My views on Taylor Swift have gone through one heck of a roller coaster over the course of her career. In 2006, she released "Teardrops On My Guitar." I was about eleven at the time. The song wasn't that bad, but I was just beginning to discover that I wasn't so crazy about country music anymore. Then, after a year or so passed, there was a ridiculously long lasting trend of people giving her uncalled-for hate, simply because all of her songs seemed to be about her current and ex lovers. Naturally, being a preteen who was eager to fit in, I also found myself saying and feeling negative emotions towards her that were not even remotely based in logic. This lasted well into my senior year of high school before I realized that she was just a pretty, blonde, fellow dork and cat enthusiast who expressed her feelings via music like many before her. I had seen the light and didn't care if anyone judged me for belting out the lyrics to "Bad Blood" or "I Knew You Were Trouble." I was quick to defend her to anyone who said bad things about her. This was my first instinct until very recently.
In the YouTube community, there is a well-known English lesbian couple who make videos ranging from (mostly) silly to serious. Thousands of people have subscribed to Rose Ellen Dix (right) and have been watching her relationship with Rosie Spaughton evolve via multiple videos over the past few years. Naturally, I (even though I only started watching their videos shortly after they got engaged) was overjoyed when we finally got to see the video of their wedding and reception. You are probably wondering what in the world this has to do with Taylor Swift. I'm about to tell you exactly how she ties into the lives of my favorite YouTubers. They had their first dance as a married couple to her hit song "Shake It Off." It was adorable how obviously happy and in love they were while dancing to this song on their special day. This week, I saw a heartbreaking tweet by Rosie concerning the video, which was uploaded on April 3, 2015.
We all know how hard it is to find audio for a Taylor Swift song on the internet for free due to her very vocal concern about intellectual property. I didn't mind paying for 1989 for this reason. As an aspiring writer, I sympathized with her to an extent until now. It's not as if she isn't already a millionaire. Rose and Rosie obviously weren't looking to profit in any way from their first dance song. It was just a song they both enjoyed, but they lost the entire audio for the video just because they chose a Taylor Swift song to dance to for their first dance. What could anyone possibly have to gain by muting the entire audio for their wedding video?
On October 13, luckily, and through some act of God, Rose and Rosie got the audio back for their wedding video. I'm very happy that the audio is back. However, my feelings towards Taylor Swift are still tainted by the whole experience. There was absolutely no reason for this to have even happened in the first place. I have no idea how Rose or Rosie feel about her now, but while I still enjoy Taylor's music, I have lost a great deal of respect for her as a human being. I wish the happy couple nothing but the best and look forward to seeing more small glimpses into their lives.
