In another of my ‘when fandoms collide’ moments – author, radio presenter, stand up and classicist Natalie Haynes has just created a thread pairing Taylor Swift songs with goddesses from the pantheon!
Hooray! And ht to @ StefArchivist who sent me this first thing, knowing I’d be in awe!
There will be no explanation, just REPUTATION
Except there will be a bit of explanation too, obviously.
Are you ready for it?
In her Reputation Era we have Hera, queen of the gods. She has often been depicted as jealous and cruel, and she does not shy away from spectacular feats of vengeance – ‘I’d do it over and over and over again if I could’! But Hera was usually driven to them
by an inescapable relationship with a toxic narcissist – not naming any men linked with Taylor’s Reputation Era… So Don’t Blame her.
Was Hera Dancing With Her Hands Tied, when Zeus chained her to a rock and refused to free her until all the other gods pleaded with him?
Is this why we can’t have nice things? Hera takes a symbol of her betrayal – the peacock – and makes it into a symbol of her own power. So she would surely understand why Taylor is sitting on her throne of snakes. As either goddess might say, Look What You Made Me Do.
To find out about this story, pick up Divine Might, in bookshops now…
Pictured: Ferdinand Max Bredt, ‘Selbstbewusst’, Reputation album cover, still from Look What You Made Me Do music video.
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