June 13, 2025 • 30 mins
This episode of "Let's Talk Taylor" dives into the iconic design elements associated with Taylor Swift, as the hosts brainstorm ideas for cover artwork for their podcast. The discussion covers various memorable symbols from her albums, such as the red lips from the "Red" era, the cowboy boots from "Debut," and the sparkly guitar from "Fearless." The hosts explore significant imagery linked to each album, moving through themes of color and design, while also touching on the evolution of Taylor's visual identity over time. They consider how these elements can be creatively integrated into their podcast branding, including potential use of Polaroid images and thematic colors. As they wrap up their conversation, the hosts reflect on the importance of capturing Taylor's essence through symbols, colors, and overall aesthetics that resonate with her fanbase.
The podcast episode captures an engaging dialogue between the hosts as they explore the visual identity of Taylor Swift and its significance in her musical journey. Speaker A and Speaker B dissect various design elements associated with Swift’s albums, highlighting how these visuals have become synonymous with her brand. They share insights on iconic symbols such as the red lips from the 'Red' era, the cowboy boots from her debut album, and the purple dragons from 'Speak Now', each representing a distinct phase of her artistic evolution. Their discussion reveals not only the aesthetic choices made by Swift but also the emotional resonance these choices have with fans, creating a sense of shared identity and nostalgia.
As they brainstorm potential cover artwork for their podcast, the hosts emphasize the importance of weaving visual themes into their branding. They contemplate ideas rooted in Swift’s imagery, such as using Polaroid photos, lyrical snippets, and elements that reflect the colors and motifs from her albums. This segment of the conversation showcases their creative process and culminates in a realization that their podcast cover can be an evolving representation of Swift's dynamic artistry, much like her own visual identity has changed over the years. The episode ultimately highlights the interplay between music and visuals, inviting listeners to appreciate how these elements work together to enhance the overall experience of an artist’s work.
Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own connections to Taylor Swift’s music and the visual narratives that accompany it. The hosts’ lively banter and personal anecdotes add depth to the discussion, making it relatable and engaging. By the end of the episode, the audience is left with a richer understanding of how design choices in music can forge deeper connections with listeners, solidifying the idea that visuals are a crucial part of an artist's storytelling arsenal. The episode serves as both an analysis of Swift's impactful designs and a creative exploration for the hosts as they seek to carve out their unique identity in the podcasting landscape.
Takeaways:
- The podcast discusses the iconic design elements associated with Taylor Swift's albums.
- The hosts brainstorm various imagery and color schemes for each of Taylor's albums.
- They emphasize the importance of album covers and the symbolism behind each era.
- Notably, they mention the significance of red lips and cowboy boots in her early career.
- The conversation includes how each album has its unique color palette and mood.
- They also touch on memorable symbols like the snake from the Reputation era
Taylor Swift podcast, Taylor Swift design elements, Taylor Swift album artwork, Taylor Swift iconic imagery, Swiftie podcast, Taylor Swift fan discussion, Taylor Swift aesthetics, Taylor Swift album colors, Taylor Swift merchandise design, Taylor Swift cover art ideas, Taylor Swift fan art, Taylor Swift album themes, Taylor Swift lyrical imagery, Taylor Swift fashion...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Okay.
Hello there.
This is.
Well, why don't you do the intro?
This is let's Talk Taylorepisode four.
And none of the episodes havebeen released at the time of recording
of this episode.
(00:24):
And the reason is because wehaven't decided on cover artwork
for the show.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
And it's actually good thatwe're here.
Bless you.
Because we need to talk aboutwhat are the most iconic design elements
(00:54):
that are associated withTaylor Swift so that we can get all
our ideas together.
You're a very slow talker.
I am.
Because it's late.
Get all our ideas together sothat we can present them to the designer
(01:18):
so that she can come up withthe artwork for the show.
Okay.
Okay.
So let's talk about designelements that we think are associated
with Taylor Swift.
Well, her lips.
(01:38):
The red lips.
Red lips is very important.
Okay.
There are a few things I cango by.
Album, like the main thing forthe album.
List them all out as you thinkof them, and then I'll come up with
some more, too.
I think I'll see if I can spuryou on because I have some ideas
on how to, like, come up withdifferent categories of design elements
(02:04):
that we can go through so thatwe can sort of just compile, like,
a very complete or exhaustive list.
Yeah.
Okay.
So what, off the top of your head?
Yeah.
Go through all the albums andjust think of it.
So Debut would be like acountry hat.
Like a cowboy boot.
(02:24):
I would say cowboy bootbecause she had a pair of cowboy
boots that she would wear whenshe would perform for Debut that
had her name on them.
So that's like, I call it inthe Debut era.
And then for Fearless,actually, we're looking at it right
now.
Her sparkly guitar that has,like, the 13 on it, which is the
(02:46):
guitar that she used for theFearless tour.
I'd say that is the Fearless symbol.
And Speak now has, like, a fewdifferent ones, but there are really
mainly two.
And that's dragons.
Like, purple dragons.
I have a purple dragon.
Wait, what?
Which one?
(03:07):
Purple dragon.
Speak Now.
Oh.
So speaking as, like, purple,but in Long Live, she says, I had
the time in my life fightingdragons with you.
Oh.
And that's like the song ofthe album, basically, because it's
like the song from, like, her.
Her fans.
That's, like, the most, like.
Yeah.
Meaningful song to everyone onthe album.
(03:29):
Exactly.
It's like this Swifty song.
Yep.
But also fireworks.
Like, purple fireworks.
Everything's purple for Speak Down.
Okay.
Like fireworks Too, becauseof, like, sparks fly and.
(03:51):
Oh, yeah.
Okay, so red.
Red is a scarf.
A red scarf.
1989.
Seagulls.
Seagulls.
Why?
Well, originally it's becauseher sweatshirt that she was wearing,
(04:12):
like the crew neck that shewas wearing on the original album
cover had seagulls on it.
Remember that one?
Oh, I don't remember that.
It's like a beach scene.
It's like a beach printprinted on it with, like, seagulls
flying around.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, like, the seeds are whiteand it's like all white except for,
like, the beachiness, you know?
(04:32):
Yeah.
And then.
But now it's really also thatbecause, like, for the new album
cover for 1989, Taylor'sversion, she did, like, emphasis
on, like, the beachy theme.
So now they're like seagullsflying around the COVID and you can
hear like, the squawk of aseagull in.
(04:54):
Is it over now?
Kind of like in the beginning,you know, like when, like they're
like in like the beginningwhen there's, like, noises, like
the high pitched noises.
I would try to recreate that,but I'm not gonna do that.
Don't.
Yeah, it's okay.
Yeah, no, we can skip that now.
Wait, before you move on, I dothink that the original album cover
(05:18):
with the Polaroid is somewhatimportant, like, in terms of imagery.
And I also think the style ofthe writing of the.
Of 1989, like the.
Yeah, it's like a Sharpie or something.
That's important for a lot ofthe albums.
Yeah.
(05:38):
So I feel like that sort ofstyle of writing, the Sharpie writing,
maybe the title of the showcan be in that Sharpie font.
Yeah.
Anyway, that depends on whatvibe we're going for, because each
album has a different fontthat's, like, unique to that album
except for, like, debut.
(05:59):
Speak.
Wait, no.
Speak Now.
Hold on.
I don't know if Speak now change.
I feel like it did, but Idon't think it did.
I don't think it did, but.
Fearless.
Why does he debut.
Debut is like, not.
I'm clowning a little too hard.
Oh, yeah, the clown guy.
(06:21):
What is clowning?
What do you mean?
Like, clowning for Rep tv.
Did a poster fall down?
Yeah, it's on my desk.
It's on my dresser.
Like, clown.
Clowning for reptv is like,thinking that she's gonna announce
repti.
I don't know how to describe it.
Okay, how would you describe it?
Because I feel like, you knowwhat clowning is.
(06:43):
I think clowning means, like,messing around.
No, but it's not clowning around.
I mean, we are messing around.
That's what clowning.
I think technically the way Iwould define clowning is delusional.
Is being delusional.
Yeah, but it's just like whenyou're clowning for reptv.
(07:03):
Like the night of the Amaze,for example, we were clowning for
reptv.
We were hoping and thinkingthat Taylor was gonna announce that's
fine.
And, like, clowning would belike looking for Easter eggs and
stuff, you know.
I don't like this piece of slang.
Why?
And I would like to move onfrom it.
I just don't like it.
Okay.
Oh, well, back where I waswith the fonts, Fearless, and I think
(07:31):
Speak now.
It might not have been Speaknow, but I know that Fearless, the
font changed, and Fearless waslike, wait a minute.
I might be, like, reallydelusional, and it might have not
changed.
I think that's just me existing.
Okay.
You know, don't take my wordfor it, but what are you doing?
(07:56):
I'm just making sure.
I want to make sureperiodically that it's still recording
and.
Okay, so now we're up to rep,and rep is pretty obvious, guys.
This snake.
Lovely.
Clowning for Rep TV again.
So that's like, pretty, like,self explanatory.
(08:18):
Explanatory, I feel like.
But what color is the snake?
Just, like a green snake.
Like green.
But, like, the color of thealbum is, like, black.
But snakes are green, so it'slike black and green, you know?
So now that I'm thinking aboutthe actual original cover, it's sort
of like a newsprint, black andwhite sort of.
Thing with, like, Taylor Swift.
And to me, I feel like that'skind of also.
(08:41):
That's very important, like,more what I think of than the.
Than the snake, I think.
Well, that's what you think ofbecause you think of the album cover,
but the snake is like the snake.
Because she was called a snakeduring the rap era.
And that's like, she wascalled a snake.
(09:02):
And that was like, why was shecalled a snake?
Was it Kim that called her a snake?
I think Kim called her a snakebecause Kim Kardashian.
Why did Kim call her a snake?
Because Kanye there was like,the whole scandal of Kanye, obviously,
was that around.
That was before Reputation.
That was before Rep.
(09:22):
But then Kanye wrote Famous,where he called her A, B, I, T, C,
H.
I had to check my spellingthere and said other things about
her that were very bad andvery mean and very disrespectful.
And he Claimed and he and Kimhad this whole like, scheme and they
(09:45):
claimed that Taylor confirmedthat it would be okay for him to
say these things.
And they had it recorded andnot really recorded.
Yeah, well, I heard the recording.
What was wrong with that?
Well, I don't think thatrecord recording was like completely
(10:06):
like seen and like the waslike being shown.
And then like they edited heror something.
They only played part of it.
But they only played.
I think they played the whole thing.
But they were saying thatTaylor said yes to more things than
she actually did.
(10:26):
And then Taylor was likespiraling about this.
And then Kim called her asnake on like Twitter.
Alrighty.
Okay.
And then, then like everyonestarted to hate her.
Everyone was calling her asnake and stuff.
So.
Okay, now love for.
(10:49):
Well, I think that's likepretty obvious.
Oh, wait a minute.
I forgot about something.
Fearless also has another one,like the heart hand symbol.
Because that was like, youknow, like in the Air tour, when
she says like in Fearless andshe says it's Fearless.
And then everyone puts their heart.
It's on my wall, dad.
It's on my wall.
(11:09):
Oh yeah, I see it.
It's on my wall.
The heart hands.
Yeah.
So that's like another iconicpart of Fearless, the Fearless.
But yeah, but wait, we're upto lover.
Well, lover is a heart, obviously.
Pretty self explanatory.
Plus there's the colors.
It's like that pastel pink and blue.
(11:32):
Okay, go.
Moving on.
Well, keep.
If you want to add more or whatever.
And then folklore.
This one's pretty obvious, dad.
Would you like to take a guess?
Folklore is like leaves.
No, no meaning, no cardigan.
Oh, the cardigan.
They have it on my dresser.
(11:52):
So hang on, what was the COVIDof Folk or wasn't it just her?
Like, it's her in the woods.
In the woods.
Yeah, but Cardigan is like theiconic folklore moment.
Okay, yeah, well, hold on a second.
Yeah, and folklore was like inthose woods, it was a kind of wintery
woody scene.
Or like a fall woody scene.
Like.
It's not fall, dad.
The trees.
The trees didn't have any.
(12:13):
Let me set something straight, okay?
Folklore is winter, spring and summer.
Evermore is fall and winter.
Oh, okay.
Now that we understand things,actually, you know, I'm gonna put
folklore in spring and summerand then fall and like winter and
(12:35):
Evermore and winter and fall.
Evermore and winter and fall.
Yeah.
But now moving on to Evermore.
Evermore.
Oh, well, Evermore I see aslike leaves.
Because Evermore is a veryfolly album to me.
Hence the album Cover, whichis like very autumny.
(12:56):
But another good one is likechampagne for champagne problems,
which is an important one.
Okay, okay.
Midnights.
Midnights.
Midnights is a good one.
Like a clock and people.
I've seen people do both, butI prefer like in.
(13:19):
It's like you're using like emojis.
People will use like thegeneric, like circle clock.
But I like the more Victorianlooking clock.
The more like Victorianlooking emoji clock.
So I see it more as aVictorian clock.
Like a grandfather clock.
Like a tall one.
(13:39):
Yeah.
Okay.
But not really.
Just as long as it's like kindof like wood vibes.
Because I feel like it's justvery like.
Because it has to fit withlike 3am edition too.
And I feel like that justreminds me of like the Great War.
What does the COVID the albumcover of Midnights look like?
How blowing out, like theflame with like the lighter.
(14:02):
Oh, she's not blowing it up.
She's looking at it.
Okay, okay.
And last but not least, I feel.
Like Midnights doesn't have areal strong image, like a.
But it does.
It's literal midnight.
It's a clock.
And you know what?
Also that's like less obvious.
(14:24):
But Midnights was centered alot around clocks for Easter eggs.
Because Midnights was when shereally started using clocks, like
heavily.
Yeah.
As Easter eggs.
Because like she.
Everything was a clock andeverything was like numbers.
Yeah, well, she used numbersbefore, but it was just very clocky.
(14:45):
Okay, so that's another reason why.
Because like in like the Karmamusic video.
Uh huh.
I need help that doesn't even exist.
Bejeweled.
It's late, guys.
Can we tell?
Yeah, we can tell.
The Bejeweled music video, sheuses a lot of clocks and like numbers.
(15:08):
Okay.
But as like Easter eggs.
And lastly, torture Poets department.
Okay, so TTVD has an obviousone, Typewriters.
But a lot of people also showit, like if they're using emojis,
like quills and stuff.
(15:29):
Which also makes sense.
Which like kind of goes withlike poets.
But like the typewriter.
Well, the typewriter reallybecame like the same like after him
it was released.
But people used the quillmostly before it was like actually
released and after it was announced.
(15:49):
But you could use that.
Yeah.
And that's it.
All right, so we went throughevery album.
You went through every albumand you discussed important imagery
that's associated with the album.
Now let's talk about colors.
Just generally colors.
Oh, cool.
(16:10):
I can do that too.
So debut is like light greenish.
If you were to show it with emojis.
You do the green emoji, thegreen heart emoji.
Wait, which one?
But Debian.
But to me, a green heart emoji.
(16:32):
Yeah, it's like I'm talkingabout because people represent the
colors of albums a lot and emojis.
So that's how like a lot ofthem, like.
Oh.
And like the heart emojis.
But to me, I feel like debutis like, if you're doing with emojis,
it'd be the green emoji, thegreen heart emoji.
But if I'm like makingbracelets or something and I want
to like do a debut colorscheme, I usually do like a light
(16:56):
green and like a light teal.
Because I feel like debut isvery like green getting teal.
Okay.
And Fearless is yellow andlike gold yellow.
Like light gold yellow andlike light yellow, but not too like
a deep yellow.
You know, more of like a mutedlight yellow.
But that would be more forlike Taylor's version.
(17:18):
Okay.
Did the Taylor's versionversus the original have different
color schemes?
A little bit, yeah.
I feel like all the Taylor'sversions are more muted color schemes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Except for like Speak Now.
Speak now is a lot of a darkercolor scheme.
Muted and darker.
Okay, okay.
(17:38):
And Speak Now.
Purple, obviously.
Just purple.
Any purple you want could belight purple.
Dark purple.
The Speak Now Taylor's versionalbum cover is dark purple, but like
the backing of the vinyl islight purple.
All of her stuff for the lightpurple and the original album cover,
she's wearing like a brightpurple dress.
(18:00):
More on like the darker side,but still bright purple.
Uh huh.
Okay, so any purple you'd like?
It could be that and then red, guys.
Take a guess.
It's red.
Yuck.
Love the enthusiasm.
Yeah, Red is red.
Could be any red.
(18:21):
Burning red.
Just red.
All too well red.
Yeah.
1989.
1989 is like light blue.
Okay.
Just like light blue.
Plain light blue.
Like the Cyan Heart.
Well, to me, I always think ofnineteen 1989 as the original 1989,
(18:46):
which is not red at all.
It's not blue at all.
I don't know how I feel like1989 is just a very beachy album.
So people associated it withblue from the beginning.
Okay.
I don't know how it gotassociated with blue, but I can see
it like clean like this.
Love references water.
Clean obviously references water.
(19:06):
I feel like New York.
But clean is not water.
Like, it's like rain.
Give it references water.
And when you think of water,do you think of like blue.
I not.
I don't think of blue when Ithink of rain.
Well, you're really nothelping, Dad.
I think I'm like.
But it's still very blue, you know?
Okay.
Like everything in it is justblue vibes to me.
(19:30):
I don't know why, but I feellike welcome to New York gives off
blue, isn't it?
No, not for me.
I don't like that song anyway.
Okay.
Don't be salty.
This love says clear blue water.
Oh, that's true.
Do you know it's just very beachy.
(19:51):
And beachy is like blue, you know?
Okay, yeah, that's another wayto say it.
It's like city, beach.
City and beach, two veryopposite things.
But yeah, cuz cities are great.
I mean.
Well, you're biased becauseyou don't like the city.
Okay, Rep.
(20:12):
Rep.
Rep.
Rep is black.
Mainly white, gray.
But you can also.
No, just black.
It's not white.
You can also see it as greenfor the snake.
Hence the snake.
Like if you're like clowningfor reptv.
If she wears black, that meansrep tv.
But also if she wears like asnaky green, that also means rep
(20:36):
tv.
Remember the dress, like thegreen dress that she wears.
But look at her outfit that she's.
We can look at the poster over there.
I know that's not green, it'sred and black.
But everyone thinks, a lot ofpeople think that when she does change
it, this is like a whole thing.
She's never changed the red outfit.
That's the only thing she hashasn't changed that when she changes
(20:58):
it, she's going to announceour TV and it'll be black and green.
Okay.
Yeah.
So yeah, rep is just likegreenish black.
But it really revolves aroundblack that if anything it's just
like black and green, you know?
Okay.
And then.
Okay, do you want to blow your nose?
(21:19):
Yeah, we'll take a nose blow.
Clog.
That's you're getting on allin the recording.
This is.
We used to, when you would goto work and publicize if you came
to work sick, we would callthat playing hurt.
Well, it's like when you play.
Because if you play a sport,if you show up to play a sport and
(21:41):
you still play but you're hurt.
You're playing hurt.
That was like me today when Iwent to school and they sent me home.
They sent you home?
Yeah.
So you were playing hurt.
Now you're playing hurt todayon your podcast.
Yep.
Okay, what album are we up to now?
Now we're up to Lover Lovers Pink.
Very pinky.
Yeah.
And a lot of the songs arepinky to me.
(22:03):
Like, afterglows, Pinky, daylight.
They're all, like, pastel,like, new, like, bright pink.
To me, it's pastel.
It's just all the colors thatmake me.
It's really just blue andpink, you.
Know, like, after glow.
To me, afterglow and, like,daylight are very, like, sunsetty
(22:25):
and sunrisey.
Okay.
I think of, like, pink andorange and, like, blue.
You know, I feel like all thepastel colors and, like, sunrise
colors to me are very lovers.
Mm.
You know.
Okay.
Folklore.
Folklore is, like, gray.
Just gray.
(22:45):
Nothing about that.
Okay.
Although, if you're lookingat, like, like, music videos for
folklore, gold plays animportant role.
If you were to capture everycolor that represented folklore really
well, it'd be, like, mainlygray with, like, gold specks and,
(23:09):
like, strings.
Invisible string.
Love the references.
And, like, moss.
Moss.
No other types of green, though.
Just mossy green.
Mossy green.
I love the cardigan music video.
And she's, like, in the lake.
I've never seen it.
(23:29):
Okay, you probably have.
We'll watch it tomorrow.
It's a really good one.
And then evermore is, like,all the fall colors, like, brown,
but it's very brown in emojis.
If I would put it as an emoji.
I do the brown heart, but itcould also be, like, a auburny red,
(23:53):
like a brownish red, butmainly, like, browns.
Like, all the fall colors.
Any colors that you associatewith fall.
That's it.
And then midnights.
Midnights is, like, dark blue, blue.
Any, like, deep, like, royal blue.
And then what about, like, a.
(24:13):
What about maroon?
No.
Okay.
Oh, and I forgot to mention,but midnights is also like, like,
stars.
You could also represent itwith, like, stars.
Oh, wait, I forgot.
There's so many things.
(24:34):
Guys, 1989 could be, like, thecity emoji.
Like, the little box emojithat has a city in it and has, like,
the Empire State building in it.
1989 is New York, but, like,blue city and not, like, dark city
and sad city.
It's, like blue, like, up and,like, happy and, like, joyful, full
(24:54):
of life city, you know?
Okay.
And then folklore, of course.
Of course.
The mirror ball.
That's a big one, too.
Is mirror ball on folklore?
Yes.
Okay.
Wow.
(25:15):
Yeah.
Thank you.
We're up to midnights.
Midnights is just dark blue.
Yeah.
Pretty simple.
And then ttpd.
Ttpd.
Depends.
But to me, it's like, ifyou're just gonna be basic and you
had to pick what the emojisBecause I keep talking about emojis
(25:35):
because that's how, like,people, like, use them a lot.
It's just like, the whiteemoji, like, the white heart emoji.
But if I were to go a littlebit deeper, I'd go to, like, a very,
very light gripe with hints of beige.
Like, on the warmer side.
Like, do you see that vinylover there?
That color is tgpd.
(25:57):
Like a sadder gray.
Like a sad, wilted gray.
Well, it's gray shades ofGreige, Dad.
She says it in the prophecy.
All right.
Gray paperweight in shades of Greige.
It's Greige.
Yeah.
It's light Greige.
That's the color of ttbd.
Yeah.
And those are, like, thecolors really.
(26:19):
What about now?
Let's talk about.
I just had an idea.
So you can just have one cover.
But you could also, I thoughtwould be cool, is if you changed
it.
You can.
I think you can change itevery time.
You can.
That's what T do does.
(26:41):
So you could just have, like.
I even thought, what if youjust had the writing?
Like, we had a Canva.
A Canva template.
They have, like, a different album.
Yeah.
But then you just.
And then inside, like, a box,you can have it in image.
(27:01):
Like, it could be one of theseimages, or it could be, like, one
of the emojis that youreferenced, or it could be.
We.
You could get a Polaroidcamera and take pictures of all the
things you just talked about.
Like, you could take picturesof red lips, or you could cut red
lips out of a magazine andjust cherry lips.
Yeah, I love that photo.
(27:22):
If you wanted to do that work,you could change it every single
time.
Just have a million differentideas, or you could just pick one
and go with that.
I, like, I actually kind ofthink that having a Polaroid and
going and taking pictures ofthe different ideas and just putting
(27:44):
the Polaroid, like, justwriting on the Polaroid.
Let's talk Taylor, you know,in a Sharpie, and then just taking
a picture of that and slappingit on there every time.
Could be cool.
All right, we're almost at 30minutes, so we might have to go end
it because it's getting late anyway.
(28:05):
Well, I was gonna say we did colors.
You did a lot of, like, youdid a lot of the imagery.
And I also thought maybe justgeneral shapes.
Like, her hair is kind of iconic.
And, like, a biker.
Microphones were importantbecause she had a lot of, like, defining
microphones for her tour.
(28:26):
She had, like, a lot ofcustomized ones.
That really were, like,important for the tours.
I.
I also feel like she's tall,and I feel like her tallness is.
Actually blonde hair to the floor.
She's not eat for four.
I know.
She's got to be six foot,though, right?
(28:47):
She's 5 11.
She's 5 11, so she's tall.
So I feel like that's alsosomewhat, you know, she's like.
She just gives off tall.
I feel like maybe just, like,the lines, you know, I don't know.
Very tall.
Very tall.
I'm not an artist, so.
(29:07):
Oh, I had another random idea,even just doing song lyrics.
Oh, that's in an image.
You know, you're on to something.
You're on to something.
So that could be cool, too.
All right, so, you know, we.
Wait.
I have one more thing.
Oh, you have more ideas?
Gems and stuff.
She's very big on gems andsparkles, but also, like, bejeweled,
(29:30):
you know, she's just very sparkly.
Okay.
Because the diamond's got shine.
You know, I do know adiamond's got a shine.
Diamond's gotta shine.
Okay, so.
So we covered a lot, I think.
Cats.
Oh, that's right.
Cats.
Cats are very big.
Very big.
(29:52):
Okay.
Yeah.
So.
That'S it.
Are we good?
Yeah.
How do you end this podcast?
I don't know how you end it.
I always say.
Thanks for listening.
I end my own podcast in aspecial way with a special message
usually, but not alwaysmessage that everybody should go
(30:15):
and create music.
Oh, I thought that everyoneshould go to my website.
No, but then you're alsosupposed to.
Tell people to all jump.
No.
Were you going to say that?
I didn't mean it.
Go jump off a building.
(30:35):
I didn't mean it.
I swear I didn't mean it.
No, I don't want anybody to.
Okay, let's end this before Iget in big trouble.
But, yeah, so, like, please.
You're supposed to say please,like, and subscribe.
Please, like, and subscribe.
Okay.
Hello there.
This is.
Well, why don't you do the intro?
This is let's Talk Taylorepisode four.
And none of the episodes havebeen released at the time of recording
of this episode.
(00:24):
And the reason is because wehaven't decided on cover artwork
for the show.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
And it's actually good thatwe're here.
Bless you.
Because we need to talk aboutwhat are the most iconic design elements
(00:54):
that are associated withTaylor Swift so that we can get all
our ideas together.
You're a very slow talker.
I am.
Because it's late.
Get all our ideas together sothat we can present them to the designer
(01:18):
so that she can come up withthe artwork for the show.
Okay.
Okay.
So let's talk about designelements that we think are associated
with Taylor Swift.
Well, her lips.
(01:38):
The red lips.
Red lips is very important.
Okay.
There are a few things I cango by.
Album, like the main thing forthe album.
List them all out as you thinkof them, and then I'll come up with
some more, too.
I think I'll see if I can spuryou on because I have some ideas
on how to, like, come up withdifferent categories of design elements
(02:04):
that we can go through so thatwe can sort of just compile, like,
a very complete or exhaustive list.
Yeah.
Okay.
So what, off the top of your head?
Yeah.
Go through all the albums andjust think of it.
So Debut would be like acountry hat.
Like a cowboy boot.
(02:24):
I would say cowboy bootbecause she had a pair of cowboy
boots that she would wear whenshe would perform for Debut that
had her name on them.
So that's like, I call it inthe Debut era.
And then for Fearless,actually, we're looking at it right
now.
Her sparkly guitar that has,like, the 13 on it, which is the
(02:46):
guitar that she used for theFearless tour.
I'd say that is the Fearless symbol.
And Speak now has, like, a fewdifferent ones, but there are really
mainly two.
And that's dragons.
Like, purple dragons.
I have a purple dragon.
Wait, what?
Which one?
(03:07):
Purple dragon.
Speak Now.
Oh.
So speaking as, like, purple,but in Long Live, she says, I had
the time in my life fightingdragons with you.
Oh.
And that's like the song ofthe album, basically, because it's
like the song from, like, her.
Her fans.
That's, like, the most, like.
Yeah.
Meaningful song to everyone onthe album.
(03:29):
Exactly.
It's like this Swifty song.
Yep.
But also fireworks.
Like, purple fireworks.
Everything's purple for Speak Down.
Okay.
Like fireworks Too, becauseof, like, sparks fly and.
(03:51):
Oh, yeah.
Okay, so red.
Red is a scarf.
A red scarf.
1989.
Seagulls.
Seagulls.
Why?
Well, originally it's becauseher sweatshirt that she was wearing,
(04:12):
like the crew neck that shewas wearing on the original album
cover had seagulls on it.
Remember that one?
Oh, I don't remember that.
It's like a beach scene.
It's like a beach printprinted on it with, like, seagulls
flying around.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, like, the seeds are whiteand it's like all white except for,
like, the beachiness, you know?
(04:32):
Yeah.
And then.
But now it's really also thatbecause, like, for the new album
cover for 1989, Taylor'sversion, she did, like, emphasis
on, like, the beachy theme.
So now they're like seagullsflying around the COVID and you can
hear like, the squawk of aseagull in.
(04:54):
Is it over now?
Kind of like in the beginning,you know, like when, like they're
like in like the beginningwhen there's, like, noises, like
the high pitched noises.
I would try to recreate that,but I'm not gonna do that.
Don't.
Yeah, it's okay.
Yeah, no, we can skip that now.
Wait, before you move on, I dothink that the original album cover
(05:18):
with the Polaroid is somewhatimportant, like, in terms of imagery.
And I also think the style ofthe writing of the.
Of 1989, like the.
Yeah, it's like a Sharpie or something.
That's important for a lot ofthe albums.
Yeah.
(05:38):
So I feel like that sort ofstyle of writing, the Sharpie writing,
maybe the title of the showcan be in that Sharpie font.
Yeah.
Anyway, that depends on whatvibe we're going for, because each
album has a different fontthat's, like, unique to that album
except for, like, debut.
(05:59):
Speak.
Wait, no.
Speak Now.
Hold on.
I don't know if Speak now change.
I feel like it did, but Idon't think it did.
I don't think it did, but.
Fearless.
Why does he debut.
Debut is like, not.
I'm clowning a little too hard.
Oh, yeah, the clown guy.
(06:21):
What is clowning?
What do you mean?
Like, clowning for Rep tv.
Did a poster fall down?
Yeah, it's on my desk.
It's on my dresser.
Like, clown.
Clowning for reptv is like,thinking that she's gonna announce
repti.
I don't know how to describe it.
Okay, how would you describe it?
Because I feel like, you knowwhat clowning is.
(06:43):
I think clowning means, like,messing around.
No, but it's not clowning around.
I mean, we are messing around.
That's what clowning.
I think technically the way Iwould define clowning is delusional.
Is being delusional.
Yeah, but it's just like whenyou're clowning for reptv.
(07:03):
Like the night of the Amaze,for example, we were clowning for
reptv.
We were hoping and thinkingthat Taylor was gonna announce that's
fine.
And, like, clowning would belike looking for Easter eggs and
stuff, you know.
I don't like this piece of slang.
Why?
And I would like to move onfrom it.
I just don't like it.
Okay.
Oh, well, back where I waswith the fonts, Fearless, and I think
(07:31):
Speak now.
It might not have been Speaknow, but I know that Fearless, the
font changed, and Fearless waslike, wait a minute.
I might be, like, reallydelusional, and it might have not
changed.
I think that's just me existing.
Okay.
You know, don't take my wordfor it, but what are you doing?
(07:56):
I'm just making sure.
I want to make sureperiodically that it's still recording
and.
Okay, so now we're up to rep,and rep is pretty obvious, guys.
This snake.
Lovely.
Clowning for Rep TV again.
So that's like, pretty, like,self explanatory.
(08:18):
Explanatory, I feel like.
But what color is the snake?
Just, like a green snake.
Like green.
But, like, the color of thealbum is, like, black.
But snakes are green, so it'slike black and green, you know?
So now that I'm thinking aboutthe actual original cover, it's sort
of like a newsprint, black andwhite sort of.
Thing with, like, Taylor Swift.
And to me, I feel like that'skind of also.
(08:41):
That's very important, like,more what I think of than the.
Than the snake, I think.
Well, that's what you think ofbecause you think of the album cover,
but the snake is like the snake.
Because she was called a snakeduring the rap era.
And that's like, she wascalled a snake.
(09:02):
And that was like, why was shecalled a snake?
Was it Kim that called her a snake?
I think Kim called her a snakebecause Kim Kardashian.
Why did Kim call her a snake?
Because Kanye there was like,the whole scandal of Kanye, obviously,
was that around.
That was before Reputation.
That was before Rep.
(09:22):
But then Kanye wrote Famous,where he called her A, B, I, T, C,
H.
I had to check my spellingthere and said other things about
her that were very bad andvery mean and very disrespectful.
And he Claimed and he and Kimhad this whole like, scheme and they
(09:45):
claimed that Taylor confirmedthat it would be okay for him to
say these things.
And they had it recorded andnot really recorded.
Yeah, well, I heard the recording.
What was wrong with that?
Well, I don't think thatrecord recording was like completely
(10:06):
like seen and like the waslike being shown.
And then like they edited heror something.
They only played part of it.
But they only played.
I think they played the whole thing.
But they were saying thatTaylor said yes to more things than
she actually did.
(10:26):
And then Taylor was likespiraling about this.
And then Kim called her asnake on like Twitter.
Alrighty.
Okay.
And then, then like everyonestarted to hate her.
Everyone was calling her asnake and stuff.
So.
Okay, now love for.
(10:49):
Well, I think that's likepretty obvious.
Oh, wait a minute.
I forgot about something.
Fearless also has another one,like the heart hand symbol.
Because that was like, youknow, like in the Air tour, when
she says like in Fearless andshe says it's Fearless.
And then everyone puts their heart.
It's on my wall, dad.
It's on my wall.
(11:09):
Oh yeah, I see it.
It's on my wall.
The heart hands.
Yeah.
So that's like another iconicpart of Fearless, the Fearless.
But yeah, but wait, we're upto lover.
Well, lover is a heart, obviously.
Pretty self explanatory.
Plus there's the colors.
It's like that pastel pink and blue.
(11:32):
Okay, go.
Moving on.
Well, keep.
If you want to add more or whatever.
And then folklore.
This one's pretty obvious, dad.
Would you like to take a guess?
Folklore is like leaves.
No, no meaning, no cardigan.
Oh, the cardigan.
They have it on my dresser.
(11:52):
So hang on, what was the COVIDof Folk or wasn't it just her?
Like, it's her in the woods.
In the woods.
Yeah, but Cardigan is like theiconic folklore moment.
Okay, yeah, well, hold on a second.
Yeah, and folklore was like inthose woods, it was a kind of wintery
woody scene.
Or like a fall woody scene.
Like.
It's not fall, dad.
The trees.
The trees didn't have any.
(12:13):
Let me set something straight, okay?
Folklore is winter, spring and summer.
Evermore is fall and winter.
Oh, okay.
Now that we understand things,actually, you know, I'm gonna put
folklore in spring and summerand then fall and like winter and
(12:35):
Evermore and winter and fall.
Evermore and winter and fall.
Yeah.
But now moving on to Evermore.
Evermore.
Oh, well, Evermore I see aslike leaves.
Because Evermore is a veryfolly album to me.
Hence the album Cover, whichis like very autumny.
(12:56):
But another good one is likechampagne for champagne problems,
which is an important one.
Okay, okay.
Midnights.
Midnights.
Midnights is a good one.
Like a clock and people.
I've seen people do both, butI prefer like in.
(13:19):
It's like you're using like emojis.
People will use like thegeneric, like circle clock.
But I like the more Victorianlooking clock.
The more like Victorianlooking emoji clock.
So I see it more as aVictorian clock.
Like a grandfather clock.
Like a tall one.
(13:39):
Yeah.
Okay.
But not really.
Just as long as it's like kindof like wood vibes.
Because I feel like it's justvery like.
Because it has to fit withlike 3am edition too.
And I feel like that justreminds me of like the Great War.
What does the COVID the albumcover of Midnights look like?
How blowing out, like theflame with like the lighter.
(14:02):
Oh, she's not blowing it up.
She's looking at it.
Okay, okay.
And last but not least, I feel.
Like Midnights doesn't have areal strong image, like a.
But it does.
It's literal midnight.
It's a clock.
And you know what?
Also that's like less obvious.
(14:24):
But Midnights was centered alot around clocks for Easter eggs.
Because Midnights was when shereally started using clocks, like
heavily.
Yeah.
As Easter eggs.
Because like she.
Everything was a clock andeverything was like numbers.
Yeah, well, she used numbersbefore, but it was just very clocky.
(14:45):
Okay, so that's another reason why.
Because like in like the Karmamusic video.
Uh huh.
I need help that doesn't even exist.
Bejeweled.
It's late, guys.
Can we tell?
Yeah, we can tell.
The Bejeweled music video, sheuses a lot of clocks and like numbers.
(15:08):
Okay.
But as like Easter eggs.
And lastly, torture Poets department.
Okay, so TTVD has an obviousone, Typewriters.
But a lot of people also showit, like if they're using emojis,
like quills and stuff.
(15:29):
Which also makes sense.
Which like kind of goes withlike poets.
But like the typewriter.
Well, the typewriter reallybecame like the same like after him
it was released.
But people used the quillmostly before it was like actually
released and after it was announced.
(15:49):
But you could use that.
Yeah.
And that's it.
All right, so we went throughevery album.
You went through every albumand you discussed important imagery
that's associated with the album.
Now let's talk about colors.
Just generally colors.
Oh, cool.
(16:10):
I can do that too.
So debut is like light greenish.
If you were to show it with emojis.
You do the green emoji, thegreen heart emoji.
Wait, which one?
But Debian.
But to me, a green heart emoji.
(16:32):
Yeah, it's like I'm talkingabout because people represent the
colors of albums a lot and emojis.
So that's how like a lot ofthem, like.
Oh.
And like the heart emojis.
But to me, I feel like debutis like, if you're doing with emojis,
it'd be the green emoji, thegreen heart emoji.
But if I'm like makingbracelets or something and I want
to like do a debut colorscheme, I usually do like a light
(16:56):
green and like a light teal.
Because I feel like debut isvery like green getting teal.
Okay.
And Fearless is yellow andlike gold yellow.
Like light gold yellow andlike light yellow, but not too like
a deep yellow.
You know, more of like a mutedlight yellow.
But that would be more forlike Taylor's version.
(17:18):
Okay.
Did the Taylor's versionversus the original have different
color schemes?
A little bit, yeah.
I feel like all the Taylor'sversions are more muted color schemes.
Yeah.
Okay.
Except for like Speak Now.
Speak now is a lot of a darkercolor scheme.
Muted and darker.
Okay, okay.
(17:38):
And Speak Now.
Purple, obviously.
Just purple.
Any purple you want could belight purple.
Dark purple.
The Speak Now Taylor's versionalbum cover is dark purple, but like
the backing of the vinyl islight purple.
All of her stuff for the lightpurple and the original album cover,
she's wearing like a brightpurple dress.
(18:00):
More on like the darker side,but still bright purple.
Uh huh.
Okay, so any purple you'd like?
It could be that and then red, guys.
Take a guess.
It's red.
Yuck.
Love the enthusiasm.
Yeah, Red is red.
Could be any red.
(18:21):
Burning red.
Just red.
All too well red.
Yeah.
1989.
1989 is like light blue.
Okay.
Just like light blue.
Plain light blue.
Like the Cyan Heart.
Well, to me, I always think ofnineteen 1989 as the original 1989,
(18:46):
which is not red at all.
It's not blue at all.
I don't know how I feel like1989 is just a very beachy album.
So people associated it withblue from the beginning.
Okay.
I don't know how it gotassociated with blue, but I can see
it like clean like this.
Love references water.
Clean obviously references water.
(19:06):
I feel like New York.
But clean is not water.
Like, it's like rain.
Give it references water.
And when you think of water,do you think of like blue.
I not.
I don't think of blue when Ithink of rain.
Well, you're really nothelping, Dad.
I think I'm like.
But it's still very blue, you know?
Okay.
Like everything in it is justblue vibes to me.
(19:30):
I don't know why, but I feellike welcome to New York gives off
blue, isn't it?
No, not for me.
I don't like that song anyway.
Okay.
Don't be salty.
This love says clear blue water.
Oh, that's true.
Do you know it's just very beachy.
(19:51):
And beachy is like blue, you know?
Okay, yeah, that's another wayto say it.
It's like city, beach.
City and beach, two veryopposite things.
But yeah, cuz cities are great.
I mean.
Well, you're biased becauseyou don't like the city.
Okay, Rep.
(20:12):
Rep.
Rep.
Rep is black.
Mainly white, gray.
But you can also.
No, just black.
It's not white.
You can also see it as greenfor the snake.
Hence the snake.
Like if you're like clowningfor reptv.
If she wears black, that meansrep tv.
But also if she wears like asnaky green, that also means rep
(20:36):
tv.
Remember the dress, like thegreen dress that she wears.
But look at her outfit that she's.
We can look at the poster over there.
I know that's not green, it'sred and black.
But everyone thinks, a lot ofpeople think that when she does change
it, this is like a whole thing.
She's never changed the red outfit.
That's the only thing she hashasn't changed that when she changes
(20:58):
it, she's going to announceour TV and it'll be black and green.
Okay.
Yeah.
So yeah, rep is just likegreenish black.
But it really revolves aroundblack that if anything it's just
like black and green, you know?
Okay.
And then.
Okay, do you want to blow your nose?
(21:19):
Yeah, we'll take a nose blow.
Clog.
That's you're getting on allin the recording.
This is.
We used to, when you would goto work and publicize if you came
to work sick, we would callthat playing hurt.
Well, it's like when you play.
Because if you play a sport,if you show up to play a sport and
(21:41):
you still play but you're hurt.
You're playing hurt.
That was like me today when Iwent to school and they sent me home.
They sent you home?
Yeah.
So you were playing hurt.
Now you're playing hurt todayon your podcast.
Yep.
Okay, what album are we up to now?
Now we're up to Lover Lovers Pink.
Very pinky.
Yeah.
And a lot of the songs arepinky to me.
(22:03):
Like, afterglows, Pinky, daylight.
They're all, like, pastel,like, new, like, bright pink.
To me, it's pastel.
It's just all the colors thatmake me.
It's really just blue andpink, you.
Know, like, after glow.
To me, afterglow and, like,daylight are very, like, sunsetty
(22:25):
and sunrisey.
Okay.
I think of, like, pink andorange and, like, blue.
You know, I feel like all thepastel colors and, like, sunrise
colors to me are very lovers.
Mm.
You know.
Okay.
Folklore.
Folklore is, like, gray.
Just gray.
(22:45):
Nothing about that.
Okay.
Although, if you're lookingat, like, like, music videos for
folklore, gold plays animportant role.
If you were to capture everycolor that represented folklore really
well, it'd be, like, mainlygray with, like, gold specks and,
(23:09):
like, strings.
Invisible string.
Love the references.
And, like, moss.
Moss.
No other types of green, though.
Just mossy green.
Mossy green.
I love the cardigan music video.
And she's, like, in the lake.
I've never seen it.
(23:29):
Okay, you probably have.
We'll watch it tomorrow.
It's a really good one.
And then evermore is, like,all the fall colors, like, brown,
but it's very brown in emojis.
If I would put it as an emoji.
I do the brown heart, but itcould also be, like, a auburny red,
(23:53):
like a brownish red, butmainly, like, browns.
Like, all the fall colors.
Any colors that you associatewith fall.
That's it.
And then midnights.
Midnights is, like, dark blue, blue.
Any, like, deep, like, royal blue.
And then what about, like, a.
(24:13):
What about maroon?
No.
Okay.
Oh, and I forgot to mention,but midnights is also like, like,
stars.
You could also represent itwith, like, stars.
Oh, wait, I forgot.
There's so many things.
(24:34):
Guys, 1989 could be, like, thecity emoji.
Like, the little box emojithat has a city in it and has, like,
the Empire State building in it.
1989 is New York, but, like,blue city and not, like, dark city
and sad city.
It's, like blue, like, up and,like, happy and, like, joyful, full
(24:54):
of life city, you know?
Okay.
And then folklore, of course.
Of course.
The mirror ball.
That's a big one, too.
Is mirror ball on folklore?
Yes.
Okay.
Wow.
(25:15):
Yeah.
Thank you.
We're up to midnights.
Midnights is just dark blue.
Yeah.
Pretty simple.
And then ttpd.
Ttpd.
Depends.
But to me, it's like, ifyou're just gonna be basic and you
had to pick what the emojisBecause I keep talking about emojis
(25:35):
because that's how, like,people, like, use them a lot.
It's just like, the whiteemoji, like, the white heart emoji.
But if I were to go a littlebit deeper, I'd go to, like, a very,
very light gripe with hints of beige.
Like, on the warmer side.
Like, do you see that vinylover there?
That color is tgpd.
(25:57):
Like a sadder gray.
Like a sad, wilted gray.
Well, it's gray shades ofGreige, Dad.
She says it in the prophecy.
All right.
Gray paperweight in shades of Greige.
It's Greige.
Yeah.
It's light Greige.
That's the color of ttbd.
Yeah.
And those are, like, thecolors really.
(26:19):
What about now?
Let's talk about.
I just had an idea.
So you can just have one cover.
But you could also, I thoughtwould be cool, is if you changed
it.
You can.
I think you can change itevery time.
You can.
That's what T do does.
(26:41):
So you could just have, like.
I even thought, what if youjust had the writing?
Like, we had a Canva.
A Canva template.
They have, like, a different album.
Yeah.
But then you just.
And then inside, like, a box,you can have it in image.
(27:01):
Like, it could be one of theseimages, or it could be, like, one
of the emojis that youreferenced, or it could be.
We.
You could get a Polaroidcamera and take pictures of all the
things you just talked about.
Like, you could take picturesof red lips, or you could cut red
lips out of a magazine andjust cherry lips.
Yeah, I love that photo.
(27:22):
If you wanted to do that work,you could change it every single
time.
Just have a million differentideas, or you could just pick one
and go with that.
I, like, I actually kind ofthink that having a Polaroid and
going and taking pictures ofthe different ideas and just putting
(27:44):
the Polaroid, like, justwriting on the Polaroid.
Let's talk Taylor, you know,in a Sharpie, and then just taking
a picture of that and slappingit on there every time.
Could be cool.
All right, we're almost at 30minutes, so we might have to go end
it because it's getting late anyway.
(28:05):
Well, I was gonna say we did colors.
You did a lot of, like, youdid a lot of the imagery.
And I also thought maybe justgeneral shapes.
Like, her hair is kind of iconic.
And, like, a biker.
Microphones were importantbecause she had a lot of, like, defining
microphones for her tour.
(28:26):
She had, like, a lot ofcustomized ones.
That really were, like,important for the tours.
I.
I also feel like she's tall,and I feel like her tallness is.
Actually blonde hair to the floor.
She's not eat for four.
I know.
She's got to be six foot,though, right?
(28:47):
She's 5 11.
She's 5 11, so she's tall.
So I feel like that's alsosomewhat, you know, she's like.
She just gives off tall.
I feel like maybe just, like,the lines, you know, I don't know.
Very tall.
Very tall.
I'm not an artist, so.
(29:07):
Oh, I had another random idea,even just doing song lyrics.
Oh, that's in an image.
You know, you're on to something.
You're on to something.
So that could be cool, too.
All right, so, you know, we.
Wait.
I have one more thing.
Oh, you have more ideas?
Gems and stuff.
She's very big on gems andsparkles, but also, like, bejeweled,
(29:30):
you know, she's just very sparkly.
Okay.
Because the diamond's got shine.
You know, I do know adiamond's got a shine.
Diamond's gotta shine.
Okay, so.
So we covered a lot, I think.
Cats.
Oh, that's right.
Cats.
Cats are very big.
Very big.
(29:52):
Okay.
Yeah.
So.
That'S it.
Are we good?
Yeah.
How do you end this podcast?
I don't know how you end it.
I always say.
Thanks for listening.
I end my own podcast in aspecial way with a special message
usually, but not alwaysmessage that everybody should go
(30:15):
and create music.
Oh, I thought that everyoneshould go to my website.
No, but then you're alsosupposed to.
Tell people to all jump.
No.
Were you going to say that?
I didn't mean it.
Go jump off a building.
(30:35):
I didn't mean it.
I swear I didn't mean it.
No, I don't want anybody to.
Okay, let's end this before Iget in big trouble.
But, yeah, so, like, please.
You're supposed to say please,like, and subscribe.
Please, like, and subscribe.
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