Taylor Swift fans may have cracked the code about the subject matter of another track off The Tortured Poets Department!
This time we’re looking at Cassandra. Many listeners figured the song is a reference to the character from Greek mythology — Cassandra, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She’s known for having the gift of prophecy, and snakes would whisper in her ear, allowing her to predict the future. But as the story goes, Cassandra got cursed by the god Apollo when she rejects his advances so that no one believes any of her predictions. Whenever she tried to share her prophecies, people called her a liar.
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Now what does this tale all remind you of? Perhaps her beef with Kanye West? Many fans believe she used the Greek myth as an allegory for her longtime feud with the rapper. The proof? Just take a look at the lyrics! Taylor begins the song by saying:
“I was in my new house placing daydreams / Patching up the crack along the wall / I pass it and lose track of what I’m saying / ‘Cause that’s where I was when I got the call.”
“The call” seemingly refers to the phone conversation between Kanye and Taylor about the song Famous, which later reignited their beef. She continues to sing in the chorus:
“When the truth comes out, it’s quiet / So, they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst / And tried to tell the town / So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?”
Snakes in her cell? Hmm. Kim Kardashian recorded the call between her then-husband and Taylor — then released an edited version that made it seem like the pop star approved an offensive lyric about her in Famous. Taylor swore she never gave permission for Kanye to call her a “bitch.” However, no one believed her because of the edited tape. As a result, loads of people called her a liar and dropped snake emojis in the comments on her social media accounts. The full, unedited conversation came out years later, vindicating Taylor.
She was telling people the truth… but they didn’t believe. Only the future vindicated her. So based on the chorus alone, one could guess she’s talking about the 2016 drama with Kanye! Fueling this theory? Taylor later makes a reference to the Kardashian-Jenner family’s wealth and Kanye’s Sunday Services:
“They knew, they knew, they knew the whole time / That I was onto something / The family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line / They all said nothing / Blood’s thick but nothing like a payroll / Bet they never spared a prayer for my soul / You can mark my words that I said it first / In a morning warning, no one heard.”
With all these lyrics in mind, a lot of Swifties are convinced this is another track about her feud with Kanye. Check it out (below):
“cassandra is so sad because when kanye and kim were spreading lies about her everybody was ready to burn her alive and when real clip came out confirming she was telling the truth everybody pretended nothing happened and no one apologized”
“Taylor is Cassandra. She tried to warn people about Kim/the Kardashians but people wouldn’t believe her.”
“So Cassandra of Troy did try to warn the people of the coming fall of Troy and everyone ignored her, but she was right.”
“Taylor tried to say before she was canceled what happened, now we all know Kanye is absolutely unhinged”
Don’t get fully sold on the thought of she’s singing about her feud with Kanye, though! Why? Others argued Cassandra could be about her beef with Scooter Braun instead!
In June 2019, Scooter purchased the rights to her music from Big Machine Records’ Scott Borchetta for a whopping $300 million — one year after Taylor left the label for Republic Records. The singer claimed she never got the chance to bid on her own music — and later accused the 42-year-old record executive of buying her work for “nefarious reasons.” They’ve gotten into some back-and-forth. Eventually, Taylor decided to pull a boss move and re-record her first six albums! And fans have been fed a constant stream of releases from her ever since. So she turned a negative into a positive there.
Years after their drama, some of Scooter’s clients reportedly dropped him. So when Taylor sings the chorus of Cassandra again, many think she’s touching on how the situation with the music manager turned out a long time after warning the public about him:
“So, they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst / And tried to tell the town / So, they set my life in flames, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?”
Hmm. See the theories about Scooter (below):
“Yup my immediate thought about Cassandra was that it was about scooter Braun. And I mean, she did warn people. I think it was at the BBMA’s women in music ceremony in 2019 where she explicitly denounced scooter and look where we are now”
“on my first listen i thought Cassandra was about Scooter Braun and how everyone dropped him years after defending him. Does anyone have a different analysis? im interested”
“mythology who foresaw the fall of troy and no one believed her and called her crazy, i swear she’s talking about how she was the first one to warn everyone about him & everyone shit on her till recently”
“Cassandra was given the gift of foresight and prophecies yet everyone called her a liar, it’s likely about the 2016 situation or scooter braun”
What do YOU think, Perezcious readers? Is Cassandra about Kanye and The Kardashians or Scooter? Is it about both? After all, if she’s Cassandra both times, it makes sense it’s about her feelings of being ignored both times. Sound OFF in the comments. You can also take a listen to the song (below):
[Image via MEGA/WENN, Adriana M. Barraza/WENN, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon/YouTube]
