor Swift Universe one era album and lyric at a time.
(01:13):
Think of it like English class, but it's all Taylor Swift and none of the boring stuff.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacher and classes in session, so come on in and meet me in the margins.
Before we go into detail, quick caveat, I only discuss Taylor's personal life in my lyrical analysis when we really need to, when it's essential to understanding the text or when it helps us clarify some things.
(01:34):
So I'm not here to discover what Taylor Swift did.
I wanna see what the art does and what the art says.
Also, this is my lens and my opinion, and it's not gonna be your lens and your opinion necessarily.
So that's what's cool about dissecting art is that we all have different lenses.
We all think it means different things.
And this is a conversation.
This isn't me telling you that this is the correct interpretation, so take what resonates and leave the rest.
(01:58):
So let's lay a little bit of foundation number one.
This song is satire.
Satire is when writers use humor, exaggeration, irony, to comment on something that has a larger implication in our society.
It's being critical or offering cultural commentary without doing it directly.
So it's kind of a covert way of saying what you wanna say, but packaging it in a more cheeky, palatable way.
(02:21):
It allows artists to say what they wanna say without saying it outright.
Taylor's written fully satirical songs before, like blank space, where she uses hyperbole, just exaggeration to bite back at all of her critics.
In blank space.
She pretends to be this vicious man eater who chews up men and spits them out, jumping from chaotic relationship one to another, never caring who she hurts, just living for the drama.
(02:46):
In Anti-Hero, she just pretends to be this unlikeable protagonist who is always the problem.
But in doing this, she's pointing out that it's our culture that's the problem.
She's saying something bigger than just what the lyrics entail.
So she's embodying these tropes, both the man eater and the anti-hero to point out the problem with the tropes and the labels that our culture puts on powerful women.
(03:10):
So it's really her way of biting back on these larger issues in this kind of.
Underhanded way, it's, I know exactly what you're saying about me, so I will lean in instead of fighting back, and I will make fun of you for making fun of me.
So what is she biting back at and canceled? Cancel culture.
Of course.
She's not saying, oh good, another one of my friends is canceled.
(03:32):
She's saying that in our modern world, cancel culture is a thing.
And sometimes it's not deserved, sometimes it completely is, but she's using satire for purpose.
If she wrote a strictly vulnerable and honest song of.
About how much cancel culture hurts, we would likely reject it outright.
It would feel too poor me or poor Little billionaire isn't popular anymore, so she wraps it in these layers of narrative and satire, and she puts it in a prettier package.
(04:03):
We also have to remember that this album is the Life of a Showgirl, not the life of Taylor Swift.
So we kind of have to view canceled through that lens.
And so many songs on this album are pointing out that dark side of fame and celebrity.
The fate of Ophelia Elizabeth Taylor father figure the title Track Life of a Showgirl, this Dark Reality that the Showgirl Facade is meant to Cover Up and Canceled is in this vein of songs that are telling us that the pedestal of fame is not something to covet.
(04:31):
It's something you can fall off of one wrong move and you fall to your career death and canceled is directly addressing this precarious nature of fame and it's using satire to do it.
But I think there's another layer to the song and we need to jump ahead for a minute so I can loop it back around.
In the end of the first pre-chorus, Taylor says Something wicked this way comes, and this is a direct quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
(04:59):
Is it just an interesting lyric, an interesting phrase? Sure.
Yes.
But we all know Taylor is intentional in everything that she writes.
And on this album she's already used Shakespeare's Ophelia as a central metaphor.
So she's intentionally pointing to Macbeth and we have to dig into this.
Let's do a very quick synopsis of Macbeth, just like we did for Hamlet in my fate of Ophelia episode.
(05:23):
And then I'll tie it all back together as we go through.
Canceled line by line.
The tragedy of Macbeth centers around a Scottish nobleman Macbeth, who is told by three witches that he is destined to ascend the throne.
He was already blindly ambitious, and then he hears this promise of destiny from the witches, and he charges forward in this epic quest for power.
(05:45):
Macbeth's three witches, who are also called the weird sisters, and are probably based on the fates are evil and chaotic.
They're feeding into Macbeth's ambition and delusion because they simply enjoy causing trouble.
But Macbeth doesn't see this.
He doesn't see their scheming, and he takes it as gospel.
It's his destiny.
(06:06):
He's supposed to be king.
In the play, the three witches, speak one at a time and then speak some lines in unison.
This is important and we'll come back to it, but just keep it in mind.
So many of these lines are iconic and you've heard them even if you don't know where they're from.
Double, double, toil and trouble.
Fair is foul and foul is fair, and of course, something wicked this way comes.
(06:30):
The witch's job in the play, their desire is to get Macbeth to come to the dark side and to move the plot along as it progressively gets darker and darker.
But there's not only three witches.
There is also a fourth witch who's kind of the mother witch, and that's Hecate.
She is the goddess of spells and witchcraft, and she appears in the play as kind of a boss of these three witches.
(06:52):
She pops in, she gets jealous that they're manipulating Macbeth without her.
She wants to play their evil little games too.
And her infamous line is Security is mortals, chiefest enemy.
So the witches come to symbolize chaos and evil, and fate and destiny, and they manipulate the will of men and exploit their vanity and their egos to perpetuate their agenda.
(07:15):
What does this all have to do with canceled? Some of you have already seen where I'm going with this, but my theory is that canceled is narrated by the characters of Hecate in the three witches, which I will explain further as we go through the song line by line.
But it's not just the single something wicked this way comes that points to the witches of Macbeth.
It's the entire format and layout of canceled that is reminiscent of the witches and how they speak in the play.
(07:41):
So in canceled, there are three verses.
Like the three witches.
And after each verse, each pre-chorus asks three questions in the audio.
Each of these questions is asked in a different octave, in a different tone, which makes it sound like three distinct voices.
And all of these voices are tempting the subject over to the dark side, just like the witches do.
(08:06):
But there's also a leader or central narrator in this track who I interpret as the voice of the head witch, the character Hecate who by the way in most iconography is portrayed as triple bodied with three faces.
All these voices in canceled are essentially encouraging evil and tempting this newly canceled character to come join them in the underworld.
(08:31):
Am I stretching? Maybe.
But that's how I read the song and that's how I'm going to dissect it.
Whether it's correct or not, whether it's what Taylor intended or not isn't the point.
The point is analyzing art and making connections between texts is interesting and fun.
So whether you agree with my Macbeth interpretation or not, I have to emphasize that this song is satire canceled is really critical.
(08:56):
Commentary on the patriarchy, cancel culture and faceless internet mobs, but it is not meant to be taken literally.
She doesn't only like canceled friends, just like she doesn't want a bouquet of poison thorny flowers.
The real critique of cancel culture is there because she's experienced it herself and it's an integral part of this showgirl life.
(09:18):
Once you make it to the top of the pedestal, the only way to go is down.
But that doesn't mean she wants or likes it when her friends get canceled.
So let's get into canceled line by line.
I'm going to dissect it through the lens of Macbeth and the witches because.
That makes the most sense to me.
And also because I'm a really big nerd and it's fun.
I'm not saying Taylor wrote it deliberately as the witches.
(09:39):
I'm just interpreting the lyrics that way.
So if you wanna have some nerdy fun too, come along.
So the first verse begins, you thought it would be okay.
At first, we are beginning in medias res or right in the middle of the action with little to no context through my lens.
The first verse is narrated by the first witch, and she is alluding to some sort of scandal or obstacle that is creeping up on the subject, the you.
(10:04):
We don't know who the you is yet, but we will later learn that it's someone in the public eye.
Fictional or not, doesn't matter.
Someone who's sitting on this.
Precarious ledge of public opinion, the situation could be saved.
Of course, the first witch continues, and this is sarcastic.
The situation can't be saved.
It's already too late.
(10:26):
And in the larger context of cancel culture, the situation really means.
Your reputation, they're coming for her.
But whatever the subject has done, it has been predestined.
She is about to be burned at the stake she goes on, but they'd already picked out your grave and hearse.
They is the public at large or the faceless mob.
(10:46):
They will metaphorically bury her reputation and it's already too late to be saved.
They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one.
The grave and hearse is another common metaphor in Taylor's cancel culture universe.
Her cancellation pre reputation as her metaphorical death and then rising from the ashes as her comeback.
(11:06):
So think of all the imagery in the, look what you made me do.
Music video.
It's the same here except they're coming for this unknown subject.
Instead of Taylor herself, this person's career and or reputation is about to get buried in the grave.
So she goes on.
Beware of the wrath of masked crusaders.
The masked crusaders are the faceless mob of the internet.
(11:29):
It's cancel culture personified.
We sit behind our computers spouting off opinions about people we don't know.
We hear one piece of news out of context, and without knowing the full story, we pass judgment.
Celebrities and people in the public eye are the defendants, and we are the judge, jury, and executioner.
So up until now it's been one narrator, but here's where I think it gets very Macbeth coded and all of the witches sound off in this pre-chorus.
(11:57):
If you can go listen to the audio real quick, I can't play it for you obviously, 'cause I don't own the rights, but just go listen to this pre-chorus so you can hear these different voices.
It's all Taylor, of course, but it does sound like different people because it sung so distinctly in each line.
So the first witch asks, did you girl boss too close to the son? Did this person gain too much power for a woman? The second witch asks, did they get you having far too much fun and too much fun? Is anything that the public deems as excessive for a woman? Was she too slutty, too visible, too loud? These are all punishable offenses.
(12:37):
Then the third witch adds come with me.
When they see us, they'll run.
She's beckoning.
She's saying, come join our coven on the dark side, where we've all been burned at the stake.
And this line is very blank space coded.
You're calling me a maneater, so I'll.
Be a maneater.
It's, they're calling us witches, so let's go be witches.
Let's embody that archetype.
(13:00):
If you can't beat 'em, join them.
So these three witches each have set their lines just like they do in Macbeth.
And then the fourth quotes from Macbeth directly, something wicked this way comes.
This is who I see as the head witch Hecate, AKA Taylor Swift herself, or the showgirl character of Taylor Swift, the one who is all powerful but has to hide behind a curtain to maintain her image.
(13:24):
So it's something wicked this way comes and in this context, the witches and their newest.
Canceled member of the club are what's wicked.
But what she's really saying is that cancel culture itself is wicked.
That's the satire.
They're not really wicked, but society paints them to be so they lean in.
(13:44):
What's really wicked is the witch hunt.
And this is a narrative that Taylor has used in the past emerge as the quote unquote bad girl in the face of controversy.
Instead of trying to beat the masked crusaders at their own game, she'll join in and satirically embody what they accused her of.
She did it in blank space.
Of course I did something bad.
(14:05):
Who's afraid of little old me? Here as her friends undergo the cancellation ritual of 2025, instead of fighting back, she leans in by imagining them all as members of this dark and twisted coven.
And she's Hecate herself, master of the Dark Arts.
She's mastered this showgirl life perfectly, curating her image and public opinion, so she'll be the father figure for these new recruits and teach her proteges how to survive this bonfire.
(14:36):
We move into the chorus, which is, I believe, narrated by Hecate slash Taylor, and we're about to learn what it's like in this underworld full of witches and heathens.
So it begins.
Good thing I like my friends canceled.
I like them Cloaked in Gucci and in Scandal.
Does she really like her friends? Canceled? No, this is satire.
(14:56):
Layered with sarcasm.
She's really saying, God damn it seems like everyone I know is getting canceled and it sucks.
But if you can't beat 'em, join them.
And she continues the satire by painting this glamorous, dangerous world where the naughty witches are all dressed to kill.
They'll wear these designer duds just like they wear their scarlet letters.
(15:16):
Like my whiskey sour.
She goes on.
So she's comparing her canceled friends to a whiskey sour, this brown liquor cocktail that's both sweet and sour, but it's also a double meaning because it's not only the name of the cocktail, but she's saying satirically that she only wants.
Bitterness.
She doesn't want sweet saccharine friends or a sweet saccharine life because this whole world that she's creating is bitter and dark.
(15:43):
So this whiskey sour is the themed drink of this coven where they worship the dark side.
It's bitter just like them.
So she likes her liquor sour and poison thorny flowers.
She doesn't want a lovely bouquet, which is a prominent recurring metaphor on this album, and that represents adoration and recognition.
She doesn't want that.
(16:03):
She wants deadly plants.
Sharp plants, beauty, that can also be the beast.
She's embracing this dark side of fame, welcome to my underworld, where it gets quite dark.
So she's welcoming this new member into the coven and the underworld is the dark side of fame and success.
And in this ominous lighting, it's hard to see clearly.
(16:23):
You might get lost, you might not find your way back out again.
Your reputation might not make it back out into the daylight.
And this is, by the way, exactly what the witches are trying to do in Macbeth.
They're trying to bring 'em over to the dark side where evil and chaos rules, it's the same thing here.
At least you know exactly who your friends are.
And then she ends the first chorus with, they're the ones with matching scars.
(16:48):
So this is a members only club, and it's the Club of Celebrity Cancellation.
All the witches, the canceled friends, and Hecate, the head witch.
The survivor of cancellation are true friends because they've been through the same witch trials, they've been through the same metaphorical fires.
And matching scars means that they all bear the same wounds of being canceled.
(17:09):
And this is another common metaphor in Taylor's universe.
Physical scars representing emotional wounds.
She's even used this particular metaphor in her sort of cancellation universe of songs before in hoax.
I still have my scars from when they tore me apart.
So they've all been marked by the same Scarlet letter, and this time it's probably a C instead of an A.
(17:34):
They are essentially trauma bonded.
Moving on to the second verse, which for my purposes is narrated by the second witch.
It's easy to love you when you're popular.
She says the optics click, everyone prospers.
So it's easy to be in the public eye when everyone approves of you, and it's easy to be in celebrity friendships.
(17:55):
When everyone approves of both people, you can enhance each other's images and what might start as a real genuine friendship can turn into a PR dream scenario.
Everyone prospers and we see this all the time on social media, right two internet personalities collab on a project, and they both boost their following, but it won't last.
(18:17):
She's saying, but one single drop, you're off the roster.
So in this hierarchy of fame or hierarchy of friendship, if you do something that pushes you down one notch, you're no longer eligible for friendship.
You're no longer on the same level.
It could be a small slip up or an offhanded comment or a bad interview, and poof, you're gone.
(18:39):
You're no longer my friend, and we can't be seen together because our images take precedence over our loyalty.
The roster isn't just a friendship list either.
It's a list of celebrities and public figures that society and social media approve of, and it's this mercurial list that changes like the tides.
Everyone's up and down and on and off all the time.
(19:03):
Then she zooms into the headspace of the faceless mob tone, deaf and hot.
Let's fucking off her.
This is she imagines what we're thinking when we cancel someone, they're too pretty or too successful, or too out of touch, whatever it is.
It's like we suddenly get the ick and that person is done.
So if you get too successful or make any blunder small or large, this mob will come after you and they will have your head.
(19:28):
This is her commentary on cancel culture, but tone deaf can also be read in two ways.
There's the common meaning of tone deaf, which means just not reading the room unaware of the larger context in which your words and your actions exist.
But then there's tone deaf in singing and music.
Early on in her career, it was a common criticism.
Lobbed at Taylor, they said she couldn't sing, and in the Speak now Taylor's version prologue, she told us exactly how much that hurt and how she course corrected between fearless and speak.
(19:58):
Now with this extensive vocal training, she still gets this criticism, by the way, all the time that she can't sing, which is mind boggling.
But now in the later stages of her career, we lobbed this other grenade at her.
She's out of touch, she can't read the room.
And this has been a huge critique, especially with this album, but it's key to remember that this entire song is satire and its aim is to point out real emotional and social truths.
(20:26):
So does she really think the faceless mob, the masked crusaders, are coming to kill her? No.
Not physically, but culturally.
Socially, yes.
And that's something she's really grappling with this album in a very real way.
Will she get canceled again? It's a big worry and she can cloak it in satire in this track and in other tracks like Elizabeth Taylor and the title track.
(20:49):
We can see it's something she's pretty earnestly worried about.
She just hides it behind this facade of a showgirl, and in this track she hides it behind the facade of satire.
Moving into the second pre-chorus, the three witches sound off again this time with different questions.
Did you make a joke that only a man could? the first witch chimes back in Did you stretch the limits of what the patriarchy will tolerate? Did you not stay in your lane as a woman? Punishable offense.
(21:19):
Were you just too smug for your own good? Was your tone wrong? Did your facial expression show anything but goodwill towards all? Did you even seem the slightest bit ungrateful for everything you have? A punishable offense.
Or bring a tiny violin to a knife fight? The third witch says, which is probably the funniest line of this whole song, playing a tiny violin is what you do when someone is playing the poor me card.
(21:45):
So if a celebrity brings a tiny violin to a metaphorical knife fight, they either don't care enough, they didn't take this threat seriously, or they were pitying themselves instead of being sincere.
The knife fight is the public coming after you, after you've been to smug for your own good, or made a joke that only a man could.
They're coming at you armed and they cut you off the roster of fame with just one blow.
(22:09):
You're the only one with something to lose and they have nothing to lose.
Then our head witch comes back in and closes out the pre-chorus (22:13):
baby, that all ends tonight.
The coven is here to show you how to fight back properly.
She's the master of the Dark Arts, and she's here to show you how it's really done.
It is a dark art of manipulating your image for public approval, and Taylor Swift is the master, but what exactly is ending? What ends tonight? It's either their reputation as in they cave, they fold accept this cancellation, or they stop being unprepared for the knife fight.
(22:46):
They learn how to properly fight back and come back with weapons.
Either way, our head witch and the coven, all of these women who have been canceled, they're here to show her how it's done.
The chorus then repeats word for word, and then we reach the bridge.
Taylor's Bridges are known to be the emotional climax of any song, and this one is no different, but in a song that is satire, it's not going to be nearly as vulnerable as an earnest song, but still it does have a few moments of real vulnerability.
(23:16):
So it begins, they stood by me before my exoneration, so her true friends were there during the good and the bad, even when her reputation was obliterated.
They knew the real person underneath the witch burned at the stake exoneration brings in this courtroom language that she's going to continue with.
So we're inside the court of public opinion or the witch trials for Taylor.
(23:40):
That witch trial was her cancellation that happened between 1989 and reputation and her exoneration was her comeback after reputation.
I covered all of this in my timeline of Taylor Swift's career videos, if you want more on the specifics, but she goes on, they believed I was innocent.
Her true friends were never convinced that she was a snake.
(24:01):
And the courtroom jargon here, exoneration and innocent is just adding another layer to the satire.
There was no real trial and conviction in the case of Taylor Swift, but there was a trial in the court of public opinion, and we know that Taylor believes she was falsely convicted.
I'm not here for judgment.
No.
And she goes on with more courtroom language.
(24:22):
She won't pass judgment on others the way that she was judged in this court of public opinion, she's always been the defendant and she will never be the judge, jury, or executioner.
She will always be on the side of the defense.
That's the bridge.
And while the rest of the song is taking on this tough girl persona, we can see that there's a real worry underneath because there's real pain underneath all the satire.
(24:45):
The third verse, which we could say is narrated by the third witch begins.
But if you can't be good, then just be better at it.
If you're gonna be evil, then you have to get better at disguising your true motives or hiding your misdeeds.
And this is another come to the dark side moment.
Come join us over here where we get away with stuff all the time.
(25:06):
Everybody's got bodies in the attic, she says.
So we all have our skeletons, we all have our secrets that we're hiding, and we all have information that would destroy us if it got leaked.
So we have to learn how to disguise ourselves and hide our secrets really well, and that is the dark art of being in the public eye or took somebody's man we'll take you by the hand.
(25:27):
She continues, and soon you'll learn the art of never getting caught if you are marked with the scarlet A, which is another common metaphor in Taylor's writing.
You're part of this coven too.
It's not possible, of course, to steal somebody's man.
There's cheating, which takes two.
But she's pointing out that it's usually the women who are given scarlet letters in cheating scandals and not the men.
(25:52):
And part of the satire is that none of them are doing anything particularly egregious.
It's just things that the masked crusaders, the public perceives as egregious.
So what do they do? They learn to hide and cover up anything that could be questionable.
And this is the life of a showgirl, which looks shiny and perfect from the outside, but is incredibly secretive and manipulated behind this facade.
(26:18):
It's curated to look that way.
We have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, and that's the central duality of this album.
The Showgirl versus The Girl, and how the show is used to cover up the girl. 298 00:26:31,959.7782613 --> 00:26:36,759.7782613 As we roll into the final chorus and outro our head, witch comes back in to narrate. 299 00:26:37,239.7782613 --> 00:26:37,989.7782613 It's a good thing. 300 00:26:38,19.7782613 --> 00:26:44,169.7782613 I like my friends canceled, but then the next line changes instead of, I like 'em cloaked in Gucci and Scandal. 301 00:26:44,169.7782613 --> 00:26:47,199.7782613 It's, I salute you if you're much too much to handle. 302 00:26:48,609.7782613 --> 00:26:56,579.7782613 Women, no matter who we are, are always judged for being too much or not enough in the patriarchy, we have to walk this line or be canceled or dismissed. 303 00:26:57,179.7782613 --> 00:26:59,969.7782613 But here she's saying, be too much. 304 00:27:00,479.7782613 --> 00:27:01,409.7782613 It takes guts. 305 00:27:01,409.7782613 --> 00:27:06,529.7782613 You have to be who you are that's admirable to be who you are and not care what others think. 306 00:27:07,549.7782613 --> 00:27:10,369.7782613 Can't you see, my infamy loves company. 307 00:27:10,789.7782613 --> 00:27:11,599.7782613 She asks. 308 00:27:11,599.7782613 --> 00:27:19,309.7782613 Her infamy is essentially her reputation, her scandals, her celebrity, her cancellation. 309 00:27:20,119.7782613 --> 00:27:25,189.7782613 The dark road I've gone down is one that many, many more will walk is what she's saying. 310 00:27:25,279.7782613 --> 00:27:28,9.7782613 And she's saying that cancel culture is pervasive. 311 00:27:28,69.7782613 --> 00:27:28,879.7782613 It won't stop. 312 00:27:28,879.7782613 --> 00:27:29,779.7782613 It's widespread. 313 00:27:30,349.7782613 --> 00:27:38,839.7782613 Many, many more will join her on the side of the canceled because no one is forever marked safe from scrutiny, not even her. 314 00:27:39,244.7782613 --> 00:27:42,394.7782613 She'll always have company in the cancel culture club. 315 00:27:43,654.7782613 --> 00:27:45,604.7782613 Now, they've broken you, like they've broken me. 316 00:27:45,604.7782613 --> 00:27:48,544.7782613 She goes on, but a shattered glass is a lot more sharp. 317 00:27:49,714.7782613 --> 00:28:00,664.7782613 They've broken me, again, refers to Taylor's own cancellation, which she's often described as being broken or wounded or metaphorically killed, but now they're doing the same thing to this new person. 318 00:28:01,654.7782613 --> 00:28:04,114.7782613 All the scrutiny will eventually wear you down. 319 00:28:04,174.7782613 --> 00:28:11,734.7782613 They broke her emotionally, but you could also read this as they broke her, like to break a horse like tamed. 320 00:28:12,214.7782613 --> 00:28:13,414.7782613 They tamed the shrew. 321 00:28:14,224.7782613 --> 00:28:17,314.7782613 Society has put in place these rules that are impossible not to break. 322 00:28:17,314.7782613 --> 00:28:19,114.7782613 So in turn you get broken. 323 00:28:19,519.7782613 --> 00:28:22,759.7782613 You behave according to their standards and not according to your nature. 324 00:28:22,759.7782613 --> 00:28:27,679.7782613 Like a beaten horse, you learn through trauma, you obey the rules 'cause you're terrified. 325 00:28:27,679.7782613 --> 00:28:31,69.7782613 They've beaten all of your originality and personality out of you. 326 00:28:31,459.7782613 --> 00:28:35,299.7782613 So now you perform according to their standards and not your own. 327 00:28:36,439.7782613 --> 00:28:38,719.7782613 But a shattered glass is a lot more sharp. 328 00:28:38,749.7782613 --> 00:28:48,679.7782613 She goes on, which means that after all of these trials, she hopes that this new witch will be smarter, tougher, a lot more deadly to deal with. 329 00:28:48,679.7782613 --> 00:28:53,179.7782613 She might get broken, but those edges, those lessons will make you tougher. 330 00:28:54,109.7782613 --> 00:28:59,889.7782613 And Taylor has used this particular broken glass imagery and metaphor before in Mirrorball. 331 00:29:01,84.7782613 --> 00:29:11,284.7782613 I'm a mirror ball and when I break it's in a million pieces and this faceless mob of canceled is drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten. 332 00:29:12,574.7782613 --> 00:29:24,64.7782613 Her pain has always been used as entertainment, but what she's saying here is that after that happens, after the fascinating shiny disco ball shatters, the shards become armor. 333 00:29:24,409.7782613 --> 00:29:27,619.7782613 The shards become both lessons and weapons. 334 00:29:28,489.7782613 --> 00:29:40,489.7782613 Kind of like when did all our lessons start to look like weapons from happiness? Those tough lessons you learn, transform into a new armor that can hurt others, but can also hurt yourself. 335 00:29:41,659.7782613 --> 00:29:43,639.7782613 And now you know exactly who your friends are. 336 00:29:43,639.7782613 --> 00:29:46,459.7782613 She concludes with all of the witches chiming back in. 337 00:29:47,449.7782613 --> 00:29:48,889.7782613 You know who we are. 338 00:29:49,504.7782613 --> 00:29:51,844.7782613 We are the ones with matching scars. 339 00:29:52,444.7782613 --> 00:29:53,914.7782613 Now they're all members of club. 340 00:29:53,914.7782613 --> 00:29:59,584.7782613 They never asked to join, and they have to learn to navigate this new underworld, this dark side of fame and celebrity. 341 00:29:59,584.7782613 --> 00:30:03,124.7782613 They are all mirror balls shattered into a million pieces. 342 00:30:03,124.7782613 --> 00:30:06,364.7782613 It's cut them and wounded them, but at least they have that in common. 343 00:30:06,454.7782613 --> 00:30:11,224.7782613 Infamy loves company and they have this new coven where there's power in numbers. 344 00:30:11,854.7782613 --> 00:30:13,744.7782613 And though they've all been burned at the stake. 345 00:30:14,794.7782613 --> 00:30:21,94.7782613 It's only helped them prepare for when it inevitably happens again because they're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one. 346 00:30:21,784.7782613 --> 00:30:26,284.7782613 And what the song is saying, as Taylor has said before, is light me up. 347 00:30:27,184.7782613 --> 00:30:29,704.7782613 Light my friends up, it's going to happen anyway. 348 00:30:29,974.7782613 --> 00:30:33,64.7782613 So the only thing you can do is get smarter and harder. 349 00:30:33,64.7782613 --> 00:30:37,594.7782613 The only thing you can do is toughen up because baby, that's show business for you. 350 00:30:37,594.7782613 --> 00:30:39,184.7782613 That's the limelight for you. 351 00:30:39,214.7782613 --> 00:30:41,644.7782613 It has an underworld that the public doesn't get to see. 352 00:30:41,914.7782613 --> 00:30:45,124.7782613 And if we did, we would not covet this life. 353 00:30:45,394.7782613 --> 00:30:47,914.7782613 We would not think that this celebrity life is glamorous at all. 354 00:30:48,814.7782613 --> 00:31:00,574.7782613 And she's saying that in this song, in this album, it's really hard and it's precarious, and I'm always bobbing and weaving and hiding behind the curtain so as to not get canceled again because the show must go on. 355 00:31:01,574.8553495 --> 00:31:07,754.8553495 That's it for my long-winded and possibly entirely too detailed and crazy analysis of Cancelled. 356 00:31:08,504.8553495 --> 00:31:16,304.8553495 Please let me know in the comments how the satire reads to you, because it's a really interesting track that I think is saying a lot more than it seems on the surface. 357 00:31:16,304.8553495 --> 00:31:22,394.8553495 But does the satire land the same way as blank space and antihero to you? I don't know. 358 00:31:22,394.8553495 --> 00:31:24,104.8553495 Those were very different albums. 359 00:31:24,104.8553495 --> 00:31:27,224.8553495 They both have very different messages, and those were different eras. 360 00:31:27,239.8553495 --> 00:31:37,439.8553495 For Taylor, but in an album that's all about the show and how it gets in the way of the girl Cancelled does fit quite nicely into this theme, in this larger narrative. 361 00:31:37,499.8553495 --> 00:31:40,679.8553495 And I do love a Taylor satire song so much. 362 00:31:41,459.8553495 --> 00:31:52,79.8553495 If you want more lyrical analysis, check out my website where I have over 250 tracks all annotated it, and I've also got lyric quizzes, breakdowns of each album and era, and my entire Taylor Swift 1 0 1 series. 363 00:31:52,829.8553495 --> 00:31:56,429.8553495 If you are a big Taylor Swift nerd like I am, please just like and subscribe. 364 00:31:57,209.8553495 --> 00:32:05,519.8553495 Wherever you're seeing or hearing this, I'm just starting this podcast and it's taken so much courage and growth for me to even get in front of this camera. 365 00:32:05,519.8553495 --> 00:32:07,379.8553495 I appreciate you so much. 366 00:32:07,409.8553495 --> 00:32:08,279.8553495 Every single one of you. 367 00:32:08,279.8553495 --> 00:32:09,719.8553495 Thank you for watching. 368 00:32:09,749.8553495 --> 00:32:10,949.8553495 Thank you for listening. 369 00:32:11,609.8553495 --> 00:32:17,969.8553495 Stay tuned for my next episode where we are diving into, call it What You Want, the sequel, AKA. 370 00:32:18,449.8553495 --> 00:32:20,819.8553495 Honey, thank you so much for being here. 371 00:32:21,29.8553495 --> 00:32:21,599.8553495 See you next time. 372 00:32:21,922.2868713 --> 00:32:24,232.2868713 That's it for this chapter of Swiftly Sung Stories. 373 00:32:24,292.2868713 --> 00:32:28,12.2868713 If you enjoyed this deep dive, please don't forget to follow, subscribe, or leave a review. 374 00:32:28,72.2868713 --> 00:32:30,112.2868713 It helps other Swifties find their way here. 375 00:32:30,262.2868713 --> 00:32:33,82.2868713 I'm Jen and I had a marvelous time reading everything with you. 376 00:32:33,202.2868713 --> 00:32:33,712.2868713 See you next time.
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