Every week when my mom would go grocery shopping, I insisted on accompanying her. I knew that if I was a great helper, I could potentially talk her into letting me get a Bop or Tiger Beat magazine, a middle-schooler’s inside scoop to all the teenage star drama.
On every trip, I could not wait to read my new magazine, so I walked with it in one hand and an arm full of groceries in the other. It took several reads to actually take in all of the new stuff: which star broke up with who, which star is now dating who and who was about to release a new album.
After totally obsessing over Taylor Swift’s first album, Taylor Swift, I convinced my grandma to take me to the local Walmart for the midnight CD release of Swift’s newest album Fearless after I had read about it that week.
This album topped Taylor Swift by selling over 8 million copies and winning her a Grammy. Despite the name of her first album, Fearless is what truly made her Taylor Swift.
My fandom did not stop at Fearless; it escalated. When Speak Now was released in 2010, every young girl, myself included, dreamed of the fairy tale-like romance that was portrayed through songs like Enchanted and Sparks Fly.
Around the time Red was released, I no longer had to beg my grandmother to stay up and take me to be the first one to purchase the new album before it was sold out. Instead, my friends and I downloaded the new songs onto our iPod touches and screamed out the lyrics to popular songs like I Knew You Were Trouble and We Are Never Getting Back Together to our middle school ex-boyfriends as if that would make us cool.
Disclaimer: it did not make us cool.
The teardrops on her guitar must have dried up in 2017 because Swift came out with an album that changed her reputation. (See what I did there?)
Similarly marking a new period of my life going from high school to college, Reputation also marked a new and darker era of T. Swift. She ridded herself of her innocent country and pop roots and redirected her lyric choice to reveal an edgier alter ego like in I Did Something Bad and Look What You Made Me Do.
After two years of waiting since the 2017 release of Reputation, Taylor Swift revealed she was going to release a new single that would change everything.
Anticipating the release, my friends and I all gathered around our laptops to watch the live YouTube music video drop of her new song ME! featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco.
The lighthearted and theatrical song felt like it came from the Trolls or Inside Out soundtrack. Nevertheless, it was happy and uplifting enough to bring her out of the darkness Reputation left her trapped in. As I am similarly preparing for finals and embarking on the end of the semester, this song is transitional and leaves listeners hopeful for the album release.
As I grew up and technology evolved, one thing never changed: Taylor Swift’s music was present in every stage of my life. From dreaming about my middle school crushes that I am thankful I did not end up with while acting out the music video of You Belong With Me to riding around with friends during my freshman year of college as we listened to the newly released Getaway Car, Swift’s music has always fit.
We really just grew up together: her music and I.
