The day before I left for Allegheny, my grandpa stopped by my house for one last hug goodbye before I went on my way. While my mom and dad weren’t looking, he slipped me five, perfectly folded $20 bills and whispered, “Shhh … just some ‘emergency cash’. Don’t mention it.” I pulled him in for another hug, whispered, “Thank you,” and slipped the money into my bag.
At last week’s poster sale in the lobby of the campus center, my first dip into that “emergency cash,” unexpectedly, was spent on a dorm and life essential; a full sized poster of Taylor Swift.
Some wouldn’t classify such a purchase as an emergency or a necessity, and maybe it wasn’t. After all, I’m in my third week as a ‘broke college student’. I should know better. But $12.95 for a poster of the artist who changed my life, hanging in the room that signified a huge life change made perfect sense to me.
I suppose that before I am a broke college student, I am a Swiftie. And despite being someone who used to find this classification a bit shameful, I am now genuinely proud to say so.
It was a huge summer for Swift, and she’s not done yet.
It is unlikely that, by now, anyone listening to mainstream music or paying attention to the news cycle would not have heard about Swift’s “Eras Tour” which, according to Time Magazine, is expected to span five continents during its run that began in March 2023 and is expected to end in November 2024. The tour is predicted to surpass the $1 billion mark by March 2024. Her shows— each three hours in length— feature music from 10 studio albums spanning 17 years.
Even more than that, the tour was an opportunity for people to come together and share love, joy and emotion via friendship bracelets and of course, gut-wrenching, heart-fluttering, wound-healing song lyrics, all scream-sung in unison.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend one of these shows though I can imagine, based on what I’ve heard from friends and fans across social media, that to experience one would be nothing short of magical.
That being said, Swift embarks on the international leg of her tour later this year. Given the opportunity to experience that magic, I would more than happily leave the country with nothing but a ticket in my hand and a pair of bejeweled tennis shoes on my feet.
So then, why was such devoted appreciation for such a skilled songwriter and performer, all under the umbrella of the term, ‘Swiftie’ so shameful to me?
Within my previous circles of musical discussion, it seems that there has always been a rhetoric about Swift that made loving her equivalent to excusing and supporting practices of man-hating, serial-dating and whining, all terms that, in this context, I find interestingly and frustratingly anti-feminist.
Specifically, I recall hearing comments about Swift’s personal dating history and how this correlates to the subject matter of her songs.
While it is true that she derives some inspiration from emotionally intense life experiences for her writing, she has done so in a way that is raw, relatable and not uncommon amongst other artists. People write what they know and feel. Both of these things change as life goes on and relationships begin and end.
However, judgements like these— as well as the simple fact that I hadn’t found Swift’s music to be terribly relatable until life threw some curveballs at me in my early teens— made me reluctant to join what seemed like an almost cult-like fanbase.
This is not to say that one would have to endure some sort of struggle that somehow relates to one of Swift’s songs in order to enjoy her music, or that being a fan of her music means entry into a cult.
This simply means that our experiences shape our interpretation of art, and as a person on Earth, I have had some uncomfortable experiences. Swift’s art has helped me navigate them.
As Swift has matured as both a human and a songwriter, so has her music, and so have her listeners. Her openness and honesty throughout this journey with both herself and her audience, embodies an important aspect of being a Swiftie and being a human; exercising acceptance of the ebbs and flows of personal progress.
Doing this, all while enjoying an upbeat pop anthem, or crying to a brutally honest composition of retrospective heartbreak, I realized, is nothing to be ashamed of.
For me, Swift has transformed big feelings into a sign of strength, mistakes into an opportunity for improvement, and music into a world where even if the volume is turned all the way up, I can somehow, finally, hear myself think. This new perspective is something that everyone, regardless of their music taste, could use.
If this whole journalism thing works out, and by some miracle, I one day get to interview Swift, I know that before anything else, my first words to her will be, simply; “Thank you.”
Until then, I have my poster. Thanks, Gramps.