I still remember the day when I first listened to the song “Love Story” sung by the most elegant country girl with golden blonde curls, vivid royal blue eyes, who was always wearing cowgirl boots with sparkly dresses. My third grade teacher played the song in class one day. I instantly fell in love with the singer’s alluring voice, harmonious, soothing guitar strums and heart-warming lyrics. Little did I know that my young eight-year-old self would look up to Taylor Swift as not only my role model but also the singer of songs that would narrate my life as I grew up.
I have been a “Swiftie” for about eleven years now. I have had the privilege of seeing Swift twice in concert with my family, hearing her evolve from the greatly adored young country singer to the dynamic pop singer she is today. I have seen her win numerous awards on stage, heard her tear-jerking speeches during her concerts and supported her with everything that she has done with her career so far.
Pictures provided by the author.
The media and society all tend to find ways to break Swift down, meanwhile she is trying to build all of us up with her inspiring songs. Even if you do not consider yourself a “Swiftie,” she still has songs that absolutely everyone can relate to in some way. Listed below are some of Swift’s most popular songs, but also some of her songs that are underappreciated. Let’s all show some appreciation for her music!
1. Our Song
This is the type of song that should be blasted in your car while you have your windows down on a sweltering day where the sun’s rays are smiling down at you. This song tends to boost my energy level whenever I hear it and it makes me instantly want to sing along to it. My favorite lyric that I love to belt out loud is, “Our song is the slamming screen door, sneakin’ out late, tapping on your window when you’re on the phone and you talk real slow cause it’s Late and your mama don’t know our song is the way you laugh the first date ‘man, I didn’t kiss her, but I should have’ and when I got home…before I said amen asking God if he could play it again.”
Recently, I listened to this song in my car with my mom before I went into a job interview to help calm my jittery nerves. Listening to the chorus of this song instantly helped transform my mood from being extremely anxious to feeling confident in being able to do anything that I set my mind to.
2. Tim McGraw
This song is one of my favourite of Swift’s because I absolutely love the slow paced guitar and her soft angelic voice. This song could be listened to at any time and it doesn’t matter what type of mood you are in. My favorite lyric from this song is, “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.”
3. Love Story
This is the song that made me instantly fall in love with Swift’s music. When I was little I would sing this heartfelt song because I dreamed of having a Romeo myself one day. All of the lyrics in this song are very affectionate and Swift’s angelic voice makes the song even more meaningful. The music video features Swift in an old fashioned white ball gown while her golden blonde curls are perfectly styled into an elegant updo. Swift is seen in her music video singing these lyrics to a charming young man, “Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone I’ll be waiting all that’s left to do is run you’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess it’s a love story baby just say yes.” Listen to this song, sing along to it and maybe one day you can sing it to your own Romeo just like how Swift did while looking elegant in a luxurious ancient castle.
4. Mean
This song is to help you remember that the people that are mean to you for absolutely no reason should not matter. They are obviously struggling with their own personal insecurities in their life and they are jealous of you. They are either jealous of the way you look, jealous of something that you have or even jealous of the way that other people absolutely radiate love to you. The mean opinions of these people should not matter but the people that love you should definitely matter. All you have to do in this very unfair situation is keep your head up, live your life, don’t retaliate and sing the lyrics, “Someday I’ll be living in a big old city, and all you’re ever gonna be is mean.” These people will probably never stop being mean to you and other people, but one day you will definitely be happier and successful living in a big old city where all they will ever be is plain old mean.
5. Ours
This song is to give you positivity in difficult situations where people are trying to bring you down. The most obvious reason why people are probably trying to bring you down is because you are shining so bright in an aspect of your life or even all aspects of your life. So these people are jealous of you when you are shining bright so they try to make you look terrible for others to see. This is when a very important lyric from “Ours” should be belted out loudly, “Don’t you worry your pretty little mind. People throw rocks at things that shine.” Swift is cheering you on through her lyrics, and so is everyone else that loves you. So belt out this lyric loudly while dancing along to it and stop caring about what others think.
6. Long Live
Even though this song was from the Speak Now era Swift brought it back to life on stage eight years later during her Reputation stadium tour. Swift made a very iconic come back with this song when she did a mashup on the piano with her other song, “New Year’s Day.” She made a point to thank the audience during her speech before she performed the mashup. This speech really stood out to me because Swift explained how so many media outlets were trying to say that her tour was going to be a huge flop and she was told that she was going to play to completely empty stadiums. Well, Swift told us all that she did the exact opposite of what everyone was telling her. She played at every single one of her tour dates to stadiums filled with fans that not only adored her but were also there for her through it all.
In this situation, I learned from Swift that the negative people should not matter but the people that adore you and cheer you on should be the ones that should matter in your life. I also learned from Swift to stop caring about what others think, be content with my own life, be kind to others no matter the situation and ignore the haters. It was a very profound moment where Swift and the crowd were all in tears while singing, “Long live all the mountains we moved. I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you.”
7. Never Grow Up
This song was written at a time when Swift was moving away from her family at a very young age and she was reminiscing all of the good memories that she had when she was a child growing up. She wrote this song for young girls around her age because she believed at that time many of her young fans were going through what she was going through. Swift wanted to write a song that could capture the emotion of growing up for not only herself but also for her fans.
Since I am currently finishing my first year of university I could really relate to this song because now I’m the adult looking back at childhood memories as I am still growing up even more every day. It really makes me feel wistful when looking back at old childhood memories because I have grown up so fast. I can still remember quite clearly some of my childhood memories. I remember dancing around Cinderella’s castle with my brother while wearing a mini version of Cinderella’s dress and skating for hours at a time on my family’s backyard rink with my brother during the winters. I love listening to this song and remembering my own childhood memories.
My favorite lyric from the song that really captures the emotions of growing up is, “Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up. Don’t you ever grow up, just stay this little. Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up. Don’t you ever grow up, it could just stay this simple. No one’s ever burned you, nothing’s ever left you scared, and even though you want to, just try to never grow up.” Listen to this song while looking at old photo albums and reminiscing your own childhood memories because we all know that you really do not want to grow up but in fact you will.
Young Swift & Baby Me!
8. Everything Has Changed featuring Ed Sheeran
At the start of this music video, there are mini versions of Swift and Sheeran who are friends at school. Throughout the video these two young children are enjoying their time together while playing dress up, enjoying sandwiches while sitting on monkey bars, playing instruments in music class and playing soccer. In the end of the music video we find out that these two children were Swift’s and Sheeran’s, respectively. Swift and Sheeran pick up their children from school and are seen waving at each other just like good friends would during the good old times.
This song is to help you remember changes and memories in your life. These memories could be positive or even negative. These changes in your life could be bringing you new opportunities and new beginnings. As you grow up there are many things that occur whether it was in your control or not. These lyrics can be sung while you reminisce memories in your life, “And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies, the beautiful kind, making up for lost time, taking flight, making me feel right, taking flight, making me feel right like.” Some changes will bring you butterflies but it will be a beautiful kind that will help you overcome your failures and help you accomplish incredible things.
9. Holy Ground
The upbeat guitar at the beginning of this song instantly puts you into an optimistic mood where all you want to do is dance along to the music. People go through many different occurrences in their lives and we should be proud of every single one that we all have been through. We should not only be proud of our accomplishments, but we should also be proud of our failures. Our failures that have occurred in our lives have helped shape us into the person we are today, taught us to work even harder, and have led us to another path where we have accomplished something else that we’re destined to. Celebrate the accomplishments and failures that you have been through by dancing to the lyric, “Tonight I’m gonna dance for all that we’ve been through. But I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you. Tonight I’m gonna dance like you were in this room. But I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you.”
10. Shake It Off
“Shake It Off” is one of Swift’s most iconic songs that has a very important message behind it that I believe everyone should know. While Swift was being torn down by the media, she decided to create a catchy masterpiece of a song where she gets back at the haters by singing and dancing while having some fun. Swift was making a point in her song to diminish the haters in a creative but also positive way. She was also making a point to the guy players in her life by letting them see that she is content with her own life and she does not need any of them to make her happy. “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off, Shake it off.” this lyric should be sung when you want to let go of your worries while having fun with friends and when you want to get back at the haters in a positive way.
11. Clean
I remember hearing Swift perform this song at her 1989 tour. My dad and I were sitting in the audience together and we were both mesmerized by Swift’s tear-jerking speech and captivating performance of “Clean.” When Swift was talking during her speech she really moved the audience and everyone was very tearful. Swift was tearful herself when she sang the lyric, “Rain came pouring down. When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe.” This song is very calming and it has empathetic lyrics that I believe anyone can relate to, not just when you are looking for a good cry.
A very important life lesson that I learned from Swift’s “Clean” speech and performance was that I am not the opinion of someone who does not even know me or even care about me. The negative opinions of the haters should not matter but the opinions of the people that love me should matter. I really believe that everyone can take this advice and apply it to their lives. In one way or another, we all have had someone who has tried to make you feel bad about yourself by being very nasty. But, like I have learned from Swift, these nasty opinions and behaviours inflicted towards us should not matter because these people do not actually know you, they only know the surface level of you, and these people obviously do not care about you at all.
Also, another very valid lesson that I have learned from Swift is not to care if other people believe in these nasty opinions. These other people I would consider to be “believers” do not actually know you, they only know the surface level of you, and these people also do not care about you at all. I simply do not care about what others think of me. I have a more carefree spirit and I believe that Swift has helped inspire these carefree, strong changes in my life.
12. Delicate
This is one of my favorite songs from the Reputation album. With Swift’s uplifting song lyrics and quirky dancing while wearing my favorite blue dress in her music video really makes it a very fun song to dance to. My favorite lyric from the song is, “My reputation’s never been worse, so you must like me for me…” Even though it is a very fun song to dance to, it also has a very sorrowful meaning to it. The hidden message that Swift is trying to tell all of us with her lyrics is that we should all be content with our own lives where we worry about our own happiness and not care about our reputation. This is because caring about the opinions of most people should not matter but caring about the opinions of people closest to you should. Let your own character speak powerfully over the voices of the negative people in your life. Your character of who you are as a person will speak powerfully and eventually people will understand from your point of view. So sit back, relax, do not worry, and let your character speak for you.
13. New Year’s Day
During Swift’s reputation stadium tour, she ended her concert performances with a very uplifting, but also touching message to her fans. She invented a new mashup which started with the song “Long Live” and smoothly transitioned to “New Year’s Day.” The transition between the two songs was very iconic because it was Swift’s way of artistically saying her last thank-you to her fans at the very end of the concert. All of us fans were there for her through absolutely everything and her music was our background music to all of our lives that helped us get through everything.
All of us have been through different occurrences in our lives that may not have been the most positive. Swift went through many negative situations recently when the media was bashing her and tearing her down. This heartbreaking lyric from Swift’s song really expresses how she felt during this time, “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere. Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.” In this lyric, Swift expresses how terrified she was about losing her fans, family, and friends who matter the most to her. During this time, Swift was terrified that the people she cared about the most would believe everything that the media was saying about her and all of us would turn against her.
I strongly believe that all of us have been in some type of situation that Swift was in. Whether it was someone underestimating your talents, a friend that turned into a negative person in your life, or even maybe someone made a very nasty and completely uncalled-for post about you on social media. Whatever the situation was or is, I strongly believe that Swift’s music can help you get through absolutely anything and we can all learn from how she handles situations in her life with grace.
Swift thanks all of her fans for still cheering her on in a very sweet lyric, “But don’t read the last page. But I stay. When you’re lost and I’m scared and you’re turning away, I want your midnights. But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day.” Swift stayed there for us through everything she went through and all of us fans were there for her through it all. This situation can be related to everyone’s lives in many different ways. We all have have been through or all are going through some type of situations in our lives where we need the people that love us to support us. Whatever the type of situation, no matter what we have going on, the loving people in our lives and Swift’s music for moral support can help us handle any type of situation with grace.
I have learned numerous life lessons from Swift due to her song lyrics and the way that she has handled certain situations. I am extremely grateful that I was introduced to Swift’s song “Love Story” because her music has really been able to help me get through absolutely anything. I still remember the day when I first listened to the song “Love Story” sung by the most elegant country girl with golden blonde curls, vivid royal blue eyes, who was always wearing cowgirl boots with sparkly dresses.
Swift’s songs honestly have been the background songs to my life and they also have been background songs to millions of other fans lives too. Not only is Swift considered to be “America’s Queen Sweetheart,” but I also consider her to be my role model that I look up to.
The intentions of all of Swift’s empathetic songs is to help build us up. Meanwhile, the media and society do the exact opposite of what Swift tries to do for all of us. The media and society always find nasty ways to break her down. I think that all of these songs of Swift’s listed above and many more that did not make this list can help get you through any type of situation even if you are not a die-hard fan of hers. I strongly believe that life is not about trying to survive the rocky storm but it is about dancing fearlessly and graciously through the rain while having Taylor Swift songs playing as the background songs to our lives.
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