Evolution of a Snake: The Taylor Swift Fan Podcast

This week on Evolution of a Snake we're doing the FULL autopsy of The Diva at the VMAs. From baby yeehaw Taylor on correspondent duty in 2008 to Kanye grabbing that mic in 2009 and rewiring her entire career, the painfully passive-aggressive Innocent era in 2010, the Red bangs relaunch in 2012, the Harry Styles revenge speech in 2013, that CURSED Shake It Off performance in 2014, the Nicki Minaj feud and Bad Blood sweep in 2015, the Lover overload in 2019, hijacking the show to announce Midnights in 2022, all the way to becoming the most decorated artist in VMA history in 2024. What awaits us in 2026?!

Every pop career looks inevitable in hindsight, and Taylor Swift's more than anyone's. Except almost none of it was. In this episode, we revisit Taylor Swift’s true sliding door moments (we like to call it the butterfly effect) where one different call could’ve altered her entire legacy. The breakups, album rollouts, feuds…we address all of it! Thankfully for Taylor, nearly every terrible thing that’s happened to her has only gone on to fuel the machine she is now. There’s no snake without the phone call from Kanye West and the posting of it by Kim Kardashian, so then there’s no reputation without the snake…you see how it goes!

We’re putting our minds together to analyze every scrap of detail and information Taylor Swift has given in this ICONIC Grammy’s interview. After a week of investigating, we’re ready to share our conclusions which are: DEBUT (TAYLOR’S VERSION) IS COMING!! And a potential, wider return to country music is most certainly on the cards.

7 years ago, Taylor Swift released what we assumed was the low quality of her career: a sprawling, twinkly, bleep-blooping record with an expansive thesis statement. This is all about everything that I love…from my boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, who won’t talk to me, to my mother, to my friends, to the gays, and also one thing I really hate: the political climate. Taylor’s turn towards “activism” made for some humiliating marketing faux pas with ME!, You Need To Calm Down, and Only The Young…but there’s PLENTY to admire here. Has anyone heard of a little song called CRUEL SUMMER?

GET WEEKLY BONUS EPISODES ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/swiftologist In 2014, TIME put Taylor Swift on the cover and asked her about feminism, business, and the growing Girlboss empire she was engineering. This week we're reading The Power of Taylor Swift through 2026 eyes: her #THISISWHATAFEMINISTLOOKSLIKE era, 1989, and her move to New York City. This is lowkey the moment where she learned to make her life a product in a totally different way. Welcome back to TayRewind!