By Hannah Lennon
Do you have a favorite celebrity? A specific actor, musician, or influencer that just speaks to you? I do, and if you don’t I think that you either live under a rock, are crazy, or are just such a manic-pixie-dream-girl that you simply cannot relate to anyone on any type of serious level. My favorite celebrity, if you haven’t guessed from the title, is Taylor Swift. If you know me, you might be a bit surprised because your first guess probably would have been Harry Styles. And don’t get me wrong, Mr. Styles is positively perfect with his James Dean charm topped with tattoos and the voice of an angel, but he is so ideal that I can’t help but be fascinated by him. In my mind, Harry Styles sits atop a mountain of glory, but Taylor Swift is reachable, with ribbons of similarities and reliability.
Ever since I was little, I’ve known every word to every Taylor Swift song. In fact, when I was 10 years old, I watched “Journey To Fearless”-- a miniseries about Taylor’s first stadium tour-- so much that I can still quote parts of it to this day. I also remember being in the third grade and teeming with jealousy the day after Taylor Swift performed at Mohegan Sun Arena because at least three other girls in my class went to the concert and came to school the next morning wearing teal shirts bearing Taylor’s face-- I was pissed and would not attend my first concert for another year, and it wasn’t even Taylor Swift, it was the Jonas Brothers.
I used to picture myself as “the next Taylor Swift.” I used to think I could sing, and while words were certainly being sung, they most definitely didn’t sound great. I followed this dream for a while; in middle school, I was in the choir and even was selected for the Chamber Choir, which is basically a group of choir kids who could hold a tune with significant success compared to the rest of the choir. I even tried learning piano and guitar, which I failed at, but hey, who needs another instrument when you can sing? But I couldn’t sing, and subsequently gave up that dream when I got into high school and couldn’t fit choir into my schedule as an elective.
So, I couldn’t be her, but I still found myself in her. No, I wasn’t dating Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, and Harry Styles, but I was still a teenage girl whose friends always made her walk behind them on the sidewalk, who had bullies, who had crushes, who loved her mom, and who had dreams of being great. Taylor Swift is all of these things. Listen to “Mean” to hear her stand up to a bully; listen to “You Belong With Me” or “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” to hear her pour her heart out to a boy she liked; listen to “The Best Day” to hear her love her mom; listen to “The Lucky One” to hear about dreams of fame; listen to “New Romantics” to get a pretty good picture of what it’s like to be a teenager, and listen to the entire Reputation album to hear what’s it like to gain enough confidence to finally stand up to everyone pushing you down.
I have always been able to see a bit of myself in her lyrics, and I have always thought that if she deals with this, if she can get through it, so can I. It’s not just her music that I relate to. Taylor Swift has admitted to body image and disordered eating, just like me. She’s also spoken about social justice and politics and has similar ideals and values that I do. And, just like me, she likes to tell stories-- although Folklore and Evermore are albums of poetic genius in comparison to the short fiction I compose for Creative Writing courses.
The point is, I am Taylor Swift, in my own way. I found someone that will likely never know my name or even my existence, yet she is so much a part of me that I don’t know what I’d be without her.
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