Songs are like time-traveling vessels. Every one of Swift’s albums that have been released and have been apart of different chapters in my life. There are tiny snapshots of memories that surface when hearing a melody, a chord, and even a lyric. I am always going to think of that guy I fell for on the football (and basketball, and baseball) team way back in middle school, and the rest of high school, while singing my heart out to You Belong with Me in my room after one of his games. Memories might surface back to watching the Mine music video after running my dad’s car into that poor Bradford Pear Tree in my driveway (I was only 14! My family is still giving me a hard time for that). Whether that particular song was related to the situation or not, it still takes me back to that time. Lyrics are kind of like that as well. We don’t understand that we need those few words to help us get over something, be okay, or not fine with what is happening. We need something to show that we are not alone in this world. Taylor, the queen of understanding, has over one hundred songs for every situation. These are just thirteen lyrics from a few of her songs that can take from every situation.
1. “I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it.” -All Too Well
Emotional masterpiece of All Too Well. One of the most underrated lyrics in that entire song (which holds a powerhouse of emotional lyrics including, “You called me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest.”), but one of the most haunting lyrics I have ever heard. We lose ourselves. We lose who we use to be, and we have more scars now. And it is hard to get back, to who we were.
2. “In your life you’ll do greater things than dating the boy on the football team.” -Fifteen
Nobody cares if he was actually the king of the world. High school Football team or not, dating him is a small fragment of your life. Don’t make it a whole fragment. You will date and fall for guys who are the total opposite of that football star, but that gives you those butterflies and make you feel fifteen again.
3. “It’s like I got this music in my mind saying it’s gonna be alright.” -Shake it Off
Sometimes you just have to Shake… It… Off. Stop worrying, stop second guessing, stop listening to other people’s opinions. Everything does work out the way it should and everything in the long run will be alright.
4. “Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right.” -State of Grace
Love should be the easiest thing in the world, but with all those grey areas it is easier to run than to fall.
5. “All we are is skin and bone trained to get along.” -Treacherous
Puts things in perspective.
6. “Look at you worrying about things you can’t change. You’ll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way.” -Starlight
Those horrifying pictures that pop in your head for no reason but to give you a heart attack and be angry at the person for something you imagined. Worrying just makes the situation even worse. Things happen, and sometimes we have no control over that and that is okay. It’s best to just let go.
7. “We block the noise with the sound of I need you and for the first time I had something to lose.” -Holy Ground
The realization we need somebody way more than we think. People leave and change minds. It is scary to need somebody that could just walk away without any scars.
8. “We’re a crooked love in a straight line down.” -I Wish You Would
Nothing is ever going to be quite right about that relationship, but you still try anyway.
9. “We’re happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way.” -22
We have a lot of feelings but also don’t know exactly what to do with all of them. That is okay, it comes with the territory of being young adults. We have a right to be indecisive.
10. “We cry tears of mascara in the bathroom. Honey life is just a classroom.” -New Romantics
11. “This is looking like a contest of who can act like they care less.” -Story of Us
Trying to avoid eye contact with somebody that once meant something. It has happened on more than one occasion, and it does not get any easier.
12. “Are we out of the woods yet?” -Out of the Woods
We are in the time of midterms! The dark dark forest seems like a better option right now than the late night studying, pulling hair out and teeth grinding midterms, (this also applies during finals week).
13. “When I was drowning that’s when I could finally breathe.” -Clean
In the wise words of Taylor herself during her shows this past year, we don’t go through a bunch of rainstorms or bad days without leaving… Clean. There’s light at the end of the tunnel.
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