Few musical artists have been as robustly influential in my life as Taylor Swift: her passion for the work, detailed songwriting, musical range, and genuine care all culminate to create truly magical music. She seldom writes for the sake of writing, instead, her music is an outlet for emotional expression based on scarring past relationships and the change that has on her as a person. All her albums represent unfettered emotional articulation and artistic genius, adding value to her work beyond the words she says and instruments she sings to. Her music goes deeper, connecting the listener to her allowing them to see themselves and their similar struggles in Taylor Swift's.
For me, music is rarely a sound in the background—rather I attempt to connect emotionally with the artist to understand where they were coming from with each word. A real connection between the artist and myself requires the songwriter to have put in a deep level of emotional honesty and detailed commitment to the song, and no other artist has been as successful in this feat as T-Swift. You deeply understand her longing nostalgia for the simple past in "Fifteen" when she sings,
"And when you're fifteen Feeling like there's nothing to figure out
Count to ten
Take it in
This is life before you know who you're gonna be
At fifteen"
Furthermore to her emotional commitment, Taylor Swift sings the happy, sad, hope, distress, and everything in between. As a human, she is emotionally complex and illustrates every aspect of that in her songwriting. You feel the stabbing pain in "champagne problems" when she says,
"'She would've made such a lovely bride
What a shame she's fucked in the head, ' they said
But you'll find the real thing instead"
You feel the emotion come to life throughout all of Taylor Swift's music—from dangerous anger in "reputation" to yearning satisfaction in"1989" to an attempt to rediscover a simple past she'll never return to in "Fearless". Every album reflects a different time in her life, and each song within those albums a varying emotion as she reflects and maneuvers broken hearts and hopeful futures.
P.S. I listened to the latter half of "Lover" while writing this.
Hi Noah! As a proud Taylor Swift fan since age 8, I could not agree more. I absolutely love what you said about her storytelling, and I think that is my favorite part of her as an artist. Something I love about how she tells her stories is that while the lyrics are so deeply personal, they are also so easily applicable to our own lives. Even in the stories not directly about herself, such as the songs on Folklore, she still captures feelings so beautifully (like you mentioned in champagne problems). I almost made my blog post about her too but you beat me to it :)
ReplyDelete(P.S if you ever want to have a Taylor jam sesh I am so down....)
As an avid Swiftie, I 100% agree with everything you've written here. Something I really appreciate about Taylor's music is the ability to listen to not only her vocal maturity, but also lyrical maturity over the years and throughout her discography. Similarly to you, when I also listen to music I pay close attention to lyrics and tone. I can't wait for Taylor's next album and maybe we can have a Swiftie group listen when it comes out!
ReplyDeleteHey Noah! I'm not a Swiftie, so before, I never truly understood the cult following that Taylor Swift has. After reading your post, I think I have a glimpse of why people love Taylor Swift and understand it a bit more than I did before! I never really listened to Taylor Swift's music that deeply, so seeing how she integrates her emotions into her lyrics helped me see what you see in the lyrics. I appreciate the explanation of some of her songs and maybe I will try another listen and pay attention to the lyrics!
ReplyDeleteHey Noah! While I definitely need a better schooling in Taylor Swift's music as I've not had the chance to listen to everything she has produced, I have loved few songs of hers that I have listened to! I definitely have to agree with your feelings and thoughts regarding "champagne problems" (one of her songs that I have in fact listened to). Miss Taylor for sure knows how to write and as you mentioned, knows how to engage her audience through emotional storytelling. The next time I listen to her, I'll be sure to engage more in listening to her lyrics!
ReplyDeleteHey Noah! I love this post! I can tell you deep your love for Taylor is through how you speak about her and her music. The adjectives you chose are so good and I love how you included song lyrics that are most meaningful. I really like Taylor's music, but I don't think I would consider myself a Swiftie after reading this post. You are definitely a die-hard Swiftie and I think it would be rude to compare myself to your level haha!
ReplyDeleteI really like you highlighted the way Taylor completely reinvents herself with each new album. Her transparency helps us accept our changing interests and passions. Her writing is always so distinctive, and I love how she flips commonly used phrases. In “Lover”, she puts her own spin on wedding vows and I think it's genius.
ReplyDeleteMy sister has been a huge Taylor Swift fan all of her life. I on the other hand have never liked her music, and even had times where I went as far as to say I despised it. Your post might have helped me figure out why I have never resonated with her music. For me music is almost always a sound in the background, I don't pay attention to what the lyrics in songs are saying as much as they sound.
ReplyDeleteThis was really well-written, and I could tell you put a lot of time into it. Even though I haven't really listened to Taylor Swift, I could still understand why you like her so much simply by reading what you wrote. This looks like something I would see on genius lyrics.
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