🎆 July: After the storm...

July Dates, Playlist Insights, Throwback Mashups, Summer Recipes and More!

Jul 02, 2024

Dear Reader,

“…something was born on the 4th of July”

Can you believe we’re over halfway through the year? With so much going on, time really is flying. July is another packed month with Eras Tour shows every week. This month also features the anniversary of two Taylor Swift albums and a lot of fun singles! As we enter the height of summer, this newsletter offers a couple of summer recipes (themed of course), plus a playlist to take you through the month. I hope you get all kinds of summer inspo 😎 So enjoy this edition of Dear Reader, and Happy July!

In this newsletter you’ll find:

Pre-Patreon Launch - putting out some feelers
Swiftie July Dates - important dates to keep track of this month
My July Swiftie Playlist - including links and a whistle-stop tour of the playlist and how I curated it
Mashup Throwbacks - bringing back some old faves
July Summer Recipes - “End Game” Popsicles and a “Last Kiss” Smoothie Bowl
Coming Up - fun things to look forward to
- Upcoming Dear Reader Newsletters
- Decoding TTPD Series

Pre-Patreon Launch

Before we get into all of the July Swiftie goodness…I’m planning to launch a Patreon! But first I wanted to put out some feelers and get your thoughts about it. Would you be interested?

I love creating Swiftie content, and I always want to share helpful, informative and fun content with you! I share as much as I can for free, because I love connecting with you, and I truly understand not being in a position to offer monetary support. Your engagement with my content - through likes, follows, comments, shares and messages - honestly means the world to me.

But I would love to create so much more content for you! Monetary donations would help me devote more time to that, and allow me to really cater more to your requests and ideas. One way to monetarily support me is through paid newsletter subscriptions - I’m so grateful for every single paid subscriber to this newsletter! Patreon would offer a wider selection of bonus content and more opportunities to connect with this community.

If you would be interested in donating and supporting me, stay tuned for the launch of my Patreon! And I’d so appreciate any of your thoughts on what you’d like to see in a Patreon community. I’m thinking of bonus rewards like extra curated playlists, mashup requests, and more. What bonus rewards you would be interested in?

Swiftie July Dates

June was packed with Eras Tour dates, and July doesn’t let up at all as Taylor continues on her European leg of the tour. I don’t know how she’s keeping up this pace, but it’s so fun to have so many shows to tune into. Taylor will be in 4 different countries and 6 different cities in July. This month also features the anniversary of two albums, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and folklore, and some fantastic singles as well.

Can you believe it’s been almost a year since we got Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)? I remember it like it was just yesterday. But on the other hand, we’ve also gotten two more albums since then, plus a completely re-imagined Eras Tour. Taylor’s doing so much 😅

folklore also released in July, on July 24, 2020 - which I embarrassingly forgot to include on my July Swiftie Dates post when I shared it on Instagram yesterday 🙈 I don’t know how I left it off - it’s my top favorite album along with evermore. 😭 I’ll never forget listening to folklore for the first time. What a huge surprise and gift that album was for us, especially in the midst of covid and all that was going on in the world. Someone kindly reminded me on TikTok that I was missing folklore’s release, so I added it to my calendar and included it here. As a newsletter subscriber, you reap the benefits of getting the updated version!

What are you most excited about happening this month? Are you clowning for Rep TV on National Snake Day, or anything else? Let me know in the comments!

July Swiftie Playlist

I curated my July Swiftie Playlist to take you on a journey through the month of July. Each song hits on different elements and aspects of summertime, to get you in the summer mood!

I started off with “Slut!” because for me the sound of this song is just the epitome of summer. From the moonlit swimming pool to the clinking of glasses, this song always transports me to a tropical holiday. The playlist flows right into “Death By A Thousand Cuts”, bringing more motion and movement to what started out as quite a serene scene. Then we hit on “End Game” for the 4th of July.

I love the interplay of the following section of songs: the realization of “illicit affairs”; the resignation of “Last Kiss”; the indecision of “imgonnagetyouback”; and the aggravation of “Better Than Revenge”; culminating in the revelry of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”. There’s a lot of links between the songs of this playlist. For example, “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” references big parties - throwing it back to the 4th of July party in “End Game”.

Romance is brought back into the playlist with the writing of “Our Song”, plus the roller coaster fire and heat of “The Way I Loved You” and “I Can See You”. Finally the playlist ends on a bit of a softer note with the nostalgia of “Sweet Nothing”, into golden “Daylight”.

That’s another whistle-stop tour of my July Playlist! I hope you enjoy these insights into how I put my monthly playlists together, and that it enhances your own listening experience. Speaking of…

You can listen to my July Swiftie Playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube. There’s no separate clean versions because it just so happened they weren’t needed for this playlist.

Click here for links to all of my playlists!

Mashup Throwbacks

With everything going on lately, I haven’t had a chance to share any new mashups this month. I actually have a backlog of mashups I need to post, so stay tuned for more. But for this newsletter, I thought I’d re-share some favorite past mashups that I was reminded of after a few of Taylor’s surprise song selections. In case you haven’t listened to them before, or would like to again, check out the links below! The first mashup on this list is actually the very first mashup I ever created and shared:

Taylor sang “Castles Crumbing” for London N2:
Taylor sang the fan fav mashups “Is It Over Now” x “Out Of The Woods” (but she added “Clean” to it for London N3 😭):
- Is It Over Now x Out Of The Woods
- Is It Over Now x Out Of The Woods - full version on SoundCloud
Taylor sang this mashup in Cardiff!
- I Hate It Here x the lakes

Let me know if you have requests for future mashups 🫶

July Summer Recipes: “End Game” Popsicles and a “Last Kiss” Smoothie Bowl

For July, I’m featuring the recipes of two Taylor Swift summer themed treats.

First up are these red, white and blue 4th of July popsicles - to go with “End Game”. These are so fun to make, and super festive for the holiday. The blue layer is frozen blended blueberries + blue spirulina powder (optional). The white layer is plain yogurt (I used Kite Hill’s dairy-free yogurt). And the red layer is blended frozen strawberries.

To make the popsicles, blend the ingredients for the red layer, and pour it into a popsicle mold, about 1/3 of the way. Put in the freezer to set (~1 hour). Then repeat with the white layer, and end with the blue layer.

My second July recipe is this July 9th “Last Kiss” strawberry smoothie bowl. I blended up frozen banana and peaches for the base, and loaded it with summer fruit toppings - strawberries, blueberries, banana flowers, dried apricots, cantaloupe “July” letters, plus some granola for crunch.

Coming Up

Finally, here’s some content to look out for this month! As always I’d love to hear what you’re most interested in seeing - let me know in the comments if you have any ideas and/or requests.

Upcoming Dear Reader Newsletters

💌 June 13th - free for all Dear Reader subscribers
💌 June 22nd - a bonus newsletter for paid subscribers
💌 Eras Tour Roundup newsletters - for paid subscribers
- After each city’s Eras Tour shows, I send out an email rounding up all the highlights - in case you missed anything! This month’s roundups will include the shows in Amsterdam, Zürich, Milan, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg and Munich. Here’s an example of my roundup email for London’ shows - which includes my favorite show highlights 🥹 If you’re interested in receiving these extra emails and supporting this newsletter, you can upgrade your subscription for $5/month or $50/year.

Decoding TTPD Series

I’m behind in updating my Decoding The Tortured Poets Department series, but Part 2 is coming ASAP! Part 1 of the series went up on YouTube last month, along with this accompanying playlist. I’m also working on individual TTPD track breakdowns, from my perspective as a Swiftie and a musician with a doctorate in music 🤓 I can’t wait to dig further into this album with you, there’s so much to discuss! If you’re interested in keeping up with the series, plus other videos from me, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here 🫶

That’s a wrap on this July newsletter! Until next time…

Ooh, you and me, we got big reputations,

Bekah

🎶 Can I Ask You a Question? 🎶

🥳 What are you most excited about happening in July?
🎶 What’s your fav July album and/or song release?
🫶 Would you be interested in joining a Patreon community? What kind of perks/bonus rewards would you like?

Dear Reader