There's glitter on the floor after the party
We're revisiting our Holidays show and tell this week while reflecting on our 2024 episodes
This week we’re revisiting last year’s Holiday Show & Tell episode. But…did we actually pick holiday songs? We start by defining what the “holiday season” even means in an attempt to answer the question. Jodi discusses “New Year’s Day,” with the thesis that it’s a song about the everyday, not necessarily the holidays. Jenn brings on the holiday melancholy with “champagne problems,” sparking a hot conversation about holiday engagements and the challenges of family gatherings during the holidays. And Maansi, naturally, shares “tis the damn season,” prompting a conversation about how we really feel about the holiday season and whether they “linger like bad perfume” for us. Are Taylor Swift holidays actually happy holidays? Listen and find out!
🎧 Listen above and ⬇️ scroll below to read Jodi’s favorite episodes of 2024!
🎥 Sneak Peek
Catch excerpts from the podcast and behind-the-scenes content on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram!
🛍️ Shop With Us! Active Discount Codes
As we grow, we are so excited to announce new partnerships! Here you’ll find active discount codes available to our listeners.
📚 Bookshop.org Check out all our book recommendations by episode
🔉Libro.fm Support your local bookstore while listening to great audiobooks
Code: APTS
Offer: Get a free audiobook when you start a new membership (you must use this link!)
Receive 2 audiobook credits for $14.99 USD with your first month of membership.Code: APTS30
Offer: 30% off specific audiobooks in the AP Taylor Swift playlist.
✨ Krowned Krystals Make the whole place shimmer with the best rhinestones
Code: APTS
Offer: 10% off your order when you use the link above
This week’s extra credit - Brought to you by Jodi
2024 was our first full year on the air. With regular weekly episodes, plus a few bonus episodes for some Swiftie surprises (TTPD, anyone?), we released 58 episodes last year! Since so many of you are new as of this summer (👋 welcome!) I figured I’d recap my Top 5 favorite episodes from 2024.
Show and Tell: Musicals
If you recall from Jenn’s July 4th Extra Credit on how we started this podcast, you’ll remember that Jenn, Maansi, and I weren’t all acquainted before we started the podcast. I knew Jenn and Maansi separately, but semi-professionally, and they didn’t know each other. So when within the first episode we each revealed that we loved musicals, I was both shocked and thrilled! People love to hate musicals, but not this pod!
Naturally, an entire show and tell episode on Musicals followed. Jenn compared “The Outside,” to the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, I found parallels between “The Man” and “If I Were a Rich Man,” from Fiddler on the Roof, and Maansi compares “Midnight Rain” to “Satisfied,” from Hamilton and we all wonder if (and when!) Lin Manuel Miranda and Taylor Swift will bring their lyrical genius minds together.
![If I was a [rich] man, I’d be the man.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffa491242-c1e5-4ef2-89d5-c163b8151bc2_1080x1080.png)
Show and Tell: Pride and Prejudice
We can’t be called AP Taylor Swift and NOT bring up an AP Lit favorite! (Did you just realize the AP stands for Advanced Placement? 😉 ) I loved revisiting this book as an adult and through the lens of Taylor’s music. Jenn focuses on the sisterly relationship between Elizabeth and Jane with “I’m Only Me When I’m With You.” Maansi zooms into the moment Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth, only to be brutally rebuffed, with the song “Haunted.” And Jodi explores the connections between the societal pressure to get married in Pride and Prejudice and “Lavender Haze.” I love how each of us focused on a different element: Jenn a relationship between characters; Maansi an entire scene from the book; and I took a macro look at society overall. I love doing book show and tells for this reason, as we each take a slightly different approach to our song selections.
Show and Tell: Poetic Repetition
Are you sensing a theme to my favorite type of episodes? I love show and tells because they force me to look at Taylor’s music within a larger or different context than what I’m used to. Poetic Repetition was a fun one because we dove into what might be considered Taylor’s less literary lyrics to reveal the power in their simplicity and directness. We explored epizeuxis and anaphora to see how Taylor uses these devices in “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”’ “Shake It Off” and “This Love.” We may even convince you to appreciate a song you don’t necessarily want to listen to on repeat.
Show and Tell: Shakespeare
What’s an AP class without a not-so-brief discussion about Shakespeare? This was comparative literature at its finest in my opinion, comparing Shakespeare to the Shakespeare of pop music! Shakespeare’s plays remains so relevant even today, so it’s only natural that Taylor Swift would find ways to allude to his works in her music. In this Show & Tell, we each picked one Shakespeare play and a Taylor Swift song that we feel best references and represents that play. Maansi ties Romeo & Juliet to “Love Story,” Jenn talked us through Julius Caesar references in “Bad Blood,” and I drew parallels between Midsummer Night’s Dream and “Cruel Summer.” Again, we each took a bit of a different approach here—Maansi was the only one that picked a song that directly referenced Shakespeare, while Jenn and I found thematic or narrative parallels.
Show and Tell: Psychoanalytic Theory
Theory episodes are probably my favorite favorite of all the show and tells, because they scare me the most. I feel woefully unqualified to approach a conversation about a literary theory because most of the time, preparing for the episode is the first time I’m exploring these theories since high school. But I always walk away with a newfound appreciation for Taylor’s music, and the desire to get a Masters in Literature. As a psych major this was both a fun episode and a challenging one, because the goal was not to psychoanalyze Taylor, but instead to use Psychoanalytic Theory to unpack the deeper meanings behind three of Taylor's songs: "That's The Way I Loved You," "Look What You Made Me Do," and "Anti-Hero." From our personal experiences to Freud’s writings, we explore how Taylor’s lyrics tap into the subconscious.
 | A guest post by
|
I've been singing New Year's Day all week... 'Tis the season! I am excited to have found your substack!! Love it so far.