Taylor Swift Illustrated: A Class Project

Samuel Cohen is a second-year majoring in Math and Computer Science and a musician, who has been playing violin since the age of 4. Sam also sings in Tone Definition (a UF a cappella group).

Sebastian Echeverria is a Media Production, Management, & Technology major with a concentration in Digital TV and Film. His hobbies mainly consist of playing board games, working on short films, and watching a lot of movies and TV shows.

Alessandra Emery is a first-year Neuroscience major on a Pre-Med track, planning on double majoring in Art History. Ale loves reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching reality TV. She saw Taylor two times in the Eras Tour: Tampa Night 2 and Miami Night 2.

Samantha Herrera is a first-year Psychology major on the Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience track, who loves to read, hang out with friends, and go to the beach. Sam attended the Miami Night 3 Eras show.

Kelsey Kedroski is a sophomore majoring in Mechanical Engineering, who loves to cook, but especially bake. Every Christmas her family makes over 100 cookies and gives them to friends and neighbors.

Isabel Melendez-Soto is a second year Political Science major on the Pre-Med Track, who likes to hang out with friends, go on long walks, watch movies, and bake. Isabel was at the Eras Tour Tampa N2.

Dani Peraza Vasquez is a freshman majoring in Architecture and looking to minor in Real Estate and Sustainability in the Built Environment, who likes to longboard and play the guitar.

Anna Poacelli is an English major, who loves analyze and discuss popular culture as genuine artwork. Anna also loves music and art, plays guitar and is currently trying to learn how to dj.

Kathryn Turner is a fourth-year Neuroscience major on the Pre-Med track with a minor in Spanish, who enjoys listening to all types of music and who is a member of the Gator Band.

Alexa Valovic is a second-year Geography major, who loves to read, craft, and attend UF sports events with friends. Alexa attended the Eras Tour Milan N2 while studying abroad in Italy.

Tommy Vazquez is a second-year architecture major, who likes to run, watercolor, and hang out with friends. He went to the Eras Tour twice: in Tampa night 3, and in Miami night 1.

Alice Wilson is a first-year Marketing major with a minor in Mass Communications, who loves to bake, play guitar, run, and doomscroll on Pinterest. She saw Taylor twice, in 2018 at the Reputation Tour and in 2023 at the Eras Tour (both in Tampa).

Maggie Wu, a first year Statistics major on the pre-PA track, who likes learning classical arrangements of Taylor Swift songs on piano, going to museums, reading new books, and watching the latest hit TV show.

 By Samuel Cohen

’tis the damn season: We could call it even / You could call me babe for the weekend / ’Tis the damn season, write this down / I’m stayin’ at my parents’ house / And the road not taken looks real good now / Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires / Now I’m missing your smile, hear me out / We could just ride around / And the road not taken looks real good now / And it always leads to you in my hometown / Sleep in half the day just for old times’ sake / I won’t ask you to wait if you don’t ask me to stay / So I’ll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends / Who’ll write books about me, if I ever make it / And wonder about the only soul / who can tell which smiles I’m fakin’ / And the heart I know I’m breakin’ is my own / To leave the warmest bed I’ve ever known.

holiday treason: Try to call it even / Left without a trace or a reason / Holiday treason, write this down / Bet you couldn’t make it out / Bet the road not taken looks real good now / Time flies, messy is the blood on your trip wires / Pulling me to old fires, cut it out / Baby I’m a grown-up now / I’m not some boy you just ride around / And it always leads to you in my hometown / Weepin’ half the day just for old times’ sake / Salt tears down your face as you promise me you’ll stay / But you’ll go back to L.A. and your so-called job / You write songs about me and you pray they make it / And wonder about the only soul / who can tell which lies you’re fakin’ / And the heart I know I’m breakin’ is my own / To leave my only love out in the cold.

In “’tis the damn season,” the narrator tell a story of leaving her partner to pursue fame in L.A., only to find herself back in her small town over the winter holidays. The song is a proposal to her ex-lover that they rekindle the flame, only to let it die again with the new year. In it, the narrator looks back longingly at the relationship. As she passes through her town, with its Methodist churches and small schools, she remembers that what is old is not necessarily bad. There is great comfort in what is known.

The intention is for the recipient to feel equally nostalgic and accept this proposal. However, some of the language—“But if it’s okay with you, it’s okay with me,” “it always leads to you in my hometown” –feels callous. She has accepted getting back together with her ex-boyfriend as if there was never an alternative. The recipient of this message very well might feel like a backup plan.

My parody, “holiday treason,” was written to reflect the perspective of a recipient who feels manipulated and unappreciated. It parallells the lyrics of “tis the damn season” with a darker edge. While the singer of “’tis the damn season” feels hopeful and nostalgic, the singer of “holiday treason” didn’t forget that she “left without a trace or a reason.” He feels abandoned, and this proposal to get back together just for the weekend feels empty. It is not enough to make up for the months of pain felt by the enduring rejection.

The singer of “holiday treason” is also overtly distrustful of his ex-girlfriend. While views him fondly as “the only soul who can tell which smiles I’m fakin,’” he realizes he is the only one “who can tell which lies you’re fakin.’” In her version of the story, she is upfront about her intention to leave at the end of the holiday. In his version, she is explicitly hiding this fact (“as you promise me you’ll stay”), manipulating him into getting back together. This difference could indicate that the “holiday treason” narrator is being overly critical of his ex-girlfriend, unwilling to let someone in again who broke his heart once. Or, it could indicate that the “’tis the damn season” narrator has been deceptive, but is trying to convince herself that she was honest about her leaving once again so that she does not become a villain.

The small lyrical changes between “tis the damn season” and “holiday treason” accumulate into a larger shift in perspective. This shift is not only in who is singing the song, but in the emotional truths of the competing stories being told. These conflicting perspectives is on theme with the exploration of heartbreak and perspective throughout Swift’s “folklore” and “evermore” albums.

 Tomas Vazques

Watercolor and oil paint on canvas.

“And the only way back to my dignity / Was to turn into a shrouded mystery” —“Now That We Don’t Talk”

 “Now That We Don’t Talk,” the third vault track of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), explores the emotional distance and estrangement between Taylor and her ex after they’ve cut contact. In my painting, Taylor is depicted as a grey silhouette, a “shrouded mystery” turning away from the viewer, while her ex appears as a figure made of negative space in the foreground. I used this visual contrast to emphasize the emotional and physical separation between Taylor and her ex. The internal placement of the white figure within Taylor’s silhouette, inspired by a shot from the “Style” music video, symbolizes how her ex still occupies space in her mind even after their separation. Surrounding Taylor are concentric rings of orange and blue, opposite, complementary colors that underscore the duality between her and her ex. I used watercolor because it evokes the haziness of memory and the emotional distance Taylor is experiencing from her ex as she begins to fade from his life, and from her past self.

Lyrics in the song echo the theme of surface-level, pretentious identity shifts: “You grew your hair long / You got new icons.” Taylor points out, “And from the outside / It looks like you’re tryin’ lives on”; her ex’s reinvention is performative and superficial since he’s only been changed on the “outside,” as he attempts to distance him selffrom the past, and from who he really is. By becoming someone Taylor can’t recognize, he is burning any bridges back to her. Taylor also critiques the version of herself she had to construct during the relationship: “I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock/ Or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht.” These lines evoke the idea of a false identity Taylor no longer has to maintain for her ex’s validation, as she reclaims her authenticity. Moreover, diction in these lines are important through the word choice of “acid” and “mega” as adjectives. These descriptors exaggerate her ex’s interests, painting him as an extravagant, excessive person.

By Maggie Wu

“Chandelier’s still flickering / here” – Death by a Thousand Cuts

“I saw in my mind fairy lights / through the mist” – So Long, London

Throughout Taylor Swift’s discography, light is frequently used to symbolize different stages of her relationships. From the upbeat melody of Death by a Thousand Cuts to the melancholy refrains of So Long, London, Taylor continuously divulges in romantic storytelling through the characterization of how lights fit into her life at different moments.

In Death by a Thousand Cuts, the deliberate use of the phrase “still flickering” to describe the chandelier creates this on-and-off pull of Taylor’s relationship. She implies that she’s still holding onto a dying relationship as it threatens to escape her grasp. Coupled with the underlying theme of heartbreak, Taylor introduces a haunting quality that solidifies the emotional weight of loss and longing. In So Long, London, Taylor begins the song with a foggy description of the fairy lights, communicating how her relationship is fading away out of her reach. She characterizes her past as cloudy and difficult to fully understand, developing a contrast between what once was magical and what is now lost.

My painting was inspired by this symbolism, as well as the impact of light in paintings by Reynolds Beal and Herman Herzog. Through the use of acrylic paint and blending of various hues, this painting transforms a common urban scene into a luminous dreamscape, where light and color elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. The glowing streetlights and vivid reflections blur the line between reality and memory, making light both a physical and emotional force, and emphasizing its fleeting nature.

Dani Peraza Vasquez

“’Cause I can’t pretend it’s okay when it’s not / It’s death by a thousand cuts” – “Death by a Thousand Cuts”

The painting takes inspiration from Taylor Swift’s Death by a Thousand Cuts and captures the emotional complexity of the song. While Lover is typically known for its bright, happy colors, this song contrasts that with a light, upbeat sound that hides deeper emotional weight. The “thousand cuts” are reflected in the smaller streams that branch off from the river, representing the subtle signs and moments that are easy to miss in the moment, but only make sense once everything has unraveled.

In the song, Swift uses the imagery of a thousand cuts to convey unimaginable hurt. Death by a thousand cuts was an execution method used in China from the Song Dynasty until it was banned in the 20th century. Using it in a lyric is particularly clever as it is used as symbolism for a slow, yet still painful death. While one cut might not hurt much individually, their combination would be torture. Taylor’s parallels this type of torture with being in a relationship where there are small transgressions, but they are constant, inevitably leading to the end, or death, of the relationship, as well as her figurative death (in spirit).

Death by 1000 cuts: The gruesome history of the notorious ancient Chinese punishment of Lingchi.History Skills. (n.d.). https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-7/death-by-1000-cuts/

By Alessandra Emery

“Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen? / Time went on for everybody else, she won’t know it” – “right where you left me.”

In this piece, I combine acrylic paint and watercolor to explore the emotional stasis described in Taylor Swift’s “right where you left me.” The song centers on a woman abandoned in a restaurant, frozen in time while life continues around her. Swift uses paralysis as a metaphor through her use of imagery in “dust collecting” and “I stayed there” to emphasize how heartbreak suspends her in a moment that everyone else has move past. The recurring motif of being “left” signifies two things: physical abandonment and emotional confusion. Furthermore, her use of juxtaposition throughout the song pairs the bustling world with a character who can’t keep up. Lines like “They expected me to find somewhere / Some perspective, but I sat and stared” pit expectation against reality. That same tension drives the visual composition of my work.

The clock, rendered in acrylic, is precise and immovable. It serves to capture the moment of heartbreak as something fixed. Yet, the flowers, painted in soft watercolor, are fluid and alive. I specifically chose acrylics for the clock to emphasize how certain moments can harden and take on permanence in our minds. With the unpredictable blending of watercolor, I meant to symbolize how life outside of grief continues without consent.

By Samantha Herrera

“Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill” -So Long, London

“Time went on for everybody else, she / won’t know it” -right where you left me

“He was sunshine, I was midnight rain” -Midnight Rain

This painting was greatly inspired by Taylor Swift’s “So Long, London.” The focal point of the piece, the blue telephone booth, was created using acrylic paint. This medium achieves a vibrant navy blue that catches the eye. In doing so, it reflects the emotional unraveling Swift explores in “So Long, London.” This unraveling is found in the way she grows increasingly frustrated throughout the song. Through her vivid imagery and figurative language, she conveys that, though she gave the relationship her all, it was not enough to save it. The second medium employed, watercolor, juxtaposes this. Used to paint the more delicate details, such as the rain droplets and vines, the watercolor adds a sense of fragility and transience to the painting. The stark contrast between the two mediums mirrors the duality Swift embodies in her song, as she finds strength in the act of leaving a dying relationship but vulnerability in the lingering sorrow. This duality is present in lyrics such as “I’m just mad as hell cause I loved this place.” In this lyric, her anger is evidently juxtaposed with the pain that lingers following the end of the relationship.

Undeniably, red phone booths are globally recognized as symbols of London. This painting veers away from the prototypical color, opting to illustrate the iconic phone booth in a deep, navy shade. This intentional choice conveys the heartbreak and yearning Taylor experiences. Red is a vibrant color often associated with feelings of love and passion. However, in “So Long, London,” Swift writes of an unsalvageable relationship that is ultimately devoid of any such emotions. Therefore, in stripping the booth of its red color and replacing it with navy, the emotional weight of heartbreak that defines “So Long, London” is mirrored. The I inspiration for this color change also comes from a technique Swift employs throughout her entire discography: consistently using colors to symbolize her emotions. The rain droplets and puddles are a nod to “Midnight Rain,” in which Swift explores the tension that develops when two lovers see different futures for their relationship. Lastly, the green vines hanging from the phone booth illustrate the “frozen in time” imagery Swift presents in “right where you left me.” In the song, she writes “Did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen? / Time went on for everybody else, she won’t know it.” Those around her continue living, yet she is stuck and unable to move on. The vines resent the inevitable continuation of time and the world around us, even when we ourselves feel stuck.

Given that its inspiration is derived across multiple eras of Swift’s songwriting career, this painting is able to encompass motifs found in the pop star’s lyricism. These include the isolation and stillness of evermore, the melancholic glamor and self-reflection of Midnights, and the raw poetic sorrow of The Tortured Poets Department.

By Alice Wilson

“I bet / This time of night you’re still up / I bet / You’re tired from a long hard / week / I bet / You’re sittin’ in your chair by the window / Looking out at the city / And I hope / Sometimes you wonder ’bout me” -I Almost Do

On songs like “Cornelia Street,” “False God,” and “I Almost Do,” from which this title is inspired, Swift grounds intense emotions in specific city corners, turning metropolitan iconography like apartment windows and traffic lights into haunted landmarks of lost love. The size and perspective of the city, inspired by George Grosz’s “Manhattan,” portray physical and emotional distance between two ex-lovers, who are smaller and out of focus from the buildings and skyline, contrasting the feeling of isolation while the world goes on unaffected around them. The city is vibrantly alive yet impersonal, mirroring disconnection in the aftermath of a breakup.

As the sun sets on this relationship, Swift’s lyrical speculation on her lost love’s thoughts and actions elevates her personal heartbreak into a deeper yearning for what might have been, in a city full of hope for what’s to come. In a stark departure from the optimism and star-studded dreams often associated with the city, depicted by Taylor in bubbly songs like “Welcome to New York” and “Holy Ground,” she’s now left alone and fighting the urge to call this person, instead simply wondering on her own if their heartbreak is mutual. Where they once had “this big wide city all to ourselves” (“Holy Ground”), she’ll now “never walk Cornelia Street again” (“Cornelia Street”) and he’ll “stare out the window like [she’s] not [his] favorite town” (“False God”). Swift’s use of the city as a metaphor for her own relationships and heartbreaks reminds us that even in the most crowded places, yearning can feel poignantly isolating.

By Kelsey Kedroski

“inside her fantasy” / “Help I’m still at the restaurant, / still sitting in a corner I haunt” ~right where you left me

“I pretend it isn’t real” ~Soon You’ll Get Better

“I just wanna stay in that lavender haze” ~ Lavender Haze

This painting is inspired by “right where you left me,” and sets the scene in a coffee shop, believing this song to act as a prelude to “Begin Again” from Red. In the “Begin Again” music video, Taylor Swift sits in the corner of a coffeeshop as she sings, “I’ve been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end” which could signal her thinking about this heartbreak while she is “still at the restaurant.” In “right where you left me,” she says, “still sitting in the corner I haunt,” and I was intrigued by her choice of the corner spot. Corners are secluded, often overlooked. They allow someone to exist in a space without being truly seen. By placing herself in the corner, she becomes hidden in plain sight. People can come and go, unaware that she is still there, frozen intime. This gives the word haunt a dual meaning, suggesting not only ghostliness, but also delusion. The delusions are haunting and overtaking her, causing her to be stuck in this never ending cycle of longing and lingering in the same corner.

Inside the cafe, the vibrant color palette reflects the romanticized, almost dreamlike delusion of longing she clings to. In contrast, the outside of the shop is painted with darker blue hues to create a visual tension, as if a storm is quietly brewing beyond the windows. This storm reflects the reality she is avoiding and is ultimately inevitable. The color of Taylor’s shirt echoes her lyric, “I just want to stay in that lavender haze,” visually reinforcing the emotional space she’s confined to. Lavender, with its soft and muted tone, evokes a sense of tranquility and romantic idealism. By clothing herself in lavender, she wraps herself in the comfort of her fantasy, while the stormy blues outside await as a reminder that fantasy can’t last forever.

This theme of suspended emotion also appears in Soon You’ll Get Better, where Taylor sings, “I pretend it isn’t real.” That lyric expresses a refusal to accept the illness of a loved one. Both songs deal with the human struggle of letting go, whether it’s letting go of a person, a memory, or the illusion of control. These lyrics give the impression of sitting in a waiting room, as she is in a limbo space between past and future, stuck right where she was left.

By Sebastian Echeverria

“August sipped away like a bottle of wine . . . / But I can see us lost in the memory”—august

1 INT. AUGUST’S ROOM—NIGHT: August sits on the floor of her room, beside her bed. Her eyes are misty as she scrolls through her phone, looking at pictures with her and James together. Inez walks in with a glass of wine and hands it to August. She sits on the floor, in front of her crying friend.

INEZ

It’s gonna be okay.

August takes a sip of wine before setting it on the night stand beside her.

AUGUST

I just don’t get it. How do you spend a whole summer with someone laughing, watching movies, telling secrets and then just . . . I don’t know, throw it away like it never mattered. (A beat.) Was it ever real?

INEZ

I don’t know if I can answer that . . . but I heard he’s moved on to Betty now. Did you know they were together last year?

AUGUST

How would I know that? If I knew he was taken, I wouldn’t have-

INEZ

I know.

Inez puts a hand on August’s shoulder.

AUGUST

Just look at us.

August shifts her phone closer to Inez’s eyeline.

AUGUST (CONT’D)

We were happy.

August presses play on one of the videos with her and James. As the video plays, we zoom in closer to the phone until the phone screen becomes the full screen. As the song “August” starts to play, we see a montage of videos that August took throughout the summer.

MONTAGE BEGINS:

– At a food court, James looks lost with a tray of food in his hands. He looks around the building until he spots the camera, presumably held by August, and smiles. He goes towards the camera (August) and sits down at the table. August turns the camera to show she was behind the camera and the two start to dig into their food.

– At the beach, August applies sunscreen to James’ back underneath the beating sun. – At night, in James’ unlit kitchen, we see James approach his fridge. He opens it and grabs something from inside. When he closes the door, August jumps out from the darkness and scares him. He screams and falls to the floor before laughing along with August.

– August and James sit on a picnic blanket in a park. James opens a picnic basket and takes out a small cake. He feeds a piece of it to August.

– August dances and sings her heart out at a concert (presumably the Eras Tour). She turns around to look at the camera and kisses the person behind it (presumably James).

– August and James sit at a table with a few friends around them: it’s August’s birthday. August and James hold glasses of wine and clink them together. A bit of wine spills on August’s white shirt.

– August and James are in the bathroom with the door open. They try to wash off the wine stain from August’s shirt—it doesn’t come off completely.

MONTAGE ENDS.

CAMERA zooms out from the phone to see August holding the phone. She has tears in her eyes. INEZ Hey, it’s okay. It’s all gonna be okay.

FADE TO BLACK

This script is my interpretation of what a music video for Taylor Swift’s August would look like. In the song, Taylor sings “But I can see us lost in the memory” in which she utilizes loss as a double entendre about both getting lost down memory lane, but then also losing her relationship. This is why in the script, August looks through her camera roll—pictures show you the good times but they also show you moments that are over.

Taylor sings “August sipped away like a bottle of wine,” which serves as a metaphor for the impact of the relationship on Swift. By comparing the time she spent with her lover to wine, she is acknowledging how significant this relationship was to her because it such a difficult feeling to get over—or such a difficult “stain” to wash away.

Pictures also serve as proof for events that happened. When Swift sings “But do you remember?” she questions her ex-lover’s memory for a relationship they left so easily. This is why August looking through her camera roll is so imperative to her—it is proof that their love was real.

By Alessandra Emery

“But you’ll find the real thing instead / She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred” -Champagne Problems

Letter

Dear Teddy,

I don’t know if you will read this, honestly, I would not even blame you if you didn’t. I have tried to rewrite this letter so many times, but tonight the silence in the house is unbearable and I find myself writing to you as if you will suddenly walk through the front door and make fun of my awful penmanship.

 Since Beth’s passing, her piano has sat in silence, and I am left with my own thoughts for company. I keep thinking about that day. How we were dancing, so young and carefree, and how you said my name as if it was something sacred. And I completely ruined everything. I gave back all the love you promised me as if it was something I could afford to lose. I remember feeling that I did the right thing, tried to convince myself of that so I could ignore your crestfallen expression. I believed with my whole heart that I would be preventing the inevitable, but I was wrong. So terribly wrong.

People in town still talk about how I must have been so foolish, and maybe broken, to let go of something as precious as you. As more time has passed, I realize that maybe they are right, and I was too caught up in myself to see what was right in front of me. I thought my dreams of being a writer would wither in a marriage, and I feared I could not be the wife you deserved. Most of all, I was convinced that we loved each other only as childhood friends, and that you would eventually resent me for not being the kind of woman you thought you loved.

Paris must suit you. Amy mentioned it once in a letter early in her travels that she ran into you. She said you looked well and that I shouldn’t worry. That alone should have been enough for me, but I keep picturing what you might be doing every day. It warms my heart to think of two people I love in the same place, even so far from home.

It is funny how life unfolds. When I refused you that day, I was so certain I was doing the brave thing. You called me stubborn, but I thought our friendship would survive anything, even my pride. How young I was, thinking I had all the time in the world. The irony is not lost on me: I feared marriage would cage me, but instead it’s this loneliness that does.

I imagine you’ll read this like how you always read my stories, with a half-smile and knowing me better than I know myself. I do not know what I hope to accomplish by writing this. Perhaps nothing. Please do not feel obligated to respond, in fact if you have found happiness please do not trouble yourself over me. Maybe there is someone new who holds your hand when you dance, someone who never leaves you standing alone in the dark. Maybe she has picked up the fragments I left behind and made you smile again. For that, I am grateful for her.

I miss you, Teddy. More than I can possibly say.

With all the love I was too blind to see before,

Jo

Reflection

I chose to write a letter Jo pens to Laurie in Little Women (2019), a scene not found in the original book. In most versions, Jo questions her decision to reject her childhood best friend Laurie’s proposal, but this film specifically lingers on Jo’s emotional aftermath. This letter imagines Jo’s grief after her sister Beth’s death and her quiet longing for connection.

Taylor Swift “champagne problems” is not just about rejecting a proposal, but mourning the future that never materialized. Swift uses vivid imagery like the unopened champagne bottle and the ring the narrator “won’t wear” to represent love left behind. The lyric “You won’t remember all my champagne problems” is both a defense and an apology.

This guided my portrayal of Jo. She doesn’t just say she loves Laurie, just like Swift’s narrator never says she is heartbroken. But the pain is in what is unsaid. I used Swift’s lyric “She would have made such a lovely bride” to show how public perception can paint a woman as unworthy for not following the expected path. Swift’s choice of “would” instead of “could” is critical. Could implies potential, something that might have happened. But would implies expectation, a future that was assumed. By this intentional use, Swift doesn’t just mourn what was possible, she mourns what was expected and what others believed should have happened. It turns a personal decision into a public failure.

This distinction is tied to Jo’s character. She is not rejecting Laurie because she is incapable of loving, she is afraid of losing herself. In the novel, Jo expresses to her mother, “perhaps if Teddy had tried again, I might have said ‘Yes,’ not because I love him anymore, but because I care more to be loved than when he went away.” She knows marriage, in her world, demands a kind of surrender. Like Swift’s narrator, she pushes love away out of self-preservation, not out of malice.

In the letter, Jo says she misses Laurie, wishes him well, and hopes someone else holds his hand when he dances. That “someone” ends up being her sister Amy (referenced in the letter) and that union becomes a patch over Jo’s absence in Laurie’s life. This directly mirrors Swift’s lyric, “She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred.”

And yet, unlike Swift’s narrator, Jo does not remain alone. She marries Professor Bhaer, a man so different from Laurie. Swift’s narrator walks away haunted by the love she could not accept. Jo walks forward, but the question lingers: did she ever really escape the life she resisted, or simply delay the inevitable?

By Samuel Cohen

Off to the war / His soldiers await / Try to convince him to stay / But I’m fighting with fate / Turns out the glory / Comes with a price / Covered in blood every day / in the fields / But we’re lovers by night

I want a thousand years / Throwing a thousand spears / Fighting with cavaliers / Let me hold on to you / I want you to myself / Baby don’t ask, don’t tell / And if we go to hell / Let me hold on to you

Obsessed with his glory / Obsessed with his pride / Obsessed with his story / Obsessed with with his bride / I’m lost in the woodwork / Alone on the field / Remember the days when / they called me your heel?

“Achilles” explores themes of societal norms and fame in Swift’s discography through the plot from “The Song Of Achilles.” Written by Madeline Miller, “The Song Of Achilles” is a critically acclaimed novel which explores a queer romance during the Trojan War. The two leading men, Patroclus and Achilles, are lovers who hide their relationship in protection of Achilles’ rising reputation. These ideas of balancing a private relationship with a high-profile public image are paralleled in Taylor’s songs “I Know Places.” She sings:

“Baby, I know places we won’t be found, and / They’ll be chasing their tails trying to track us down / ‘Cause I, I know places we can hide / I know places”

In these lyrics, Swift explores the idea of hiding a relationship from prying eyes. There is a thrill of secrecy at the idea of keeping moments in a relationship private between two people. The language is playful and flirtatious (“chasing their tails,” “baby”), indicating romantic intimacy.

This is echoed in “Song of Achilles” lyrics emphasized above. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a historic US military policy that in essence required queer military service members to keep their sexual orientation a secret. By turning this into a desire for intimacy, these lines evoke romance. The private nature of the relationship draws the two main characters closer.

But just as the public eye can draw lovers together, it can pull them apart. This idea is explored in Swift’s song, “The Archer”:

“All the king’s horses, all the king’s men / Couldn’t put me together again / ‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold on to you”

Here, the singer feels pulled apart by fame, clinging to the one person she has left. She has been betrayed by people she thought she could trust, and feels broken in the aftermath. Between the direct reference of “Let me hold onto you” and visualizations of war, “Achilles” evokes the same emotions of desperation and brokenness.

Thus, “Achilles” explores fame through dual lenses of intimacy and conflict to explore the nuances of public relationships.

By Isabel Melendez-Soto

Inspired by Louise Bourgeios’s piece, “Ode á I’Oubli,” the use of recycled fabric in the piece serves to demonstrate the cyclic nature of women within the music industry. The red thread symbolizes the stark and bold nature of anew female artist, and the transition to gray for the words “Taylor Swift,” demonstrates that Taylor’s place in the music industry may one day become nonexistent, but never meaningless. The permanence of a stitch overwriting on a piece of paper that can be erased shows that her influence will forever be seen through the coming rising female stars of the industry. Swift has often feared the toxic and corrupt mindset that women in the industry are always on the verge of being replaced, which she has tried to combat throughout her constant reinvention in her many “eras,” this song shows her resignation to this war amongst female artists. “Clara Bow” demonstrates Swift’s realization that no matter how toxic an industry she works in–that will paint her as irrelevant once there is a “new God to worship”–she will forever be remembered in history, stitched into the fabric of society forever. The tattered edges of the fabric serve to depict the how the music industry and twisted perceptions in the media have maimed Swift, but the in tact center shows that her contributions outweigh her hurt. The imperfection in the stitching reflects the message that no female artist will ever be good enough to shine in the spotlight forever, but they are appreciated in their time for having a certain je ne sais quoi,which is the reason they “were picked, like a rose.” While roses must eventually wilt and die, they can be preserved and remembered forever, as Swift will be.

By Alexa Valovic

“All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting “More” / I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day. / Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die” -I Can Do It with a Broken Heart

This piece examines the emotional cost of fame, performative resilience, and the fracturing of identity as constructed through Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart.” The lyrics reveal the lengths Swift goes to fabricate joy into a rehearsed illusion. Suffering is masked behind a spectacle with the sculpture’s open hand a visual of both offering and collapse. Traditional markers of happiness of birthdays, declarations of love, and public adoration are hollowed out and weaponized to be demanded not as genuine expressions, but as signs of survival. Against the monumental backdrop of the record-breaking Eras Tour, Swift’s emotional truth feels small and fragile by comparison. Wing of a Broken Songbird echo this disparity with colorful pieces of paper, symbolizing all the celebrated albums of Swift’s discography, spilling from a greyscale arm build from trash bags to personify the stripping away of internal vibrancy to reveal pure exhaustion. Swift’s style of confessional writing allows the impressions of grandeur to not fully obscure vulnerabilities, such as lingering relics of lost love or survivalist mantras embedded in daily existence. This destabilizes the narrative of effortless triumph, paralleling the sculpture destabilizing the illusion of control and celebration. Together, the song and the visual piece blur the boundary between performance and survival, exposing the brutal expectation that emotional unraveling must remain invisible, while resilience is staged and consumed without regard for the devastation it demands.

I’ll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I’ll get lost on purpose—I Hate It Here

“I Hate It Here” presents fantasy as a strategic form of survival in a reality marked by emotional depletion and relentless scrutiny. Swift’s composition juxtaposes dreamlike imagery of gardens and lunar valleys with language that resist romanticism. Phrases such as “consolation prize” and “finance guy” convey this disillusionment and reduced self-worth. Nostalgia is reframed as a “mind’s trick” with memory itself being untrustworthy as a refuge. Swift’s restrained phrasing (“I’m lonely but I’m good”) reflects emotional flatness, emphasizing how survival requires a suppression of visible vulnerability. Swift’s repeatedly returns to isolated, private spaces accessible only by a “key” that belongs solely to her. These lyrics create a narrative structure where emotional safety is increasingly portrayed as inaccessible to others, reinforcing a profound sense of self-imposed distance.

The colorful photographs reflect the consciously constructed internal landscapes that preserve agency when the external world has stripped it away. These imagined environments offer vibrancy and emotional autonomy, contrasting with the greyscale photographs that represent a public existence marked by fragmentation and scrutiny. The division between color and monochrome parallels Swift’s rhetorical strategy. Emotional vibrancy can only survive in isolation, while reality demands detached endurance. Through tightly controlled diction and inversion of emotional expectations, Swift builds a commentary on the cost of preserving authenticity in a world that rewards only polished resilience.

By Tomas Vazquez

“I’ll get you out on the floor/ Shimmering beautiful/ And when I break it’s in a million pieces” –“mirrorball”

My photographs navigate Taylor’s experience with fame, of being seen but not fully known. I was inspired by Zohra Opoku’s self-portrait called Ficus Carica at the Harn Museum, where Opoku places herself center frame with her eyes obstructed by a fig. Thus, I photographed two of my friends, Evenie (Images 1 and 2), and Alida (Images 3 and 4), in a similar manner; center frame, but eyes obstructed or gazes averted. I was also inspired by the struggle between authenticity/personal identity and the need for attention simultaneous to the need for privacy in the songs “mirrorball” and “Dear Reader.” I get a feeling of loneliness in these songs; like a mirrorball, Taylor Swift is a dazzling presence but alone in terms of her stratospheric success. Similarly, my subjects glow in their presence, but are alone and vulnerable in the center frame.

In “mirrorball,” Taylor sings “when I break it’s in a million pieces,” using the mirrorball as a metaphor not only for her fragility but also for the way she transforms her personal heartbreak into public entertainment. Each time she shatters, she shines brighter, sharing her pain through her confessional songwriting. This tension is captured in Image 1, where Evenie faces away from the camera, implying the photo was taken unexpectedly -an invasion of privacy. This reflects how Taylor finds herself in the limelight even offstage, caught in the glare of media attention seeking to expose her personal life. I explored public image more deeply in Image 3, where Alida’s eyes are cropped by framing, suggesting how external forces like the media shape public perception. In “Dear Reader,” Taylor confesses, “You wouldn’t take my word for it/ If you knew who was talking.” The persona she projects to the public is deceptive, masking the complex, flawed, and self-sabotaging person she really is. Although she shares her heartbreak and her advice on love in her songs, Taylor implores the reader to take her words with a grain of salt. I sought to portray these themes of performance and the disconnect between the artist and the fan in my photographs. Each image subverts the expectation of a proper portrait, shattering the illusion of a parasocial relationship between the artist and her audience.

By Katie Turner

The collage “On My Mind” is a physical representation of Taylor Swift’s music through the themes of fame and societal norms. Much like the different eras and styles of music present in Swift’s discography, this collage incorporates a variety of elements from magazines that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of working together. However, all of these aspects form a bigger picture, much like all of the different facets of Swift’s life have made her the person she is today. The photos of the fair and the elegant table setting in the two corners show the dichotomy between being a kid and growing up, which is expressed in many of her songs dealing with nostalgia, such as the line “I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone” in “Never Grow Up.” The photo in the lower left corner is also reminiscent of the societal norms theme because Swift writes a lot about how society expects her to be one way but she doesn’t want to be confined to their standards. The photo also serves as a physical representation of the song “champagne problems.” The strip that says “For the Record” illustrates how people use that phrase to tell the truth. Swift writes in a way that shows a glimpse into her life and her experiences. Many fans have theories of what the songs may mean but only Swift really knows. However, many interviews and documentaries will give insight into the meaning of her songs, which is her basically saying “for the record, this is what the song actually means.” The phrase “an American masterpiece” represents the debate of whether or not Swift is a legendary songwriter. The upper left corner is also used to represent the theme of fame and societal norms because people and tabloids speculate about her relationships. These clippings show a diamond ring and a wedding cake to demonstrate the rumors spread about her since she is in the public eye so much. This can be seen in the song “But Daddy I Love Him” with the lines “I’m having his baby/No, I’m not, but you should see your faces” as Swift is calling out all of the speculation that surrounds her private life.

By Samantha Herrera

“And the camera flashes make it look like a dream” The Lucky One

“Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used” The Lucky One

“It’s hell on earth to be heavenly” Clara Bow

This artwork was inspired by two pieces from the Harn Museum in Gainesville, Florida: Eighteen-Light Pond Lily Lamp by Louis Comfort Tiffany and the untitled metal figure located outside the museum. Furthermore, I found the messages conveyed in Swift’s “The Lucky One” and “Clara Bow” to be heavily reminiscent of the themes of societal norms and fame. The songs explore the unseen side of fame that are often hidden beneath the glitz and glamour portrayed in the media. Through lyrics such as “Beauty isa beast that roars / Down on all fours, demanding more” and “The camera flashes make it look like a dream,” Swift establishes that celebrities are often weighed down by hardships that the public fails to see or acknowledge. By employing the metaphor of a “beast,” Swift illustrates beauty as an all-consuming force that celebrities must give themselves to completely in order to achieve success.

Taylor Swift’s “The Lucky One” is an analysis of a paradox found in fame and the lives of celebrities. More often than not, the public deems people in the public eye as incredibly lucky. However, in her song, Swift challenges this belief, using a sarcastic tone to convey an ironic meaning behind the word “lucky.” Throughout the song, she repeatedly asks the question “Can you tell me now you’re the lucky one?” The use of a rhetorical question makes the listener wonder the extent to which celebrities can truly see themselves as lucky. This is embodied in the artwork through its illustration of a stained glass window. The stained glass window in my artwork symbolizes the juxtaposing nature of fame, as light and dark interact in a way that creates a sense of contradiction. The light, pastel shades of the watercolor reflect the allure of fame. Often, it seems dazzling, enticing, and even magical. The black outlines create a stark contrast, representing that fame often conceals something darker. The sharp contrasts in my color choices reinforce the idea that not everything that glitters is gold.

The song “Clara Bow” is an interesting discussion of beauty in the entertainment industry, particularly when it comes to women in the spotlight. The lyric “Beauty is a beast that roars/ Down on all fours, demanding more” embodies this completely. The use of the word “beast” specifically conveys beauty as something to be feared given its all-consuming nature. By including this metaphor, Swift succeeds at emphasizing that beauty comes at a price, and women must be willing to pay it in order to succeed within the entertainment industry. The soft, drooping flowers in my piece mirror this because they seem to bend under the weight of their beauty. What can be perceived as “wilting” of the flowers is meant to represent the many burdens that arise from the unattainable beauty standards society places on women celebrities.

By Anna Poacelli

Taylor Swift’s lyrics often contain a theme of shapeshifting, where Swift takes on another form, like a witch, Stevie Nicks, or a man. In “The Man,” as Swift transforms into a man, she is sardonic, leaning into the bit while seriously criticizing a societal double standard for gender. My piece, titled “Wolf” imitates Taylor’s use of absurd humor to criticize society. In “The Man,” Swift recasts herself in a male body, sarcastically imagining that “I’d be an alpha type.” This lyric brings to mind a tough-guy-alpha-male stereotype that, in its use of the word alpha, reduces itself to animal hierarchies. In turning Swift into an alpha wolf, I mockingly make her a symbol of the unchallengeable power she would possess if she were a man. The sarcasm is important here, as it highlights how Swift already has this type of power in her wealth and fame. Her issue lies in her gender and the societal disapproval and criticism that comes along with her success.

Swift is an alpha type, she just isn’t characterized as one because she is a woman, and women are not supposed to have power.

By Sebastian Echevarria

“Got a long list of ex-lovers They’ll tell you I’m insane” –Blank Space

“They are the hunters, we are the foxes . . . and we run” –I Know Places

A camera flashes
A fandom clashes
Her name at the lips of the globe.
Name burned to ashes
As her body dashes
From a stranger’s chase for her robe.

Lips, cherry red
“She looks unfed”
The press roars with certitude.
“He’s in her bed”
The country said
And yet she’s stuck in solitude.

Off with her head
In threat
In pictures
In mind
People are blind
To the idea that
maybe she’s human
Not Mrs. Truman
Whose purpose is to be
The ever perfect celebrity

No mind-reading buttons
Or detect-lie machines
And yet everyone thinks
They know what she
means

Her face is on billboards
Her voice—said to be reckless
And yet no one knows her
She may as well be headless

The Headless Woman is a poem about the dehumanization of celebrities, specifically Taylor Swift. She describes this phenomenon in I Know Places, a song about escaping the scrutiny of the public eye, when she writes “they are the hunters, we are the foxes and we run” to exemplify how being famous feels like being chased like you were a vulnerable wild animal.

A big theme within her work is the way the media likes to tarnish her name and comment on her body—something she dives deeper into within her documentary Miss Americana, where she talks about having developed an eating disorder and the media’s commentary feeding further into that situation. It also mentions the media’s obsession with her dating life and how she is often called a “slut” for dating multiple celebrities. This is something she explores in her song Blank Space, a song that is all about the way in which the media portrays her to be a serial dater; she even sings, “Got a long list of ex-lovers/They’ll tell you I’m insane” to showcase this.

Both the public and the media love to make assumptions about Taylor’s life and criticize her without knowing the full story or recognizing their blatant misogyny. She touches on this in You Need to Calm Down when she says “You are somebody that I don’t know / But you’re taking shots at me like it’s Patrón / And I’m just like ‘Damn, it’s 7:00a.m.'”

This poem touches on the idea of Swift’s persona being metaphorically “headless” because of the fact that she is so heavily scrutinized for her body, how she looks,who she dates, and all these other superficial components that it is almost as if she did not have a mind or feelings. The public loves to hate on her and, in away, dehumanize her just because she isa celebrity and a successful businesswoman.

This piece was inspired by two pieces—Seated Figure, a terra cotta statuette by John Bradley Storrs, and Positive Fear, a painting by Sthenjwa Luthuli—both of which showcase headless figures.

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Swift, Taylor. “Daylight.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/1fzAuUVbzlhZ1lJAx9PtY6

——“Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version).” Red (Taylor’s Version), Republic Records, 2021. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/2NIBaWXdjaTDmytjjwbEfP

——“I Almost Do (Taylor’s Version).” Red (Taylor’s Version), Republic Records, 2021. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/2r9CbjYgFhtAmcFv1cSquB

——“Never Grow Up.” Speak Now, Big Machine, 2010. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/2EFZ9emtKWEglWUQGEQ3P9

——“Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault].” Red (Taylor’s Version), Republic Records, 2021. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/01K4zKU104LyJ8gMb7227B?si=af5f51e9aac54442.

——“The Lucky One (Taylor’s Version).” Red (Taylor’s Version), Republic Records, 2021. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/4e5ayHsOLJNLTGfjau2mEw

Swift, Taylor and Jack Antonoff. “The Archer.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3pHkh7d0lzM2AldUtz2x37

——“august.” folklore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3hUxzQpSfdDqwM3ZTFQY0K

——“Dear Reader.” Midnights (3am Edition), Republic Records, 2022. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3QF5RsWzK1lCvf2o2cY65P?si=47d4dba437834216

——“Death by a Thousand Cuts.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/2dgFqt3w9xIQRjhPtwNk3D

——“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” The Tortured Poets Department, Republic Records, 2024. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/4q5YezDOIPcoLr8R81x9qy?si=04bce2f58fe4497e

——“Midnight Rain.” Midnights, Republic Records, 2022. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3rWDp9tBPQR9z6U5YyRSK4

——“mirrorball.” folklore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/0ZNU020wNYvgW84iljPkPP

——“Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault).” 1989 (Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault), Republic Records, 2023. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/5KD6AEm19QnMbfWpfoOHMl?si=5d7755b3dde84de2

——“Paris.” Midnights, Republic Records, 2022. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/7712gjoih4QoDbXpljEk21.

——“Soon You’ll Get Better.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/4AYtqFyFbX0Xkc2wtcygTr

——“You’re on Your Own Kid” Midnights, Republic Records, 2022. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/4D7BCuvgdJlYvlX5WlN54t

Swift, Taylor and William Bowery. “champagne problems.” Evermore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/0sY6ZUTh4yoctD8VIXz339

Swift, Taylor and Aaron Dessner. “Clara Bow.” The Tortured Poets Department, Republic Records, 2024. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/1UlhrRvYzbHEyugEDspXUB

——“I Hate It Here.” The Tortured Poets Department, Republic Records, 2024. Spotify.

——“right where you left me.” Evermore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3zwMVvkBe2qIKDObWgXw4N

——“seven.” Folklore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/6KJqZcs9XDgVck7Lg9QOTC.

——“So Long, London.” The Tortured Poets Department, Republic Records, 2024. Spotify.

——“’tis the damn season.” Evermore, Republic Records, 2020. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/4GBk_rtA51p17JH35irGA

Swift, Taylor and Joel Little. “The Man.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/3RauEVgRgj1IuWdJ9fDs70?si=7e546f7cee944450

——“You Need To Calm Down.” Lover, Republic Records, 2019.. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/6RRNNciQGZEXnqk8SQ9yv5

Swift, Taylor and Max Martin and Shellback. “Blank Space (Taylor’s Version).” 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Republic Records, 2023. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/45wMBGri1PORPjM9PwFfrS

Swift, Taylor and Ryan Tedder. “I Know Places (Taylor’s Version).” 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Republic Records, 2023. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/2f0GI2ZLUtbGqFx8t2Gk6A

Swift, Taylor et al. “Lavender Haze.” Midnights, Republic Records, 2022. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/0sY6ZUTh4yoctD8VIXz339__