Why Taylor Swift's Grammy Speech Was So Important

Last Sunday, Taylor Swift, once again, left the 2016 Grammys with more than she came with. Swift won Best Pop Album (1989), Best Music Video (Bad Blood), and Album of the Year (1989). This is Swift’s second Grammy win for Album of the Year. She won the same award for her second studio album, Fearless, back in 2010. Taylor’s win for Album of the Year award for the second time breaks a record. How? Swift is the first female musician to win Album of the Year twice. After watching Swift’s reaction, it is obvious she was just as ecstatic as we all were. After accomplishing such a great feat, Swift gave an enlightening speech that should inspire everyone to follow their dreams. Haven’t watched it yet? Well, here you go.

And suddenly, every Taylor Swift hater has their foot in their mouth. Especially one who made a mockery of Swift when her music career was just beginning to take off. Back in 2009, Swift won Best Female Video for her video “You Belong with Me” at the VMAs. Before delivering her acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West jumped on stage and stole the mic from Swift. He, then, proceeded to say that “Beyonce had one of the best music videos of all time” before giving the mic back to a confused Swift. Since this controversial event, Swift and West have talked publicly about the event. West apologized, Swift forgave, and the two moved on from the awkward incident.

Until the 2016 Grammys anyway.

Swift had the final word on the ongoing battle between the two. Swift’s speech resonates with every person who has ever felt under-appreciated. In today’s society, people love to make others feel incompetent or unworthy of the success they have. We can look at this on a grand scale, such as winning a Grammy, or a small scale, such as getting into your dream college. For some reason, there are people in this world who like to make others feel like garbage once these people become successful. Swift stomps on that idea altogether.

She says to “focus on the work” and that “when you get to where you’re going," the people who made you feel like you weren’t enough won’t matter anymore. In a society where there is so much competition and inequality, Swift’s speech was a nice reminder that anything is possible. That dreams do come true. And that hard work pays off.

No one should ever feel like they don’t have a part to play in this world. No one should feel like the hard work they’ve done so far to accomplish their dreams isn’t good enough. No one should feel under appreciated for what they have to give. Hearing those words from such a successful, yet humble, musician such as Taylor Swift gives young people everywhere hope and motivation to continue working hard. Swift’s speech is so important because she shares some insight on how important hard work and determination can be to someone’s success. It helps us realize that, truly, the “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” but we need to just “shake, shake, shake, shake, shake...shake it off”.