Why We Should Be Excited About iPhone 7’s New Listening Experience

Literary References In The Tortured Poets Department

Down Bad — "Did You Take All My Old Clothes, Just To Leave Me Here, Naked And Alone"

While "Down Bad" feels like a reference to aliens, it's also reminding us of the story of Adam and Eve, who were left naked in the Garden of Eden after eating the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The "experiments" Taylor Swift references in the first verse (plus the "Fortnight" music video) are also giving Mary Shelley/Frankenstein!

So Long, London — "You Left Me At The House By The Heath"

Hampstead Heath is a beautiful area of London that reportedly inspired C.S. Lewis to write The Chronicles of Narnia in the late 30s and early 40s. As Narnia's self-proclaimed biggest fan, I'm totally claiming this indirect literary reference, especially since the Pevensies have to stay at the Professor's house when they're evacuated from London.

I Hate It Here — "I Hate It Here So I Will Go To Secret Gardens In My Mind People Need A Key To Get To"

This Taylor Swift song is all about wishing she was somewhere else during an early period of her life, and referencing The Secret Garden makes total sense. In the book, lead character Mary has to access the Secret Garden to discover the hope, joy, and healing she's lost.

thanK you aIMee — "I Pushed Each Boulder Up The Hill"

This seems to be another Greek mythology reference, this time to Sisyphus. He was forced by the gods to roll a boulder up a hill — and then do it again when it rolled back down. Considering this song seems to reference Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and the drama that led to Reputation, it feels like a reference to the feud that rears its head over and over again.

Cassandra — "So They Killed Cassandra First Cause She Feared The Worst And Tried To Tell The Town"

In Greek mythology, Cassandra (whose name means "she who entangles men," FYI) was a beautiful woman, and princess of Troy. The god Apollo falls in love with her, and gives her the power of prophecy — that is, until she rejects him and he turns the gift into a curse where no one believes her anymore.

The Bolter — "She Fell Through The Ice, Then Came Out Alive"

This is another indirect literary reference I'm claiming that totally reminds me of Amy March from Little Women. Amy falls through the ice when the March sisters are all children living in Massachusetts. Fans have historically hated her character, which is tied to the "A curious child, ever reviled // By everyone except her own father" lyric.

Movie References In Taylor Swift's New Album

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys — "I Felt More When We Played Pretend Than With All The Kens"

The internet has claimed Taylor Swift as the real-world version of Barbie, and after last year's blockbuster hit (and Taylor referencing Ken in "Hits Different") we get another nod to our favorite doll. Plus, this song reminds me of Syd from Toy Story destroying his toys, and "he was my best friend down at the sandlot" got me thinking about The Sandlot. So many movie references, so little time!

Guilty As Sin? — "How Can I Be Guilty As Sin?"

Taylor Swift wrote "Carolina" for the book-to-movie adaptation of Where The Crawdads Sing. In "Carolina," she sings that Kya's community has "said that I was guilty as sin and sleep in a liar’s bed.”

More Pop Culture References

• The Tortured Poets Department — Taylor Swift mentions poet & writer Dylan Thomas, singer-songwriter & poet Patti Smith, and American singer Charlie Puth, boygenius singer Lucy Dacus, producer Jack Antonoff.
• But Daddy I Love Him — This is a line in both The Little Mermaid and The Notebook.
• Florida!!! — Florence Welch is featured on this song, which mentions a hurricane. Florence + The Machine has a song titled "Hurricane Love."
• Guilty As Sin? — Taylor also references "The Downtown Lights" by The Blue Nile, as well as the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus in The Bible.
• Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me — Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf revolves around a bitter and aging couple who weaponize the youth of their guests against one another.
• loml — "The coward claimed he was a lion" is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, while "Mr. Steal Your Girl" is a Trey Songz track.
• I Can Do It With A Broken Heart — This whole song is about Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
• The Alchemy + The Prophecy — In Taylor Swift's TIME interview, she references Harry Potter, which has huge themes around alchemy and prophecies.
• Clara Bow — This song references Clara Bow, Stevie Nicks, and Taylor herself!
• So High School — Taylor Swift Mentions video game Grand Theft Auto, Artistotle, and American Pie. She also mentions games like Kiss Marry Kill, Truth or Dare, and Spin the Bottle

Folklore

The surprise release of Folklore, which Taylor began writing in April of 2020 and dropped in July, came at a time when the world felt more confused and alarmed than ever. Folklore perfectly touches on the fact that emotions were running high and escapism played a huge role in the everyday. "August" touches on yearning and hope for a love that's not reciprocated, while "Mirrorball" is a glittery explanation of how easily Taylor (and a lot of us, really) falls apart. "Cardigan" is both a love letter to her fans and a celebration of unconditional love and second chances.

"Folklore resonates with me the most," says Head of Content Ali Ives. "The collab with Bon Iver [on "Exile"] is what originally got my attention, but the album also dropped during peak pandemic times when the world still felt mostly shutdown. It definitely left an impact."

Not only does the folky production serve as a callback to Taylor Swift's original country days, but the toned-down aesthetic reflects a period in time none of us will ever forget. Folklore takes a melancholy yet romantic approach to life, and listening to it in the entire thing feels like one long poem. It is truly a no-skip album.

1989, Taylor's first fully pop album came in October of 2014, and we're convinced the cover art conveys the themes of the album before you even press play. Because the polaroid photograph cuts off Taylor's eyes, it serves to show how constrained she feels, and how much she feels like she has to hide. We couldn't agree with The New York Times more when they said "By making pop with almost no contemporary references, Ms. Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars...even bother aspiring to."

The satire of "Blank Space" feels nearly Shakespearean in its genius, and slower ballads like "Clean" cut straight to your heart every single time you listen. The production of "Wonderland" and "I Know Places" capture the chaos of having public relationships.

The album's full of the kinds of songs that get stuck in your head for years, not days. While the lyrics aren't Taylor's deepest, the melodies, production, and overall aesthetic have been cemented in pop culture history forever. We aren't the only ones who think so — it went on to be certified nine-times platinum (which means it sold one million units nine times). From "Style" to "Out Of The Woods" to "New Romantics" it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite.

After a first listen, The Tortured Poets Departmentis one of my favorite Taylor Swift albums. And after almost 20 years, the fact that she can release music unlike anything I've ever heard — and evokes different emotions than her other albums — is a feat in and of itself. The album has so many vocal and musical layers, and it is truly the sad version of 1989 or Lover. It's cinematic, complicated, and honestly sounds the way looking at an old Tumblr post feels.

The Tortured Poets Department is like listening to the five stages of grief, and it really dives into a period of Taylor's life where she had to say goodbye endless times: to a relationship, to the future they were preparing, even to a potential wedding.

Taylor Swift might not be a stranger to writing about heartbreak, but she does it in a whole new way for TTPD. Swifties were wondering if all of TS11 would feel like "You're Losing Me," and it turns out we were right. Each track explores themes like depression and uncertainty more in-depth than she's ever done before. Taylor isn't holding back any punches this time around, and she's laying it all out with lyrics like "F*ck it if I can't have him // I might just die, it would make no difference" on "Down Bad" and "How much sad did you think I had // Did you think I had in me? // How much tragedy?" in "So Long, London." We've seen sad Taylor before — but this is a whole new side of her.

Red (Taylor's Version)

While we didn't get "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)" on the first go 'round, we have to lead with it. "ATWTMVTVFTV" (as the kids on TikTok call it) perfectly captures the spirit and the strengths of the 2012 album. It also went on to win the VMA for Video of the Year and the Grammy for Best Music Video. Throughout the fan-favorite song, Taylor brings up hyper-specific details that create images in your mind the same way your favorite novel does.

"Musically and lyrically, Red resembled a heartbroken person," Taylor says in the official Instagram announcement. "It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Happy, free, confused, lonely, devastated, euphoric, wild, and tortured by memories past."

With ethereal background vocals grounded by a mix of country, pop, and rock production, the album — like the autumn aesthetic is pairs so well with — is all about complexity. The beauty of falling in love, the pain when you hit the ground, and warmth of finding someone to sit with among it all. Red (Taylor's Version) feels like you're listening to her diary entries more than just a mainstream pop song, and it really does capture what it feels like to be "happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time" when you're in your early 20s, as she sings on "22."

Fearless (Taylor's Version)

Fearless, which originally released in 2008, is definitely the album that cemented Taylor Swift as an global artist. Her storytelling, production, and the way she crafted the album as a whole proved her ability to balance grounded authenticity and the enchanting allure she became known for at this period in her life.

The album debuted at number 1 and went on to make Taylor Swift the youngest person to ever win Album of the Year at the Grammys.

While more polished than Taylor's preceding debut album, the raw emotion of Fearless almost perfectly translates what it feels like to navigate high school. Fairytale lyrics like "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone / I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run / You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess" stand in stark contrast to painfully realistic lyrics like "When you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them." We should've known from the start how versatile her songwriting would be!

Evermore

Instead of a few hits and a few beautifully-written songs, Evermore has the most of Taylor's best songwriting on one album — and it continually tricks people into thinking it's Shakespeare. "Now you hang from my lips like the gardens of Babylon" and "I'll meet you where the spirit meets the bones" are without a doubt some of the craziest lyrics we've ever heard.

Considered to be Folklore's wintry sister, almost every song on Evermore is inventive and emotional. It has the same toned-down production as its sister album, letting Taylor's songwriting shine, but it has a little bit more warmth that rounds out the listening experience. However, it's not quite as cohesive as some of her other records.

Consider Taylor Swift's latest record-breaker as a mix between Reputation and 1989. Songs like "Question...?" have the upbeat pop sound to get you into a party mood, while "Snow on the Beach" is a hesitant, awe-struck look at falling in love and the devastating "Maroon" examines a love gone wrong. The album looks back at all kinds of relationships — including Taylor's relationship with herself — but does so in such a cheeky way that it feels like Taylor's winking at you every time you listen.

Midnights is the perfect album for something like the Eras Tour because of the fact that it spans so many years, and detail-oriented fans will be able to spot which song lines up with which period in her life. However, the album doesn't go as deep as it could, and the song with the most cutting lyrics ("Would've, Could've, Should've) appears on the extended edition.

Reputation, which came after the internet seeming turned against Taylor Swift and she disappeared from public view, is a love album at its core. Despite the snake facade and using "Look What You Made Me Do" as the lead single, the album's thesis can be summed up in its last two romantic, slowed-down songs: "Call It What You Want" and "New Year's Day." Both of these songs show how Taylor feels like she can rest when she's with the person she loves, and how much she enjoys doing the boring aspects of life with her partner just because they're doing them together.

"I feel like Reputation is actually more relatable than it lets on!" says Editor Haley Sprankle. "The put-on persona is a mask to hide how 'she's just too soft for all of it' à la 'Sweet Nothing' [from 2022's Midnights]."

"Reputation is definitely more complex than people give it credit for," Assistant Editor Chloe Williams adds. "It's playful and vulnerable — not just dramatic (although, Taylor did say she avoided press and came up with 'there will be no explanation, there will just be reputation' because she is, in fact, dramatic.)"

Just like Taylor herself, the album is multi-faceted and often misunderstood. Look close enough and you'll see that there's still glitter and color and life hidden beneath Reputation's armor.

Speak Now (Taylor's Version)(which originally dropped in 2010) captures the starry-eyed, romantic worldview you can have in your tween and teen years. We have referred to this era as Taylor's Princess Era on more than one occasion, and both the album's content and the era's aesthetic lend itself to that.

"Enchanted" retells a meet-cute in glittering hindsight, while "Long Live" uses fantasy imagery to convey how empowered Taylor's career thus far made her feel. It's also the first Taylor Swift album she wrote entirely on her own! However, aside from a couple incredibly mature songs (looking at you, "Last Kiss"), Speak Now lacks some of the more clever lyrics featured on her later work.

Taylor Swift (often referred to as Debut) is the Taylor Swift album we'd say is the most under-appreciated. It translates the ferocity and punch of girlhood very well, and while it's not her strongest album, it is incredible for the age that she wrote it. Taylor Swift balances a bubbly outlook on life with more difficult realities, and the comparison of tracks like "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" shows she can celebrate the good parts of love and criticize the hard parts with equal power.

"Debut is underrated, I loved following Taylor from the very beginning (teardrops will always be on my metaphorical guitar)," social lead Mallory Levy says. "I love the unpolished excitement that comes out in 'Should've Said No,' 'Picture To Burn,' and 'I'm Only Me When I'm With You.'"

Lover

Lover is perhaps Taylor Swift's most fun album. The bright aesthetic, lyrical imagery, and (of course) hits like "Cruel Summer" make this the *perfect* album to listen to when you need a dose of summer cheer. It's a celebration of every single kind of love — including fighting through the difficult parts of a love you don't want to end.

While Lover is very clever, it's not as complex as her other work, especially at this point in her career. The 18 tracks feel like they only scratch at the surface of her emotions instead of diving deep into them. However, if we were ranking Taylor's discography by songs alone, the emotional, hopeful, and Easter egg-filled "Daylight" is without a doubt in the top three.

Light Lunch Ideas: Tasty Salads

Chicken Tzatziki Avocado Salad

Light lunch ideas don't have to be tasteless just because they don't cause you to feel sleepy in the middle of the day. One of the best ways to enjoy something tasty is to make a Mediterranean dish. This chicken tzatziki avocado salad is full of season, roasted chicken, feta, kale, and creamy tahini sauce. (via Half Baked Harvest)

Roasted Golden Beet Salad with Farro

This recipe had us at goat cheese! If you haven't had a chance to try it yet, this roasted golden beet salad with farro is a great way to introduce it to your palate. It also features shallots, thyme, and honey to balance out the crunch you'll get from the almonds! (via Brit + Co)

Chicken Cobb Salad

Add this chicken cobb salad your list of non-complicated light lunch ideas! It's full of tasty ingredients like avocados, cherry tomatoes, and eggs that'll hit the spot during lunchtime. (via Brit + Co)

Strawberry and Asparagus Salad with Chicken

Your salad needs an upgrade that involves lightweight fruit like strawberries. You can always exclude the chicken if you've been eating a meatless diet. (via Completely Delicious)

Feta Green Goddess Pasta Salad with Grilled Chicken

We're not sure who made this rule but pasta salad just seems to be one of the light lunch ideas that works extremely well for summer. This recipe features a homemade green goddess dressing that lightly covers the delicious ingredients, making it one of our favorite meals. (via Whole and Heavenly Oven)

Smashed Potato Spring Salad with Creamy Lemon Dressing

We love that this smashed potato spring salad can be eaten during summer. The Creamy lemon dressing complements the butter lettuce, asparagus, and green onions that you'll happily devour. (via Two Peas and Their Pod)

Simple Cold Pasta Salad

Simple light lunch ideas are the stuff that our summer dreams are made of. After all, meals like this cold pasta salad are great alternatives if you're truly looking for something quick and lightweight. (via Barley and Sage)

Summer Sesame Noodles

Is it a salad or noodle dish? Maybe it's both! One thing we know is that you'll get a ton of healthy vegetables and noodles drizzled in a sauce that has sesame paste, vinegar, and more! (via Gastro Plant)

Light Lunch Ideas: Creative Sandwiches, Tacos, and Wraps 

Breakfast Bagel Sandwich with Smoked Salmon

Skipped breakfast? It happens to the best of us! Make up for it during lunch with this breakfast bagel sandwich with smoked salmon. Our mouths are already craving the herbed cream cheese that's on it. (via Vikalinka)

Smoked Turkey Sandwich with Spicy Mayo

Craving a smoked turkey sandwich that has a kick to it? Make this dish for lunch, but don't forget to bring something soothing to drink that'll help counter the mayo's spiciness! (via The Original Dish)

Tasty Tacos

Tacos Rancheros

This is technically another breakfast meal, but we like to think that some meals can double as light lunch ideas! This is a great option if you have to eat lunch early. (via Vanilla and Bean)

Kale Chicken Caesar Wraps

You've never had chicken caesar like this before. The dressing doesn't have a ton of calories so you'll get to eat something that's healthy and yummy! (via The Girl on Bloor)

Light Lunch Ideas: Veggies

Garlic Parmesan Zucchini

Our mouths are watering looking at this garlic parmesan zucchini dish! The fresh garlic and parmesan make for a dish that's full of hearty flavors without making you feel sluggish. (via The Endless Meal)

Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes

Although these aren't considered sweet potato boats, you can think of them that way thanks to their shape. The spicy chickpeas in the center offset the sweetness of the sweet potatoes while the feta adds a lightweight flavor. (via Cozy Cravings)

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowl

This roasted vegetable quinoa bowl is one of the best light lunch ideas we've come across and it's gluten-free! Not only does it feature sweet potatoes, but you'll also get to savor juicy yellow squash! (via Feel Good Foodie)