Taylor Swift. No matter what anyone says, she has defined many eras and genres. Whether it be pop, country, the 2006-now time gap and most importantly of all, my middle-school era, Taylor Swift's songs were in our playlists. There were many-a-journal entries, and angsty, pre-teen moments that revolved around a T-Swift lyric and most likely a boy. There were deafening concerts and backseat rides (with mom driving, of course), belting my heart out to the words that professed the love, heartbreak or fury I was experiencing.

So, as a now junior in college, I compiled a list of her songs that, when they come on in the car (with me driving now), still take me back to the days of crushing on a boy so innocently...

12. Cold As You (Album: Taylor Swift)

So to start us off, number 12 on my list, "Cold As You", from T-Swift's first album is a girl's analyzation of the end of a *insert relationship type here* and sings of the grey walls put up, words not said, and backlash of liking that boy that just really is an eighth grader about the whole thing, (irony being that ... yes... they are in eighth grade). Still doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less, alright?

"And you come away with a great little story, of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you."

11. Love Story (Album: Fearless)

Leave it to Taylor to put every girl's fairytale into a song, literally telling the story through a fairytale. We all want ballgowns, pebbles thrown at our window, and a Romeo to take us away to paradise. We want to sneak out to the garden for a secret, forbidden love. We want to be the shining star in our prince's eye. (No matter what we say to refute that idea, we do, we want it all.)

"He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said, 'Marry me Juliet. You'll never have to be alone, I love you and that's all I really know. I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress. It's a love story, baby, just say yes."

10. Should've Said No (Album: Taylor Swift)

The song that says it all. "The smiles and flowers, everything, is gone. Yesterday, I found about you, even now just lookin' at you, feels wrong." How dare he direct message her on Facebook?! How dare they go to QuikTrip after school?! How dare he sit by her at the friggin' assembly?! Moment of weakness my ass. This was likely your anthem of fury over the boy that said he liked you and then, like most boys, forgot (of course), or (more realistically) just didn't realize the gravity of what he was getting himself into when he told you about his "feelings" for you.

"You should be begging for forgiveness at my feet."

9. Hey Stephen (Album: Fearless)

Oh... we all had a Stephen, and yes, we were all meant to be with our Stephen. That butterfly inducing, beautifully intelligent, boy we crushed on genuinely. This was the one that you simply wanted to be yours, for the boy he was, and the guy you could see he'd become. "As we walked, we were talking, I didn't say half the things I wanted to. Of all the girls tossing rocks at your window, I'll be the one waiting there even when it's cold." Yes, if your Stephen came back into your life today, you definitely wouldn't mind and you might even have the ganas to tell him the things you were too awestruck by his brown eyes to say in social studies class.

"The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you say my name, it's beautiful, wonderful don't you ever change."

8. White Horse (Album: Fearless)

And then there was this guy. The one that you "honestly believed in." "Maybe I was naive, got lost in your eyes, never really had a chance. My mistake i didn't know to be in love you had to fight to have the upper hand." [The lyrics really speak for this one.] He actually kinda made you believe in something bigger than a crush, and he kinda really f*cked it up. "And there you are on your knees, begging for forgiveness, begging for me just like I always wanted. But I'm so sorry. Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale, I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well . . . it's too late for you and your white horse to catch me now." Power to you Tay! Power to us! F*** him! (Respectfully.)

"I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet." (and that is A-OK mister)

7. Tim McGraw (Album: Taylor Swift)

Oh. Lovey, love, love. We all wanted to have that "boy in a Chevy truck that had a tendency of getting stuck on backroads at night" kind of summer romance. One to look back on and see dancing in the moonlight by the lake, think of our head on his chest, and happiness a song that evokes memories even with the post summer bittersweetness. . .and who wouldn't want to think of Tim McGraw as often as possible? Just sayin'.

"In a box beneath my bed, there's a letter that you never read from three summers back."

6. The Way That I Loved You (Album: Fearless)

Oh man. Ok. This is big. The whole, I-have-a-"boyfriend"-and-he's-perfect-but-I-like-this-other-boy-[who's-most-likely-a-butthead]-thing.. Been there. And I offer my sincerest apologies to the boy who actually did treat me great. At that age we might not have been "screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain" in reality but Taylor somehow brought our eighth grade feelings to life with those images. And let's be honest, we never go for the "sensible" and "incredible" one. Never the one "that makes our single friends jealous and says everything we need to hear", and "opens the car door", and "tells us we're beautiful." And "respects our space" and "never makes us wait" and is close to our family. No, that would be way too easy and logical. We like the a**holes who don't give us the time of day.

"You were wild and crazy, just so frustrating, intoxicating, complicated..."

5. Our Song (Album: Taylor Swift)

Mmmmm... young lovey, love, love. T-Swift gave so many relationships a "song" (that the guys probably didn't know about) with this one. This one was the dreamy, upbeat, happy-go-lucky song we all wanted to describe our relationship. The most baffling part of this one for me is that she found a guy that'd say "our song is a slamming screen door, sneaking out late tapping on your window, when we're on the phone and you talk real slow, 'cause it's late and your momma don't know..." Do guys say stuff like that? I thought they did in eighth grade for sure... I'll let you know if I find one in college.

"The way he laughs, the first date man, I didn't kiss him and I should have. And when I got home, before I said 'amen', asking God if He could play it again."

4. Fifteen (Album: Fearless)

Oh, ALLLLLL up in the feels with this one. There are no words to describes the nostalgia this song brings about. There are so many chest-clenching, relatable moments in this song; the senior boy (yes there was one, and I was starry-eyed and infatuated . . . ugh), the simplicity that felt like the most complicated thing in the world, the friends, the nights, the parties, mom waiting up for me, dancing at Friday night football games . . . AHHH! the memories...

"Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now. . . Don't forget to look before you fall. I found time can heal most anything, and you just might find who you're supposed to be. Didn't know who I was supposed to be at fifteen."

3. You Belong With Me (Album: Fearless)

And we're at the Top 3! We all had this guy too. The best friend, who was a guy, who had a girlfriend, who was supposed to be with you. You guys listened to the same music, you could lay on the trampoline and talk for hours, you had the same sense of humor, you told each other things you just didn't tell other people and you were just waiting for the day that he realized it was supposed to be you. You'd have, and maybe still would, do anything for him. Point is, it was you...duh. Whether it was meant to be or not this song will bring him back to mind. *insert relief* Taylor gets the super cute blondie from The Hannah Montana Movie in the music video so why wouldn't it happen?

"I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams, I think I know where you belong."

2. Teardrops on My Guitar (Album: Taylor Swift)

THE ONE AND ONLY, THE CLASSIC, TEARDROPS ON MY GUITAR. If you didn't shed a few tears to this song, or watch your "Drew" with the girl he kept friggin' telling you about. . . you weren't a preteen/teen when this song came out. It's the worst and most common situation, and Taylor sang out our diaries when she sang, "He's the song in the car I keep singing don't know why I do." It represents a teen girl heartbreak better than any song ever has. It's an ode to the boy we loved in secret and an ode to the amount strength we showed by listening to him ramble on and on and on about her. "She better hold him tight, give him all her love, look in those beautiful eyes and know she's lucky 'cause..." That struggle? All too real.

"Drew walks by me, can't he tell that I can't breathe?"

1. Fearless (Album: Fearless)

My number one T-Swift, middle school anthem is Fearless. It's an ode to the first kiss, the boy you liked for years. To an all-in kind of love that girls dream about. It's about the boy that made your head spin and your eyes water (my eyes water when I talk to a cute boy...yeah, it is as inconvenient as it sounds). It's about the most safe, fun, wild, secure, and fearless kind of love. . . and God bless, it takes me back to my eighth grade locker and my high school parking lot. It takes me places all over town and reminds me of night drives with the windows down (once we could drive). This one... lemme tell ya..

"Well you stood there with me in my doorway, my hands shake, I'm not usually this way but you pull me in and I'm a little more brave. . . it's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something . . . it's fearless."

Now that I've over analyzed these songs like I did those boys in my middle-school era, and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, I hope I induced major nostalgia and had you looking back on those crushes and journal entries. I've learned that we have grown up since then. It's okay to look back on the times when we overanalyzed situations and added them to our AIM profiles. I'd like to thing that, like Taylor, our song has just become stronger and more independent even if we still like the hand-shaking, butterfly-having, dizzy-making moments.