Obsession
The recurring concern with fixation on another: the compulsive, consuming attachment to a person that persists beyond reason or self-interest. In Taylor's writing the obsession is most often the speaker's, directed at a real or imagined other, and may be framed as desire (Don't Blame Me, Wildest Dreams), as longed-for projection (mirrorball, Mastermind), or as the inability to release a finished relationship (ivy, Down Bad). Folklore archetypes of possession and the price of obsession sit behind several of these treatments.
Appears in 3 songs
Uncle Jerry identifies obsession as one of the song's central thematic investigations, connecting it explicitly to folklore archetypes, the witch obsessed with Rapunzel, the prince obsessed with Cinderella's shoe, King Midas obsessed with gold. He argues the antagonist's cursing of her name and wishing she stayed is evidence of an obsessive attachment that persists even after the relationship has ended. Angela echoes this: 'it's about that cycle of possession and obsession.' The bridge's 'you would still miss me in your bones' and 'stolen lullabies' reinforce this as structural, not decorative.
Angela & Uncle Jerry discuss the uncontrollable, consuming nature of the love as a form of obsession. Uncle Jerry describes it as 'forbidden, uncontrollable, deeply impactful love' whose 'roots are embedded in the dreamland of the House of Stone.' Angela reads 'I can't stop' as 'I can't stop these feelings, the feelings that I have for you and the feelings you have for me.' Uncle Jerry elaborates on the ivy's invasive quality: 'you don't want that invasive spirit, but it just holds on. It clings to you. You don't want this illicit love, but you just can't tear it free from your soul.' The love is figured as something that consumes and overtakes despite resistance.
Angela & Uncle Jerry discuss the speaker's fixation on the stranger after a single meeting, staying up past 2 a.m., pacing, unable to stop thinking about him, praying he isn't taken. Uncle Jerry frames this as the sustained aftermath of 'theia mania', a momentary encounter that produces hours of obsessive wondering. The prayer section ('please don't be in love with someone else') is identified as the culmination of this consuming attachment that persists beyond reason.