Everyone becomes a Taylor Swift fan eventually.”
This is something my close friend, Jill, said to me a few weeks ago. I laughed when she said it, but it stuck with me because I knew she was calling me out directly.
I’ve always said that I know I’d be a Taylor fan if I put in the effort to listen to her music, but I never got around to it. Still, her music falls into the same genres I always listen to, I enjoy her songs that I hear on the radio, and she loves cats (my kind of person). It’s a no-brainer that I should listen to her, but I never did, not until recently.
Jill gave me the exact push I needed to jump into the deep end.
One night, just two weeks or so ago, I sat down at my desk and started listening to Folklore, on the suggestion of my friend. I was hooked. Hot take: this is possibly the best album I’ve ever heard. To be fair, though, it’s the only one I’ve listened to so far, because I cannot get enough of it.
Nothing has fueled my main character syndrome more than this collection of songs. If anyone sees me walking around campus not looking like a zombie for once in my life, it’s because I’m listening to this and living out my protagonist moment.
Folklore feels like walking through campus while the leaves fall around you and the slight wind gently pushes your hair behind your shoulders. It tastes like a pumpkin spice latte and looks like a Fall-themed Pinterest board. It is the goodbye to summer as you pack away your shorts and cross off the last day of August on your calendar. It reminds you of walking through a New England town you’ve never visited and browsing through the mom-and-pop bookstore that’s been there for a hundred years. It’s re-reading the Great Gatsby and Jane Austen novels while sitting in your childhood home. It’s heartbreak, love, bettering yourself, reminiscing, and forgiveness all wrapped in a nice little package.
Here are some lines of songs that I can’t get over because I just love them so much:
- the 1: “You know the greatest loves of all time are over now”
- my tears ricochet: “And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?”
- seven: “And though I can’t recall your face / I still got love for you”
- invisible string: “And isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?”
In sum, I’m obsessed with this album, and I currently cannot bring myself to listen to the others in case they don’t live up to this one. I know I’ll get there eventually and probably end up writing another article about it, so stay tuned for that. I am super excited to be on this journey as a new fan, and I am thankful to be able to take you all along on the ride with me.
And thank you to Jill – I’m loving it over here in the deep end.