"Darling I'm a Nightmare Dressed like a Daydream"

Confession: I love Taylor Swift's new album. I know what you are thinking, "How could you? You have spent the better part of your teen life wishing Teardrops on My Guitar was a song about a guitar prodigy who gets in a serious accident leaving him blind (there's poetry in that) and Love Story ended the way Romeo and Juliet was meant to end with death and tragedy and people learning stuff!" This is true. Most of Taylor Swift's career has been poppy country-ish songs about how she's in love with the boy who doesn't want her and how in the end love is victorious even when you date a tool.  Gross. Nobody wants that.

I'm a hopeless romantic with a purpose. I don't love Twilight, I don't necessarily believe in love at first sight, or even soulmates. I don't think love will conquer all. I don't think just because you love someone life gets easier. I don't think two people who might have a chance will get that chance when they are far emotionally or physically. It's a nice idea and creates a fun storyline (to be clear I'm talking about Slumdog Millionaire here not Twilight), but it's not really what I believe in.

Oh yeah, and I definitely do not like the song "Shake it Off". Gah, I remember when this song came out and I was intrigued because of it's reputation on Social Media but after I listened to it I felt no originality. I didn't see emotion or even a decent beat. There was nothing about his song that stuck out as art to me. But the rest of the world loved it so I kept it to myself.  When the album came out I received several snapchats from friends excited to listen for themselves.  I didn't give the album a fair chance until I saw this:

While Pentatonix could read the dictionary and make it sound amazing, come on, that is solid. And you know which song is the worst of all during that mashup? Yup, Shake it Off! I mean I get that your single could be different from your other tracks but I feel like that song was completely disconnected. Pentatonix gave me hope because it meant the album had a shot.

 Here's where the problem came in. Taylor Swift decided to be very tight about where her music was displayed. She's not letting Spotify touch this album. YouTube keeps taking down any of her 1989 tracks. Unless you actually buy the album it's almost impossible to know how the music sounds.  I listened to covers good and bad.

Then two days ago the song "Blank Space" came out as a new single on iTunes. Take a moment here:

That song is not "Shake it Off" in rhythm or rhyme. The story is your basic "fling" relationship from beginning to end. My favorite part in that song is the fight in the middle. I love the scream singing. The passion is beautiful! I mean really it's just fantastic. I think I listened to this song 30+ times the day it came out. It's just different and great and has a fantastic beat. In that small yet perfect moment I became a fan. It's sad, a little, because it's not necessarily my "type" of music. It's the same way I felt when I read "The Fault in Our Stars" and loved it. I became the 99% again. I like something that has millions of likes and will be overplayed on the radio in a month. But I do! I like it a lot.

So why? Why does some of her songs make sense to me and most do not?  I think it comes down to the way we love. I began by telling you all the ways I don't love and what I don't believe in.  While I don't believe in young T-Swift love, as she grows up we understand eachother a little better.

I believe in female empowerment! "Blank Space" is a great example of this. She's got the power through the whole song. The man, while attractive, hardly says a word. I also believe in heartbreak. It's love at it's worst. Teardrops on my guitar never spoke to me but "I Wish you Would" does. It also has wicked harmonies, or at least this cover I heard does, I have yet to listen to the actual song. "Bad Blood" speaks of betrayal, "Style" is chemistry, and "New York" is adventurous. They all mean something to me and they all have amazing rhythm.

I don't like her whole album, I haven't listened to her whole album. I just know my idea of love is empowering, passionate, heartbreaking, regretful, frustrating, difficult, exciting, and sometimes short lived. That's how this album connected with me. Except Shake it Off, that one was just a swing and miss.