The Taylor Swift Effect



About a month ago my friend Emily and I were wandering around heaven - better known as Papyrus - and I saw a display that featured a giant Taylor Swift head. You know her - those sparkling blue eyes, that cascading blond hair looking like a permed waterfall, red lips that make you wish you had your own red lipstick that didn't make you look like a washed out hooker corpse....

Of course, I granted it a giant eye-roll and then mocked it with Emily. "Ugh, I am so sick of Taylor Swift. She's like...taking over the world." Emily smiles and groans. "I know. Every time I turn on the radio, there she is, all the time."

Emily wanders into the sympathy card area with a laugh.

I look at the Taylor Swift cards. Then I pick one up. They are sorta cute. I guess.

Okay, so they are like REALLY cute. Emily wanders back over. I look over at her with a grimace. "So...these are kind of great..." I admit sheepishly. Emily picks them up and looks at them, turns them over. "Oh...they sort of are...."

We end up buying eight Taylor Swift cards.

The same thing happened with her music. You hear one of her songs the first time. It gets eye-rolls all around. You laugh at the similar themes that run through ever one of them. Girl meets boy. Boy breaks heart. Someone is sixteen and sitting on a dock and making a mistake. It's December in a castle and someone is in love.

You hear the song again, for the second time, and you don't change the channel, because you kinda know it, and nothing else is ever on except Nickelback and they are the WORST EVER.

Then the third time you hear it, you sing along quietly. Since it's so easy and silly to memorize, you practically know all the words, so why not?

The fourth time, you are a full blown wailer, singing like you are doing karaoke in a white trash bar, no - forget that, you ARE Taylor Swift...

"Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say yes!!"

You start buying her songs on I-tunes because...hey, they are kinda fun and OM-GOSH PUT THEM ON EVERY PLAYLIST EVER!!!!!!!!!!

Then you are among the first to watch her music video for the Hunger Games because you cannot refuse the combination of Taylor Swift and Katniss Everdeen, in fact, you think maybe Taylor Swift should have played Katniss Everdeen.

Safe and Sound is amazing, folksy and so perfect for the sad, melancholy tale of the Hunger Games. You start talking to people about Taylor Swift. You want to emulate her hair, her dress. There is no more eyerolling. She's your hero, pretty much. You know who she is dating. You actually care.

And this is the Taylor Swift effect.





