Taylor Swift

So as anyone who knows me knows, I am passionate about Taylor Swift. If she's on TV, I know about it. If she has a new single coming out, I know about it. If she breaks up with her shirtless werewolf boyfriend, I know about. I have her Twitter updates forwarded to my phone and really if I knew as much about Chemistry 101 as I do about Taylor Swift then I probably would not have to retake that course at some point in my college career.

Many people would say that I am a "stalker", but by looking at a simple definition of "stalking" it would be very easy to rule that description out. According to wikipedia and confirmed on dictionary.com, "stalking" is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted attention by individuals to others. So other than that time I was within like 20 yards of her at her concert I have never even come into physical contact with her. I don't have a life-sized statue of her in my closet made out of her used chewing gum and hairclips so I'd say that me being a "stalker" is not the proper term. What term would I use then you ask? Passionate. As defined on dictionary.com "passionate" is expressing, showing, or marked by intense or strong feeling; emotional. I'd say that's perfect. I would describe my fandom as being more like those old videos of Elvis or the Beach Boys performing and the girls in the crowd going crazy rather than John Hinckley Jr. So here's the next question everyone asks: Why? Why Taylor Swift? And it has taken nearly three years to realize the answer to that question but here it is, the secret to it all.

I remember the first time Taylor Swift's heavenly voice reached my ears. It was a Sunday morning during my junior year of high school and I was on my way to church when "Tim McGraw" came onto the radio. The DJ talked about how she was only 16 and that she had a part in writing all of the songs on her debut CD. Incredible right? Well here's the shocker. And I hope everyone is ready for this because its an earth-shaker. The thought that came into my head was "She's no Carrie Underwood" *gasp*. It was not love at first sound. I'll admit that even now "Tim McGraw" is not one of my favorite songs of her's. It took awhile to get to where I am today.

It wasn't really until she was on the brink of stardom that I really, really started to like her. Here she is at the age of 20 on top of the world and she still acts like she hasn't done anything, like she doesn't belong with the greats of music. (I'm gonna finish but I'd just like to say that Love Story was the greatest video of all time!) She is a superstar that doesn't act like the other superstars of today and it shows in the music she writes. Her music is not sex-centered like so much other pop music is today. She acts like a girl should act and expects to be treated the way a girl should be treated. I will admit that that last statement sounds pretty sexist: "like a girl should act". Who am I to say how a girl should act? But the answer to that question is in the second part of the sentence: the way a girl should be treated. In the music video for "Love Story" Taylor portrays a princess. In a few other songs the whole fairy-tale theme is front and center. In regards to her darker songs about boys she says that "If guys don't want me to write bad songs about them, then they shouldn't do bad things." Guys should be act like that Prince Charming that every girl expects because God created girls to be treated just as Taylor Swift thinks they should be: like princesses. And I couldn't agree more.