We Need to Calm Down: a Taylor Swift Podcast

Taylor will not stop dropping bombshells. Which is honestly great for this show. This week, we were given another giant announcement with less than 24 hours to process. We were all invited to the secret sessions, the long pond studio sessions to be more specific. Join Devon and Joe as they gush over the performances and the interviews between the songs.

Taylor has been really busy in November of 2020. In just the span of two weeks, Rolling Stone released "Musicians on Musicians" in which Taylor sat down with Paul McCartney to discuss songwriting, and both of their new albums from 2020. Not long after, Rolling Stone released a Taylor Swift-centered episode in their '500 Greatest Albums Podcast' where they interviewed her about her album Red, which landed at 99 on the list. Join Devon and Joe as they discuss the interviews and the implications thereof.

FINALLY screamed Joe. This week, Joe and Devon break down one of Joe’s favorite songs from folklore: illicit affairs. We dive into the context around the song, talk about our favorite lyrics (it’s a lot), and Devon breaks down the production behind the song.

Did you feel something change after Halloween? A pulse blew through the world. Once the world hit November 1st, 2020, Taylor Alison Swift became able to re-record and re-release her first five albums. The implications are huge, the undertaking? Massive. What does this mean for her? Why is this even a thing? Why would she even need to do this? Devon and Joe breakdown the whole situation and give our thoughts and hopes now that the world has been unlocked for Ms. Swift.

After a week off, we're back with a song breakdown. This week we break down track 9: this is me trying. Devon defends the songs honor and tries to bring Joe around on the track he rated 3rd to last. Will she succeed?

We just can't stay off of folkore for long, this week we break down the 8th track off the record: august. We dive into the lyrics, context and production behind the track to really find out why it's considered one of the best tracks on the album.  

Also we will be taking a break until November 10th for the United States Election. We will not post an episode on Tuesday November 3rd, instead we will be out voting!

Joe is here and he's ready to rant. With facts & figures. On this week's episode Joe sits Devon down for a presentation on why Lover's 'The Archer' is a Track 5 imposter. Joe breaks down what it means to be a Track 5, some interesting data involving the mystical track number and explains why The Archer just doesn't fit in.

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in June (B.F. - Before Folklore), stay tuned for a Should've Said So segment where Joe and Devon revisit the presentation with the latest Track 5: my tears ricochet and see if his findings hold up.

We're back on our Song Breakdowns. This week we do track 7: seven (she nailed it). We discuss the context around this song, our opinions on the song (controversial), the lyrics that stood out to us, and once again Devon breaks down the production of the song.

It's all connected? Always was.

In the second part of the Love Triangle breakdown, we dive deep into all of the theories surrounding the story of James, Betty, and the no name mistress. Including the largest theory... that the story spans the entire album.

That's right! You read that right, we have our first two part episode! There was so much to unpack in the Betty/James/UnnamedMistress love triangle we couldn't fit it all into one episode. So in this part, we discuss the background on the story and songs, the lyrics that link them all, and our favorite lyrics that give us the story. Part 2 will be out on Thursday so stay tuned!