As the entire world knows, Taylor Swift’s newest album 1989 came out at the end of October. It shook off the haters to become an instant success, both with me and my friends and around the world, selling over one million copies in its first week. She’s clearly popular amongst society as a whole right now, but at the same time, everyone has different tastes. Perfection to me is inevitably garbage to someone else. Every musical artist, music genre, television show, movie, YouTube channel, website, and every other media product has its adoring fans and harsh critics. How do you navigate the tricky arena of social acceptability?
In my experience, music tastes have been the most difficult to take ownership of. It seems like everyone at UVA is into folk artists and rappers I’ve never heard of, so it’s hard to answer the question “What type of music do you like?” when their tastes sound so unique and interesting. The truth is that I like pop! I’ve seen One Direction, Demi Lovato, and the Jonas Brothers in concert in the last two and a half years and *gasp* listen to Top 40 radio stations. You would think that artists with the top songs on iTunes would be the most socially acceptable preferences, but in some cases, the opposite is true. Taylor Swift? Go ahead and blast “Blank Space” while driving down the Corner. Ariana Grande? She’s acceptable if you’re thirteen, but not so much if you’re twenty-one. But…I love both! I’ve learned to accept the fact that I may not necessarily have the coolest Pandora stations (High School Musical Cast, anyone?), but they make me happy and that’s what matters.
My advice, which I need to follow more often, is to own up to all of your media choices and not just the ones that you think people will agree with. You should be allowed to talk about and enjoy the things you love without fear of judgment. Don’t think about what you’re “allowed” to like and let other people dictate your happiness – just do you!