I 100% see the lover house burning down as a symbol foretelling another step towards coming out. Just like knocking down the set walls in Lavender Haze. I also see the midnights cover with the lighter as an Easter egg/precursor for that visual.
I always saw the lover house as representing a safe haven hideaway for her and her lover, where they could fully be themselves while keeping their relationship secret. Funnily enough I used to think that because evermore was the last “room” to be filled in the house, in the closet, I thought that she was saying she would stay in the closet “forevermore”. But these new tour visuals and Midnights as a whole, including the lighter picture, are really making me rethink that.
However, I don’t see the house burning as an absolute end point, that means she’s about to announce in plain words her whole truth to the world. I see her coming out process as something like peeling back layers…and in the process, her audience is forced to get more and more accustomed to the the idea, the possibility, the reality that Taylor is gay. It’s like the metaphor about turning up the heat on some slowly. The frog won’t jump out of the pot if the temperature changes gradually.
So many different visuals on this tour suggest she is seeing the path forward in progressive stages. The closet door (solid wood, orange appearing from far away) descending and then turning into a cube made of diamonds (glass closet) and then exploding into rainbow glitter, shows a progression from being fully hidden to glass closeting to fully being out.
Each album is louder, each tour is louder, and now she has her other lesbian and bisexual pop star friends straight up calling her queer in interviews, being very openly gaylor and Kaylor on social media, etc.
The lover house burning seems to symbolize one layer of protection she’s shirking. Maybe the beard, maybe something else.
(The fact that the show ends with the closet door—> glass closet—> rainbow confetti progression, after the house burning, which came after her peeking out of the blinds, etc, also very important. There’s a whole narrative arc!)
in my humble opinion, i feel ’manifesting’ implies work because of the success stories you see of affirming and visualizing all day. manifesting doesn’t have to be hard, everything is what you give it the meaning of. their words. their actions. your circumstances. your desires. YOU give them meaning.read that again.
for example, whenever my bestfriends didn’t reply to my texts for a long time, my old self would overthink and assume that they are talking to someone else, not making me a priority. but my current self simply tells herself, “the four of us are OG. even if we have an addition to our group, no one can replace me. i am irreplaceable. i am everyone’s favourite girl. my bestfriends are begging to spend time with me. ” and THAT’S exactly what changed everything.
everything in your life and in the world is a PLACEBO. you are the one who makes your own rules and assigns meanings to circumstances. assign them meanings that BENEFIT you.
