Suburban Legends - Blog Posts

I was just listening to suburban legends and, first thing first, what and absolute total banger. I genuinely cannot understand why I did not listen to this song more often. And second, the lyrics are like, really queer-coded.

The one that really called my attention was "1950s gymnasium". Now, if you dont know that, in the 1950s the lavander scare, a process where queer people where maked to be outcast on the society by the goverment, took place. People needed to hide and did not really know who to trust (since the people caught "guilty" were force by torture and manipulation to give names or other queer people), it was really a strugle. She says she is "standing in a 1950s gymnasium" like, trying to survive the scrutiny and navigaiting her life not knowing who to trust about her true self alongside other queer people. All together in one place, practicing not getting caught (and we all now that era was when Taylor was really bad at hiding her alleged relationships with women)

Then, theres the chorus. I didnt come here to make friends, when would you need to clarify that in a straight scenario? Almost never and, based on the lyrics, I dont think thats the case. And then the "you kissed me on a way thats gonna screw me up forever" its really deep if we read it as queer. Taylor queerness was an obstacle to her career, something that should be hidden and secretive because the consecuences of it being know were too catastrofic (like in the 1950s). Her queerness could screw her career and dreams forever, so that kiss (that I think represents her whole relationship with the muse) could screw her up forever, everything she has worked for could go away because of who she was in love with. Yet, when she hold her, it hold her together, so it was worth it.

Now in the second verse, there are (appart from the 1950s lyrics) a few things that caught my attention. First, the fantasy she has about surprising everyone with their mismatched sings, its a fantasy because it cannot happen. Its not posible, that is why it is a fantasy. Second, theres the lyric, "You'd be more than a chapter in my old diaries with the pages ripped out" she says "You'd" as in a way of hoping, like saying: if our love was not something we have to hide you will be more than a than a chapter in my old diaries with the pages ripped out. Now, this thing about ripping of pages of a diary is honestly heartbreaking. She feels so afraid, she needs to hide that much that she even erased any prove of her love from her diaries, one of the most personal things anyone could ever own, were you pour your feeling to yourself and yourself only; she could not even trust her diaries to keep her love secret.

To finish, we have to tie it all to the title: suburban legends. A history that everyones knows yet no one can tell if it is or not true, because there us no proof. It could be real or not, but everyone has heard of it. Taylor saying her and her muse were born to be suburban legends insinuates that the relationships she is singing about was secret, very few people knew that it existed for real (bacause it was not safe) but everyone heard the rumors about it.

Disclaimer: this is just my interpretation and by sharing this I am not saying this is the truth or that Taylor said that to me or something like that. I am just reading and analising the art she putted out there.