Evolution of a Snake: The Taylor Swift Fan Podcast

The Snakes are back post-hiatus with a surprise episode: a deep dive into folklore. In a year of surprises, The Evolution of a snake is taking a turn with the content and discussing 'current' events as well. After the shock of the surprise drop eased, Zack and Madeline jump into the album to discuss the production, writing, visuals, and promo of folklore. Track by track. Comparisons are drawn to the Lover era and...well... they're not flattering. The betty discourse is mentioned, the trilogy of songs is dismissed, Haylor continues to thrive, tour plans are discussed, Connor Kennedy is still on our minds in 2020, and a new chapter of Taylor Swiftology is unleashed on the masses. Send your feedback on this episode to @tswiftpodcast on twitter. @hoaxlakes and @tsfolklore for the hosts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's been a while....there's a pandemic but we're still thinking about the end of 2012. That's how monumental it was. We discuss the tumultuous highs and lows of one of the most prolific album cycles that Taylor Swift has barged through. We discuss the release strategy for Red, review all of the singles, and dive into a track-by-track review of what is widely thought of as her most experimental album. There's a lot of drama, too. Old flames flicker with John Mayer, Joe Jonas, and Taylor Lautner. We get a fresh and impending heartache in Harry Styles, and discuss one of Taylor's first intense public backlashes. We talk music videos, property purchases through shell companies, rocky live performances, and the sheer artistry behind some of the best writing in her career. Some of the juiciest easter eggs hatch in this short span of time. We rehash the fandom discourse of Taylor Swift becoming a pop artist, and revisit some foundational image changes, as well as the 'good girl' pathology that endured until very recently. Follow us on twitter for more updates, and let us know your thoughts @tswiftpodcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a long hiatus (that included an ENGAGEMENT!!) Madeline and Zack are back to discuss the game changing year of 2012. First off - we plug our Patreon! We need your support to continue creating high quality content. Taylor slowly but surely drops prehistoric easter eggs that she'll be releasing an album. The bangs that were cut at the end of 2011, seem to give her some power.....the power to become obsessed with the Kennedy's. Her hyper-fixation tendencies really jumped out this year. On today's agenda: her whirlwind romance with Conor Kennedy, her almost role in Les Miserables and acting chops in general, the Grammy serve of the century, a brief interlude with Zac Efron, some nasty words from the internet's garbage can John Mayer, and the show stopping Red live chat. Oh.....and a sweet ditty called We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Heard of it? We also discuss our upcoming plans to release two episodes a month, and to diversify our content. https://www.patreon.com/theevolutionofasnake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline deep dive into the second half of 2011 - which upon reflection, is a year of immense growth, evolution, and development. The Speak Now Tour continues and the arm lyrics and interviews that she gives on tour reveal a surprising amount of information if you know where to connect the dots. The earliest and purest form of the Easter Eggs reveal themselves as arm lyrics. Connecting the dots she draws leads us to the conclusion that perhaps her and Joe Jonas tried it again, or at least reconciled in this year. Taylor Lautner makes several unnecessary appearances and Miss Swift's bizarre obsession with the Kennedy's begins. We take a look at a few in depth profiles that are more revealing than they appear, and discuss Taylor's complicity in a goody-two-shoes imagery. T-Party is discussed publicly as a concept, and we analyze how that has changed - for worse - in recent years. Two final and superior singles with lacklustre videos wrap up the Speak Now era - Sparks Fly and Ours. Wonderstruck is dropped and we have to stan. Taylor gets her most iconic cat Meredith, and shockingly - in an earth shattering moment, cuts her hair and drops Safe and Sound in the same month. She turns 22 and never aged again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline address an issue of housekeeping first and foremost. LEAVE US ALONE! Moving on, we discuss Taylor's incessant need to be everywhere during 2011 - and her slight obsession with the many boys of the hit television show Glee. There are some odd moments in the beginning of the year: Taylor performs on the high seas and attends the Montblan cocktail party with the one and only Emma Stone. We discuss some confusing single choices of songs that are pushed to radio concurrently, and we reiterate the fact that we are charting higher than Bob Lesfetz. We talk her Vanity Fair party serve of an appearance, that one famous gif that reigns supreme, and the gold cavalli dress that shook us all. We also discuss the Speak Now Tour in its entirety. We get into Madeline vs Swiftsecrets and the ridiculous quotes that stormed our dashboards way back in 2011. Please dear listeners, promise us, that you will never forget the essence of your spark.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Madeine and Zack pick up where they left off in 2010: Part 1 with the Mine video. It drops and we are completely and utterly shaken by the talent, the emotion, the power. Toby Hemingway is discussed as the elusive enigma that he is, and Taylor embarrassingly performs Innocent at the VMAs. We get four pre-releases from Speak Now that mislead us towards the greatness that is impending, and Taylor attends a taping of SNL where she meets someone who will change her life forever. Speak Now is released to critical and commercial acclaim, and we go through each song like the true Taylor Swift Sluts that we are. If This Was A Movie finally gets her chance to shine. John Mayer is very embarrassed. We get some incredible performances from the Thanksgiving special and Taylor spends the holiday with a family she grows close to. She is spotted arm in arm with a gentleman drinking maple lattes. Surely that is of some significance to you, Swifties. Back to December is made a single and we get some mixed performances. The year ends excruciatingly, with a guest mysteriously absent from Taylor’s 21st birthday bash. Buckle up y’all.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline dive into the year that catapulted Taylor from twangy teenager to adult pop star. 2010 was a professionally incredible year for Taylor that was unfortunately full of personal heartbreak . We get into the John Mayer saga, the emergence of Katy Perry & Taylor's friendship, as well as Taylor's longstanding beef with distinct nobody: Bob Lesfetz! Her disastrous acting career continues with Valentine's Day, and Zack and Madeline disagree about the merits of Today Was A Fairytale. The never-ending Fearless tour finally wraps up with a stadium show and Taylor wraps up living with her parents and moves into her now iconic Nashville apartment. We are served a legendary live chat with tea Miss Swift would never give us all at once in 2019. Speak Now is announced, Mine leaks and the experience of a leak scars Taylor for all of eternity. George W. Bush attends the premiere of Mine in Maine.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline pick up from where they left off in the first part of 2009. The impact of the VMAs shake the world so hard that President Obama chimes in and calls Kanye West a jackass. They discuss the media circus that unfolds as a result, and the classiness and godliness of Beyonce Knowles. A radio interview from this year is unearthed - an uncomfortable encounter Taylor had with a radio host who refused to stop badgering her, we hear the voice of the elusive (and now fired!) publicist Paula. The Platinum Edition of Fearless comes out, and The Other Side of The Door came in and spanked Madeline. The year ends rockily with Taylor's questionable SNL appearance, a horrific rendition of Forever and Always at the CMAS and a social justice (?) mishap at Katy Perry's birthday party. Yup, you read that right. Tune in to hear the drama.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline deep dive into the jam packed, legendary, very busy year of 2009 - where Taylor continues to conquer the world with Fearless, has her first questionable encounters with Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato and plugs You’re Not Sorry like it’s her next #1 single. We take a trip down memory lane to her first Rolling Stone profile, the iconic Fearless Tour, her dramatic wins at various award shows, the beginning of Taylor Squared, her continued beef with Joe Jonas, her first (terrible) Grammy performance, her short-lived friendship with Katy Perry and two music videos: You Belong With Me and Fifteen. The beginnings of her acting career are also discussed - Taylor Swift on CSI, anyone?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline dissect the year that skyrocketed Taylor Swift from a successful country artist, to a crossover pop star. 2008 was a formative year for TSwizzle creatively and personally - she continued her iconic work with Liz Rose, wrote much of Fearless by herself, and fell in and out of love with the famously intelligent Joe Jonas. This episode deep dives into the creative process behind Fearless and its astonishing commercial success, and follows some of the drama you may not have heard of - Emily Poe getting fired, anyone?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zack and Madeline discuss the beginning of Taylor Swift's career from the years 2006 to 2007. Covering her first music video, award show win, and album release period - the first episode of The Evolution of a Snake delves into some swiftie drama, Taylor Swift's legendary heart tattoo, the injustice done to "I'd Lie", the origins of some of the most legendary memes, a promotional moment for "Cold as You" and a word on Taylor's sketchy country accent. There is a track by track analysis of the debut with some hot takes (A Place in This World is garbage), a sponsorship from Drew Hardwick, a discussion of Taylor's brief interest in headset microphones, and a review of her first three singles and music videos, "Tim McGraw", "Teardrops On My Guitar" and "Our Song."  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO SEE US ON TOUR THIS SUMMER: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com  We’re rewinding to Taylor Swift's NYU Commencement Speech 2022 and reading it like a prophecy. At the time, it felt like a charming, self-aware victory lap. But in hindsight? It’s loaded with real easter eggs about everything that followed: the emotional architecture of Midnights, the meta-theatre of The Eras Tour, the unraveling of her long-term relationship with Joe Alwyn, and the chaotic re-entry of Matty Healy. We’re dissecting the language, the tone, the “mistakes” motif, the self-mythologizing — and asking: was Taylor already preparing us for the next era… or trying to convince herself of it?  ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO SEE US LIVE THIS SUMMER: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com In this episode of Evolution of a Snake, we’re brutally ranking Taylor Swift’s concert tours — from the baby curls and band sets of the early years to the maximalist pop spectacle of her stadium domination. We’re revisiting the fairytale gowns, the surprise song moments, the costume changes, the iconic staging, the crowd work, the live arrangements, and the eras that defined what a Taylor Swift tour even is. We’re not just ranking based on nostalgia. We’re talking ambition, execution, cultural impact, setlists, production value, and whether each tour actually holds up as a live experience. Some of them changed her career forever. Some of them walked so others could run. And yes, our opinions may SHOCK and HORRIFY you! Get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box at https://HelloFresh.com/snake10fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before Bleachella, before 1989 won Album of the Year, before Snakegate, before the getaway car, before Reputation…there was merely the biggest pop star in the world fighting for her life trying to maintain control of a plane that was flying in a downward spiral. Her life was bigger than ever, and harder to manage than ever. She was on top of the world, and terrified of falling over the edge. In this chaos, she invited Vogue into her beautiful LA home, and answered 73 Questions. Come with us as we revisit and reflect on this happy, free, confused, and lonely time in Taylor’s life and career. GET TICKETS TO OUR NEW USA TOUR ON SALE NOW: ⁠⁠https://www.evolutionofasnake.com⁠⁠   ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO OUR NEW USA TOUR ON SALE NOW: ⁠https://www.evolutionofasnake.com⁠  We snakes have entered our showgirl era. In this week’s Phone a Snake, Snake Nation Citizens call in to report from the frontlines of the life of a showgirl: personal growth, diva breakthroughs, emotional turmoil, questionable decisions, and, of course, pressing concerns requiring expert analysis. We hear how everyone’s progressing, what’s gone horribly wrong, and what it all means for the state of the union. It’s vulnerable, it’s chaotic, it’s deeply glamorous. It's the life of a showgirl.   ⁠https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at https://Shopify.com/eos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode, we finally do what perhaps should have been done long ago: explain the bizarre, unholy, deeply unnecessary internal language of Evolution of a Snake. From heirloom turkey to bone collector, from “you’re an adult, you should know that” to “good luck with booking that stage you speak of,” we’re unpacking the phrases, references, recurring bits, and completely deranged lore that have somehow become part of the EOAS cinematic universe. Whether you are a seasoned nothing knower or a confused diva down, welcome. Inshallah.  JOIN THE PATREON TO HEAR US WITH CHATS AND REACTS: https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

JOIN US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist  In this episode of Evolution of a Snake, we’re brutally ranking Taylor Swift’s old music videos — from Debut all the way through Reputation — and revisiting the fairytales, the cheer captain era, the dramatic eyeliner, the chaotic pop pivot, and everything in between. We’re not just ranking based on nostalgia. We’re talking storytelling, visuals, cultural impact, rewatch value, and whether some of these videos actually aged well… or if they are very much a product of their time. Some of them are undeniable classics. Some of them sparked entire eras. And yes, a few of them might be more controversial than we remembered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO SEE US LIVE IN AUSTRALIA THIS WEEKEND: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com Taylor Swift's songs about Scott Borchetta reveal something far deeper than a business dispute. They trace grief, betrayal, power, and eventual reclamation. In this episode of Sister Songs, we compare My Tears Ricochet, It’s Time To Go, and Father Figure to examine the emotional arc behind one of the most pivotal conflicts in Taylor Swift’s career: the master recordings sale and her relationship with Scott Borchetta. Check it out at HelloFresh.com/snake10fm  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO THE SNERAS TOUR AUSTRALIA: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com  Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department might be her most narratively complete album… and yet it never received its final chapter. In this video, we imagine the era that never happened — the missing act of Tortured Poets. If Midnights had a spectacle and Folklore/Evermore had a world, then TTPD should have had a stage. So what would a Tortured Poets tour actually look like? We design the full concept from scratch — staging, visuals, symbolism, costumes, and narrative arc — and map the album onto a live theatrical structure that resolves its themes of performance, martyrdom, ego death, and public trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GET TICKETS TO THE SNERAS TOUR IN AUSTRALIA: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com  Welcome back to Taylor Talk. As the whole world knows...Taylor Swift is engaged to Travis Kelce. Therefore, in today's episode, we're speculating wildly (in good fun) about her hypothetical bachelorette party. What will the girl boss do? We imagine two scenarios: what should happen vs what probably will happen. Everything is on the table: guest list, silverware, lighting, venue, and the overall vibe. There are even Pinterest boards to discover.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices