Summary
The themes of Taylor Swift’s
Lover
era are reflected in romances and comedies like
Legally Blonde
,
Red, White & Royal Blue
, and
Barbie
.
Lover
is also when Swift began to speak out about important causes, leading to songs like “The Man” and “You Need To Calm Down.”
Lover’s
themes are evident in movies like
Dirty Dancing
and
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
, embodying high school and summer romances.
When they are done watching Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour on Disney+, there are plenty of movies that reflect the themes and aesthetics of Taylor Swift’s music — Swifties whose favorite era is Lover might try a few particular rom-coms.Lover, Swift’s seventh studio album, is characterized by candy pinks and blues, some high school flashbacks, and the blissful feeling of being in love. The breakup songs are more wistful than angry, and many of the tracks are tangential to the acoustic strums and swaying tune of the album’s title song.
Lover also marks the point in Swift’s career where she began speaking out in support of or against certain political movements, against the advice of her team (according to the Miss Americana documentary). This also led to her songs “The Man” and “You Need To Calm Down.” However, while feminist and LGBTQ+ movies, as well as rom-coms about 20- and 30-something-year-olds scream Lover, there is also a place for teenage flicks. There are even a few rare movies that incorporate some of Swift’s songs from Lover.
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10 Legally Blonde (2001)
Elle Woods dresses like Lover is her favorite album.
Elle Woods’ best outfits in her signature pink, rising to become a successful Harvard lawyer despite everyone who doubted her, and falling in love with the right person after losing the wrong one all fit right in with Lover’s aesthetics and themes. Elle seems like she would have been a massive Swiftie herself if the movie hadn’t come out five years before Swift’s debut album. For plenty of empowerment with style and comedy, Legally Blonde is the right choice. “I Forgot That You Existed” also has vibes of Elle after realizing Warner is beneath her.
9 Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Red, White & Royal Blue is associated with a particular Lover song.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Red, White & Royal Blue is a romantic comedy film based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Casey McQuiston. The film follows the President of the United States son, Alex, and Britain’s Prince Henry, who are at odds over nearly everything. However, the two get into an altercation at a significant event, further causing a divide between the two nations; they are forced to reconcile their differences on paper. But as the two spend time together, their rivalry evolves into something more.
Director Matthew Lopez
Release Date August 11, 2023
Cast Taylor Zakhar Perez , Nicholas Galitzine , Uma Thurman , Stephen Fry , Sarah Shahi , Ellie Bamber
Runtime 121 Minutes
What is perhaps more significant is how “London Boy” is the chosen anthem of the
Red, White & Royal Blue
fandom.
Red, White & Royal Blue is the perfect Lover movie, showing how a completely earnest love story can also change the world. Alex and Henry’s romance conveys the instant chemistry “Lover” and “Paper Rings” speak of. The connection to Swift’s “You Need To Calm Down” is obvious. What is perhaps more significant is how “London Boy” is the chosen anthem of the Red, White & Royal Blue fandom. Overall, Red, White & Royal Blue and Lover have a lot of the same themes — and the book and album colors even have a similar color palette.
8 Ticket To Paradise (2022)
Julia Roberts and George Clooney show how messy love can be.
Ticket to Paradise
Ticket to Paradise is a 2022 romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney and directed by OI Parker. The film revolves around parents David and Georgia Cotton. Despite being divorced, they travel to Bali together to attempt to stop their young daughter’s marriage which they think is a mistake.
Director Ol Parker
Release Date September 20, 2022
Runtime 104 minutes
In Ticket to Paradise, a long-divorced couple think they are all logic and reason, but are reminded of the spark of an illogical romance when their daughter gets engaged to someone she just met, and they travel to Bali to stop the wedding. Julia Roberts and George Clooney’s characters bicker endlessly and are understandably concerned about their daughter’s swift marriage, but their actions are doubtlessly influenced by the unresolved issues in their relationship. Ticket to Paradise’s ending sees the main characters finally letting go of the past and embracing a more Lover era-inspired vision of life and love.
7 Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021)
Words Bubble Up LIke Soda Pop is a colorful movie about poetry and teen romance.
One of the most underrated anime movies, the critically acclaimed Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop is a romantic comedy about a shy boy and a charming girl who have an adorable summer romance. The candy-colored animation could not feel more like Lover if it tried. The protagonists bond over poetry and social media in a way that is more perfect than real high school ever is, which they will look back on fondly years later. There is also a sense of kinship between the poetry-writing main character and the songwriting teenage Taylor Swift.
6 Upgraded (2024)
Upgraded is a rom-com set in London showcasing women in the art world.
Upgraded
Upgraded is a romantic comedy film by director Carlson Young. Camila Mendes stars as Ana, a young aspiring art dealer brought to London during her internship. Along the way, she meets William, a handsome and wealthy young British man.
Director Carlson Young
Release Date February 9, 2024
Cast Camila Mendes , Archie Renaux , Marisa Tomei , Lena Olin , Anthony Head , Saoirse-Monica Jackson
Upgraded is a newer movie showing how different women work the system to rise to the top, while the protagonist has a perfect-from-the-start type of love story. There is another “London Boy” beat with the American protagonist falling in love with a handsome British man she meets on the plane. Ana has a perfect romantic montage, while her career breakthrough comes through pure luck, and other women helping her out. Meanwhile, the rest of the Upgraded cast wear some fantastic ensembles; Claire’s floral pantsuit, the best outfit in Upgraded, even has some Lover-adjacent tones.
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5 Barbie (2023)
Barbie’s colors and themes remind Swifties of Lover.
Barbie
Barbie is a film adaptation of the generational iconic toy directed by Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the script with Noah Baumbach. The film centers on Margot Robbie’s Barbie who is expelled from Barbieland and travels with Ken (Ryan Gosling) to the real world in search of happiness. The film also stars Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, and several other famous celebrities in cameo roles.
Release Date July 21, 2023
Cast Margot Robbie , Ryan Gosling , Simu Liu , Ariana Greenblatt , Helen Mirren , Nicola Coughlan , John Cena , Will Ferrell , Ritu Arya , Michael Cera , America Ferrera , Alexandra Shipp , Kate McKinnon
Runtime 114 Minutes
The transcendental bus bench scene is on par with Swift’s most elegant, contemplative lyrics, and the self-questioning themes of “The Archer” resonate with Margot Robbie’s Barbie character.
Powerful movies like Barbie about womanhood are in tune with the Lover era. However, Greta Gerwig’s masterpiece is especially well-suited because of its color, with the Barbie sets famously causing an international pink paint shortage. Romantic love plays almost no role in Barbie,but it emphasizes self-love and the love between friends and family. The transcendental bus bench scene is on par with Swift’s most elegant, contemplative lyrics, and the self-questioning themes of “The Archer” resonate with Margot Robbie’s Barbie character. Some Swifties on Reddit even argue that Barbie is the perfect Lover movie.
4 Call Me By Your Name (2017)
Timothée Chalamet’s breakout movie illustrates the blissful romance of Lover.
Call Me By Your Name
Based on the 2007 novel of the same name, Call Me By Your Name tells the story of Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), the 17-year-old son of a professor whose life is changed forever when one of his father’s grad students, Oliver (Armie Hammer), comes to stay with his family in Northern Italy during the summer of 1983. Initially indifferent to the older Oliver, the relationship between the two men blossoms into a passionate affair over the course of the summer. Michael Stuhlbarg and Esther Garrel also star.
Director Luca Guadagnino
Release Date January 19, 2018
Runtime 2h 10m
Swift’s career was international long before Lover, but “London Boy” especially paints a picture of a romance happening abroad. On the other hand, “Cornelia Street” also shows how love can be strongly associated with a place (the real Cornelia Street is in New York). Call Me By Your Name depicts Elio’s first summer romance with Oliver, the handsome young man hired to be his father’s research assistant, all while enjoying the landscape of Northern Italy. Elio experiences both the easy, blissful romance and the tear-jerking heartbreak that are expressed through Swift’s Lover songs.
3 Rosaline (2022)
Rosaline’s soundtrack includes an underrated Lover song.
Rosaline
Adapted from the book When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle, Rosaline is a comedy/romance film that tells the untold tale of Rosaline – the ex of Romeo. Kaitlyn Dever stars as Rosaline, an intelligent and witty young woman who happens upon Romeo moving on from her ais and now captivated by Juliet; Rosaline, now scorned, finds herself jealous and concocts a plan to sever their newfound relationship and win Romeo back for herself. However, enlisting the help of those around her, Rosaline’s comedic journey to sever their relationship will find her attempts thwarted until she begins to do some introspection and change course to help the lovers.
Director Karen Maine
Release Date October 14, 2022
Cast Kaitlyn Dever , Bradley Whitford , Isabela Merced , Minnie Driver , Christopher McDonald , Kyle Allen , Sean Teale
Runtime 90 minutes
Lover is not the most period drama-focused era of Swift’s career, but Rosaline features a modern tone and colloquial, present-day dialogue. It also uses the underappreciated song “Paper Rings” for the credits. Rosaline’s depiction of the Romeo and Juliet story might be thought of as how “Love Story” looks 15 years later: Maybe the person the girl thought would be her soulmate didn’t work out, but there is still Shakespearean romance to be had. Along the way, Rosaline also becomes more assured of herself and a better friend to characters such as Juliet and Paris.
2 Dirty Dancing (1987)
Baby and Johnny’s summer romance is a classic coming-of-age story.
Dirty Dancing
Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, Dirty Dancing follows Frances “Baby” Houseman, a young woman on vacation at a summer resort with her family who becomes the unwitting competition partner of one of the resort’s dance instructors, Johnny. As Baby and Johnny’s relationship deepens over the course of the summer, the disapproval of Baby’s family, especially her father, threatens to tear them apart.
Director Emile Ardolino
Release Date August 21, 1987
Cast jennifer grey , Patrick swayze , Jerry Orbach , Cynthia Rhodes , Jack Weston , Jane Brucker
Runtime 100 minutes
For a classic throwback, Baby Houseman’s “cruel summer” adventure of dancing and self-discovery makes for another perfect Lover movie. Baby’s monologue leading up to her saying that she’s scared of never feeling the same way again as how she feels about Johnny resonates with Swift expressing fears about a relationship ending in “Cornelia Street.” The defining lyrics of this song are: “I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends / I’d never walk Cornelia Street again.” However, Dirty Dancing is not just about romance, but about Baby realizing the inequalities that her family implicitly supports.
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1 To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Taylor Swift writes love songs, Lara Jean writes love letters.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Based on the novel by Jenny Han, To All the Boys I Loved Before sees high-school student Lara Jean Covey caught in a terrifyingly awkward situation when her deepest secrets leak out. Lara, who has many passionate crushes, has written confession letters to all of them – with no intention of ever sending them. However, when all five letters somehow reach her five loves, Lara’s high school life becomes an exercise in crisis management as she desperately attempts to gain control of it all.
Director Susan Johnson
Release Date August 17, 2018
Cast Lana Condor , Anna Cathcart , John Corbett , Janel Parrish , Israel Broussard , Noah Centineo
Runtime 102 minutes
Alongside the wistful and pensive songs inspired by Swift’s adulthood, Lover is the era of reminiscing about high school romances, namely because of “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.” However, it is a hazier vision of high school than Fearless presents. The title of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before implies looking romantically into the past, even if it is the present for Lara Jean. The atmosphere, the love letters, and even just the fact that this is a newer high school movie make it the ideal ending to a post-Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour list of Lover movies.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a film rendition of the colossal worldwide event that sees the legendary pop star hit the stage in a specially curated film event. Performing the hits of her over seventeen-year career in music, The Eras Tour highlights Taylor Swift and her team as they put on a show of a lifetime.
Director Sam Wrench
Release Date October 13, 2023
Runtime 170 Minutes
Source: Reddit