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Toni
Hi, I'm Joe Rome and I'm his daughter Toni.
Joe Rome
Welcome to Decoding Taylor Swift where you'll learn the storytelling tools Swift uses that make her a modern day Shakespeare.
Toni
What can make you a better communicator so you can drive your mission and build your tribe.
Joe Rome
This podcast will not only transform how you think about Swift's songs, but also give you the life changing tools to lead, connect and change the world.
Toni
Yeah. Are you ready for it? I'm just kidding. That was a joke. Because today on the podcast we are doing the song that is Are you ready for it? So. And it's the first song off of the Reputation and Reputation is. I like it a lot.
Joe Rome
Yes, we are going to do Ready for it. It is the first song on Reputation but not the first song released.
Toni
Right.
Joe Rome
As always, we will at the end wrap up and get the full, deeper meaning of the song. This is the. The top 200 lists of trending podcasts. We are number five and somehow we have managed to get on to number six. Not six, seven.
Toni
And we were seven and now we're six.
Joe Rome
Only happens because you guys are listening and, and a lot of you are listening to the end and that's guys
Toni
like, oh my God. Like, comment down below if you're listening to this right now, like, look at your watch. It's right now o' clock and you're gonna be listening to it. Comment down below if you right now
Joe Rome
are up to it. I think a lot of this is because of my daughter, because she's singing the song.
Toni
I don't know about that.
Joe Rome
And I don't know, but we. If you are someone who is now becoming, you know, really a regular listener, please tell your friends, please give us a rating and comments. You can give us comments because we want feedback and we want feedback.
Toni
We're always trying to be better. It's a lot of. It is for him, you know, he's. He's very. I know that I'm doing a good job. Like he needs to be told like constantly.
Joe Rome
Now, a couple of things.
Toni
No, I'm just kidding. The title of this song is Ready for it.
Joe Rome
It is. Has an ellipsis.
Toni
And at the end of her album,
Joe Rome
in the middle of the album, she has another song with an ellipsis. Ends with ellipsis.
Toni
Yes. Right. What is it? Endgame.
Joe Rome
So it goes.
Toni
So it goes. Right, right, right, right, right.
Joe Rome
But here's the thing. So what does the ellipsis mean, do you think? This is. Clearly, she doesn't use punctuation a lot in her song titles. And here she has two songs where she has the same unusual punctuation mark.
Toni
Yes, they are for very different reasons for each song. I mean, so it goes is. It's to kind of accentuate the kind of sarcastic nature of Soko. It's like, ah, so it goes. And that's. I mean, you just say, so it goes, but with the doctor. Why do you think there's an ellipsis? So it goes.
Joe Rome
Why do you think this has an ellipsis?
Toni
Well, that's a great question, Jo. You know, I know, but I'd like to test you. I'd like to test you and make sure that you know. So for the viewers at home who won't know, like, I think you should just tell people.
Joe Rome
I do think I was thinking about it. Cause I was looking around what other people thought. I think that the reason why this has ellipsis is she's saying a lot happened before this song. Right. That's. The dot, dot, dot is a replacement for. Can be a replacement for a lot of stuff that already happened that she's not going to tell you about. And this album is, in fact, a year late. She was dropping an album every two years. She got the very kind of devastating Snake Gate, the whole thing with Kim and Kanye and whether she was all that stuff, which. Which we've talked about. But the point is, it really got to her and she sort of took a year off and she was kind of devastated. And this song is like the response to that. I mean, the. The. The first part of this album is the response to what happened. It is about her reputation. So that's my theory. The dot, dot, dot is a statement. Hey, you know, a lot's happened. I know a lot's happened now. And. And I will say that in the prologue to this song, she says, here's something I've learned about people. We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them that they have chosen to show us.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
And then at the end of the prologue, she says, let me say it again louder for those in the back. We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the versions of them they have chosen to show us. There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation. And with that, we introduce my daughter singing the first verse.
Toni
Hold on, let me pull it up and get that note.
Joe Rome
Get the note.
Toni
Yeah. Okay. It's going like the.
Joe Rome
Oh, it's going very. Yeah, that's a grinding noise.
Toni Singing
Knew he was a killer. First Time that I saw him. Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted.
Toni
But if he's a ghost, that.
Toni Singing
Then I can be a phantom holding him for ransom. Some. Some boys are trying too hard. He don't try at all, though. Younger than my exes. But he act like such a man,
Toni
so I see nothing better I keep
Toni Singing
him forever like a vendetta. Ta.
Toni
Anyway.
Joe Rome
All right, Wait, that's killer.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
Okay. Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him. Wondered how many girls he had loved and left haunted. Okay, so. So this boy is a player. Maybe a fuck boy, Kind of the kind that she often goes out with.
Toni
There is a key difference between this man and all of her exes is that he's younger. So.
Joe Rome
Yes.
Toni
So who are they talking about? There's some dispute.
Joe Rome
It could either, oh, Harry Styles or Joe Alwyn.
Toni
Oh, interesting. Is Joe Alwyn younger than her?
Joe Rome
Yes.
Toni Singing
Huh.
Toni
Okay, girl, get it.
Joe Rome
No, no. Joe Alwyn is much younger than the much older boys. Harry Styles was quite.
Toni
That's crazy. Yes. I could say Leonardo DiCaprio is younger than, like, Donald Trump. So.
Joe Rome
But yeah, let's just marvel a little bit at the writing style since we're here for some actionable, you know, storytelling tricks. This is one that I haven't seen her use a lot where she says, but if he's a ghost, first of all, she's got the butt. We always like the butts. That's narrative tension. But if he's a ghost, then I can be a phantom holding him for ransom. Some. Some boys.
Toni
Yeah, that's starving.
Joe Rome
That's a transition. That is a very nice transition.
Toni
It is.
Joe Rome
I'll have to go looking to see if she does that. Other times, really nice.
Toni
I know that she does.
Joe Rome
Some boys are trying too hard. He don't try at all.
Toni
Well, it kind of makes the song feel faster and more in your face. When you don't get a break from the lyrics. It's like, yes. Yeah.
Joe Rome
Now, so. So this opening lyrics, but we'll finish the second. The rest of the first verse.
Toni
Well, actually. What. All of her metaphors and rhyme schemes are very short. They're snappy. They're one to one. Right. Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him. And then she goes, wonder how many girls he'd loved and left haunted. Takes the haunted saying, but if I'm a ghost then. But if he's a ghost, then I can be a phantom holding him for ransom. Some. Some boys are trying too hard. He don't try at all. Then though, and then he says, she says, younger than my exes. But he act like such a man. So I see nothing better. She's taking every single metaphor and she's just making each line its own separate idea. Which I think makes the song feel very snappy.
Joe Rome
Yeah. So this is a fast tempo song. I was just gonna say that this song reminds me a lot of a song she had previously written a few years ago in terms of she notices he's a bad guy right off the bat and he don't try at all. Now who does. What song does that remind you?
Toni
Since I knew you were trouble, obviously
Joe Rome
I knew you were trouble when you walked in and.
Toni
But this time there's no regret. She's saying that she can be bad too.
Joe Rome
Right. So she has flipped that song beginning into one where she's not in theory taken advantage of, but she's gonna give as good as she gets. And so I see nothing better. This is a interesting line. But he act like such a man, so I see nothing better. So it's a little. She has ambiguous lines in this song that can be interpreted more than one way. But what is she doing here with. So I see nothing better. Is that, Is that a put down of the guy or is that holding him very high up? I see nothing better than, I mean like, nobody does it better, you know, James Bond song. Nobody does. So is she saying that or is she just saying that right now? She doesn't see anything better than this guy.
Toni
I was literally just talking about how the lyrics just like he, she uses very quick metaphor. She doesn't do any extended metaphors. She's just, I mean, that's just what makes the song feel so fast is because each line is a new idea.
Joe Rome
Well, so I see nothing better. What, what is, is that a positive thing about this guy? Oh, this. I don't see anything better than this guy. He's amazing. Or I don't see anything better right now. So I'll, you know,
Toni
I mean, I, I always just kind of assumed that like her mind has been like, I don't know, like hypnotized by this dude. Like she can physically see nothing better.
Joe Rome
All right. I keep him forever. Like a vendetta.
Toni
Yeah. Just to add to the more dark, grungier feel of that.
Joe Rome
This is a dark song. And that leads right to the chorus.
Toni
Yeah. Let me. Should I go through even to in the middle of the night or should I go through till the. Are you ready for, uh.
Joe Rome
Let's just do the, the I, I, I part Okay. I mean the first part and not.
Toni
Yeah, I know, I'm aware.
Joe Rome
Sorry.
Toni
Give me a sec.
Toni Singing
I, I, I see how this is gonna go. Touch me and you'll never be alone I I Breeze and lights down low no one has to know Anyway,
Joe Rome
the repeated I I, I this is a signature thing she does. She. And, and we. She likes to use the word I in, in the. When we were talking about. Tolerate it. Right. She, she does. What would you. She puts the repeated I at the end. Right, but what would you do? I, I type of thing. So anyway, it's just, it's, it's, it's a nice. The repeated words, I think read appeared one after another is something she's doing a lot. Right. She did ransom some, some boys and now she does. I, I, I well, this is also
Toni
kind of like blank space. I mean, she's kind of talking about herself like, like it all goes the same. What is it? So it's going to be forever. It's going to go down in flames. You can tell me when it's over. If the hives with the pain got a long list of ex lovers he'll tell you I'm insane but I got a blank space, baby. I mean, she's like, I see how this is going to go. Touch me, you'll ever be alone.
Joe Rome
So this is. I see how this is going to go is another one line that could be read two ways. Normally when someone says, oh, I see how this is going to go, it's not going to go well. Right? Right. That's what it usually means now.
Toni
I mean, that's how she uses it in blank space. That's the vibe of blank space. She's using all these ironic phrases, right?
Joe Rome
So now this line, touch me and you'll never be alone. Now this is a very. A line that also could be read two different ways.
Toni
Like if you start this, then we'll be together forever. Or like, I will never leave you
Joe Rome
alone, you know, or. Well, right. So it could definitely mean the minute we touch, we're in love. Right. I've got you forever. Another way to read it as this is Taylor Swift singing and maybe even Joe Allen right now, right? You're now famous, right? So you'll never be. Once you've gotten into my orbit, you're dating me, right? You're now forever elevated to a level where no one's ever gonna. Right? You're gonna. And of course, as we know, she did ultimately, she and Alwyn broke up because he couldn't handle. He didn't like the fact that she was like one of the most famous people on the planet and they couldn't like, do normal things and it just. And that's, of course, one of the things that she liked about her soon to be husband is that he was very cool with fame and just, hey, cool. I'm pretty famous. Not as famous as you, but I'm, you know, I'm totally mellow about it.
Toni
Right?
Joe Rome
No one has to know. So now we're back to her secret stuff, you know, doing things secretly like she does in. Cruel Summer.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
Okay, let's do the. Do the next bit.
Toni
Sure. Give me a sec.
Joe Rome
Hi.
Toni
Like that.
Toni Singing
In the middle of the night in my dreams. You should see the things we do, baby. In the middle of the night in my dreams I know I'm gonna be with you so I take my time. I know I'm gonna be with you so I take my time.
Toni
Are you ready for it? How about that?
Joe Rome
Yeah. Again. So this is a fantasy song now. So now once again, this is how much of this song is meta. You should see the things we do. Okay, so this is. This is to a boy sexual fantasy, right? You have, right? I'm thinking dirty thoughts about you.
Toni
What?
Toni Singing
What do you mean?
Toni
They're doing weird shit. Maybe that means that they're like, I don't know, riding elephants and grooming zebras. Like, you have no idea what they're doing. Maybe they're. Maybe they're talking to President Donald Trump. That would be a crazy thing to do. Maybe they are President Donald Trump. Maybe they've been body snatched. That'd be crazy.
Joe Rome
And. And, and maybe they're performing at Carnegie Hall. If it's Harry Styles.
Toni
Yeah. But she's like, you should see the things we do. That'd be so exciting. I'd be like, oh, man, I'd love to see us performing at Carnegie Hall. That's awesome, man. I do want to see the things we do.
Joe Rome
If we're performing at Carnegie hall, right? And then. I know now, but this is in the middle of the night. I know I'm going to be with you. So this. We're now seeing this song. Even though I knew he was a killer the first time I saw him, she still is not. They've not interacted much. No, right. It's. This is in her head, right? This is one of her many fantasy songs, like lover. And then we get another ambiguous phrase. So I take my time, right?
Toni
Like she's stalking the prey before pouncing or something like that. That's how I've always interpreted it.
Joe Rome
Right. The other way to.
Toni
She's a mastermind.
Joe Rome
Right. This could be a mastermind type thing. Foreshadowing the song. Mastermind. It could also be if you want to keep this weird insect. There we go. It could also be that you should see the things we do. I'm with you, so I take my time. She just likes to take it slow when she's doing it with him.
Toni
Huh?
Joe Rome
I was just saying, like, she's playing
Toni
like lente or what?
Joe Rome
Yes, exactly, exactly. She's playing the Moonlight Sonata really slowly on the piano.
Toni
Yeah, man.
Joe Rome
And are you ready for it now? Again? Now this another.
Toni
That's why I think it's a mastermind type thing. Like she's saying, are you ready for it? Like, are you ready to be in a relationship?
Joe Rome
Right. Except she's not actually talking to him. Right.
Toni
She's talking to us. Yeah, right.
Joe Rome
She's talking to you.
Toni
You're gonna say, right.
Joe Rome
So she is flipping back.
Toni
You think you're so smart just because you had a really clever twist on this line that actually makes a lot of sense. You think you're so smart.
Joe Rome
My daughter. The good thing about my daughter is that it's. If I were thinking I was so smart, of course I pass my genes down to my daughter. So that is. My daughter is so smart.
Toni
Somebody say that. That's crazy. I'm just joking. I really don't feel like a smart person these days.
Joe Rome
Why is that? My daughter. Let's take a digression. A 30 second digression. Why don't you feel so smart? You're at a good school and you're doing well and.
Toni
But everybody at the school is smarty chickens. Well, maybe I hang around people who get like A's on their physics midterms. I should stop doing that. I should hang around idiots. Maybe Donald Trump has a point. You should hang around idiots to make yourself feel better. I certainly feel bad about myself. I'm just kidding. C on a midterm at this school is a perfectly honorable thing to get. Getting a 60 on a midterm is honorable.
Joe Rome
Well, look, it's all in comparison as, you know, some teachers give very, very hard tests.
Toni
Well, I got a 55 on my astrophysics midterm and that was a B because Everybody else got 60.
Joe Rome
You described this teacher and these are hard tests. And I just. I just want to say he's great though.
Toni
Shout out him. He's never going to listen to this, but big fan of my astrophysics teacher.
Joe Rome
But here's an actionable piece of advice for my daughter and for everybody. We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. So if you want to level up, hang out with people who are killing it.
Toni
Why five? Why can't it be like that? I don't know.
Joe Rome
That's just a saying. It's just a saying, really, because we have five fingers.
Toni
But I can make a saying. You are the wall that you hang around with. You are the color of the wall that you hang around with.
Joe Rome
Well, guess what? If it catches on, then you will have created a phrase. If it.
Toni
Get it started, you guys. You are the color of the wall you hang out with. And as we can see, rings pretty true.
Joe Rome
All right, well, if you can get a meme started, what we're going to do in. In your summer break, which is going to be in a few weeks, is start doing some stuff on socials.
Toni
Really? Oh, yeah. We're going to start doing that so we can start posting. You are the color of the wall. You hang around.
Joe Rome
You can try to get that hashtag,
Toni
I will get that started, guys.
Joe Rome
But yeah, and this racial equality will
Toni
never be achieved so quickly. This summer we're gonna see it.
Joe Rome
So. So this is a challenging song also because as we just said, sometimes she's talking to the audience and then she flips and is talking to the guy, or she is imagining she's talking to the guy, but she's really still talking to the audience. I mean, it's. This is. This is sort of another one of those Inception songs.
Toni
It's just like Max Martin doing, like a catchy like.
Joe Rome
Oh, yes, forgot to mention. This is Max Martin and Shell Buck,
Toni
who, by the way, Max Martin is so old, he worked with freaking, like, Backstreet Boys. Like, this dude is like, crazy.
Joe Rome
He is also after he is up there.
Toni
I went on, like, a Spotify rabbit hole. Well, look, Max Martin won the great Spotify feature. If you have premium, you can, like, see where, like, these producers who they work with before and like, I originally was like, this is a stupid feature. I'm, like, obsessed. I'm like, oh, Max Martin, which songs did he write with? Ariana Grande. Fascinating. God is a Woman, you know, We Can't Be Friends. All these good songs.
Joe Rome
Well, Max Martin, you know, the songwriter who has the most number one songs is. Or was Paul McCartney of the Beatles. And Max Martin is, like, tied with him now or very Max Martin.
Toni
Can you work with me on a song? I have ideas. Like, have you ever thought about how the color of the wall around you affects you and who you are.
Joe Rome
All right, Max. Well, you know, question has been posed. If anyone out there knows Max Martin, would you send him a link to this episode?
Toni
Send him along. Send him along. I can sing.
Toni Singing
She didn't say I couldn't sing.
Toni
That was a meme that I just did, dad.
Joe Rome
All right, let's go to the next. The second verse.
Toni
Please delete that. That was cringe. Okay, let's do the second verse. Okay.
Toni Singing
Knew I was a robber first time that he saw me stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry but if I'm a thief then he can join the heist and we'll move to an island and. And he can be my jailer Burton to this tailor Every love I've known in comparison is a failure I forget their names now I'm so very tame now Never be the same name now,
Toni
now there you go.
Joe Rome
All righty.
Toni
I got to do it.
Joe Rome
So she does do it again. I move to an island and. And, yeah, so she turns the end of one word into the actual word, starting the next line, right? So here we have robber stealing hearts. Thief. I. He can join, but I'm a thief, too. And we will later on the album, of course, we will have getaway car where they're Bonnie and Clyde.
Toni
Right?
Joe Rome
So. And she says in an interview, she says that this song kind of introduces a metaphor you may hear more of throughout the rest of the album, which is that, like, this is kind of like crime and punishment metaphor.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
Robbers and thieves and heists and all that. I found that to be really interesting metaphor, but twisted in different ways throughout the album. The way that's presented in Ready for it is basically finding your partner in crime, and it's like, oh, my God. And we're the same. We're the same. Oh, my God. Let's rob banks together. This is great. And you will hear that kind of theme carried on throughout the rest of the record, but not exactly in the same way that you heard it in Ready For It.
Toni
Like, Reputation is the one that jumps to mind is the song. But, like, are delicate. My reputations have been worse.
Joe Rome
So now, of course, you know, we generally know that being a criminal is not, like, a great career choice. And, you know, in. She specifically is bringing up Bonnie and Clyde in getaway car, and of course, they end in a hail of bullets in the, you know, infamous movie. But it's also interesting. So they're talking. She's now talking about them like they're criminals, and that is what made me also think that this song was a little bit influenced by bad romance. Because when she said, I keep him, I. I keep him forever. Like a vendetta, Right. Her line in that song was, I. I want your love and I want your revenge. And then I want your love and your lover's revenge. So the lover's revenge is a vendetta. Right. So she is saying here, as Lady Gaga was saying in that song, she wants this guy and he's a criminal. Right. In that song also. So she's saying, I don't care that you're a criminal and I don't care that this is a bad romance. And I want the revenge part.
Toni
Well, yeah. Much like SZA's Kill Bill, which is also kind of about that.
Joe Rome
And in a lot of songs about that. Yeah, well, and, well, and the phrase, you know, partner. You know, partners in crime is commonly something. Couples often say that, you know, I'm looking for a partner in crime, that sort of thing. And of course, we can't go without. We can't skip over. He can be my jailer. Burton to this Taylor.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
Because she wrote a whole song about Elizabeth Taylor. She's punning on the word Taylor here.
Toni
Exactly.
Joe Rome
But we know that she knows the story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is a song of reputation. This was the. The Bert. The. They were making the movie.
Toni
She's literally a mastermind. She, like Loki. Just figured this.
Joe Rome
You can go back to our. Where we talk about Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor. And we got one of the person. One of the. Just one of the.
Toni
Seriously a great dude to talk to.
Joe Rome
We talked to the grand. Son of the director of. And writer for the. For Julius Caesar and excuse me, for Cleopatra. I'm sorry. For Cleopatra. And Burton was Mark Antony and Elizabeth Taylor was Cleopatra. And they had one of the most scandalous. They were both married to other people.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
And in fact, she was still married to Eddie Fisher, which was Carrie Fisher's dad. Carrie Fisher's dad. And it was. It was so scandalous. Even the Vatican, like, criticize her and.
Toni
Oh, my God. I know that the Vatican is not criticizing people for their weird relationships with others.
Joe Rome
No, they don't really do that anymore. But again, this was. This was at the time a, you know, you know, very scandalous. And she. And, you know, and they ended up getting married twice. They got married, were together for a few years. For several years, I think, and then divorced. And then a couple years later, they got married and divorced within like a year. And, you know, but the point Is Burton to his tailor is, again, another reference to a crash and burn relationship. I mean, a very, very tempestuous. And now every love I've known in comparison is a failure.
Toni
Right. And then she's just being. She's just facetious and stuff.
Joe Rome
Yeah. I think it's this song is she's
Toni
being like, I forget their names now. I'm so very tame now.
Joe Rome
Yeah, right, right. We know she's not tame. Quite the opposite. She's saying that and I forget their names is, as you say, a reference to also blank space.
Toni
Well, she's trying to manipulate the boy. She's trying to rob his heart. She's just trying to be like, oh, my God, yes.
Joe Rome
You're so amazing. I forgot the names of all my previous boys. But she's also done blank space where none of the boys mean anything to her except the blank space on her list. Right.
Toni
Well, she has to keep a list to remember them, so.
Joe Rome
Yes. Never be the same. Now, now. All right, so let's go into the. The chorus, right. Then turn. People, you can do the chorus, and then it's either the bridge or a refrain.
Toni
Yeah, that's fine.
Joe Rome
I think it's a refrain, but then there's no bridge.
Toni
No, it doesn't have to be a bridge.
Joe Rome
No, there doesn't have to, but it could also be the bridge.
Toni
Because. Do you want me to just go to the end? Because it's all.
Joe Rome
Well, why don't you go? Well, go as far as you want.
Toni
I can do the end. Because it's all the same until, like,
Joe Rome
I mean, I don't know if you have. You want to sing all of it? All the rest of the.
Toni
Yeah. Who cares?
Joe Rome
All right, you do it.
Toni
Okay. Give me a sec.
Toni Singing
I I I see how this is gonna go. Touch me and you'll never be alone I Island breeze and light down low. No one has to know. In the middle of the night in my dreams. You should see the things we do, baby. In the middle of the night in my dreams. My dreams. I know I'm going to be with you.
Toni
Wait.
Toni Singing
I know I'm going to be with you. So I take my time.
Toni
Are you ready for it?
Toni Singing
Are you ready for it, baby? Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Baby, let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. I I I see how this is gonna go. Touch me and you'll never be alone I I Degrees and lights down low no one has to know. In the middle of the night in my dreams. My dreams you should see the things we do, baby. In the middle of the night in my dreams? In the middle of the night in my dreams.
Toni
Wait, I'll just start that over because I was on the wrong.
Toni Singing
In the middle of the night in my dreams. You should see the things we do, baby. In the middle of the night in my dreams. I'm not gonna be with you so I take my time. In the middle of the baby. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Baby, Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin.
Toni
Are you ready for it or something like that? Yeah.
Joe Rome
Yeah. All right, so. And you know, it could be the bridge because there are short bridges, right? In fact, a song she worked on for Rihanna, this is what you came for, has a very short bridge. Also. It's got two line bridge.
Toni
But wait, hold on. I think I low key did the second chorus wrong. It's not supposed to be like slow.
Joe Rome
You want to do that part?
Toni
Yes. Let me do that part again. Okay. It's. I see how this is gonna go.
Toni Singing
Touch me and you'll never be Al smiling breeze and lights down low. No one has to know.
Toni
That's right.
Joe Rome
Okay.
Toni Singing
In the middle of the.
Toni
Wait.
Toni Singing
In the middle of the night in my dreams? My dreams. You should see the things we do, baby. In the middle of the night in my dream. I know I'm gonna be with you so I take my time. In the middle of the. Baby. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Are you ready for it, baby? Let the games begin. Let the games begin. Let the games begin.
Toni
Are you ready for it? Is that better?
Advertisement Voice
Yeah.
Joe Rome
That's killer. And so this is an anthem song. This is a stadium rocking song.
Toni
Also, the reason that it sounded like if, you know, if. Sorry, just say. For any singer out there. Just psa. For any singer out there. If it sounds like I'm pushing, it's just because I'm sitting down. You know, my singing is worse when I sit down.
Joe Rome
So anyway, well, if you want. If you wanna. We'll have to figure out how to let you stand up.
Toni
That's okay.
Joe Rome
I thought that rocked. I thought that rocked. I mean, look. Yeah, this is a stadium rocker. Like. The one about the heist, the. Them winning the thing in high school. So this is. This song is. Is, you know, let the games begin. This is. This is a song. I think when she did the Reputation tour, she began with. She apparently thought that this was actually a better single than look what yout Made Me do. Even Though she released that first. And so one of these games that she has repeated multiple times, let the games be, let the games begin.
Toni
Probably multiple things. One of them is her relationship with this guy. One of them is the chaos and press that will ensue when she releases the album. And I don't know. One of them is just media in general.
Joe Rome
Yeah, I mean, I think you. You can read this. Well, let's. Should have brought this up earlier. You can't. You have to consider the video.
Toni
The music video. I knew you were going to take it there because that's practice. That's what people think is. That's basically about the media and stuff.
Joe Rome
The music video every. If you want to understand the song, this is one of those. You have to watch it because there's no boy in that song. Right. There's just a seemingly flesh and blood tailor and a cyborg or robot tailor, although we later learn that isn't the case. But this is the flesh and blood of the key line that we will get to when we hit the. Look what you made me do, which is, you know, the old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Because she's dead. So this is a re. A death and rebirth music video in which this. This new, more fierce Taylor, who is a, you know, a robot, kind of takes over from the flesh and blood. And so she is announcing to. You could say, yes, let the games begin. Could be, yes, I know you're a player. Guess what? I'm a player. And we're gonna play games together, even if they're criminal games. Another way, as you say, is she is announcing. Well, it's the start of the album. So, you know, let the games begin. This is, you know, speaking to the audience, but she's also speaking to the world. Like you got, you know, you. You came after me, right now I'm a different person. I'm reborn. And you know, you know, we. We jumped the gladiator. Are you not. Are you not entertained? Right? This is what's going to come is. Is the new Taylor, who doesn't, you know, just sing, you know, love pop songs and. And about that and. And about bad boyfriends who take advantage of her. But now she's stepping up to it. And you had said this in.
Toni
Agreed.
Joe Rome
The first. My daughter has become shy, but I've become tired. Oh, tired. Well, you may remember in the very first episode we did when I said I wasn't that thrilled with look what you made me do, you described how much you liked the fact that she was showing that, that, you know, yes,
Toni
women can manipulate and abuse people too. And that in its own special way is beautiful.
Joe Rome
Yeah. And this was a game changing album for her. Like, you know, she, she hadn't, she
Toni
skipped the year, the og like big freaking rebrand, you know.
Joe Rome
Yeah. And she would, she ultimately would write a number of songs in this vein. And you know, it's, it's, it's a great song. I mean, I don't, you know, I, I, I think that it's wildly entertaining song is what I would say. And clearly, again, this is, as always, the lyrics, you know, have a lot of double meanings, many ironic lines and a lot of the repeated words. I think, you know, this, this song is, is really a showcasing of the power of repeating words to the point where they mean something different like let the games begin. It means three or more different things. And that's great. We are next week is another great song. Delicate like that song. So again, we really are thrilled.
Toni
Yeah, we seriously are.
Joe Rome
That you're very grateful that you're listening. And you know, for those who haven't tuned in before, maybe we should do this at the beginning of the thing next time we, we are going through all the songs in the original era's set list. Right. So that's what we're doing in the first season. You can go back to the first season where we kind of really discuss a lot of her techniques in detail.
Toni
Yeah.
Joe Rome
And then we did, then she released the Life of a Showgirl and we went through those and then we decided, oh, why don't we go through all the eras tour songs. And that's what we did. And once again, we thank you and we will see you next week.
Toni
See you next week. Bye. Bye. Bye.
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Podcast: Decoding Taylor Swift
Hosts: Joe Romm & Toni Romm
Episode Date: May 15, 2026
This episode dissects “...Ready For It?”, the fiery opener from Taylor Swift's Reputation album. Joe and Toni Romm explore the deeper storytelling mechanics, wordplay, and meta-narratives in the song, while highlighting how Swift’s techniques can teach listeners to communicate and persuade more effectively. Through lyrical analysis, comparisons to past work, and playful banter (including Toni’s live singing), they reveal why Swift’s songwriting resonates so widely—and how her viral tools can help anyone build their tribe.
[02:09–04:28]
[05:00–06:08] & [22:21–24:00]
[06:31–08:04], [10:15–11:51], [34:05–38:12]
[13:53–20:28]
[30:32–38:12]
[35:14–37:35]