Unpacking Taylor Swifts New Song About Her Rhode Island Mansion

Table Of Content

• June 27, 2015: Kloss flies to London to attend the 1989 World Tour
• Taylor Swift Gives Historical Tours of Her Rhode Island Home to Friends and Family
• This is High Watch in Rhode Island, Taylor Swift's seaside mansion.
• December 20, 2015: Kloss shares a highlight video from Swift's 1989 World Tour
• The Last Great American Hideaway: A Brief History of Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island Feud
• All Of Taylor Swift’s Albums Covers, Ranked, from Debut to Tortured Poets Department

Harkness was married to William Hale Harkness, whose family founded the Standard Oil Company. After William's death in 1954, it was reported that Rebekah infuriated her neighbors with her quirky and wild antics. Swift includes details in her song about how Rebekah filled the pool with champagne, threw luxurious parties, and played cards with Salvador Dali. The singer also draws parallels between Rebekah's reputation and her own, especially when it comes to their shared tendency to upset society for not always doing what is expected of them. In the lyrics of Taylor Swift's song, "The Last Great American Dynasty," she tells listeners that her Rhode Island mansion sat empty on the coast for 50 years before she purchased it. She also mentions a woman named Rebekah, and it didn't take fans long to discover that the woman in question was Rebekah West Harkness, an heiress from St. Louis who once owned the property, as reported by The Washington Post.

June 27, 2015: Kloss flies to London to attend the 1989 World Tour

A shocking 1.91 million of those units come from traditional album sales — people purchasing downloads, CDs, cassettes and vinyl. Vinyl accounts for 859,000 units sold, the highest number of vinyl sales in modern history. Originally constructed in the 1830s, the Hotel Chelsea is an impeccable example of Victorian Gothic architecture on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect Philip Hubert, the 12-story hotel on West 23rd Street quickly became a long-term housing co-op for artists, musicians, poets, and other transient types.

Taylor Swift Gives Historical Tours of Her Rhode Island Home to Friends and Family

Several of the supermodel's friends — like Cara Delevingne, Ellie Goulding, and of course, Swift — attended the event in London to support her. They also faced off in Vogue's "Friendship Test," in which Swift revealed that Kloss listened to her entire "1989" album before anyone else had heard it. They revealed that Aldridge, who was friends with both Swift and Kloss, made the introduction. Kloss, Hunt, Ashley Avignone, and Gigi Hadid all posed with Swift in the singer's house, identifiable thanks to the singer's cat Meredith, who was perched on the couch. She recalled asking Swift and Kloss if they were planning on attending her after-party. The party took place at the musician's New York City apartment, according to Marie Claire.

This is High Watch in Rhode Island, Taylor Swift's seaside mansion.

Dubbed the “Holiday House,” the Watch Hill mansion was bought by Swift in 2013, complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a past that ties it to the Standard Oil fortune. The songwriter spun the story of the house’s past — and the divorcee who lived there, Rebekah Harkness — into the song "Great American Dynasty” in her eighth studio album, "Folklore." Dubbed “High Watch”, it sits on the highest point in Watch Hill, a historic district in Westerly, Rhode Island. It is situated on 5 acres of land and features 700 feet of shoreline with views of Little Narragansett Bay.

Conan O’Brien's vacation home in Westerly

The Instagram post of Swift and her "girlies" in Watch Hill "sittin', there by the water" comes after the songstress dropped the re-release of her 2010 album at midnight on Friday. "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" is the third in her series of re-recordings since the sale of her master recordings in 2020. The album features the 14 original tracks (including singles "Mine," "Back to December," "Mean," "Sparks Fly," "Ours," and "The Story of Us) plus the two bonus tracks and six "vault" tracks with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams of Paramore. After 25 years of being television royalty, Judge Judy Sheindlin bought a house fit for the title in 2018 for her and her husband, Judge Jerry Sheindlin.

Kloss also included several behind-the-scenes moments, like when she and several of Swift's other friends joined the singer onstage. The crew seemed to remain tight toward the end of 2015, when both Kloss and Swift celebrated Aldridge's birthday with a cake. The model joined several of Swift's friends who attended her "1989" tour stop in London. She originally captioned the photo, "Missing my girl," but later changed it to, "Missing my BFF."

The Last Great American Hideaway: A Brief History of Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island Feud

With the 2020 release of her eighth studio album, Folklore, fans got the opportunity to see a different side of Swift, as she moved away from writing music from her own perspective and, instead, chose to share other people's stories. "I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't," she explained in a tweet announcing the arrival of her album. Swift released her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," on April 19, 2024. The deluxe edition includes a song called "Thank You Aimee," which fans have interpreted as a Kardashian diss track. Given their history, fans wondered if the supermodel's photo was a nod to Swift's album, though she never directly mentioned "Folklore" or Swift in her post.

December 4, 2014: A fan claims they saw Swift and Kloss kissing at a concert

The land, not far from the Arcadia Management Area, has been owned by his family for decades. Front and center are the ocean views, of course, but also the garden, which was carefully cultivated by the home’s previous owner, late Campbell Soup heiress Dorrance H. Hamilton, who was known for her love of gardens and helped start the Newport Flower Show. He estimated he spent 19 days at Seafair in 2019, but when he is in town, he is often spotted out and about. He’s tested new material at the Firehouse Theatre, has attended Audrian’s Concours + Motor Week, and has been known to get lunch downtown. In 2014, there was a kerfuffle involving Westerly putting his house up for auction due to him owing $8,000 in back taxes, but it was quickly resolved when the taxes were paid.

Taylor Swift 'trespasser' arrested at star's Rhode Island estate - New York Post

Taylor Swift 'trespasser' arrested at star's Rhode Island estate.

Posted: Fri, 07 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

When the police got there, they found the woman outside the front gates, according to Gingerella. She was released on $1,000 personal recognizance and scheduled for a District Court arraignment on July 14, according to court records. After skipping the iconic bash for several years, Taylor Swift posted pictures on Instagram on Friday of her celebrating at her Watch Hill Mansion for several of her famous pals.

The singer explained that she "pleaded for a chance to own my work" for years before the sale but was instead offered to "sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in." The music executive purchased Big Machine Label Group — and Swift's masters — for a reported $300 million in June 2019. After news of the acquisition broke, Swift aired her grievances in a Tumblr post. She cited the importance of acknowledging the difference between "friendships" and "situationships" in her 20s. On the afternoon of Swift's 29th birthday, the model shared a photo of the pair at the 2015 AMAs.

Linker goes on to suggest that this process helps define an artist’s aesthetic, forcing them toward their greatest strengths and their most original material. For this reason, someone like Bruce Springsteen, who recorded many more songs than appeared on his most famous albums, might have been a weaker cultural presence — or so Linker argues — if he had just dumped every song he ever wrote in the laps of his most eager fans. The best work would have been lost inside the pretty good work, and the sense of Springsteen as a very specific kind of rock music legend might have been diminished. The biggest cultural news of the month is that a lot of people are kind of “meh” about Taylor Swift’s latest album (or albums, if you prefer to treat the 31-song release as a twofer).

Man Charged For Harassment And Stalking Near Taylor Swift's Home - HuffPost

Man Charged For Harassment And Stalking Near Taylor Swift's Home.

Posted: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

According to Rhode Island Monthly, the couple bought the coastal property soon after the wedding, and they became known for their (as Swift points out herself) “tasteful if a little loud” soirees. In her day, Harkness was as much of a media darling as Swift is now, and often the target of unfavorable headlines and press coverage. Known as the Holiday House, Taylor Swift’s home in Rhode Island was built in 1930 and comes with 7 bedrooms and even more fireplaces (there are 8 of them throughout the residence). Back in 2013, Taylor Swift paid a whopping $17.75 million for the 7-bedroom mansion — along with 700 feet of shoreline on Watch Hill, in Rhode Island.

The supermodel shared a picture of herself and Swift wearing the same black-and-white dress during their photo shoots. Kloss later shared a selfie with Swift from the event, posing with another close friend, Derek Blasberg. During the singer's interview with Rolling Stone, Swift gave a brief tour of her $15 million apartment. Kloss shared a photo with Swift and Kate Bosworth at a party for hairstylist Harry Josh. As they drove home, Kloss shared a photo of a yellow daisy in the car, tagging Swift as the center of the flower. In their joint March 2015 Vogue interview, the singer revealed that she has a polaroid with Kloss, taken backstage at the show, hanging in her New York City apartment.

Taylor Swift loves a love story, and she’s willing to do more than croon ballads about it. The Eras superstar lent her Rhode Island home to close friend Gigi Hadid to escape to a private getaway with new love interest Bradley Cooper, a source told UK’s Mirror on Saturday. It was the spot of her much-talked-about Fourth of July parties from 2013 to 2017, and last summer Blake Lively posted photos of herself and husband Ryan Reynolds visiting there. Swift has said that her biggest mistake in creating her public image was not being forthcoming enough about how carefully crafted it was. She brought in hordes of celebrities for her famous — and perfectly Instagrammed — Fourth of July parties. She did exactly the kind of things that a modern-day Rebekah Harkness would have done.

Although Swift never got the chance to meet the socialite, Harkness still made an impact on the singer-songwriter, who wrote “The Last Great American Dynasty” about her wild lifestyle. The eight-bedroom property, known as High Watch or Holiday House, was built on the highest point in Watch Hill and boasts over 700 feet of private beachfront. According to the celebrity insiders at Page Six, “Even though Gigi and Bradley have their own properties in New York, they wanted somewhere more private to spend time getting to know each other and Taylor was only too happy to help,” an insider said. Swift likens her own star-studded parties to the bevy of famous composers and dancers that once frequented the Holiday House in Harkness’ days. The mansion was once owned by Rebekah Harkness, a high-profile socialite who famously married into the Standard Oil fortune. The property spans 5.23 acres and is said to be “the highest point of direct waterfront land on the entire eastern seaboard.” It’s also the most expensive privately owned home in all of Rhode Island.

The similarities between Taylor and Rebekah may also go much deeper than shared real estate. Much like Rebekah was called out in the press on numerous occasions for being a controversial figure, Taylor has been scrutinized for everything from her dating history to her "squad" of celebrity friends whom she used to frequently attend events with. Taylor makes this connection between the two in the last chorus of the song, singing, "Who knows, if I never showed up, what could've been / There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen / I had a marvelous time ruining everything." Fans got a rare glimpse into Swift's home life in 2016 when she made headlines for an elaborate Fourth of July party, which featured several of her A-list celebrity friends in attendance, including Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and GiGi Hadid. In a now-deleted Instagram post (via Business Insider), Swift shared photos of the partygoers on the beach, at the pool, and in front of the giant inflatable water slide that read, Taymerica, causing many to draw further parallels between Swift and the house's predecessor. A big star with a big reputation, Taylor Swift is arguably the most well-known of Rhode Island’s celebrities.