Everywhere you go, there’s always music echoing through the area. Whether it be through the loud city’s speakers, in a civilian’s earbuds, through someone’s electronic device, an artist using their voice to communicate through the talent of singing, or with someone practicing their skills of using an instrument. No matter the use, there’s always harmonies, lyricism, and symphonies clashing together, winning over people’s hearts. This is, normally, an universal experience for everyone. Music is the way to the heart, and to the mind. It enables emotions, it allows people to connect to lyrics despite being a separate person from the composer or the artist. Finally, and most importantly, it brings huge groups of people together and that one singular interest can form an impressive fanbase. I don’t tend to admit it, as normally she receives a lot of hate, but with the recent release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department, I can’t help but admit that Taylor Swift is undeniably my favorite singer, but there’s more to why I enjoy her music and silently dance to her poetry whenever I’m alone in my room.
With TTPD coming out, I was one of the people that waited until 12:00 am for it to come out, and I stayed up and listened to all of it despite having school the next day. I’ve related to her lyricism before, with albums she has released previously, but her songs like ‘Florida!!’ and ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ spoke to me more than they have before, and I think that’s an extremely special thing to have whenever listening to music: a connection. People see the song ‘Florida’!! As a way of glamorizing the state itself, or wanting to escape to Florida after all of their problems start spilling out, or how Taylor wrote it, is wanting to escape where you originally lived and finding a place to make a clean slate. However, that’s not how it connected to me whatsoever.
The way I interpreted it, is wanting to so badly leave your hometown behind because you’re entirely sick of it. All of the drugs, your friends, your family, the city itself, everything— you’re tired of it, and you want to run away as fast as you can, but every time you try to, it pulls you back in. Towards the middle and the end of the song, the lyrics continuously repeat themselves by saying “Florida!!… is one hell of a drug.” This shows that, at least to me, it’ll always pull you in like an addicted drug does to you, and you can never leave. The reason why I personally relate to my interpretation is because overtime, I have never felt like I belonged in Missouri, and any of the hometowns I have lived in such as Wentzville or Saint Peter’s & Cottleville. I still feel like I’m nothing but ‘a guest’ in it, like Swift sings in this song.
As for feeling out of place, as much as a touchy subject it is, so many teenagers suffer from drug abuse due to growing up with zero protection. So with the lyric “and all of my friends smell like weed, and the city reeks of driving myself crazy.” I personally relate to it, because it’s so difficult not falling into it. Feeling like everyone around you is pressuring you into doing something you don’t want to do is an awful one, especially since those voices consistently ring in my ears every time I plan something to leave. But, in the end, I end up “not wanting to resist”, and I end up staying. That’s how I felt the moment I listened to the song for the first time, and that shows how much her lyrics genuinely connect to someone, even if it wasn’t her intention.
Whenever it comes to ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’, however, that’s an entirely different story. The song starts with a bubbly tune, as Swift tells her experience of the popular show The Eras Tour after Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of 6 years, broke up with her. After the tragic news, she nonetheless stands back up and continues performing for her fans, despite recognizing that her mental state isn’t okay, but she still has to “hit all of her marks”. The way I interpreted it was to involve itself with school and personal relationships with my friends and my families.
I know it sounds insane; I mean, why would a regular person relate to the lyrics that only a singer could relate to because it’s her experience and her experience alone? It’s because that’s what her lyricism does, it allows people to connect with her, and realize they’re not alone whatsoever. Specifically, her entire chorus sings the lyrics “all the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting MORE!!!” is the reason why I connected with this song. This lyric resonates with me because in late September, it felt like my entire life had fallen apart. I lost my great grandmother who was one of my best friends, and not even a day later, my best friend who I had grown to absolutely adore had left with zero explanation, and I never found out why she did what she did. This negatively impacted me for so many months, and it honestly still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth anytime I think of it; however, I was working on the Fall play “You Can’t Take It With You!!”, and I also had so many artistic deadlines, so I couldn’t have given up even if I wanted to. It felt like everyone was begging me to give more, but I nonetheless continued on and ended up coming out on top of it all. My experience, funnily enough, was insanely similar to Taylor’s experience; I couldn’t help but love her and her music “MORE!!” for it.
After all of that, I recognize that I may seem overdramatic to some people, and I also recognize that there’s people out there who despise her, and don’t understand why people love her and her music so much; and I’m okay with that. After all, everyone has their personal interests. However, I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say her music inspired me and comforted me to continue onward whenever times got hard, and that I should never give up even if I wanted to, because I wasn’t alone in that situation, and it wouldn’t be the end of the world. And I will forever be eternally grateful for her music doing that for me.
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