The Gift of Swift
Why her songs are so relatable to teen girls
“Taylor Swift is a gift.”
It’s a statement another female youth worker made in a conversation I was having about 10 years ago. It became a phrase that I repeated to girls within my youth group at the time, who then latched onto it — such that it ended up written on a gift they later gave me. (Technically, there’s more to this story, but I’ll share that in a future post.)
The point that youth leader was making was this: Taylor Swift’s songs were putting into words exactly what our teenage girls were thinking and feeling. Thus, she was a gift to youth workers, because her songs helped us understand our teenage girls. Ten years later, Taylor is now 34, and while her life is quite different than a teen’s life, I find that girls do still tend to relate to her music.
In large part, I think that’s due to the fact that Taylor’s music seems to be highly personal and reflects the thinking of the current cultural moment.
She writes about personal experiences, including love, pain, and revenge. It makes sense that teens, who are in a stage of life where they are experiencing pain and emotions in so many new and more complex ways, would latch onto songs like this. She’s giving them words to understand their new experiences. And the way in which Taylor handles her pain and interpersonal conflicts is also a way that will attract many teens. Often her songs themselves are not only a space for her to process her experiences but also a way for her to get revenge on those who have harmed her. What teen wouldn’t be drawn to that? In our fallenness, revenge is instinctive and attractive. Forgiveness and mercy are formed in our character over time through the Spirit — and a teen hasn’t yet had much time for that formation process to take place.
Taylor’s music has also followed the themes of the current cultural moment. With songs like Blank Space and Shake it Off in 2014, she began to, as they say, “take control of her own narrative.” She’s increasingly become known for standing up for what she cares about (for example, You Need to Calm Down) and has also opened up about mental health struggles in songs like Anti-Hero. Taylor embraces expressing herself. Her album Speak Now is built around the idea of speaking out her thoughts, and her recent The Tortured Poets Department contains songs where she’s expressing her feelings about things that happened many years (and many romantic relationships) ago. If what I am hearing and reading about the album is correct, there’s a sense in which many of these songs express years of pent-up anger (which is perhaps part of why she’s calling the portion of her live shows that include songs from this album Female Rage: The Musical). In other words, Taylor’s songs show her embracing the tenets of expressive individualism, the modern notion that finding and expressing one’s true self is the path to true flourishing and happiness.
So, I’d argue, Taylor’s music gives us artistic expressions of how girls shaped by our current cultural values think about their personal experiences. Does that make her a gift? I think perhaps it does — but it’s the type of gift we have to know how to handle well.
I have more thoughts on Taylor and the phenomenon that she currently is, which I plan to share in further posts. For now, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Have her songs helped you relate to students?
What else have you noticed in her lyrics that make her so relatable?