Today: Mar 18, 2024

The Taylor Swift Legacy: What makes her so iconic

Natalie Barletta – Opinions Editor

Taylor Swift is one of those celebrities everyone just knows, unless you’ve been living under a rock for several years. When she first stepped onto the scene in 2006, she sang the words that every teenage girl in America seemed to think. Why doesn’t he like me? Where is my place to shine in this world? Everyone related to her music so therefore she gained some popularity. It continued with hit songs such as “Love Story,” “Mine,” and the super catchy, “We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together.”

Just this past year, Taylor released the hit 1989. Needless to say, Swift fever has broken out all over the world. According to the album’s Wikipedia page, 1989 was the best selling album of 2014. Who says that CDs are dead?

What makes Taylor so successful? Well, for starters, she’s just so darn relatable. She sings the songs with words that you’re thinking and too afraid to say. Most of her songs are about her life experiences and relationships. Let’s take the song ‘Teardrops on my Guitar.’ That song talks about someone who she had a crush on. However, he wasn’t interested, didn’t notice her or just wanted to be friends. Who has not felt this way about someone? One of the best things about her is that she can relate to whatever love dilemma that you’re going through.

Taylor doesn’t only sing about her love life, contrary to popular belief. Her song “22” is about figuring yourself out in a crazy world where you are expected to automatically be put together and know where you’re going. Many college students can relate to that because well, no one knows where their going in life just yet.

Another reason why Taylor Swift has become such a household name is because she has a great relationship with her fans as well. She even hosted a listening party in her house so some of her fans could listen to her new album. I really don’t know any celebrities that would do anything close to that, which is something to admire about her. Who can remember her pit stop to Starbucks this past year where she took a few selfies with fans? That’s a pretty cool thing to do if you ask me.

Finally, Swift is just a great role model to many younger listeners out there. In my opinion, she does show more class than some of her peers out there. Whenever she does a show, she is always best dressed, and she presents herself in a great way. Not many celebrities nowadays do that, and she should be applauded.

However, as Swift sings in her songs ‘haters are going to hate, hate, hate,’ Taylor has her own long list of haters. Many often made fun of her because all of her relationships have ended up in a song of hers, such as “Back to December,” “Dear John,” and “White Horse.” Have you ever heard of the saying, “If your girlfriend posts Taylor Swift lyrics, you’re either doing something right or wrong”?

She does sing a lot about her life experiences, but let me point out something. She writes her own songs and lyrics. Therefore, her lyrics have some honest component to them, that many songs of today’s music market lack. Writing in general is a form of therapy. Her forms of therapy happen to be number one singles. After all, what’s the better than having to have your ex-lover listen to your song about him 24/7? As Swift would sing, it’s “Better than Revenge.”

Swift fever has no sign of subsiding anytime soon. Who could have guessed that a curly haired 16-year-old girl would become so big?

Photo Credit: Natalie Barletta

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