If you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift is rerecording her music herself. Many people think it’s silly because the songs aren’t going to sound any different, but that isn’t the point. It is not a gimmick to sell more records or a reason to change music that’s already great. She wants to own her own music and have the final artistic word on what happens to her songs. Swift chose to record and release her 2008 record “Fearless” first.
I will never forget the first time I listened to “Fearless.” When it was originally released, my dad decided to buy and download the whole thing on our iTunes account for some reason. It was the only non-worship album on our entire account, so I think you could call it fate that it ended up accessible to me later.
In the spring of 2013, I stayed with my great grandparents for four days in the middle of nowhere. We spent so much time driving, and my memories of that trip are almost exclusively in the back of their old blue minivan. One long, boring drive, I was messing around, found the only album downloaded on my iPhone 5s and stuck my pink zebra print headphones in my ears hoping for something to ease my boredom. I immediately fell in love.
“Love Story” tugged at my 13-year-old heartstrings and made me long to fall in love with a boy who would want to marry me. I could see myself fighting for my own true love one day.
“Fifteen” got me enormously excited and hopelessly worried about high school at the same time. It also made me nostalgic for memories and feelings that were not my own.
“White Horse” caused me to cry about heartbreak and loss. I wished I could pick up and drive out of my own small town – which would have been difficult, considering that I lived in the fifth largest city in the United States at the time.
I had not personally experienced any of the things Swift sang about, but on a deep level, I ached as if I had. Music has always been able to evoke my emotions faster and stronger than any other medium of art. I hadn’t discovered this until that day I listened to the entire “Fearless” album simply because I was bored.
Now, I play “Fearless” in its entirety when I’m getting ready for something fun or simply in a Taylor Swift mood. Her specific lyrics and catchy melodies are even more poignant now that I have some more life experience to bring as I listen.
That day in 2013, I discovered my own personal music taste. I started listening to Taylor Swift, and I never looked back. Props to her for making her music truly her own, and thanks to her for starting with her best record.
