It was never intentional for my admiration for Taylor Swift to become a part of my brand identity. But nothing warms my heart more than my community tagging me in Taylor memes or asking for my opinion on her recent dating explorations. They know that I love her, because I talk about her regularly, like she’s a friend.
So I thought that for a little bit of fun, I’d talk about why she feels like one.
Confession time. I wasn’t an OG Swiftie. I liked her early songs and listened to her album when it was released but I definitely didn’t feel like I related to her on a spiritual level (yet).
That day came when she released ‘Red’ in 2012. I was 21 and had just ended a long-term relationship that was so toxic, it would take me years to recover. I had just moved back in with my parents after living in a bedsit with my ex-boyfriend for a year. I would lie awake at night, in my little box room, listening to ‘All too well’ on repeat and re-living the relationship all over again. I was broken, but listening to that song made me feel less alone.
From there, I was a true convert.
Her songs have helped me to navigate my twenties as I went on to heal, meet my husband and become a mother. It’s funny, we’re both in our thirties and in very different places. She’s recently single, and a rich-ass popstar. I’m married with kids and only perform concerts in my kitchen to my adoring fans (my kids).
But I still feel that so much of her work relates to a wide range of women.
She knows what it’s like to feel alone, to never really feel at home in your own skin. As a woman, she’s experienced abuse, and manipulation and has been shunned for speaking her mind which I think women all over can relate to.
The common thread in so much of her work is that she just wants to be loved. By her fans, by her partners, and by herself.
Her body of work reflects the self-exploration journey we all go on as women to understand, love, and heal ourselves from societie’s standards. We all just want to feel at home in our own bodies, our own mess, our own identities. This hits home especially since having children and having to re-build a new relationship with myself within a completely transformed home that often felt like a hotel I was just visiting and had little connection to.
Her ability to live with an open heart and use her vulnerability as a superpower in her songs teach us that we’re all connected. That the key to human connection and community is just that. Being human.
Whether it’s her uncool dancing or her love of cats, she knows that being your goofy, imperfect, and messy self gives everyone around you permission to be themselves too. It breaks down walls, it opens hearts.
She’s a living example that no matter who you are, who you date, or what job you do, life is a journey of exploration, heartbreak, joy, and curiosity.
She’s the embodiment of living with the courage to try, fail and live authentically as yourself.
Thank you Taylor, for the love, the loss, and the lessons.
From a shameless Swiftie x