Dear Taylor Swift,
I don’t look like you. I don’t have the same personality qualities as you. People don’t look at me as your target demographic. I’m not the tanned legs and blue eyes you hear about in country music, and I have never been the heartbroken teenager whose diary you apparently regurgitate in your songs. Due to these staunch differences, I have yet to read any textbook explanation as to why your words should mean so much to me. Yet somehow, you still make me laugh and you still make me cry. Since I can’t look to anyone else to explain why I feel the way I do, I will do my own self-analysis.
I first heard your music at my fifth-grade graduation party. The DJ played "Picture to Burn," and I was the only person who didn’t know all the words (country music wasn’t quite my forte at the time). Of course, being the fifth grader with the intense need to fit in, I went home and memorized every word of that song and then every word of every song I could find of yours on YouTube, and then I had my dad buy your album for me. So I guess the way I first gained appreciation for your music was the same way most people enter a phase in their life: I wanted to fit in. It would be easy to end it there and say I love you, because I was told I am supposed to love Taylor Swift except that won’t quite hold up, because you know as well as I do what started around 2011.
All of sudden, after I had dedicated so much time into getting to know this girl I would never actually know, I was told I shouldn’t like Taylor Swift. I was told that you are an awful person. I heard it all about you: she’s fake, she’s manufactured, she’s a slut and she doesn’t care about anything but herself. However; instead of following the trend once again and finding someone new to admire, once it became against the grain to like your music and what you stand for is when I learned what exactly your words really meant.
"You Belong With Me" wasn’t a desperate rambling of a jealous girl, it was a coming-of-age story of learning where you stand in relationships and what it means to be confident in what you can contribute. "Love Story" was no longer a cute remix of "Romeo and Juliet," but instead the product of overwhelming love and the belief of happy endings. "Mine" grew into more than a song to smile at and into a song about self-determination and no longer relying on destiny. Your albums became more than just stories placed to a nice tune, but into a belief system I could fall back on when things just weren’t working out. Now it’s 2015, and the general public can’t really decide on if they want you to be their devil or their angel, but I have made up my mind about you a long time ago and you only seem to reinforce those views.
To send you off, I would just like you to know that I appreciate your existence. I love that you settle for nothing less than the best. I love that you have no hesitation before going in to hug someone. I love that you understand where your strengths lie but are unafraid to tackle your weaknesses. I love that you understand the power of voice and the impact of words. And most of all, I love that you have taught me those same values. When I met you on my 18th birthday, I didn’t get to tell you all of this. As a matter of fact, I believe we spent most of our time together talking about selfies. So right now I am telling you that I care about you, you have done a lot for me and I will always be a dedicated member of the Taylor Swift Defense Squad.
Love,
Your Long Distance Gal Pal
