The Magic of Taylor Swift

Admittedly, I am arriving late to this party. I bought Taylor Swift’s first two albums, played them to death, but as my musical tastes generally veer away from modern pop music I kind of lost track of her after that. I hear her songs here and there, always like them, but until recently I hadn’t really sat down to very intentionally immerse myself in her art.

That changed last week.

My best friend of nearly 40 years has been talking about Swift lately, the Super Bowl generated a lot of headlines and stories about her and I began to feel that maybe I was missing something special. Perhaps this should have been obvious, but in my defense I have to point out that most of what passes as “pop culture” these days really just doesn’t appeal to me. There are plenty of things that are popular that I find empty, uninteresting or even just silly. Part of me subconsciously slid Swift over into that category.

I think she first began her slide out of that category as I started to encounter stories of her philanthropy. I saw a piece that talked about how much revenue her concerts generate for a city (more than a Super Bowl!) and how much she, in turn, donates back into those communities. I had previously read about how she contributes millions to public schools, supports causes that look out for animals, helps fans with student loans, donates proceeds from her heart-tearing song “Ronan” to cancer research, and there are many more examples (you can read about a few of them here). I love artists who appreciate where they came from and use their fame and wealth to make the world a better place and Swift clearly fits this category. She’s even encouraging her legions of fans – many among low-voter-turnout demographics – to register to vote and show up at the ballot box on election day. I find that especially admirable!

And then I sat down and watched the “Eras Tour” movie. About halfway through I texted my best friend and asked him how this 20-something kid was looking deep into my soul and speaking many of my emotional truths. He said, “well, she’s almost 30,” but that really didn’t answer my question.

Having spent much of my adult life as a journalist, I started asking other people the same question and getting a variety of answers ranging from “her music is just catchy” to “she captures a cross section of the human experience,” and that last one (from my cousin) really struck me.

It seems to me that we go through the vast majority of our emotional growth in our late teens and twenties, which coincides with Swift’s songwriting career thus far. She’s famous for break-up songs, and we’ve all been through plenty of those, but it’s not just that. She has a way of touching just the right experience with just the right words to evoke an emotional response. I think we get older and life gets more complicated and we lose touch with some of these experiences, but they are still there, just beneath the surface.

We’ve all either lost someone to cancer or we know someone who has, and too often we see children claimed by this deadly disease. When I listen to “Ronan,” a true story about a four-year old boy who died of neuroblastoma, I was crying like a baby.

I remember your bare feet down the hallway
I remember your little laugh
Race cars on the kitchen floor, plastic dinosaurs
I love you to the moon and back

I remember your blue eyes looking into mine
Like we had our own secret club
I remember you dancing before bedtime
Then jumping on me, waking me up

I can still feel you hold my hand, little man
And even the moment I knew
You fought it hard like an army guy
Remember I leaned in and whispered to you?

Come on, baby, with me
We’re gonna fly away from here
You were my best four years

You’re tearing up just reading the lyrics. It’s OK to admit it, it’s just us here.

On the same album, “Red,” she sings about finding new love in the song “Begin Again.”

I’ve been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does
Is break and burn, and end
But on a Wednesday in a cafe
I watched it begin again

You said you never met one girl who had
As many James Taylor records as you
But I do

We tell stories and you don’t know why
I’m coming off a little shy
But I do

But you throw your head back laughing
Like a little kid
I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny, ’cause
He never did

I’ve been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does
Is break and burn, and end
But on a Wednesday in a café
I watched it begin again

The queen of breakup successfully captures that feeling of careful optimism when you’ve gone through a rough relationship and actually find someone better, someone who gets you. Swift digs deep into those swirling emotions and gives them life in a way we don’t often encounter.

Even one of her earlier songs, the one that sent me shopping for her debut album, captures the magic of music and how it can transport us to another place and time instantly.

But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me

Even with these connections made, I didn’t fully appreciate the genius of Swift until I watched the “eras” movie. A production big enough to actually give fans a quality show in a massive football stadium, no easy task in and of itself, “Eras” seamlessly transported us through her different albums with sets that rival anything Hollywood would design and seemingly instantaneous costume changes, all which Swift herself seemed to never break a sweat through a three-hour extravaganza. I was also struck by her incredible humility, her expressions of love and appreciation for her fans and the way she treated her performers, who clearly adored her. Small wonder Time Magazine made her their Person of the Year!

Great music, extraordinary presentation, meaningful philanthropy – Taylor Swift is truly a phenomenon.
James Taylor, for whom Swift is named, John Denver, Bob Dillon, John Prine, Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker and Old Dominion are a few names that come to mind when I think about eloquent/clever musical story tellers, and Taylor now belongs on that list for me. I can’t wait to dig into even more of her music!

-B