Below is an open letter I wrote to Taylor Swift after the release of her album 1989. I was thinking about Taylor today, and I thought I’d share with you what I wanted her to see many months ago when I wrote this. Here it is:
You Always Knew How To Push My Buttons: An Open Letter to Taylor Swift
Dear Taylor,
Undoubtedly, this letter will never be read by you because you are the most popular musical artist on our planet of billions, and you simply don’t have time for every little thing that’s written about you day after day. I’m okay with that. But I’m going to continue anyway, knowing that I’m really writing this for any of my readers who happen upon my blog and decide to ingest what I’ve typed out beyond this paragraph.
Let me start by saying that I think your new album, 1989, is wonderful. It’s your best yet—dark, yet bright in spots, honest in a deeper way than ever before, and inspired by the 1980’s…all great things.
It’s the kind of album that, because of it’s massive popularity, might get labeled as a collection of music to be ignored and swept to the side for the tween masses to gobble up and obsess over, but this would be a mistake. It should not be overlooked by anyone—overly radio-played or not.
It’s simply good music. Not just catchy music. Good music.
And in light of that, I wanted to talk about a few things that are discussed on your album. Some topics are rather obvious, and some are harder to get at as their subject matter is a bit more difficult to see because of the lyrical layers that cover them. It would seem to me that a lot of the same themes from your previous records exist in 1989, and that you are still wrestling with the normal issues for a woman in her mid-twenties—life, love, and tough relationships. This was expected when I bought your CD (yes, I went to Target and bought a physical CD—the DLX version), and I wasn’t surprised as I listened to each track.
You do such a great job of capturing snap-shots of your own heart, and that heart is obviously shared by many people, giving obvious evidence to your massive popularity. But you don’t just say things about love and life; you do it in a beautifully complex, yet universal way that connects with so many people who feel like they know you just because they’ve listened to your music. Bravo to you for that, Taylor. I admire and respect your talent and creativity.
Many things that you sing about on 1989 take me back to those indelible moments from my younger years, and make me think about all the relationship issues that used to be so very important to me. Obsessing over someone who clearly doesn’t feel the same way about me as I do about them. Wanting things to be different than the way history has written them. Trying to ignore the inevitable comments that come from other people about the personal details of my life they have no business commenting on.
I’m a lot older than you are, but I can remember those feelings as if my heart were freshly involved…and freshly broken.
That being said, I’m now a dad of two little girls (a 3.5 year-old and a 14 month old), and I look at your work through a different lens than I used to before I became a parent. My girls are precious to me, and I can’t help but think that the things you write and sing about will be on their hearts as well in the not-too-distant future. They will struggle with relationship issues, friendship issues, anger issues, and social anxiety. They will probably get hurt, and it rips my heart to shreds when I think about the possibility of them getting injured by anyone or anything.
Yes, I want them to be inspired and encouraged by artists such as yourself, but also if I’m honest, I want them to travel a very different relationship path than you have chosen to walk.
I don’t want them to play games with boys. I don’t want them to manipulate others for the thrill of the relationship hunt. I want them to save themselves sexually for marriage. I want them to know that in spite of what a boy tells them or doesn’t tell them, they are loved to the very core of their soul, making them confident that they are without need of a man to dictate whether or not they are loved. I want them to know they are treasured.
And like my girls, Taylor, you too are so very important. You are not a collection of breakups. You are not more or less special because of the person you are dating. And contrary to what you might believe, you are not your music. You’re so much more significant than the superstar label the world has ascribed to you. You hold tremendous value—not because of the things you’ve done or produced—but because you have a Daddy who loves and adores you…even more so than your birth daddy.
When and if you ever come to this realization, you will experience a true freedom unlike anything ever before. You won’t need to pretend to be unfazed by what others have said about you (even though you’re probably secretly bothered), because you know that only one opinion truly matters. You’ll realize that you don’t need any human relationship to complete you, because you are already complete in the Daddy who adores you.
I’ve prayed this for you, Taylor.
Too many times, “normal” people have the tendency to forget that people with fame are actually real people, but I’m trying not to do that with you. Even though I hear your voice on the radio every day, and see your face on the Diet Coke ads that are printed on popcorn bags at the movie theater, you are real. You are a genuine person, and your Daddy is waiting for you to run into His unconditionally loving arms.
Your music is always a massive hit. And even if you end up being one of the great artists of our time who churns out platinum album after platinum album for decades to come, my prayer for you is that you don’t search for significance in something as petty as the adoration of millions.
My prayer is that you will see past the lie that a healthy relationship with a man is what will fulfill you to the very center of your life. My prayer is that you will realize the incredible value you hold, not because of the music you create, but because of the Daddy who counts you as valuable.
You’ll most likely never read this letter, Taylor, but our Daddy is big enough to work in impossible ways to bring you home to His arms. He’s the best.
A Fan,
Shelby
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.