In case you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift released her own version of Red this past week on November 12th. She doubled her album with a ten-minute version of All Too Well and songs from the vault, ones that she wrote at the time. I wanted to take the time and focus on one song from the vault, Nothing New, featuring Phoebe Bridgers, another powerful singer for young women.
Taylor start’s off by singing:
They tell you while you’re young
“Girls, go out and have your fun”
Then they hunt and slay the ones who actually do it
Criticize the way you fly
When you’re soaring through the sky
Shoot you down and then they sigh
And say, “She looks like she’s been through it”
She highlights the criticism young women get from society when trying to start a career and at a young age as if it is not as serious as when men start their careers. She uses this verse to talk back to society about the sexism she faced when her career started to take off at age 16. Young women in our society are not only criticized for being successful but are also criticized when the patriarchal society does not allow them to succeed. Not only did Taylor face this sexism, but also Phoebe Bridgers when starting her career.
Pheobe and Taylor in verse two sing:
Are we only buying time ‘til I lose your attention
And someone else lights up the room?
People love an ingénue
“Ingénune” in french means “an innocent or unsophisticated young woman.” This is a reference to how our society loves new women in industries because they think they don’t know or understand how it works to succeed in that career path. Once they prove they know what they are doing, society loves to tear them down and move on.
They continue to reference the line:
How can a person know everything at eighteen
But nothing at twenty-two?
These lines show how scary it is for young women in the music industry to stay relevant in society’s minds. Her remake of the album has allowed her to go back in time and now show how young females can break societal standards within not only the music industry but also in all career paths. Taylor Swift has held her fame over the last 15 years and continues to inspire young women all over to challenge society’s stereotypes of young women.