The Magic of Taylor Swift (Part 1)
@shawnmendesofficial put it well by saying @taylorswift makes the job of creating music for millions of people look easy. But there is a lot more to Taylor than just her ethereal voice, timeless words and infectious melodies. Taylor’s connection with us goes beyond her 6 (almost 7) studio albums and hundreds of awards. I wanted to start a series talking about the magic that is Taylor and also a hashtag #TheMagicOfTS for people to use to talk about their stories being captivated by Taylor’s magical spirit
I want to talk about a magical moment that happened to me last night. I’ll start off by saying that, like many swifties, I’ve never met or been noticed by Taylor but she has been one of the biggest parts of my life by far for over 12 years. I look up to Taylor like a big sister, a mentor, a best friend. She inspires me and pushes me to try so hard to reach my unbelievably ambitious (and sometimes completely unrealistic) goals. She inspires me to keep going and to push and try harder to walk my own path and travel the roads that haven’t been mapped out yet.
Lately my mental health has not been good, not good at all. I sit in my little invisible life crying myself to sleep most nights. Looking at all my idols and role models and seeing how amazing they are and how groundbreaking their work is and wondering to myself regularly “why do I even bother? I should just give up” because I don’t have any of that level of talent or character and will never be able to create anything nearly as mesmerizing as what they create so it’ll all be a waste of time. So needless to say I’ve been limping along to my goals lately with very few people in my life who care enough to prop me up when I need it, which has been more or less all the time. Especially now that I’m living in a new city with no friends. I’d like to think that if Taylor knew me she would tell me that I’m cool and good and to never stop trying. But even then… I get paranoid every so often that even she hates me and has zero respect for me and my nothingness… which would be my biggest nightmare.
So now that we’ve got the bleak and unbelievably depressing torments of my own mind out of the way…
Last night I was cruising through Instagram, looking at all the Time100 gala posts seeing Taylor’s amazing performances, gorgeous look of the evening and adorable happy moments throughout the night with her friends. She’s on cloud 9 right now and it makes me so happy to see. 2019 is shaping up to be a beautiful year for our girl! Anyway… I noticed she did a few little speeches. Some were funny and inspiring… but one little snippet hit me like a tonne of bricks. She says
“I hope you guys have the best night ever. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Even if it doesn’t get you on a list even if people aren’t clapping, even if it feels like you’re flying into the wind, just keep doing what you’re doing because I appreciate you so much.”
In that moment, a big part of me felt healed. It’s just something I’ve been struggling with so much. Losing sleep over it for months. Constant pain, depression and anxiety because I don’t feel like I have what it takes to reach my goals and change the world doing what I love. Months of agony… turned around in a moment. She continues her record of helping me through every single one of the hardest moments in my life, one after the other, in one way or another… like magic.
Again, Taylor doesn’t know me at all and never will. But in that moment, I really felt like she did. I felt like that is a comment that could have been directed at me even though realistically in no way could it have been truly meant for me. That… THAT is the magic of Taylor Swift. She “knows” so very few of us but at the same time she has this spiritual ability to make us feel like she knows all of us. I don’t know of any other artist that can do this. I can say personally, I’ve never had anyone that I’ve never even met have the ability to make me feel at peace and like I’m not alone like that INSTANTLY. And she does this constantly.
Anyone who’s been to the rep tour can agree… yeah, you were in a stadium of thousands of screaming fans. Some of which she actually knows and got to meet. But regardless, she still had this remarkable ability and magical power to make that concert feel like it was just YOU and HER. She made it feel like there was nobody else in that stadium, like she really was talking to you. Not to you as a member of the masses, but you as a person. She speaks to each one of us directly with her words and they resonate with our feelings and thoughts individually, not as a whole.
That ability to create such a deep-rooted and intimate connection with every single fan… THAT is the magic of Taylor Swift.
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