"Cleveland!" Discussion Megathread

[u/PassionateAsSin]

Taylor Swift - Cleveland!

Track #14 on The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore

Length: 3:26

Composers: Taylor Swift, Max Martin & Shellback

Producers: Taylor Swift, Max Martin & Shellback

Lyrics: Genius

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Use this thread to discuss your thoughts, reactions, and theories on the song. We will be removing all future self-post discussion threads about it in order to consolidate discussion to this thread.

If you want to talk about The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore album in general, you can use the general The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore discussion thread here.

[u/EmployMobile943]

I listened to this song for the first time last night and after sitting with it longer, it makes me unbearably sad. The fact that she is still so focused on and concerned with online discourse around her and her relationship. I reflect on Antihero and The Archer, songs that I thought really represented this maturing and self awareness, and to think that a few years on, after a historic tour, becoming a billionaire and meeting and marrying the love of her life, that she has not only moved beyond some of the petty grievances of her youth but is actually indulging than more than ever.

She engages in none of the actual dialogue and valid criticism around her and the contradictions she creates about her own relationship (leave us the fuck alone but also could 1,000 people come watch us get married at a cheesy sports venue) and instead claims the conversation centers on people calling her a whore with an annoying smile…?

And don’t even get me started on the fact that this is like the fifth song that is supposedly about Travis, but is actually about how her inner high school girl feels validated because she got “picked” by the cool guy.

It honestly makes me so sad for her that at this moment in her life with so much success and achievement and what should be happiness, this is where she is staying?

[u/Spiritual_Hour_7787 → u/EmployMobile943]

And what’s the deal with saying he “already” took her to Cleveland?! They’ve been together for years and married now! What’s there to prove??

[u/Modesto96 → u/Spiritual_Hour_7787]

I think this is maybe because she wrote the song a while ago? Maybe when their relationship was brand new and everyone was hating on it so much

[u/Spiritual_Hour_7787 → u/Modesto96]

I thought about that but too but then there’s the part about wearing white so it’s just mismatched if thats what happened

[u/Modesto96 → u/Spiritual_Hour_7787]

That part could have been written much later! Maybe she had the idea for the song from the beginning of their relationship, but didnt finish it until more recently

Or she wrote that line early on hoping it would come true!

[u/Spiritual_Hour_7787 → u/Modesto96]

I get that, especially since she said she wrote this after TLOAS initially released well. I’m just saying I don’t get why she wouldn’t make something more meaningful at this stage for release. I agree with some other critiques that she’s written some really good happy and sad songs and Cleveland almost seems lazy