While personally debating the cute quality of one Miss. Taylor Swift, I stumbled upon a shocking fact: HER DATE OF BIRTH. It seems that Taylor and I were both born in 1989. Here I was thinking that she was 16 or 17 years old. Now I am admittedly tone deaf and don’t ever claim to have a poetic way with words but, I’d like to think that if I was writing music it would be a tad more mature than the words of Taylor Swift.
Her lyrics are childish at best. I mean really, even Britney Spears’s lyrics from back in the day didn’t contain actual references to high school (other than the ‘…Baby One More Time’ video which was more sexual than anything else- HELLO belly shirt). And the difference between a short skirt and sneakers? At 19 and 20 years old are we really still suffering from the irrational need for popularity? The way Swifty dresses concerns me as well. I consider myself to be on the more conservative side of fashion, and even I show more skin than Miss Swift. Cowboy boots and ankle length sequined dresses look like something a little girl put together playing dress up.
All of these elements lead me to believe that Taylor Swift’s career doesn’t have any lasting power. It seems like she is suck in a perpetual state of pre-teen angst that will age along with her audience. The real question here is if this façade is Taylor Swift’s true personality, or a persona created by Hollywood so that she can be the anti-Hannah Montana.
As a 20-year-old woman, the issues prominent in my life no longer involve being the band geek going unnoticed on the bleachers. Has striving for fame stunted this young woman’s life? Is her innocence some sort of Southern charm that I have not experienced living in the North East?
Now, before all you Swifty fans throw the book at me, let me express that Taylor Swift’s actions have concerned me just as much as her music and her clothing have. Let us travel back to her interview on the Ellen show and revisit her short attack on Joe Jonas regarding his lack of finesse when ending their relationship. I feel for Swift in this situation; nobody deserves to go through a bad break up but, at my age, I would never publicly air my relationship problems- especially not on national television. Perhaps Swift’s home schooling has something to do with her lack of maturity. Is it possible that being forced to stay home and strum her guitar has prevented her from life experience, longing for the trials of a typical high school life? I can’t tell for sure, but one has to wonder when she’ll grow up already.
Taylor Swift: Southern Belle, Victim of Management, Or Socially Stunted Human Being?
To be fair, she has been writing music since she was 15. The songs that were released on Fearless may have been developed while she was 16 or 17, the height of high school love stories. Albums take a while to build and a while to catch on after release. Fearless was released in 2008, when she was just 18 I believe. Can’t fault her for singing songs she wrote while in the midst of the trauma.
Another point. It is a common occurrence for these young girls with amazing music talent to be slightly immature. They have spent their younger years strumming guitars or tickling the ivories. Take for instance Alicia Keys. amazing musician but has been said to be as mature as a 6th grader.
Social cues are often difficult to learn for geniuses (music and math) because they are so amazing in one area, they are less than par in others. The brain is all about the balance.
Read Rolling Stone’s cover story written on Taylor from Febuary of last year. It will help you get some facts straight and maybe change an opinion or two.
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/02/17/taylor-swift-the-story-behind-rolling-stones-cover-story/
The following is the best Swift article I’ve ever come across.
It’s positively hilarious. And true. Check it out.
http://www.autostraddle.com/why-taylor-swift-offends-little-monsters-feminists-and-weirdos-31525/