<aside> 💡 Analysis - Taylor uses the image of a “kaleidoscope” being covered by something three times across her art. Given that a kaleidoscope is very colourful, this could be a metaphor for hiding your sexuality. She hides this under a coat three times - once mentioning people in New York, once with Brendon Urie in the ME! music video & once covering the kaleidoscope of butterflies on her back in the YNTCD MV. In the prologue to Reputation, she also uses it as a symbol of intimacy, of someone seeing your “true colours” - “Someone who will still choose us even when they see all of the sides of the story, all the angles of the kaleidoscope that is you*.“*
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<aside> 👸 Relevance to Taylor’s Life: Sara Bareilles released an album in 2010 called “Kaleidoscope Heart” based on a lyric from the bridge of her song called “Uncharted.” She also wrote lyrics to a short song that starts the album, also called “Kaleidoscope Heart”
Chappel Roan has a song called “Kaleidoscope” where she seems to liken a friendship that is turning into something to a kaleidoscope- evoking a sense of an ever-changing dynamic, fluctuating between platonic, romantic or sexual. As a queer artist it feels important to me that this colourful metaphor is being used in this context:
https://genius.com/Chappell-roan-kaleidoscope-lyrics
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<aside> 🌈 Queer History: Renee Vivien, famous lesbian poet, had her sapphic work described as “a kaleidoscope of her personal ghosts”. I thought the imagery used to describe her sapphic poetry could shed some more light on the symbol of Kaleidoscope in Taylor’s work:
https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/359b42a9-4a21-4492-b66b-54b63e6eac5d/content
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<aside> ➕ See also: Loud/Scream/Shout Rainbow Colours/Rainbow/Colourful/colors/color Mirror/Gender/Reflection Pieces/Mirrorball/Mosaic/Puzzle Butterfly/Butterflies Secret/Hidden/Covered/Behind/Under/Disguise/Shrouded Coats/coat/jacket/cloak/cardigan/sweater
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