Taylor Swift: More Interesting Songs

In the article Taylor Swift: Musical Theme Evolution I talked about how Taylor Swift made songs that reflected on her growing maturity and how she was growing as a person. The first song, Shake It Off, was a somewhat immature song that was catchy, but it reflected a degree of immaturity that was stereotypical for pop stars. On the other hand, the song Blank Space was a song that made Taylor Swift seem more like a mature woman who seemed more knowledgeable about her flaws. However, Taylor Swift has been a singer for a while, and as a result, there were other songs that were interesting in their own right. For instance, recently Taylor Swift moved to New York City as a place of residence. For a citizen of New York City, having a song like Welcome To New York, where the song basically said that the city was an awesome place to be in, could be used as hype for attracting tourism. Another interesting song, 22 was an interesting song that people who were just graduating from college could relate to on some level. Even a song that sounded innocently enough, like You Belong With Me could be interesting with how honest the lyrics talked about a girl wishing for a boy to go out with her instead of a different person. Taylor Swift has made some interesting songs that have not been overplayed on the radio the instant they were made, but that does not mean that they were bad songs. It just meant that some people have not heard of these songs.

New York as a state is home to New York the city. It is a massive city filled with high amounts of diversity and culture through immigration, various sources of commerce through its fashion and financial districts, and a place of some fancy examples of architecture and housing. Needless to say, there have been many different songs that glorified New York City and all that it had to offer. Recently, Taylor Swift decided to move into New York as a place of residence. Simply named Welcome To New York, this song came in the album 1989, same as songs like Shake It Off and Blank Space. Basically this song was another song saying how awesome New York was for someone who comes inside the city. As a sign of maturity similar to the song Blank Space, Welcome To New York had lyrics that sounded like someone who has experienced much in their life. For example, one of the verses in this song included:

When we first dropped our bags.
On apartment floors.
Took our broken hearts.
Put them in a drawer.
Everybody here was someone else before.
And you can want who you want.
Boys and boys and girls and girls.

Welcome To New York seemed to tell the story of someone who wanted a new start in life. So not only was Welcome To New York a catchy song to listen to, it was also a song that people in the LGBT Community could listen to and feel like they were being positively represented.

Sometimes song retroactively peppy songs could be easy to relate to because of one's age group. Being able to sing a song that could reflect a certain age group. In Taylor's Swift's song 22 the target audience seemed to be young adults who have graduated college and were trying to find their own identities. As such, this song reflected the optimism that people who were 22 experienced because now they were at the age where they could try to find their own identities. This optimism was emphasized with lyrics like:

Uh oh! (hey!)
I don't know about you
But I'm feeling 22
Everything will be alright
If you keep me next to you
You don't know about me
But I'll bet you want to
Everything will be alright (alright)
If we just keep dancing like we're
22, ooh-ooh (oh, oh, oh)
22, ooh-ooh
I don't know about you
22, ooh-ooh
22, ooh-ooh

which basically has Taylor Swift that she was young, but as long as she has someone to be with her while she was on this transition into adulthood, she can be optimistic about the future. The interesting thing about 22 was that the song in general could be one of Taylor Swift's stereotypical songs about wanting to have a date or expressing a desire to be in a relationship with someone. And while some of the critics of Taylor Swift's music may say that 22 was a song that was just part of some list of songs that Taylor wrote that referenced her own dating problems, for kids who were in the same age as 22 this was not a big deal since being in problematic relationship is still a part of growing up. Which Taylor Swift has recently.

Taylor Swift has gained a reputation of writing songs that were mostly about either becoming an official couple with a guy, or breaking up with a guy. Ironically, other singers have made similar songs that dealt with the beginning or end of a romantic relationship, it's just that Taylor Swift initially seemed to sing nothing but songs that were about the beginning or end of romantic relationships. You Belong With Me was an example of the types of songs that Taylor Swift sang that fit in the category of songs that talked about Taylor trying to get a new boyfriend. In You Belong With Me, Taylor played two different kinds of characters. First was the nerdy girl who showed interest to her male next door neighbor in regards to the prospect of dating. Taylor also played the boy's current girlfriend, who was the complete opposite of nerdy Taylor, who was basically a poor choice in girlfriends on the boy's part. Predictably, the nerdy version of Taylor spent the majority of You Belong With Me saying how she would have been the better girlfriend to the boy. Which was a message that was blatantly stated with lyrics like:

If you could see
That I'm the one
Who understands you.
Been here all along.
So, why can't you see—
You belong with me,
You belong with me?

which was essentially the nerdy version of Taylor saying that she understood the boy better than his current girlfriend, but she was still wondering why she was not his girlfriend. Fortunately, by the end they do end up hooking up, but in a way that some people may have found questionable in retrospect.

Taylor Swift has made numerous songs over the years. Most of them talked about Taylor trying to get a boy to be her boyfriend or stated that she wished to break-up with a boy. But those songs could be interesting if one were to read the lyrics. Plus, Taylor has made songs that did not involve boys as well. With her recent move to New York as a place of residence, it was actually pretty neat that she made her own song that said how awesome living in New York could be. Add the recent songs that show that Taylor was maturing as a person and singer, and you have a very interesting celebrity here.