Taylor Swift has been widely hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of her generation. Not only are her songs catchy and meaningful, but they almost always tell an incredible, lively story. In particular, the songs that describe beautiful relationships and heart-wrenching breakups reach a level of storytelling that few other artists can aspire to. And because these songs tell such descriptive stories, it’s only natural that fans might apply the songs to other circumstances — other characters, other couples, other stories. And so, with The Swiftie Project series, Swifties within Daily Arts break down every romantic Taylor Swift song from every released album and match them to various fictional couples. The tenth part in this series contains songs from her tenth and most recent album: Midnights. Most songs from this album have been included, although “Anti-Hero,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” “Vigilante Shit” and “Dear Reader” have been omitted, due to their more personal, non-romantic stories.
“Lavender Haze” — Enola Holmes and Viscount Tewkesbury, Enola Holmes franchise
I’ve been under scrutiny / You handle it beautifully
Some of the best fictional couples are comprised of a woman who has brains, beauty and strength and a man who is utterly smitten by her. Take Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”) and Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge, “Paddington 2”): She’s a detective who doesn’t need a man, and he’s an elite whose family would probably prefer that he find a traditional woman. And yet, he’s constantly in awe of Enola and distinctly unable to walk away from her. He doesn’t care about what others think. He’s just happy to be with her — I guess you could say that he’s just happy to be in the “Lavender Haze,” ignoring the remarks of the public and the standards that society and propriety would dictate. Taylor Swift explained what it means to be in the lavender haze: “You’ll do anything to stay there … and not let people bring you down off of that cloud.” Whether that means “dodging weird rumors,” in Taylor Swift’s case, or ignoring society’s expectations in Enola and Tewkesbury’s case, being in the lavender haze — being in the glowy, happy feeling that is love — is the solution.
Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imami can be reached at simami@umich.edu.
“Maroon” — Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore, “The Vampire Diaries”
I see you every day now / And I chose you / The one I was dancin’ with
Oh, Elena and Damon. I won’t say they’re my favorite vampire couple, because if you’ve been following the Swiftie Project you know I have a lot of those, but they come pretty damn close. They’re star-crossed in the best way: Elena is fated as a doppelgänger to be with her first love, Stefan, who is Damon’s brother, but pesky/sexy Damon just keeps her coming back for more. They go from enemies to friends to lovers in a way that led me and my roommates to literally scream at the television screen. Damon can and will charm anything that moves; Elena claims to be resisting his flirtations, but of course that’s impossible. They’re never really platonic: Even when they’re in their “friends” phase, the lyrics “Laughing with my feet in your lap / Like you were my closest friend” hint at the romantic undertones and undeniable sexual tension that exists between them. And, unlike Elena and Stefan, Elena and Damon actually have fun. I can really see Elena saying “How’d we end up on the floor anyway?” and Damon replying “Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that’s how” (except, of course, replace “your roommate” with “my brother/your ex” and “cheap-ass screw-top rosé” with “expensive bourbon from a crystal decanter”). The best part is finding ways this song really could reference these two: “And I chose you” (Elena must choose between the brothers), “The mark you saw on my collarbone” (Hello? Vampire bite, anyone?) and even “That’s a real fuckin’ legacy to leave” (true VD fans know of the spin-off called “Legacies”). Anyway, thank you to Taylor and to The Michigan Daily for allowing me to write about (almost) all of my favorite vampire couples.
Daily Arts Writer Emilia Ferrante can be reached at emiliajf@umich.edu.
“Snow on the Beach” — January Andrews and Augustus Everett, “Beach Read”
I can’t speak, afraid to jinx it / I don’t even dare to wish it
Emily Henry herself declared “Snow on the Beach” as the Midnights song that represents January and Gus from “Beach Read,” and while I can’t find the Instagram story to back up this claim, the next best thing I can do is prove to you that she’s correct (Emily, on the off chance that you read this blurb, please confirm that you said this, and I didn’t make it up). For January Andrews, “life is emotionally abusive” — her father died, she learned he was cheating on her mom, she has a massive case of writer’s block and has to live next to her college nemesis Gus for the summer. Obviously, there’s a mutual attraction that undermines their rivalry, but January would still say that Gus wanting her feels impossible. She’s afraid to let herself fall for Gus because if it doesn’t work out, that would be yet another source of heartbreak in her life. And yet … well, it’s a rom-com. I bet you know where I’m going with this.
Taylor Swift said the song is about two people falling for each other at the exact same time, and how “weird, but fucking beautiful” that can be. The idea of January and Gus as a couple might seem strange at first, since they’re polar opposites — she writes romance novels and believes in happily ever after; he specializes in gritty literary fiction and is a certified grump. But somehow, they fit together perfectly. While I know enough about weather to know that snow falling can’t actually calm turbulent waves, that’s how I picture these two. They each have their own anxieties churning within them, but the presence of the other makes it all seem quieter, more bearable.
Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.
“Midnight Rain” — Cristina Yang and Owen Hunt, “Grey’s Anatomy”
He wanted a bride / I was making my own name / Chasing that fame / He stayed the same
When I think back on the female characters I most desperately wanted to be as a child, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”) is one of the first that comes to mind. She’s funny, sarcastic, confident and, above all, determined — always going after what she wants no matter what obstacles lie in her path. It’s this very characteristic that made me admire her so much growing up and is also what made viewers so doubtful that she would ever find a guy that matched her energy and drive. Though the writers of “Grey’s Anatomy” attempted to pair her with many different characters, each relationship always ended the same: with Cristina’s personal goals and aspirations overpowering her need for a partner. This same principle applied to her relationship with Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd, “Brave”), who managed to steal her heart throughout their years-long relationship, but not her ambition. Owen wanted to get married and have a child, both things which filled Cristina with dread. Though they did end up getting married, Cristina was unwavering on her resistance to having children, and when she made the choice to terminate an accidental pregnancy, Owen’s anger and frustration reached their peak. Eventually, this conflict ended their marriage. Just as Taylor Swift’s “Midnight Rain” states, Cristina was too busy chasing surgical fame and focusing on her career to be the perfect bride and wife that Owen so desperately wanted. Their relationship was doomed from the start.
Daily Arts Writer Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu.
“Question…?” — Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington, “Stranger Things”
Did you wish you’d put up more of a fight, oh / When she said it was too much? / Do you wish you could still touch her?
The beginning of Steve Harrington (Joe Keery, “Free Guy”) and Nancy Wheeler’s (Natalia Dyer, “Yes, God, Yes”) relationship was a blossoming enchantment of wholesomeness. Steve was the cool, popular boy at Hawkins High School, while Nancy was the smart girl next door. However different their personalities and interests were, Steve was enamored by Nancy, and Nancy was similarly in love with Steve. But as the first season of “Stranger Things” progressed, and Nancy spent an increasing amount of time with Will Byers’s (Noah Schnapp, “The Tutor”) older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton, “The New Mutants”), she eventually fell for Jonathan’s nerdy antics, replacing Steve’s recklessness with a seemingly loving relationship in which she believed she was more understood. But, as the third and fourth seasons of the series rolled around, it was evident that Steve hadn’t been able to get over Nancy, and season four features a number of scenes in which Nancy double-takes as several interactions she has with Steve send their chemistry skyrocketing. Their reignited spark, especially on Steve’s part, has both of them mentally asking themselves what would’ve happened if Steve had dedicated a bit more devotion to developing their relationship, whether they’d still be together if he had only put up more of a fight. If he had, he probably would still be able to touch her, as he so desperately yearns to do.
Daily Arts Writer Graciela Batlle Cestero can be reached at gbatllec@umich.edu.
“Bejeweled” — Elle Woods and Warner Huntington III, “Legally Blonde”
What’s a girl gonna do? / A diamond’s gotta shine
At the start of “Legally Blonde,” Elle (Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”) was the perfect girlfriend to Warner (Matthew Davis, “The Vampire Diaries”), only for him to unceremoniously dump her before heading off to law school. Unfortunately, she was so in love with him at the time that she didn’t even notice how much he honestly sucked. Still hung up on him, she studies hard and aces the LSAT to get into Harvard to be with him. She devotes all of this time and effort to try and win back Warner, to earn the respect of her professors and peers and does “all the extra credit,” only to get “graded on a curve.” No one takes her seriously, unable to look past her surface-level frivolity and bright spirit. Yet, in spite of the fact that people repeatedly assume that she’s dumb and superficial, she outshines everyone else with her kindness, tenacity, brilliance and all-around scene-stealing outfits (it’s actively hard for hot pink to not stand out in a sea of monotonous black and grayscale suits). Maybe Warner was the reason she initially went to law school, but she stays and puts in the work because she realizes that she has potential, that she could be so much more than what everyone else confines her into being without sacrificing one bit of her sparkly personality — glitz and glam be damned.
TV Beat Editor Serena Irani can be reached at seirani@umich.edu.
“Labyrinth” — Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, “Stranger Things”
I’m falling in love / I thought the plane was going down / How’d you turn it right around?
“Stranger Things” has a funny habit of introducing new characters at the start of a new season and then immediately killing them off by the time it ends. Normally it doesn’t bother me (I don’t really have time to get emotionally attached), but in the case of Bob Newby (Sean Astin, “The Goonies”), I cried like a baby as I watched him get ripped apart by Demodogs. His tender relationship with Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder, “Beetlejuice”) was one of the hallmarks of the show’s second season and was everything Joyce needed after going through hell to save her son. Understandably, Joyce was heartbroken after losing Bob, isolating herself from the people who cared about her most. This included Hawkins’s caring, protective police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour, “Violent Night”), whose relationship with Joyce had always toed the line between “just friends” and “something more.” He was there for Joyce and her family through it all and was one of Joyce’s closest friends even after losing Bob. Though it was apparent from episode one of the series that these two were eventually going to end up together, by the end of the show’s third season, not even the most cynical viewer could deny the feelings they had for one another. For Joyce, this meant a whole heck of a lot of hesitation: Could she ever really love again after Bob? Was being happy with Hopper doing wrong by him? She had to wrap her head around the fact that she could love and miss Bob, while still allowing herself to be happy with Hopper. It was a startling realization for her, but as Taylor Swift’s “Labyrinth” says, sometimes someone comes along who can turn even the darkest situation into something great.
Daily Arts Writer Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu.
“Karma” — Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt, “Parks and Recreation”
Ask me what I learned from all those years / Ask me what I earned from all those tears / Ask me why so many fade, but I’m still here
One of the most believable, most perfect TV pairings is Leslie and Ben from “Parks and Recreation.” If anyone knows about karma, it’s them. After quite the slow burn from disagreeing coworkers to unlikely friends, their forbidden relationship began in secret, as Ben (Adam Scott, “Severance”) was Leslie’s (Amy Poehler, “Mean Girls”) boss. Through secret kisses in the office, stolen glances, moments in corners and embraces in the dark, they manage to grow their love. Eventually though, their sneaking around comes back to them when Leslie is approached with an offer to run for city council. Ben and Leslie break up, for the sake of both their careers and Leslie’s dream, but never stop loving each other. They learn they can not live apart. In a risky move, Leslie appoints Ben as her new campaign manager, forgoing tradition and expectations. Once again, karma, the relentless force, comes for them when their boss Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe, “The Outsiders”) puts them both on trial in the middle of Leslie’s campaign for having a relationship and breaking the rules of the department. But, as Taylor Swift so elegantly writes, “Ask me what I learned from all those years / Ask me what I earned from all those tears / Ask me why so many fade, but I’m still here / (I’m still, I’m still here).” And they’re still here. Through trials, secrets and distance, Ben and Leslie stay completely and unabashedly in love with one another. Because for Leslie and Ben, “Karma’s a relaxing thought.”
Style Beat Editor Constance Meade can be reached at meadecc@umich.edu.
“Sweet Nothing” — James Potter and Lily Potter, Harry Potter franchise
They said the end is coming / Everyone’s up to something/ I found myself running home to your sweet nothings
When I tell people that my favorite couple from the Harry Potter books is James and Lily Potter, they usually look at me with a lot of confusion, which makes sense. We don’t really get much information about their relationship in the original seven books beyond the fact that they met at Hogwarts and dated in their seventh year. However, one of the most beautiful things about the modern Harry Potter fandom is that, for us, the canon material is simply a jumping-off point. Thanks to the highly dedicated Marauders fandom, a host of characters who were barely given a second thought in the original books and movies have taken on a life of their own. In the case of James and Lily, through some intense fanfiction and “fanon” material, they have become possibly the most adorable slow burn, enemies-to-lovers arc (in which the guy fell first and harder) of all time. Yet, there’s one piece of this pair’s canon story that is pretty much nonnegotiable: their deaths at the hands of Voldemort, who put the entire Wizarding World through a brutal war during James and Lily’s young adulthood. Though they were deeply in love, they were forced to risk their lives day in and day out to fight for the kind of world they wanted their son to grow up in. In a funny way, this only strengthened their relationship. As Taylor Swift’s “Sweet Nothing” says, they retreated to the warmth of each other’s arms even as things got worse and worse. Neither needed anything from the other except the promise of comfort and safety, and they both did everything they could to protect each other and Harry even in their final moments.
Daily Arts Writer Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu.
“Mastermind” — Bianca Stratford and Cameron James, “10 Things I Hate About You”
What if I told you none of it was accidental / And the first night that you saw me / nothing was gonna stop me?
From the night Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Angels in the Outfield”) sees Bianca (Larisa Oleynik, “The Baby-Sitters Club”), he is in love, and nothing — not even Bianca’s strict father or obstinate sister — can stop him. Upon his quick turnaround to learning French to tutor Bianca, get close to her and ask her on a date, Cameron discovers the family rule that both Stratford daughters, including the beyond-reach misandrist Kat (Julia Stiles, “Save the Last Dance”), cannot have a boyfriend if the other is single. He crafts a master plan to get Bianca to love him back. True to Taylor’s motivations in this song, Cameron becomes a mastermind to ward off lifelong loneliness. Taylor describes how she has been “scheming like a criminal” since childhood, but now, her “Machiavellian” nature is justified, with a chance for true love rather than empty promises. Cameron has moved nine times in 10 years, yet instantly knows that loving Bianca can help him find what he is missing.
Cameron is relentless in his attempt for Bianca to fall for him, his aforementioned French crash course, having his friend Michael (David Krumholtz, “The Santa Clause”) enlist Bianca’s more nefarious suitor, Joey (Andrew Keegan, “O”), to pay bad-boy Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger, “Brokeback Mountain”) to date Kat while learning all he can about Kat to get the master plan to work. He hopes the plan will work like “dominoes cascading in a line.” He carefully places each domino before they are quickly knocked off course. Cameron often wonders if his plan was worth it, as Bianca can be frighteningly self-centered (or just tired of Cameron’s fawning) and seems to fall for the completely wrong guy. In the film’s final moments, Cameron gets the girl, Bianca stands up to Joey’s sleaziness (leaving him on the ground) and Kat and Patrick fall in love. Maybe Cameron is more of a mastermind than he thought.
Senior Arts Editor Kaya Ginsky can be reached at kginsky@umich.edu.
“The Great War” — Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry Potter franchise
My hand was the one you reached for / All throughout the Great War
I’m a strong believer that romance would perish in its entirety without the friends-to-lovers trope. What makes the trope’s relationships all the more desperately enchanting is when they’re slow-burnt into our devotedly fan-coded minds. In my humble opinion, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, “Little Women”) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint, “Knock at the Cabin”) were one of the pioneer couples of the beloved friends-to-lovers trope, experiencing intense levels of mutual tension from childhood well into their late teenage years. They initially hated each other, then became best friends and were simultaneously jealous of each other when they were in relationships with different people, until they finally got together in the end. But their happily ever after was not without hardships. Their friendship with Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe, “Guns Akimbo”) placed them at great risk in the Wizarding World, and once the Battle of Hogwarts rolled around, they had to fiercely fight side by side to defend the honor of both their cherished school and their best friend. Hand in hand, they weathered the war together, never leaving the other’s side and finally recognizing that their love had been ever-present all along, they had just been too stubborn to notice it. It wasn’t until their lives were in imminent danger that they were able to completely surrender to their feelings for each other, but boy, oh boy did it lead to the cutest love story!
Daily Arts Writer Graciela Batlle Cestero can be reached at gbatllec@umich.edu.
“Bigger Than The Whole Sky” — Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, “Rogue One”
Every single thing to come has turned into ashes
“Bigger Than The Whole Sky” is an intensely final song, outlining a tragedy so great that there’s no sense in rationalizing it. Instead, it sits with its own sadness and accepts the fact that “it’s all over now.” This makes it the perfect song to describe Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones, “Inferno”) and Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna, “Andor”) relationship in “Rogue One.” Both characters are hardened criminals who instinctively mistrust one another when they first meet. But after teaming up to undertake a high-stakes mission for the rebellion, they start to find real solace in one another, laying the foundations for what could become a truly excellent relationship. Before anything can be made official, their mission comes to an end. It’s successful, but only because they sacrifice themselves for the sake of the rebellion. Jyn and Cassian — spoiler alert — die at the end of “Rogue One,” when the Death Star destroys the planet they find themselves on. It’s really, really sad — a lot like “Bigger Than the Whole Sky.” Much like the song, the characters accept the tragedy of it all, knowing that their survival is simply “not meant to be.” All that they can do is sit and watch everything “(turn) to ashes.” It’s crushingly sad, but there is some solace in the fact that they die in each other’s arms, both of them finally having found real connection with another person. They accept their fate, knowing that their relationship was “more than just a short time” — it was a beautiful, gratifying thing. Not only that, but it made the galaxy a better place. By teaming up, Jyn and Cassian were able to thwart the empire and contribute to a future of galactic peace. Their relationship was a lot more than an alliance or a romance, it was a spark of hope in the midst of a bloody war. As they wait for the end to come, their love is most definitely “bigger than the whole sky” — it’s a sacrifice that changes the course of galactic history.
Daily Arts Writer Lola D’Onofrio can be reached at lolad@umich.edu.
“Paris” — Emily Cooper and Gabriel, “Emily in Paris”
Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours / Levitate above all the messes made
When original girlboss Emily Cooper moved to Paris for her marketing job, she had no idea what her new life had in store. She begins to blog under the name @EmilyInParis and makes waves in the industry. Unfortunately, for viewers, “all the outfits were terrible / 2003 unbearable” — but that’s not the point of this blurb. Emily begins her Parisian affair with, well, a Parisian affair. She meets Gabriel after accidentally attempting to break into his apartment, and was “taken by the view.” Gabriel, however, is dating Camille, but this doesn’t exactly put a stop to the romance at hand. Emily is “so in love” that she “might stop breathing,” and Gabriel isn’t doing anything to better the situation. The two “levitate above all the messes made” (most of which were their doing, of course) for the entirety of the show’s three seasons, but keep going back to each other nonetheless. After all, “romance is not dead if you keep it just yours.”
Daily Arts Writer Lillian Pearce can be reached at pearcel@umich.edu.
“High Infidelity” — Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, “Daisy Jones & The Six”
High infidelity / Put on your records and regret me
To give into temptation is an extremely human defeat. The protagonists of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling novel “Daisy Jones & The Six” know all about the impossible task that is to refrain from giving into temptation, especially when it’s of a romantic and sexual nature. Although happily married to Camila Dunne (Camila Morrone, “Valley Girl”), Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin, “Me Before You”) can’t help but be tempted by captivating starlet Daisy Jones (Riley Keough, “Zola”) when she first collaborates with his band “The Six” on their first record-breaking single, “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb).” Once the single topped the charts, asking Daisy to become an official member of the band was a no-brainer. But, even if he eventually caved, Billy was against the prospect of Daisy joining “The Six.” No one understood why this tested his patience so much, but it was a matter of really looking into the situation and understanding that, for Billy, Daisy represented every temptation he was unable to resist. Their chemistry was unparalleled, and they have several very tense moments of magnetism that rendered them both speechless. But when all was said and done, everyone, including Billy and Daisy, knew that Billy would never leave Camila. So Daisy did what every anguished rockstar would do: She wrote a gut-wrenching heartbreak song and, after making everyone on the band vote, forced Billy to include it in the final cut of their iconic album Aurora. Much like Swift’s “High Infidelity” demands that the heartbreaker regrets the heartbroken, Daisy made herself unforgettable to Billy by writing “Regret Me” as inspired by his inability to admit his true feelings for her, wickedly stringing her along for his own entertainment.
Daily Arts Writer Graciela Batlle Cestero can be reached at gbatllec@umich.edu.
“Glitch” — Monica Geller and Chandler Bing, “Friends”
We were supposed to be just friends
Monica (Courteney Cox, “Scream”) and Chandler (Matthew Perry, “17 Again”) are one of, if not the, best sitcom couples to ever exist. That’s a hill I will die on. The reveal that they slept together for the first time in London got such an explosive reaction from audiences that it’s no surprise these two became a fan-favorite couple. Referring to their relationship as a “Glitch” is fitting from the opening lines of the song — like the speaker and her lover, Chandler and Monica never thought of themselves as anything more than friends, maybe a casual hookup at most. But the universe (re: the writers) had other ideas, though, and we’re all the better for it. Shortly after these two begin sneaking around, it becomes clear that their connection is more than just a glitch. Taylor Swift sings, “the system’s breaking down,” meaning that her relationship is becoming more serious and permanent … and as we all know, Monica and Chandler are endgame. They face a few bumps in the road, like Chandler’s poor track record in relationships and Monica’s control issues, but they’re still easily one of the healthier couples on “Friends.” God, I love these two.
Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu.
“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” — Lydia Bennet and George Wickham, “Pride and Prejudice”
Give me back my girlhood / It was mine first
God help me, there’s not a literary man on this earth more despicable and contemptible than George Wickham. A foot soldier in the British militia good for nothing more than flirting and gambling, Wickham manages to half-heartedly and yet maliciously court no less than three women in the “Pride and Prejudice” calendar year — a scandalous rate for Austenian times — with the final and most tragic affair being with one Lydia Bennet. A young, naive and, yes, sometimes obnoxious girl, Lydia was well-known for being fun-loving and a bit of a flirt. When she stumbled into his path, she was a child of only 15. Yet he didn’t hesitate to do what he did best, taking complete advantage of her youth and lack of connections and extorting what he could out of her family and friends. Throughout the many different adaptations of the original “Pride and Prejudice” novel that have emerged throughout the years, Lydia is oft portrayed as a nuisance who the Bennet family is better off without, set on dragging them all to embarrassment and financial ruin. But in reality, while her outgoing personality can be grating, she was a child who was grossly taken advantage of and, at times, neglected by her own family members. All I can say is that Lydia Bennet, no matter her flaws, deserved better, and this powerful condemnation from Swift against a similarly gross relationship puts that into words perfectly.
Senior Arts Editor Annabel Curran can be reached at currana@umich.edu.
“Hits Different” — Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore, “Gilmore Girls”
Movin’ on was always easy for me to do / It hits different / It hits different ’cause it’s you
If you’ve seen “Gilmore Girls,” then you know that even though Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham, “Parenthood”) has dated quite a few guys, only one really matters: Luke Danes (Scott Patterson, “Saw V”). These two basically invented the will they/won’t they dynamic. It takes almost five seasons for them to get together, after which they break up a few times and date other people before they finally (finally) end up together for real in the final episode of the series, and they remain happily together in the revival series “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.” The greatest obstacle in their way throughout the original series is that Lorelai is usually dating other men. Whether it was a serious relationship with Max Medina (Scott Cohen, “Love & Other Drugs”), a return to her toxic relationship with Rory’s (Alexis Bledel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”) father Christopher (David Sutcliffe, “Proof”) or other small flings, Lorelai is usually with someone else, causing her to overlook Luke’s (very obvious) interest. However, when Luke and Lorelai find their way to each other, it’s clear that this relationship is different — it matters in a way that her past relationships didn’t. This, of course, only makes it harder when they break up for the first time after Lorelai’s parents’ vow renewal in season five. The Target edition bonus track “Hits Different” perfectly describes the feeling of losing a relationship that means more to you than any other past relationship, and seeing Lorelai crying in her bed, heartbroken at Luke’s departure, visualizes that devastation. Luke and Lorelai do get a happily ever after (thankfully), but that scene is hard to forget. Needless to say, “Hits Different” is their song — after all, isn’t Lorelai Gilmore the “argumentative, antithetical dream girl”?
Daily Arts Writer Sabriya Imami can be reached at simami@umich.edu.
From all of us Swifties, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for following along with us as we created The Swiftie Project!