Kelli
- Jan 26, 2021
- 2 min read

Taylor Swift Tuesday: "Willow" BTS

Welcome to Taylor Swift Tuesdays! A new feature on Instagram and the blog that showcases a photo-series inspired by a Taylor Swift song. I'm so excited to launch this project with the first track from Taylor Swift's newest album Evermore, "Willow."

THE STORY

Throughout the entire song, the first-person perspective makes the comparison that she is to her (assumed) lover as the willows are to the wind - meaning submissive, accommodating, bending with every breeze.

"Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind"

There's a sort of inviting and almost seductive quality to the melody and music - the syncopated and plucked guitar moments and the echoed harmonies that sort of aurally blur the sound, adding depth and complexity to the song. She sings of acknowledging this person's dominating impact over her life, but the lyrics at times seem almost too eager in inviting the destruction that she's sure will accompany their tryst.

"I'm begging for you to take my hand, wreck my plans, that's my man."

My interpretation is that this girl is up to something. This song is from the perspective of someone who has been wronged in the past - by this man or by someone else - and she's out for revenge. This is probably someone who is leaning into the darker parts of herself, and abusing practices like witchcraft and magic in order to attempt to control her counterpart the same way that she had previously been controlled, like a willow in the wind. She doesn't just want to be rid of the men that didn't value her existence, she's out for vengeance by any means necessary.

"And there was one prize I'd cheat to win."

Damn right.

THE PROCESS

These photos were taken between the hours of 5-7pm with my Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR camera by my sister Tara (who, by the way, had touched a DSLR camera before this shoot). We started off with one softbox light, but ultimately chose to proceed with just the light emitted from the candles and from the multi-colored Christmas lights on the ceiling that I refuse to take down (that's where the purple color comes from). The star effect on the headshot was achieved using this star stencil and an iphone flashlight (very hi-tech).