Thread by @tweetsricochet

The next entry in our #Midnights lyrical analysis series is the underrated masterpiece closer, Dear Reader! We will discuss how this song integrates the evolution of Taylor's self-image and public persona, as well as the thematic parallels to the 1989/Rep era transition. A 🧵:

1) "Dear reader, if it feels like a trap, you're already in one." This line sets up the format of the entire song: a letter of advice from Taylor to the consumers of her songwriting craft. By starting on a note of caution, she creates an immediately uneasy mood for her listeners.

2) This line transports us to her previous cautionary works about the untrustworthy, deceitful members of the world: the "nemeses," the "king of thieves," the "narcissists" and "playboys." But this line also perfectly sets up the double meaning that runs through the entire song.

3) The other trap is the trap that every single one of us is in while listening to this song: the trap of Taylor's influence. By the time her song lyrics have begun to govern our lens on the world, it is already too late to turn back: our perceptions have been changed forever.

4) This double meaning sets us perfectly for the next run of lines, which are a frustrated reflection on what she now feels to have been a series of "bad decisions" throughout her life, which subsequently became the "bad advice" she has provided to us, her fans and listeners.

5) "Get out your map, pick somewhere and just run" and "burn all the files, desert all your past lives" perfectly describe her own prior pattern of running away from herself from era to era, desperately seeking a new version of herself to present to her audience and the world.

6) Her next line demonstrates exactly why she is so frustrated about this pattern: "and if you don't recognize yourself, that means you did it right." She has changed herself, so often and so irrevocably, that she no longer can know or recognize who her genuine self is.

7) Her repetition of "never take advice from someone who's falling apart" underscores her frustration with herself. She wishes that her pattern of constant shape-shifting had not been publicly glorified, because she now sees it as a symptom of her internal turmoil at the time.

8) The next verse transitions into what I think is a more contemporary version of Taylor's advice: what she truly felt and thought during the time period this song was inspired by, and what she wishes she could replace her old advice with.

9) "Bend when you can, snap when you have to." Taylor has moved past her younger years, when every action taken against her would yield an equal opposite reaction (or "snap") from her. She has moved past her more vengeful songwriting, from Better Than Revenge to Bad Blood.

10) She now knows that life is a balance of learning to compromise with others (ie, "bending", accommodating for the sake of a larger cause) and knowing when to stand your ground and defend your own worth (ie, knowing when to "snap" back, as in the case of her Masters).

11) "You don't have to answer, just 'cause they asked you." This also harkens back to an earlier phase in her career, when her freely given information about her personal life was used against her. She has now learned to be more selective about (and protective of) her privacy.

12) "The greatest of luxuries is your secrets." Similar to above, she has learned to keep the most valuable relationships and components of her life private. She found out the hard way that the world does indeed "throw rocks at things that shine," and she must protect them.

13) "When you aim at the devil, make sure you don't miss." I feel this is a direct callback to 2016, when her attempts to right wrongs that had been perpetrated against her backfired catastrophically and resulted in her cancellation. Because she "missed," everyone turned on her.

14) But here, once again, despite the fact that she is now speaking from the most genuine place of the hard-won wisdom and advice from her heart, Taylor repeats the lines "never take advice from someone who's falling apart:" and this is the very crux of the song's meaning.

15) Back when she proudly espoused her constant shape-shifting, she was also speaking from the heart. Back when she truly believed that growing up was about no longer recognizing yourself, she was ALSO speaking from the heart. At any given time, you ALWAYS think you are right.

16) These lines are spoken in desperation, because she realizes that as you grow, you constantly change your mind. She may think that her current advice is good and sound, but she knows that her future self may find it just as wrong as her current self finds her teenage words.

17) She is now confronted with the terrifying fact that the songwriting letters she has written to her "dear readers" over the years reflect a constant shifting of her own perspective and opinions. So how can we trust her? Why do we trust her, when she doesn't even trust herself?

18) This brings us to the bridge, which is a true masterpiece in self-reflective devastation. This bridge also provides evidence that this entire song was written from the perspective of one of the midnights she experienced somewhere during the transition from 1989 to Rep era.

19) "So I wander through these nights, I prefer hiding in plain sight." At this point, she feels lost, "wandering" through time. She is struggling with confronting her feelings head-on in real life; she only knows how to "hide" from them in the "plain sight" of her songwriting.

20) This also feels like a justification of her decision to continue writing songs and disseminating her views and feelings to her adoring, intently listening fans. She can't trust herself--she feels she has trapped her audience--but it's the only way she knows to process life.

21) "My fourth drink in my hand, these desperate prayers of a cursed man." Taylor absolutely clings to songwriting in moments of devastation and high emotion. For better or worse, her readers receive both her best and worst moments, without the benefit of a filter or hindsight.

22) "Spilling out to you for free." Her songs are a moving reflection of life's many strong emotions, which is why cling to them ourselves. They come to us for free, but she feels they are "spilled," almost uncontrollably, from her vaults of deep and sometimes troubling emotions.

23) "But darling, darling, please, you wouldn't take my word for it if you knew who was talking, if you knew where I was walking." Once again Taylor demonstrates her deep insecurity regarding her own worthiness to be in a position of giving wisdom to so many through her writing.

24) She spills out her desperate words of love, fear, despair, and disgust when she most urgently needs to turn them into song, but she is afraid of their power. They've moved so far beyond a way to process her own emotions: they have developed a life and influence of their own.

25) "To a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there." This line clearly cements to me that this was written about the time between 1989/Rep. She has lived through her cancellation, she has aimed at the devil and missed, but she has not yet found Joe and her true friends.

26) She is desperately lonely here. She has moved past the insincerity of her public "squad" but has not yet built real relationships. She "paces in her pen" at home, reflecting on her past mistakes and the legacy of her songwriting, as her old friends "found friends who care."

27) "No one sees when you lose when you're playing solitaire." This also relates to her public image during 1989, when she celebrated that she was single and independent, building new relationships with friends who would later abandon her. Perhaps she now feels this was a facade.

28) Perhaps she was using this public show as a way to disguise how truly lonely she felt at the time. No one could attack her for "serial dating" and "driving men away" when she was playing solitaire. But she now must confront how empty her life feels without genuine connection.

29) She now comes to the conclusion of the song, where she asks herself: now that I know this about myself, now that I feel how dangerous it is to allow so many people to guide themselves by the ever-shifting emotions of my worst moments, how can I solve this problem?

30) So here she offers her last piece of advice to us all: "you should find another guiding light." She feels unworthy of us. She has laid out her insecurities plainly and honestly, because she wants us to know who is really talking behind the songs we love and memorize.

31) She wants to give her fans and the public an opportunity to really see who she is, so we can then make the decision to find another guiding light--another voice, whether in songwriting or in any other medium of writing, who she feels would be a more worthy source of wisdom.

32) But she knows it won't happen. As insecure as she is, as unworthy as she feels, she admits: "but I shine so bright." She knows her influence is incredibly powerful, and that as long as she will write, millions will listen. Her unease is something only she can reckon with.

33) This song is a brilliant closer because it represents the struggle that Taylor must continue to contend with as she grows as a public figure. Her autobiographical songwriting is her legacy, but it is also a constant source of guilt and painful self-reflection as she matures.

34) She knows that every one of her dear readers will continue to follow her writing, and all she can do to ensure we are cared for is what she has done for years: open herself up to us, as sincerely and unflinchingly as she possibly can, and embrace the ephemerality of emotion.

Thanks so much to all of you for reading, it means so much to discuss all of these incredible songs with you. Here is the link to my ongoing Midnights song lyric megathread!

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1592155831004721152?s=20&t=xng0GmbTjJ3eP5KpwtpN-A