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    Who Is Clara Bow, The Woman Taylor Swift Wrote A Song For In ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Album?

    By Nibir Konwar
    Last Updated:
    Clara Bow (right) and Taylor Swift (left)
    Clara Bow (right) and Taylor Swift (left)

    Taylor Swift has just announced her eleventh studio album, and fans are busy dissecting the easter eggs she has dropped to reveal further details. From minute details referring to a past flame, to having Disney princess-themed references, this album seems to be a rollercoaster of emotions, and possibly her deepest work yet.

    One of the track names, however, has caught the curiosity of Swifties. The album’s outro song – ‘Clara Bow‘ seems to be a reference to the 1920s actress, popularly called the ‘It Girl’. Here’s everything you need to know about the woman who inspired Swift’s song and the parallels between both women.

    Related: Watch: Taylor Swift And Her Ex Calvin Harris Have A Dramatic ‘I Forgot You Existed’ Moment At The Grammys

    Taylor Swift’s New Muse, Clara Bow

    Clara Bow
    Clara Bow

    Known as the “It Girl” of the Hollywood Golden Age, Clara Bow was a famous silent film actress who was insanely popular in the 1920s. Towards the end of her career, she also started doing talking films. Known for being an icon of sexual freedom, she is also considered the inspiration behind the cartoon character Betty Boop.

    Bow, who had a celebrated career, also had quite a melancholic personal life. She was a victim of immense gossip in the industry, with journalists fabricating lies about her drinking nature using images from her films. Furthermore, her love life was also dissected and publicly scrutinized, something that Swift herself is pretty familiar with. Towards the later years of her life, the actress suffered from schizophrenia and insomnia and even attempted suicide in 1944.

    Elaine Shephard, who produced a documentary on the actress said, “The studios were working her to death. She was on heaps of primitive pills to get her out of bed in the morning and to get her to sleep at night. Executives were trying to exploit her as much as possible, gossip magazines were writing the most awful lies about her, and she was dealing with all that on her own, as a woman in her twenties.” 

    “She just found it way too stressful,” Shepherd continued. “But it’s not true that she was thrown out of Hollywood. When sound came in, she was paid massive amounts of money to make a couple of talkies, and if she’d had more support early on, she could have carried on having a substantial career.”

    She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. The star is located at the corner of Vine St and Sunset Blvd. 

    In Case You Missed It: A Look Into The Misogyny Taylor Swift Has Endured In The Industry

    Parallels Between Taylor Swift And Clara Bow

    Clara Bow (right) and Taylor Swift (left)
    Clara Bow (right) and Taylor Swift (left)

    Fans found a number of similarities between both the names leading them to believe that the similarities might have drawn Taylor Swift to get inspired by the actress for music.

    For starters, both the ladies had intensively successful careers- and have, at the hands of media and public, been scrutinized for their success. Their romantic relationships have been invasively explored and tabloids have exploited their privacy.

    Not only this, Swifties found a lot more parallels between both of them. For instance, they both liked football players. Well, Taylor’s romance with NFL star Travis Kelce is the talk of the town.

    Clara’s star is in Sunset and Vine. In her song ‘Gorgeous‘, Swift sings “Whiskey on ice/ Sunset and vine.” They both also had a tumultuous private life.

    It’s certain that Taylor will bring her master storytelling to this track and fans are excited to unveil what the song will be about. As of now, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is set to release on 19th April.

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    Nibir Konwar
    Nibir Konwarhttps://firstcuriosity.com/
    Nibir is nineteen, an autumn lover, and a poetry enthusiast. She loves Taylor Swift, Jeff Buckley, Sally Rooney and everything that's blue. She has had one year of experience as a content writer at First Curiosity and writes poetry and researches on literary criticism in her free time. Nibir is also an ardent reader and a fierce feminist. She aspires to author books someday and be an advocate for mental health.
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