Eight years ago, a fresh-faced country sweetheart stepped onto the music scene with the hit song “Tear Drops On My Guitar” that quickly became a chart-topping hit. She then went on to write and perform “Our Song,” which was the number one song on the Hot Country Songs chart, breaking the record for the youngest artist to achieve this. Her career then skyrocketed as she made the crossover from a country princess to a pop diva with the release of the album Fearless. From then on, Taylor Swift was a household name. Everyone was talking about her music and more importantly how she made the transition from country to pop in just a short amount of time.
So during a tailgate on football Saturday here at Michigan, the song “Shake it Off” came blaring through the speakers. Many people around me kept asking, “Who sings this song?” - which can be considered highly insulting for such a world-renown, Grammy winning artist like Taylor Swift. To me, hearing the commotion about not recognizing this artist is exactly what I am concerned about.
Personally, so many of my friends and I grew up idolizing Taylor Swift for the raw emotions and heartfelt lyrics of every single song she composed. She had a way of having each of her songs relate to any given situation a teenage girl was going through at the time. Through every breakup, heartbreak, or even the happiest moments of your life, there was a good chance that T-Swift went through the same situation and had already wrote a song about it.
My formerly 16-year-old self flashed back to the sleepless nights listening to Taylor Swift because her songs just got to me, and I realized this new song playing during a football tailgate was not the Taylor Swift I remembered. She was never this mainstream in the pop genre before. This song is the first breakout from her country roots to something you would typically expect from Ariana Grande or Katy Perry. I was very taken aback by the catchy tune and semi-frivolous lyrics. These were not the typical “All Too Well” or “Last Kiss” lyrics that I was accustomed to and used to hearing.
This full on assimilation into the pop genre is one that will take me some time to adjust to - and as Taylor Swift would, simply “Shake it Off.”
