Why I Love Taylor Swift

When I first heard Taylor Swift’s Teardrops On My Guitar at a school talent show in grade 7, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I went home, listened to every song on the album, then every song on Fearless, and at this point, have memorized all the words to every Taylor Swift song one can possibly get their hands on.

Like many girls, I felt that Taylor’s music reflected my life, thoughts, and emotions back at me. We both shared a fascination with love as well as a tendency to feel too much. As such, her music became the soundtrack of my teenage years and each song took on a very personal meaning, capable of drawing me back to precise moments, people, and emotions with every listen. White Horse was my very first heartbreak, when the myth of invincibility died. Fifteen was the last time I blindly believed someone who told me he loved me. State of Grace was the honeymoon stage of my first serious relationship, when I realized that love — powerful, healthy, uplifting love — could really begin again. As Taylor and I were fairly close in age, it was as though we were growing up and learning these lessons together. Through the years, her songs matured, as did the messages, and as did I.

Taylor’s words kept me company, but more importantly, they justified my emotions more than anyone ever had. As a child and a teenager, it is everyday practice to have your feelings belittled. I was told by parents and peers alike that I was making a big deal out of nothing, getting too invested in one issue or another, and just overall feeling too much. When we are young, the right to feel things strongly is not one that is very often respected.

The struggles of teenagers may indeed be trivial in retrospect, but they certainly do not feel that way in the moment. Particularly when it came to romance, Taylor was the only person who understood how gut-wrenching my first heartbreak was, and how world-shattering it all felt then. In those moments, it was not only comforting, but also powerful to know that my feelings of pain, loss, jealousy, confusion, and joy were not meaningless. They were as important and real as I imagined them to be.

As humans, we all need to feel validated. This allows us to accept ourselves, to grow in confidence, and to be in touch with our emotions. The criticisms that continually surface around Taylor’s love life — in addition to perpetuating sexism and rape culture — can be hugely detrimental to a young person’s self-esteem. Our feelings, however overblown they may seem to older people, need to be recognized and accepted before the healing and growing can begin.