A thread of some of the LGBTQ+ / wlw moments in Taylor Swift’s new album #folklore that you might’ve missed

the 1:

“Rosé flowing with your chosen family.”

I was unaware of this until recently but apparently ‘chosen family’ is a term commonly used in the LGBT+ community to describe the accepting and loving “family” of people that you may acquire within the community.

cardigan (1/2):
“High heals on cobblestones... sequin smile, black lipstick.”

Initially I assumed this first verse was about Betty (the character Tay is portraying) but the more I thought about it the more that didn’t make sense.

cardigan (2/2):
The rest of the song & the chorus is about Betty’s ex-lover, so why should the first verse be any different? I think it’s possible that the first verse is about James, Betty’s ex-girlfriend. This connection is later enforced by a lyric in the song “Betty.”

exile (1/3):
“I can see you starin’ honey, like he’s just your understudy.”

Taylor’s ex in this scenario has moved on to be with a man. It is very possible that Taylor has dated a bisexual man (no bi erasure in this house) but I personally feel very strong female connotations.

exile (2/3):
This line seems to indicate that Taylor believes her former lover is looking at their current boyfriend as if they are a replacement or an “understudy” for someone else (presumably Taylor) and that their love doesn’t compare to what Taylor and her ex-girlfriend had.

exile (3/3):
“I’m not your problem anymore, so who am I offending now?”

This line comes across as if the girl had issues in her relationship with Taylor due to the homophobia she may have received and Taylor blames herself for this.

seven:

This entire song screams “I love women” so I’m going to make this it’s own thread but the song is about two young girls in love. As it mentions Pennsylvania, Taylor’s home state, we can assume she is singing about herself and not another ‘folklore’ character.

betty (1/2)
“I was walking home on broken cobblestones, just thinking of you.”

This is the line that made me realize that the first verse of ‘cardigan’ is indeed about James as it calls back to the line “high heals on cobblestones.”

betty (2/2):
“She said, ‘James get in, let’s drive’...”

Taylor’s friend, Blake Lively, has a daughter named James. Her other daughter is named Inez, which is another character also mentioned in the song “betty.” This further indicates that James is a girl.

peace (1/2):
“Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”

I saw a post that speculated that this song was Taylor admitting that she only sees her current boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, as a platonic soulmate and that “peace” was indicating romantic love.

peace (2/2):
“The devil’s in the details, but you got a friend in me.”

This line supposedly adds to the idea of Taylor seeing Joe as only a friend. While I personally disagree with this particular theory, I thought it would be intresting to add to this thread.