Oh? You want me to drive us to get Eggo Waffles for some random hankering at 2 o'clock in the morning? Or you need me to take you to your doctor's appointment across town? No problem! But seeing as I'm driving, I'm going to play this one Taylor Swift song on repeat. I'm sorry, but that's really the price you have to pay.
It's true. I've listened to more Taylor Swift than 17-year-old me would really like to admit, but I am trying to accept it of myself in the same way that I hope unassuming passengers who sit shot gun in my car will accept. Mainly, openly and without any snide comments about my musical tastes.
I remember sitting in my high school business class, telling Monica and Bobby to stop singing that damn "Tear Drops on My Guitar Song," because it was dumb (I wasn't very sassy back in high school). Fast forward two years later, and I'm part of a car full of women singing "Our Song" just to annoy one Taylor-Swift hating passenger. Fast forward from that, and I'm in a kitchen full of perpetual singers singing "Mine," which I don't even really like. But dammit don't I know the words and know when to belt it out for the kitchen at large.
When did this happen? I mean, I guess it was "Our Song" just because of the hard accent I could do while singing, then "You Belong with Me" when I had this whole idea that I wanted to sing on stage before I was 20. Then there was "The Story of Us" when I came back from England and had to assimilate back to life. When did she grow on me? It's like I just noticed a shark sucker on my back, and also that I am a shark who is bad at metaphors.
I mean, her lyrics aren't that poignant. Her voice isn't that great. And yet I can't get the songs out of my head. Her whole "22" thing even annoys me, but dammit if I don't have that song on repeat.
I can't lie. I watched her E! News Special, where I learned how Taylor Swift didn't really have any trouble getting to where she wanted, but she still kept her goal in mind. She sort of took risks in demanding that she sing her songs she wrote and in leaving that music company, but she pretty much was just goal oriented from the beginning. I learned that she achieved everything through stubbornness.
I actually refer to this special when talking to some of my freshly graduated friends about where the crap are we supposed to go from here. They don't really take me very seriously. But they still want a ride in my car.