Episode 33: Taylor Swift x Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

In this series we are matching Taylor Swift songs to Jane Austen characters and novels! This was highly requested from you all so I’m excited to share this content with you. 

I have split the content up into shorter episodes so you can binge the lot, pick the novels you like the most or enjoy this series in stages. This was a fun series to create, and I am joined by Ann and Martha who have been on the podcast before and are good friends of mine.

Thanks again to our sponsor Haus of Bennet: https://hausofbennet.com/ Use code whatthediscount at the checkout for 15% off!

TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lbg54tnj_g 

Series order: 

Introduction 

Sense and Sensibility (12th March) 

Persuasion (12th March) 

Northanger Abbey  (19th March) 

Emma (19th March) 

Pride and Prejudice (26th March) 

Mansfield Park (26th March) 

We have created Spotify playlist for the series so you can listen to the songs based on the novels!

Where can you find Martha? 

Instagram: @marthabethanreads
Episode 10: Bridgerton Gossip (S1, S2 and the books)
Episode 21: The Mysteries of Udolpho and the Gothic in Northanger Abbey

Where can you find Ann? 

Instagram: @paper.hearts.library & @disneyprincesslessons
Youtube: PrincessLessons YouTube Channel
What the Austen? Episodes: The Disney Princess & Disney Villain series on the podcast 

Transcript

Izzy Meakin  00:00

This is the what the Austin podcast I'm your host Izzy and every episode I am joined by a friend and fellow Jay nice to chat about Jane Austen's work, please follow and subscribe both here on Instagram and on YouTube. It really helps the podcast grow and all your support means so much if you fancy going a little bit further. And once you join the Jane Austen discord chat and have access to extra content such as cheat sheets and early access to episodes, consider joining the Patreon and then become a full fledged member of the jnh hive. I just want to say a big shout out to all of my current Patreon members. You guys honestly keep the podcast going and I love all of our discussions on Jane Austen and the episodes but now let's get into this week's episode

Martha  00:59

Hi, J knights

Izzy Meakin  01:00

and welcome back to the what the Austen podcast and welcome back to the Taylor Swift times Jane Austen journey. Martha and Anna back with me this weekend as we continue on the next novel on the list. The one that we're covering today is Northanger Abbey. Yes.

Ann  01:14

Ready? Yes.

Izzy Meakin  01:16

And would you like to go fast to put you on the spot.

Ann  01:20

So my top one is enchanted. Because I just feel like it absolutely captures Catherine meaning Tilly and she's kind of wide eyed and she was enchanted to meet him and this night is sparkling. And it just has that feel. I think a lot of I think a lot of Northanger Abbey like I actually think it's very like sweet and romantic even though there's all that Gothic stuff. I think that it's just kind of like that wide eyed kind of it's a very sweet romance. So and it's about kind of first meetings and there's not like they hate each other at first like Pride and Prejudice so enchanted to me just really fits that

Martha  01:54

that was my number one as well. That was the first one I wrote down for Northanger Abbey is so perfect you can imagine her getting home and like dancing around and just imagining being with

Ann  02:05

and just kind of like a perfect it's got that fairytale vibe. Yes and like I hope you feel the same way you know, please don't be in love with someone else. Like I just It's perfect. It's just too perfect.

Izzy Meakin  02:18

Yeah, I also put enchanted one is so nothing GAVI isn't it? And one of the things that really stood out to me is when she says about the playful conversation starts counter all your quick remarks. I was like that to Henry and Catherine like when they meet for the first time in the bowl and they kind of got this like witty dialogue going on in Henry's teas and they were about kind of like social norms and stuff. It's really fun also did you guys totally used to jam out so that when you were younger when when the Speak now album came out in chanted enfant they were like, they were like the ones I used to just like totally jam out to them.

Martha  02:55

They used to and sparks fly. Yes. Yeah. And now I've got a bit older and like fully obsessed with last kiss. And the bridge in that where it's like, I watch your life in pictures. Like I used to watch you sleep. Like gets me every time and long lived because I felt like Taylor work that for all her fans. Yeah,

Ann  03:11

that one's a really good one.

Izzy Meakin  03:13

There's some great ones on that slide down.

Martha  03:16

Oh, I can't wait to see this version. So I can play it on repeat guilt free and no, she gets all the royalties.

Ann  03:21

Yes. And I want all of the volt tracks like I'm really excited to hear oh my gosh, I hope we get more and 20 volt tracks because I'm so here for that. He's He's so horrible. And just I love I love it.

Izzy Meakin  03:36

The limit is hilarious.

Ann  03:38

She needs to she needs to serve him again. Because I just He's so rude about like, the way he complains about everything. And just what I've heard that he did to Jessica Simpson and just like everyone who's ever day, this isn't just a Taylor issue. It just sounds like he's like a creep and a narcissist, and I definitely think he and he gets so bothered by the songs that I don't know. It just it needs to happen. We need more.

Martha  04:01

Yeah, I think he's definitely what she wants, whereas Jake Gyllenhaal just shrugged off.

Izzy Meakin  04:09

He's so chill though. I didn't think anything of it

Martha  04:13

off. You can just imagine him doing that. And I really feel like yeah, whatever. But I love that Jamia gets riled up about it.

Ann  04:19

There's this amazing, amazing writer named Anne Lamott, who writes a lot of writing advice books for writers, and she talks about how people feel like, oh, I shouldn't and they shouldn't be inspired by something that happened in real life, or especially if someone acted badly or whatever. And she says she always gives the advice to like her students or when she does workshops, that if someone didn't want to be written about, they should have acted better. She's like, you just need to do

Izzy Meakin  04:48

oh my gosh, that's amazing.

Ann  04:49

So one of my other ones is message in a bottle. Taylor's version read it's one of the vault tracks. And I just think it captures that kind of like wondering what's going on. And and how Catherine like she kind of keeps getting swept away with John and so she's kind of like trying to send this message in a bottle by like looking back and the carriage you know, it's kind of like I really I really wanted to spend time with you, you know, she's trying to get this across like you're the one that I really wanted to spend time with. And so it just, you know, isn't these days I'm restless and you know, I feel like she's kind of restless wanting to you know, spend more time with him and she's just, I don't know, it's just that kind of first glow of feelings because I feel like with Catherine and Henry it's not quite like deep love but it's definitely that like sparkly kind of crashworthy kind of feelings and I think that message in a bottle is such a fun song to to like dance around to and just think about like first crushes and stuff.

Martha  05:44

Yeah, that's a really good pick. I want to always have on I'm like dancing around in my bathroom when I do my skincare.

Ann  05:52

And then my last one is kind of goes along with this too. Let's see this one is from fearless it. Today was a fairy tale. I think that is another cute like sparkly crashworthy kind of song and I think it kind of makes me think about when they go for the walk, and they're talking about books and everything. And I know this is kind of a different meaning but the the line that says, you told me I was pretty when I look like a mess. I feel like that really translates as a good metaphor for the fact that like, he assures her that reading books isn't stupid, and she feels like a mess for like liking books or feels kind of like silly and he's kind of like no, I love books. Like everyone should read books and novels and I don't know it just kind of again that just cute sparkly kind of they had a great day together on that walk.

Izzy Meakin  06:39

Oh my god. I feel like I've just filmed a crush on Henry told me right that when you were just say saying that I was

Ann  06:46

a freshman Henry telling me honestly like he would just be so much fun to flirt with. I love all the banter. It's just I love him. He's just like, he's definitely one of my top Austin guys.

Izzy Meakin  06:56

Yeah, yeah.

Martha  06:57

I also had today was affair. I think we kind of had the same thoughts there. We did. I wrote down all the falling in love anthems for our Catherine because I think that she is actually like, think looking at Taylor Swift music with Northanger Abbey made me realise actually, if you strip away all the rest of the drama, and obviously I love the rest of the drama and nothing grabby and without it it wouldn't really be an awful if you strip it all away. It is kind of a fairy tale story. She's a heroine that's not really a heroine and Jane says that from sentence number one. It says she doesn't she doesn't she she says um, no one who would have seen like Catherine Morland in her youth would have thought she grew up to be a heroine. She like kind of has this fairytale romance where actually, you have like the kind of patriarchal tyrant figure with general tivity Is there any kind of real barrier in the way of their fairytale ending? And obviously they overcome that. So I feel like it is the romance is a lot more fairy tale esque than her other novels because it was quite that part of the plot is quite straightforward. And I think that kind of shows that Austin was obviously it's her first actual novel. And you've she's kind of got that more youthful perspective on things. Yes.

Izzy Meakin  08:06

Oh my god, you I've never seen it that way. But that's actually so true. It's like, how you how you want love to be before you've actually experienced love and it is so easy. Another thing Gaby like I was thinking that especially when we did that, that latest reread buffer, I was thinking, oh my god, compared to Austin's other novels, Katherine has it really easy? Yeah.

Ann  08:23

Well, and it just fearless was kind of like a perfect album for that. Because it's just, it seems like they're in similar places that they're in their lives. You know, Katherine and even Jane Austen. And then Taylor was writing about it, it just kind of has that little sparkle to it.

Izzy Meakin  08:38

Right? It felt like when we were all listening to feel us, we were just like, you know, had no idea or like, obviously real real love was like Unreal. It just felt like well, that's gonna be great. Amazing.

Martha  08:50

So yeah, so I had to have the same ones as am I also had enchanted and today was a fairy tale. And I think that Catherine's favourite album would be fearless, based on just her whole character vibes. So my other song was actually fearless. Because I can totally see her like when she's falling in love with Tony out Northanger Abbey. So obviously, there's like an initial spark at the dark then when she goes to stay with with them, it'll find grabby. You kind of have that kind of that excitement that young love. And I can genuinely see her like dancing in a storm and her best dress with him because I think she just trusts him that much.

Ann  09:23

Yeah, I love it.

Izzy Meakin  09:26

Around to me, I can't Yeah, I'm just getting too much into the conversation. I forget where we're even I would love to keep pulling me back into into where we're even at. See the ones that I have enough hang ABBY I had enchanted like I said before, so we definitely will all match you on that. And then I also picked some from fellas so I got our song. Because I feel like a lot of what you've already said but that kind of easy romance between Henry and Catherine and I feel like him kind of being that even when he knows like, you know things aren't great with Isabella. read stuff. He's always just there like you. I hope you're okay. I'm here for you. And it's a bit like an off. So I'm glad the guy leaves, you know, like roses and stuff on the bed. I feel like Henry would do that. Like he's not fully intervening in the situation, but he's there like, I'm here to support you, you know, I care for you. Yeah, you know, you you deal with your friends situation. But you know, you knew that I'm here. And also are thinking genuine. It says sneaking out late tapping on your window. It made me think about the moment when Catherine's just sneaking around North anchor and she bumps into Henry Yeah,

Ann  10:30

I love it.

Izzy Meakin  10:33

Even though that's not quite as is a fun situation as it sounds in Taylor Swift song, you know, it's still like kind of, you know, meeting meeting late at night and stuff. And then another song that I had wasn't from Phyllis actually was from 1989. And that was wildest dreams. Really, because of the same vibes is enchanted, kind of living in that fairy tale. And obviously, Katherine has a has a tendency to kind of live in a kind of fictional world. And I feel like Wildest Dreams is like very much that it's kind of letting yourself live in the fantasy before kind of reality kicks back in. And I feel like for a lot of time that Catherine spends with Henry is a bit like they it's kind of being swept off your feet. And in wildest dreams as well. It's about like somebody taking you to a different location. And it's a bit like when they go to North anger, and it's kind of this whole, like new world that's kind of magical in Catherine's eyes.

Ann  11:24

I love that and especially to because in the movie version of Northanger Abbey, they really play up those sort of like daydreams that she has, so it even works really well with the movie version.

Izzy Meakin  11:39

Yes, oh my gosh. The Flash, not flashbacks, but some of the like the, the visions that she has about her life so funny, like, the Gothic ones where she's like, lay there and like, why 90 or something? And Henry turns up, like in her room and stuff. Yeah, it's

Ann  11:57

hysterical.

Martha  11:59

I think Nicole sting in that film is so good as well. It is and I love JJ field as Henry Tony because he's also in Austin land, which is one of my things.

Ann  12:08

I love him. You know what's funny is I used to confuse him with Tom Hiddleston. So when Taylor was briefly dating Tom Hiddleston I actually thought she was dating. What is it JJ fields? Is that his name? I thought that she was dating him and I was like, Oh, she's dating and retelling. I was like, oh, no, that's not the right the same guy. I don't know why I confuse them. But I always do. They do look,

Izzy Meakin  12:30

they look really similar. Yeah, I think so. There's also Who's the other person I think it looks really similar to him. Is it the guy from the holiday? Not? Yeah, the holiday? Is it the holiday? Yeah. Oh, it's the guy holiday

Ann  12:41

de la. Yeah, I

Izzy Meakin  12:42

think he looks like dude. Honestly, like, people like I don't see that at all is even honestly, every time I get them confused so much. That's funny. I did what we said about JJ fields they just looks like other people other than poor guy. Okay, do we have any extra ads for North Langer

Martha  13:03

my only Bonus track that I wrote down was jump watch. I had to I had jumped then fall. Which I love. It's one of my favourite tracks from fitness. Because I feel like I feel like both of them could kind of send that to the other. They both kind of like trusting each other. And then my other one, which is kind of a little bit sexier than Northanger Abbey is I think he knows. Because there's no way that tilde he doesn't know the whole time that Catherine is completely obsessed. Yes. So that one I thought suits him really well. He is fully aware. But what I really like because he's not like a wick and more Willoughby. He never takes advantage of that. But he's so gentlemanly the whole way through. Even though he knows that Katherine has a massive crush on him.

Ann  13:46

I think he's kind of flattered by it, but it's just like it's cute. He I think he thinks it's cute, but like he really likes her too. I don't know. It's uh, yeah, I

Izzy Meakin  13:54

think it helps that he like

Ann  13:57

exactly. I had one little bonus one that I feel like it's kind of a Catherine theme song like just kind of about her. And it's a place in this world from Taylor Swift's debut album, self titled debut album. And I really like part of the chorus because it says I'll be strong and I'll be wrong, which we know she's wrong. Oh, but life goes on. I'm just a girl trying to find my place in this world. And I feel like that that chorus is just perfect for kind of like Katherine's whole vibe. She's just trying to find your place in this world.

Izzy Meakin  14:28

So true. Like her navigating navigating adulthood. Yeah,

Ann  14:32

and you know, she'll be wrong sometimes but she's going to try to be strong and just and I feel like she really does gain a lot of strength throughout the course of the book and I love that about her she starts to learn to set boundaries and which is great. It's so fun to see her growth even though she doesn't have like this. Like really wild grows where she becomes this, you know, strong action heroine or anything but she really does learn to set boundaries for herself and she does grow up a bit and I love that about

Izzy Meakin  14:57

her. Yeah, I totally feel that So I didn't have any bonus tracks for Northanger Abbey. But I did. I've got a little note here I've just realised because I forgot this when we were talking about enchanted. But one of the words from enchanted that I think really is like, if you could have a word that kind of encapsulates Katherine's feelings about Henry I feel that that's wonderstruck Oh, yeah, I feel that's exactly how she is about the whole situation. But then it also got me thinking I don't know if you guys had the perfume that Taylor Swift like the Taylor Swift perfume that came out that was called one destructed either if you have that

Ann  15:33

I have asthma so I can't do perfume but I remember seeing it and wanting it because the bottle is so pretty.

Izzy Meakin  15:38

It was so good. I honestly loved it and it actually smell really good. I think that was like the first ever like proper perfume. I just put a note about it because when I was listening, like re listening to the to the song to pull lyrics from it, I was like, oh my god, I literally I remember that perfume that was so good. That's fine. That's another novel covered off. So we're on a roll guy. The M episode is already out. So you can go ahead and listen to that straight after this one if you want to. I hope you're enjoying this content. As always, Anna Martha's information will be tagged below so that you can find them outside of the podcast. And if you want to follow me at what the Austin I would love to see you over on Instagram, that will be great. A special thanks to all my Patreon and the JNA tribe. Your support means so much as always, and I love all of our chats and conversations over on the discord chat. So that's everything from me today and I will see you in another episode.