My perspective on Taylor Swift shifted forever when I was 10 years old. I was sitting at the countertop of my uncle’s house, listening to a conversation about the Allman Brothers, Rush, and a million other bands from my parents’ youth when he turned to address me.Â
“Rory, do you like good music?” He joked, smiling at me and the rest of my cousins. Before I could answer my cousin Maggie answered for me.
“No,” she snipped “Rory only listens to Taylor Swift!” I was taken aback, yes I listened to Taylor Swift, I loved her, she was pretty, her songs were catchy and she seemed so cool. I didn’t ever even consider that she wasn’t the end-all-be-all of music. I looked back at my uncle for validation that she was a rockstar like all the old guys he’d just talked about. Instead, I was met with an aloof return, “Oh boy. Maybe you’ll grow out of it.”Â
Since then, I’ve been unsure how to feel about TayTay. In 2023, she was my top artist on Spotify. I loved Midnights, I loved all the Vault tracks, I listened to her 24/7, went to the Eras tour, and just really enjoyed her discography from January to December, but the second her face popped up on my Wrapped screen I felt a pang of shame. I knew that haters would call me basic and fans would call me bandwagon. There was no winning in being a casual Taylor Swift enjoyer, so I grew apart from the fandom. Â
Over the past year, I’ve gone no contact with all things Taylor Swift. I haven’t listened to the new album, I haven’t stayed up to date with the news and I’ve severely cut her from my playlists. So I leave you readers with two points of reflection:Â
- Why do we love to hate Taylor Swift?Â
- When will she go back in style?