Originally appeared on E! Online
Taylor Swift truly gave everything with her new album.
The "Fortnight" singer's 11th album The Tortured Poets Department is finally here, and with it are tons of new lyrics to decode. Among the subtle callouts to her past relationship with Joe Alwyn, which eagle-eyed fans even pointed out may be given a nod in the album's title, and perhaps even brief flame Matty Healy, she also has plenty of historical references in her new songs.
For one, Clara Bow, a silent film star better known for being the original ‘It' girl (a name coined because she starred in a movie called It), earned the title of the album's 16th track. She is only the latest and greatest of Taylor's references to 20th century socialites. In fact, the "Karma" singer's intrigue in 1920s culture dates all the way back to her first breakup album Red, and permeates throughout her discography with references to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rebekah Harkness, Richard Burton and more.
However, Tortured Poet's "Clara Bow" is perhaps her most layered historic reference yet—as she spins her references all the way back to herself in modern day by making a reference to herself, and uses some hyper-specific callouts while singing about the pressures of stardom.
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In the song, the speaker tells someone that they look like Clara, before replacing the lyric with Stevie Nicks in 1975 in the following verse, and eventually saying the subject looks "like Taylor Swift," implying that they could be a fresh face ready to replace her.
"This town is fake but you're the real thing," Taylor sings on the track. "Breath of fresh air / Through smoke rings / Take the glory, give everything / Promise to be dazzling."
And like prior songs including Red's "Nothing New" and "The Lucky One" where Taylor sings of the anxiety that comes with the fickleness of fame, Taylor switches tones to speak of the not-so-sparkly parts of these supposed "It" girls' lives.
"Beauty is a beast that roars," Taylor continues. "Down on all fours / Demanding more / Only when your girlish glow flickers just so / Do they let you know / It's hell on Earth to be heavenly."
Taylor is a vocal fan of the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman, so it's not entirely surprising she used the 75-year-old as a motif for dazzling beauty and given everything Taylor herself has achieved at the moment, her own name drop also makes a lot of sense in this context.
As for why Taylor decided to mention Clara? Shortly after the album's track list was announced, Swifties took note that Clara's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is on the cross streets of Sunset and Vine, a location that is referenced in the Reputation song "Gorgeous"—a song all but confirmed to be about meeting, and the very early stages of falling in love, with Joe.
And Clara's career trajectory—while in film—is similar to someone who had a sharp rise to fame before being "replaced" by the next "remarkable" thing. For one, the Brooklyn-born actress was known as a silent film star—leading 46 silent films—before "talkies," or modern movies, came into the picture in the 1930s. While Clara was among the few silent film stars to successfully make the leap into speaking roles—starring in 11 talkies—she ultimately gave up her career after several failed romances led to harsh public scrutiny, and, as Biography describes, "fodder for Hollywood gossip." In 1933, just six years after It made her a sensation, Clara, who although was talented at her craft was regarded as "birdbrained" by studio executives, retired from acting entirely.
Perhaps more interestingly, though, Clara's official retirement came shortly after she tied the knot with her husband Rex Bell after two years of dating. The couple got married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1931, and Rex, who met Clara on the set of a Western film, notably denied marrying his wife to press the following day.
As a 1931 New York Times article reads, "In answering questioners today, intimated that if he and Clara Bow were married or knowledge of marriage became known generally, contracts would be endangered."
Elsewhere in the article, Clara, who had an absent father and a mother who struggled with mental illness, is said to have "announced her intention to cease being a movie queen and start being a cattle queen," in reference to her dedication to her relationship with Rex, as the couple moved onto a cattle ranch.
However, despite Clara giving up her fame, Rex later reentered the spotlight to become a politician. Meanwhile, Clara stayed home to tend to the couple's ranch and care for their two sons. In 1944, distressed by her husband's fame and her own mental health struggles, Clara attempted suicide, according to National Museum of American History.
A few years later, Clara checked herself into a psychiatric institution and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Following treatment, she relocated to Los Angeles to live alone instead of returning home to her family. In September 1965, three years after her husband's passing, Clara died at the age of 60.
As for how Taylor connects to all of this? Although she has not spoken candidly about her mental health outside of music, she did make quite a bit of noise to it faltering throughout TTPD, even satirically saying she was raised in an "asylum" in "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"
The references to Clara and Stevie could be subtle nods at old flames, too. In fact, Matty—who Taylor briefly dated in summer 2023—also lists Stevie as one of his heroes and interviewed the singer in a lengthy 2020 podcast.
The 1975 frontman is also known to be highly referential of old films in his band's music videos—which he conceptualizes. In fact, several of the band's music videos, including "Change of Heart" and "I'm in Love with You," mimic the aesthetic of the silent film era—and even have a female protagonist who somewhat resembles Clara.
Meanwhile, what Taylor and Joe have revealed about their relationship seems to resemble Clara and Rex. For her part, Taylor appears to have written about wanting to marry Joe before their April 2023 breakup, and often spoke highly of him in interviews. However, his tune didn't quite hit the same notes.
"If I had a pound for every time I think I've been told I've been engaged, then I'd have a lot of pound coins," Joe told WSJ Magazine in an article published April 2022. "I mean, the truth is, if the answer was yes, I wouldn't say, and if the answer was no, I wouldn't say."
Read on for more Easter eggs from The Tortured Poets Department.
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