| Common theme | Blank Space | New Romantics | Ready For It…? | Getaway Car | Cowboy Like Me | Lavender Haze | The Bolter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| She already knows how this is going to go - she’s played this game before | Saw you there and I thought | ||||||
| "Oh, my God, look at that face | |||||||
| You look like my next mistake | We play dumb but we know exactly what we're doin’ | I see how this is gonna go | No, nothing good starts in a getaway car I knew it from the first Old Fashioned we were cursed we never had a shotgun shot in the dark | Oh, I thought | |||
| This is gonna be one of those things | Contrast: All this shit is new to me | ||||||
| They are playing a game | |||||||
| ‣ | And I thought… “Love's a game, wanna play?” | We team up | |||||
| Then switch sides like a record changer | Baby let the games begin | Cause us traitors never win | I've got some tricks up my sleeve/You’ve got some tricks up your sleeve | Contrast: No game playing in the lyrics, takes the “fun” or “enjoying scheming” feeling out of it | |||
| But there is card playing in the music video: see image below | |||||||
| There are rumours about them | |||||||
| ‣ | Ain't it funny? Rumors fly | The rumors are terrible and cruel | |||||
| But honey, most of them are true | He poisoned the well (meaning: cause harm to the reputation or credibility of someone or something, especially by spreading false or negative information.) | And the ladies lunching have their stories about | |||||
| When you passed through town | I’ve been under scrutiny you handle it beautifully | ||||||
| Also music video has people gossiping: see image below | |||||||
| How long will this last? | In Blank Space she’s not sure how long it will last: So it's gonna be forever | ||||||
| Or it's gonna go down in flames | Please take my hand and | ||||||
| Please take me dancing, and | |||||||
| Please leave me stranded it’s so romantic | I keep him forever like a vendetta | ||||||
| (She didn’t end up keeping him forever…) | In a getaway car, oh-oh-oh | ||||||
| No, they never get far, | In CLM she’s finally won the game: Forever is the sweetest con | ||||||
| They’re reckless and desperate | 'Cause we're young, and we're reckless | ||||||
| We'll take this way too far | We're so young | ||||||
| But we're on the road to ruin / We need love but all we want is danger | Ridin’ in a getaway car, put the money in the car and I stole the keys | You're a cowboy like me | |||||
| A “cowboy” is considered reckless, desperate for money or a job | I just need this love spiral | ||||||
| The game involves lying/pretending/spinning stories that people want to believe | pretty lies | We play dumb but we know exactly what we're doin’ | No one has to know | The ties were black, the lies were white | Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear | ||
| Like it could be love | Talk your talk and go viral | ||||||
| Tricking men | Find out what you want | ||||||
| Be that girl for a month | |||||||
| Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh, no | It's poker | ||||||
| He can't see it in my face | |||||||
| But I'm about to play my Ace (ah) | I struck a match and blew your mind but I didn’t mean it and you didn’t see it | And the old men that I've swindled | |||||
| Really did believe I was the one | |||||||
| He is taking her hand/they are touching | Grab your passport and my hand | Please take my hand and please take my dancing | Touch me and you’ll never be alone | And you asked me to dance (usually you offer your hand when asking someone to dance) | Contrast: No intimacy or touching described | ||
| The game involves **stealing | |||||||
| ‣** | Stolen kisses | 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 | Put the money in the bag and I stole the keys | You’re a bandit like me | |||
| He’s ambitious like her | New money, suit and tie | Hustling for the good life | |||||
| Social outcasts | We show off our different scarlet letters | ||||||
| Trust me, mine is better | Knew he was a killer / | ||||||
| ****But if he’s a ghost then I can be a phantom | In a getaway car / We were jet-set Bonnie and Clyde | “cowboy” “bandit” “perched in the dark” | |||||
| There is a tiring, boring, patient aspect to this game - some would turn to drinking to while away the time | We’re all bored, we’re all so tired of everything We hang back it’s all in the timing We wait for trains that just aren’t coming | He don’t try at all though | But you weren't thinkin' | ||||
| And I was just drinkin' | Now I’m waiting by the phone like I’m sitting in an airport bar | Staring at the ceiling with you, oh you don’t ever say too much | |||||
| You weren’t even listening | |||||||
| Contracts/Paper | |||||||
| ‣ | I’ve got a blank space baby (pen click) and I’ll write your name | X marks the spot where we fell apart (when you sign a contract, you usually sign it where there is an X) | No deal | ||||
| You handled it beautifully | |||||||
| Get it off my desk (usually referring to documents on someone’s desk) | |||||||
| Travelling together is involved in this arrangement | |||||||
| ‣ | Grab your passport and my hand | But if I'm a thief, then he can join the heist, and | |||||
| We'll move to an island | We were jet-set Bonnie and Clyde | Now I’m waiting by the phone like I’m sitting in an airport bar | She’s been many places with men of many faces |
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