I stand by my opinion that Peter is Taylor Swift's best songwriting - and that's a tall opinion - considering Taylor is Taylor. Peter is simple, plain and clear yet incredibly universal, impactful and imaginative.
I love Peter. It's probably my favorite song of hers. I'm in the group thinking this is grown-up Wendy letting go of her dreams of life with Peter Pan.
I feel like people sleep on Peter because it’s close to the end of the anthology, but this song makes me tear up every time for a very specific reason that I can’t quite pinpoint yet. But it really reaches a sadness inside of me. It’s very specifically beautiful song.
@@joanabals to be fair, i think everyone has listening exhaustion from Miss Crazy’s double album drop lol but i do agree, a lot of people have had someone they’ve waited for and when they get it they get it. “the women in the window” line makes me tear up almost every time.
Gorgeous song. She uses a Peter Pan / Wendy reference in another song Cardigan “Tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy”. Yeah, this is probably about MH but who really knows besides Taylor 🤷♀️
I believe so. There are quite a few interviews with MH referring to himself as a Peter Pan-type and discussing the symbolism of the story. I just love this song, it's so beautiful and devastating. I can't listen without crying. I've always had a weak spot for waltzes. And that 3/4 time paired with the gorgeous lyrics and the person I’m assuming she wrote it about...it's just a classic for me. I love it - and yet I'll never get over the heartbreak 💔 Thank you for your thoughtful review and discussing the lyrics in depth.
As usual you nailed it! I just love how Taylor can take the story of Peter Pan and Wendy and make an analogy to a story in her own life. I think this is a beautifully brilliant song and it will always be one of my favorites. Thanks for another great reaction and for sharing some personal thoughts and stories of your own. You're such a lovely human being!
I love that too! Its a magical story and she really captured that essence and also delivering so much emotion with her own story. So good! Thanks so much for watching and the kind words.
I think she wrote “the smallest man who ever lived” when it was a fresh heartbreak. She was shocked and angry. I think once some time had passed and she saw him for what he was, she wrote Peter.
"And I didn't want to come down"...what in the story of Peter Pan made people fly and made them come down?... HAPPY THOUGHTS! Happy thoughts made them fly, the loss of the happy thought made them "come down"! Meaning, "I didn't want to come down", I didn't want to lose my happy thoughts!
I absolutely love your raw, honest reactions!! Love your facial expressions😂 you nail her lyrics-they completely resonate with me also. She’s the best. Completely crushes storytelling. Her writing is fire and completely unbelievable!!🥹🎆💕
“Peter, was he a hero or a villain?” He was… a child. They promise things, they forget them, it’s just to get you to hang or give them attention. It’s understandable in a … CHILD. 😅
that’s also questionable though because he’s been a kid for so long, still looks the same 30 years later. he’s definitely more cruel in the original book than the disney-fied version of him. so yes, i agree that it’s more understandable in a child but then again, he’s been a child for so long because he refuses to grow up, so i feel like excusing his actions or reasoning with them with “he’s just a child” doesn’t really work in peter pan’s case, if that makes sense. especially bc she’s addressing the song to someone who was 25. but imo it’s kind of like the “boys will be boys” saying. like yes, they can be immature simply because they’re a child but at one point, it becomes immaturity just from refusing to learn rather than immaturity from being a child.
i feel like Peter and I Look in People's Windows are connected! Peter is in Wendy's perspective while ILIPW is in Peter's perspective "I look in peoples windows, in case you're at their table, what if your eyes look up and met mine one more time" -ILIPW "but the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light" -Peter just like how peter would lurk outside Wendy's window
I think alot of the refreces is more towards the first Peter Pan production (in the UK where both guys that the album is mostly apart of are from). In the production Wendy met peter and he didn’t come back for her, then Wendys daughter met Peter and he didn’t come back for her AND then Wendys granddaughter met Peter and he also did not come back for her. And that is why she repeats the chorus 3 times. Taylor is truly the best songwriter.
Ah I'm so excited for your reaction 😆 this song is constantly Top 5 on my fluctuating favourite songs on the album 😊 I'll hear what you have to say now, but there is something SO incredibly emotional for me about her repetition of that line, "you said you were going to grow up, and you were going to come find me"... Like it's a mantra she has forced herself to hold onto for so many years. She didn't remember it wrong. He did make those promises. She didn't waste time waiting on him. It just builds a lump in my throat throughout the whole song and I usually have a tear or two by the end when she compares herself to Wendy Darling all grown up and without her Peter Pan 😭😭😭
I am so happy you're enjoying her music! I have loved peter pan growing up and when i heard this song it remined me of my childhood. This also ties into a song called "cardigan" on folklore because she is crazy and loves her easter eggs lol
It's about Matty Healy, like the majority of the songs on TTPD. They met a long time ago and she left him, then they seem to have had some flings, and finally tried to make it work in 2023, before he suffered a horrible backlash from her fans, and left her.
There is no reason to think that, nothing in this song connects to him. Plus, out of the 31 songs in TTPD like 5 are about him. That's far from the "majority."
@@angeljaceherondale That's definitely not true. Matty has referred to himself as being Peter Pan-like before, and the 1975 being like the Lost Boys. This song is also very clearly about how she always wanted to get back together with him. Plus I think "Peter losing Wendy" from cardigan also connects to this song, which Taylor literally made reference at Eras to being about Matty (there is a clear video of this if you don't believe me). And 5? The count is actually more like 12 or 13.
As always lovely reaction ❤ In one song she's mentioned Peter before: Peter losing Wendy but in the end of that one he came back for her ( the song is called Cardigan from 2020) maybe then she imagined different ending to the story but now she gave up on waiting for the boy to grow up... Just some of my thoughts...
Please read Patti Smith's book Just Kids. You will love it plus there are so so many references to the book in TTPD. Both aesthetically with the lyric videos and album photographs, as well as lyrically. She uses the words just kids in both Peter and loml plus when you listen to the title track The Tortured Poets Department she mentions Patti Smith.
I really enjoyed your reaction and I understood what you were trying to say with the Hook reference 😊 That line about life being easier on him than it was on her works on two levels, I would argue. I also want to emphasise that I absolutely don't think you were discounting any of these possible consequences. My comments reflect frustration of society and much of the tabloid media, not of anything you said. I think metaphorically, she means that it's always easier to be the one being waited on than it is to be the one doing the waiting. At a more literal level, typically, male artists/celebrities/etc., do virtually always have less shyt to worry about than their female counterparts do. This does not mean that male stars don't have bad things happen to them it don't have their own struggles. It does mean that they are almost never going to be called a slut or a whore for having a night in the town like virtually any woman anywhere anytime in recorded history has done. He gets tabloids talking about what a wild stud he is. She gets headlines calling her the worst things imaginable just for existing. He s3xually assaults crew members at live performances and doesn't to to jail and barely gets a hand smack in the tabloids. She has a photo of a man sexually assaulting her ON CAMERA and the press says she is over-reacting when she reports it. The struggles are not the same 😢
True -- the gender thing is huge in this song -- but it might not be about Matty. Just saying -- follow the threads a bit more and don't expect every line to fit although I would agree that the 25 line is very specific.
@@anomardolphin the biggest argument for this song being about Ratty Matty is the connection to Cardigan. Which Swift confirmed on stage was about/strongly referenced Healy. That line in Cardigan, "Peter losing Wendy" is about Healy. On one of the love performances of a the 1975 song a few years back, that was heavily rumoured to be about Swift, he mouthed the words to something like the effect of "this song is about you, I love you". At an Eras Tour performance of Cardigan, after the breakup with Joe and when she was dating Healy, she mouthed the exact same words on stage while she was singing Cardigan. And yeah, depressingly enough, there is footage of both of them doing this 🤢
I agree with what you’re saying, except the part about him s*xually assaulting crew members on stage, that’s just not accurate. He and that camera man are great, long time friends and they joke around a lot, but the man is definitely in on the joke. It’s kind of like the recent Deadpool/Wolverine movie joking around, it’s in that spirit and good humor. I can understand how it could be misunderstood taken out of context, but it’s harmless.
@@ssalas7374 oh ok, thank you for letting me know. That is a slight relief. I thought it was more than one crew member and it was not something they had an understanding about. I still have a IRL example of him being a rcist POS to a woman I know well in South African entertainment media. So I'm very decidedly not a fan. But it's good to know he isn't a full on predator (I still feel ick about the camera man just because there is a employer/employee dynamic, but I also thought it was a bit ick that Taylor dated Conor Kennedy and Harry Styles when they were still teens, even though the age gap wasn't big...so it's more just being aware of potential power imbalances for me personally). I appreciate you letting me know this about Healy though 😊👍
I'm pretty sure it is not, or not only about him. Peter has a completely different feel from the smallest man who ever lived. I think the 25 line is misdirection or maybe even echoes her Peter crossing her jet stream when he was 25, not necessarily when she met him.
@Violet316 I agree that this is about Ratty Healy-she references him in Cardigan also... I believe her nickname for Ratty Matty is Peter. In Cardigan she sings, “cause I knew you, tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy”😢
@@anomardolphin But something to consider is Peter was earlier, and the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived is how it ended. She writes from her diary/journal.
@@Violet316 IMO, I think TSMWEL was her getting out her anger and heartbreak over him leaving, she had to lash out out at him and hurt him back. The 5 stages of grief are 1. Denial. 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance - I believe Peter was how she felt at the very end, after all was said and done. Acceptance - Finally letting go, dealing with the loss of the dream, and moving on for good. It's totally in keeping with The Prophecy and The Manuscript. She's done and she's moving on.
"While the men masquraded" meaning the same, the lost boys, others telling the same fantasies to her..."I'd hope you'd return", having grown up!(not like these other guys acting like he did)...she "held on" to him, believing the original lie he told her that others often repeated.... Then, she "turns out the light", realizing they're all the same.
⭐️Great analysis, sir, again! One question…how does her music compare against what you originally expected?…cuz now you are so prepared to chew on every line 😆🩷
I only knew the popular songs that get played on the radio, so had no idea what to expect. But i did not expect this great writing! Its a lot of fun diving into these!
If you get tired of doing Taylor Swift songs…or just wanna switch it up a bit, might I suggest the song called daydream by Christina Perri? Or…actually, ANY song she played during her Ocean-Way Studios live recording session? (bluebird, tragedy, arms, the lonely…to name a few. There are more, I just can’t remember the names of them right now) It was recorded at least 10 years ago, but it’s still some of my favorite stuff to listen to, aside from Taylor, of course! lol 😅
Mr. ratty Healy is the only person to have almost 2 full albums dedicated to his fuck up. Let that sink in🥺 He broke her when she was barely keeping it together
@@SaeedReacts. obviously none of us are 100% certain because she never tells us for the most part, but having dissected lots of songs collectively it’s pretty agreed that 60 to 75% of that album is about him. It’s basically 10 years of emotional trauma and turmoil. The poor thing, in her song Sweet Nothing, she admits to being “too soft for all of it” and she is but in the most inspiring way
@@mentallyunw3ll I just try to remind myself we only know one side of the story, and there were so many factors at play that I won’t go into here. I still feel like there’s so much we’ll probably never know. Spring 2023 he looked so incredibly happy, they both did. 💔
@@anomardolphin OMG I did a whole TEDtalk to my friend about how I thought this was Haylor coded, precisely because I couldn’t believe she would say all this about The Smallest Man! Glad to know I’m not the only one! 😂😂
I am not a Swiftie, but this album, and especially this song, are more up my alley than some of her other music. This song is my favorite song of hers now, I believe. It really spoke to me on the first listen and continues to do so with each subsequent listen. Great reaction! 💙
This was such an intelligent and beautiful reaction. I was wondering if you think “I look through Peoples Windows” is possible a Pt. 2, but from Peters perspective. We know that she did that in the love trilogy in “Folklore”, where each of 3 songs was from a different person’s perspective of the 3 people.
