Shortly before Swift dropped Evermore, she confessed to EW that Folklore was inspired by storylines in films she watched during COVID quarantine. Stands to reason that her latest album, Evermore, which Swift called a "deeper" wandering into the "folklorian woods" from which Folklore was crafted, is inspired by the same storylines (via Twitter). One Reddit commenter drew parallels between "Tolerate It" and the character "Rebecca" in the book by Daphne du Maurier. "Taylor mentioned it in her Rolling Stone interview w Paul McCartney," muses the Reddit comment, "and a HUGE part of the novel is the wife feeling dejected because her husband barely notices her."
Other comments notice haunting similarities between "Tolerate It" and Princess Diana and Prince Charles' relationship as portrayed in The Crown. "Taylor did say she'd been watching The Crown," another Redditor pointed out. And, as a YouTube comment alleges, the lyrics do seem to be "so accurate to their relationship." There's the age difference that, for one. The 12 years that separated Charles and Diana may well have led Diana to believe, as Swift sings, "You're so much older and wiser than I" (via Genius). And then there's Charles' infamous infidelity, that Diana may well have overlooked. "I greet you with a battle hero's welcome, I take your indiscretions all in good fun, I sit and listеn I polish plates until they gleam and glisten," sings Swift. Mystery solved? You decide. That, after all, is the beauty of art.
