Someday you’ll turn your radio on, I hope it takes you back to that place 💚
I can’t listen to Taylor Swift’s debut album without being transported back to my 14 year old self. I remember buying the album from Barnes & Noble, uploading it on to my iTunes, and then loading it on to my iPod. The Taylor Swift I hear on that album is my teenage best friend. The friend who I cried “with” when listening to Teardrops on my guitar on the radio over a boy whose name I can’t even remember now. I am so thrilled that Taylor gets to bring home her teenage self, no longer frozen behind glass. You really will always find your way back home. 💚
(Fun fact: Taylor Swift wrote You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home and gave it to Hannah Montana)
Now, as for reputation, from the girl who loves reputation so much she themed her wedding after the album…
Reputation was a project she worked on when she was so aggressively bullied she had to leave the country; her castle crumbled overnight. She was so traumatized that she didn’t answer phone calls. She was in a very dark place and nobody heard from her or saw her for months. (Side tangent: she was so vulnerable when she fell in love; that is what made reputation her most romantic/ falling in love album. Hence why I themed my wedding after it.) Now obviously, she came out on the other side but that doesn’t mean she wants to re-live being in such a horrific place even if it did bring her a loving relationship that was right for her at the time.
I am thankful we will not have a reputation (Taylor’s Version).
I would hate to have her cut open all those old scars just to own her work. So many new fans want to “re-live” the reputation era and it guts me to hear that. When Taylor Swift was cancelled, it was really terrible being a TS fan; I was told I wouldn’t get a job in student affairs if I had “pro Taylor” content on my social media. I cannot believe I was brainwashed into curating student affairs and higher ed content for so many years on my Twitter account. “I am pissed off I gave you all that youth for free…” (~* cries for missing my chance to be a secret sessioner 😭~*)
Taylor still has deep wounds from how the world turned on her and I can’t blame her, her anxiety is completely reasonable.
“You know I left a part of me back in New York.
You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for?
You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
From when they pulled me apart...” - Hoax, folklore
I am excited for the possibility of reputation vault tracks- there was a rumor that a vault track had not only been recorded but a music video was filmed. Conceptually, it was about going to “the dark side” and featured my childhood crush Hayden Christensen. (I’m currently holding on to that rumor for this for personal reasons. 😅)
All in all, I do think the re-recording process was fulfilling for her and I do think she enjoyed reliving most of her eras with the space and wisdom she has now. I know that I was able to look back at who I was during the original eras and feel a nostalgic romanticism for them all. However, because of the pain pit that reputation was born in, I wouldn’t open that door again and I’m thrilled she doesn’t need to. And besides, how do you improve upon perfection? 💅🐍♥️
I originally posted this on Facebook for a different audience but I figured why not share it on tumblr…
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