Released: 2024
Grounded in complex layers of allegory and emotional entanglement, “Cassandra” by Taylor Swift is a testament to the artist’s innate aptitude for storytelling. Primarily, the song unfolds the narrative of an ignored prophetess, a reference to Greek mythology’s Cassandra, who despite her gift of accurately predicting disastrous events was cursed never to be believed.
“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“- Swift begins the song by setting a tone of tranquility being abruptly interrupted, paralleling the abrupt changes in Cassandra’s life when her prophecies started being ignored.
When Swift belts, “When the first stone’s thrown there’s screaming, In the streets there’s a raging riot, When it’s ‘burn the bitch’, they’re shrieking, When the truth comes out it’s quiet“, she’s using the riot as a metaphor to illustrate the pandemonium and hysteria that often precedes the revelation of uncomfortable truths. The use of the phrase “‘burn the bitch’” is a reference to witch hunting, depicting aggressive public backlash towards those who dare to expose unpalatable realities.
The chorus “So they killed Cassandra first, Cause she feared the worst and tried to tell the town” reinforces the cycle of ignorance, where the society condemned the oracle before realizing the validity of her words. The metaphorical ending of “filling her cell with snakes“, is a play on Aeschylus’s tragedy Agamemnon, where Cassandra is violated in the altar of Athena by Ajax, represented as ‘snakes’.
“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“, the song eventually culminates in a rebuke targeted at the bystanders, the ones who chose not to intervene or heed Cassandra’s warnings. The “Christian chorus line” signifies the moralistic societies that often uphold appearance over truth.
Swift’s song is rife with indignation and a haunting sense of vindication in the line, “You can mark my words that I said it first, In a mourning warning no one heard“. It’s a somber assertion of being right about a prophecy, despite the pain that accompanies it.
As the song rolls to an end, maintaining a somber, haunting melody with “Not a single word was heard, When the first stone’s thrown there’s screaming, In the streets there’s a raging riot, When it’s ‘burn the bitch’, they’re shrieking, When the truth comes out it’s quiet, It’s so quiet“. Swift poignantly draws attention to the contrast between the chaotic backlash and the quiet subsiding of the truth.
“Cassandra” by Taylor Swift is more than just a song; it’s a lyrical commentary on the societal reluctance to accept uncomfortable truths, voiced for the modern audience through Swift’s storytelling prowess.
