#cassandra

[midnightsslut]

religion is one of the most prominent recurring themes on the album, and it has been present in some capacity for quite a few records now. taylor previously compared love to religion: her saving grace, her belief system, and a fated divine intervention (false god, cornelia street, and cruel summer are the best examples of this). ‘sacred new beginnings that became my religion’ and ‘we’d still worship this love even if it’s a false god’ are two of the defining statements about her philosophy on the lover album.

taylor doesn’t want to leave all of that behind on ttpd, at least not at the beginning. the first supernatural force she mentions is the spaceship on down bad, which she compares to a skylight of freedom in the epilogue. *something* has finally come to save her from her life of suffering. she doesn’t care if it’s a force of good at first; if anything, she’s just fine being taken away by aliens. she views this man as her destiny. it isn’t until guilty as sin? that taylor starts to ponder the moral implications of what she’s doing. is she guilty as sin for wanting to leave her previous religion and relationship behind? she comes to the conclusion that, even if she rolls the stone away and gets resurrected/redeemed, she cannot avoid the fallout. she is okay with the thought of having to wait, as long as both lovers vow to be together forever, just as she once did with someone else in false god. ‘I choose you and me religiously’ finishes the bridge of the song in a direct callback to cornelia street.

the next mention of religion has murkier imagery. she claims that she does not need the Lord’s help to save this man. she sees the halo that he has, and she can fix him herself. now that she feels free of her prior cage, she isn’t looking for divine intervention anymore. she wants control. she is their route to salvation.

when the relationship falls apart, she retreats back into the position of a believer rather than a divine figure. she compares him to a Holy Ghost who promised to save her and take her to heaven. instead, she is in hell in every sense of the word: she’s down bad and feels guilty for digging up the grave. he was a jehovah’s witness who promised that she could break free of the cage imposed by love without changing her religion altogether; she would’ve just had to switch denominations. she could still have a marriage and kids! she could still have a blue tortured poet! the man was different, but not the dreams they had together. the story of the first part of the album ends here. her faith has been broken, and she has only found any semblance of sanity by refusing to mention these belief systems altogether.

side b/the anthology blends the christian imagery of side a with goddesses, sorcerers, and prophecies. she bargains with these powers to let her have the future she wants (the prophecy). she doesn’t sound like someone believing in salvation. if anything, she feels cursed. she decides that the concept of divinely ordained timing will never work in certain relationships (‘the goddess of timing once found us beguiling / she said she was trying / peter, was she lying?’). this disdain extends onto her perception of other people’s faith (‘bet they never spared a prayer for my soul’). she does position herself as a prophet in cassandra, but even then, she admits that the role has hurt her. perhaps the pain in thank you aimee was meant to be, or perhaps she was just strong enough to build a legacy in spite of it, boulder by boulder. is she a martyr? does she want to be? or did she save herself?

the only real love song on this half of the album makes no mention of fate or any divine forces. it wasn’t meant to be. it’s not a supernatural invisible string or lightning in a bottle. she is just in love.

the album ends with the manuscript, which revisits an old story of a defining, formative heartbreak. as she sings ‘at last, she knew what the agony had been for’ while describing the legacy of her writing, she seems to revert to thinking about the purpose of trauma. the only exception is that, in this case, she is the one who found meaning in her pain by turning it into a manuscript. writing is her belief system now, and she proselytizes by telling her stories and thus giving up the manuscript.

ultimately, her belief in destiny has chewed her up and spat her out. she so desperately clung to her existing belief systems that she was fooled by a conman, which left her feeling cursed. religion is supposed to be with someone even in their darkest moments, but the album explains that taylor often felt abandoned. the only constant in her life was, well, herself. she’ll be okay, but her pen will be her saving grace.

#idk why I wrote this essay but it needed to be said #this could be taken further by actually unpacking each mention of religion on midnights and lover but i ain’t doing all that #the manuscript #cassandra #Cornelia street #false god #cruel summer #lover #the prophecy #the smallest man who ever lived #but daddy I love him #I can fix him #guilty as sin #ttpd #thank you Aimee #peter

[andichoseyou]

The Tortured Poets Department + my favorite lyrics

#taylor swift #taylurking #my edit #tswiftedit #candy swift #ts edit #tsedit #tswiftlyrics #ts lyrics #lyric edit #the tortured poets department #ttpd #userharmony #seedaylight #usercruellesummer #so long london #loml #imgonnagetyouback #the manuscript #fortnight #i can do it with a broken heart #so high school #cassandra #the smallest man who ever lived

[slightly-above-normal]

good luck, babe! chappell roan | cassandra taylor swift

#music #taylor swift #chappell roan #the tortured poets department #cassandra #good luck babe!

[cherry-bomble]

do you ever think about how Kristen's crisis of faith in helio was triggered not only by her meeting helio at the gates and him sucking ass, but also how she died being his chosen one and when she let aguefort usurp his power she lived? how she would have realised that the man who brought her back to life wasn't her god but just someone who thought she and her friends were cool? do you think about Bobby Dawn talking about how it was her path but all clerics of helio are watched over by an uncaring frat bro who lets them die? do you think about the corn cuties and ooze killing her, literally the symbol of her faith destroying her? do you think about how she brought herself back from the dead and made her own god forged from her doubt so that anyone forced into her position could seek solace in the cool hands of questioning everything?

#fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #fantasy high junior year #fantasy high junior year spoilers #fh #fhjy #kristen applebees #ally beardsley #kristen you are so important to me #helio #cassandra

[thistlefaethfort]

OBVIOUSLY there is something to be said for the ankarna/cassandra parallels reflecting onto soulmates fig and kristen HOWEVER i am here to suggest that ankarna and cassandra mirror fig and ayda perfectly. the girl who cannot figure out who she is and her partner who burns like the very dawn. fig who has become a master of making other people doubt and still doubts herself, and ayda aguefort, the master of the compass points library and someone who is unfailingly just.

#sharkie rambles #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy #dimension 20 #applefaeth #figayda #ankarna #cassandra

[white-cat-of-doom]

Congratulations to Cast 15 of the Oasis of the Seas who opened their run last night!

Sarah Moore as Jellylorum.

Gina Gagliano as Victoria.

Josie Harbertson as Sillabub.

Zoe Hartley as Cassandra.

Rachael Aust as Demeter.

Lucy Nolan as Bombalurina.

Yardén Barr as Grizabella. Where is Babygriz, Yardén? :(

Ashlyn Fenn as Rumpleteazer and Ollie Selwood as Mungojerrie.

Some of the above Queens and Eleanor Monaghan as Jennyanydots.

Billy Roger as Plato with Jared Johnson as Alonzo.

Josie as Sillabub with Billy as Plato and returning alumni Joey Kummert as Mistoffelees.

Joey as Mistoffelees with Callum Portugal as Tumblebrutus.

Traven Harrington as Old Deuteronomy (and his chorus counterpart), with Nick Woodford as Munkustrap and Kane Verrall as Skimbleshanks.

More Nick as Munkustrap and Kane as Skimbleshanks, and now I am out of room!

19 April 2024.

#CATS Musical #CATS the Musical #CATS RCCL Cast 15 #Jellylorum #Sarah Moore #Victoria #Gina Gagliano #Sillabub #Josie Harbertson #Demeter #Rachael Aust #Bombalurina #Lucy Nolan #Cassandra #Zoe Hartley #Grizabella #Yardén Barr #Mistoffelees #Joey Kummert #Skimbleshanks #Kane Verrall #Plato #Billy Roger #Tumblebrutus #Callum Portugal #Old Deuteronomy #Traven Harrington #Munkustrap #Nick Woodford #Mungojerrie

[notesonartistry]

Cassandra

There's so many names in this album. More than any other. The burden of being the person trying to tell people something they don't want to hear. And then the outrage when what she's saying actually happens, but there's no apology or acknowledgement that she was mistreated.

#cassandra #first listen #ttpd first listen

[darkpoetryshop]

"So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst

And tried to tell the town

So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say

Do you believe me now?"

#taylor swift ttpd #taylor swift edit #i am listening to taylor swift #taylor swift #taylor swift nation #ttpd #ttpd spoilers #ts ttpd #ttpd era #quotes #poetry #web weave #web weaving #the tortured poets department: anthology #the tortured poets society #the tortured poets department #the tortured poets edit #art #ttpd art #cassandra #poets on tumblr #webweawing #1989 taylor's version #taylornation #taylor swift era #i love her #istg #taylor swift layout #taylor swift pfp #taylor swift headers

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Kim Kardashian losing more than 100,000 followers on social media after the release of TTP has me cheering.

#the family the pure greed the Christian chorus line #imagine if Taylor counter cancels Kim #she’s really setting the stage for reputation #society would be better off without the kardashians and I’ve been saying this for a hot minute #bloods think but nothing like a payroll #thank you aimee #taylor swift #taylorswift #cassandra #kim kardashian #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ttpd the anthology #ts ttpd #reputation #rep tv

[90staylor]

meet the members of the tortured poets department.

our chairman, taylor swift.

peter pan, clara bow, stevie nicks, our collegues from the down the hall; the dead poets, daisy jones, post malone, martha from who's afraid of virginia woolf, florence, amy march and jo march, cassandra, patty and dylan thomas, barbie, emily dickinson, bella baxter.

#taylor swift #ttpd #peter #barbie #clara bow #fortnight #cassandra #jo march #stevie nicks #daisy jones #post malone #little woman #bella baxter #the dead poets society #who's afraid of little old me? #the tortured poets department #florence welch #emily dickinson

[spjpeg]

So ready for the fhjy edits to Cassandra by Taylor Swift

#d20 fhjy #fhjy #Cassandra

[daisyswift3]

Did anyone else notice how similar the piano melody in Cassandra is to the one in mad woman? I mean it makes sense since they’re probably talking abt the same thing

#mastersheist #cassandra #mad woman #ttpd #parallels

[fromthestonymountains]

Moonstone Cassandra closeup

Shading practice got out of hand, and here we are...

#moonstone cassandra #cassandra tangled #Cassandra #tangled #tangled the series #disney villains #badass bitch #blue haired goddess #digital art #fanart

[ttpdicons]

ttpd songs pt.3 | headers (the manuscript)

requests here!

#taylor swift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ttpd headers #taylor swift headers #taylor swift icons #taylor icons #taylor headers #headers #ttpd edits #i hate it here #i look in people's windows #so high school #thank you aimee #the prophecy #peter #cassandra #robin #the bolter #the manuscript

[dearreader]

the way that taylor says “brand-new, full throttle” on so high school and her opening the prophecy with “hand on the throttle/i thought i caught lighting in a bottle/oh… but it’s gone again” and then “and it was written/i got cursed like eve got bitten” implying that eve was bitten by the snake instead of persuading her to eat the apple and gain knowledge and then in cassandra she says “so the killer cassandra first cause she feared the worse/and tried to tell the town/so they filled my cell with snakes” which means she’s circling back around constantly on the album (like a snake eating itself) and using snake imagery in different ways to illustrate her pain (as she’s taken on the snake imagery as her brand) but also saying that her falling in love is what cursed her because if she falls in love people make money off of her and her relationship and it drives it towards the end cause people can’t survive her world

#wanted to use the duck meme #but it felt to out of place with how dark this got unintentionally #kelly babels #so high school #the prophecy #cassandra #song analysis #the tortured poets department

[waitimgoated]

mfw the goth baddie does NOT fw apples and bananas 😭😭

#whimsyart #picos school #cassandra #cassandra picos school #newgrounds #penilian